Month: September 2010

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Zune HD could have all-new model in the works

The Zune HD continues to rank among our all-time favorites in terms of industrial design, so it’s good to hear that Microsoft isn’t entirely abandoning the PMP sector for its new Windows Phone 7 hotness. Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet has consulted her tea leaves (and in-the-know tipsters) and emerged with the strong feeling that some new Zune hardware is brewing up in Redmond. Little specificity is available, beyond the obvious postulation that a new ZHD would probably be driven by an ARM CPU and take some software pointers from WP7, but we’re told to look toward to the early 2011 horizon and see if we can’t spot any sexy new media players emerging. A mirage is as likely as the real deal right now, but it’s always fun to look to that horizon, no?

Zune HD could have all-new model in the works originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 16:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPod touch (2010) first hands-on! (update: video!)

So we just got our hands on the new iPod touch… and boy is it small. As you would expect, the functionality of the device is identical to the iPhone 4, as well as the functions of the cameras. In essence, it’s a much thinner iPhone 4, with no cell radio and a lower quality still camera. The design is relatively in keeping with previous touches, so no major surprises there, but the inclusion of that A4 chip, higher resolution screen, and front and back cameras makes it a far more versatile device. Take a look at the gallery below if you’re wondering just how much of a sliver this is — it makes the iPhone 4 look… fat.

Update: It’s worth noting that the back camera is clearly not the same 5 megapixel shooter present on the iPhone 4, as the specs on Apple’s page for the touch list the still photo resolution at 960 x 720 — a huge difference.

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iPod touch (2010) first hands-on! (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ViewSonic ViewPad 7 video hands-on

We just got a chance to mess around with ViewSonic’s upcoming ViewPad 7 (one of possibly four tablets they plan to release this year), and while it is indeed a plastic rebadge me-too Android tablet, we mean that in the best sense. Let’s take these one by one:

  • Plastic: It looks and feels enough like metal / glass that we won’t fault ViewSonic for the cost savings here.
  • Rebadge: ViewSonic has an exclusive on this design for its particular markets (Europe), while the OlivePad is doing its version over in India.
  • Me-too: This might be the biggest knock, since ViewSonic is dropping the ViewPad into a world that’s going to be up to its knees in 7-inch Android tablets in a few month’s time.

ViewSonic wins points for an above average build quality, better than crappy LCD (it’s not great, but we’ve seen a lot worse, and the capacitive response is just fine), passable processor (a 600MHz Snapdragon won’t win any bake-offs, but it also makes Android 2.2 completely usable in our opinion), and better-than-Augen Google blessing. Check out our video hands-on after the break.

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ViewSonic ViewPad 7 video hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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