Rockchip's Android Prototype Smartphone With Their RK208 Chip Photo Leaks Out

Remember the Android handset that Rockchip is apparently working on? Well, they've finally unveiled the first pictures of the prototype device. It's going to be running on the Rockchip RK208 chip and will have support for a bunch of file codecs including H.264, RMVB, MPEG-4, AVS, WMV9, and 720p. The full spec sheet hasn't been mentioned yet so we'll have to wait around for that.

[Engadget]

Nokia C3 Passes the FCC As the RM-614

Another Nokia phone has just passed the FCC (here) and it's the C3. We don't have any specifications for this handset, but it should be cheap seeing how Nokia's C Series handsets shouldn't be expensive. It's got a wide body, so there's likely a QWERTY keyboard somewhere on here.

[Unwired View]

Samsung SGH-I897 Passes Bluetooth SIG, Extremely Similar Specs To the Galaxy S

Another awesome Samsung handset has just been spotted at the Bluetooth SIG, the SGH-I897, and it's sporting awfully similar specs to the Galaxy S. The phone sports a 4-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, Bluetooth 3.0, quad-band GSM connectivity, and the Android OS. Could it just be the Galaxy S for another region or could it be the Galaxy S Pro?

Update: According to Unwired View, this new variation is extremely similar to the GT-I9000. The only difference is the bands that it runs on so this could likely be the model headed to AT&T in the US. Of course, it could also hit Rogers in Canada.

[Samsung Hub]

iPhone OS 4.0 To Have Multitasking (Expose Style), Global Mailbox, and Contacts On the Homepage?

We heard that the iPhone OS 4.0 would have some sort of multitasking with an Expose like UI implementation a couple of weeks ago and those rumours have surfaced again. Apparently, the Expose UI will be triggered when you double-click the lone Home button on the front. Along with that news we're hearing that the next major OS update could include the global mailbox that Steve Jobs hinted at last week. Apparently, Apple is also looking to add contacts to your homepage, which is a great addition for many.

[Boy Genius]

Acer Aspire One D260 Netbook To Launch This Year, Dual-Booting Android and Windows 7

Acer plans to launch the Aspire One D260 netbook this year. Apparently, this will be another Acer netbook that will be dual-booting Android and Windows 7. Of course, it'll be the successor to the D250 that launched late last year. This netbook will be sporting a slight redesign. Acer has also mentioned that they'll be launching a Chrome OS netbook sometime this year - after Google launches it.

[Liliputing]

First Builds of MeeGo Now Available For Some Netbooks, MIDs, and the Nokia N900

If you're looking to be an early adopter of the new MeeGo OS then you can now get an early build of it. Intel Atom-based netbook, Intel Atom Moorestown handsets / MIDs, and the Nokia N900 are now eligible for the OS right now if you have any of those. The download (here) will boot off a USB or directly on the device themselves if you want to take the plunge. The full release is expected in May so it's just an early look of what the final product will look like at this point.

[Engadget, Liliputing]

Europe To Get the Samsung Galaxy S This June For €600?

Apparently, the Samsung Galaxy S will be headed to the market this June which is very late Q2. Apparently, some European countries will get this handset for €600 ($808 USD), while Russia will have to save up 30,000 rubies which is about €755 ($1,020 USD) - a rip-off. The picture above compares the Samsung Galaxy S with the Samsung Wave, while the bottom picture compares the Galaxy S with the HTC HD2. There are more comparison photos at the link below.

[Unwired View]

Panasonic Announce Six New VIERA D2 LCD HDTVs For Japan

Panasonic has just announced a bunch of new LCD HDTVs for Japan and they're all part of their Viera D2 Series and they all have IPS panels, which is a good thing. The larger D2 models all sport Ethernet / three HDMI / two USB 2.0 ports, an SD / SDXC card slot, Viera link and a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The 42 and 37-inch models will sport a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution, while the smaller 32-inch model will only have a 1,366 x 768 resolution. They'll be going for $2,400, $2,000, and $1,800, respectively.

