LG Optimus Pad priced at â¬999 in Germany

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/lg-optimus-pad-priced-at-999-in-germany/

Yikes. We just finished getting our fingerprints all over LG's Optimus Pad (aka the G-Slate), and now we're thinking we should have been wearing white gloves while doing so. The tablet is coming in March to the US, but we didn't know a price. Now we do -- in Germany, at least, and get ready to wince: €999. That's about $1,350 if you do a straight conversion, out-classing even the Xoom's eye-wateringly high $1,199 pre-order price, which we're still holding out hope is a misprint. Maybe the golden goo in Honeycomb really is gold.

Update: Roland wrote in to remind us that German prices include a 19 percent VAT, which would drop this price down to a mere $1,075 if you're into the conversion game. Well within pocket change territory.

[Thanks, Enzo]

LG Optimus Pad priced at €999 in Germany originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Qualcomm ships dual-mode Gobi3000 WWAN chip, intros LTE / HSPA+ chipsets galore

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/qualcomm-ships-dual-mode-gobi3000-wwan-chip-intros-lte-hspa/

Qualcomm just refined the term "blowout" here at Mobile World Congress. It's obviously a critical show for the wireless supplier, and while the 2.5GHz Snapdragon CPU is the undisputed highlight, there's quite a bit of chipset action worth paying attention to if you'd prefer that your next handset / mobile hotspot be capable of handling the world's most advanced network technologies. First off, there's the Gobi3000 modules, which Qualcomm just announced were shipping en masse. Compared to the Gobi2000 that has been infiltrating laptops and MiFi devices for the past year, this one doubles the HSPA downlink speed and enhances the Gobi common application programming interface (API) functionality for enterprise applications. The design supports single-mode (UMTS) and multi-mode designs (CDMA / UMTS), and should be popping up soon in devices from Huawei, Novatel Wireless, Option, Sierra Wireless and ZTE.

Next up are the MDM9625 and MDM9225 chipsets, which are designed to support LTE data rates as high as 150Mbps within mobile broadband devices. These guys are fabricated using the 28nm technology node, and are backwards compatible with previous generations of LTE and other wireless broadband standards, giving consumers using USB modems powered by the MDM9625 or MDM9225 chipsets an uninterrupted broadband data connection on nearly any network around the world. These are being launched alongside the MDM9615 and MDM8215, which are similar chips designed to support multi-mode LTE and dual-carrier HSPA+, respectively. As for the MDM8225? That's being released today to support HSPA+ Release 9 (the latest version, obviously), which will support 84Mbps on the downslope (not to mention dual-carrier HSUPA operation) and should fit into at least a couple of T-Mobile USA devices by 2012. Finally, Qualcomm has nailed down a deal that'll enable all future Snapdragon-powered Android devices to "have access to instant streaming of TV shows and movies from Netflix." Just sounds like a pre-loaded installation to us, but hey, we'll take all the optimization we can get when it comes to streaming video on the mobile.

Qualcomm ships dual-mode Gobi3000 WWAN chip, intros LTE / HSPA+ chipsets galore originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SmartQ announces Ten, an Android tablet packing IPS display with piezoelectric touchscreen

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/smartq-announces-ten-an-android-tablet-packing-ips-display-with/

OK, before y'all haters state the obvious in the comments below, there's actually something noteworthy about this familiar-looking Chinese slate. What we have here is the SmartQ Ten (or T10, as referenced above), a forthcoming Froyo tablet that'll feature a juicy Cortex-A9 chip plus a Mali 400 GPU, as well as 512MB RAM and a 9.7-inch 1024 x 768 IPS display. This wouldn't be the first Android device to get the IPS goodness, though, as its predecessor R10 -- launched with Android 2.1 and a 720MHz processor back in December -- also has the same LCD panel within a seemingly identical form factor. In fact, we stumbled upon an R10 earlier today, and the prettiness of the screen did surprise us.

But what really sells the Ten is its piezoelectric touchscreen, which supports multitouch input even with non-conductive objects like the old school styli. This means said tablet can achieve light transmittance similar to its capacitive touchscreen counterparts but using cheaper parts, as well as having point-input precision similar to those with resistive touchscreens but with better screen clarity. Alas, no date or price has been announced for the Ten just yet, nor do we know if it'll get Honeycomb in the future, but price it right and it might still get some love.

SmartQ announces Ten, an Android tablet packing IPS display with piezoelectric touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CHART OF THE DAY: A Break Down Of The $2 Billion Virtual Goods Industry

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-virtual-goods-2011-2

In Mary Meeker's latest huge presentation on the future of technology, she includes a slide projecting the virtual goods industry to total $2 billion in the US for 2011.

In case you're wondering how the $2 billion market breaks down, she helpfully included another slide breaking down the industry. As you can see, in-game currency is the most popular way to spend real dollars on fake goods, with maps/levels the least popular.

Click here to see the rest of her presentation which is loaded with interesting charts like this.

Follow the Chart Of The Day on Twitter: @chartoftheday

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Samsung Reboots with Super-Thin, Super Sharp Galaxy S II [Smartphones]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/#!5759220/samsung-reboots-with-super+thin-super-sharp-galaxy-s-ii

Not that this is any surprise given the massive leak of photos and impressions that preceeded today's big Mobile World Congress event, but Samsung has officially pulled the trigger on an impressive reboot of the Galaxy S.

The unsurprisingly named Galaxy S II arrives in a thinner form factor than its predecessor at about 8.49mm thick. The thin shell hosts a large, crisp AMOLED Plus display, measuring 4.27 inches (800x480).

As for the insides, earlier reports that Samsung had opted for an NVIDIA Tegra 2 core turned out to be incorrect. Instead, they're reportedly going with their own Exynos chip, which is slated to go into production next month.

Software-wise you'll be seeing Samsung's preferred TouchWiz 4.0 stacked on top of Gingerbread. A download option using a new Game Hub feature will purportedly allow users to bypass the Android Marketplace's app size-restrictions, although that has yet to be confirmed or denied.

Expect more information on this smartphone, Samsung tablet news and a full hands-on as our own Kat Hannaford reports from the MWC throughout the day. [Engadget, Image: BGR]

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