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There are a lot of ignorant posts on this article. I'm not meaning that to be insulting, just pointing out that a lot of the ranting is coming from a place of not really understading or knowing what's going on.

So I want to provide a link to anyone who is genuinely curious (rather than just being a knee-jerk basher or a person whose opinions are calcified and unlikely to change). It contains two videos.

The first video is just the 8 minute marketing video. But it shows things that answer a lot of the criticisms and questions leveled in a lot of these posts. So for less than 10 minutes of your time, you can learn and understand more than you do now. The second half deals with Windows 8 on laptops without touch.

The second video is the full 90 minute presentation from Barcelona at the announcement of the Win8 Consumer Preview.

From minute 23 to about 40, they cover desktop and non-touch scenarios. LOTS of interesting stuff there. And then there's even more at the end, when they show Windows 8 running on all sorts of hardware, including big game-rigs and beefy server class machines. I think the last ten or so minutes is really interesting.

If you really want to inform yourself, watching these videos is a good start:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/29/microsofts-windows-8-preview-event-videos-now-available/

And for more, you can always check out the Building Windows 8 Blog:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/

If all you've seen is the Developer Preview, then you haven't really seen the User Experience... and assumptions you may have about how things work, about work-flow, about mouse and keyboard support, are just not true.

"inspired by the lovely and intuitive presentation found in Windows Phone"

Is that just mean, or plain ignorant? The Windows smartphones have no market share any longer. Look at the stats for smartphones - http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/14/shocker-android-grew-us-market-share-after-q2-ios-was-static/

That expensive effort from Microsoft was killed by Android and Apple.

Why copy a product with a sinking market share? Do they believe the new Nokia hardware will sell their operating system for PCs?

Allow me to link TFA to you again. For future reference, it's at the top of the page. http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/29/microsoft-windows-8-consumer-preview-detailed-impressions/

I can see the Apple fans are already modding the post down.

I propose this as a *far* more interesting possibility:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/27/realvnc-teams-up-with-sony-to-bring-android-apps-to-the-dashboar/

And one that could work with not only Android, but ANY phone. THAT is the power of non-proprietary. *THIS* should have been the interesting Slashdot story. :)

Apples a bit late to the automobile integration game.

It's no secret that RIMs QNX car application platform *actually* powers over 20 million vehicles on the road. They've already taken integration to a whole new level:

QNX lets BlackBerry PlayBook become in-car controller

The QNX car app platform can power your vehicle’s in-car monitors, including the speedometer and the entertainment unit. [...] you can easily bring things like Pandora or even YouTube to you in-car entertainment unit as well as have realistic maps or song album covers overlaid next to your speedometer.
[...] The BlackBerry PlayBook can then be used to control the climate in the car and you can also get the media from the device over to your car’s entertainment unit with just a few clicks.
QNX also showed off how BlackBerry Traffic can be integrated into the in-car unit via Bluetooth and this provides live, turn-by-turn navigation with an emphasis on how long it will actually take you to get there

RIM's strong relationship with Porche is no secret either (see the Porche designed BlackBery 9981) Concept Porsche Shows Off RIM QNX

QNX shows off its versatility, powers OnStar accessories

Police are also starting to use RIM's in-vehicle technologies: Cop Conference Features BlackBerry PlayBook As Law Enforcement Tool Some details: Serving and Protectingwith a BlackBerry PlayBook

It keeps getting better New QNX Platform to Transform the Automotive Experience

You could say that less than impressed with Siri in the Mercedes after seeing what RIM is doing in the same arena with their technology.

These ones look like a promising technology as well: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/12/vuzix-augmented-reality-smart-glasses-prototype-hands-on-video/

As an expert in this field, what is your response to http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/08/viasat-residential-satellite-broadband-internet-hands-on-video/ ? They claim to be faster and cheaper than previous providers. Far less than $400/mo.

Apple iCloud brings previously purchased apps back from the dead

"Lamenting the time you restored your iPhone and lost that beloved VLC app because it's no longer available on the App Store? Cheer up, there's an iCloud for that. The service allows you to re-download any app you've previously purchased on any of your iOS devices -- including killed apps."

