The Xbox 720 looms large. If rumours emanating from France are to be believed, you might want to hold off on buying any of the Christmas console bundles currently sitting pretty in shop windows; the new Xbox (rumoured to be dubbed the ‘Xbox 720‘) may be unveiled during January’s CES show in Las Vegas.
Today’s gossip surrounding Apple’s plans for a new iPad Mini with a 7.35-inch screen would have been greeted with cries of derision 12 months ago. In October last year, Steve Jobs used an Apple conference call to issue a lengthy diatribe on why rivals’ 7-inch devices weren’t up to scratch, saying, “We believe 10-inch screen is minimum.” Leaving aside the fact that the iPad’s screen is actually 9.7-inches, what Jobs was saying is that a tablet needs to be sizeable enough to work as intended.
Fast forward a year though, and the landscape is all set to change. Yes, the 7-inch BlackBerry PlayBook has been a disaster, but the imminent arrival of the 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire changes things hugely. Jobs may have said 7-inch slates were “dead on arrival”, but my feeling is that an Apple iPad Mini with a display of that size is inevitable.
Yes, we know the name’s ridiculous. But there’s no escaping the fact that the BlackBerry London could well be the most exciting device RIM has ever made. Not only does it have similar design chops to the recently revealed Porsche Design P9881 BlackBerry, it’s also set to come with RIM’s spanking new OS, BBX, under the hood.
It’s been a while since we heard chatter about Apple rejigging the screen sizes of its iPhone and iPad. But a new rumour has emerged from Korea suggesting that LG is beavering away on Apple’s behalf on panels for a 4-inch iPhone and 7.35-inch iPad.Want to know what this means for next year’s Apple lineup? Read on and find out.
We’d heard rumours, but now the BlackBerry Curve 9380 is official. This is RIM’s first emailer under the affordable Curve brand to ditch the keyboard entirely. The Canadian company is keeping quiet on what’s under the bonnet, but the BlackBerry Curve 9380′s touchscreen is a smallish 3.2-inch 480×360 panel, and it sports a 5MP camera, as well as NFC for wireless contacts and payments down the line.
Alongside the BlackBerry Curve 9380, RIM is launching BBM Music in the UK today, which lets you keep 50 songs at any one time, and stream all the songs from your contacts’ libraries as well. We should be going hands on with both later on today, but in the meantime click through for the official photo gallery. The BlackBerry Curve 9380 is out in the “coming weeks”.
A slimline 15-inch MacBook Pro (or souped up MacBook Air depending on who you believe), has been churning through the rumour mill for months. And having failed to materialise when Apple tarted up its MacBook Pro lineup last month, now sources close to suppliers in the Far East are claiming the size zero effort will be hitting shelves in March 2012. Read on for all the details.
This is it. Assassin’s Creed Revelations, released today on Xbox 360 and PS3, is debonair Italian Ezio Auditore’s last outing. Finito. The tale of the dandy handy with a blade may be coming to an end, but it’s far from over for the blockbuster franchise. Where does the game’s lead writer want to go next? Ireland.
Today’s news that Lenovo is working towards a cheaper ultrabook is by and large good news. Intel’s new laptop standard, meant as a riposte to the MacBook Air and an attempt to claw back falling market share as tablets surge ahead, has had a difficult first few months on shelves. Reports emerged last week that Acer and Asus were slashing orders after global sales failed to match expectations.
Asus has since told us that its ZenBook ultrabook is in “high demand”, with an unnamed UK retailer asking for more units ahead of Christmas. It also says it’s “performing very well” on these shores. But without hard figures, it’s difficult for us to judge. Anecdotally, it seems, the ultrabook category is already doomed to failure. Here’s why.
