Everyone deserves a second chance, right? In the world of cheapo tablets, sure! Or at least that’s our attitude when it comes to a company like Augen. Sure, it was just about a month ago that it released its $150 GenTouch78 at Kmart, but it’s planning some future tablet products and hoping to right all those previous wrongs. According to the statement put out by the company, this new set of “Espresso” tablets will be unveiled at CES 2011 and will span from 7 to 10 inches diagonally. They’ll still be aggressively priced and range from $200 to $400, but at least this time around it’s planning for some with capacitive touchscreens. Other specs are of the fairly cookie cutter mold: WiFi, an accelerometer and more storage space. No word on what version of Android they’ll run, but there’s mention of a new “human friendly input.” That all sounds much better than the previous GenTouch products we’ve seen, but by the time January rolls around there’s no telling what the tablet landscape could look like. We’ll be following this one to see if Augen can keep the caffeine in its system, but hit the break for the full statement and one more render.

Continue reading Augen planning its next generation of tablets, not giving up without a fight

Augen planning its next generation of tablets, not giving up without a fight originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not as cut-and-dry as last night’s declaration that a new Retina Display-equipped iPod Touch is due in the next few weeks, but our man John Gruber just put up a lengthy post on the long-rumored CDMA iPhone for Verizon in which he says the mythical handset is codenamed “N92″ and has reached “engineering verification test” (EVT) status. According to Gruber, that’s just one step below “design verification test,” which is what that stolen iPhone 4 prototype was — meaning the CDMA iPhone is apparently just two hops away from production. Mix in persistent rumors of large CDMA chipset orders these past few weeks and a dash of AT&T hinting that exclusivity might be over, and it’s sounding like ol’ N92 could well arrive in January as first reported by Bloomberg — perhaps at Verizon’s CES press conference. In Gruber’s words, “the CDMA iPhone is no longer a cold storage, keep-it-alive-just-in-case-we-need-it project.”

Now, Gruber is very careful to say that none of this is a sure thing, and that Apple’s CDMA work could have nothing to do with Verizon specifically; it could be for Sprint, or for various international CDMA carriers. What’s more, we definitely have our doubts about a CES announcement — we’re expecting to hear a lot about Verizon’s LTE plans at the keynote, and it would certainly be an odd capstone to launch an incredibly high-profile CDMA device at the same time. (Not to mention Apple’s historic aversion to sharing the spotlight with others at CES.) Even still, we’ve definitely been hearing noise about a CDMA Verizon iPhone from all manner of sources for months now — if this is ever going to happen, we’d say this is the last time it’s going to make any sense before both Verizon and AT&T start to get serious about 4G.

CDMA iPhone in engineering tests, may arrive in January, says John Gruber originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Aug 2010 18:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When you keynote one of the biggest consumer electronics trade shows of the year, it’s usually a Big Deal — and you’re also plainly aware that when you step up on that stage, your audience (read: us) is fully expecting you to unveil something new and awesome. On that note, we’re intrigued to hear that Verizon Communications’ Ivan Seidenberg has been selected to do the honors for the opening address at CES 2011 next January. The press release — which you can find after the break — says that Seidenberg will “highlight [the] company’s vision for its LTE 4G wireless technology,” so we’d expect those LTE handsets expected early next year to factor prominently into the equation; of course, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a tablet or two, either. In the wake of Ballmer’s milquetoast showing at the 2010 show, the pressure’s definitely on to deliver a rousing address. Oh, and Ivan? If Ralph de la Vega says “break a leg,” he might mean it quite literally, so watch your step.

Continue reading Verizon chief tapped for CES 2011 keynote

Verizon chief tapped for CES 2011 keynote originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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