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mardi 3 janvier 2017

The new Acer Chromebook 11 N7 can take a lot of abuse

Acer has announced yet another one of its Chromebooks as part of the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. However, the new Acer Chromebook 11 N7 has been made to take more abuse than the standard versions.

Acer says that it put the Chromebook 11 N7 through a ton of testing so it could meet the U.S. MIL-STD 810G military standard for toughness. The 11.6-inch Chromebook itself can take up to 132 pounds of downward force on the top cover, and it also has a reinforced case and hinges. The Chromebook can survive drops up to 48 inches thanks in part to its corner-shield structure and rubber bumper keyboard. The Chromebook has an anti-slip pattern on the rear to keep it from slipping. Finally, it has a new spill-resistant keyboard that can drain up to 11 ounces of liquid, in case you spill your morning cup of coffee on the Chromebook.

Inside, the 2.98 pound Acer Chromebook 11 N7 has an Intel Celeron dual core processor N3060 with a clock speed of 1.60GHz, 4GB of RAM and the choice of either 16GB or 32GB of storage. It also has a battery life of up to 15 hours.

The Chromebook 11 N7 will go on sale later in January with the starting price of $229.99.

This post was originally published on our sister site TabTimes.com.



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What are you most looking forward to at CES 2017? [Poll of the Week]

Last week's poll summary: Out of over 15,400 total votes, 18.9% of our readers said their favorite phone of 2016 was the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, while the OnePlus 3T came in second with 17.7% of the votes. 12.8% of our readers specified in the comments that their favorite phone of the year was the ZTE Axon 7, Samsung Galaxy Note 7, and Xperia XZ, while the Google Pixel XL managed to achieve 12% of the votes.

It's finally that time of year! CES 2017 will soon be underway, and we've got some great content coming your way this week.

What can we expect to see at CES this year? Hundreds of companies will be showing off a bevy of new products in different categories, including smartphones, virtual and augmented reality, new computers, drones, electric cars, and much, much more.

See also:

Honor to announce "epic" new smartphone at CES 2017

1 day ago

Not too many flagship smartphones will be present at the show this year, but that doesn't mean we won't see our fair share of mid-range and lower-end devices. ASUS is expected to release a Snapdragon 835-powered smartphone and the new ZenFone AR with Tango, while Honor will supposedly announce an "epic" new smartphone at the trade show.

And that's not all… we'll also see HTC and Oculus show off their current virtual reality headsets, as well as new electric car advancements from companies like Faraday Future, Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen and more.

So, we want to know – what are you most looking forward to from CES 2017? Are you excited to check out the latest advancements in the virtual reality world, or are you looking forward to seeing the latest and greatest electric cars? Be sure to cast your vote in the poll below, and if you have any other thoughts, let us know in the comments!



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Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) and Galaxy A5 (2017) up for pre-order in the UK

The Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017) and Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) can now be pre-ordered in the UK. The new handsets have been made available by retailer MobileFun, though they won't be available for pre-order from Samsung's online web store until January 20.

The Galaxy A3 (2017) is selling for £299 and comes with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage space. Meanwhile, the Galaxy A5 (2017) comes in at £399 with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. Only the black color variants appear to be available currently.

See also:

Samsung announces Galaxy A (2017) series with 3D glass, water-resistance and more

1 day ago

The A3 (2017) arrives with a 1.6 GHz octa-core processor, 4.7-inch HD display and 2,350 mAh battery, packing a 8 MP camera on the front and 13 MP at the rear. The A5 (2017), on the other hand, has a 1.9 GHz octa-core processor, 5.2-inch FHD (1080p) display and 3,000 mAh battery with 16 MP front and rear cameras. Both devices launch with Android Marshmallow.

The most high-spec device in the line, the Galaxy A7 (2017), isn't listed on the MobileFun website and wasn't mentioned in an email Android Authority received yesterday regarding UK or European availability.

MobileFun hasn't provided a shipping estimate for the products but Samsung says that they'll be available from early February.



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Dish AirTV Player is a 4K Android TV set-top box with over-the-air channel support

TV cord-cutters now have yet another option to get their television watching fix, while also getting the benefits of local over-the-air channels. Dish has just launched AirTV Player, an Android TV-based streaming media set-stop box that can also be used to view OTA TV stations as well.

