Dell’s five-inch “entertainment, social connection and navigation device” might be more portable than the iPad, but it may not cost a whole lot less—provided you don’t want to get roped into a contract, at least. Engadget found out from a Dell blog post that the Streak will sell for $549 on its own and $299 with a two-year AT&T contract. The Dell blog post has subsequently disappeared, though. Oooh, intrigue.

In case you’ve been impervious to the Apple PR machine, the Wi-Fi-only iPad sells for $499, and the version with 3G connectivity costs $629. AT&T offers $14.99- and $25-a-month 3G data plans for the latter, but there are no contracts involved. Users just pay for the service on a month-to-month basis.

Also, the Dell Aero pricing and launch dates have been released by Dell. It’ll be available on August 9th for $99.99 with a contract and $299.99 without. That’s all folks.

At long last, the rumored, and much-awaited Magic Trackpad has been released by Apple to enable MacBook-like Multi-Touch functionality to its desktop line. The launch was a quiet launch, as far as Apple goes, just a simple update in its website, along with a refreshed Mac Pro and iMac line.

The company’s new Magic Trackpad is much more accessible at only $69. Billed as the largest of its kind, the multi-touch trackpad looks to be as tall as Apple’s wireless desktop keyboard. No dimensions are provided for what will invariably be referred to as the Magicpad, but it’s bigger than the trackpad on Apple’s MacBook Pro, which measures roughly 3″ x 4″. The Magic Trackpad connects via Bluetooth, so it’s only compatible with newer Macs that support the wireless standard. Apple has also introduced its own AA battery charger to complement the device.

Turning to screens, Apple unveiled a 27″ version of its Cinema Display. The new model slots in between existing 24″ and 30″ models at $999. Users can expect an IPS panel with a 2560×1440 display resolution, plus an integrated webcam, USB hub, microphone, and speakers. Apple won’t be shipping the new display until September.

Following the launch of a host of phones this summer, not least the iPhone 4 and motorolla droid x,Dell’s Streak device can’t be much further off now. A product page has apeared on Dell’s website, which quotes a “late July” purchase availability date. Users can “sign up for pre-sale,” too—I guess that counts as a pre-pre-order.

The Streak has less in common with the iPad and more with the giant smartphones we’re seeing lately. This device has a five-inch multi-touch display (with an 800×480 resolution), a couple of cameras, cellular connectivity, and Google’s Android operating system.

Dell pimps the Streak’s multimedia and social networking capabilities, and the form factor might make it easier to toss in a backpack than an iPad. Then again, some folks might prefer to lug around a big smartphone—they wouldn’t be sacrificing much display real estate, and carrying one device beats carrying two.

Add Lenovo’s name to the growing list of manufacturers prepping slate devices based on Google’s Android OS.A few weeks ago, Lenovo Chairman Liu Chuanzhi told the Financial Times, “We are lucky that Steve Jobs has such a bad temper and doesn’t care about China.” Chuanzhi added, “If Apple were to spend the same effort on the Chinese consumer as we do, we would be in trouble.”

lePhone

Those comments appear to stem from a discussion of Lenovo’s LePhone, which appeared in China earlier in the year and has yet to venture beyond the Great Wall. The Android-based LePhone has an interesting mix of elements, including an AMOLED display, a Pre-style dedicated gesture area, and extensive customization for the Chinese market.

The areas of overlap between Google and Apple have just grown a little bit larger. Earlier today, the search giant announced Google TV, a platform intended to bring “everything you love about the web to your television.” Eat your heart out, Apple TV!(here is Steve job’s response to this initiative by Google)

Or as Google puts it, video may be easier to find and consume on the web, but it’s generally more enjoyable to watch on a big-screen TV in your living room. Google aims to bridge the two by letting users find channels, recorded shows, websites, and YouTube clips via a simple search field on their TV screen.

Google says it’s already partnered up with Sony and Logitech to build Google TV inside of “televisions, Blu-ray players and companion boxes.” You can expect Google TV-enabled products to start hitting Best Buy stores sometime this fall. The first Google TV-powered televisions, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes from Sony and Logitech will feature an Intel system-on-a-chip.

Intel Atom System-on-a-chip

Cracking open the products will reveal an Intel Atom CE4100 processor, which includes (PDF) a 45-nm Atom CPU core running at “up to” 1.2GHz, 512KB of L2 cache, a NAND flash controller, a hardware video decoder, a graphics processor, Serial ATA and USB controllers, and other little bits and pieces. You can check out a block diagram of the chip on page two of Intel’s PDF.

According to Intel Senior VP Eric B. Kim (as quoted by CNet News), Google chose Intel hardware chiefly for performance reasons:

“High performance is needed to deal with large screens, multiple streams of high-definition audio and video. Google could not do what they want on today’s SOCs,” said Kim. “This is not something that you hold in your hand. This is something you plug into the wall,” he said, referring to other chip designs that emphasize power saving features over performance.

Kim went on to throw in a thinly veiled jab at Apple, saying, “Our view is that both HTML5 and Flash are great, so our solution supports both.” Apple has taken a strong stand against Flash, and the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch all feature ARM microprocessor cores. The iPad’s ARM-based A4 system-on-a-chip was actually designed in-house by Apple. That said, the Apple TV does include an Intel processor.