VLC for iOS was a POS by the way.

What you have is LED backlit, not OLED. OLED is an emissive technology and is pretty much only in cellphones right now (the majority being Samsung produced with Universal Display Corp PHOLED chemicals). Displays of 15" and larger are expected in production quantities later this year, more realistically in 2013.

There are a lot of CES articles about the 55" I was referring to, here's a sample.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/09/samsung-55-inch-super-oled-tv-launch-ces-2012/

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/09/apples-app-store-review-guidelines-we-dont-need-any-more-far/

This more or less confirms the GP.

Poor? operating system - I don't know many people with a Windows phone, but I haven't heard a single positive review (Not counting net articles, where anyone can find a small army supporting their argument).

So what did you hear from the people who do have them?
And it's not about a supported argument, it's about objective reporting and detailing the features in comparison to other platforms:
Just read through these. Certainly it's not without fault, but it doesn't appear worse than any of its competitors and does do things a bit differently and offer a different perspective on smartphone usage, just as Android differs from iOS. It's down to personal preference, and obviously some people are going to be quite overzealous about their smartphone operating system choice regardless of which platform they choose.

Personally i found it to be very good, it has its strengths and weaknesses just as Android and iOS do. I'd attribute much of its lack of success in the market to its association with the Windows brand - maybe they should have tied it more to XBox - since the OS is really surprisingly good.

Naturally take that as anecdotal evidence but i urge you to at least try it - if you don't like it that's fine but it's certainly worth giving a go :)

Link for citation.

And Linux should crash more because it supports more architectures than Windows.

If you have bad drivers, it does. Which is the overwhelming reason for Windows crashes too, and the background for this argument. (Nvidia drivers were alone responsible 30% of total Vista crashes, which is quite staggering)

But you know, with all that said, the fact that the word SAMSUNG is in bold, right there on the front leave little question as to whether or not it can be mistaken for an Apple device. This is just ridiculous.

While I agree with most of the rest of what you said, the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 - the one that started the lawsuit - only had the Samsung logo on the back.

$2B for the quarter! Sony earnings announcement.

Or the LG that loses money on handsets?

Samsung does "better" - it made 1/3 of what Apple made last quarter.

Last time I checked, corporations are investment vehicles, not jobs programs, or "making lots of things" programs.

$2B for the quarter! Sony earnings announcement.

Or the LG that loses money on handsets?

Samsung does "better" - it made 1/3 of what Apple made last quarter.

Last time I checked, corporations are investment vehicles, not jobs programs, or "making lots of things" programs.

$2B for the quarter! Sony earnings announcement.

Or the LG that loses money on handsets?

Samsung does "better" - it made 1/3 of what Apple made last quarter.

Last time I checked, corporations are investment vehicles, not jobs programs, or "making lots of things" programs.

Show a picture of the side or rear of the device and it ceases to look anything like an iPad.

That's the rear of a different Samsung digital picture frame. I wasn't able to find pictures of the rear of the 2006 model, but here's the rear of the 2008 version (in white). As you can see, aside from the stand poking out the back, the relative thickness, and radius of the curvature, it looks very much like the original iPad.

Anyhow, the point wasn't that Samsung had released an iPad before the iPad. The point was that the design elements Apple is claiming ownership of in tablet-space were widely used long before the iPad existed.

Anyone that has good working vision can see that Samsung, more or less, copies Apple's designs wholesale. They might not be complete replicas of their products, but the "nods" they include in their designs are pretty obvious.

Take a look at this Samsung product. Obviously a rip-off of the iPad, right? Except Samsung released it in 2006, four years before the iPad.

There are certain basic concepts which recur over and over in product designs. Black looks good, certain things look better flat rather than curved, make the flat thing shiny for bonus points, a border around the main area of focus (screen/photo) helps isolate it from the background, a chrome/metal trim along the edge makes a good highlight. The only thing that's changed is that suddenly Apple is claiming that they own these basic age-old design concepts and nobody else is allowed to use them in certain types of new products.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/13/atandt-will-cap-dsl-u-verse-internet-and-impose-overage-fees/

Not a cap?

