No, we won’t be seeing cell phones equipped with Microsoft’s touch-screen technology. Instead, the Surface table will be showcased in AT&T stores to help provide customers with additional information regarding the cell phones on sale at the store. Surface will be available in 22 stores on April 17 and is programmed to support up to eight AT&T phones. Customers simply need to place one of the demo phones onto Surface and the table will display relevant information regarding the phone. This allows the customer to interact with the table and learn about the features and specs of the phone in question. Think of it like an addition to the sales team.
Watch the videos to see how the Surface table would work:
Instead of stuffing everything inside a monitor, like Apple’s iMac, the Cybernet ZPC-GX31 All-in-One PC has all of its computer guts packed inside the keyboard. It’s compact and space saving design surely comes in handy for the cluttered office space. It also has pretty decent guts to boot:
* Your choice of Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad @ 1066MHz FSB or Intel Pentium D/Celeron 1.3GHz - 3.4GHz 400/533/800MHz FSB.
* Up to 4GB PC2-5300 667MHz RAM
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
* CDRW-DVD or DVD+/-RW
* integrated speakers
* built-in Realtek HD Audio sound card (Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound support)
* 4 USB 2.0 ports
* Audio Out, Line-in, and Microphone
* 1 PS/2 mouse port and 1 PS/2keyboard port
* 1 DVI port
* Dimensions: 18.5 x 9 x 2.5 inch (thickest)
* Weight: 7.4 lbs
Before you head out to Antarctica, you might want to checkout the Everest tablet PC from Glacier Computer. Its heated touchscreen keeps the LCD nice and warm protecting the screen from condensation (or frozen condensation). It can withstand -22 to 132 degree Fahrenheit temperatures. Likewise, it is IP-56 standard compliant, meaning it is completely sealed from dust and water. The Everest is complete with self-diagnostic software capable of monitoring its system status in real-time.
Spec-wise, the Everest comes with Celeron M processor in 600MHz and 1GHz versions, or a 1.4GHz Pentium M, with up to 1GB of RAM and 2.5-inch hard disk drive or optional SSD. 802.11a/b/g, Bluetooth, and GPS are optional as well. The Everest comes in two sizes: a 10.4-inch or 12.4-inch SVGA touchscreen. It also has a built-in UPS with “SmartBattery” technology that gives you one hour of operation. You can run Windows XP Pro, Windows XP Embedded, Windows Vista, or Linux.
No pricing info, but the Everest is available now.
The MIU Hybrid Dual Portable Computer (HDPC) does everything your current UMPC does and more. Interestingly, MIU’s HDPC dual boots in either Windows CE 5.0 or Qplus Linux, hence, the ‘Dual’ part in its name. Measuring 163 x 67 x 24.5 mm, personally, I think the thing is an ugly, bulky beast, but you can’t ignore its features. MIU packed a cell phone, UMPC, GPS navigation, electronic dictionary, media player, VoIP, a PSP rival, digital camera, e-Book reader, mobile IPTV, and voice recorder (I wonder if I missed anything?) into the HDPC. Specifically, highlights include:
* 4-inch internal Samsung display (800 x 480 resolution)
* 2.2-inch external display (320 x 240 resolution)
* Up to a 1GHz VIA C7M ULV processor
* up to 4GB RAM
* up to 60GB HDD (or optional 4GB SSD)
* 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi support
* 3/5 megapixel camera with flash
* miniSD/microSD card slot
* Bluetooth 2.0
* PS2 mouse/keyboard connector
* built-in stereo speakers
* QWERTY keypad and joystick
* USB 2.0
* Battery life: 7 hours
Pics and pricing details of the “all-in-one wonder” after the jump.
