HP intros the Pavilion 14 Chromebook, its first Chrome OS device: available now for $330

By Dana Wollman posted Feb 4th 2013 3:01AM9

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 weren't 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 it's actually available today for $330.

Suffice to say, that's more than what you'll pay for Samsung's Chromebook ($249) or Acer's 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 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, which you won't find on any other Chromebook, now that Samsung's removed that feature from its Chrome OS device. Unfortunately, though, a bigger footprint doesn't mean a bigger battery: the Pavilion 14 Chromebook is rated for four hours and 15 minutes of runtime, putting it behind Samsung's model. So, are a sleek design and stronger performance worth the premium? We'll tackle that in our eventual review, but if you buy today you'll just have to make that call yourself.

Wine coming to Android, will run Windows apps on Google's mobile OS

By Alexis Santos posted Feb 4th 2013 12:47AM65

Android apps on Windows? Been there, done that. Try running Windows programs on Android for size. Alexandre Julliard, the developer behind the Wine compatibility layer, gave an update about an ARM-friendly flavor of the software and showed off a version that runs on Android at the 2013 Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting. According to Phoronix, the demo of a Windows app running on Android was "horrendously slow," but Julliard chalks that up to the fact that the sample was chugging along on an Android emulator. Wine for Mountain View's OS is said to be an active work-in-progress, so there's no word on when it might find its way into the wild just yet.

How would you change Samsung's Galaxy Player 4.2?

By Daniel Cooper posted Feb 3rd 2013 11:10PM84

Last year, we asked you to examine Samsung's Galaxy Player 4.0, and your comments clustered around three trends -- better audio, better build and any OS that wasn't called Gingerbread. The Galaxy Player 4.2, therefore, offers audio that just isn't loud enough, a skinned version of Gingerbread and the sense that it was thrown together from leftover smartphone parts. As our reviewer judged, it's not a bad piece of kit, but one that was honed into being utterly mediocre. If you bought one, then it's time to play amateur PMP designer and tell us if you agree with our staff audiophile. What did you love, what did you hate and most importantly, what would you change?

Refresh Roundup: week of January 28th, 2013 Mobile

By Zachary Lutz posted Feb 3rd 2013 9:00PM5

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

BlackBerry Super Bowl ad shows the few things a Z10 can't do (video) Mobile

By Jon Fingas posted Feb 3rd 2013 8:52PM160

BlackBerry vowed to pull out all the stops to get BlackBerry 10 noticed -- and the company certainly isn't holding back with its promised Super Bowl spot. The ad claims that it's easier to show what the Z10 can't do in 30 seconds than what it can, and goes to extremes that include setting a man on fire and giving him elephant legs. We do still get a glance (or rather, Peek) at the phone itself, thankfully. Does the commercial make us want to drop everything for a Z10? Not necessarily, but we'll likely remember what we saw. Check the clip for yourself after the break.

Three UK pledges to add LTE to its unlimited data plans at no extra cost Mobile

By Daniel Cooper posted Feb 3rd 2013 7:00PM33

The old beer-selling adage that good things come to those who wait also applies to those who've yet to sign away a kidney for one of EE's LTE plans. Three UK is announcing that it's going to bundle LTE into its existing unlimited mobile data packages without any additional charges. The network is planning to launch its own 4G product later in the year, using spectrum it snagged when T-Mobile and Orange were forced to sell of a chunk in order to see their marriage go through. As such, existing ThreeUK customers who own an LTE-ready device can expect to see their mobile internet shoot through the roof as soon as the capacity is switched on.

Switched On: A handset for human hands

By Ross Rubin posted Feb 3rd 2013 5:57PM1

Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.

In the golden era of the PDA, many debated whether future consumers would adopt a one-device or two-device approach. The two-devicers argued that the connectivity for phone calls would come from a simple, bare-bones cellphone while all the fancy data management would occur on a Bluetooth-tethered, PDA-like device unbound from cellular contracts. The Handspring Treo was for many the first converged-device handset that accomplished key tasks well enough to make a convincing case for handset integration, and the smartphone revolution ensued.
The first iPhone featured a large screen for its time but not a much larger footprint than its contemporary competitors such as the BlackBerry or Treo. Competitors asked if a 3.5-inch handheld palette was good for consuming web content, wasn't a 4.3-inch display -- like that on the HTC EVO 4G better? Screen sizes and attendant resolution continued to grow with the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note, 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II and culminating in the 6.1-inch Huawei Ascend Mate that debuted at CES. Samsung and Huawei are joined by LG, Sony and HTC in offering or announcing a 5-inch or larger Android phone. The latter joined the pocket-stuffing ranks with the 5-inch Droid DNA on Verizon, available in China as the HTC Butterfly.

University of Cambridge chip moves data in 3D through magnetic spin

By Jon Fingas posted Feb 3rd 2013 5:12PM12

Chips that have 3D elements to them are very much real. Moving data in 3D hasn't been truly viable until now, however, which makes an experimental chip from the University of Cambridge that much more special. By sandwiching a layer of ruthenium atoms between cobalt and platinum, researchers found that they can move data up and down an otherwise silicon-based design through spintronics; the magnetic field manipulation sends information across the ruthenium to its destination. The layering is precise enough to create a "staircase" that moves data one step at a time. There's no word on if and when the technique might be applied to real-world circuitry, but the advantages in density are almost self-evident: the university suggests higher-capacity storage, while processors could also be stacked vertically instead of consuming an ever larger 2D footprint. As long as the 3D chip technology escapes the lab, computing power could take a big step forward. Or rather, upward.