It appears like CES 2012 is going to be an event mainly intended for the thinnest this and thinnest that, just like last year. The newly-unveiled Acer Aspire S5 Ultrabook, which is the successor to the company’s Aspire S3, is the thinnest of its kind and it’s definitely going to turn more than a few heads at Las Vegas.

The Aspire S5 measures in at a mere 15 mm at its thickest point and weighs less than 1.35 kg. The device comes equipped with a 13.3-inch LCD display, Onyx Black colored magnesium-alloy cover and palm rest, an Intel Core processor and uses SSD internal storage.

Similar to the Aspire S3, the S5 features Acer’s Green Instant On technology which promises a fast boot and resume experience of just 1.5 seconds.

The machine also comes with Acer’s Always Connect which will allow you to access AcerCloud for managing data stored on the S5, even if the device is in the sleep or hibernate mode. With the feature, you will be able to instantly view updates on your Facebook or Twitter accounts whenever you resume your S5. There won’t be any need for refreshing the web page.

One of the coolest features on the Aspire S5 is what Acer is calling “MagicFlip I/O”. With the special mechanism, the HDMI, USB 3.0, and Thunderbolt (20Gbps) ports remain hidden. You just have to press the MagicFlip key to open the port cover panel and get access to the ports.

Other features include Dolby Home Theater v4, a PowerSmart battery pack that provides three times longer battery life, and a chiclet keyboard. No word on pricing, but we do know that the S5 is coming sometime in Q2 this year.

Check out the video below, which comes to us courtesy of Netbooknews, to take a peek at the ultra thin design compared with a Vaio and you will also get to see how the MagicFlip works.

[ PR ]

Acer America has just announced that the Acer Iconia Tab A200 will go on sale in the US on January 15th. The Android 3.2 slate features a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, a 1280 x 800 10.1-inch display, and 8 GB and 16 GB storage options. Tablet with 8 GB of storage will retail at $329.99, while the 16 GB variant is priced at $349.99. Tablet sports 2MP front-facing camera, microSD slot for expanded storage, and a full-sized USB 2.0 port. For those obsessed with the latest and greatest, an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade is scheduled for delivery in February.

It’s quite unclear how this new installment from Acer to its Iconia lineup will fare against the very popular ASUS Eee Pad Transformer (non-Prime, a TF101 model. Similarly specced slate from ASUS adds a rear 5 megapixel camera and its quite successful “transformer” docking keyboard, but even without keyboard ASUS slate can be had for $360…$380 if you care to shop around.

So I doubt that a price difference between Acer’s $349.99 (or even $329.99 for a model with lesser storage) and ASUS first Transformer may turn the chances to win customers in Acer’s favor. All in all, “legacy” Tegra 2 tablets are on their way out and may soon show in sub-$300 price category. Then, releasing a tablet with Android 3.2 this late in January is not a very good sign when every tablet device worth north of $300 is expected to run Ice Cream Sandwich.

Acer has also a history of releasing its Iconias with locked bootloaders, and nobody knows what this A200 Tab would come out with on January 15th. ASUS, in its turn, seems to listen to their customers and promises Ice Cream Sandwich and bootloader unlocking tool at least for its flagship Transformer Prime slate.

With Microsoft Windows 8 getting ARM processor support, now more than ever Intel needs to step up its mobile game in order to stay competitive with its upcoming Windows tablets and current-gen mobile technology.

And step it up Intel has.

On the smartphone scene, Intel is preparing to show off its Medfield Android-based devices at CES 2012. Meanwhile, anonymous sources from Acer and Lenovo component suppliers have released a new rumor that both vendors are in fact working on next-gen Windows 8 x86 tablets that will run on Intel’s upcoming “Clover Trail” chipset.

While no specifics regarding Clover Trail have been revealed, it is believed these next-gen Atom processors will be able to compete much closer with ARM competitors in both power-consumption and overall performance.

Tablets running Clover Trail, like those from Acer and Lenovo, are not expected to hit the market until late-2012.

While I wish Intel the best, so far all the cards lay in favor of ARM on the mobile front, of course, you never know. Perhaps Intel really does have some tricks up its sleeves that will finally shift the battle in its favor.

Engadget has got this story first, basing it on a Russian source NoMobile.ru. They obviously used some online translation service, like Google Translate. Or something else. Which actually looks quite good when discussing specs for a device in question: “1920×1200, 10,1 дюйма” was translated perfectly into 1920×1200, 10.1″ screen for this Acer A700 intercepted in Russia when on its way to CES. All other claimed by NoMobile.ru specs do look good, too:

We are seeing new 3D smartphones, displays, portable game consoles and a variety of Smart TVs that make entertainment all the more immersive. Now, Acer has introduced their new display, the Acer HR274H.

What’s so different about another new display?

The HR274H, which is a 27 inch 1080p 3D display, comes equipped with a chip-based system which converts 2D to 3D and there is no need for any additional hardware or software.

The new system simply pushes the moving objects to the front of the scene while the background will appear as if it’s further away.