The smaller D2 models all sport a 1,366 x 768 resolution, two USB 2.0 ports, two HDMI ports (except the 26-inch model which has three of them), Viera link, and an SD / SDXC card slot. The 26-inch, 22-inch, and 19-inch models will retail for $1,500, $900, and $750, respectively.

All of these HDTVs are expected to hit Japan on April 23rd except for the 42-inch model which will be released on June 11th.

[Slash Gear, Crunch Gear]

Asus Announces and Makes 5 All In One PCs Official

It's like we're always hearing about these all-in-one PCs from Asus and they've thankfully made them official. I'm talking about their Eee Top ET2010P, ET2010PN, ET2010PNT, ET2010AG, and ET2010AGT. 

The ET1610PT starts off the line by sporting a 15.6-inch display, an Intel Atom D410 1.6GHz CPU, integrated Intel GMA 3150 graphics, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB HDD, Ethernet port, WiFi b/g/n, and Windows XP Home.

The ET2010P sports a 20-inch display, an Intel Atom D410 1.6GHz CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB HDD, Intel NM10 integrated graphics, a DVD burner, six USB 2.0 ports, WiFi b/g/n, and an Ethernet port. 

The ET2010PN and the ET2010PNT both sport an Intel Atom dual-core D510 1.66GHz CPU, Nvidia Ion 2 graphics, 2GB of RAM, and Windows 7 Home Premium. The ET2010PNT sports a 20-inch multitouch display along with a 500GB HDD, while the ET2010PN ditches the multitouch display and has a smaller 320GB HDD.

The ET2010AG and the ET2010AGT both sport an AMD Athlon X2 dual-core 250u 1.6GHz CPU, a DVD burner, an HDMI port, and ATI Radeon HD 5470 graphics. The ET2010AGT sports a 20-inch multitouch display along with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD, while the ET2010AG ditches the multitouch display and has 2GB of RAM along with a 500GB HDD.

The price and official release dates haven't been mentioned.

[Slash Gear, Engadget]

Samsung Impact Hits Canada's Virgin Mobile For $50

Canada's Virgin Mobile looks like they have just launched a new handset, this being the Samsung Impact. This handset comes packed with a 3-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 240 x 400, a 3MP camera, a microSD card slot, and Bluetooth 2.0. You can get it now (here) for $49.99 on a 2-year contract and $149.99 on a 30-day plan.

[Mobile Syrup]

64GB Zune HD Launching On April 12th For $350

On April 12th, Microsoft will be releasing the 64GB model of their Zune HD. This is a long time coming and it's just sad that this PMP is only available in the USA. The 16GB and 32GB model will be slashed by $20 each, dropping the prices to $200 and $270, respectively. The 64GB model will cost you $349.99 and it'll have the latest v4.5 firmware on-board.

[Engadget, Crunch Gear]

New Sony Vaio P Models Hit the FCC With EV-DO 3G Via Qualcomm's Gobi

Although we don't know much about these two new Vaio P's that have hit the FCC, the AK8PCG11111L (here) and the AK8PCG31113L (here), we do know that they sport WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, along with CDMA / EV-DO connectivity thanks to the Qualcomm Gobi chipset. Sony has kept their mouth shut about this model, and they should do the big unveil before or on May 13th since that's what the confidentiality request is lifted. Maybe it's the Mark 2?

[Liliputing, Engadget]

BlackBerry Pearl 9105 To Sport T9 Numeric Keypad?

We know that RIM will probably make the BlackBerry Pearl 9100 with their traditional SureType QWERTY keyboard and we heard earlier this month that they could be making a full QWERTY model as well. The latest rumour states that the Pearl 9105 (just a mockup above) could actually sport a T9 style keypad. It looks kind of awkward to be honest and I think they should just stick with their SureType keyboard. Of course, some people will prefer this though.

