Gigabyte announces S1080 Windows 7 tablet with USB 3.0 and optical drive dock

We're here at Computex's pre-show event to get some hands-on time with a few new products. As expected many tablets are present, and one such device is Gigabyte's S1080 Windows 7 tablet, which we almost mistook as Viewsonic's Viewpad 7. Here you have a 14.94mm-thick chassis housing a 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen LCD, along with an Intel Atom N570, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, and a 320GB hard drive (2.5 inches, 5400rpm, SATA). Other tidbits include a USB 2.0 port, USB 3.0 port, SD card reader, RJ-45 jack, 1.3 megapixel webcam, 4,000mAh battery, Bluetooth 3.0, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, and 3.5G modem. All of this boil down to an 895g (32oz) package.

If the S1080 doesn't interested you, then maybe its accompanying multimedia dock will. Like similar offerings from competitors, Gigabyte's version adds stereo speakers, VGA output, three USB 2.0 ports, and audio line-in to the tablet. But the real zinger here is the front-loading optical drive, which is a rare sight on docking stations these days. Oh, and if the built-in 4,000mAh battery isn't enough for you, there's also an optional 2.700mAh battery bar that hooks onto the bottom of the tablet. Expect the S1080 to hit US markets in June for around $700, with the yet-to-be-priced dock to follow later on in the summer (or you could just fly to Taiwan in July to pick one up).

Gigabyte announces S1080 Windows 7 tablet with USB 3.0 and optical drive dock

ViewSonic ViewPad 10Pro boots an Intel Oak Trail CPU into Windows 7 Pro, virtualizes Android

The ViewPad 10 era is over, here comes the epoch of the ViewPad 10Pro. Beyond the introduction of Intel's Oak Trail Z670 1.5GHz processor, the new Windows 7 Pro / Android 2.2 dual-boot tablet throws in a 3G radio, 32GB of onboard storage (expandable via MicroSD or USB), and a 3500mAh battery that's rated to last for 4.5 hours of 1080p video playback. It's one of Intel's promised 10+ Android tabletscoming at this year's Computex, though it has the appreciable advantage of being able to switch over to Windows 7 pretty much instantaneously. Check it out in the gallery below and you can expect a more in-depth look from us later on during the currently ongoing Computex 2011 trade show.

Update: Calling this a dual-boot tablet may have been a little ambitious, as it's running the Bluestacksvirtualization software, which turns Android into a Windows app, rather than allowing true dual-booting capabilities.

ViewPad 10Pro hands-on

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ViewPad 7x aims to become world's first 7-inch Honeycomb tablet, adds HSPA+ for good measure

Guess who's sneakily beating the pack to the title of having the globe's first 7-inch Honeycomb tablet... why, it's none other than ViewSonic! The ViewPad 7x (1024 x 600 resolution) managed to leak out earlier this month, but now it's fully official with Google's Android 3.0.1 OS, HSPA+ connectivity, and a pair of cameras, one on the front and one on the back. A Tegra 2 dual-core processor plus an HDMI-out have also been included inside a featherweight 380g package. Ironically, ViewSonic's neglected to provide a release date for this "world first" tablet, but we'll be hitting up its booth here at Computex for some more hands-on time and making sure to collect that and every other salient detail about the ViewPad 7x.

ViewPad 7x hands-on

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HP Veer gets bricked, disassembled after checking 'Organ Donor' box

There's a saying 'round the webOS world... something to the effect of "it's impossible to brick a webOS device." Turns out, that's hardly the case these days -- the newfangled Touch to Share technology that's tucked into the latest round of HP devices is mighty fickle, and one Rob Whitby has somehow managed to turn his Veer 4G into a bantam paperweight. Rather than using it as a projectile with a mind to make his security deposit vanish, he did the only remaining intelligent thing to do: rip it open, while taking pleasure in refusing it an epidural. There's no video of the presumably gut-wrenching procedure, but there's a shockingly detailed account of the teardown linked below. Eye candy's just a click away, and yes, donations for a replacement are being accepted. The funeral date, however, remains undetermined.

Droid X gets genuine Gingerbread update, leaked build floats out for the impatient

Still bothering with that unofficial 2.3 update for your comparatively monstrous Droid X? Good news, eager beaver; right on cue, the bona fide Gingerbread update is rolling out to select Droid X owners this weekend, and if you aren't lucky enough to be included in the initial soak test, you can take matters into your own hands by visiting the source links below. Per usual, we'd caution against a manual install for those who aren't familiar with the process, particularly since the masses should receive it as the week forges on. Naturally, the v2.3.3 changes are subtle (at least in comparison to the changes seen in the leap from Eclair to Froyo), but hey -- an update's an update.

