Spanish tech news website, Clipset, is claiming [translation], after getting some hands-on time with the HP Slate during a presentation, that the device will officially launch this June and be available in Europe for €400 by September. HP further confirmed that the Slate will run Windows 7, be powered by an Intel Atom processor, support Flash content, will include USB connectivity, a memory card reader, and have a camera located on its rubberized backplate. Clipset points out in their post that the HP Slate has a lot in common with a netbook, while the iPad, in comparison, is more of an extended iPhone — which I would say is a fairly accurate assessment being that you can install any Windows-based software on the device and even use a 3G wireless USB dongle for mobile connectivity. More pics and a Flash demo here. [via]

It seems a lot of people are enamoured by Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 Series smartphone OS. So much so, in fact, that an industrial designer by the name of Umang Dokey has rendered a 8-inch tablet mockup running the OS and sporting a few trick features like 3D video conferencing via its dual front-facing webcams, a kickstand that can double as a keyboard, and a pair of backplate located joystick nubs for gaming. Honestly, it’s not bad — though it would be interesting to see how well the actual OS would scale up for tablet use. [via] MORE »

Love it. The underdog, Fusion Garage, is showing off a slick, new UI days before the JooJoo tablet launch exclusively to Engadget (ETA: March 25th). You can say the UI has been overhauled and refined from what everyone got a glimpse of a few months back on the development tablet. Gone are the ugly multi-colored homescreen and wireframe icons. The new UI, with its swappable wallpaper and translucent menus, has more of a netbook look now — somewhat reminiscent of Joicloud. Anyhow, it’s got my attention. In addition, JooJoo has reworked the gesture controls for scrolling (one-finger “pan”, two-finger “page scroll”), improved the keyboard interfaces, and replaced the pinch-to-go-back gesture with a vertical screen swipe that brings down the top control panel. Lastly, Fusion garage is confirming that the JooJoo tablet will only be sold in the black and champagne color scheme for the time being (a black-on-black version was also shown to the press at one time and is currently displayed on the site’s accessories page). And in case you were wondering… yes, JooJoo supports Flash and H.264 video for a “full web experience.” NEW: JooJoo’s internals revealed via the FCC. MORE »

Attached here is a video from Mobile World Congress 2010 with Freescale’s product manager of software development explaining that Freescale’s sub-$200 ARM (i.MX51 Cortex-A8) tablets will be compatible with just about any Linux distribution that supports ARM processors like Ubuntu, Chromium OS, and Android. And not only that… Freescale’s tablets are able to play Flash 10.1 content and HTML5 video. It’s unclear exactly who will be selling the tablets, but my guess is that they will be branded and sold by partners running Freescale’s in-house developed OS. Or perhaps the partners will load whichever OS they choose? In any case, this is great news for Linux enthusiasts ’cause it means they now have a tablet that they know they can easily tweak and customize to their heart’s desire. Hey, Freescale…! If you’re reading this post, consider including Linux multi-touch support – details. MORE »

Joel Johnson over at Gizmodo has posted a glowing review of Air Video, a $3 iPhone and iPod touch compatible app that can stream videos from a server PC over a local area network via Wi-Fi or remotely over 3G. Besides the incredible price, Joel was impressed by how easy Air Video’s Mac OS X / Windows server application is to configure in order to share folders/files from the computer itself or from a NAS. He also liked the fact that H.264 files are streamed automatically while non-H.264 files (even massive 1080p Blu-ray movie rips, if you’re PC is up to the processing task) are transcoded on-the-fly for instant playback. There’s even an option to convert a video file to H.264 for future use. All in all, Air Video sounds like a must-have app for any digital home enthusiast who has a large collection of videos they want to tap into through their mobile device. MORE »

Last night you may have caught Apple’s first iPad commerical during the Oscars — it wasn’t bad. But did you know HP posted their Slate commercial a couple days earlier on YouTube? Yeah, I didn’t either. I’m not even sure if it’s been broadcasted on TV yet. In any case, attached below is HP’s Slate TV commercial and a video demo created by Adobe showing off HP Slate’s uncompromised internet browsing experience using Flash and its ability to run Adobe AIR applications like the Times Reader 2.0 and Pandora One from the Adobe AIR Marketplace. On top of that, you’ll also get to see glimpses of Slate’s UI and multiple views of the hardware itself, which looks pretty much finalized. No word on launch, but you can sign up for updates at hp.com/slate. MORE »