Better stories are available here and elsewhere.

Here and elsewhere? Let's just try a little fix...

Better stories are available at PC Magazine and Engadget.

Better stories are available here and elsewhere.

Here and elsewhere? Let's just try a little fix...

Better stories are available at PC Magazine and Engadget.

How about "EFF working to keep jailbreaking legal" as a headline? The OP (who has also linked to the article on his own retarded ad-filled site) is just sensationalising this shit to attract traffic / improve his pagerank. Better stories are available here and elsewhere.

read it and weep fanboi: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/14/shocker-android-grew-us-market-share-after-q2-ios-was-static/

what EVIDENCE do you have of Apple ever enforcing those rules. trivial for them to block or otherwise disable, but they NEVER have. Apple's never tried to "prosecute" me for re-selling "their" devices when I was upgrading.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/feds-ok-iphone-jailbreaking/
"Federal regulators lifted a cloud of uncertainty when they announced it was lawful to hack or “jailbreak” an iPhone, declaring Monday there was “no basis for copyright law to assist Apple in protecting its restrictive business model.”

meanwhile....
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/18/motorola-locks-razr-bootloader-angers-rom-happy-lovers-of-anore/

Not Trolling. Not FUD.

Yes, it was idiotic, but it did happen.

http://www.dailytech.com/Report+Apple+Caught+Photoshopping+Galaxy+Tab+101+to+Look+Like+iPad+for+Lawsuit/article22459.htm

http://www.technobuffalo.com/companies/apple/apple-could-have-given-faulty-evidence-in-euro-samsung-case/

http://pauloflaherty.com/2011/08/16/was-apple-caught-fudging-the-facts/

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/15/did-apple-alter-photos-of-the-samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1-in-its-inj/

http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/15/apples-evidence-in-european-galaxy-tab-injunction-was-seriously-misleading-as-in-false/

do you need more?

Where does it say you can't use Linux for browser testing?

From the rules page:

The targets will be running on the latest, fully patched version of either Windows 7 or Lion.

Back in 2008, Linux was a available as a target in Pwn2Own but in an interview Aaron Portnoy of TippingPoint explained that Linux is now not included in Pwn2Own to avoid controversy.

Smyrna, TN
That's the town right next to where I live. They've had billboards up in the area talking about how the Leaf is coming to Smyrna and how awesome it's going to be to live in the same area as they are made in. However, as someone pointed out. Pretty much the only thing they will do there is put the pieces together. All the parts will be sourced from elsewhere.

Total impact? Well they aren't opening a new wing (you can tell when they are doing that because Nissan Blvd and Enon Springs road becomes a nightmare with all the heavy construction. Traffic usually backs up onto US 41/70S (aka Murfreesboro Road). So no one new is getting hired at the plant. Instead I think they are phasing out some sort of truck they use to make. So no new construction, no new hire, pretty much the Nissan Leaf has brought zero new jobs... Oh I take that back! CSX hired sixty some odd workers for about nine months to expand the capacity of the rail yard at the Nissan plant.

However, aside from the job issue. The local malls (Stones River, The Avenue, etc...) have added EV charge stations to welcome our new Leaf overlords. So I'm guessing that's good that we are suddenly going from zero EV charging stations to now twenty-six, three packs, and counting.

However I will say that Nissan is doing something with their site in the back. You can see that they are leveling the ground from Florence Rd but there has yet to be any structures added. So more likely we'll be seeing little white canopies going up soon or we'll see the start of, hopefully, a new building.

Engadget article good enough? Haven't tracked down the actual study because journalists rarely link to them.

Seriously, do the /. editors read more than just the submitted posts feed? http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/17/samsung-not-buying-rim/

Here.

It held its own, just that its successors have been neutered due to:

  Senselessly limiting the N9 to Third World hellholes in order to limit sales; excuses given that is being sold as a Symbian territory device

  Terminating the line even if it actually makes Nokia money.

At least I don't have to be paid to defend truth; defending Nokia's Whorephones is another matter entirely.

Pesky things like sales figures get in the way.