As for the other features of the LED-backlit display, it supports a native 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution, and comes with a 2ms response time (GTG), 250 cd/m2 brightness, and 100,000,000:1 contrast ratio (dynamic).

It measures in at 25.5″ x 18.5″ x 7.6″ and weighs 13.2 lbs. It also features two HDMI ports, a VGA port, integrated speakers, Energy Star Certification, and an angle adjustable stand.

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to enjoy this 3D technology without a pair of glasses. A set of lightweight polarized glasses are included in the package, which differ from the more commonplace battery-based glasses. Both the display and glasses use film-patterned retarder (FPR) technology, which will supposedly enable a flicker-free 3D viewing experience.

The new monitor is now available for US customers at leading retailers and it comes with a price tag of $599.

While the display sounds pretty cool, keep in mind that turning most 2D content into 3D doesn’t necessarily mean that converted images will look any good and so expect mixed results.

This year’s Black Friday sales offered some pretty appealing gadgets, but as the holiday season continues there are many more attractive deals on there way, from Cyber Monday and beyond.

One such deal is the Acer Iconia A500 10.1″ tablet at BestBuy. A 8GB model is just $229 with free shipping and a $10 gift card. The price cut is quite substantial for a 10-inch tablet that normally costs $300 or more.

Acer Iconia A500 is a solid performer powered by dual core Tegra 2 chip and weighing only 1.7 pounds. For the technically inclined, its specs reveal this:

• 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2
• Li-Ion Battery with around 8 battery life
• WXGA HD touch screen (1280 x800)
• 1 GB of DDR2 RAM
• Internal Storage Type: eMMC
• 8GB of base storage
• SD Card Slot for expansion
• NVIDIA GeForce graphics
• Adobe Flash support
•  2MP Front Facing Webcam
• Outward 5MP digital camera
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth-Enabled
• Dolby Mobile Technology
• 2 USB 2.0 Ports
• HDMI Output
• Android 3.2 Honeycomb

The tablet runs stock Android 3.2 with unobtrusive Acer customizations, but for adventurous user there are some other custom ROMs and tweaks available from the Acer Iconia community of XDA Developers. Luckily, an active user community for the Iconia means that, in time, a ROM running Ice Cream Sandwich will most likely come to the tablet.

Thanks to all the power behind the hood and its active community of users, the Iconia certainly offers a fairly good deal even when compared to other hot Android tablets like the Xoom, Kindle Fire, and the Nook Tablet.

The downside? Expect this to go fast, as they are already sold out online. A good place to still look might be your local brick-and-mortar store. It’s also worth mentioning that  there have been price-slashed Iconia A500 sightings at Costco, too.

Word out of Intel is that this next generation of ultrabooks will offer displays with 2560×1400 pixel resolutions, effectively bringing the “Retina Display” level of pixel density into a laptop style form factor. That’s a huge leap beyond the 1440×900 that you find even on the nicer end of the MacBook scale.

Remember that full HD is simply 1920×1080 pixels and that’s what you get on the HDTV in your living room. The pixel density on these new ultrabooks would give you even more virtual real estate, though the extra pixels are likely wasted in most of the programs that you are using. Even so, that’s pretty awesome. Backed up by the new Ivy Bridge generation of Intel processors, these ultrabooks are sounding pretty sweet.

Thin and light. Those are the two key characteristics that make ultrabooks so appealing to the masses, especially since they also bring the price points down to a more affordable level. The latest to join in on the ultrabook craze is the recently revealed Acer Aspire S3.

Being shown off at IFA 2011 in Berlin, the Acer Aspire S3 ultrabook clearly borrows some of its styling inspiration from the MacBook Air and possibly the Asus UX-series. The thin metal design narrows down to just 1.3cm at its thinnest point, but you still get a 13.3-inch HD LED display and the full-size Acer FineTip chiclet keyboard.

Power comes by way of Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Sandy Bridge (second-gen) processors, along with your choice of either a 240GB SSD or a 320GB/500GB hard drive with embedded SSD technology. Rounding out the specs are Dolby Home Theater v4, HDMI-out, card reader, webcam, WiFi, and Bluetooth. The Green Instant On technology from Acer also means you get instant resumes, just like what you’d get with a tablet.

I’m totally digging the idea of an ultrabook, because it used to be that you had to spend quite the pretty penny to get this kind of horsepower in this slim a package. The Aspire S3 will start at 799 Euro (about $1100) and ramps up to 1199 Euro. Look for it to launch in “select regions” later this month.

I’m not at all convinced that I would want a notebook computer that doesn’t have a physical keyboard, but I almost said the same thing about touchscreen-only smartphones not that long ago. Pushing this trend along is the dual screen-wielding Acer Iconia, which is now being put up for pre-order.

With pricing starting at $1,199.99, this is anything but the cheapest tablet on the block. That said, it’s really the only one that has two 14-inch touchscreen displays. That’s saying something. The pre-orders are starting now, but you won’t actually have one arrive at your doorstep until some time in April.

