New Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook: first look review

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

While at the Dell suite at CES 2010, I took the opportunity to play with the all-new Dell Inspiron Mini 10. Despite having the same name as its predecessor, this is a substantially different design: in particular, the hinge is now set back around an inch from the rear edge, which allows future designs to integrated more ports at the back. For now, though, only the power input has moved.

The change of design also means Dell can use a prismatic lithium-ion battery that squeezes in six cells rather than the three cells of the ordinary battery – all without adding any bulk to the chassis. The end result should be nine-and-a-half hours of life rather than the four or so hours of the three-cell battery.

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Roll-up keyboard: first-look review

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

The roll-up keyboard is one of those devices I’ve read about with some bewilderment, but never tried. So, when I saw it on a stand at CES I had to give it a try. The result was the bizarrest typing experience I’ve ever, well, experienced.

The keys are all rubber, and as you’d expect they don’t hit down in the normal way of a keyboard. Instead they wobble under the finger, rather like typing might be if keyboards were made of jelly. It’s odd.

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Motorola Backflip: first-look review

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

I was so impressed by the Motorola Backflip, having taken a short video of it in action yesterday, that today I felt an odd, compelling urge to take it in my hands and use it. From the photo above you may wonder why: just a phone with a keyboard, right? But this is a phone with a secret hiding round the back. Namely this:

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If cars had developed as fast as PC processors…

Friday, January 8th, 2010

…they would go at 470,000 mph, get 100,000 miles to the gallon, and cost 3 cents.

That was the claim of Intel boss Paul Otellini during his keynote speech here at CES in Las Vegas, in which the chip giant delivered an impressively assured vision of the future.

Otellini was praised by Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) president Gary Shapiro for continuing to innovate its way out of the recession, and the Intel keynote certainly suggested the company is continuing to invest heavily in R&D.

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Lenovo IdeaPad U1: photos and first look

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Of the many, many, many new products Lenovo has launched during CES 2010, the Lenovo IdeaPad U1 is one of the most fascinating. The company is calling this the world’s first hybrid notebook, and although a little prosaic and clumsy that sums it up fairly well: the IdeaPad U1 is a notebook, but it’s also a slate tablet PC.

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MSI Wind U160 netbook: first look review

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Listen to the chatter of the reps at the stand, and you could quickly believe that the MSI Wind U160 is the shape of netbooks to come. Forget the slightly squat designs of yesteryear: the U160 is slim and beautiful enough to have won an iF Product Design Award. And it really is slim: 25mm at its thickest point. As this “official” MSI photo shows, it brushes up rather nicely too:

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MSI X-Slim X420: first look review

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

I had a brief play with the MSI X420 at CES Unveiled last night, the opening salvo in the five-day technological war that is Las Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show – the biggest, as they’re rather fond of telling us, in the world.

The X420 is interesting not only of itself, but because its 14in thin-and-light design is a form factor that many people expect to be huge in the coming year or two. Light weight, thin profile, low price and high battery life are the key driving factors, and though we don’t yet know what the X420’s price is going to be in the UK (it’s $799 in the US) it’s set to deliver on the three other factors.

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