The traditional PC market is continuing to shrink as devices like smartphones and tablets eat into the marketshare. There are certainly some critics who feel that Windows 8 is a big part of that blame, and with that in mind we present today’s newest rumor.

Intel is allegedly preparing to push new Haswell-based convertible notebooks running Android. Think devices like the Asus Transformer Prime, though manufacturers involved supposedly include Asus, Acer, HP, Toshiba and Lenovo.

The rumor further asserts that Lenovo will lead the way with this new Android “notebook” push by introducing an Android-powered variant of the Yoga this May.

So how much would an Intel Android convertible cost? The rumored price point would be sub-$500. At this price, they would be a considerably cheaper alternative to Ultrabooks and Macbooks. These convertibles would also represent a spiritual successor to the netbook, which has since largely faded into obscurity in the last few years.

By providing a device that was small, cheap and good for typing while also fully capable of seperating from the keyboard, Intel and its partners could find a way to bring out the best of netbooks and tablets all in one form.

Such a move from Intel doesn’t sound totally insane, but I would still be more than a little cautious about believing this latest rumor due to its source. Digitimes is known for generating tons of rumors, with a mixed reputation on actually getting them right.

Still, Android would work just fine as a basic notebook alternative. Android has plenty of apps and its productivity offerings such as Office Suite Pro aren’t half bad. What do you think, for a price around $375-$475 would you consider purchasing a convertible Android device as a replacement for a traditional Mac, Windows or Linux laptop?

[ source ]

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The Pwnium 3 competition was hosted as part of the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver. Google offered up $3.14159 million (“Pi money”), but no one was able to emerge as the winning entry. The competition was with the newest version of Chrome OS running on a base Samsung Series 5 500 Chromebook. If they were able to achieve a browser or system level compromise delivered via a web page, they’d get $110,000. If they were able to get a compromise with device persistence, guest to guest with interim reboot, also delivered through a web page, the prize would be $150,000.

With that much money on the line, no one could do that. That’s got to be a pat on the back for Google. To be fair, they are currently “evaluating some work that may qualify as partial credit.” This is one of the smarter ways to go about things, because it helps to reveal potential vulnerabilities that Google can then address as quickly as possible.

[Source]

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The supposedly leaked video, embedded below, showcases the new Chrome OS-powered notebook from Google and it’s looking to be much more of a powerhouse than its predecessors. For starters, that display is an impressive 2560 x 1700 pixels and it also happens to be a touchscreen.

If it were not for Chrome OS, I’d almost say that this was going to fall into the lap of the current crop of Windows 8 touchscreen notebooks. The Chromebook Pixel, which is also apparently being called the Chromebook Link, is reportedly being tested right now at Google’s offices.

Just as the Nexus devices are meant to offer pure Google experiences, the tagline for the Chromebook Pixel is that it has been “Designed by Google. Down to the last pixel.” Yes, it looks a little too much like a MacBook for some people, but it could mean that Google is really started to head down the hardware path. Of course, being tied to the cloud for everything with Chrome OS might not appeal to everyone and, no matter how pretty or how powerful this may be, that could prove to be the deal breaker.

That said rumors continue to speculate that starting with Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, Chrome and Android could start blending some of their features together. could the Chromebook Pixel end up being the fruits of that rumored effort?

[Source]

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This is strictly a software solution, so you still won’t be able to use the standard Wi-Fi radio on your notebook PC to connect to multiple hotspots, but you can make use of multiple Internet connections in other ways. For example, you might tether your smartphone’s 3G/4G connection over a USB cable, plug in an Ethernet cable, and utilize a USB WiFi stick, in addition to connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot using your internal radio. Given that configuration, you have four Internet connections at once.

Dispatch will then work to manage the traffic based on which network connection is the strongest, the clearest, and offers the greatest bandwidth. This way, you get the best possible Internet experience at any given time, whether you’re uploading massive files to Dropbox, streaming HD videos from YouTube, or playing some intense online game. Given this dynamic management, Connectify is saying that Dispatch can provide up to three times the speed for torrent downloads. Of course, your network has to be able to provide that speed in the first place. In the video below, Dispatch was able to combine five 10-15Mbps connections into a unified 65Mbps connection. And by going to the roof, they got to 85Mbps. That’s impressive.

They’re looking for money on Kickstarter and it looks like Connectify has a pretty good chance of reaching its $50,000 goal in the next 14 days. They’ve raised over $31,000 to date.

[Connectify via Gizmag]

The post Dispatch Lets You Manage Multiple Simultaneous Internet Connections appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Look out, another Apple lawsuit is in the making.

