There was some doubt in the inter-webs if the Blackberry Playbook was a real device or just a dummy piece of hardware. RIM announced it's tablet device called the PlayBook last month after months of speculation about the BlackPad. Now we have some proof that the BlackPad is real and it actually works. Here is a video from Adobe's Max conference where RIM's CEO showed a demo of the Adobe Flash capabilities of the Playbook.

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Samsung USA is sending out invitations to people, and they are inviting them to an event in New York on November 8th, where Samsung will launch a new Android powered device. Well, we don't know it's a tablet or a smartphone, but we can expect a smartphone because Samsung recently launched a tablet. May be the upcoming Samsung Android powered device is the first Android phone to come with Android 2.3 a.k.a Gingerbread. Well, we don't have any words on the specs of the phone, may be Samsung is launching the rumored Galaxy S2. I know these 2 weeks will pass by like 2 years for Samsung and Android fans, so folks have patience and stay tuned with us. I hope the new device will rock like Samsung Galaxy S, or may be better. What do you think?

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A few days ago we had the LG Optimus arrive at our office for review and we even had an unboxing of the LG Optimus.

The LG Optimus is an inexpensive Android offering from LG, designed to fit into that sweet spot of sub 15k price point. This after all the spot at which the smartphone market starts looking competitive, very much like the 600cc engine segment in motorcycles. At this point one expects almost everything � smartphone OS, big camera, touchscreen/QWERTY, WiFi, GPS, etc.

This segment can be considered the stepping stone to the bigger and more expensive smartphones in the market. Get it right here and you've got a good set of customers who are more likely to upgrade to another phone in the same manufacturer's portfolio.

Hardware:

The LG Optimus sets out to do the same. On the table are Android (1.6), 7.62 cms. resistive touchscreen with a WVGA resolution (320�480), WiFi, GPS, 3MP camera and a mammoth 1500mAh battery.

The competition is getting tough and Samsung's Android entry clearly upsets the balance for LG and with the Nokia X6 offering a 5MP camera with LED flash at a slightly higher price is another factor that seems to hurt the Optimus. Android v1.6 in today's day and age is like selling Windows 98 to a Windows 7 generation. Exclusion of LED flash will definitely weigh heavy on the customers' mind.

The tapered ends of the might look silly, but they are anything but that. Only after holding the device horizontally can you appreciate the tapered ends. When you hold the device those ends actually make it more comfortable and easier to get a grip. The slight concave look of the device at both ends aids in the same bit. Clearly, to judge the LG Optimus on looks will be a wrong thing to do, though I wonder why LG does not publicize these bits in their ads and communications to the public at large.

The keys on the LG Optimus however are the exact opposite of the design, you might think that those buttons must be great and the touch sensitive buttons above the three connected button strip will be a pleasure to use. NO it is not. The three keys are responsive, but it would inspire much more confidence if there was more travel available. The touch sensitive keys are extremely unresponsive and I've had to literally push my fingers against them to elicit any response. LG, if you are reading this, it's time to hit the drawing boards with the Optimus especially for the keys.

The Search key at the side is quite an innovative spot for the phone, but it is more raised than the camera key and initially I thought that was the camera key. This however may be an issue with just our review unit.

The plasticky feel of the device is made undesirable primarily because of the brushed metal look given to the device. Had it actually been metal, this device would have completely set the standards when it came to design. The black chrome strip at the side of the device looks good and I think keeping it chrome would have made it stand out and how!

The fit of the device is something where LG Optimus excels. No squeaks or uneven shutlines, this thing looks like it was a one piece design. The battery cover is easy enough to remove. It is however tough to make out that this phone has a removable battery cover, Good job with that LG.

The processor on the LG is not a 1GHz or an 800MHz but a 600MHz processor with 256MB RAM. Having played with the Galaxy S for a brief period of time, I thought that 600 would be too little and would ruin the experience, but that wasn't the case, the Optimus is not lightning fast, but then again are there any phones that are?

The Optimus chugs along at a comfortable pace doing what you want it to do and at not point will feel hurried… A rather unique quality and something which I liked, it's swift without being fast. This phone will definitely get the job done for you.