[CrackBerry]

BenQ Announces the 21.5-Inch G2222HD Full HD Monitor In Japan

MSI has decided to launch another one of their monitors in Japan, why not. This one is the 21.5-inch G2222HD which impressively packs a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution, Senseye+Photo technology, a 40,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 250 nits of brightness, and a 5m Pixel Pitch (whatever that means). This monitor also packs a D-Sub and an HDMI port in case you're interested. The price hasn't been mentioned yet, so we'll have to wait around for that news. The press release is here if you're that curious.

[Akihabara News]

Asus Working On Two Tablets, One Running a Google OS and the Other With Windows

We've heard time and time again that Asus will be launching a tablet running either the Google Chrome OS or Android. That's not all they have up their sleeve though, since they've mentioned that they'll be launching another tablet this year running some sort of Windows OS. What we still don't know is any firm specifications of their tablets, but we have a good idea that they'll be running on the latest Tegra chipset.

Update: According to Slash Gear, Asus could be planning to unveil both of these tablets in Computex this June. I'm pretty sure we've heard this before.

[Electronista]
Picture Source: Engadget

BlackBerry Tour On Verizon Gets Push To Talk Functionality

If you have a BlackBerry Tour on Verizon then you can now get an addition that you may want. Push-to-talk functionality. This is now available on the Application Store or through VStart. "The convenience key on the left side of the device will automatically become the Push to Talk button when the application is downloaded." If you sign up for a new voice and BlackBerry data plan then Verizon will be handing out a 90-day promotion for the PTT functionalities.

[Unwired View]

Acer Aspire One 532h Netbook With 3G Hitting Japan's NTT DoCoMo On April 16th

Another netbook has hit NTT DoCoMo in Japan and it's a 3G (FOMA) model of the current Acer Aspire One 532h netbook. It's packing a similar spec sheet to what you're familiar with so you'll find a 10.1-inch display with a 1,024 x 600 resolution, an Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz CPU, a 250GB HDD, WiFi b/g/n / Bluetooth support, a 0.3MP webcam, a 3-cell battery, and Windows 7. You can get this netbook starting on April 16th and it'll come with a 50,000 yen ($535 USD) price tag.

[Netbooked, Akihabara News]

Japan's KDDI Gearing Up For Sharp IS01 "Smartphone", Looks More Like an MID Or Smartbook

If you live in Japan you should look out for this new product that KDDI is about to release. This is the Sharp IS01, which may look like a netbook, smartbook, or an MID, but apparently it works more like a smartphone. This "smartphone" packs a 5-inch multitouch display with a 480 x 960 resolution, a QWERTY keyboard, EV-DO Rev. A connectivity, a 1-Seg TV tuner, WiFi b/g / Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR support, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz CPU, 3GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, a 5MP on the back, a 0.43MP front-facing camera, and Android 1.6.

The battery life is said to be about 5 hours of talk time and 200 hours of standby time which is pretty impressive. Developers should be getting this in May, while consumers will have to wait until October of this year. The price hasn't been mentioned yet.

Update: Phandroid found a video of this device so I've pasted it below. Enjoy!





[Liliputing, Slash Gear]

Vodafone UK Now Taking Pre-Orders For the HTC Desire, Legend, and the XPERIA X10

A couple of new handsets are now available for pre-order on Vodafone UK. Obviously, as you can see from the pictures I'm talking about the HTC Desire and the HTC Legend. They're, of course, both available for free on select contracts (here and here, respectively).

Update: According to Pocket-Lint, the Desire will be available starting on April 8th and if you pre-order one now you'll be getting yours on April 13th.

As a reminder they also have the XPERIA X10 up for pre-orders as well, check that out here.

[Phandroid]

Best Buy Launches the Red Koodo Mobile LG Banter

Not much to tell you here that isn't in the title. Future Shop is selling the green LG Banter and Best Buy is now selling the red one. Of course, the price is the same, so you'll be stuck with Koodo Mobile and it costs $0 on the Tab and $125 contract-free.

