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You have to be a pretty special device to win Best Device of CES, and this year Motorola’s ATRIX 4G took away the coveted crown. It’s not hard to see why, either: the 4-inch Android smartphone not only pairs NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 processor with a beautiful qHD display, but offers some compelling accessories such as a laptop-style docking station that wants to replace your MacBook Air. Plenty of promise, then, but does the ATRIX 4G deliver the speed, data and flexibility AT&T promise? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut. Hardware It’s tough to pick holes in the ATRIX 4G’s spec sheet; Motorola has put together a solid list of hardware that pushes several of the limits we’ve seen on recent Android devices. Build quality is solid plastic with a fair amount of heft in the hand: it’s a dense handset, at 63.5 x 117.75 x 10.95 mm and 135g, and feels reassuringly free of creaks and flex. There’s something about the fascia that reminds us of the HTC Touch HD, discrete and

Honeycomb has hit the Nexus One , though the tablet OS on the original Google phone won’t exactly set the world on fire, at least not in this early stage. xda-developers’ bypass23 has ported the Android 3.0 SDK to the Nexus One, complete with some tricks and tweaks to make the landscape display work properly and the app drawer function as it should. Unfortunately, WiFi, phone, Bluetooth, audio and 3D graphics acceleration are all among the things not yet working, so this isn’t the ROM to choose if you actually want a functional smartphone. We’ll see the first official release at Android 3.0 Honeycomb on Thursday, when the Motorola XOOM is released.

Apple is now showing 3-5 day shipping estimates for all US MacBook Pro notebooks, lending further weight to speculation that the company is planning a full-scale refresh of the range later this week. New models are expected to debut on Thursday, and in fact are already believed to be in-stock – though not on sale – at some large European resellers, under threat of Apple excommunication should the vendors open the sealed packages early. Extended shipping times from Apple’s online store were first spotted last week , though only for certain MacBook Pro SKUs. Over the weekend, however, that has extended to cover all of the models. Meanwhile, AppleInsider ‘s sources claim sealed product pallets have begun arriving at international resellers, informing them that the new stock must remain untouched until a subsequent announcement is made. Resellers are apparently being told that Apple will pull the license of any vendor which tampers with the shipments ahead of the announcement. European M

Panasonic has outed a trio of new VIERA TVs, including one model with an integrated Blu-ray player, and another which can be gesture-controlled. The Panasonic VIERA DMP-BV300, DMP-HV200 and DMP-HV150 each have 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 displays, digital TV tuners and SD/SCHC/SDXC memory card slots, along with integrated ethernet for YouTube and DLNA streaming. The DMP-BV300 gets the Blu-ray player, with an HDMI port for outputting 1080p HD to an external display. As for the DMP-HV200, that packs motion-control; it’s expected to be used in a kitchen – hence is splashproof like the DMP-HV150 – and so users can control channel changes by waving their hands side-to-side, or volume by waving them up and down. It also has integrated WiFi b/g/n; the other two can use a separate WiFi adapter. Finally, the DMP-HV150 gets the splashproof chassis but no motion control. All three can be paired with Panasonic’s TY-CC10W Skype video camera, and the BV300 comes with a battery pack (sold separately for th

Kno is reportedly considering selling off its education tablet hardware business and instead concentrating on offering software and services across the iPad and Android based slates. According to AllThingsD ‘s sources, Kno is in talks with two major consumer electronics manufacturers, after having decided that the sudden bloom of the tablet market means the company’s own end-to-end solution is no longer so important. Kno has declined to comment on the speculation, but other sources have suggested that the company stands a better chance of success by scything off the expensive hardware side of the business. It has already established various partnerships with colleges and universities, and would no longer be responsible for hardware development, manufacturing and support. The identity of the two companies apparently interested in the Kno tablets – both the single- and dual-screen versions that have shipped in limited numbers described as “several hundred” – is unknown, though Kno has s

Sony knows you too well. You don’t want a big 3D HDTV like your friends: you want to rub their faces into your vast, projected 3D picture, and make them hate their piddling little 50-inch LCDs. The Sony VPL-VW90ES has finally gone on sale , $10k’s worth of 240Hz, 1080p Full HD 3D projection. It’s supplied with a pair of active shutter glasses and uses three separate Silicon X-tal Reflective Display (SXRD) panels that split up the red, green and blue picture. There’s also 1,000 ANSI brightness and Advanced Iris3 automatic iris control, along with a 24p film mode. Yours for $9,999.99.