Couldn't agree with you more. In addition to this, Google's recent move mandating the 'Holo' theme on all Android Market accessing devices shipping Android 4.x, is another step in the right direction.

Google's executive chairman knows exactly what's going on, and will agree that some level of standardization would be beneficial to the Android ecosystem.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/12/facebook-admits-hiring-pr-firm-to-smear-google/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2011/05/12/facebook-admits-being-behind-smear-campaign-against-google/

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cdd1ea06-7cc0-11e0-994d-00144feabdc0.html

Time to retire this handle now, shill. Sleep well knowing you not only are basically a paid liar, but you have now resorted to insulting people for your job.

Engadget has some better views of the components, and I think that shows them to be using some of the same design cues as Apple (silver, flat, clean lines), but looking different enough to avoid trouble.

So article:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/windows-phone-7-based-on-a-hybrid-windows-ce-6-compact-7-kerne/
is wrong?

Windows Mobile 6.5 seems to be Windows CE 5, and Windows Phone appears to be Windows CE 6.

It's just a tad thicker than the prototype unit they showed two years ago, isn't it?

http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/22/olpc-shows-off-absurdly-thin-xo-3-concept-tablet-for-2012/

[B]atteries are starting to be chipped/locked, but so far, I've not seen power sources be locked.

I bet we'll see that soon, though.

Where I live, we have this law, which I don't see why couldn't be expanded soon. I think the US has some goal set with the lock-up business.

It really has to do with the size of the sensor. The bigger the sensor the better the picture is going to be. The MILC cameras you are referring to have almost the same sensor size as DSLR's and a way way bigger sensor then in your mobile phone. See the article below for more information:

Why your cameras sensor size matters

Irrelevant, this isnt SOPA.

It looks, from this mini article (since noone seems willing to link to either the letter, or the law), like its more akin to the DMCA takedown provision. A content holder feels like their content is being illegally shared, they pass that on to a commission which determines if the case is actionable; if so, that is passed onto a judge.

Which, to my mind, sounds about right. Im not clear on why the commission is necessary, except perhaps to weed out unnecessary cases; but regardless it sounds like the courts do get involved.

Can someone explain to me how this is remotely similar to SOPA?

Maybe you missed it. http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/06/directvs-tivo-ready-to-return-december-8th-in-a-few-markets/

I wonder how many of those an XB-37 can hold at once? In fact, I think there is one floating around the sky right now....

Just hanging out. Testing things.

Latest ComScore numbers for the US show Microsoft in 4th place now, ahead of Symbian but way behind Android, Apple and even RIM.

Note these numbers are market share (sales in a given period; last 3 months in this case); if you're looking at installed base (number of sold units still in use) Symbian is still far ahead, but its future is uncertain at best, with further development and support being outsourced by Nokia to Accenture.

The 3GS is nearly 3 years old and falls behind every Android phone produced in the last year in terms of OS updatability (meaning you will never get iOS5 on it) versus almost every new android phone getting 4.0

Funny, iOS 5 installed just fine on my nearly 3-year old 3GS, and new 3GS being sold today come with iOS5 pre-installed.

And several Android phones released in the last year will NOT get the 4.x ICS upgrade, including the LG Optimus V (released Feb 1, 2011) and Motorola Atrix (Feb 22, 2011). Per LG's update plans from a few days ago, only 11 of their phones are officially slated to get ICS. I didn't bother checking the other vendors, but it's obvious not "every" Android phone in the last year can be upgraded to the latest firmware, while a nearly 3-year old iPhone can (and I'll bet very few 2-year old Android devices, never mind 3-year old ones, will get 4.x ICS).

Apple will continue to lose overall market share. It's of course inevitable when they control every aspect of it and are the only manufacturer that runs iOS, while anyone can make dozens of models of cheap Android devices. Limiting themselves to a new model and OS features every year is also a problem, despite the irony that Apple gets flamed by haters for releasing new models "too quickly" who ignore the dozens of new Android phones are released each year.

