To be available in 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch variants, the Asus Taichi has a double-sided IPS display so that you can still use the computer when the lid is closed. Presumably, when the lid is open, you do your computing on the regular screen and share your work with everyone else at the coffee shop with the display on the back. The two displays are independent.

And yes, the back display is a touchscreen, so you can use it like a tablet when the notebook is closed. There is stylus support and we can only assume that they’re going with Windows 8 for this creation. The Taichi is said to be “as light and thin as the Asus Zenbook” and it’ll come powered by 3rd-gen Intel Core processors, SSD storage, and dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi.

I just hope that you get a really good protective sleeve for your Taichi, because I can totally envision far too many people cracking that secondary display.

[Source]

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“Join us as we introduce the truly incredible next transformations.” Given that the only context where Asus has use the “transform” moniker is with an Eee Pad, we’re pretty confident this week’s event has something to do with a new tablet.

They got rid of the “Eee” part of the name for the Transformer Pad Infinity, so the assumption is that the next iteration will likely do the same. The provided teaser points us toward May 31, which would indicate that Asus is going to make its “transformational” announcement at Computex Taipei. It was also there that Asus revealed the Eee PC and the PadFone, among many other products.

Aside from the conjecture about it having something to do with tablets, there is essentially no other information about what Asus is bringing to the biggest trade show in their own Taiwanese backyard. It could be a new tablet, or it could just be some sort of update for existing Pads. The teaser mentions that the “shape of the cloud is ever-changing,” so perhaps it something to do with Eee Storage? A Windows 8 tablet with keyboard dock? We’ll find out in the next couple of days.

[Source]

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Maybe I’m missing something here. I’m in Taipei for Computex and I made my way over to the Asus booth. Naturally, the Padfone is a pretty big draw, but the netbooks and notebooks are pretty important too. Then, I saw the Asus Automobili Lamborghini Eee PC VX6S and I’m left scratching my head.

On the one hand, the Eee PC is meant to be an affordable line of netbooks for lightweight daily use. Asus even announced that it will have a new model that hits the $199 price point for the first time. On the other hand, the Lamborghini line from Asus is largely regarded as a premium product, just like the Ferrari line from Acer. So, this is a premium netbook? Wouldn’t you rather get a proper subnotebook if that’s the case?

Anyhow, you’ll find that the Eee PC VX6S Lamborghini gets its juice with a new Intel Atom NM10 processor, along with AMD Radeon HD 6470M discrete graphics for its 12.1-inch 16:9 HD LED-backlit display. Oddly, it’s described as “glare-type” (I think they mean glossy, as opposed to matte). Other highlights include the 500GB hard drive (plus 500GB Asus Webstorage), 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, and premium sound powered by Bang & Olufsen ICEpower. The trackpad looks to be made of glass too, feeling not unlike a smartphone screen.

You get the “undeniable style with Lamborghini-inspired design,” just like others in the Lamborghini collection from Asus. You can choose from orange or black, not unlike the colors you might choose for your Gallardo. If you knock off the S and just the Eee PC VX6, you still get Lambo-ness, but it can come in white.

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The portrait-oriented tablet has stylus support, so you can treat the MeMO 3D like a digital notepad. The tablet also comes with a MeMIC Bluetooth hands-free headset s0 you can make calls from the device. The glasses-free 3D display allows you to watch movies and play games in 3D, but only in landscape mode due to the parallax barrier technology Asus used for the tablet.

The device has a 1.2 MP camera on the front and a 5 MP camera with LED flash on the rear of the tablet. Asus hasn’t revealed pricing or a specific release date for the Eee Pad MeMO 3D, but have suggested it would be released in late 2011. Back in January Asus said the Eee Pad MeMO without 3D would be priced around US$499-$699 at with a June 2011 release. We’ll see how much extra money they pin onto the price with the newly added 3D feature, though with the feature only being available in landscape mode, it better be a minimal price increase.

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Even so, I made my way over to the Asus booth to get a closer look. It’s really too bad that they don’t even have a working prototype or engineering sample to show us, since they were dummy devices in the cases. They’re not operational at all, so it’s almost like the Padfone is nothing more than a proof of concept.

In any case, I did get a closer look at how the docking mechanism appears to work. Out the back of the tablet part, there’s a flap that opens up to reveal where you put the smartphone. The assumption is that the smartphone will have a miniUSB port on its left side. This would likely line up with a miniUSB connector on the inside of the dock.

You’ll also notice that there is a hole cut out in the dock cover. This allows the camera on the smartphone portion to still be usable when in the tablet dock. Strangely, the cutout does not seem to allow for the flash to work, but this design could see several alterations before the Padfone becomes a real product.

I’m not sure how I feel about the Padfone, to be honest. It could prove to be an epic game changer, but it could also prove to be a monumental disaster (assuming it ever gets out of the vaporware stage).

The post A Closer Look at The Asus Padfone Smartphone Tablet Dock appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles facing tablet adoption is price. Not everyone can justify spending $500+ on one, but thanks to the newly announced MSI WindPad Enjoy 7, they can get into the tablet game for half the price.

I met up with the folks at MSI at their Computex booth and they took me behind closed doors to show off two new additions to their family. We’ll start with the cheaper of the two. The Enjoy 7 is, as its name implies, a 7-inch tablet. They have it running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but they stayed mum on whether Honeycomb would eventually get sent to this device.

Power comes by way of an ARM Cortex A8 1.2GHz processor. The screen resolution is on the low side (800 x 480) and MSI doesn’t have licensing to use Android Market either. They’re working on a workaround, but I guess that’s the price you pay when you cut the MSRP down to $249. Lack of Android Market could be a deal breaker for many, even if they have “AppsLib App market [with] thousands of games supported.”