Apple is very particular about not allowing competitors to make products that it deems too similar in looks and/or sounds, so odds are that a suit is headed the way of the Netbook Navigator Nav13X company sooner or later. The netbook is practically an identical rip-off of the Macbook Air’s case, but it certainly isn’t anywhere close, under the hood. While it might look like an Ultrabook, don’t be fooled, this doesn’t qualify for the Intel program. While Intel Ultrabooks all feature high-end Core i5 processors, this netbook has a 1.86GHz Intel Atom N2800 Cedar Trail processor, 13.3-inch 1366×768 display, 32/64/128GB SSD, WIFI, bluetooth, 2 USB 2.0 ports and a mini HDMI port. So basically you’ll get a netbook in ultrabook’s clothing for $499.99 with just 32GB SSD and no operating system included.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll pass. Honestly, I cant imagine this will stick around very long before Apple sues it off the planet.

[ source ]

The post Netbook Navigator Nav13X Is A Complete MacBook Air Knock Off appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

You might be wondering what is so super about LG’s “ new “Super Ultrabooks”. For starters, the 13.3” Xnote Z330 is the skinniest laptop around and the 14” Z430 isn’t far behind.

The Z330′s size is nothing sort of impressive: only .57-inches thick and weighing in at just 2.67 pounds. Dependent on the model, it is powered by an Intel i5 or i7 processor, 4GB RAM, and either a 128GB or 256GB SSD.

The Z430 will feature a i5 or i7, and instead carries 8GB of RAM and up to 550GB HDD.

LG’s new ultrabooks will be out sometime early this year, though there is no official word on the pricing.

While they are currently the smallest ultrabooks around, with CES 2012 just around the corner I wouldn’t be surprised if the record is beat (or at least matched) soon.

The post LG’s “Super Ultrabook” Z330 Is The Skinnest MacBook Clone Yet appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Available for pre-order through J&R, the Samsung Series 5 will have its pricing start at $899.99 for the 13.3-inch model and $949.99 for the 14-inch model. If you want to have an optical drive, you’ll need to opt for the larger version, but the 13-incher gets an extra USB 3.0 port.

The other specs are mostly the same. You get a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M dual core processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 500GB hard drive backed with 16GB of solid state memory, integrated graphics, webcam, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, HDMI-out, multi-card slot, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 2.0 ports, and a 1366×768 display. If the MacBook Air is the most important gadget of 2011, will one of these ultrabooks prove to be pretty darn important for 2012? Time will tell.

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The decision was made by the readers who voted on a single-elimination tournament bracket conjured up by the Giz. Other notable entries in this tournament included the Galaxy Nexus, iPad 2, Chevy Volt, Lumia 800, Nintendo 3DS, and even the HP TouchPad. In the grand finals, it was the MacBook Air that narrowly defeated (50.87 percent to 49.13) the Amazon Kindle Fire.

The arguments were fierce and sound for both finalists. The Kindle Fire was able to bring tablet functionality down to a much more reasonable price, offering 95% of the features at a fraction of the cost. The new MacBook Air, however, really fulfilled its earlier promise of giving you real laptop power in an increasingly slim and sleek package. It paved the way for next year’s ultrabook barrage, just as the original iPhone paved the way for the army of touchscreen phones. The MBA certainly wasn’t the first thin and light, but it did push the format to the forefront.

Do you agree? Is the MBA the most important gadget of 2011? What would you have picked?

The post Gizmodo: MacBook Air Named ‘Most Important Gadget of the Year’ appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

We already know that Windows 8 is going to be a platform that is simultaneously geared toward both tablets and regular PCs, but it has now been confirmed by Intel that you’ll effectively being able to get both in one package with touchscreen-enabled Windows 8 ultrabooks.

This confirmation comes by way of Intel CEO Paul Otellini. Ultrabooks are barely out of the gate with their sleek and slim profiles, but adding touchscreen capabilities would also add cost to an already premium product. Ortellini says that they need to “get touch to a lower cost. This is particularly important, as we move to the launch of Windows 8. The iPad and the iPhone have made touch a paradigm.”

He wants to see the touch-based ultrabooks down to the $699 level. “Starting with Windows 8, you have a mainstream operating system incorporating touch. Our view is that in the ultrabook lines, touch is a pretty critical enabler. When users see that new Windows interface, they’re going to want to touch it. If the screen does nothing, you have disappointed [the] consumer.”

This makes sense. To this day, my favorite Android tablet is still the Asus Eee Pad Transformer and a big part of that has to do with the keyboard dock. I get a laptop-like experience, but I still get the touchscreen of a tablet. Here, you get a real Windows machine too, but I have a feeling that $699 still isn’t cheap enough. Starter laptops can be had at $299 and the Eee Pad Transformer with dock can be had for $499.

