ASUS’s PadFone has been making regular appearances at tech shows since it debuted at Computex last May. But today at Mobile World Congress, ASUS showed off a final version of the phone/ tablet combo, and we got to spend some time with it.

The PadFone is powered by a 1.5-Ghz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 1GB of RAM. That kind of power is certainly needed, because the PadFone also serves as the guts for its optional 10.1-inch PadFone Station, tablet-style dock. At first glance, performance appears snappy, we didn’t detect any lag when navigating through Android 4.0′s menus. Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, Canonical is on hand at MWC 2012 to demo Ubuntu for Android. This solution gives Android smartphone owners full access to the Ubuntu operating system when their handset is docked and connected to an external monitor. Best of all, Android applications are still available once the phone is docked into Ubuntu mode, so you can access phone contacts on the desktop. Read the rest of this entry »

After nearly a year’s worth of anticipation, and several early showings, ASUS at last showed off the final version of its PadFone. The device combines the power of a phone, tablet and netbook in one product. At its heart the PadFone is a 4.3-inch smartphone powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon S4 1.5-Ghz dual-core processor. The Android Ice Cream Sandwich device is available with 16GB/32GB/64GB of memory and 1GB of RAM.

Upfront the phone features a Super AMOLEDqHD display with a 960 x 540 resolution. Seated above the display is the PadFone’s front-facing camera, a standard VGA model, and opposite that, on the rear of the device, is its 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. ASUS says the PadFone will initially launch as an HSPA+ model, however, an LTE version is due out in Q3 2012. Read the rest of this entry »

Talk about Google Goggles: Google is reportedly working on a pair of Android-powered glasses that will have a heads-up display, and respond to head movements, according to a report by 9to5google. The glasses, which reportedly look like a pair of Oakley Thumps, will have the processing equivalent of a first-gen Android phone, which 9to5google speculates could be a 1GHz ARM A8, 256MB RAM and 8GB of storage. A front-facing camera will be able to take pictures  and be used with augmented reality apps. 

 Not much else is known about these specs, but, based on what we think we know, here are a few things we’d like to see implemented in the glasses.  Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone loves the iCade, but how many gamers want to lug that hefty iPad accessory around town? ThinkGeek clearly knows that mobility is key, as it just unveiled a much more manageable version of its popular accessory at Toy Fair.

The iCade 8-Bitty offers the same gaming controls as its big brother the iCade, but in a teensy rectangular package that could easily fit into your backpack or purse. You get eight buttons (four face buttons, select, start, and two shoulder buttons) plus a D-pad for navigation. The 8-bitty is powered by two AAA batteries.

Unfortunately, no working prototype was available at the show. ThinkGeek estimates that the 8-Bitty will retail for about $24.99 in Q3.

We’ve picked four of the fastest, sleekest portable hard drives of 2012 from some of the industry’s leading manufacturers and evaluated them based on price, design, selection of utilities and most importantly, speed. Though each drive supports USB 3.0 and features at least 750GB of storage space, not each device is created equal. Which of these drives offers the perfect combination of speed, design and price? Read on to find out.

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Buffalo MiniStation Extreme ($169)

Last January, Buffalo released the MiniStation Stealth, an unassuming portable hard drive that featured the fastest file transfer speeds we'd yet seen. Now, having released the MiniStation Extreme, Buffalo hopes to create a drive that is not only faster than the Stealth but features shock-resistance as well. Read on to find out if Buffalo succeeded.

Read Our Review of Buffalo MiniStation Extreme

Matt Hickey at The Daily reported last Friday that Microsoft plans to bring its popular Kinect motion-sensing device onto laptops in the near future. The preview laptops, which appeared to be ASUS netbooks running Windows 8, feature a number of sensors running across the top of the screen where the webcam would normally be positioned. The Kinect will be able to function at such close distances thanks to the device’s new ”Near Mode,” which allows it to detect movement from a distance as close as 40 centimeters. Although Steve Ballmer announced Kinect for Windows at CES, this is the first time that a device has been integrated directly into the hardware of a notebook.

Since the Kinect was first released in 2010, hackers have been devising ingenious ways to transform the device into everything from a virtual fitting room to a robotic, lightsaber-wielding “Jedibot”. As astoundingly creative as these projects may be, however, ordinary users may be less thrilled about how – for instance – surgeons are using the hands-free motion controls of the Kinect to manipulate images, speeding up operations and reducing the risk of contamination. So what kind of practical applications can the average user expect? Here are five ways the Kinect can be used to enhance your daily laptop experience:

Read the rest of this entry »

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show is over, but so many tech news stories, product showcases and software announcements came from the convention that you’re almost guaranteed to have missed something. If you take a look at our wrap up guides, you just might catch up on something you overlooked. Here’s everything we saw — and loved — at CES 2012.

