E-Z Life

Last time we saw the 10-inch EROS tablet it was powered down and pouting about its two hours of battery life, but the tablet’s pulled itself together and powered up to show off its skills. The performance is pretty much what you would expect of an Intel Atom-powered Windows 7 Home Premium netbook with its keyboard chopped off, and from what we’ve been able to glean from the 11 minute video below the touchscreen seems responsive to writing with a stylus and to flicks of photos and pages in a comic book. You’ll notice, however the reviewer only uses his fingers a few times, though he’s actually quite good at typing on the on-screen keyboard. The rest of the time he uses the stylus to move through those far-from-finger-friendly Windows 7 menus. If you’re wondering why Windows 7 still needs additional software tweaks to work on a purely finger-driven tablet device, spend 10 minutes watching the video below. Or just listen to The Weepies’ awesome “Gotta Have You” — which perhaps not coincidentally ends when the tablet’s done booting.

Continue reading EROS tablet video is a lesson in why Windows 7 isn’t strictly meant for finger navigation

EROS tablet video is a lesson in why Windows 7 isn’t strictly meant for finger navigation originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s so-called Calgary has found itself on a lengthy, fascinating journey from rumor to retail — a journey that began way back in 2008. Finally, here we are a whole bunch of months later, the high-end Droid having been released back in November and Verizon still without a midrange choice for Android hopefuls — but that’s about to change. Right, Verizon? Right? The latest intel from Android and Me suggests that the Devour (as it’ll almost certainly be known to the public) will feature a Qualcomm MSM7627 — the same next-gen entry-level core being used by the Pixi that’s designed to replace the aging MSM7600 series, very likely a chip that we’re going to be seeing a whole lot of over the next 12-18 months in devices that manufacturers don’t deem worthy of Snapdragon. Meanwhile, Android Central seems to have scored a shot of some promotional material for the Devour suggesting that it’s not far off — the site says we’re looking at a retail box here, but considering how small and narrow the Droid’s box is, this could actually be some in-store signage or something to that effect. We’ll know soon enough, hopefully.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: And look at this, Motorola’s support documents for the Devour are now live (we count 10 pages’ worth, total). Not too much interesting in here, but we can confirm that the name will be Devour, it’s got WiFi, and there’ll be a car kit available. Thanks, Stormdancer!

Motorola Devour for Verizon gets boxed, shares Pixi’s processor? (update: Moto’s support site is live) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It may only represent a smidgen of the multi-trillion dollar annual federal budget, but funding for NASA never fails to stir up debate, and that looks like it’ll be the case more than ever with the Obama administration’s just-announced 2011 budget. While NASA’s budget will actually increase slightly to $19 billion, the big news is that Constellation moon program started by the Bush administration in 2006 (with the goal of returning by 2020) is being shelved amid what amounts to a fairly big change in priorities for NASA. That includes the first phase of more than $9 billion in spending on robotic exploration and heavy-lift rockets and, perhaps most notably, $6 billion in spending to promote the development of commercial rockets and spacecraft — which NASA hopes will eventually be able to transport astronauts into orbit. Turning around a space agency isn’t exactly easy though, and it’ll apparently cost $3 billion over two years simply to end what’s already been started on the Constellation program.

Feeling a little wistful? Then head on past the break for a brief history of NASA’s recent lunar ambitions.

Continue reading Budget puts NASA’s moon program on ice, promises to ‘blaze a new trail of discovery’

Budget puts NASA’s moon program on ice, promises to ‘blaze a new trail of discovery’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here’s the thing about Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Pureness: once you get past the translucent display, there’s not much to it. Seriously — it doesn’t have 3G, a camera, hunks of precious metal, or even a fancy name to flaunt like Vertu, Dior, or Versace; it’s just a low-end phone from a mass-market manufacturer that can’t do much other than make calls. We suppose that’s why it was so easy for a Shenzhen KIRFer to pop out this near-perfect duplicate of the Pureness — the Somy X5 — in no time. Heck, it’s even got support for two SIMs, or exactly twice as many as you’ll find on the $1,000 genuine article — which, if you’re keeping track, is over twelve times the bargain-basement sticker on the Somy here at RMB 550 ($81). Anyhow, looks like it’s back to that search for a faithful Aura replica, eh?

Somy X5: basically a Sony Ericsson Pureness for a tenth the price originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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President Obama is set to abandon the US space agency’s “Moon rockets” according to reports.