The MacBook Air isn’t the only slim notebook in town. Introducing the Frontier FRNL, it’s lighter, but not quite as slim as the Air. It weighs 2.75 pounds compared to the MacBook Air’s 3 pound weight. However, what the FRNL can do that the Mac can’t is survive abuse. The Frontier FRNL has a waterproof keyboard and a super tough casing that can withstand a 2.5 feet drop and 265 pounds of pressure. If you take a look at the pictures below, it seems to also have a fingerprint reader similar to the ones on Lenovo’s ThinkPads.
Specs:
* 800 MHz Intel A110 CPU
* 12.1-inch LED backlight LCD; SXGA resolution
* 1GB of RAM
* 80GB HDD
* Wi-Fi A/B/G
* Dimensions: 11.65 x 1.21 x 8.22 inches
Its specs sure leave more to be desired. 800MHz? What?
The Frontier FRNL is on sale for about half of what the MacBook Air retails for in Japan.
Acer is attempting its hand at the high-end notebook market currently occupied by Apple and Sony. Acer is entering the market with its upgraded and restyled Aspire line, dubbed the Gemstone Blue. More specifically the Acer Aspire 8920G and 6920. Both models sport an Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo processor, Blu-ray drive, HDTV tuner, HDMI with HDCP support, integrated webcam, Bluetooth, N-draft Wi-Fi, Windows Vista Ultimate or Home Premium, finger print reader, and up to 4GB of DDR2 667MHz RAM. Audio-wise, you can expect both models to get high definition sound: CineSurround, Tuba CineBass booster, and True5.1. However, the “highlight” of the new Aspire models is Acer’s CineDash media control, which allows user’s to navigate through menus, music, and videos all via touch-sensitive interface. Pricing for the new notebooks are unknown.
The higher end 8920G has a 18.4″ 16:9, 1080p display, with a 8ms response time. It can come configured with up to 640GB of HDD space, 6-in-1 card reader, and a VoIP Bluetooth phone. Graphics-wise, you can opt for the NVIDIA GeForce 9650M GS with up to 1280 MB of TurboCache or the GeForce 9500M GS with up to 1280 MB of TurboCache.
The slightly lower end 6920 has a 16″ 16:9, 1080p display, with a 8ms response time as well. However, it’ll also come in a 720p version. It can be configured with up to 320GB of HDD space and a 6-in-1 card reader. The graphics option is only the NVIDIA GeForce 9500M GS with up to 1280 MB of TurboCache.
Read the Acer Aspire 8920G press release. Read the Acer Aspire 6920 press release.
Samsung’s SWT-W100K WiBro PMP finally get priced at 341 Euros ($525). The STW-W100K is WiBro capable whenever a WiBro network is available. WiBro, developed in South Korea, is the US-equivalent to WiMax. The PMP features 4.3-inch WVGA (800 x 480) TFT display, WiBro (13 Mbps), 2 megapixel camera, DMB and DMB PIP, GPS, VOIP support, MS Word viewer, USB, and 8GB of internal memory. MP4, XviD, WMV, and H.26 covers its video support.
Engadget has a video demonstration of the SWT-W100K back at CES:
The Samsung SWT-W100K measures 0.6-inches thick and is available in Korea. I highly doubt we’ll see it here in the US.
HP Blackbird what? Yeah, this Alienware machine puts the highly buzzed Blackbird to shame. Adding to the ALX line, Alienware’s Area-51 ALX CFX machine comes fully decked out, even at it’s base configuration. Quad-core Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor (45nm Penryn) - which have been overclocked to 4GHz, 4GB RAM, 2 pairs of ATI Radeon HD 3870 (2 GB of GDDR), up to 1TB HDD (or 128 GB SSD), DVD±R/W Drive with optional Blu-ray drive, Wi-Fi 802.11n/g/b, and optional 28-in-1 digital media reader/writer are among its specs. AMD and ATI promises that the Catalyst software will allow users to “unlock their GPU controls to manually set the engine and memory clocks for overclocking and dramatic performance boost.” Sounds good.
The Alienware CrossFireX starts pricing at an astronomical $5,149. That’s without a damn monitor or speakers.
