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• Qualcomm 1.5GHz Snapdragon Slips into Late 2011

  Oh no Qualcomm, say it isn't so! That mighty 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon chip we've been so anxiously looking forward to isn't slated to ship until July 2011, and maybe later.

  This is the same part that we were previously told would show up in the first quarter of 2011, but apparently someone at Qualcomm misspoke. Qualcomm's PR dudes were quick to clarify that it's the 1.2GHz Snapdragon part that we'll see in early 2011, with the faster 1.5GHz silicon hopefully making it in time for the holiday shopping season next year.

  On the bright side, a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor should make for a nice upgrade over today's single-core 1GHz parts. And with Samsung hard at work developing a 2GHz dual-core mobile chip, we're still stoked about both the short- and long-term outlook of smartphones.

  

• E-Ink not Just Good for eBook Readers, Good for Watches Too!

  Seiko is trying to bring digital watches back in style, and to help do that, the company is equipping new models with e-ink displays.

  This isn't the first time Seiko has gone this route, having used e-ink in a handful of limited edition watches for the ladies a few years back. They never really took off, which Seiko hopes is only because it was an idea slightly ahead of its time.

  These second-gen e-ink watches sport an active matrix display that allows the screen to "actively" refresh itself whenever needed. The battery is only used when changing the display, so in theory, these suckers should run for long, long periods of time.

  It's also equipped with a solar cell, and the movement is radio controlled so that it receives its time from an atomic clock. It all looks pretty promising (and geeky), and if the recent ebook price war is any indication, these things might actually end up being affordable too.

  More specs and info here.

  

  Image Credit: Seiko

• Acer: We're All Android, Baby (in the Tablet Space)

  Acer, one of the pioneers in the netbook market, is ready to embrace tablets and isn't shy about the direction they're going to take. According to company president Simon Lin, Acer is feeling pretty enamored with Google's open-source Android platform and thinks that Android-tablets will have what it takes to knock Apple's iPad down a peg or three.

  That doesn't mean Windows is being left out in the cold completely. Acer plans to test launch a Windows-based tablet built around Intel's Atom architecture in the fourth of this year to see how the market reacts. Come 2011, however, Acer will launch at least one Android-based slate.

  Acer's infatuation with Android extends from the smartphone sector, and according to Lin, that will remain the company's main focus in the mobile phone space too. As it stands, most of the 5-6 million smartphones Acer will have shipped by the time 2010 comes to a close will have been Android devices.