We’ve already established that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a great tablet. Then, just recently, we summarily found that the 1.2-inch smaller Galaxy Tab 8.9 is an even better tablet — at least for anyone who wants to take their slate places. So, following that logic, the even more petite Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus should be the best of the three, right?

Not so fast. We’ve been here before, and things weren’t exactly great. The original Galaxy Tab was, of course, a 7-incher and wasn’t universally well received thanks to a number of problems — the first being a 0 MSRP. Another issue was an Android 2.2 build that tried its best but was ultimately ill-suited for tablet duties. This new 7-inch installment packs a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a tablet-friendlier build of Android 3.2 Honeycomb and a somewhat more palatable 0 price tag.

So, it’s clearly better equipped than its predecessor, but that one shipped a whopping 12 months ago. How does the newer, fancier Tab compete in this newer, fancier present? Read on to find out.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus review

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know what’s inside the TouchPad and we know just what it’s like to live with the culmination of those parts, and now Isuppli is doing its best to figure out just what those individual components set HP back each time one rolls off the assembly line. According to that firm’s analysis, the grand cost to build a single 9.99 MSRP, 32GB TouchPad is 8. That’s but more than the 16GB version, which of course retails for 0 less at 9.99. That 8 cost is quite comparable to a 32GB iPad 2, which tallies up at 6 in 3G form according to the source. In other words, HP seems to be maintaining similar margins to Apple, begging the question: can it afford to do so?

[Image credit: TechRepublic]

HP TouchPad parts analyzed, manufacturing cost similar to the iPad 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Philips Fidelio Speakers with AirPlay hands-on (video)

Philips Fidelio Speakers with AirPlay hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA has been pushing its 3D Vision platform for a couple of years and at this year’s Computex it is looking to pull in more PC users with new wired LCD active shutter glasses. The original wireless specs rely on the same IR sync tech and battery power seen in glasses for many HDTVs, but these get power and data over a 10-foot USB cable. While that might not work for living room viewing, a single user application like PC gaming or watching a Blu-ray 3D on a laptop doesn’t suffer for the cable restriction. Besides foregoing the sometimes finicky IR sync these are also cheaper, with a MSRP when they go on sale in “late June” compared to 9 for the wireless version. The company hopes the combination of a lower entry price and ability to be secured to the PC make it a viable option for gamers who may already have a compatible LCD and GPU, or gaming cafes that want to run a few Starcraft II tournaments in 3D — check the rest of the details in the press release after the break.

Continue reading NVIDIA new wired 3D Vision glasses give up some freedom for a lower price

NVIDIA new wired 3D Vision glasses give up some freedom for a lower price originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 May 2011 20:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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How about the supplier floorpan support fee? That is a ridiculous thing to charge too. This is different with used cars. That is what they have to pay to their lenders for all the stocks of autos that they keep. Usually, they pay roughly $100 per month in interest for every vehicle on the lot. They want you to pay it for them. The thing is, the vehicle factory generally assists dealers with it. But they’ll just go around and collect it all over again from you as well. Is not that convenient? If the vehicle has been sitting there on their lot for a few months, they’ll have been paid that amount three times from the vehicle manufacturing facility. But they still would like you to pay for it. It is a total insult to your intellect, and you want zero part of it.

How about the supplier prep charge? That is the fee that the supplier collects from you to ready the vehicle for sale – they take the plastic off of the seats, do any surface cleaning which needs to be done, put on one coat of wax on and inspect the fluids. This is from time to time the case for used cars, as well. The used cars situation varies from dealership to dealership. For this, they would like you to pay five hundred dollars. What can it take them, an hour to finish the task? How could they in good conscience charge five hundred dollars an hour for such a job?

Another weird fee they love collecting from you is the Drive Off Deposit. That is just a totally made up fee that the brand-new vehicle supplier collects from you to attempt to balance out the rebate that they may have given you. It is just stealing, plain and simple, and you do not want them to do that to you.

And ultimately, the Factory Holdback is something you want to watch out for. The factory holds back 2% or 3% of the price of a vehicle from the supplier until they actually sell it. Once the vehicle is sold, they’ll give supplier the their money back. What sellers do is, they attempt to double charge it – once from the vehicle company, and once from you. If you spy this on your invoice, ask to have it removed or threaten to walk out. It is well worth the hassle to show some backbone.