As a quick refresher, you get Gorilla Glass, Windows 7 Premium 64-bit, Acer Ring Control, Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, USB 3.0, HDMI out, 1.3MP webcam, WiFi, and gigabit Ethernet. Yeah, it’s much more of a notebook than it is a tablet… which kind of makes you wonder: who would actually want this thing? I’d rather have a (smaller) tablet and a regular notebook than to have this Frankenstein’d creation.

That said, if Acer wants to send me one to try out, I’m not exactly opposed to giving it a shot. Maybe this is the future of notebook-ing, more so than say the Inspiron Duo from Dell.

[Ubergizmo via Acer]

You have a lot of choices when it comes to Android smartphones. There are some very appealing devices from the likes of Motorola, HTC, and Samsung, for example. Over at Rogers Wireless, they’ve recently released the Acer Liquid MT. As you can imagine, this is the follow-up to the Acer Liquid E.

The newer model has pretty much the same form factor with rounded edges at the top and the bottom. As the name implies, they’ve also added in a significant dose of metal to replace the plastic of old. The four main Android “buttons” below the screen are capacitive and the touchscreen itself is marginally larger at 3.6 inches.

Quick Spec Sheet Check

As a speedy rundown of what else you can expect, the Acer Liquid MT ships with Android 2.2 Froyo, does the HSPA 14.4Mbps thing, and has integrated WiFi-N and GPS. Other highlights include the 5.0 megapixel camera (no front camera), 512MB internal memory, microSD expansion, and the special Acer UI.

A clever inclusion is at the very top of the phone where you find the 3.5mm headphone jack. It may look like any other piece of chrome, but hidden beneath that are three little icons: battery, message, and missed call. This way, you can see if you need to respond to an email or plug into the wall without having to unlock the phone.

A Phone in the Hand Beats Two in the…

In terms of first impressions, the Acer Liquid MT is quite the hefty beast. By going with more of a metal finish and choice of materials, this smartphone is decidedly heavier than its plastic-clad counterparts. It just feels heavy and bulky in the hands, which isn’t helped by the sizable bezel around the sub-4.0 inch screen.

If you’ve ever held the BlackBerry Torch 9800 in your hands, then you’ll have a pretty good sense of how the Liquid MT feels. It’s heavy and it’s substantial, which may or may not be to your liking. I much preferred the thinner and lighter weight feel of the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate over this phone.

A Word on the Interface

I’ve had a shot at a few of the different manufacturer-specific skins for Android. HTC does the Sense thing, Motorola has MOTOBLUR, and so on. The Acer UI is no exception, but I’m not really sure it’s my cup of tea.

For instance, I’ve grown accustomed to holding down the “home” button in order to bring up some of my most recently used apps. That isn’t how this works. When you hold “home” on the Liquid MT, the Acer UI pops up with your missed calls, local weather and so on. Instead, you get back to the home screen, swipe to the side, and see the history of your activity. I suppose this achieves the same thing, but I prefer the “hold the home button” approach.

The app arrangement, on the other hand, is reasonable. You have two lines of four icons each that are “docked” to the bottom of the home screen. When you swipe up to see the rest of your apps, these eight icons remain “locked” at the top. The rest of your apps are then arranged on pages, not unlike iOS.

General Performance

Even though it’s not quite a gigahertz processor, the 800MHz Scorpion processor and Adreno 205 GPU are able to hold their own for most of the daily activities that you’d have on this phone. Angry Birds was smooth, YouTube playback wasn’t a concern, and everything ran quite smoothly.

It’s not really enough to make this phone stand out from the rest of the Android-fueled crowd, but it’s holding its own too.

Using the 5.0 Megapixel Camera

No one should really expect a camera phone to be as good as a real phone, but there are lots of smartphones that are really starting to challenge that assumption. The iPhone 4 is one example. The Nokia N8 is another. Unfortunately, the Acer Liquid MT does not fall into this realm.

As you can see from my sample photo, there is very significant noise throughout. You pick up on some details, to be sure, but that grainy noise just isn’t acceptable. Here is another sample. To make matters worse, the camera won’t even work if you don’t have a microSD card inserted. It comes with a 2GB card, but be prepared to buy your own higher capacity storage.

Conclusion

The Acer Liquid MT has some interesting things going for it. The curved screen is an interesting approach and I like the “hidden” notification lights at the top. Performance is reasonable and it’s among the cheaper Android smartphones when you buy into a contract with Rogers. Having Froyo out of the box isn’t bad either, considering that only the Nexus S is currently shipping with Gingerbread.

On the flip side, there are more than a few downsides to this phone. I’m not a fan of the extra weight and thickness, for instance, nor do I like the heavy noise exhibited by the 5.0-megapixel camera. This is going to be a personal preference thing, but I’ll still take HTC Sense UI (or vanilla Android) over the Acer UI. It’s also a pain that not only do you have to remove the battery cover, but the battery itself to replace the microSD card… which is necessary for taking photos.

It’s too bad that Rogers doesn’t have a newer HTC Android smartphone (yet), but you’re better off going with the Captivate from Samsung if that’s how you swing. This Acer just isn’t as good, but I guess that is reflected in its relatively lower price.