The post Intel: Windows 8 Ultrabooks To Feature Touchscreens Soon appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

It used to be that you needed to find a WiFi hotspot, like at a coffee shop or airport, in order to get your laptop onto the Internet while you’re out on the road. The USB Internet sticks changed that, but they didn’t provide the kinds of speeds you grew accustomed to having through more conventional Internet access points. That changed with the arrival of LTE.

Rogers Wireless recently launched its LTE network in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Ottawa, supposedly giving you speeds that might be even faster than what you have at home or at work. I had the opportunity to try out the only Rogers LTE device (AT&T in the USA) at the moment — the Sierra Wireless AirCard 313U mobile broadband modem — and this is what I found.

Plug, Play, Surf

The USB modem works in much the same way that your cell phone does. You plunk in the SIM card, it connects to the network, and you go about doing your business. This is similar to what I got with the Nokia CS-18 HSPA+ Rocket Stick last year, but in a more flexible form factor and with supposedly much faster speeds.

The setup process is easy. You turn on your laptop of choice (it works with both Windows and Mac), you plug in the modem via USB, and you let the setup wizard do its thing. The whole configuration process only took a few minutes and I was online right away. It installs a simple application on your computer that lets you connect to the Rogers LTE network, send text messages, manage your data usage, and so on.

Flexible Form Factor

Whereas the Nokia stick looks like a big USB flash drive, the Sierra Wireless AirCard 313U is like a small card with a bendy USB arm sticking out the end. You can slide open the “card” portion to reveal the SIM card slot. It helps that the USB portion can be folded up when not in use, making the USB modem easy to stow in any laptop bag.

The form factor, while not tiny, is certainly small enough. As mentioned, the USB arm can bend, depending on how you want to use it, but it can also rotate 90 degrees too. This is handy depending on how your notebook is configured. Also included in the package are a USB extension cable and a display clip. This way, you can “mount” the USB modem on the top of your laptop lid, presumably getting slightly better signal strength.

So, How Fast is Rogers Wireless LTE?

Since the definition of 4G has gotten quite convoluted (the existing HSPA+ network is referred to as 4G by some folks), Rogers decided to describe its new LTE network as “beyond 4G.” Using 2×2 antennas, the current LTE technology has a theoretical maximum download speed of 150.8 Mbit/s. Of course, it’s unlikely that you’ll hit this peak speed very often, if ever.

To get a sense of the speeds I could get, I tried using the card in a few locations around Vancouver and Burnaby, testing the speeds with Speedtest.net. The speeds ranged considerably, even varying a fair bit when I was in the same physical location by tested against a different data center. Speeds in Burnaby (a suburb just next to Vancouver) ranged from 14Mbps to 18Mbps downstream. Looking at the coverage maps, I should have still been within the LTE network area.

However, getting into Vancouver itself, even when I was a good 7km or more away from the downtown core, I immediately saw results north of 25Mbps. One of the best tests I achieved clocked in at 43.42Mbps downstream and an astounding 13.49Mbps upstream, including an impressive 42ms ping. That was with connecting to the Burnaby server. From the same physical location connecting to the Vancouver and Calgary servers, I got 25.00Mbps and 13.21Mbps, respectively.

Needless to say, your mileage will vary greatly, even from the same physical location, using nearly identical circumstances. To be fair, I never got lower than about 13Mbps, which is still faster than many residential ADSL/cable Internet plans.

Pricing Plans and Conclusion

The cost of the Sierra Wireless AirCard 313U device itself is the least of your worries. It’s just $79.99 on a qualifying 3-year service agreement and a mere $169.99 without a contract. The monthly plans are what will put the bigger dent in your wallet. The LTE Flex Rate Plan starts at $47.93 and that gives you 2GB of data. This ramps up to $62.93 (4GB), $77.93 (6GB), and $92.93 (9GB) as you make your way through the tiers via actual usage.

There is a $52.93 introductory plan for 10GB, which is easily your best deal. I wouldn’t use LTE to replace your home or office Internet connection, since getting through 10GB is pretty easy if you consume much media at all, but this is a fantastic supplementary tool when you are on the go and don’t want to go hunting for Wi-Fi. The “beyond 4G” LTE speeds are quite impressive and are likely faster than what you’d get at Starbucks.

The caveat, of course, is that you need to be in the service area. LTE will expand into other markets eventually, but it’s good to know that this device will fall back on HSPA+ or even EDGE as needed. The flexible form factor helps and the high speeds will put a smile on your face. Just make sure you get that 10GB plan while it’s still around.

Related Links

- Rogers Wireless
- AT&T

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