Visualized: 50 shades of Nexus, by ASUS

Visualized 50 shades of Nexus

ASUS is never shy at showing off its creative side. At Taiwan Designers' Week last Sunday, we spotted the company's above art installation dubbed "Palette": a mesmerizing circle of 50 overlapping Nexus 7 back covers, each in its very own shade of color. Interestingly, all of these were actually used in the development process of Google's Nexus 7, which just goes to show the kind of mad dedication ASUS had put into the joint project.

But wait, there's more! To match the event's "Flow" theme this year, ASUS decided to also show off parts of the design process that determined the final appearance of its other hero products -- hence the title "Becoming" for the booth's own theme. For instance, much like what the company's lovely Michelle Hsiao showed us on the Engadget Show, the booth again featured a handful of tablet chassis parts and dummies (mainly of PadFone, Zenbook, Transformer Prime and a 7-inch device) at different stages of their development, complemented by a generous selection of colors and finishes. Only this time the designers used some of them to create gradient wall art that we wouldn't mind having at home. Check them out after the break.

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Visualized: 50 shades of Nexus, by ASUS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IRL: ASUS Transformer Prime, Verbatim Dual USB Power Pack and V-Moda’s Crossfade LP headphones

Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.

You love your gadgets because they're awesome. Or maybe you love them because you spent $500 and decided you'd better learn to like them. Whatever the case, chances are you've learned to forgive their flaws and enjoy them enough as they are, force-quits and all. That about describes this week's IRL, in which three Engadget editors make peace with their imperfect gadgets: an occasionally crash-prone Transformer Prime, the easily scratched V-Moda Crossfade LP headphones and Verbatim's Dual USB Power Pack, with its short little charging cables.

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IRL: ASUS Transformer Prime, Verbatim Dual USB Power Pack and V-Moda's Crossfade LP headphones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CM10 nightly builds now rolling out to select devices

CM10 nightly builds now rolling out to select devicesLike Jelly Beans, custom Android ROMs tend to have different flavors -- and CyanogenMod happens to be a fan favorite. Good thing then, that the CM10 team is now serving nightly builds of its Jelly Bean-based custom ROM update. According to the CyanogenMod Google+ page, CM10 nightlies are now available for the US Samsung Galaxy S III variants, the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II (i9100g), the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus S and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (P3), Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (P5), Nexus 7, Transformer and Transformer Prime tablets. The list will fill out with more devices when they are ready, the team says, and will continue to have CM9 updates (now weekly, rather then nightly) at their disposal.

CM10 nightly builds now rolling out to select devices originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IHS iSuppli: Apple iPad takes 69.6 percent of tablet brand market share in Q2, reader tablets take a bruising

IHS iSuppli Apple iPad takes 696 percent of tablet brand market share in Q2, reader tablets take a bruising

An earlier portrait of the second quarter's tablet market share made it quite clear that the iPad was on a rebound, if it was ever in a slump to start with. All those numbers focused on platforms and not brands, however -- we didn't know how the individual makers were doing. If IHS iSuppli's figures are on the ball, there's even more of a discrepancy if you break down the period's results by manufacturer. The iPad staked out 69.6 percent of tablet shipments in the spring. That wasn't just an 11-point jump over a year earlier; it was a level of share Apple hasn't had since the Motorola Xoom was just cutting its teeth early in 2011.

As for the rest? Transformer Pads kept ASUS growing, but it's not a pretty sight if you're making an Android reader tablet; both Amazon and Barnes & Noble shed roughly a point and a half each, which is no small amount relative to their size. Samsung also lost share by this after its deliveries of Galaxy Tabs mostly stayed flat. We'd add that there's some wiggle room as to real performance knowing that units shipped and sold aren't always one and the same. Most of these companies are leaving clues regarding upcoming tablet refreshes that might level the playing field, some not so subtle, but it's currently Apple's game to win.

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IHS iSuppli: Apple iPad takes 69.6 percent of tablet brand market share in Q2, reader tablets take a bruising originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Transformer Prime, TF300 and Infinity TF700 getting Jelly Bean in ‘the coming months’

Hot on the heels of HTC confirming a Jelly Bean upgrade for select handsets, ASUS released a statement (pasted after the break) assuring tablet owners that all of the company's new tablets, at least, will be upgraded to Android 4.1. So far, the outfit is committing to updating the Transformer Prime, along with the Transformer Pads TF300 and TF700. Though ASUS is careful to say it's considering other devices, it's still not promising to upgrade the original Eee Pad Transformer or Eee Pad Slider. No word, exactly, on when users will get a taste of Project Butter and Google Now, except that it should happen within "the coming months." Hopefully, of course, that's just an outside estimate: after all, ASUS isn't known for saddling its tablets with heavily customized skins, which can bog down the upgrade cycle.