Android’s Flash advantage over the iPad will be missing in action from the launch of the Motorola XOOM , with Flash Player support not expected until Spring 2011. An Engadget tipster spotted the disclaimer lurking at the bottom of Verizon’s XOOM pre-order listing , seemingly suggesting that Adobe and Google are waiting until Flash Player 10.2 is ready later in the year. Adobe has already confirmed that it is working on Flash Player 10.2 for Honeycomb , complete with high frame-rates, dual-core support and a reduction in CPU usage during video, game and animation playback. All well and good, but until it’s released – and in the apparent absence of Flash Player 10.1 for Honeycomb – Android 3.0 slates like the XOOM, G-Slate and Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be at a potentially significant disadvantage even to existing models based on Android 2.2, like the original Galaxy Tab .

Rolls Royce is dipping a wheel into electric vehicles, with the debut of the Rolls Royce 102EX. Described as a “working test-bed” for alternative drive-train technologies, the 102EX is based on the existing Phantom but switches the 6.75-liter engine for an unspecified all-electric powertrain. Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen electric technologies used in luxury cars, and while the earth-friendly kit is often seen as the preserve of the hair-shirt brigade, there are plenty of reasons it also fits in with more expensive vehicles. Lexus has offered a hybrid LX-series for a few years now, taking advantage of electric motors’ quiet running, smooth response and potent acceleration in the LX600hL, pairing them with a 6-liter gasoline engine. Rolls Royce says the 102EX will be used to test the potential of electric to see if it can live up to expectations of “ultra-luxury cars.” If so, a commercial version could be on the cards, though we’d recommend you start saving now.

Samsung has announced a five-strong line up of new NX Series interchangeable lenses, doubling the options on offer for cameras like the NX Hybrid . Among the new array is a 18-200mm multi-purpose Long Zoom Lens and a 16mm F2.4 Ultra Wide Pancake, as well as a macro lens, portrait lens and a standard zoom. The 60mm Macro Lens packs optical image stablization – as on the 18-200mm and 16-80mm – together with a Super Sonic Actuator (SSA) for faster, quieter auto-focus. As for the 85mm F1.4 CSC portrait lens, that has full time manual focus. Finally, the 16-80mm Advanced Standard Zoom throws in OIS and Voice Coil Motor (VCM) autofocus. The five lenses will be released between May and December – see the table below for more details – with pricing tba.

Dell’s Inspiron Duo has seen its price slashed, with the official Microsoft store knocking more than a quarter off the convertible netbook. Now down to $399 , the Inspiron Duo packs a dual-core Atom N550 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard-drive but, most interestingly, a rotating 10.1-inch 1366 x 768 multitouch display that can be flipped between regular notebook and slate orientations. Sales of the netbook began back in December, though Dell hasn’t revealed how strong interest has been. At launch it was priced at $549, with the optional speaker dock a further $49. More details in our hands-on .

Hanvon brought its HPad A116 along to CES 2011 last month, and now there’s apparently a second version for the European market. The Hanvon HPad A112 has a 7-inch 800 x 600 touchscreen, Android 2.2 Froyo and a 3-megapixel camera on the back, along with optional 3G and GPS. The 10.8mm slate has a magnesium alloy frame and brushed stainless steel shell, and Hanvon has whipped up its own handwriting support in the office app. The A112 is powered by a 720MHz ARM11 processor paired with 2GB of internal storage and a microSD slot; there’s also WiFi and Bluetooth, USB and HDMI. The 3,300 mAh battery is supposedly good for up to 8hrs of reading, though it’s not clear how long it will power the HPad for video playback or browsing. At first glance, lower camera resolutions aside, it’s hard to see where the A112 differentiates itself from the A116, beyond the price: the tablet Hanvon showed off at CES was expected to launch for around $350, while Hanvon is supposedly expecting the A112 to retail

