We're on the ground at IFA 2013 in Berlin, where the biggest companies in tech kicked things off with a long list of new, hot hardware. We got close with Lenovo's refreshed ThinkPad X240, a 12.5-inch laptop with a redesigned palm-rest that offsets the wrist woes of its predecessor, not to mention outfits the svelte clamshell with ports you won't find on other Ultrabooks. The Acer Liquid S2 is a 6-inch phablet that packs the camera tech to record 4K videos., and HTC ccontinues to develop hardware with a keen focus on sound quality thanks to a new portable speaker. The HTC BoomBass not only pairs phones and tablets with a sub-woofer, it connects to those devices via Bluetooth and NFC. Below is a complete run-down of our first day at IFA 2013.
We loved the long battery life and solid performance of last year's ThinkPad X230, but that Ultrabook's awkward ergonomics left us with noticeable wrist aches. The all-newThinkPad X240 Ultrabook looks to ease that pain with a longer palm rest design. The laptop's display, silhouette, chipset, and port array get a refreshing update, too. We went hands-on with the ThinkPad X240 to give you a sneak peek at the latest Lenovo Ultrabook.
More: Lenovo ThinkPad X240 Hands-on Video
After weeks of rumors,LG officially unveiled the G Pad 8.3, its official re-entry into the tablet market and the first tablet of its size to sport a 1920 x 1200 display.In addition to that high-res screen, the slate, which measures 8.3 inches, will compete against a similar-sized tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8.0.
More: LG Unviels G Pad 8.3 Tablet
Just months after revealing the Liquid S1 phablet, Acer is back with the Liquid S2, the company's first phone with 4K video recording capability. Via a13-MP rear camera, the Liquid S2 packs a bevy of functions for mobile photo and video fanatics. The least of which is the ability to snap 1080p videos at 60 frames per second, crop images immediately after they're captured, and share high-res photos via Acer's Live Screen function.
More: Acer's Liquid S2 Phablet Offers 4K Video Recording
Lenovo's freshening up its ThinkPad T series with the new T440 and T440s mainstream business notebooks.The two 14-inch laptops will sport Intel 4th General Intel "Haswell" Core Series processors, along with full HD screen options and lighter chassis. That's in addition to Lenovo's current-generation 5-button clickpad/trackpad combo. Look for this set of ThinkPads to start at $899 sometime this fall.
More: Lenovo Debuts Haswell-Powered ThinkPads T440/T440s
Acer 's taking the wraps off of the Iconia A3, a new 10-inch Android tablet with media-minded specs like a 1280 x 800-pixel display, cinematic viewing angles, and Dolby Digital Plus speakers on each side. Powering the mini-theater is a quad-core 1.2-GHz cortex A7 processor and the Android 4.2 operating system.
More: Acer Iconia A3: Meet a New 10-inch Tablet with Dolby Sound
The HTC One is already one of the best-sounding smartphones o n the market, and now HTC is looking to enhance that audio quality even further with its new portable speaker, the BoomBass. Even though its 1200 mAh battery powers dual-front facing speakers, a sub-woofer, and two radios for Bluetooth and NFC, the BoomBass is rated to pump tunes for 9 hours. At this time, we're we're still listening out for two particular details: That's how much the BoomBass will cost and when we can get smartphone paired to one.
More: HTC One BoomBass Speaker to Launch Next Month
Acer's adding the Acer Aspire R7 to its list of updated laptops. The new system wedges the touchpad between the keyboard and the screen, just like last spring's R7. There's also an "Ezel" hinge that allows the 1080p screen to flip, reverse, lie flat in tablet mode or float above the touchpad, a stylus for pen input, and the processing power of Intel's latest processors.
