If you’re not quite ready to take up ASUS on its refund offer (or if you simply don’t live in the UK), you’re probably holding out for additional updates to dry your tears. Fortunately, Asus hasn’t forgotten about you and your ilk. Early this morning, the Transformer Prime quietly received an OTA update that not only unroots the tablet, but also kicks the slab’s GPS version up to 6.9.13. The folks on the XDA developers forums have restored their roots easily enough, and seem to be reaping the benefits of updated GPS drivers, as well. Engadget’s own tests lean on the positive side — lounging indoors, in a spot where GPS reception was previously all-dark, we snagged sight of 12 satellites on a freshly rebooted Prime with WiFi disabled. Although the response seems generally positive on the XDA developers forums, not everybody is seeing our success. Either way, this update certainly didn’t make things worse; a step in the right direction to be sure.

Transformer Prime quietly gets GPS update, root killer originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientology. Oprah. Katie. Love. Weird. Dell. Maverick. Mission: Impossible. Streak 5. Ghost Protocol. Scientology (again). Weirdly enough, the smattering of things that seemingly don’t fit in that lineup have a place together, as what appears to be a Streak 5 has appeared in the “Sandstorm Chase” scene of Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol. Word on the street is that Tom needed 4.32 million of these things to ensure he had enough for a nearly unlimited amount of re-takes. And now, the whole ‘discontinued‘ thing makes total sense. Vid’s after the break, with the four of you who aren’t fans advised to head straight to 1:40.

Continue reading Screen Grabs: Tom Cruise dials up futuristic navigation on Streak 5 (video)

Screen Grabs: Tom Cruise dials up futuristic navigation on Streak 5 (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s Xoom 2 arrives at a point where Apple’s iPad (first- or second-generation…) still dominates the tablet market. The original Xoom was the first tablet to arrive with Android Honeycomb, an OS dedicated to the tablet form. In the months since we gave it a middling review, plenty more tablets arrived, faster, thinner, and more longevous (like the Galaxy Tab 10.1).

So what now? Well, Motorola has recast its Xoom: it’s made it faster, slimmer and lighter.
They’ve beefed up the disappointing screen found on the original, it’s now a Gorilla Glass-coated IPS screen that promises 178-degree viewing angles. But Motorola has also cut more corners than the four you see before you — ones that it hopes customers won’t miss.

However, with a certain quad-cored, ICS-imminent transforming tablet already stealing the hearts of many an Engadget reader (and editor), does this slimline sequel do enough to make up for its past mistakes? Is there now enough in the Android market to make Google-powered tablets a viable alternative to the iPad? Is £396 ($620) now too much to pay for a 16GB Android tablet that’s merely dual-core? We’ll be sure to try and answer all these right after the break.

Continue reading Motorola Xoom 2 review

Motorola Xoom 2 review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We already knew to expect a 7-incher today, and that’s exactly what we got in the Kindle Fire. We just asked Amazon Kindle vice president (and thinking man) Russ Grandinetti when we might expect a larger successor. With a smile, Russ said “Stay tuned,” and left it at that. If you’ll recall, RIM’s Ryan Biden told us at a past Engadget Show that there was “no reason” the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook couldn’t be shipped in a different size, and given recent rumors that both outfits were working with Quanta, it’s not too tough to read betwixt the lines. We also asked about an international release of the Fire, knowing that many of you are lamenting its US-only release in November. We got the same response there. So, it’s coming… the only question is when.

Is a 10-inch Kindle Fire coming? Amazon says ‘stay tuned’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Honestly, we were a little bit worried that Samsung’s rail-thin Galaxy Tab 10.1 was a mockup — you know, seeing as how Sammy never turned it on — but fast-forward to today and there’s a working model in Tinhte.vn‘s capable arms. Yes, the Vietnamese site that’s been leaking delicious Apple prototypes — not to mention the HP TouchPad’s SIM slot — found the 0.33-inch thin slate at an unnamed Samsung booth, powered it up, and proceeded to dive into the sticky-sweet mess of Android 3.0 and iPad 2 comparisons that such a discovery affords. You’ll find all that and some Angry Birds in the video immediately above.