Camera wise the Optimus disappoints primarily because of the lack of an LED flash. I find it unacceptable to have a phone without a decent flash. It defeats the purpose of having a camera. The pictures clicked look washed out on the phone's screen and are dull otherwise too. The camera is quite capable of churning out good photos, what it requires is better support in terms of colour. Better colour support will certainly improve the image quality.

A 3.5mm audio jack is one of the best things to happen to phones and having it on this phone is no biggie, but a boon it is… one can chuck the standard headset that comes with the Optimus and simply pick any good headphones/earphones to get instant music gratification.

WiFi on the Optimus is decent and page load up pretty well. GPS latching is pretty quick and location integration is pretty tight on the Android, so the package you have is killer! The GPS inside a room was pretty good and quite frankly came as a pleasant surprise to me. These are two aspects where the Optimus just does not disappoint. The NDrive is a nifty addition which is supposed to allow one to basically get audio instructions for directions… a good addition by LG considering Nokia has been doing it for quite some time. But the audio file size is 28MB!!! and could have been preloaded onto the memory card to allow out of box usage.

Call quality, an important factor considering this is a phone at the end of the day, well, it's pretty good, I was able to hear the person on the other end and caller at the other end also reported clarity in voice even when I was in a rather busy area. That's good work LG!

Overall the Optimus is a 7/10 in terms of hardware, it barely makes it and needs to improve certain bits to be a serious threat to the Galaxy 3, which it can definitely be.

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Time for another free gadget giveaway. This time, we've got a very cool prize, we're giving away the new and latest, recently launched Apple iPod Nano.�If you're an Apple or iPod fan, you'll know that the new iPod Nano has been completely redesigned into an iPod Shuffle like size device but with the added feature of a 1.54? multitouch display.

It runs on an iOS like platform allowing it to feature music, audiobooks, podcasts, photos, FM radio, pedometer and Nike + iPod support. Six colours are available to choose from.

The lucky winner of this giveaway will receive a 16GB iPod Nano in brand new condition in a colour of their choice. So if you're interested in a chance to win this iPod which currently retails at �159, read the instructions below thoroughly on how to enter our two-week contest…

How to Enter

Anyone, anywhere worldwide can take part. Please participate according to the rules below so that everyone will have a fair chance of the random draw at the date specified below. Everyone will have an equal chance of winning no matter when your entry is placed. Late entries will not be counted and ignored. To enter into the giveaway all you need to do is:

1. Subscribe to our newsletter for free and stay up to date with us for news and future gadget giveaways!
2. Leave a comment below with a valid email address (your email won't be given out), this will allow us to get in touch with you ASAP if you're the chosen winner. Tell us what you will be doing with the iPod Nano and remember the colour you'd prefer to receive if you win!
3. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook, we'll contact you via Twitter in the situation that we can't get in touch with you through email, we will also be announcing our future contests / giveaways via both Twitter and Facebook! (Any retweet love will be greatly appreciated!)
4. That's it!
5. Optional � if you're a blogger yourself and have abit of free time, do a quick post about this giveaway, it will be much appreciated!
6. Optional 2 � each participant may enter up to 10 times, do this by providing us a maximum of 10 comments during the period of the contest, you do not need to enter all 10 at the same time, you can spread them out however you like!

This giveaway will end on the 8th of November at 20:00 GMT, winner will be directly contacted following random draw the next day so please remember to leave valid contact details!

Adobe has announced Adobe Air version 2.5 which will be compatible with Tablets, Phones, and TVs. The new cross-platform runtime environment will help the Adobe Air run on TVs and tablets without any compatibility issues. The Adobe Air 2.5 will support multi-touch gestures, accelerometers, GPS data, cameras and microphones and hardware acceleration with silicon�varying�in different ranges.

To add spice to the announcement Adobe will be helping developers bring their apps built on Adobe Air 2.5 into the market by partnering with them and the stores. In return Adobe will charge a minimum of 30 percent (which is actually huge) to take care of billing, hosting and app store approval.

Though Adobe hints (not officially) that the service might be free for the first year if users sign up instantly.�Please be informed that the new Adobe apps won't anyhow be compatible with Apple products (as expected) but they surely will run very smoothly with Intel products and other third party products.

Adobe confirms that the Samsung SmartTV will run Adobe Air 2.5 when this is launched in 2011. Air 2.5 will also be the standard in RIM BlackBerry playbook. Well, things already seem to be on a roll.