We’ve certainly had some complaints about the Chevrolet Volt, including mediocre highway mileage, but far and away it’s that ,000 MSRP keeping it from being a real contender for mass adoption. Now we’re hearing rumors that GM is thinking about down-sizing the car’s batteries in an attempt to drop that price as well. The battery pack is far and away the most expensive single component in the car and the thought is that a reduction of the pure EV range to just 20 miles (down from its current 30 – 50) could have a whopping ,000 reduction in cost. That would mean buyers would dip into the gas tank a little sooner but be a lighter on their bank accounts — at least in the beginning.

GM looking to offer lower-cost, shorter-range Volt? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 21:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading TI-Nspire graphing calcs get full color displays, 3D, WiFi, and new OS

TI-Nspire graphing calcs get full color displays, 3D, WiFi, and new OS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The MSRP price of a car is exactly which it states: It’s actually a “suggested” retail price. And paying retail for anything – such as new cars – just isn’t done today. Exceptions will be drug stores and other convenience stores, but the majority of other retailers price their goods and services at some point less than the retail price. But, plainly displayed right next to the retail price is the real sale price.

Merchants do this to try to make you believe you’re getting away with spending less money than you’d otherwise have to for a particular product. Because any time you believe you are getting a good deal, the idea has been proven you will spend your hard-earned money – even when you are truly over-paying for a product.

It truly is incredible how many consumers who willingly pay the MSRP for a brand new motor vehicle – or perhaps slightly less than the MSRP. Nearly all of these people do not know better and presume they are getting a killer bargain. Vehicle dealerships are able to identify these types of overly-generous, if not unsuspecting, consumers a mile away, and love to get them. Many automotive shoppers feel that whenever they get a car under the MSRP price that they have just sent the poor car salesman home without money for dinner. And that the car dealership had to let a car go at or near cost.

Consumers like this are certainly wrong about this simply because there’s no way car dealerships could survive without making a profit on every sale.

The last occasion you went clothes shopping, did you pay the posted retail price tag? Most likely not, correct? Well, the MSRP really should be viewed similarly – avoid paying it. There is a fundamental difference, however, between normal merchants and automotive dealers: The car dealership doesn’t necessarily post the actual selling price of the car for you. You just get to view the retail (MSRP) price. Hence you need to do some research first before stepping on the car lot.

Despite knowing all sorts of info like the factory invoice, dealer holdback, dealer incentives, etc. for the car you’re interested in, you will never, EVER know the actual price that the dealer is paying for that car. Period. You can find only what is released for public knowledge on the internet – what you are ‘permitted’ to know. And with this knowledge, you can proceed to get the best deal on that new car that can be had. The dealership is not ever going to let a car go for little or no profit. So don’t allow yourself to think for even a second that you have gotten away with something by getting a lower price on your car than you expected.

You can’t blame any business for making a profit – otherwise there would not be cars available for you to buy; we’d still be riding horses. Regardless, enough flexibility exists in a new car cost versus its price that both you and the dealership can be happy no matter what you may be led to believe otherwise. But the auto industry makes vehicle pricing so complex that you’ll need to do a little online research to be able to save that money. And reading this article is a good start.

History Of The MSRP You Should Know

The MSRP was originally established back in 1958 as a consumer protection act of Congress. Because U.S. Senator Mike Monroney introduced the bill, the sticker that is on every new car produced (a result of the bill) is often called the “Monroney sticker” by insiders. Each and every car produced today must have the Monroney sticker on a window. It cannot be legally removed by anyone except the consumer. On it the manufacturer is required to itemize every major part of the car that the consumer is purchasing. One feature of the sticker is the MSRP listed prominently on it. (Think “retail price tag.”) At first, it was a great number to start bargaining from.

Dealer Incentives

The MSRP listed on the sticker now, however, is just ‘window dressing.’ This is because the car makers got with their sales force (the dealers) and created legal “kickbacks” for every car sold. No doubt you’ve heard of some of these by the names of “dealer holdback” or “dealer incentives.”

This is how they work:

One example is at the end of the year, the car maker sends a check to the dealer that is a total of all the money held back on the sales of a vehicle. (Dealer holdback.) The holdback amount varies, but is a percentage between two and five of the MSRP.

“But Johnny,” you say, “what if I know all of these incentives and the dealer invoice before going into the dealership. So now won’t I be able to save big?”