See also:

Best Android TV devices – what are your options?

October 20, 2016

The AirTV Player will come with the Netflix, Sling TV and YouTube apps pre-installed, and users can also install any Android TV supported apps from the Google Play Store. It supports media streaming at up to 4K resolution. It also comes with a Bluetooth voice remote. However, you can also get this set-top box with an optional OTA adapter that, when hooked up to a digital antenna (sold separately), will not only show over-the-air TV stations, but will even integrate them into the Sling TV app interface. The nice part is that a Sling TV subscription is not required.

The AirTV Player is now on sale, and you can get the box with the OTA adapter for $129.99. You can also get just the box itself for $99.99, and both come with $50 of Sling TV credit, for both new and current subscribers. If you get the box and then later decide to add the over-the-air channels, the adapter is available separately for $39.99.



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Samsung dual-camera tech patent could improve capture of moving images

Samsung has submitted a patent application for a dual-camera configuration which employs a telephoto lens and wide-angle camera, according to a new report. The patent filing, which was submitted in March 2016, was made public on December 29 and concerns a technology which would allow smartphones to more precisely capture moving images.

The process, titled "Digital Photographing Apparatus and Method of Operating the Same," would use a wide-angle lens to capture a broad scene while the telephoto lens would be able to track a moving subject independently.

For example, if you were to take a photo of a street scene and a cyclist rode past, the telephoto lens would, in theory, capture the cyclist with a clarity similar to the static background.

The process is also said to work for videos, with the telephoto lens identifying and tracking the moving subject in real-time, without the user making any manual adjustment to the camera's focus or settings.

See also:

Samsung's latest foldable display patent filings look pretty rad

6 hours ago

The implication is that moving elements or objects in photos and videos would be captured with detail which isn't currently possible on smartphones.

Though the patent filing was submitted early last year, it's unclear when (or if) the technology will make it into a smartphone. It may be too soon for implementation in the Galaxy S8, but usage in the potential Galaxy Note 8 is a possibility.



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Remotely control your Hyundai with the help of Google Home

This post was originally published on our sister site, Charged.io.

The Blue Link service offered by Hyundai has a bunch of great remote access features. For instance, you can start your car and even lock or unlock it with the help of your mobile device. At CES in Las Vegas, the South Korean car manufacturer has announced a partnership with Google that takes its Blue Link service to another level.

The already mentioned remote access features can now be controlled with the help of the Google Home. It's quite simple to use, as all you have to do is tell Google Home to start your car, lock/unlock it, or even to send directions (Google Maps) straight to your vehicle.

Hyundai said that more features will be added soon but the company did not clarify what these additional features might be. It also didn't specify an exact date as to when the Google Home integration will be officially released.

See also:

Google Home review – the future of the home?

November 18, 2016

At first glance, the feature looks quite interesting and very futuristic. Among other things, it shows us that digital assistants can do more than just play music and talk about the weather.



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Battery maker Samsung SDI wants to make safety a priority

Samsung's reputation really took a beating because of the Note 7 fiasco. That's probably one of the main reasons why the CEO of Samsung SDI, which manufactures batteries, addressed the topic of safety in a recent talk given to the company's employees.

According to a report from The Korea Herald, Cho Nam-seong said that the company should establish a corporate culture that puts "safety first". Samsung SDI wants to improve the safety of its products by innovating both its design as well as manufacturing methods, expanding investments in safety, and revamping its system and organization.

See also:

Samsung to reveal the cause of the Note 7 fires by mid-January

1 day ago

In addition to safety, the CEO of Samsung SDI also talked about improving the company's competitive edge. Cho Nam-seong believes that when it comes to products, a competitive edge boils down to fundamentals competitiveness in terms of development, manufacturing, quality and cost.

He also shared a few plans and goals for this year. Samsung SDI wants to develop high-capacity products (mid- to large-sized batteries), improve polymer technologies (small batteries), and would like to become the biggest manufacturer of cylindrical batteries.

It is great to hear that Samsung SDI will focus on the safety of their products even more. I think we can all agree that the last thing we want to see is another Samsung device that blows up in someone's hands, right?



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