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Samsung has announced X430 and X180 notebooks for South Korean consumers. These new X-Series notebooks are touted to pack decent innards in its thin and lightweight chassis and also sport a luxurious design.

The 11.6-inch X180 weighs just 1.61kg and features Intel CPU, 3GB RAM, DLNA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and 6-cell battery with Enhanced Battery Life (EBL) giving up to 8.2 hours of battery life.

The X430 on the other hand, has a 14-inch HD screen, Intel CPU, discrete GPU option, 4GB RAM, DLNA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and EBL supporting battery giving a continuous run time of up to 8 hours.

• Samsung announces Galaxy S (SHW-M110S) for South Korea
• Samsung ST80 Digital Camera has Wi-Fi, 720p Video Recording
• KT to get Galaxy K in September
• Samsung releases WinMo 6.5 update for Omnia Pop (SPH-M7200)

AMD passed Nvidia in graphics chip shipments in the second quarter, according to a marketing research firm.

Originally posted at Nanotech – The Circuits Blog

So, we’ve two main issues here. One, who in their right mind would pay $219.99 for a device that still requires a dedicated stereo in order to play back the internet radio streams that Grace Digital’s Tuner Wireless Radio & Media Player delivers? And secondly, who would want to put up with Grace Digital’s thoroughly lackluster UI? If you can’t grok the grumbling, the aforementioned company now has a slender new component it’d love to stick on your shelf, with the device shown above able to stream WiFi radio content from 30,000 stations, Pandora, iheartradio, Sirius, Live365, MP3tunes and a smattering of other sources. It can be wired up via Ethernet or used over 802.11g, with composite, Toslink and coaxial digital audio outputs around back. There’s a 4-line backlit LCD for displaying not nearly enough metadata at once, and there’s even a remote thrown in for those looking to build out their collection. It’s available now if you’re feeling the itch, though we’d suggest you get that checked out before blindly indulging.

Continue reading Grace Digital’s Tuner Wireless Radio & Media Player adds internet radio to existing stereos

Grace Digital’s Tuner Wireless Radio & Media Player adds internet radio to existing stereos originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 00:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another touchscreen phone from Fly has just been launched in Russia. Called the E160, the handset boasts a 2-megapixel camera, dual SIM card slots, a microSD card slot (up to 16GB), a music/video player, Bluetooth, a 3.5mm headset jack and comes pre-loaded with Opera Mini browser, Nimbuzz and iDeaWidgets applications. The Fly E160 sells for 4,190 Rubles (about $139). [Fly]

You might’ve heard about a new Kindle model or two this evening, and good news if they tickled your fancy — they’re now on Amazon and available for pre-order. Both the WiFi-only and WiFi / 3G models are shipping August 27th, the former in graphite and the latter in graphite and white options. Search your pocketbook, if you know it to be coveted.

P.S. – UK customers, try here.

New Kindles now available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Trading gas nozzles for electric sockets may be the green thing to do — in more ways than one — but wouldn’t plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles be that much sweeter if you could just forget about the plug? That’s what Evatran is trying to do with its Plugless Power technology, shown off at Plug-In 2010 in San Jose, which charges your car automatically when you pull up to the company’s specially-designed curb. The “station block” above is a wireless induction charger (yes, a car-sized Powermat) that beams electricity to a shoebox-sized device you mount to the undercarriage of your vehicle, magnetically detecting and gravitating towards said shoebox even if you park somewhat crooked. The system presently works with 80 percent efficiency when firing electrons across a two-inch gap (engineers are shooting for 90 percent by the time it hits production) but of course the base station itself doesn’t get power from the ether — it requires one of the company’s own Level 2 wired chargers (and compatible wiring) to run. Should your residence or place of business be equipped, the 240 volt towers will set you back $3,245 this December, and the proximity charger will be available to early adopters in Q2 2011 (we’re hearing April) for the bargain price of $800.

Evatran’s Plugless Power gives your wheels a wireless proximity-based charge originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back when we outlined the iOS 4 features missing from iPhone 3G, we forgot one key bullet point: performance. As more and more two-year veterans of Apple’s phones have taken the plunge and upgraded to the latest firmware, slowdown and battery drain issues have become a common complaint, which is even more irksome when you think of just how little the update really adds to the UI. The Wall Street Journal reports speaking to an Apple spokesperson who said the company is looking into the matter. That doesn’t necessarily mean a fix is coming anytime soon, but hey, at least you can hold the darn thing however you want.

Apple investigating issues with iOS 4 upgrade on iPhone 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bell will launch the LG Rumour Plus in Canada starting next month. Measuring 10.3cm x 5cm x 1.5cm and weighing at 119 grams, the handset features a 2.4-inch (240 x 320) display, a 2-megapixel digital camera, GPS, a touch dial capability and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The LG Rumour Plus is especially made for those who want to stay updated and keep in touch with their social circle without hassle. The Bell LG Rumour Plus will be available only in Black Blue model. [Bell]

In the battle between iPhone and Android, one of several things Android users can hang over the heads of their iPhone-toting brethren is the built-in talk-to-text capability. Luckily, owners of the Apple device can easily retort, “well, there’s an app for that!” In fact, there are several dictation programs available. Better yet, the two I’ve outlined below are free (for the most part).

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Dragon Dictation: This completely free app–which is compatible with any iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running OS 3.1 or later–is simpler in function than the other offering here. However, a new version was released just last week, adding several features that make it a compelling option. Namely, you can now paste your recently recorded text directly into the iPhone SMS client, and there’s also an option to submit text to social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.

Taking down a text is as simple as opening the app, hitting a record button, verifying the text, and pulling up a menu to submit it to the client of your choosing, be it SMS, email, or one of the aforementioned social sites. If the text isn’t quite right, there’s a keyboard that you can pull up for editing, though I was impressed by the performance of the dictation detector during testing. It had about 85% accuracy–not bad for a free program. My only real complaint is that you can’t use it within an existing text conversation.

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Vlingo: Vlingo is a little more handy–and advanced–than Dragon Dictation. However, in order to take advantage of two of the most useful features, you’ll have to pay for it. The app includes free talk to text for Web search, social sites, maps, and voice dialing. But if you want to activate the features for SMS or e-mail, a fee is required: $6.99 each for either texting or e-mail, or $9.99 for both. Still, it may be worth it for some users.

Vlingo is neat in that it recognizes certain voice commands, so that instead of dictating and then pulling up a menu to designate where your text is going, you simply command “Twitter update” or “text” followed by the communication you want. This completely removes the need to fuss with your phone from the equation, which should really be the ultimate goal for any dictation app. Vlingo also offered good accuracy during testing.

Originally posted at iPhone Atlas

Well this is getting good. Motorola was one of the first to take a subtle swipe at Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna dilemma with an ad saying you could hold the Droid X “any way you like,” Apple came right back with a video purportedly showing the Droid X suffering similar attenuation issues when held in the right hand, and now Moto’s responded with this cheeky ad that plays off Apple’s free iPhone case solution by saying the Droid X can make calls “without a bulky phone jacket.” Yeah, it’s pretty good — particularly because unlike most other phones, we haven’t been able to death grip the Droid X with any noticeable effect on 3G reception. (Although, truth be told, we can drop the WiFi signal by a few bars pretty easily.) Either way, we’re certainly enjoying this little slice of swagger from Moto — check a larger version after the break.

Continue reading Motorola takes another shot at the iPhone 4, says Droid X is ‘no jacket required’

Motorola takes another shot at the iPhone 4, says Droid X is ‘no jacket required’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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