A “trusted” Microsoft insider has informed Engadget that Microsoft’s upcoming Courier “Digital Journal” will make use of NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 graphics platform, be less than an inch thick, weigh just over a pound, will include a camera (location not specified), and will be no larger than a 5×7 photo when the book-like form factor is closed. Interestingly (or maybe not), the OS the device will run is Windows CE — the same OS that powers Zune HD, Pink, and Windows Mobile 7 Series. But the piece of news that’s piqued my interest is that the Courier will have a corresponding website that essentially functions as an online copy of your journal in a “blog-like format complete with comments.” It all sounds impressive. Lets hope Microsoft can deliver. The tablet market desperately needs an innovator in the space to show the others what the segment is capable of (yes, I’m looking at you enlarged smartphone platforms masquerading as magical and revolutionary devices). Rumored launch Q3/Q4 (unclear if it’s Q3/Q4 of this year or next). MORE »

A couple years ago I set out to look for a wireless VoIP handset that I could use around the home. Unfortunately, I came up short on products that I would actually buy — most were simple Skype powered phones or SIP enabled phones with horrible UIs. The best bet, even today, has been to install a VoIP app on your Wi-Fi smartphone (i.e. Fring). But what if you’re like me and want a dedicated home phone with both smartphone and VoIP capabilities? Well, that may soon become a reality. Pictured here is DSP Group’s DECT multimedia phone reference design [PDF Brochure] that leverages the Android OS (including apps from the Android market) and provides DECT wireless, Wi-Fi connectivity, DLNA media streaming, TV remote functionality, home automation control, and full web browsing through a 3.5-inch touchscreen. In other words, this wireless home phone can be used with your traditional landline service and / or be used as a VoIP / Google Voice phone. Presentation video below. [via] MORE »

Archos has unveiled a unique offering [PDF] today that might very well get a lot of people’s attention. For a $179 you’ll soon be able to pick up the company’s new 7-inch widescreen mobile or 8-inch 4:3 table-top Android Home Tablet. You can think of the ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet as a budget version of the ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet with a larger screen, while the ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet is more of kitchen computer/digital media photo frame (think Sony dash, not iPad). In fact, the ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet comes with custom software that can display photo slideshows (or video), cooking receipes (powered by Cookineo), weather updates, business directories, and a family calendar. Both models share the same 600Mhz ARM 9 processor, 12mm thickness, Wi-Fi, and extended battery life (7 hours video playback, 44 hours for music), though storage options differ. The ARCHOS 7 Home Tablet will be available in 2GB/4GB (add another $20-30 more for the extra 2GB), ARCHOS 8 Home Tablet will only be available with 4GB. Launch date: April 2010. MORE »

Originally I was going to write up a post on Crestron’s Home Automation iPad App (supposedly one of the first for the device, according to CE Pro), but then I noticed from the rendering that it’s just the iPhone / iPod touch version scaled up by Apple’s iPad — though I could be wrong (no additional iPad app screenshots or demo video were available). I know people are excited for the retail launch of the iPad, but I think app developers need some new terminology for better transparency right from the get-go. For one, I would suggest calling any iPhone / iPod touch app that plays nice with the iPad as “iPad Compatible” and native apps as “Designed for iPad”. The reason I say this is because Apple has included some nifty UI features exclusive to the iPad that takes advantage of the larger screen size like drop-down / pop-over menus, sidebar controls, dual page views, etc. In fact, you can get a glimpse of what I’m talking about on Apple’s iPad feature page or just look at the iWork suite for iPad or NY Times’ iPad app. These apps were designed for the iPad, and leverage lots of the new functionality. So going forward app developers, reporters, and bloggers, please make the distinction clear. Thanks! (By the way, this is the same advice I would give to Android app developers targeting both handsets and the new crop of tablet devices.)

UPDATE: The Creston app is iPad “compatible”, according to Creston’s own Apple product page.  It states: “Both apps [Creston Mobile, Creston Mobile Pro] are compatible with the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod touch and iPad.” [Demo]