As we understand it, Google TV is built on top of the Android mobile platform and Chrome web browser. Google intends to release a development kit and programming interfaces for Google TV so that developers “can build even richer applications and distribute them through Android Market.”

Rumor has it that the NewTeeVee today is bringing the 99 cent TV shows rental on the new Apple TV powered by iOS 4. The new Apple TV that is expected to hit the market with a price tag of $99 would offer TV shows for just 99 cents.

If you don’t know already much about the new Apple TV, then here’s a little excerpt that you should read to find out more about it:

..the device will be based directly on the iPhone 4, meaning it will get the same internals, down to that A4 CPU and a limited amount of flash storage — 16GB to be exact — though it will be capable of full 1080p HD (!). The device is said to be quite small with a scarce amount of ports (only the power socket and video out), and has been described to some as “an iPhone without a screen.” Are you ready for the real shocker? According to our sources, the price-point for the device will be $99.

Apple is moving away from the model of local storage, and will be focusing the new ATV on cloud-based storage (not unlike Amazon’s streaming scheme). For those still interested in keeping their content close, there will be an option to utilize a Time Capsule as an external storage component, but the main course will be all about streaming

via

Fresh rumors from a UK retailers are suggesting that Apple might soon come up with the next generation of iPod touch, which would be dubbed as iPod touch 4G this year.

According to John Lewis, which cites, “noises we’re hearing from suppliers”, the next-gen device will be equipped for FaceTime Wi-Fi video chat, with a 5-megapixel camera, a front-facing camera, an LED flash and the capacity to capture video in HD (720p probably).

Along with all these features, the next generation iPod touch 4G might also have a better accelerometer and gyroscope for better gaming experience. Estimating from the features it would offer, we can make a rough guess that Apple might be using A4 processors which they used in iPhone 4 and iPad to power up the iPod touch 4G.

Though its still all a big rumor currently circulating the twitter world and blogosphere, we can predict from experience that there is a very high chance that Apple would NOT do this in the near future, as it would definitely kill the sales of iPhone 4, because if it happens, then who would be willing to ditch their favorite carrier and spend hundreds of bucks to add the functionality of phone only, to something that is  already selling in the market for more than hundred dollars less (Keep in mind that Apple has kept the price for iPod touch lower than the iPhone). This also defines why the iPod touch was not launched with a camera initially.

Apple Media Event is expected to be held in the months of september this year, where we would possibly get to know more about this next generation iPod touch.

[via 9to5Mac]

iPhone 4, which was just released in the WWDC 2010 conference along with iOS4 is currently the center of attraction for all mobile application developers. They consider this move from Apple as remarkable, and think that this release is enough to rule their already-captured dominance in the market.

But what about the other old competitors of iPhone? What upgrades have they released so far to compete with the best? To summarize it in a chart, we are posting all the latest information about them in the picture below. In the comparison, we are considering iPhone 4, Nexus One by Google, Evo 4G and Droid Incredible by HTC.

[via TiPB]

Without a doubt one of the most aniticipated launches of Computex this year was the launch of two Tablets by ASUS, which it hopes will be a sound response to the Apple iPad.

The unveiling recently at computex, of a 12” slate with a Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage Core 2 Duo processor and Windows 7 Home Premium was indeed impressive. If these specs are not impressive enough, ASUS filled in a little more details:

• An innovative docking station for the 12” tablet(that effectively turns it into an inconspicuous-looking notebook),
• This docking station will include an extra battery, which will bump total rated longevity to over 10 hours,
• As well as a 2.5″ mechanical hard drive,
• USB 2.0, Ethernet,
• HDMI connectivity.
• Thickness of the slate is about 12-mm,
• We’re told the docking station adds an extra 14 mm or so. Total: about an inch.

The decision to sell the notebook docking station along with the device is under scrutiny. There’s also a desktop docking station, but that will definitely be sold separately.(no price yet on that either)

Despite its announcement, the 12″ Eee Pad won’t be out until around the next CES—that’s January 2011 at least. That gives Asus an interesting choice: it could stick with the Core 2 Duo in the current spec sheet, or it could try to throw in one of those Consumer Ultra-Low Voltage Core i3 and i5 CPUs from Intel that are beginning to crop up also at the Computex.

The pricing has not been finalized as well; the only thing confirmed is that the 12″ slate will cost more than the 10″ Eee Pad, and Asus quoted a price tag of $399-449 for that product.

After the recent announcement by Intel of its 32-nm Consumer-Ultra-Low-Voltage processors, the notebooks featuring the latest processor from Intel have shown up at COMPUTEX, this time at the MSI booth. The 13-inch X-Slim X360 had one of the CULV Core i5 processors, a sub-1″ profile, and purported battery life of up to 10 hours (all vintage Intel CULV features, only better now because of the new 32-nm process).

Keeping to the CULV formbook, the system looks sleek and feels both light and cool to the touch (though no specifics are available yet from MSI). Core i5 goodness in that kind of form factor does come at a price, though: we were told around $899 to $999. For those of us looking for this much portability and productivity without breaking the bank, MSI plans to offer different configurations of the X360 with CULV Core i3 chips and perhaps lighter specs, which should help keep the starting prices somewhat reasonable.

In addition to the 13.3″ X-Slim X360, MSI also showed 14″ and 16″ systems based on the same 32-nm CULV processors. The 16″ variant will have an optical drive, too—a rare feature among consumer ultraportables, even larger ones these days.