Motorola DROID X coming to Verizon on July 15 for $199

Look, not everyone is foaming at the mouth for iPhone 4; some people actually care about other smartphones on the market, like for instance Motorola’s Droid X, which is now officially coming to Verizon on July 15 at a competitive price of $199.

Armed with its massive 4.3 inch screen, 1 GHz TI OMAP3630 processor, and 8 megapixel camera (located on an oddly shaped bump on the rear of the phone), this is definitely Motorola’s answer to the popular HTC EVO 4G.

Another surprising feature about the phone is that it comes with 8 GB of built in storage and as if that weren’t enough, a 16 GB micro SD card is included in the box.

So if you’re aren’t the kind watching and waiting for every single new feature, review, and unboxing of the new iPhone whatever, then why not look into Droid X? For more details, check out the press release.

HTC acquires Abaxia: a company known for homescreen mods

Despite being in the middle of a heated patent lawsuit with Apple, HTC’s gone out and purchased Abaxia — a company renowned for their drastic homescreen customisations. So what does all this mean for Sense? Well, currently not a lot. According to the big cheese himself (HTC CEO Peter Chou), the company’s looking to broaden their horizons whilst also providing “the best possible mobile experience for customers today, tomorrow and into the future.” Now, we already know that Sense is going to be limited to Android (and HTC’s Brew MP) when Windows Phone 7 comes out, so what’s in it for Abaxia? Besides the obvious — joining one of the largest handset manufacturers to date — their just looking forward too “working closely with HTC^1..” Read on past the break for HTC’s full press release.

HTC EVO 4G becomes Sprint's most successful launch day device

Well, what did you expect — after all the EVO makes Palm’s first webOS device look like a prepubescent teenager with a milk line moustache. Harsh words, but it’s the truth. As you might’ve guessed by now, the EVO 4G has become Sprint’s best launch day performer — easily surpassing the Palm Pre (or as we like to think of it: an excellent idea executed improperly). There’s no confirmed figures from Sprint directly, but with handsets selling at over 22,000 venues across the United States, it’s sure to be a winner. Now if only HTC would make a GSM version, because after all, us Aussies down under need EVO love as well. Jump past the break for Sprint’s press release.

Aava Virta Android handset to be the first shipping Moorestown smartphone

We’ve already seen a tonne of Moorestown powered slates and handhelds at Computex, but what about all those Moorestown powered, Android based smartphones? Our hopes have been continually dashed (especially after LG cancelled the GW990), however, we’re once again looking on the brighter side of life thanks to the Aava Virta. With its simple yet sophisticated Android core, and a handful of Intel silicon this thing’ll be ready to fly when it’s released later this year (Q3 to be precise). Spec wise it’s running a Moorestown processor, a 3.8-inch capacitive display (864 x 480), quad band EDGE radios, WiFi, Bluetooth, a microSD slot, and finally a 5-megapixel camera. Interestingly enough, besides the folks at Aava, no one actually knows what this thing looks like. Nevertheless, we will say, if it looks as half decent as the render above, then they’ve definitely made a winner. Press release after the break.

Intel announces dual-core Atom and 'Canoe Lake'

So what do you do when you’re already dominating the chipset world? You introduce dual-core Atom processors and a new platform, that’s what. Deep down in the depths of Taipei you’ll notice that Intel’s finally taken the plunge and decided to create dual-core Atom processors (it’s about time, Atom processors have been out for two years now). While it’s safe to assume these will be notably quicker than the single core Atom processors of today, Intel’s decided to keep that little bit of information close to their chest. Instead they said that they’ll support DDR3 RAM, offer similar performance to desktop dual-core Atoms, and offer similar battery life to current netbooks (in other words, battery life will range from crap to decent).

If a new processor doesn’t get your blood pumping then perhaps this might? It’s Intel’s latest innovative platform “Canoe Lake.” The platform can support single and dual-core Atom processors, whilst allowing for greater cooling without an elaborate cooling system. In other words you’ll be able to get 50% thinner systems (yes!). Unfortunately, “Canoe Lake” is nothing more than a reference guideline for OEMs to follow; so essentially you could end up with some pretty funky looking computers (quite unlike the 14mm thick one featured above).

Oh, we forgot to mention that the dual-core Atom is due to ship sometime next week. Cue the onslaught of Christmas gifts containing a dual-core Atom. Press release after the break.

Intel 'Oak Trail' wants to claim your tablet PCs in 2011

You don’t have to look very far to see that the tablet market is exploding, which is why it comes to no surprise that Intel’s decided to hop into yet another market. Behold Intel’s latest processing platform ‘Oak Trail.’ Don’t go thinking that Oak Trail is a sibling of Pine Trail (although that argument could be made) instead think of them as a more powerful Moorestown chipset. Actually, if we really wanted to get technical we’d say something along the lines of: “Oak Trail — Intel’s latest SoC platform — differs from Pine Trail because of added Lincroft and Whitney Point integration, ergo support for Windows 7, MeeGo, and Chrome OS.” Besides all that nerdery, Intel’s latest fanless platform is currently boasting 1080p HDMI support, longer battery life and the added ability of “thinner and innovative form factors” — that’s all pretty impressive if we say so ourselves. Just don’t go getting all excited yet, because these things aren’t due to ship until the first quarter of 2011. Press release after the break. 

ASUS Eee Tablet: the digital notepad

Remember back to the days of Apple’s Newton? Wouldn’t it be great if someone came out with a more modern, better equipped, 2010 model? That’s essentially what the ASUS Eee Tablet is (no not the Eee Pad, but the Eee Tablet). With an 8-inch 1024 x 768 TFT-LCD panel, the Eee Tablet sets out to offer the world’s best digital note taking experience. Should you get bored taking notes, the Eee Tablet comes equipped with a microSD slot (for all your ebooks. Yes, its also an ebook reader), as well as a 2-megapixel camera for the lazy man who can’t be bothered writing his lecture notes down. So it’s not E-Ink (thank god!) and it comes in 64-levels of grayscale, all-in-all it looks as though 23 years later the Newton (albeit sans PDA functionality) has some direct competition. Press release after the break.