[Mobile Syrup]

Sasktel Launches the Samsung r100 For Just $35

Sasktel, in Canada, has a new phone for you that you might be interested in. They have just launched the Samsung r100, but it's sadly just an entry-level handset. This phone features a 1.77-inch display with a 128 x 160 resolution, Bluetooth 2.1 support, and a non-standard 2.5mm headphone jack. They've decided to launch it for $35 on a 2-year contract, $55 on a 1-year contract, and $70 contract-free, which is pretty good.

[Mobile Syrup]

Apple Planning To Launch the iPad In Canada (and Worldwide?) On April 24th?

It looks like Canadians could be getting the iPad starting on April 24th. Apparently, there's a "black out period" on this day for staff and employees that work in the Apple Store, which means that you can't book this day off. Obviously, this means that something is up. This may not only affect Canadians since this could be the international launch day as well.

To add fuel to the fire, there's a rumour going around that states that pre-orders for the iPad will start this Friday, April 2nd.

[9 to 5 Mac]

PlayStation Move Hits the FCC, Still On Track For Holiday Release

The PlayStation Move appears to have just hit the FCC (here). Not much to mention here but it does have Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR. Sony plans to launch their "Motion Controller" in the holiday season of this year so you already know what to put on your Christmas wishlist.

[Engadget]

Motorola i1 iDEN Android Handset Hitting SouthernLINC Wireless First, Why?

The Motorola i1 (formerly the Opus One) will be hitting SouthernLINC in the US first before it hits anywhere else. Of course, this only benefits the people that live in Alabama, Georgia, and the western part of Florida since you'll only find the carrier there. This handset is the first iDEN Android handset, and the launch for the rest of America should follow up shortly after.

[Engadget]

Koodo Mobile To Launch Some Kind Of BlackBerry

It looks like Koodo Mobile will be launching the BlackBerry in the future. Of course, right now we don't know which BlackBerry they're going to launch but the rumours are mentioning that Curve 8530 is a good guess. Check out Koodo Mobile's BlackBerry site here.

[Mobile Syrup]

Toshiba K01 Hitting Japan Via KDDI As the IS02

KDDI in Japan has just announced something pretty sweet. They'll be launching the Toshiba K01 as the KDDI Toshiba IS02. This will be running Windows Mobile 6.5.3 and will pack EVDO Rev. A connectivity. Of course, the rest of the spec you already know, so there's a 4.1-inch OLED touchscreen display, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2 MP AF camera, and WiFi b/g / Bluetooth support. Hopefully Toshiba has ironed out their problems because the phone was slow and sluggish when they were prancing it around at MWC earlier this year.

[Slash Gear]

Adobe and Google Announce Partnership, Chrome OS To Have Flash Integration

This morning, Adobe and Google announced a partnership and the first thing they've done is pre-installed Flash on the dev build of Google Chrome. That's not all though. Google mentioned that deep Flash integration will also be included into the Chrome OS as well, which we know will be hitting some netbooks and possibly even tablets before the end of the year.

We already know that the iPad doesn't support Flash so this is really something. Hopefully Google will be able to keep up the battery life while playing those Flash videos - they should also keep it from crashing as much as well. HTML5 may be the future, but a lot of websites and games out there still rely on Flash so it's good to know that Google has got Adobe's back.

This Apple and Google relationship is really starting to turn extremely sour.

[Tech Crunch]

iBuyPower Releases the Battalion Touch CZ-11 Multitouch Gaming Notebook For $1,100

Well, waddaya know, another gaming notebook from iBuyPower. This one is the Battalion Touch CZ-11 gaming notebook that packs a 15.6-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution multitouch display. It's packing a nice spec sheet seeing how it's a gaming notebook. Inside you'll find an Intel Core i7 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB HDD, ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics, WiFi b/g/n, and an optional Blu-ray drive. The base model is going for $1,100 USD and Engadget is quick to mention that the flaming design is optional. Check it out iBuyPower here.

[Engadget]

LG (GT540) Swift Goes Up For Pre-Orders On Play.com

It looks like Play.com here has just put up the pre-orders for the LG GT540 as the Swift. It's going for £199.99 on their site and will be available starting on April 30th. We know that this handset packs a touchscreen display, a 3.15MP camera, a 3,5mm headphone jack, a microSD card slot, WiFi, an FM radio, and Android.