ASUS Padfone unveiled at Computex [video]

ASUS on Monday unveiled its second convertible tablet just ahead of Computex 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan. Using what ASUS calls the “n+1″ concept, which refers to taking a current product and adding a single change that allows the product to evolve beyond its current capability, ASUS sought to simplify the process of moving between a tablet and a phone. The result is a unique 10.1-inch tablet that acts as dock for a 4.3-inch Android smartphone dubbed Padfone. Similar to Motorola’s “webtop” design that allows a smartphone to be docked in a laptop, ASUS’ Padfone smartphone powers the tablet when it is docked. All of the data stored on the smartphone is accessible on the tablet’s display, but the UI is tweaked and enlarged to better accomodate various functions. ASUS’ first convertible design, the Eee Pad Transformer, is in high demand in every market where it is available, and ASUS clearly hopes to build on that success with the Padfone. Hit the break for ASUS’ full press release and a few videos of the Padfone in action.

HTC has 12-megapixel Windows Phone in the works

When Nokia reintroduces itself to the world as a Windows Phone maker later this year, many anticipate that the company will instantly steal the limelight from other Microsoft partners. If HTC has anything to say about it, however, that won’t be the case. HTC looks primed to take a giant leap forward in the megapixel race with a 12-megapixel Windows Phone that can shoot RAW images. Industry insider Eldar Murtazin on Sunday posted an image and preliminary impressions of the unreleased Windows Phone being readied by HTC. The smartphone resembles the HTC Trophy just launched by Verizon Wireless, but the addition of a 12-megapixel camera supplies a point of differentiation that could have photogs drooling in anticipation. HTC has never been known to equip its smartphones with good image sensors and Murtazin says the quality of images taken with the upcoming 12-megapixel offering is just “not bad at all,” but he’s working with pre-release software so let’s hope HTC has some tweaks in store ahead of launch.

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iPad 3G can make calls and send SMS messages with soon to be released jailbreak app [video]

If you have a burning desire to make phone calls or send SMS messages on your iPad 3G, you’ll be happy to know that a group by the name of iPhoneIslam has demonstrated a jailbreak application that enables calls, SMS and FaceTime via phone number on an iPad 3G.

The hack will be called PhoneItiPad and should be available in the Cydia app store before WWDC. The hack requires no additional hardware but you obviously need a jailbroken iPad 3G. This means no iPad 2 support until there is a jailbreak released for that.

Once installed you get an iPhone dialler screen which unfortunately is just the iPhone version blown up 2x. It does look a little ropey; they are working on a full resolution version for this. SMS messages do work perfectly in full screen mode on the iPad. The demo video shows how it all works and it does look like a handy feature to have.

Take a look at the demo video after the break. Then pop back here and let us know if you would welcome the ability to use your iPad 3G as a phone?

[iClarified]

Enable Multi-touch Gestures on iPad with ibackupbot

Enable Multi-touch Gestures on iPad without jailbreaking

We can find some guide on the Internet that show how to enable multi-touch gestures on iPad, but all of them request your iPad is jailbreaked, or need you own a Mac computer with XCode installed.
Now with iBackupBot, we can easily enable multi-touch gestures on iPad without jailbreaking:

What you need:

• 1. A PC computer with Windows XP/Vista/7 system, iTunes 10.2.1 installed.
• 2. An iPad or iPad 2 with iOS 4.3 or 4.3.1.
• 3. iBackupBot iTunes Backup Manager.

Then follow these steps:

• 1. Run iTunes, connect your iPad to computer, right click your iPad name in left window of iTunes and select Back Up.
• 2. After the backup process done, exit iTunes, run iBackupBot, select the newest backup of your iPad in left window ofiBackupBot.
• 3. Double click Library/Preferences/com.apple.springboard.plist in right window of iBackupBot, it will pop up a plist editor window.
  

• 4. Add below two line under line:
  SBUseSystemGestures


  

• 5. Click the Disk button to save changes then close the plist editor window.

  Notice: When saving changes, the program will re-sort the contents of plist file by key, so the 2 lines you just added may been moved to other place, you can press CTRL+F and enter SBUseSystemGestures to find it.

• 6. Press CTRL+T, the program will prompt “Do you really want restore this backup to your device?”, just click Yes button.
• 7. After the restore process done, your iPad will restart automatically, then you can enjoy the multi-touch gesturesfeature.

BTW: this method will not show the multi-touch gestures switch in option window of iPad, so if you want disable multi-touch gestures feature, you can find and delete the two line that you added inLibrary/Preferences/com.apple.springboard.plist then restore to iPad using iBackupBot.

A video on YouTube about this:
Enable iPad Multi-touch Gestures on Windows, no jailbreak request

Tags: iPad Software

This entry was posted on Monday, March 14th, 2011 at 10:32 am and is filed under iTunes Backup Manager. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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