CES 2012: Best in Show

The Annual Best of CES Awards
Here are the show’s standout products in 13 categories including the best smartphone, laptop, tablet, auto technology and accessory to surface in an unending swell of new gadgets.

Reader’s Choice Award 
The Best of CES Awards spotlights our editors’ top picks from the annual convention, but this year our readers had a decidedly different take on the single hottest piece of new tech.  

CES 2012: The Hottest Products

Best Laptops of CES 2012
Seven of these 8 clamshells fell short of a Best of CES Award, but they certainly garnered their fair share of time in the spotlight. Check out the laptops we eagerly look forward to reviewing this year.  

Best Smart Phones of CES 2012
The show’s smartphone announcements include a big step forward for Windows Phone, larger-than-ever screen sizes and phone cameras with the best specs we’ve encountered.

Best Tablets of CES 2012
This year’s tablets will offer longer battery life, lower prices and clearer screen resolutions.

CES 2012: The Biggest News Stories, Our Commentary and Live Video Coverage

Top 10 Videos of CES 2012
Some tech you have to see for yourself, like the Tobii Gaze Interface which, someday, will take hands-free to a whole new level by allowing you to navigate a computer screen just by looking at it. 

CES 2012: Biggest News Stories
CES doubles as a town hall for the world’s most successful tech companies to make huge announcements. This year, Microsoft embarked on its last CES keynote address and Intel announced partnerships to build smart phones with Lenova and Motorola.

SpoonFed: Top 5 Things I Learned at CES 2012
CES is too big to leave without thoughts on the long-view of tech. LAPTOP Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer learned that despite Ultrabooks’  lionshare of limelight at the show, hybrid Android tablets that connect to keyboard docks could be a bigger trend. 

CES 2012: How Our Staff’s Mobile Gear Performed
We armed ourselves with some of the best gadgets of 2011 and tested them in the fast-paced halls of North American’s largest tech show. Check above to see how the MacBook Air 13, ASUS Zenbook UX31 Ultrabook, Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone and other favorite gadgets performed in action. 

LAS VEGAS — 2012 was an exciting year for news and trends at the Consumer Electronics Show. Among other things, the show kicked off with Microsoft’s final keynote address,  Intel gave us a glimpse of the future of DLNA, Texas Instruments demonstrated that tablets using its processors can wirelessly stream a movie to a TV and play a game at the same time, Nvidia touted the power of its Tegra 3 mobile processor and OnStar announced its plan to provide car passengers access to streaming content through Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Check out our slideshow to see some of the other major announcements from CES 2012.

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Metro, Metro, Metro! Microsoft’s Final Keynote Kicks Off CES 2012

CES 2012 formally kicked off with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s keynote address, which was the company’s last at the trade show. The keynote detailed Microsoft technologies such as Windows Phone and Windows 8, as well as notable product announcements (such as ultrabooks; Nokia’s Lumia 900; and the HTC Titan). In the end, Ballmer underscored that Windows is the linchpin of the company. “There’s nothing more important to Microsoft than Windows," Balmer said at the address. "Metro will drive the new magic across all of our user experience. What’s next at Microsoft in 2012? Metro, METRO, METRO! Windows, WINDOWS, WINDOWS!”

Read the Full Story Here

LAS VEGAS — EFun announced three new tablets here at CES 2012 and we spent some lengthy hands-on time with each of them. The tablets, which include the 7-inch Premium 7, the 8-inch Premium 8 and the 9.7-inch Premium 10, will all come preloaded with Google’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich rather than Android Honeycomb and getting an update to Ice Cream Sandwich later.

The Premium 7 and Premium 8 are basically fraternal twins, identical on the inside, different on the outside. Both tablets feature the same 1-Ghz single-core ARM Rockchip RK2918 Cortex-A8 processor and front-facing cameras. But where the Premium 7 has an 800 x 480 resolution 7-inch display, the Premium 8 has a higher resolution 1024 x 600 8-inch screen. Pricing for the units has yet to be announced, although the 7-inch could sell for as low as $129, and the 8-incher could go for $149. Read the rest of this entry »