Viewsonic ViewPad 7x Boasts Tegra 2, Android Honeycomb.

While ViewSonic isn’t necessarily the name normally associated with bleeding edge Android devices, their upcoming 7″ ViewPad 7x may surprise you. Besides the powerful Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, Android 3.0 Honeycomb comes standard — a first for an Android tablet of this size (unless the HTC Honeycomb update beats them to market). For the record, the 7″ display comes in at 1024 x 600 resolution and even supports up to 10 separate, simultaneous touch points. Other features include front and rear-facing cameras, HDMI output, DLNA support, and an HSPA+ modem for mobile data.

Release date and pricing still MIA.

BlackBerry Apollo Groped On Video.

The lesser known next-gen BlackBerry Apollo may not be as “wow”-worthy with its more powerful brethren with its 800 MHz Marvell Tavor CPU MG-1 processor and 480 x 360 display, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t a market for an ultra-long running updated BlackBerry device. Vietnamese site Tinh.te managed to get a hold of a BlackBerry Apollo and preview it accordingly. Their take: nice hardware and rather speedy. Hop inside for the video…

Samsung Teases Next Gen Tablets And Galaxy S III

**Not actual Galaxy S III hardware

The Galaxy S II still isn’t available in the States and already Samsung is teasing the next-gen Galaxy S III hardware as well as new tablets. Thanks to J.K. Shin, President of the Mobile Communications division at Samsung, we know that the Galaxy S line of phones will continue on with the next piece of hardware launching in the first quarter of 2012. Shin, however, did not divulge any hard specs that the Galaxy S III might contain. As for tablets, Samsung promises new 4G-capable hardware though doesn’t specify if they will adopt HSPA+, WiMAX, LTE, or all of them.

Our personal pick for 4G support is LTE since it’s (1) faster and (2) spreading across the country much faster than either of the other two competing standards.

Facebook Creating Design Team For Desktop Facebook App?

Facebook has so far remained distant from the tablet — dare we say — fad sweeping the world, while making huge strides in the smartphone world. The company has long maintained that tablets as they’re intended, don’t need an app. They say HTML 5 and the traditional website are the better options. But as we’ve seen in countless examples (example: Official Twitter iPad app) dedicated apps can be many times better than the “normal” website could ever be, HTML 5 included.

But while tablets — and on a larger scale mobile devices — continue to explode in market share and overall growth, the traditional desktop scene is declining. So why is Facebook working backwards and hiring a bunch of desktop developers? It’s all very confusing to us as Facebook is sending mixed signals. One day they’re boasting of the future joys of HTML 5 and non-native apps, and the next day they’re hiring an entire team for desktop applications. The desktop user base is admittingly much larger. However, mobile devices and social networking will continue to grow in the coming years adding to the confusion.

While we love apps when done well for any platform, we’re having trouble figuring out exactly what Facebook is doing. Have an idea? Drop us a line after the break…

Kyocera Developing More “Touchy” Touchscreen.

One of the biggest complaints we still here from people concerning the differences between traditional physical keyboards (on phones) and touchscreen devices is the lack of any real “feel”. In the last couple of years, manufacturers have played with varying degrees of haptic feed back (read: vibration) to mimic the click of a button, but it is gimmicky at best. However, a new display technology being shown off by Japanese carrier KDDI and developed by Kyocera claims to change the way in which we think about touchscreens and haptic feedback.

For now, the display is still in prototype stages as Kyocera wants to add multi-touch functionality as well as trim size down a bit. But when they’re ready, we’ll be gifted with quite a treat. Imagine being able to have screen “push” back with multiple different sensations or intensities based on whether you’re tapping on a letter or soft button. That’s precisely what Kyocera is doing here, and if perfected, will usher in a new era of touchscreen devices.

Hop on past the break for a live demo of said technology in action…

The End Is Near: T-Mobile Confirms Sidekick Services To Shut Down May 31st.

If you’r still clinging to one of the many Danger-made Sidekick devices and their accompanying services, you better make the most of the last 24 hours. T-Mobile issues a statement today reiterating the same statement made back in early March — the end is near for traditional Sidekick devices and services. At the end of the month (tomorrow, May 31st), T-Mobile will be closing down the servers associated with the “old” Sidekick ecosystem. While the phones themselves will be rendered rather useless and only able to place calls and texts after tomorrow’s “flip of the switch”, data stored on the Danger cloud will be retrievable for up to one additional month, ending on June 30th, 2011.

We want to remind these customers as of May 31st, data services will no longer be available on Sidekick devices with the Danger Service, and ensure they understand their current options. Sidekick customers will still be able to place phone calls and send text messages but will not be able to access the Internet, send or receive e-mail, or access personal data on the service directly from the phone (contacts, photos, calendar, notes, to-do lists, etc.); personal data on the phone as of May 31st will remain, so long as the battery is not removed or completely drained – if either occurs, all personal data on the device will be discarded.

Customers can still take steps to move to a new device by calling T-Mobile Customer Care. After May 31st and through June 30th, customers can still export their personal data directly from the Sidekick service through our enhanced Web tool on myT-Mobile.com, even though they can no longer access their data on the service directly from their device. After June 30, 2011, the Sidekick datacenter will be permanently closed and all data deleted to protect customer privacy.”

Anyone still clinging to their old Sidekicks?

Computex: Gigabyte Unveils 2432 Booktop and S1080 Tablet.

Continuing on with the flood of new hardware coming out of Computex 2011, Gigabyte wows us with their latest 2432 Booktop and S1080 tablet. The 2432 features a 14.1 1366 x 768 display, Intel Core i5 processor w/ Turbe Boost 2.0, integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics, USB 3.0 port, and THX audio. Furthermore, Gigabyte has confirmed a separate docking station for the 2432 that includes a more powerful Nvidia GT 440 GPU w/ 1 GB of GDDR5 RAM as well as six additional USB ports, D-Sub/DVI/HDMI ports, and of course, support for additional monitors. In all, the 2432 tips the scales at a touch over 4 lbs.

The S1080 tablet will be a Windows 7 device powered by a dual-core Intel Atom N550 processor ticking at 1.66GHz, 2 GB of RAM, 320 GB hard drive, GMA 3150 graphics, WIFI b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, ethernet port, and 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera. Total weight comes in at 1.9 lbs.

Pricing and shipping information for the 2432 Booktop and S1080 tablet was not made available. Larger images inside…