Categories
Gadgets Samsung

Sprint Galaxy Tab Price Dropped Ahead Of New Launches

Samsung had announced during the Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas earlier this month that a Wi-Fi only variant of the Galaxy Tab shall be launched shortly. In addition to this, we have also heard recently that a 4G-variant of the Samsung Galaxy Tab should be launching in the next few weeks. Perhaps in a bid to deplete existing inventory before these new product launches, Sprint has announced a massive price cut on their existing Galaxy Tab line that could help the carrier sell their stocks soon.

Starting now, the Samsung Galaxy Tab on Sprint will be available at just $299 with a two year contract. If you are one of those looking to buy the device without a contract, you can do so at a price of $499. Interestingly, that is the price of ‘subsidized‘ Galaxy Tab at many other channels, including those at Verizon. Of course, you can wait and buy a more updated new hardware at a higher price. But if the entry level Galaxy Tab is something you are happy with, this discounted price should be ideal.

Categories
Apple Gadgets

No Home Button On Next Generation iPhone & iPad?

As you must have heard by now, Apple has seeded a beta version of iOS 4.3 with developers. Among the several enhancements this new iOS update offers, one interesting inclusion is that of several new multitouch gestures that let users to “pinch to home screen“, “swipe up to reveal multitasking tray“, “swipe left/right to switch apps“, etc.

Now according to a new rumor, Apple could be working on such gestures in order to eventually build an iPhone without any physical buttons. The new design in fact is expected to be made available on the iPad first and then make its way to the iPhone at a later stage.

In that case, we wonder if this would mean that the next generation iPad, that is speculated to launch in just a few weeks from now could be the first iDevice to launch without a home button. Do you think it’s a good idea?

Categories
Gadgets

Notion Ink Adam Shipments Begin – US & Europe Deliveries To Take More Time

Notion Ink has confirmed that their upcoming tablet, Adam, has passed all the FCC and CE tests. However, as we had mentioned yesterday, the company is facing a minor delay due to an issue with FCC labeling. This means American and European customers should expect a lapse of few more days before getting hold of their Adam.

However, if you are someone who has pre-ordered a unit from other parts of the world, you should be seeing a Notion Ink Adam in your mailbox soon. Rohan Shravan has posted on his website that “Adam has already reached some of its owners“. We are yet to hear from excited new customers on Twitter or Facebook. But maybe that’s just us.

Shravan writes,

“Though for a company doing business IN the respective countries can’t sell product without these certifications, global business does not have any such restrictions, and over all these contradiction makes things confusing. For example, as a customer you can buy a product without these certifications online. We will opt for the safer side and wait for the final confirmation and then ship it to you (little more patience please).”

Have you received your Adam? Please do let us know in the comments below.

Categories
Gadgets

Notion Ink Adam Delivery Date Delayed Due To FCC Printing

If you are one of those who had pre-ordered a Notion Ink Adam back in December last year, you may have to wait for a little more time before the device ships home. The company has written an email to a number of customers who had pre-ordered a unit to note that they have been waiting for the final FCC and CE numbers to be printed on the device before they could ship. In the email, the Notion Ink Support team writes,

“This e-mail is to inform you that your shipment is ready, but we are awaiting final FCC and CE numbers which are to be printed on the device before we can ship them to you. The Holiday season in December pushed the administrative work and it will be cleared within this week.

We request your kind patience and cooperation till we inform you of
your shipment.”

We will update you on the exact shipment date when it is revealed.

Categories
Apple Gadgets

iPad 2 Launch On February 1?

Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg.com, has been the source of a number of Apple related rumors in the past – most notably, during the iPod 2008 media event. Rose’s latest revelation could however be his biggest crack if it turns out to be true. In a recent post, Rose has noted that the next generation of iPad could launch as early as in the next 3-4 weeks. Citing sources “on good authority“, Rose says that an Apple announcement in this regard is most likely on Tuesday, February 1.

His revelation is also replete with a number of rumored features that the iPad 2 could come equipped with. These include a possible retina display and two cameras – one on the front and another on the rear side of the iPad. These revelations are quite interesting considering a retina display could spike the manufacturing cost by a huge margin. Rose has however clarified that the iPad display resolution may not be as high as that on the iPhone 4.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this latest rumor.