Sony’s tablet ambitions extend to more than just the S1 in 2011, according to the latest batch of rumors. Loose lips have been flapping, and tipped a dual-touchscreen Android 3.0 Honeycomb clamshell internally known as the Sony S2, along with a 9.4-inch Windows 7 VAIO slider, for release in around Q4 2011. According to Engadget ‘s sources, the Sony S2 will have a pair of 5.5-inch displays sandwiched into an oval cross-section hinged chassis, running a heavily customized Honeycomb install on Tegra 2. The NVIDIA chipset will be paired with 3G and WiFi, and Sony’s engineers have reportedly been hard at work modifying Android to play nicely with the double displays. For instance, Gmail could split the message list and individual email previews between the two panels, while Google Maps could show the regular view on one screen and either Streetview or turn-by-turn directions on the other pane. It’s a similar concept to the dual-screen ereader patent application Sony submitted in mid-2010.

Samsung’s Galaxy range of Android-based devices have always had DLNA support for streaming content, but the upcoming Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet and Galaxy S II smartphone will gain live TV support the company has confirmed. Samsung Europe told Pocket-lint that owners of the company’s new D7000 and D8000 HDTVs will be able to wirelessly stream live TV to the phone and tablet. The system will make use of the new HDTVs’ second integrated tuner, with content presumably funneled over a WiFi network to the Android devices. It’s not yet known whether remote streaming will be supported – turning the system into something of a Slingbox competitor – over the tablet/smartphone’s 3G connections, or if it will be limited to use on the same home network. Still, it sets up another use case for the devices, and bypasses the need for Samsung to fit dedicated TV tuners. No word on any retroactive functionality for previous Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S models.

It’s obviously the day for eco-luxury cars; in Rolls Royce ‘s tire tracks comes BMW i , a new sub-brand by the German car manufacturer (which, of course, actually owns the RR marque) with a pair of concept cars and the promise of “sustainable, premium mobility.” The BMW i3 and i8 may sound like Intel processors, but they’re actually expected to launch in 2013. The i3 is an all-electric vehicle intended for urban use, constructed largely from Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP), and using decelerative torque to recharge the battery on braking. The motor itself is the size of two drinks crates, half the size of a traditional gas engine (though that doesn’t include the batteries). As for the BMW i8 , that’s a plug-in hybrid for boosted range, and uses the same CFRP materials to keep weight down. Each will be stuffed full of electronic gizmos and quite probably look a whole lot less slinky by the time they reach the road.

Microsoft has confirmed that a new software update for Windows Phone 7 smartphones is heading out the virtual door today, though it’s won’t bring the copy & paste functionality users are eagerly waiting for. Instead, the update will be a minor one, containing bugfixes and paving the way for future OTA firmware releases. A much more impressive update is expected to arrive later in 2011 , bringing with it multitasking support and a new browser engine. However, before then there’s a smaller update which some had expected to see announced at MWC 2011 last week. Interestingly, we’ve heard that, while this minor update is all about bugfixes, it actually won’t address the phantom data IMAP bug Microsoft blamed Yahoo! Mail for.

Microsoft is planning a conference at the upcoming Game Developers Conference (GDC) this week in San Francisco. Not many details on what the conference will be about specifically, but it is rumored to be Kinect focused. Particulars about the conference are sparse, but Microsoft’s Larry Hyrb said on his latest podcast that gamers will be “really happy” when they hear the news. The company is working on four upcoming Kinect games for 2011, which might include the rumored Gears of War title or Forza 4. There are also reports of Microsoft preparing Kinect SDK and drivers for Windows, allowing users to connect the accessory to their PCs. Microsoft’s Kinect sensor for its Xbox 360 has been a huge hit for the company selling 8 million units over the holiday season, surpassing Microsoft’s own predictions of 5 million units. With the surge of popularity Microsoft used up their January and February stocks, so shortages may be hitting consumers in the next few weeks.

