Showing posts with label first. Show all posts
Showing posts with label first. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
HP intros the Pavilion 14 Chromebook its first Chrome OS device available now for 330
Remember last week when HP leaked a 14-inch Chromebook on its own site? That was a big surprise, to say the least -- the company has never put out a Chrome OS system before, and we werent aware this was even that popular a category. Well, HP just officially announced the Pavilion 14 Chromebook, and pretty much the only surprise is the availability date: we had heard it would go on sale February 17th, but its actually available today for $330.
Suffice to say, thats more than what youll pay for Samsungs Chromebook ($249) or Acers C7 ($199). For the money, it offers similar specs as the Acer C7, but the design appears considerably more polished. Meanwhile, with a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron 847 CPU and 2GB of RAM, it should perform a bit better than the Samsung model, which has a nice design, but chugs along on a lower-powered ARM processor. Like most other Chromebooks, this one has 16GB of built-in flash storage, along with a 1,366 x 768 display. Users also get 100GB of Google Drive space (free for the first two years).
All told, this 14-inch system weighs about four pounds, making it not only the biggest Chromebook on the market, but the heaviest. At least that 0.8-inch chassis makes room for a good selection of ports: HDMI output, three USB 2.0 sockets and an SD reader. It even has an Ethernet jack, something that Samsungs removed from its latest Chrome OS device. Unfortunately, though, a bigger footprint doesnt mean a bigger battery: the Pavilion 14 Chromebook is rated for four hours and 15 minutes of runtime, putting it behind Samsungs model. So, are a sleek design and stronger performance worth the premium? Well tackle that in our eventual review, but if you buy today youll just have to make that call yourself
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Polytron unveils worlds first transparent smartphone
Taiwanese company Polytron has unveiled a transparent smartphone prototype this week and suggests they could be in the shops by the end of 2013
Flexible displays are all well and good, but what about a phone thats completely see-through? Thats what Taiwanese company Polytron has done, unveiling a prototype this week.
The handset - which doesnt have a name yet - is developed from glass and only the visible elements are the board, memory card and camera.
Polytron has been working on glass-based technology for a while and has developed "Polyvision Privacy Glass" whereby liquid crystal molecules randomly orientated inside the glass line up when an electric charge is applied. So, while the glass is opaque when the power is off, fire it up and the sheet becomes see-through. This would have uses in a smartphone to cover up non-transparent parts like the SIM card.
The smartphone features a touchscreen interface in the center giving (at the moment) very basic functionality as theres no OS. Despite this, Polytron is planning to market the technology by the end of the year.
How far away this technology is from mainstream uses is impossible to say, but you can have a glance at a hands-on video of the transparent prototype over on the Mobile Geeks website.
The handset - which doesnt have a name yet - is developed from glass and only the visible elements are the board, memory card and camera.
Polytron has been working on glass-based technology for a while and has developed "Polyvision Privacy Glass" whereby liquid crystal molecules randomly orientated inside the glass line up when an electric charge is applied. So, while the glass is opaque when the power is off, fire it up and the sheet becomes see-through. This would have uses in a smartphone to cover up non-transparent parts like the SIM card.
The smartphone features a touchscreen interface in the center giving (at the moment) very basic functionality as theres no OS. Despite this, Polytron is planning to market the technology by the end of the year.
How far away this technology is from mainstream uses is impossible to say, but you can have a glance at a hands-on video of the transparent prototype over on the Mobile Geeks website.
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