[Phandroid]

Cricket Launching a Bunch of Phones This Year Including the Kyocera Zio and the BB Curve 8530

Cricket looks like they're planning to launch a bunch of new phones to make their line-up a bit stronger. This includes the Kyocera Zio M6000 and the BlackBerry Curve 8530. The Kyocera Zio was announced last week so we know that it features a 3.5-inch WVGA touchscreen display, WiFi / GPS support, a 3.2MP camera, and Android 2.1. This handset will be available this July for $299 contract-free. The BlackBerry Curve 8530 will be available for $349.99 sometime in August.

Cricket will be launching a couple of other phones as well and this includes the Samsung r710 which will launch in Q4 of this year. This handset will pack a 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen display, Streo Bluetooth, EV-DO connectivity, and a 3MP camera. This handset will be available for $249.99. The Samsung r631 will be available in Q3 of this year for $199.99. This handset will pack a touchscreen display along with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Stereo Bluetooth and a 2MP camera. The Kyocera RIO E3100 will launch in November for $159.99. It'll feature a 2.8-inch touchscreen QVGA display, a microSD card slot, and a 1.3MP camera. The Cricket TXTM8 3G A410 will be launching this September for $159.99 and it'll pack EV-DO connectivity, a 2.2-inch QVGA display, a 2MP camera, a microSD card slot, and a QWERTY keypad. The Cricket MSGM8 II will launch this April for $139.99 and will feature a QWERTY keypad with a 176 x 220 resolution display, Bluetooth support, and a 1.3MP camera. The Cricket CAPT II will be launching in July for $129.99 and it's a basic flip phone with a VGA camera.

Along with all of these new phones, Cricket will also be launching the A605 USB stick, the Huawei EC5808 MiFi, and a ZTE modem.

[Unwired View]

Samsung Wave For Europe Spotted At the GCF

Samsung's first Bada handset, the Samsung Wave, looks like it'll be hitting Europe since it's just been spotted at the GCF with dual-band 900/2100MHz UMTS/HSDPA connectivity. We don't know which carrier will get it right now, so we'll have to wait for that. Carphone Warehouse will likely be getting it in the future seeing how they already have a page dedicated for this phone.

[Slash Gear]

Europe To Get the Palm Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus In the Future

It looks like Palm is going to finally show Europe some love seeing how both the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus have just been spotted at the GCF with quad-band GSM and dual-band 900/2100MHz HSDPA connectivity. We don't know which carriers will get this right now, but we do know that the original Palm Pre is available on O2.

[Slash Gear, Gizmodo]

Carphone Warehouse Releases the Vodafone and Orange UK HTC Desire

Thanks to Carphone Warehouse, the HTC Desire is now available on both Vodafone and Orange in the UK. You can get this Android-based handset for free on a 2-year contract where you'll have to pay £30 monthly or you can buy the phone for £399 if you want to go on a pay-as-you-go contract. If you're interested in getting this pretty amazing phone, check it out here.

[Tech Radar]

iPad Clone Spotted In China Running Android

Well, here's an iPad. Oh wait, it's actually a clone straight from China but the manufacturer is unknown right now. This tablet looks pretty similar to the iPad, but it features a wider 10-inch touchscreen display (sideways) and a 600MHz ARM SoC chipset. The good thing about this iPad is that it'll be running Android but they customized it took exactly like the iPad.

[Slash Gear]

MSI Pushes Out Four New LED-Backlit and Eco-Friendly Monitors

A couple of new Asus monitors as a part of their Designo Series have just made their way onto the scene. There's four of them in total: MS208, MS228, MS238, and the MS248. They're all fairly eco-friendly which is great thing since they're all sporting LED-backlit displays. The lowest end is, of course, the smallest number which is the MS208. It's sporting a 1,600 x 900 resolution along with a 5ms response time. The other three models sport a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution and the MS228 sports an HDMI audio-out port. The MS238 and the MS248 throw in an earphone jack as well.

