Author: Terren

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Samsung Galaxy Tab – The AnandTech Review

The iPad started shipping in April, and since then it has basically had the tablet market to itself. Literally, in the six months after the iPad’s release, it didn’t have a single direct competitor. Dell launched the Streak shortly after the iPad, but the Streak was a 5” unit that was significantly smaller than the iPad. In the 7-11” tablet market, Apple has been the only real player.

But that all changed when Samsung launched its 7” Galaxy Tab last month. On paper, the Galaxy Tab is essentially a jumbo-sized implementation of the Galaxy S smartphone platform. You’re looking at the same A8-based 1 GHz Hummingbird processor and PowerVR SGX 540 graphics chip, the same 512MB RAM, the same lightweight plastic build, and pretty similar industrial design. The screen has been upsized, from the 4” WVGA unit in the Galaxy S to a 7” WSVGA panel. As the first Android-based slate to come from a major manufacturer, it’s a very important device, and not just to test Android’s viability as a tablet platform.

So in the first of our Android tablet reviews, we have Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. Read on to find out how it stacks up against the iPad and whether it can put a dent into Apple’s current domination of the tablet market.

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Google’s Honeycomb Android tablet release slated for March?

The only official timeframe we have for an Android 3.0 Honeycomb release is sometime “next year.” A little too vague for our liking and for a seemingly infinite list of manufacturers chomping at the bit to release their fully sanctioned Android tablets onto the world. Now DigiTimes narrows things down a bit with an off-the-cuff comment about MSI preparing to sell its Tegra 2-based tablets in April or May “after Google releases Android 3.0 in March.” Of course, a March release seems almost definite what with Acer hoping to ship its tablets with Honeycomb in April as well. Hopefully we’ll get this confirmed at CES in early January.

Google’s Honeycomb Android tablet release slated for March? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 06:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kinect rumored to have PC support in waiting

There’s been no shortage whatsoever of PC control schemes using Kinect, but up until now, every bit of it has been without Microsoft’s official blessing. Of course, the company eventually caved to the massive amount of hacking going on and confessed that it didn’t have any hard feelings for those giving it a whirl, but is it really fixing to take things one step further with bona fide PC support? That’s the talk emanating from South Korea, where game developer GamePrix has reported that at least one of its titles (Divine Soul, if you must know) is “scheduled to support Kinect.” Continuing on about the game, the company’s Jason Lim was quoted as saying that “Kinect will soon be available as a new PC controller,” but naturally, we’ve our doubts. For starters, why wouldn’t Microsoft be working with a more major developer if honest-to-goodness PC-Kinect interactions were planned? Secondly, there’s a definite possibility that GamePrix could really be referring to unofficial support, which would make everything seem a lot more sensible. Either way, we’ll definitely be keeping an ear to the ground for more, and with GDC under three months away, we ought to know the truth sooner rather than later.

[Thanks, Rashad]

Kinect rumored to have PC support in waiting originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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60 million tabs towards good causes

In 2010, the Chrome community has joined us in moments of fun, invention, exploration, and now, giving. Last week, we invited Chrome’s users worldwide to “donate” their opened tabs in Chrome to drive a charitable gift of one million dollars. We on the Chrome team were deeply impressed with the support and participation and now we’re happy to share the results with you.

The Chrome community responded with staggering enthusiasm and, acting together, raised 60,599,541 tabs for charity.

Each Chrome user chose the causes their tabs would support, which determined how we allocated our one million dollar donation. Accordingly, we’re excited to make the following donations on behalf of the Chrome community:

  • $245,278 toward planting trees in the Atlantic Forest, one of the world’s endangered tropical forests.
  • $232,791 toward providing clean water, by building freshwater wells for communities in developing nations.
  • $112,078 toward building shelter, to be constructed by volunteers for impoverished families in Latin America.
  • $267,336 toward administering vaccinations against meningitis to combat outbreaks in Africa.
  • $142,518 toward publishing books by local writers and illustrators, which will be created and donated to schools and libraries across Asia and Africa.

We’ll be making the donations at year-end, and our partner charities are already looking towards applying the funds from Chrome for a Cause in 2011. Read more about how your donation will be applied specifically by visiting our partners’ websites:

We’re glad to connect Chrome users with these important causes all around the world — so much so that we’re already thinking of more Chrome for a Cause projects for the future!

Feel free to keep your extension installed if you’d like to hear about future opportunities to work together with the Chrome community for a good cause. We’ll post all the details about how to participate on the Chrome blog, so make sure you check in when you hear about new opportunities.

Thanks for joining us in this endeavor. Happy Holidays!

Posted by Sarah Nahm, Product Marketing Manager

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Microsoft axes Office Genuine Advantage, says program has ‘served its purpose’

It’s not offering any indication that Windows Genuine Advantage will follow suit, but Microsoft has just made the rather surprising move of shutting down its longstanding Office Genuine Advantage program. As with Windows Genuine Advantage, that program was designed to combat piracy and, as any Office user can no doubt attest, it wasn’t shy to make its presence known — warnings like the one above popped up when downloading templates from Office.com, for instance. Why the change? Microsoft isn’t exactly offering too many details, with a spokesperson only going as far to say that the program has “served its purpose,” and that Microsoft is “making several new investments that will allow us to engage with customers and help victims of fraud.” In the meantime, however, it looks like you can now simply go about your business without a warning to be found.

Microsoft axes Office Genuine Advantage, says program has ‘served its purpose’ originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota to pay U.S. $32.4M fine

Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay the U.S. government a record $32.4 million US in additional fines to settle an investigation into its handling of two recalls at the heart of its safety crisis.

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Free calling in Gmail extended through 2011

(Cross posted from the Gmail blog)

When we launched calling in Gmail back in August, we wanted it to be easy and affordable, so we made calls to the U.S. and Canada free for the rest of 2010. In the spirit of holiday giving and to help people keep in touch in the new year, we’re extending free calling for all of 2011.

In case you haven’t tried it yet, dialing a phone number works just like a regular phone. Look for “Call phone” at the top of your Gmail chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name.


To learn more, visit gmail.com/call. Calling in Gmail is currently only available to U.S. based Gmail users.

Happy New Year and happy calling!

Posted by Robin Schriebman, Software Engineer