Categories
Gadgets Motorola

Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi And 3G Model Launch Dates Revealed?

Xoom – the recently unveiled Honeycomb-based tablet computer from Motorola could launch in April this year. This is according to Motorola Mobility Latin America General Manager Maurizio Angelone who has revealed that the Wi-Fi only version of the device would be available on stores starting April of this year. An Argentinian blog has meanwhile reported that a 3G-enabled Xoom tablet should also launch soon after. The website expects the launch of this variant to happen around May of this year.

The revelations are interesting considering that we were not aware of Wi-Fi only variants of the Xoom until now. The rumored sources have also indicated that the assembly of the 3G enabled and Wi-Fi only devices shall happen in Argentina and Brazil respectively. That is another deviation from the norm where China is usually the place of assembly. We will keep track on how this news pans out.

Categories
Gadgets Gaming Sony

Run Jailbroken PlayStation 3 With Custom Firmware And HomeBrew – GeoHot Video

George Hotz, the popular PS3 and iOS hacker who is responsible for a number of hacks on the two platforms in the past is out with a video that demoes a Sony PlayStation 3 that has been jailbroken to run a custom version of firmware 3.55. But before you get excited, we must point out that this is merely a demo video at this stage and an actual jailbreak software is yet to be released. GeoHot has refused to offer an estimated time for release at this stage.

You can watch the video demo here.

For those looking for a background to this story, German hackers fail0verflow had recently released an exploit that they claimed could let users decipher the digital signature that Sony encrypts on its Playstation devices. This signature is used by the device to authenticate applications before they are run. GeoHot had earlier this week used this exploit to make the security keys of Sony PS 3 public. Now that a demo video is out, you must expect a jailbreak application shortly.

Categories
Gadgets

What's The Notion Ink Adam Mystery Feature?

Notion Ink Adam has been getting a lot of press coverage from the Consumer Electronics Show and the device has mostly impressed observers. One moot discussion points has been the mystery feature that this tablet is expected to come with. Rohan Shravan had earlier posted on one of his blog posts that this feature would be a software update that would be activated on Adam devices every fortnight. However, now we hear about yet another feature that could be the actual mystery feature.

According to Rohan Shravan, Notion Ink Adam will be the first tablet computer in the market to come with a radio. He has said that the radio will come a chip replacement that offers this new feature. CrunchGear writes,

“Rohan commented that this new feature came by way of a chip replacement that offered the new feature. Are you ready? It’s a radio! The only tablet to have one, actually.”

Categories
Gadgets RIM

Blackberry PlayBook For Sprint Launching “This Summer”

A 4G supported version of the Blackberry PlayBook – Research In Motion’s much anticipated tablet computer will be available in the United States on the Sprint network from summer of 2011. This has been announced in a recent media statement where Sprint has noted that the availability will be exclusive. However, do bear in mind that this does not mean a non-4G version or a PlayBook with a different launch window is not possible on another carrier.

The 4G-compatible launch also means we could be seeing the launch of a 3G variant earlier than that. Also, it is speculated that an LTE variant could be launching as we move into the latter half of the year. In any case, this tablet with dual core processors and a multitasking operating system should find popularity among Blackberry users.

Categories
Gadgets Microsoft

8 Million Microsoft Kinect Units Sold In 2010

One of Microsoft’s biggest success stories last year has undeniably been that of Kinect. At the Consumer Electronics Show yesterday, CEO Steve Ballmer opened up on how much of a success this gesture based motion controller for XBox has been. According to him, Microsoft sold nearly 8 million Kinect units since launch. That is in an amazing timespan of just sixty days.

Evidently, a major portion of the sales came during the holiday shopping season in countries like the United States. If you have been following this space, you will be aware that Microsoft sold 2.5 million units of Kinect in the first 30 days of launch. That brings the sale during December to 5.5 million.

The popularity of Kinect does not look like it will be slowing down anytime in the near future. With more than 50 million XBox 360 units available in the market today, along with the fact that Microsoft is still innovating on the Kinect front, we are in for some real good times ahead.