Friday, January 29, 2010

Slate Showdown: iPad vs. HP Slate vs. JooJoo vs. the Android Tablets [Tablets]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/DasO8o3-o-Q/slate-showdown-ipad-vs-hp-slate-vs-joojoo-vs-the-android-tablets

Everybody's talking about tablets, especially those single-pane capacitive touchscreen ones more specifically known as "slates." The iPad is the biggest newsmaker, but there are lots headed our way (most with built-in webcams). Here's how they measure up, spec-wise:

Click on the image to view it larger

As you can see, they have different strengths and weaknesses, some of which will become more clear in the coming months as we learn more about each tablet. (That Dell Mini 5 is especially inscrutable right now.)

The iPad has the most storage, cheap 3G, the time-tested iPhone OS and its mountain of apps, and a serious amount of Apple marketing juice behind it. But it's also famously lacking features common to the other tablets, such as webcam and multitasking. The Notion Ink Adam is perhaps the most interesting of the bunch, with its dual-function transflective screen from Pixel Qi: It can be either a normal LCD or, with the flick of a switch, an easy-on-the-eyes reflective LCD that resembles e-ink. Its hardware is also surprisingly impressive—but it remains to be seen if Android is really the right OS for a 10-inch tablet.

The Dell Mini 5 and forthcoming Android edition of the Archos 7 tablet are two of a kind, almost oversized smartphones in their feature sets. Is an extra two or three inches of screen real estate worth the consequent decrease in pocketability? Perhaps not. And finally, there's the maligned JooJoo, formerly the CrunchPad, a bit of an oddball as the only web-only device in the bunch. It doesn't really have apps, can't multitask, and pretty much confines you to an albeit fancy browser, sort of like Chrome OS will. The JooJoo is also the only tablet here to have no demonstrated way to read ebooks.

Data Sources:
Apple iPad: [Gizmodo]
HP Slate: [Gizmodo, GDGT; Tipster]
Fusion Garage JooJoo: [Gizmodo]
Notion Ink Adam: [Slashgear]
Dell Mini 5: [Gizmodo, Gizmodo]
Archos 7 Android: [DanceWithShadows, Gizmodo]

A quick word about "slates" vs. "tablets": These are tablets, and it's a word we prefer. The sad fact is, it's overused. There's no way to say "tablet" without including every godawful stylus-based convertible laptop built since 2002. (Thank you, Bill Gates!) And even the new touchscreen tablets come in single-pane and keyboard-equipped laptop styles. So "slate," good or bad, is the more apt term.



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Tobacco Plants Used to Grow Cheap Solar Cells [Solar Energy]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/oX1tif0b90g/tobacco-plants-used-to-grow-cheap-solar-cells

Scientists have discovered that they can coax a tobacco plant into growing temporary solar cells by injecting it with a genetically engineered virus. Freaky, but the process may provide us with cheaper synthetic photovoltaic cells once quirks are sorted out.

At a quick glance, "hacking" tobacco plants to grow these solar cells sounds like it's full of benefits:

Using live organisms to create synthetic solar cells has several advantages over traditionally made solar panels. No environmentally toxic chemicals are required to make biologically derived solar cells, unlike traditional solar cells. Growing solar cells in tobacco plants could put farmers back to work harvesting an annual crop of solar cells.

There's just one rather big catch:

[S]cientists haven't even demonstrated that the cells can turn light into electrical or chemical energy yet. But they hope to do soon.

They can grow the cells, but they can't do too much with them yet. Geez. Let's hope they get around to sorting that part out, because until that happens this will be yet another way-too-good-to-be-used-in-real-life concept. While waiting around for that to happen though, you can read more about the details of the process over at Discovery and Treehugger. [Discovery via Treehugger]



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149 Inches of Goodness makes Mitsubishi Size Queen of OLED [Oled]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/pSShqu0so-0/149-inches-of-goodness-makes-mitsubishi-size-queen-of-oled

It may be lagging three inches behind Panasonic's big telleh, but Mitsubishi's whopping great screen is OLED. Or should that be ZOLED? It was unveiled at ISE 2010, with Number 6 and Boomer dressy-likeys lending a hand.

The screen is actually made up of ten-centimeter-square panels, with a resolution of 1088 x 640p. Light output is 1500cd/m2 - that's loads brighter than your common-or-garden LCD display, meaning that it will work in brightly-lit areas indoors - CES 2011, I guess that means you. Time someone updated Chandler: "She was cute enough to make a gadget hack kick a hole in an OLED display screen." [Oled-Display.net]



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Fring for iPhone now lets you call with Skype over 3G

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/fring-for-iphone-now-lets-you-call-with-skype-over-3g/

Now that the iPhone SDK seems to allow for 3G VoIP, it looks like the floodgates are beginning to open. Joining the ranks of iCall in this somewhat uncharted territory is Fring. Same deal as the previous one, the ability is already inherent in the current build, and now that the restriction has been lifted, users can simply place calls as they usually do through the service -- yes, that includes Skype calls -- only now not tethered to the nearest 802.11 cloud. As for the native Skype app, last we checked it was still not working. But it's only a matter of time.

Fring for iPhone now lets you call with Skype over 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Pocket-Lint  |  sourceFring blog  | Email this ! | < a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/28/fring-for-iphone-now-lets-you-call-with-skype-over-3g/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments

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Michael Dell pulls Mini 5 Android tablet from his parka, offers to put one in yours in 'a couple of months' (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/29/michael-dell-pulls-mini-5-android-tablet-from-his-parka-offers/

Michael Dell pulls Mini 5 Android tablet from his parka, offers to put one in yours in 'a couple of months'
Hot on the heels of us thinking maybe the Dell Streak / Mini 5 was possibly due for a name change to the "M01M," a roving heckler from TechCrunch managed to catch the man himself, Michael Dell, on the street and get a quick demonstration of the thing -- which he with no uncertain terms referred to as the "Mini 5." He swiped through a number of home screens and quickly showed the five megapixel camera on the back, mentioned 3G wireless, and then tucked it away again. No price was given, but the biggest news is confirmation that it's coming out in "a couple of months," which is something of a surprise given the company was still calling it a concept just a few weeks ago. Video of this choice encounter is after the break.

Continue reading Michael Dell pulls Mini 5 Android tablet from his parka, offers to put one in yours in 'a couple of months' (video)

Michael Dell pulls Mini 5 Android tablet from his parka, offers to put one in yours in 'a couple of months' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceCrunchGear  | Email this | Comments

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