Tag: asus

By May 9, 2014 Read More →

Asus C200 and C300 are official

asus-c200-chromebookThe first Bay Trail powered Chromebook to hit the market, the Asus C200 and C300 are official. Asus has made it official on their website. The two models have the same specs except for the screen size. The C200 is a 11.6-inch LED backlit HD glossy screen (1366 x 768) and the C300 has a bigger, 13.3 screen.

Asus C200 and C300 specification:

  • Intel® Bay Trail-M Dual Processor N2830 2.42 GHz
  • 11.6-inch LED backlit HD glossy screen (1366 x 768) (13.3 on C300)
  • 720p HD camera
  • 2 GB RAM
  • 16 GB SSD
  • 1 x USB2.0 port + 1 x USB 3.0 port
  • 1 x HDMI 1.4
  • 2.5 lbs for the 11.6 model and 3.1 lbs for the 13.3 model.

There are some confusion about the price at the moment. Some reports say that both models are priced $249. If you are getting a 13.3 Chromebook for $249, that is a sweet deal indeed. No word of UK prices.

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By January 8, 2014 Read More →

Android or Windows at the flick of a switch from Asus

Android or WindowsThe new Asus Transformer Book Duet seems to be the real deal that many have promised over the years in that it can go from Windows 8 to Android literally at the flip of a switch (actually push of a button). Press the OS switch button on the Duet’s keyboard dock or tap the app on the touchscreen and it takes approximately 4 seconds to make the jump. Thanks to the Duet’s Intel Core i7 processor the Duet is plenty speedy. A list of other features show this ASUS as quite the capable 2-in-1 device.

 

A little more detail from their press release reveals:

ASUS Transformer Book Duet (TD300) delivers striking visuals on its 13.3-inch 1920 x 1080 Full HD IPS touchscreen display. This multi-touch display has a sensitivity and responsiveness that exceeds Microsoft’s requirements for Windows 8.1. For audio, it comes with ASUS SonicMaster technology for true-to-life sound through the tablet’s twin speakers.

In addition, Transformer Book Duet has a front-facing HD camera with a built-in digital mic for video chats. The tablet display has 128GB of SSD storage which can be supplemented by a 64GB Micro SD card, while the keyboard dock houses a 1TB hard disk drive. The dock is also home to USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, a LAN port, and HDMI 1.4 output with 1080p support. In terms of connectivity, ASUS Transformer Book T300 has 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 with EDR.

It looks to be a pretty incredible 2-in-1, but my problem lies in the choices of Operating Systems. Before anyone gets ahead of me I’d like to say that I love both Android and Windows 8. I own a Nexus Tablet and have been using Android since ’09 with the OG Droid. I also own a Dell XPS 12 Ultrabook running Windows 8.1, so I’m very familiar with both OSs and appreciate them both equally. I also own a Lumia smartphone running Windows Phone and this is where my problem with the operating systems comes into play. As an Android user you will probably understand this issue I have with a Windows and Android duel boot machine. 

I’m pretty much “locked” into the Windows 8 ecosystem. I use the word “locked” loosely because I’m really not locked into the ecosystem, I choose to use all the services just as I did when I was on Android. I can go back to Android in a matter of minutes without any real disruption, but why would I want to or need to? I have no real need to boot into Android. As a matter of fact, my tablet rarely gets any use beyond using Hangouts, so I just don’t have the need for a dual boot of Android and Windows. Android/Ubuntu yes, Windows/Ubuntu yes, Android/Windows no.

This issue will be further exaggerated when it comes to a dual boot smartphone running both Android/Windows (if it ever happens). To fully enjoy either OS, you really have to jump right in and get wet. Having one foot in Android and one foot in Windows is castrating the experience. Either you’re in or your out and most people are all in. Whether it’s iOS, Android or Windows Phone, consumers are tied into one ecosystem. In theory it looks interesting, but in practice it falls way short. Perhaps it’s just me. Perhaps there is a real market for Android and Windows running side by side with a press of a button or flick of a switch, but for me I’m just not seeing it right now. Android is quite capable of existing on it’s own just as Windows (Phone) is capable of doing all the lifting on it’s own.

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By January 7, 2014 Read More →

Three colourful new phones from Asus

ZenFone-4-FrontAsus have unveiled a new line of smartphones focusing on value and colours in three ZenFones in varying sizes. The ZenFone 4 has a 4-inch display, while the ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6 have 5- and 6-inch displays, respectively.

All three phones will run on Android 4.3 and are promised an update to Android 4.4 KitKat. For the ZenFone line, Asus is showing off a brand new custom UI called ZenUI. This comes with Asus’ own chat and messaging applications as well as other pre-installed software.

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The ZenFone 4 is based on a 1.2 GHz Atom Z2520 processor with quad-thread hyper threading technology and 1 GB of RAM. It packs a 4-inch WVGA 800 x 480 TFT display. It also has a 5-megapixel camera, a puny 0.3-megapixel lens up front, and a 1170 mAh battery.

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The ZenFone 5 has a 5-inch 1280 x 720 IPS display with a 2 GHz Intel Atom Z2580 CPU, 1 GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera, a 2-megapixel camera on the front, and a 2050 mAh battery.

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The ZenFone 6 has a 6-inch HD 1280 x 720 IPS display, 2 GHz Intel Atom Z2580 CPU as the ZenFone 5, 1 GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel camera, a 2-megapixel camera on the front, and a 3230 mAh battery

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By November 17, 2013 Read More →

ASUS to release its first Chromebooks in early 2014

Asus chromeboxIn a conference call to investors, Asustek CEO Jerry Shen announced that two new Chromebook products will ship worldwide towards the end of Q1 (spanning January through March) next year. Rumours and industry reports have long hinted that the Taiwanese PC maker would expand into more computing areas, such as Chromebooks and smartphones, as a way to offset a sharp decline in its traditional Windows-based PC business.

According to The Taipei Times, the company’s first set of Chromebooks will consist of a 11.6″ model priced at US$199 and a larger 13.3″ version set to retail for US$249. Recently developers have unearthed mysterious Tegra 4 and Baytrail-powered device references buried deep within the Chromium code. Could these be linked?

There was no mention of the Asus Chromebox that had some interest earlier this year. Perhaps, if Asus manage some success with their Chromebook we will see more happening.

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By October 27, 2013 Read More →

Google Nexus 7 (2013) unboxing video

Google nexus 7As described as the tablet bargain of the year on our Mobile Tech Addicts Podcast Google’s ground-breaking 7” tablet is back with a refresh. What was already a pretty tidy package for the money now has even more under the hood for casual user alongside the hardcore Android devotee.

Whilst the Nexus 7 2013 version has been around since July of this year we figured you would be best having a look at it before the new Retina iPad Mini debuts in that all important run up to Christmas. With a price tag ranging from £199 for the 16GB, to £299 for the 32GB LTE variant the Nexus 7 packs some serious horsepower and offers great value for money when you consider the specification you get.

Here we are with Matt’s Nexus 7 unboxing video to start us off and then I’ll be doing a full review, and a comparison to other 7″ tablets, shortly after.

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