However, you can't just write them off as an "also-ran that doesn't know it yet". Comscore reports that by end of November, Apple increased its market share by 1.4% to 28.7%. Android increased by 3.1%, RIM was down by the same amount, and Microsoft lost 0.5%.

Another way to look at it ("rigging the stats" if you want) is that Android improved on existing market share by 7%, Apple improved by 5%, RIM declined by 15.7%, and Microsoft declined by 8.8%. If there's an also-ran in this bunch it's not Apple.

There's also the other form where the links are spread over the words such as "There is many tech web sites". :)

Not a big deal, but people could give it just a little thought in general. It forces you to hover over all the links and makes the page harder to read if it's printed. A good rule of thumb could be that the same text should also work completely without the links around the words.

I would consider the Asus Slider. http://www.engadget.com/tag/asus,slider has lots about it. It depends how much time you will spend carrying it, vs how much time sitting using a tablet and wishing you had a a laptop/netbook or a keyboard.

Stereoscopic '3d' is a poor illusion. I for one will not be content with 3d displays until they are actually 3d and have real physical depth, like this one.

Your question will garner far more posts like the one above but I will add my 0.02.

I like the original Transformer (TF101-A1) very much and would suggest you take a look at it if the Prime is too pricey for what you want. The Prime is currently the only shipping Tegra 3 system I know of so to lump it in with the rest of your list isn't quit fair. While it's still yet to be field proven all indicators point to the Tegra 3 being quite a capable chip which will run for a very long time on a single charge.

Toshiba's Thrive is an interesting tablet. I have only tested it in store but I like it for the most part. The full size ports are a definite plus and the rubbery backing make for a slip free experience.

I don't have any experience with the Xoom or the Galaxy but you mentioned rooting and I was curious if you had posed this question over at XDA? I choose my android devices on price and rootability so the Nook Color has been my recommendation to all my non-technical friends looking for a cheap tablet.

Sony likes to cut off its nose to spite its face. Given their treatment of Geohot I would steer clear if you are looking for rooting. I'm sure you can root them just not sure what Sony's response will be to it.

Well, you know what, that is the benefit of Android, you don't have to buy Motorola, you can 'CHOOSE' from a whole range of manufacturers a whole range of products. Want 'Ice cream Sandwich' then choose wisely http://www.engadget.com/updates/which-devices-will-get-ice-cream-sandwich/.

I tell you one thing though 'iOS' meh who cares, watch out it may wipe out your phone. 'Ice cream Sandwich' why not my phone, I want it now. Not that I have either phone but that's the general vibe coming off the net, you know what that means, Apple is screwed and every Android manufacturers is going to bend over backwards to get 'Icrecream Sandwich' squeezed onto the devices lest that not keep up with the other manufacturers and customer desires.

Of course they were big the balance of trying to get away with 'Icecream Sandwich' only on high priced items and only upgrading higher priced old product, to jelp drive selection of high priced models. Of course budget targeted manufacturers will use this opportunity to drive their phones with the latest OS.

Now you can really see the advantage to consumer of an open OS, choice and competition.

I have had similar experiences with those I work with. It's only bleeding-edge specialized apps that require a specific phone to run - the vast majority of apps are written so that anyone with any Android phone can run them. It's not in the app developer's best interest to write an app that only works on one or two phones - it's in their best interest to write apps so that they run on the widest variety of phones possible.

No non-geeks have any idea about what version of Android is running on their phones. Most of them are coming from feature phones, where there are zero updates after you buy the phone, so they don't expect to get the next major version. I think this issue is being vastly overblown by the geek community - and the fact that Android phones now have over 50% of the smartphone market to iOS's 29% share seems to suggest that this is just not a concern to the majority of smartphone buyers:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/14/shocker-android-grew-us-market-share-after-q2-ios-was-static/

On the other hand, I care greatly about what new OS updates I will get on my phone - and that's why I just got a Galaxy Nexus.

Do I think fragmentation is an issue? Yes, and I would like all manufacturers guarantee at least 2 years of OS updates. Do I think fragmentation is going to have any effect in the real world on smartphone sales? Not at all, unless regular users see regular updates and get used to getting them. I don't see that happening any time soon.