Now this is a tablet I was very, very interested in - at least until I read the review.  The form factor makes for extreme portability, which most tablets lack.  Here's a snippet: Despite a premium price tag that pits it against the iPad, it doesn't follow up with a commensurate user experience. Screen transitions are sluggish, and that bezel (perhaps unsurprisingly) often hinders any interactions between the screens. Priced at £500 ($780), the portability of the device may find some fans, but your money would be better spent on either a smartphone with similar screen real estate, or sacrificing that...

A number of people have been anticipating the release of The Notion Ink Adam. Using its own modified version of Android, a unique user interface, and a Pixel Qi screen, the tablet promised a user experience that could leave the iPad in the dust. Now Engadget has gotten its hands on one of the devices for a comprehensive review and found that, sadly, it doesn’t live up to its promises. The review notes that hardware, user interface, and software are all fairly lackluster experiences, The display is outdoor-readable, but inside it looks washed-out. The camera is cleverly swivelable...

The other day I wondered what a good name might be for the tablet/netbook hybrid computers that are hitting the market from a number of manufacturers. Now Engadget’s Joanna Stern is getting into the naming game, though this time taking aim at a slightly different netbook-related segment—computers that have the form factor and approximate price of a netbook but pack much better specs under the hood, such as the Dell M101z pictured at left. These, she posits, should be called “notbooks”—because their manufacturers are quick to insist that the devices are “not netbooks.” Intel, Stern explains, has so closely...

Reuters has rounded up four anonymous sources from within parts suppliers for the next generation of iPad, rumored to be due out around April, who have had a number of things to say about the potential design of the new device. Two could only confirm they were ramping up for a new round of production in the first quarter for components previously supplied for the original iPad, while two said the ramp-up was for a new iPad. One of those said the revamped model would feature cameras on the front and rear, while...

Our sister blog Gadgetell reported yesterday on some new Sony Reader devices Engadget turned up in a slideshow presentation. The 5” Pocket Edition and 6” Touch Edition will reportedly introduce new clear touchscreen technology (no more glare like on the Sony PRS-700 Reader I reviewed!), 2 gigabytes of internal storage, a faster page turn, and increased battery life offering “up to 10,000 page turns on a single charge”. There is no information on price (though Sony famously said it was going to compete on quality instead of trying to match the roller-coaster drops in other readers’ prices),...

Engadget just received a screenshot from Barnes & Noble’s inventory management system showing a “NOOK WiFi” device listed at $149, with a release date of Wednesday, June 23rd. No indication of what it looks like, whether stores will have any on hand, or whather the screenshot is accurate. Still, it’s interesting to see one of the “big boys” weigh in (barely) below the $150 mark. The two-digit barrier fast approaches. Update: PaidContent reports that the price of the 3G Nook is also falling from $259. to $199. Those wondering about the price difference due to the...

Although both Amazon and Barnes & Noble are notoriously tight-lipped about their sales figures, DigiTimes has talked to upstream providers and believes that 53% of e-book readers shipped to US vendors in March were B&N Nooks Of course, given the indirect nature of the research, it’s a little hard to be very confident in these figures. Still, even if the Nook wasn’t the top-shipping e-book reader in March, it’s definitely showing up as a strong contender. (Found via Engadget.)...

We’ve given a great deal of coverage to the iPad lately, but another tablet device has come out at about the same time. How does the much-anticipated Fusion Garage JooJoo, nee TechCrunch CrunchPad, do? Engadget has a pretty comprehensive review, including an 8-minute video walkthrough that puts the device through its paces. The results are not encouraging: when compared to the iPad, the JooJoo consistently comes up short. It has a much shorter (as in, 2.5 hours under average use) battery life (and the device gets quite warm under load), heavier weight, screen not viewable from...

Engadget has a few interesting reports of e-book reading devices finding new sales outlets. First of all, when the iPad was announced with iBooks, people knew it was targeting Amazon’s Kindle. But now, apparently Amazon is “Targeting” its own Kindle, placing the device for sale in the Target big-box stores by the end of this month. Engadget has what seems to be a screenshot taken from a Target inventory management application to back this up. Nate the Great at The Digital Reader did a bit of sleuthing of his own, phoning his local Target to confirm that...

K. Tempest Bradford at Tor.com has posted a brief rundown of 8 different e-book readers, ranging from his favorite (the Spring Design Alex) down to his least favorite (the iRex DR800SG). There’s not a lot to argue with, as it’s mostly his opinions, but it’s interesting to see what other people think. Meanwhile, Engadget has an in-depth look at the Spring Design Alex. On the whole, they found it enjoyable to use (with just a few minor caveats), but note that commercial e-books and an app store will not be available until the summer, and the $399 price...

Fifteen years ago, the device that singlehandedly created the PDA market, and also probably did the most to start the e-book ball rolling, was the humble Palm Pilot. It was truly a marvel for its time—which is why it is so sad to see Palm floundering today, an also-ran in the smartphone market behind Apple and Android-powered devices. Palm’s stock prices hit a 52-week low on Friday after a lackluster earnings announcement, and analysts have downgraded their opinion of the stock to “sell”—with two analysts even lowering their price target to $0 (meaning that they think Palm’s stock prices will...

Here are some interesting bits of news from the last couple days of the iPad sales frenzy. Investor Village estimates that 120,000 iPads were preordered in the first day, with wifi-only models beating out wifi+3G by a 2:1 ratio. "Apple has been able to generate over $75 million in revenue in one day on a product that 99.9% of purchasers haven't touched or for that matter, even seen in person," said Victor Castroll, an analyst with Valcent Financial Group. "And, we're still three weeks away. That is amazing." The Unofficial Apple Weblog...