Basically the same deal applies to the 10-inch MSI WindPad Enjoy 10, except the screen gets a better resolution (1024×768). That gets bumped to $299. Realistically, though, spending an extra $100 on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer sounds like a better deal to us, regardless of whether you splurge to pick up the keyboard dock for the Transformer too.

Photos: Michael Kwan

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We know about the PadFone, the Atrix 4G Dock, and ever since the news of them I’ve had dreams of docking my iPhone in a similar device.  Buy one superphone and make your own scalable devices by simply docking it within a specialized housing that has no main internal components.  But that’s not likely to happen from Apple anytime soon, so ECS and ICE Computer at Computex unveiled a prototype of their iPad-like dock for your iPhone or Android Smartphones.  This is where it gets far fetched, how does it dock with the iPhone which uses the Apple connector while docking with Android devices which most only have a Micro-USB port?  I will believe this one when I see it, but the $200 slide-in tablet shell is will add an SD card slot, two USB ports and a front-facing camera to the mix.  If it will work on an iOS phone it will have to be jailbroken in order to support the other hardware features, other than that, they are saying to watch out for a Q4 release for the 9.7-inch tablet shell.

The post Dockable Tablet For iPhone and Android Smartphones Has No Soul appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Nova Electronics Mall

Since Taiwan is home to so many computer and electronics companies, you would assume that it could be a shopping Mecca for all the gadget geeks of the world. While I wouldn’t quite put the host city of Computex on par with the legendary Akihabara region in Tokyo, Taipei is no slouch when it comes to buying some cutting edge technology.

You could try to find some stuff at the major shopping malls and department stores, but you’ll likely overpay and not get the latest and greatest in the world of tech. For that, you’ll need to venture elsewhere. Let’s explore some of the best tech shopping areas in the city of Taipei.

NOVA Electronics Mall

Located right across the street from Taipei Main Station (accessible via bus, train, or subway) is a mega complex known as NOVA. This multi-floor shopping center focuses on all sorts of technology and gadgets.

Looking for a new smartphone? You’ve got it. Want the newest Sony Vaio or Asus Eee PC? They’ve got that too. Many of the models are not even available overseas yet. The best part is that Taiwan uses the same style wall plug as North America, so you don’t have to deal with any messy adapters.

NOVA may appear to be one giant store, but it’s actually comprised of several smaller stores. Beyond the ones that sell consumer electronics, you’ll also discover shops for accessories, components, and small doo-dahs.

Camera Street

Perhaps you are more interested in digital photography and digital video? Just a few blocks west of NOVA, you’ll discover a few streets that are loaded with nothing but camera stores.

They sell the camera bodies, both point and shoot and digital SLR, but the bigger draw is with the array of available accessories. Just about any adapter, lens, cap, filter and more can be found in these shops. They’ll also sell you cases, tripods, monopods, bags, and batteries, among countless other things. No matter how rare, there’s a good chance that at least one of these shops will not only sell it; they’ll have it in stock for a reasonable price.

Shopping in Taipei

Kuanghwa Market

Also known as Guanghwa, this area is accessible via the Metro blue line. Get off at the Zhongxiao Xinsheng station and walk north toward Civic Boulevard.

Near there, you will find three or four blocks loaded with electronics and computer stores. These shops are not only on the street level, but also in lower levels and second floors. I found that the prices and selection were generally better here than at NOVA, but the stores visually appear sketchier by comparison.

As before, the shops are loaded with all kinds of accessories and peripherals, as well as core equipment. There are keyboard covers, screen protectors, portable drives, different mounts, digital cameras, and so much more.

Behind the fruit market that you’ll be able to see from the corner is a newer building. This is the real Guanghwa Market, replacing the trailer-like structures that had previously filled the space. These niche stores sell just about every kind of electronic product and component imaginable. While there, visit the bakery on the first floor, a few steps away from the electronic gun store. Just follow your nose.

More Taiwanese Selection

Yes, you can find Japanese brands like Sony and Panasonic, but Taipei really is the place to go for Taiwanese brands. Check out the products by HTC, Acer, Asus, BenQ and others… and don’t forget to load up on those accessories too.

Shopping in Taipei

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Enermax Aeolus CP003 notebook computer cooler

Leaders of laptop-only life will appreciate this one. I myself ditched the desktop several years back, keeping it mobile is how it’s done. But one setback notebooks have in terms of cooling is tiny little fans, and a limited amount of power to spin them. There’s plenty of notebook cooling stands out there already, but the Enermax Aeolus CP003 looks like a monster ripped out of an industrial HVAC system. On display at Computex, this notebook cooler comes with a 10-inch “monster” fan.

Most other notebook coolers rarely make use of a fan larger than about 6-inches (probably for a reason), so this thing is positively gigantic by comparison. Whether this translates to better cooling performance is debatable, taking a big fan for a spin may require more juice, but it sure looks impressive. Blue LED lighting blings it out so it will look tre’ rad next to your glowing halo themed desktop (when of course your not explaining your way through airport security).  Enermax tops it off with a  brushed aluminum frame, support for 17-inch notebooks, an extra USB port for that one you lost letting it suck your laptop battery dry, and an adjustable fan switch in case all you were after was the glowing blue lights.

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Platter drives still aren’t quite up to par with USB 3.0 external solid state drives — the Kingston Hyper X external SSD for example pushes a theoretical 200MB/sec — but still a heft improvement over USB 2.0.   PQI says their TurboHDD USB technology is going to give us a 53% performance boost when comparing their USB 3.0 drive to competitors.  Sure PQI, drop us down a unit and we’ll let you know how that pans out.  Until then, we can look forward to an H566 in your flavors of 320GB, 500GB, or 640GB bundled with “UR-Foretress” and UR-Smart software.

PQI

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