| Pantech Element review Feb 21st 2012, 14:00 | You've heard of singin' in the rain (and have likely seen the movie). You may have even attempted it once or twice, but tableting in the midst of a downpour? That doesn't exactly conjure the same whimsy and spontaneous dance numbers. Yet, Pantech's making such joyous, on-the-go content consumption possible with the aptly named Element. It's yet another addition to the growing stable of LTE devices propping up AT&T's newly expanded 4G fort. Rather than run the risk of this being seen as another garden-variety Honeycomb tablet, though, Pantech's imbued this guy with waterproofing. Of course, that's not all this skinned Android slate's bringing to the party. With a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060 CPU complemented by 1GB RAM, a 1024 x 768 TFT XGA display and a healthy 6,400mAh battery, this impermeable tab stands on equal spec footing with its post-PC peers. At $299 on two-year contract, it's certainly priced to sell, but should you dish out the dollars for a middle-ground tablet from the likes of a lesser-known manufacturer? Does a limited and possibly frivolous imperviousness to water warrant your attention? Should you stash that plastic until Pantech confirms an ETA for that Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade? Find all this out and more after the break, as we force this 8-incher to brave the elements. Continue reading Pantech Element review Pantech Element review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | LightBeam pico projector turns any surface into a display, any object into a remote (video) Feb 21st 2012, 13:35 | Do you ever stop to think about all those plain, unloved surfaces in the world, which go through life without ever once being used to reflect a Flickr feed or Facebook wall? It amounts to hectares of wasted potential, but there is a solution. It's called LightBeam and it's a 'nomadic' pico projector that uses a webcam to track and reorient its display to suit any ad hoc surface -- the piece of paper in your hand, the cover of a book, or the picture frame on your desk. And just when you think you've seen it all before, the guy in the video after the break rotates a coffee mug to flip the channel. Handy, no? Continue reading LightBeam pico projector turns any surface into a display, any object into a remote (video) LightBeam pico projector turns any surface into a display, any object into a remote (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Barnes & Noble 2012 Q3 Report: loss-making Nook generates sales, tears Feb 21st 2012, 13:17 |  It's that time of the year when Barnes & Noble's accountants reveal the figures for the quarter to determine if the age of print is over. Turns out there's some good news for bookseller. Overall sales for the chain increased five percent: the company took $2.4 billion through the cash registers. That was split $1.49 billion (up two percent) in high-street retail, online sales took $420 million (up 32 percent year-on-year) and the Nook in all its forms and glories took $542 million (up 38 percent). The only grey cloud was that sales in college-only stores dropped three percent, thanks in part to renting textbooks to impecunious freshmen. They're probably all using that money on buying digital content on their Nooks: digital content purchases increased by 85 percent in a single quarter. Like rival Amazon, it wouldn't release how many devices were sold, except to say it likely maintained its market share. However, all of that (pretty) good news is a bit of a smokescreen: B&N won't reveal its profits after interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization has been deducted. Pre ITDA income dropped 12 percent from the same period in 2011 and the company has revealed that the BN.com and Nook businesses made a combined loss of $94 million, with annual income looking to be in negative figures. Update: A tidbit from the conference call, the company believes the device currently holds around 30 percent of the overall e-reader market: using numbers direct from the publishers themselves. Continue reading Barnes & Noble 2012 Q3 Report: loss-making Nook generates sales, tears Barnes & Noble 2012 Q3 Report: loss-making Nook generates sales, tears originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Barnes & Noble unveils 8GB Nook Tablet for $199, slashes Color to $169 Feb 21st 2012, 13:00 | Looks like those murmurings of a lower-priced Nook Tablet with only 8GB of storage were right on, though, the reduced RAM was conveniently left out. In most ways it seems the updated Android slate is identical to its 16GB forebearer, except that by slashing the storage and memory in half Barnes & Noble has managed to meet the Kindle Fire on price -- $199. And, unlike the Fire, the Nook sports a microSD slot, so the loss of 8GB of storage isn't necessarily a huge deal. In addition to the new Nook Tablet, the Color is getting a rather significant price cut to just $169, making it cheaper than the Kindle Touch without ads. Looks like the brick-and-mortar stalwart has finally thrown down the pricing gauntlet. The lower-priced tab is available today both online and in Barnes & Noble stores, with other retailers to join the parade soon. Check out the complete PR after the break. Continue reading Barnes & Noble unveils 8GB Nook Tablet for $199, slashes Color to $169 Barnes & Noble unveils 8GB Nook Tablet for $199, slashes Color to $169 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | |
