LG’s 4-inch dual-core Android handset leaks, drops early 2011

Engadget has got its hands on some shots of a new Android-powered handsets adding to LG’s already popular range of Optimus smartphones, the very first Android smartphone to feature dual-core processing.

The new LG handset, codenamed “Star” internally, is said to finally bring nVidia’s Tegra 2 into the smartphone market, a dual-core processor that has typically found its way into the new wave of tablet devices.

The Google-branding on the back of the handset suggests the new Optimus handset will run stock Android, Engadget’s source noting that the operating system will be almost untouched when the device ships. You could, of course, liken this to Google’s partnership with Samsung on its upcoming Nexus S handset, we guess that LG knows exactly what it is competing against.

The LG smartphone will sport an 8MP camera capable of 1080p HD recording, front facing camera, microSD and microUSB support and a 1500MHz.

Can a rubberized, tablet-convertible laptop survive your children?

A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Intel. It seems that the company has designed what it is calling a “ Classmate PC “. Noting that I was a parent myself, the representative asked me if I’d like to put a unit into the hands of my kids for a bit of time to see what they thought about it. Naturally I accepted. I also chuckled a bit, inside, at the thought of what condition some of these review units must show when they get back to Intel.

The Classmate PC that I have is a Windows-running machine with an interface that makes it very simple to operate via an included stylus. Oh, they sent an extra stylus too. Just in case. Smart move. Inside, there’s an Atom processor and 1 GB of RAM. There’s also WiFi with the option of 3G, GPS and WiMAX. Intel claims up to 8.5 hours of battery life (I found 4-5 to be a more typical use case) with a 10.1” screen running at 1024×600 resolution.

So, open the thing up and it looks like a rubberized laptop. The keyboard feels moderately sturdy and the trackpad seems to be somewhat reinforced. There are power functions built into the monitor chassis, and that chassis can be flipped and folded to land the Classmate into a tablet configuration.

Sadly, input via the stylus is pretty mediocre, at best. For the vast majority of tasks, I greatly prefer the keyboard and trackpad, both of which have a pretty decent feel to them. There are a couple of built-in applications that use the stylus, including a painting app and a handwriting-recognition platform which is actually quite good.

Intel claims that the Classmate can be dropped from kid-carrying-height without any problems. Granted, I’ve not yet managed to bounce this thing off of the floor, but it does appear that the vibration sensor for the hard drive has had its sensitivity greatly increased. The rubberized carrying handle seems sturdy enough, as well.

So can it survive? That remains to be seen. I was invited to have my kids give it a go, and I fully intend to do just that. Thus far, my son has been using an older HP laptop that we have sitting around and he tends to be pretty careful. My daughter, however, is his antithesis. Let’s just say that I hope Intel has these things insured.

The Classmate is, obviously, intended for the classroom. Priced roughly at $400, they should be moderately affordable for most schools. With proper supervision, the sturdy little laptops should hold up well. I’ve not yet done a full review as I simply haven’t had much time to delve into it yet. I’m getting ready to hand it over to my little ones (6 years and 8 years, so it’s right in Intel’s market range) and we’ll see what they manage to do with it.

Saskatchewan Government Holds First Cabinet Meeting with iPads

As the natural follow up to the original post— Saskatchewan Provincial Government Running on…iPads! —Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall held his first cabinet meeting using all iPads:

The fact that the Saskatchewan government is expecting to save more than twice the cost of buying the iPads in the first year alone I’m surprised that American tax payers are reluctant to support the same thing in city councils . Look, take the environmental part of out of it (saving paper/trees/etc) and just look at it as saving money . If governments can run more smoothly and cheaply by adopting new technologies, why not do it?

I laud the Saskatchewan government for this bold move (it really is pretty ground braking) and maybe other jurisdictions will take note and follow suit.

Hmm, the City of Vancouver has a “going green” push…