To that I would say, “Absolutely. You are now armed to get the best deal possible for your target car.” But know this: You can never know exactly what the cost of your car is and how much over the cost you are paying. Because secret incentives protect the dealer from selling a car at or below profit, which is really o.k. because it’s a business, right? These “secret” incentives are perfectly legal and it’s one of the things that keeps them in business. The only thing I don’t agree with is the lengths us consumers have to go to in order to save money on a car purchase.

So How Do You Use The MSRP To Determine The Price To Offer The Dealer For Your New Car?

You ignore the MSRP. You don’t use it except for your own ball-park figuring of whether you can afford a model or not. No, you should be negotiating from the dealer’s cost UP, and not from the MSRP down. There is a step-by-step formula, fortunately, for figuring your best offer. You can find complete information about MSRP vs invoice at buying-new-car.net. A good offer is important, because if you throw some ridiculous numbers out there, the dealer will know he can take advantage of your ignorance and HE will get the better deal. An informed offer is the proverbial “win-win” situation; both you and the dealer will walk away happy… well, you will DRIVE away happy!

To carry out this effectively so everybody is satisfied and the buyer doesn’t feel any sense of regret, it is imperative that in today’s market a consumer be fully satisfied with their product to continue a prolonged relationship of longevity and confidence with the supplier so that the buyer is able to keep a sense of selection for certain features that certain manufacturers convey over and over again in identical products.

What this means is that in order to be happy with your audio shelf system, you must first be happy with the manufacturers characteristic quality. So what exactly is characteristic quality? Simply said, they are attributes that make known the producers overall quality. For instance, Sony has always been a well-liked brand amongst more high budget customers, and while brands like RCA have maintained their quality in their line of products, in many opinions they are still not worth so much.

Why is this? Because RCA tends to have lower prices on audio shelf systems and other items with excellent quality, while Sony has a better image, and offers a longer company warranty, which ensures longevity of the product, but it comes with a price. This is when characteristic quality plays an important role in the common consumers mind.

If you were looking to buy a shelf system, lets say you see a 300 watt, RCA shelf stereo system for $150, and though it may be a great deal, there might be a 300 watt Sony system for $200, and because it is more costly than the RCA stereo, you want to buy the RCA shelf system. This is due to the characteristic quality of MSRP (Manufacturers suggested retail price). This means that your overall preference had nothing to do with the overall product, but simply the fact that it had better pricing.

Later you realize that RCA doesn’t offer a warranty as long as Sony, the product life has a short expectancy and if it breaks, the place of purchase may not cover it. Reasons like this are significant in terms of choosing a music system, because in the market its not amount of money that counts, but quality of the audio shelf system that means everything.

• A dealer might say something like “With your credit score you cannot qualify for competitive financing rate.” This may not always be a scam though. The statement only applicable if you have a routine of paying your bills after their due dates or have missed your payments. A few dealers will give you a picture of your most horrible credit so you might think you are paying more than you had to. The solution is to keep a good follow up of your payments and not ignore due dates. Contact the credit bureaus and get yourself your credit report.

• A dealer might trick you in quoting a wrong value of the car. You will find the MSRP (manufacturer suggested listed price) on the window. However, if you want to know the correct cost, and ensure that the dealer might not be tricking you in a scam, you should surf the web. Numerous websites can let you know about the real prices, rebates and incentives.

• Another scam is when a dealer may provide you a comparatively lower payment to be paid per month. For example he might say, “We can give you this car for $390 per month.” This may mean that your down payment is a handsome sum or the tenure holds for several months. The key here is to look at the total cost of the car. Calculate how much you will have to pay each month and never inquire this from the dealer. Present to him your terms such as, “I will be able to get the car by paying this amount.”

• Another popular trick is that the dealer contacts you weeks and months after your purchase to inform you that the financial scheme that you signed has finished. The reason why they do this is because they want you to opt for a costlier car.

• Who does not want a new and a more luxurious car than the previous one? Even earlier than you would have have been over with paying the loans for your current car, a dealer might insist that you take a car saying that the left over payments of your current car will ‘roll over’ to the new one. Be alert! The end to such payments might never arrive. The consequence may be that you will have to pay even more than the current payments you are making.

The frauds, however, do not finish here. Whatever you do, you should stay alert at all times. Also ensure that you read all the documents properly. It is also a better idea to take a person along who has an experience in buying cars and knows about different internal parts.