Visit our other websites:    On CE ... eSP ... Mobile Channels ... ECI news ... rAVe Europe ... Digital Signage News EMEA

It's a Pad! It's a Phone! It's a... Padfone?

E-mail Print PDF

PadfoneAsus combines the CE market's fastest growing categories (mobiles and tablets) into one device-- the Padfone, which it unveils at Taipei's Computex 2011.

Simply put, the Padfone is an Android smartphone with an included touchscreen tablet dock. The tablet carries its own battery cell, meaning it also expands the combined device's battery life.

The device dynamically switches displays whenever users connect the phone part to the tablet, while sharing data and 3G aconnection access between mobile and tablet parts.

More details are unavailable at the time of writing-- Asus is still to confirm its actual dimensions (the models at the show include a 4.3" smartphone and a 10.1" tablet) and the Android version it will carry.

The Padfone unveiling comes alongside a slew of other Asus announcements, including new notebook models (in Asus' UX and N series) and the Eee Pad MeMO 3D 7" Honeycomb tablet.

Go Asus Padfone

MeMO Gets Glasses-Free Depth

E-mail Print PDF

Eee Pad MeMO 3DAlongside its other Computex 2011 announcements Asus introduces a new tablet-- the Eee Pad MeMO 3D, a 7" Honeycomb slate.

Making the device unique is its glasses-free 3D IPS display (with 1280 x 800 resolution). Asus says the device is designed for use in portrait orientation, and it comes with with a capacitative stylus for note taking functions.

Powering the device is a Qualcomm 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and it comes with HDMI connectivity and front- and back-facing cameras.

The package also include a MeMIC bluetooth mobile phone-style remote control/headset which also takes calls, and it should be available sometime in Q4 2011.

Go Asus at Computex 2011

Chrome OS Hits Desktops

E-mail Print PDF

It was only inevitable-- a company (Xi3, in this case) puts Chromium OS in a modular desktop PC, naming the result "ChromiumPC".

ChromiumPCChromium is the open source variant of Google's cloud-based Chrome OS, recently on the headlines with the Chromebooks' announcement.

A single- or dual-core processor will power the ChromiumPC, within a modular design consisting of three components-- processor module (contains CPU and RAM), primary I/O module ("the majority of external communications ports") and secondary I/O module (ethernet, video and power connections).

Housing all is a snug (and shiny) alumium chassis.

The ChromiumPC is based on Xi3's previous take on the modular design, the 5 Series -- so one can assume it will have similar features, such as a number of USB, DVI, DisplayPort and eSATA connections.

It should start shipping at around Q2 2011's end in a number of colours, including (obviously!) chrome. Will customers be ready to forego their storage in favour of the cloud, though? If not, Xi3 promises one can switch OS by purchasing a different processor module...

Go Xi3 Announces Chromium OS-based Modular Computer

Kobo's E-Ink Tablet Gets Touched

E-mail Print PDF

Kobo eReader TouchKobo adds touch screen functionality to its eReader-- combining the touch-based controls with a more reader-comfortable e-ink screen.

To get around regular e-ink touchscreens (which tend to suffer from being low contrast) Kobo uses IR sensors to detect where the user's fingers are. The screen itself is 6" in size, with 16 greyscale levels.

Being wifi enabled, it also allows for internet browsing as well as ebooks (in epub and pdf formats). It also comes with free apps for iDevices, Blackberry (smartphones and Playbook), Android smartphones, PC and Mac.

Kobo says the device's battery life is up to 10 days, while memory is expandable to 32GB via SD cards.

Go Kobo eReader Touch

Memory Market on the Rebound

E-mail Print PDF

DRAMeXchange issues its 2010 WW memory industry results, where revenue is up by 54% (reaching $9.3Bn) from 2009, thanks to strong demand and rising memory prices.

The analyst says the industry is recovering, thanks to DRAM prices' rebound in 2009 (following 2008's financial crisis).

Memory market

Kingston is current leader in the WW memory industry, taking over 51% market share (up from 2009's 39%) and 95% Y-o-Y revenue growth. Following are A-DATA and Ramaxel, who basically nearly all remaining market share-- a case of big market players eliminating any regional (and thus smaller) module makers.

Kingston is also increasing its revenue through its entering the PC-OEM DRAM supply chain-- a move that also helps increase its market share.

The 4GB specification's becoming a PC market standard is, however, making it more difficult for module houses to generate revenue through consumer upgrade demand, according to DRAMeXchange.

As for the NAND flash industry, the SSD and MCP segments are becoming more important-- marking a point where OEMs can differentiate beyond memory cards and UFD.

Go DRAMeXchange 2010 WW Module House Revenue Ranking

Page 798 of 932