BlackBerry PlayBook with '4G' out and about, wants to know where you put its SIM

Jim Balsillie might be on the outs, but it looks like his once boastful pet-project -- a BlackBerry PlayBook with integrated cellular wireless -- is finally coming to fruition. Per CrackBerry's forums comes the above snap of the Canadian slate donning a SIM card slot, nary a month after we first spotted the company's HSPA+ and LTE tablets pass through the FCC. That also lines up nicely with a previously leaked roadmap, promising a summer arrival. Will the mythical 4G-wielding PlayBook ever make it to market? Or like it's WiMax brother, will it never be given the chance? While you ponder that, more pics await at the source.

Update: A few more photos have surfaced on the CrackBerry forums, showing what appears to be native BBM on the device.

BlackBerry PlayBook with '4G' out and about, wants to know where you put its SIM originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 01:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Toray unveils new self-repairing film for devices, fixes scratches in under 10 seconds

Toray's advanced film department has finished its new self-cure coating and is set to start using it as a decorative layer on a series of as-yet unannounced notebooks. Fortunately, the company is already chasing down more pervasive uses on smartphones and touch-panels. The science involves a wet coating method that adds a special recovering layer to PET film. Alongside that mutant healing factor, the layer responsible also throws in some elastic and cushioning properties. During Toray's demonstration (what, no video?) scratches made with a metal brush apparently repaired themselves, resulting in the rehabilitated glossy surface you see above. According to the Japanese manufacturer, the ability to heal improves at lower temperatures, but room temperature is apparently enough to make scratches disappear in 10 seconds or less -- more than fast enough to differentiate Toray's offering from existing solutions. The film can repair itself around 20,000 times in succession, although if pierced beyond the layer, it's -- unsurprisingly -- unable to recover any damage done. The screen is also softer than the typical protective surfaces found to devices. Maybe Toray and Gorilla Glass should get together. GorillToray?

Toray unveils new self-repairing film for devices, fixes scratches in under 10 seconds originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lenovo K800's initial benchmark scores look promising, but not ambitious

If Lenovo's sticking to its promise, it should only be another two months maximum before its Intel Medfield-powered K800 smartphone debuts in China. Until then, we won't know the full potential of the 1.6GHz Atom Z2460 powering Ice Cream Sandwich, but we do have the next best thing for now: what we've just obtained are some benchmark results from a K800 prototype with Android 2.3.7, and while the graphics performance wasn't top notch this time round, the general score performance came close to that of the Galaxy Note (powered by a 1.4GHz dual-core Exynos chipset).

However, the K800 did beat pretty much everyone -- including the brand-spanking-new One X and One S from HTC -- in the SunSpider 0.91 Javascript test, where it only took 1,270ms to complete! What remains to be seen is whether Medfield will really deliver a better battery performance than its competitors; so until we find the answer (along with improved scores) on a final unit, you'll just have to make do with our list of scores after the break.
Continue reading Lenovo K800's initial benchmark scores look promising, but not ambitious

Lenovo K800's initial benchmark scores look promising, but not ambitious originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lenovo's ICS, 42-inch K71 smart TV going on sale by month's end in China

Similar to that K91 TV we saw Lenovo tease back in January, its K71 brethren's also stuffed with Ice Cream Sandwich, and according to the outfit's online shop it's ready to hit Chinese shelves by the end of the month. Along with running a flavor of Android four-dot-oh, this 42-inch smart TV is also packing an undisclosed 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, WiFi and 3D capabilities, plus a gaming remote control (you know, to use while playing TurboFly 3D). The K71's said to be carrying a 6499 yuan (around $1,030) price tag once pre-orders go live on April 10th, while pricing and availability for the other expected models still remains unknown. Mum's the word on when, or if, these ICS, LED TVs will ever come to US shores, but we'll keep you in the loop if any news pops up.

Lenovo's ICS, 42-inch K71 smart TV going on sale by month's end in China originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Apr 2012 02:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 review

When Acer's Aspire Timeline Ultra notebooks made their first appearance at CES, these 14- and 15-inch laptops seemed like little more than the successors to Acer's TimelineX series. Thin-and-light laptops, complete with optical drive and some likely reasonable prices. While there's no mistaking that DVD burner and mainstream screen size, we now know a few things we didn't then: the 15-inch version you see up there packs NVIDIA's next-gen Kepler graphics... and Acer's calling it an Ultrabook.

Acer's branding that there Ultra M3 as an Ultrabook because it's less than 20mm (.8 inches) thin, but given that 15-inch display, numpad, optical drive and graphical horsepower, it's hard to think of this as anything other than a mainstream laptop. If you accept Acer's marketing scheme, though, this is the first so-called Ultrabook to ship with discrete graphics. (We're expecting to see more -- many more -- of these.) As of this writing, at least, we don't have a confirmed price, though Acer has said the pricing for the Ultra series should align with current TimelineX notebooks (which is to say, we're hardly expecting this to be a $1,500 machine.) Until we know for sure, it'll be hard to say how sweet of a deal this is, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about what it actually does. How does the performance stack up against regular 'ol 15-inch laptop? Does it pummel your garden-variety Ultrabooks like you'd expect it to? Join us past the break where we break down exactly what this 'tweener can do.

Gallery: Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 review

Continue reading Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 review

Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3 review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google testing heads-up display glasses in public, won't make you look like Robocop

The good news: Google has started testing those augmented reality glasses we heard about earlier in the year. The bad news: if the artsy shots of the test units are to be believed, they won't make you look like some '80s cinematic anti-hero. In fact, the things wouldn't look too out of place in a New York Times style story. The software giant let it be known that, while it hasn't quite got a sale date on the wearables, it's ready to test ProjectGlass amongst the non-augmented public. The company is also looking for feedback on the project, writing in a post today, "we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input." Want some idea of what ProjectGlass might offer the public? Sure, it's not quite as good as strapping a pair on your own eyes, but interested parties can check out a video of Google's vision after the break.

Continue reading Google testing heads-up display glasses in public, won't make you look like Robocop

Google testing heads-up display glasses in public, won't make you look like Robocop originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE preview (video)

What was the exciting new collaboration that HTC and Sprint's bigwigs just couldn't wait to tell us about? Anyone who's been following the smartphone scene at all as of late surely won't be surprised to find out that the one-time Nextel bedfellow is getting a member of the One family to call its own. It's just the precise name of the device that wasn't too predictable.

When the handset goes on sale sometime in Q2 for $199 it'll be saddled with the decidedly unwieldy moniker HTC EVO 4G LTE -- a rather clunky title for such a svelte device. What the name does offer, however, is a direct connection to the original EVO 4G. That phone, which arrived in consumer hands way back in June 2010, was branded as Sprint's first "4G" handset, courtesy of the carrier's WiMAX network. It's understandable, then, that its spiritual successor would carry that redundant 4G LTE moniker. The companies also clearly wanted to retain some of those happy memories, while setting the phone apart from those other One handsets on the market. How'd they do such a thing? Meet us after the break where we lay it all out.

Gallery: Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE hands-on

Continue reading Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE preview (video)

Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE preview (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.