[via Engadget]

It seems that Microsoft is trying to put an end to Windows XP with Windows 7, and October 22 is an important date for all PC manufacturers and XP users all over the world. According to Microsoft, starting from October 22, no PC manufacturers will be able to preinstall Windows XP on their new machines. Microsoft really wants to put an end on Windows XP and enforce Windows 7 as the dominant operating system.

In fact, Microsoft announced that October 22, 2010 would be the date when all notebook manufacturers will abandon the shipment of new notebooks with Windows XP preinstalled. Instead, they'll have to release new models with Windows 7 or have Windows Vista preinstalled. If you've always been a fan of Windows XP and you don't want to switch to Windows 7, you'll be pleased to hear that you'll be able to downgrade to Windows XP until 2015.

Windows XP was one of the best operating systems from Microsoft, but with the popularity of Windows 7, its not surprising that the nine-year-old OS is now finally replaced by Windows 7.

[via Ubergizmo]

Well, Netflix and streaming video has come a long way since the idea actually first came about. Though Netflix could well be called a company that offers DVD by mail, the new streaming only plans that are being tested by Netflix in the US for now seem to change the basis on which this company was working.

Though Netflix haven't made any huge efforts to announce the streaming only plans in US as they are still in testing phase yet if such plans were to go live around the country officially then streaming might just become quite easily accessible.

Strange part of this testing are the prices that Netflix has decided. If one uses Chrome then a different price is shown while if one uses Firefox then a different price is shown thus confusing the user, its because streaming on Chrome is faster than on Firefox henceforth the difference in pricing is understood.

Lastly, if you plan on buy the DVD after streaming then the total price is $9.99 and this won't depend on your internet browser. Not sure if this might force people to switch to Google Chrome but for sure Netflix needs to improve upon their testing standards.

[via Engadget]

Dan Ackerman takes a look at the new 11.6-inch MacBook Air, which features an Intel Core 2 Duo processor launched last week. Its the newest netbook sized laptop to be featured in the MacBook lineup. He also demonstrates one key feature of the new MacBook � instant on capability, which works rather well, check out how this works in the video below.

Find out more about the recently launched MacBook Air 11? and 13?…

Recent months have seen a huge jump in rumors for Acer Liquid Metal S120 and finally it has been spotted in the FCC. The 3.6 inches liquid metal handset with 800 x 480 resolution is actually a reality and not the thought of Acer's dreams. The�aluminum�handset has just now been cleared by the FCC and seems to be all set to launch via the AT&T though we are not yet sure of its price and launch date yet.

The Acer Liquid Metal S120 will come loaded with Qualcomm MSM 7230 -1 processor which will run at a speed of 800 MHz. The handset will boast of GSM/EDGE 850/1900 with WCDMA BAND II and V thus helping it stand out from the crowd though not completely.

The FCC listing also confirms that Acer Liquid Metal S120 will run on Android 2.2 Froyo and will have features like bluetooth, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi plus the much wanted GPS. The WiFi feature has been throughly tested on S120 DVT2 (which stands for Design Verification Test 2) prototype. Though we are not sure of exact dates of Acer Liquid Metal S120 yet if sources are to be believed then then handset should be arriving the UK market pretty soon.

[via Engadget]

Winamp is one of the most popular multimedia players on Windows and it seems that Winamp is now moving to Android too with its first beta release.

All Winamp and Android OS users will be pleased to hear that beta version of Winamp is now available on for free. Beta version of Winamp for Android OS allows you to synchronise it with your desktop version of Winamp wirelessly or via USB and if you want to use it, you'll need Winamp 5.59 beta for WiFi synchronisation.

Android users will definitely know how featureless Android's onboard music player is. Winamp for Android offers persistent player controls that allow you to quickly toggle between tracks, pause or manage your queue. In addition, it comes with a widget player and a shortcut on your home screen and you can even enable playback control from the lock-screen.

Of course, Winamp is famous for its Now Playing feature that will display song's info, album art and more, and the great thing about this feature is that you'll be able to interact with other apps such as YouTube, Pandora or the Amazon MP3 store.

Winamp beta for Android OS offers many great functionalities and if you want to try it out, do head over to the App Market for your free download, do remember though, you'll need at least Android OS 2.1 or newer.

[via Ubergizmo]