clamshells

This week I stepped back into the land of reviewing to test the Samsung Chrono 2 for U.S. Cellular. And, wow, what a trip it was.

With its basic calling features and retro design, the Chrono 2 took me back to a cell phone era that greeted me when I first joined CNET almost nine years ago. Before Android and the iPhone democratized the smartphone, most of us used a handset like the Chrono 2. You may have had a camera or Bluetooth, and you probably toyed with a wireless browser, but mostly we used the handsets for making … Read more

Can a quad-core Windows 8 laptop be as thin as an iPad? That's the design Qualcomm is aiming for. But we've heard this story before.

The San Diego-based chip supplier anticipates superthin laptops running Windows 8 on top of its Snapdragon chips, according to a report in PC World.

It's certainly an enticing idea: Laptops lighter and thinner than even Intel-based ultrabooks -- an idea also put forward by Nvidia, which already supplies its well-received quad-core Tegra 3 processor to Asus for its Tranformer Prime tablet.

At a macro level, this is about ARM versus Intel on … Read more

One of the compromises frequent travelers have to make is the limited screen size that comes with an ultraportable or thin-and-light laptop. This is a difficult transition, especially if one is used to large 20-inch-plus screen real estate in the office or home. Fortunately, USB monitors provide an easy way of extending the display without bringing in a separate power supply.

Mimo's new 710-S 7-inch USB monitor ups the portability ante by coming in a clamshell form factor. This protects the screen when the unit is not in use. The 800x480-pixel resolution isn't great, but works well as … Read more

The original MacCase is back. Nine years after releasing its first case, which had an unusual rounded shape that matched the contours of the iBook, the company is reissuing the clamshell briefcase.

Owing its success to the "'anti-status quo' element within the Apple community," MacCase calls the new version the "Classic Case" and pretty much kept everything from the first design, though it adds some practical elements such as rubber corners and a mesh lining to help the laptop cool down. It comes in five colors that read like a menu from Jamba Juice, including tangerine, … Read more

Apple could be embracing the clamshell aesthetic for a future iPhone.

Unwiredview.com found an Apple patent application for a "dual-sided trackpad device," which resembles the current iPhone redesigned into the clamshell format so popular with many mobile phones. The key to this design is having touch-screen capabilities on both the top and bottom of the phone when it's open.

This design goes a step further, as well, in that the closed cover of the iPhone could also have trackpad capability. PC makers have experimented with this, adding some basic buttons and capabilities to the covers of … Read more

The Korean mobile phone maker has just announced a clamshell version of the Soul handset at the CeBIT tradeshow in Hannover, Germany. Named the G400, the handset's most interesting feature lies in its dual 2.2-inch QVGA LCD displays. That's right, it comes with a 2.2-inch internal screen as well as a 2.2-inch external touchscreen panel. The G400 will also offer a customizable interface, much like the Soul.

As with most of Samsung's recent high-end imaging handsets, the HSDPA-enabled G400 comes with a host of strong camera features including a 5-megapixel sensor (with autofocus), face … Read more

Category: Going from bad to worse.

One of our many standard rants has centered on the tech industry's inability to come up with a truly universal remote that even a Geico caveman could figure out. But some manufacturers insist on going in the opposite direction, creating subcategories or developing remotes that seem to use far more technology than the products they're supposed to control.

The latest act of genius? Making one that closes up like a flip phone. Rather than simplify and actually reduce the size and number of buttons needed (unthinkable!), GE apparently just decided to make … Read more

The latest phone from Sony Ericsson may not be gold, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. (In fact, it's a good thing, in our opinion.)

The "Z310" clamshell does have a "mirror finish," but it's still more tastefully designed than so-called luxury phones we've seen recently--and even though pricing isn't yet known, we'll go out on a limb and guess that it'll cost considerably less. Its asthetic sensibilities continue inside, according to I4U News, as the phone includes "lighting effects" that allow you to color-code and … Read more