May 10, 2011
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 spotted in the wild
Engadget
Donald Melanson shares some details about Lenovo’s upcoming ThinkPad X1 super thin laptop.
“We’ve already seen it pictured and detailed, but Chinese Web site Mydrivers.com has now scored what appear to be the very first in-the-wild shots of Lenovo’s new super-slim ThinkPad X1. The laptop is indeed pretty thin — 21.5mm, or 0.85 inches thick, apparently — but Lenovo still found room to squeeze in a backlit keyboard, not to mention the ThinkPad’s trademark pointing stick. Unfortunately, Lenovo has yet to officially say anything about it itself, so we still only have that rumoured May 20th launch date to go on for the time being.”
IDC: smartphone market grows 80 percent year-on-year, Samsung shipments rise 350 percent
Engadget
Vlad Savov shares some of IDC’s research regarding the smartphone market.
“The latest figures from IDC show a 79.7 per cent expansion of the global smartphone market between this time last year and today, which has resulted in 99.6 million such devices being shipped in Q1 of 2011. That growth has mostly been driven by Samsung, which has more than quadrupled its output to 10.8 million shipments in the quarter, and HTC, whose growth has been almost as impressive. The other big gainer is Apple, with 10 million more iPhones shipped, but the truth is that all the top five vendors are showing double-digit growth. In spite of Nokia losing a big chunk of market share and RIM being demoted from second to third in the ranking, both of those old guard manufacturers improved on their quarterly totals.”
Update: Sony to launch two Android tablets later this year
ComputerWorld
Martyn Williams shares some details of Sony’s new Android tablets.
“Sony will make its long-awaited entry into the tablet PC market later this year with two models based on the latest version of Google’s Android operating system. The tablets, which carry the development names S1 and S2, will be launched worldwide from the fall, Sony said. The S1 is a slate design and has a 9.4-inch screen with 1,280 by 800 pixels resolution. At first glance it looks similar to most competing tablets, but look more closely at its profile and you’ll see it’s shaped like a wedge. The upper portion of the tablet is thicker than the lower portion and that makes it easier to hold, said Sony. The S2 is a folding device equipped with dual 5.5-inch screens, each with 1,024 by 480 pixels resolution. It has a rounded design and is small enough to fit in the inside pocket of a jacket.”