Microsoft has proved their support of the “backyard” modding community today. News has just come out that the company will release the Kinect SDK for personal use this March. It will initially only be for non-commercial use. A follow-up commercial SDK has been outed as launching “later”, possibly this Fall. This news will greatly lower the barrier to entry for Kinect hobbyists, which is exactly what Microsoft wants. This is new technology, and fans who, say integrate the Kinect with a Flash-based interface represent (to Microsoft) useful feedback on possible future features. Craig Mundie, Microsoft chief research and strategy officer, said that he expects a “huge explosion” in interest. It looks like their unreasonably reasonable reaction to Windows Phone 7 hackers was just the outer edge of a company-wide trend. Now, how much longer do we have to wait for Kinect for Windows ?

Samsung has just unleashed five new lenses for their NX line of digital cameras giving the lineup a total of 10 lenses. Lenses of the series all feature Samsung’s i-Function system that allows users to adjust camera settings directly from the lens. The first of the new lenses is a multi-purpose 18-200 mm Long Zoom lens that features fast and silent auto-focus and Optical Image Stabilization. The 16mm F2.4 ultra-wide pancake lens features a bright aperture for capturing good images in low-light situations. The 60mm Macro lens features Super Sonic Actuator technology that makes auto focusing faster and quieter. It comes with full-time manual focus and Optical Image Stabilization. The ultra-bright 85mm F1.4 CSC lens is a professional portrait lens and aslo features Super Sonic Actuator and full-time manual focus. The final lens is the 16-80mm advanced standard zoom lens that also comes with silent auto-focus and Optical Image Stabilization.

There’s conflicting news about what’s going on with the HTC Inspire 4G. Some sources claim that the HTC Inspire 4G is unequipped for HSUPA while others say the feature is simply disabled by AT&T. AT&T sources claim that the HTC Inspire 4G does not have HSUPA. This is contrary to what other sources from Engadget believe stating that it is very rare for an HSPA+ chipset to not support HSUPA. Sources from the site believe that a firmware update for the device would enable HSUPA. If the latter claim is true, it is uncertain why the feature is not enabled. AT&T has yet to respond with further information other than their initial denial that the device was not capable of supporting HSUPA.

Adam Greenfield was once the head of design direction for UI over at Nokia. Now he’s off on his own, and posting on the Internet about his experiences at Nokia. While Adam had only positive things to say about his co-workers, he slammed Nokia for several major shortcomings. The crux of their problems? “…the company is fundamentally, and has always been, organized to trade in commodities.” In other words, Nokia traditionally deals in end-products. Putting devices together and getting them where they need to be. They fall short when it comes to designing an experience though. Adam seems to feel the engineering teams have too much say in the way users interact with new products and services. “It’s just not particularly wise to allow engineers to make decisions about things like product and service nomenclature, interface typography and the graphic design of icons: they’re, I daresay, not even neurocognitively equipped to do so.” The rest of the article is well worth a read, especially for

Apple’s new MacBooks are just around the corner–and by that I mean sitting on pallets at your local resellers. Apple has warned resellers not to unpackage the pallets until further notice. So far, exact details on the new MacBooks have remained a mystery. However, BGR has an Apple source that let loose on some interesting features to expect. BGR’s source claims that the new MacBooks will have glass trackpads that are larger than the ones on current-gen MacBook Pro models. The source also claims that the OS will be loaded to a separate internal 8-16GB SSD while everything else remains on the hard drive. And lastly, the sources says that the new MacBook Pro models will be about a half-pound lighter than current-gen models. Another potential feature we’ve noted previously was that the new MacBooks may have some Light Peak ports . Five different SKUs of MacBooks will likely be the new lineup.

Amazon has just released a new Kindle commercial full of happy indie music, hip young folks in coffee shops, frolicking in parks, jaunting in the city, and all done in lots and lots of sunshine. Key to the commercial is the amount of sun people seem to be getting when they need to read a book. When there’s sun, the Kindle beats the iPad as clearly shown in one scene of the commercial where a girl is lent a Kindle because her iPad has too much glare. The Kindle commercial also accentuates the fact that their device can run up to a month on one battery charge and comes at you with a relatively affordable price point of $139. These advantages plus their overall feel-good message of “The Book Lives On” should appeal to the true book enthusiasts. And for those book lovers considering an iPad instead, Amazon warns you again in this commercial of the imminent glare. You can’t blame them though for really emphasizing glare as it may be the only thing it can still compete on. With all the new t