[Thanks, Nate]

Samsung’s super slender Galaxy Tab 10.1 snacks on some Honeycomb (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon just filled in the rest of the Xoom pricing story — in addition to the $800 off-contract version that’s already up for pre-order at Best Buy, you’ll be able to sign a two-year data contract and pick up a Xoom for $600 upfront. That’s a decent savings, although you’ll be getting just 1GB of 3G data for $20/month, so it’s not exactly a stunning deal in the end: a Xoom and 24GB of data over two years for $1,080. On the plus side, Verizon has confirmed that the Xoom LTE upgrade will in fact be free when it goes live in Q2, which is terrific news — but we’re waiting to see what the LTE data plans look like before we get too excited. PR after the break.

Update: We’re hearing from Verizon reps that the Xoom will also be able to take advantage of the carrier’s larger data plans as well — $35 a month for 3GB, $50 a month for 5GB, and $80 a month for 10GB. Still no word on LTE pricing, though. [Thanks, droiddoesall]

Continue reading Verizon announces Xoom pricing: $600 on contract, $20 per month for 1GB data

Verizon announces Xoom pricing: $600 on contract, $20 per month for 1GB data originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just when it seemed the Notion Ink Adam had escaped the pit of dubious pre-orders and moved onto the glowing preview stage, here comes another hurdle to trip up its 10-inch PixelQi screen. Android Police reports that US buyers have received email notifications that their orders are ready to ship out, except for that little matter of FCC approval. We’ve yet to see the Adam pass the FCC — perhaps because it hasn’t done so quite yet — and the tablet will need to have its paperwork in order and be properly labeled before it can be imported into the US. Notion Ink insists that that all the red tape will be taken care of “within this week,” and that some international orders have already shipped out. We’re hoping that’s the case — we’d hate to think of all those poor slates sitting in boxes, instead of getting some sun.

Notion Ink Adam delayed pending FCC certification originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If what we’re looking at is really and truly a legitimate T-Mobile slide, then we’ve got practically the last part of the Galaxy Tab puzzle — that ever-elusive price point — as it states the slate will charm your wallet out of $399. That’d be a bit of a disappointment if true, as that’s the most we were told to expect and twice the Galaxy S’s price despite lacking telephone functionality. Still, it’s the first legitimately impressive Android tablet, and being on the bleeding edge isn’t cheap. We just wonder if Sammy can truly sell ten million on two-year contracts — or worse, going head to head at an unsubsidized $649 with the iPad 3G. Say it ain’t so, Sammy.

Samsung Galaxy Tab stars in leaked slide, T-Mobile version to cost $399? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Oct 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already seen a Samsung Galaxy Tab in the wild with a not-so-subtle CDMA sticker on it, and now BGR has a leaked screenshot that shows the seven-inch tablet headed to Verizon. That certainly sounds like it could be the Samsung i800 tablet we’ve seen on Verizon’s well-leaked roadmap, and we can also say that we’ve heard (but not confirmed) that the Tab will have 512MB of RAM, that the interface is quite smooth but still stuttery in areas, and that battery life is about six hours — but we’d take all that with a grain of salt, since anything can change before release. We’re definitely poking around for more, we’ll let you know.

Samsung Galaxy Tab headed to Verizon? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not much by way of detail here, but Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam just confirmed that his company is working on tablets with Google in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, that’s all we’ve got to work with at the moment — McAdam said tablets are “part of the ‘next big wave of opportunities,’ but didn’t say what OS the Google devices would run, just that Verizon’s “looking at all the things Google has in its archives that we could put on a tablet to make it a great experience.” That sounds like something Google’s been working on for a while, so we’ll take a guess and say it’s Android-based, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see a Chrome OS tablet or netbook make the scene at some point in the future. We’re also wondering who’ll build this thing: any number of companies from Dell to Toshiba to MSI have already started working on Android tablets, and we’re sure HTC and Motorola would totally jump at the opportunity. A nice crisp confirmed fact wrapped in layers of chewy speculation — just how we likes it.

Update: Bloomberg scored some more details in an interview with Marquett Smith, Verizon’s VP of corporate communications; the tablet is said be Android-based, and more details will be released later this week. Let the wait begin!

Verizon confirms it’s working on a tablet with Google (Update: Android!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 May 2010 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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