The MS228 will be going for AU$499, while the MS238 will be going for AU$599. Unfortunately, we don't know when they'll be launching and we don't know the prices of the other two models.

[Maximum PC, Slash Gear]

Dell Latitude E6410, E6510, and Precision M4500 Notebook Go Live!

Hmm, a couple of new Dell notebooks to talk about today. First up it's the Latitude E6410 and the E6510. You may remember that the E6510 notebook hit the FCC at the beginning of February. In Europe, the E6410 is available to order now with a base price of £749 ($1,128) while the E6510 should go live in a couple of days. Anyways, the E6410 features a 14.1-inch display (WXGA or WXGA+), Intel Core i5 / i7 CPU options, two DDR3 RAM slots, Nvidia NVS 3100M graphics, DVD / Blu-ray drive options, and Windows Vista / 7 OS options. The E6510 should have a similar spec sheet but it packs a 15.6-inch display with an optional 1080p resolution display. Check out the E6410 and the E6510 on Dell's website here and here, respectively.

Update: Engadget has just pointed out that these two notebooks are both available in the US now. The E6410 is here, while the E6510 is here. The E6410 sports a 14.1-inch display and starts at $1,014, while the E6510 features a 15.6-inch display with an Intel Core i7-720QM. This one starts at $1,681.

Dell released another notebook, the Precision M4500. This notebook is packing a strong spec sheet with its 15.6-inch display (up to a Full HD resolution), Intel Core i5 / i7 CPU options, various HDD / SSD options, Nvidia Quadro FX 880M / 1800M graphics, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, and DVD / Blu-ray options. Of course, there's an optional 3MP webcam, WiFi a/g/n / HSPA / EVDO Rev. A connectivity, four USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth 2.1, FireWire / VGA / DisplayPort / Ethernet / eSATA ports, and audio jacks. Check it out on Dell USA here where you can get it for $1,549.

Dell Latitude E6410 / E6510 Peeks Out: Engadget
Dell Precision M4500 Notebook Now Available: Slash Gear

Asus Releases the Eee PC 1001PX and 1005PE Netbooks

Asus has just released two more netbooks that you might like, the 1001PX and the 1005PE. The Eee PC 1001PX is similar to the 1001P that is already available, but it packs Windows XP along with only two USB 2.0 ports. The rest of the spec sheet is the same so you'll find a 10.1-inch matte display with a 1,024 x 600 resolution, an Intel Atom N450 CPU, WiFi b/g / optional Bluetooth 2.1 support, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB / 250GB HDD, and a 3 / 6-cell battery. You can find it for $279 on Excaliber PC here.

The 1005PE is pretty similar and it packs a 10.1-inch display with a 1,024 x 600 resolution, an Intel Atom N450 CPU, WiFi b/g/n, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB HDD, Windows 7 Starter Edition, and a 6-cell battery. It's also got a matte lid with a nice looking textured pattern. Check it out on Amazon here.

[Liliputing]

Samsung Galaxy S Pro To Pack a QWERTY Keyboard?

When the Samsung Galaxy S was announced at CTIA last week it was one of the best smartphones to be announced to date - at least on paper. The latest rumour states that Samsung is planning to launch the Galaxy S Pro which will essentially be the Galaxy S with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

In case you forgot, this handset features a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED touchscreen display, a 1GHz CPU, a 5MP camera with 720p video recording capabilities, WiFi / GPS / Bluetooth 3.0 support, 16GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot, and Android 2.1 with Samsung's own custom UI. Apparently, the Pro version will launch in late Summer after the Galaxy S launches.

[Samsung Hub, Unwired View]

Rogers Getting the White BlackBerry Bold 9700 In the Future

We don't know when it will launch right now, but it looks like Rogers will be launching a white model of their BlackBerry Bold 9700. Since this is the first time we've heard about this colour for the Bold 9700, Rogers should be getting it first. I know some people who like white devices, but I'm not one of them.

[Mobile Syrup]