Say it ain’t so! OCZ Technology — a mainstay in the storage realm but an outfit that tends to serve the performance (read: affluent) market first and foremost — has just dove headfirst into the value-priced SSD segment. Debuting today, the Onyx SATA II 2.5-inch SSD is the company’s most affordable MLC-based solid state storage solution to date; it packs 64MB of onboard cache, up to 125MB/sec read speeds, write rates of 70MB/sec and an MSRP of under $100 for a 32GB version. You know that hasty boot drive you’ve been looking for? Look up. OCZ breaks into bargain market with ’sub-$100′ 32GB Onyx SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:15:00 EST

We won’t front — there’s little chance we’d actually use JXD ’s V3 handheld, but it’s not for lack of interest. This here PMP / game player hybrid isn’t apt to leave the shores of Asia, but for those in that neck of the woods, this unit offers up emulators for a slew of game consoles, a 4.3-inch display, a 5 megapixel camera and plenty of file format support to handle your favorite music and video. Reportedly, the device even features an FM radio tuner, and in case you’re curious as to why there are two D-pads on this thing, it’s because you’ll need ‘em to get through certain Game Boy / NES titles. Or so they say. We can’t say we’re stoked about the $112 price tag, but in a way, we’re kind of in love with the whole flip-top design. JXD V3 handheld is confused, confusing and altogether interesting originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:04:00 EST

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Todd, who’s looking to snap up a solid cheap laptop (for his father-in-law , no less!) before that fateful Friday in December. Have a look below and hand out some Christmas cheer, won’t you? “My father-in-law is heading back to school in the spring and wants a laptop for Christmas. The only catch is their budget is around $400 and he does not want a netbook. He’s not very “tech savvy” at all and doesn’t need a hoss of a machine (not that $400 could get you one).

Behold the Haier Theatre , a full touchscreen media player that might be pretty unremarkable were it not for its surprisingly low price tag: a 4GB version for $90 and 8GB for a measly $100. The Theatre comes with a 3-inch capacitive touch screen, a built-in FM tuner and accelerometer, plays all your standard digital files and has a 12-hour audio battery life. Haier’s also apparently throwing in 35 free music downloads and a free audio book if you sign up for a 14-day trial with eMusic, but even without that that hassle you’re looking at a pretty great deal. [ CrunchGear and MobileTechReview ]

We know you’ve got questions, and if you’re brave enough to ask the world for answers, here’s the outlet to do so. This week’s Ask Engadget question is coming to us from David, who’s looking to get himself a boot drive that’s fast, durable, fast, reliable and fast. “I’m looking for a solid state drive, around 32 to 64GB, for use in my web server. The drive will contain my web sites and the operating system, either Windows Server 2008 R2 or Ubuntu. Large storage is handled by a separate RAID array, so capacity is not an issue

Palm’s new Pixi just got $5 cheaper, less than 2 weeks after its launch, selling for $25 at Wal-mart and now Amazon. The Palm Pre is also $80. I call this a deal on a phone with a terrific UI on a terrific network, but I’d pay double these rates if the Palm had a more sizable app library. But if your’e set on palm, remember what we said: For $80, even if 3x as much, the Pre is a much nicer piece of hardware . All Things D’s John Paczkowski says it best: “If Things Get Really Bad, Palm’s Pixi Will Make a Great Happy Meal Prize” [ Amazon via All Things D ]

Start placing your bets folks,’cause it now looks like its almost certainly no longer a question “if” the Palm Pixi will drop to a free-on-contract price, but “when?” The latest stop on the saga is none other than Amazon, which is now offering the webOS-based phone for a mere $24.99 with a service plan, beating Walmart’s already bargain price by a full five dollars — which should be just enough to let you buy a second Pixi next month at the rate things are going. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Filed under: Cellphones Palm Pixi one step closer to free, now $25 on Amazon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Read

Don’t be fooled by that background: this Menq EasyPC E790 is only using Windows CE 5.0 for the sake of this hands-on. The successor to the $89 E760 we saw last year still sports a Samsung ARM processor, bumps the 7-inch display’s resolution to 800 x 480, and at least as far as this Techvideoblog video hands-on shows, can do a decent (albeit not great) job of handling DivX files, Skype, and browsing. There’s a promise from the manufacturer that Android is coming sometime in the next month, but honestly, given what we’ve seen before , we’d be happy to stick with Windows CE. Of course, the big selling point here is the price, and that claimed $80 is quite the looker. Video after the break. [Via SlashGear and Linux for Devices ] Read - Hands-on Read - Product page Continue reading Menq’s $80 EasyPC E790 netbook runs Windows CE now, should run Android later (video) Filed under: Laptops Menq’s $80 EasyPC E790 netbook runs Windows CE now, should run Android later (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:21:00 EST

Safa is a Korean firm that has put out quite a few forgettable DAPs in its day, and while this one isn’t going to win any awards for technological advancement, it does look like “fun,” for whatever that’s worth. The Xing LED is a none-too-shabby 12mm thin and boasts 12 hours of playback time on a single charge. The company fails to mention little things like storage capacity and file format support, but that ain’t why we’re here: the face of the device features 27 LEDs that can be either programed to display the icon of your choice or used for a rousing game of Rock / Paper / Scissors. Sort of makes that Zune HD of yours look like overkill, eh? Price and availability yet to be announced. [Via PMP Today ] Continue reading Safa Xing LED features MP3 playback, 27 pixel resolution Filed under: Portable Audio Safa Xing LED features MP3 playback, 27 pixel resolution originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:44:00 EST

Uni-Pixel has developed a new display technology that could succeed LCD and LED displays, and if all goes according to plan we might see something come to market as soon as next year. Opcuity uses one layer of MEMS film in in a TMOS (multiplexed optical shutter) device for results that are said to be ten times brighter and sixty percent cheaper to manufacture than LCDs (which use five layers). Since TMOS displays are very similar to LCDs, existing manufacturing lines can be used — lowering start-up costs and rescuing older assembly lines in the process. According to the company’s CFO, the manufacturing process “subtracts from existing LCD lines–you just need to remove some equipment that is no longer needed.” Samsung and Uni-Pixel have teamed up to produce 4-inch displays using the technology, but who knows? Maybe Microsoft Research’s interactive office will become a reality sooner than you think. [Via OLED-Info ] Filed under: Displays Samsung and Uni-Pixel team up for better, cheaper TMOS displays originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:41:00 EST.