Acer unveils octa-core smartphone offering

Acer is bringing a new octa-core device into the market with the Liquid X1. The device will reportedly carry a 1.7GHz octa-core processor, quad-core CPU, 2GB RAM, Category 4 LTE, 5.7-inch display, and 13-megapixel rear camera with fast autofocus. It comes built with Acer’s Android Skin UI that has apps like Zoom Fit to shrink the screen to four inches for one-handed use and AcerFLOAT that lets you float multi-tasking windows on top of the UI. Taking cues from LG, the Liquid X1 also has a RAPID quick-launch button at the rear of the device to launch apps or the camera quickly. There is no word on the pricing yet but expect the Liquid X1 to be out on the market by the third quarter of this year.

Source: Gizmodo Australia

Toshiba announces two new Satellite Click 2 hybrid laptops

Asus isn’t the only competitor in the hybrid laptop market. Toshiba has just unveiled two versions of its new Satellite Click 2 line. The Satellite Click 2 and Satellite Click 2 Pro are 13.3-inch laptop/tablet devices with the Satellite Click 2 Pro being the more powerful option. The Satellite Click 2 has a quad-core Intel Pentium processor, 500GB storage, HD display (1366x768), and 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity. It will retail for US$586.99.

Meanwhile, the Satellite Click 2 Pro has a 4^th-generation Intel Core processor, Full HD display, Harman|Kardon sound system, front HD webcam, and 5-megapixel rear camera. It will retail for $1,028.99. The tablet has its own 128GB SSD storage that adds to the extra 500GB storage when connected to the keyboard. Ports on the device include microSD slot, micro HDMI, micro USB 2.0, USB 3.0 with Sleep & Charge feature, HDMI, as well as wireless display and Intel WiDi support. Both devices will be available late June.

Asus shows off new ultra-thin Transformer Book T300 Chi at Computex

Aside from the multi-tasking master Transformer Book V, Asus has unveiled a more conventional hybrid device, the Transformer Book T300 Chi. The company touts this as the thinnest Intel Core tablet out on the market at 7.3mm thin.  It is a 2-in-1 Windows 8.1 device with a 12.5-inch WQHD screen (2560x1440), unspecified next-generation Intel Core processor, either 2GB or 4GB of RAM, 4G LTE connectivity. No word yet on pricing or availability. We will keep our eyes and ears peeled for any updates on that front.

Asus unveils five-in-one Transformer Book V at Computex

Asus is known to reinvent the hybrid market and one of its newest devices unveiled at Computex certainly lives up to that. The Transformer Book V looks like a regular 3-in-1 device with a laptop, tablet, and smartphone built in. But Asus stepped it up further and added five modes to the device. It can act as a Windows laptop, a Windows tablet, an Android smartphone, an Android tablet (if you dock the smartphone into the tablet), and an Android laptop if you dock the tablet back onto the keyboard. In a nutshell, it is the PadFone and Transformer lines combined. We’re not sure how this will translate in actual use but it does bring even more functionality than you can imagine in a “single” device.

Specs wise, the smartphone has a 5-inch HD display, an unspecified Intel Atom quad-core processor, LTE capability, 2GB Ram, up to 64GB of storage, and an 8-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera. The tablet has a 12.-inch HD display, another unspecified Intel Core processor, up to 4GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of storage. It really would’ve been better if the display for both devices were Full HD but we’ll take what we can get this time. We don’t know when this will be available or how much. We will keep you posted for any updates.