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ASUS Transformer Prime, TF300 and Infinity TF700 getting Jelly Bean in 'the coming months' originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company’s new top-of-the-line tablet

ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company's new top-of-the-line tablet

When ASUS first teased the Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 back at CES, many customers looked on, simmering with rage. You see, only several weeks earlier the company started selling the Transformer Prime, a top-tier tablet priced at a not-so-cheap $500. It was a state-of-the-art product... until ASUS unveiled the TF700, a tablet that was similar, only better. It, too, has a Tegra 3 chip and 8-megapixel camera, but it adds a higher-res, 1920 x 1200 display and promises improved signal reception, a pain point for the Prime.

Little did those disgruntled Prime owners know it would actually be a long time before the TF700 ever became available. Now, we're finally hearing it will go on sale in the US in mid-July, at which point the Prime is expected to drop in price before it gets discontinued. But is the TF700 all that much of an improvement over the original? And how does it stack up against comparably priced tablets, such as the new iPad, Acer Iconia Tab A700 and Toshiba Excite 10? Check out our early review to find out.

Continue reading ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company's new top-of-the-line tablet

ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company's new top-of-the-line tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Refresh Roundup: week of June 11th, 2012

Refresh Roundup week of June 11th, 2012

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

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Refresh Roundup: week of June 11th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jun 2012 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS PadFone, Transformer and Transformer Prime hang out under the sun

ASUS PadFone vs Transformer vs Transformer Prime fight!

While cooking up our ASUS PadFone review, we decided to bring its Android tablet cousins together for a family portrait, because why not? Sadly, at the time of shooting these photos the Transformer Pad TF300 wasn't yet available in Hong Kong, so the original Transformer TF101 and the Transformer Prime TF201 will do for now. While you enjoy our gallery below, take a close look at how strikingly similar the keyboard docks for the TF101 and the PadFone are. Enjoy!

Update: Regarding readability under the sun (which is a fair question), the PadFone Station was almost just as good as that on the Transformer Prime -- both have an optional outdoor mode that boosts the screen brightness for this purpose, which is why they perform much better than the original Transformer.

ASUS PadFone, Transformer and Transformer Prime hang out under the sun originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget’s tablet buyer’s guide: spring 2012 edition

Engadget's tablet buyer's guide: spring 2012 edition

As spring reaches full blossom, it's not just the flowers that are beginning to show -- so are the new slates heavy hitters teased back at CES. So, what does that mean? It means it's high-time that we cast a fresh glance over the tablet landscape, took in a deep breath of slate-infused air and exhaled a hearty Engadget tablet buyer's guide. We've been running the smartphone equivalent for a little while now, so we thought it only fair to give the now-mature tablet category one of its own. We're going to look at the main categories of fondleslabbery and carve out what we think are the finest offerings on the market right now. It doesn't matter if you're looking for something big, small, just good enough or so powerful that it could replace your laptop: we've collected our favorites and shepherded them safely into this one humble guide. Of course, if you want to cast your net a little wider, you can always check out our tablet review hub, but if you struggle with indecision, head on past the break to see what's hot right now in Tablet Land.

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Engadget's tablet buyer's guide: spring 2012 edition originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 14:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Transformer Prime gets power of reincarnation with Team Win Recovery Project 2.1.2

Transformer Prime gets power of reincarnation with Team Win Recovery Project 2.1.2

Known affectionately as Twrp, this handy utility allows you to backup and recover your Android world even as you flit effortlessly between different custom ROMs. Two-point-oh worked great on a limited selection of devices, like the Nexus S, Kindle Fire and TouchPad, but this latest update brings improved support for Honeycomb tablets and ICS handsets like the Galaxy Nexus, while also doing its thing on the Transformer Prime for the first time. Team Win has even introduced a OpenRecoveryScript function, which lets apps influence the recovery process in order to preserve even more consciousness across rebirths. Now, if only we could root karma.

Transformer Prime gets power of reincarnation with Team Win Recovery Project 2.1.2 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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