WiFi-only
Latest
HTC's WiFi-only Flyer launching exclusively with Best Buy 'this spring'
Now that it's received its big US debut courtesy of Sprint and under the name EVO View 4G, HTC's Flyer tablet is free to, um, fly under the radar with a WiFi version this spring, exclusively through Best Buy. Specs on the Flyer are somewhat atypical for the current crop of Android tablets, as it opts for Gingerbread instead of Honeycomb and a 1.5GHz Qualcomm chip intead of the popular Tegra 2 dual-core solution. That, and it's a 7-inch tablet with a capacitive stylus and an aluminum unibody shell. Notably, this WiFi-centric variant looks set to beat the WiMAX-capable EVO View (which Sprint expects in the summer) to market, so we'll be keeping a very curious eye on pricing as and when it is announced. For now, we have a retailer and a rapidly dwindling release window. Oh, and a press release, which you'll find just past the break, augmented with a neat little promo video. [Thanks, Michael]
Dell Streak 7 gets certified in WiFi-only form, shows up on Amazon for pre-order
At about $200 on-contract, Dell's Streak 7 is one of the cheaper ways to get yourself into an Android tablet -- or at least into one made by a manufacturer you've actually heard of before. But, that "on-contract" bit means of course the 3G-equipped handheld will be considerably more expensive in the long-run -- or $450 up-front if you skip the contract. Here's one that isn't. Early this AM we got word that a WiFi only version of the tablet had been certified and, now, here it is up on Amazon for pre-order. No release date is available but the price is: $379.99. That's about $70 less than the 3G model and $20 less than the 3G-free Galaxy Tab is expected to retail for. Is that cheap enough to make up for its flaws? That, dear reader, is a question you must answer for yourself.
Motorola makes WiFi-only Xoom official: $599 on March 27th
Sanjay Jha and various leaks already told us as much, but here's the official word: the WiFi-only Motorola Xoom is launching on March 27th for $599. Retail availability will be truly widespread, with Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Staples and Walmart all offering up the Honeycomb tablet. Other than the omission of the 3G and 4G radios of the original Xoom, you're basically looking at an identical hardware package. That includes a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera, and a 10.1-inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution.
WiFi-only Xoom headed to Staples for March 27th release?
If you're still holding out for a Motorola Xoom, here's some good news. The folks at Droid Life snagged a picture of a Staples ad depicting March 27th as the targeted release date for the slate. In addition, the tablet appears to be retailing for 600 bucks -- one the cheapest models money can buy. A Xoom, TI-Nspire and a new pack of pens, all from one place? Man, that really was easy. [Thanks, Hector N]
Samsung Galaxy Tab's WiFi-only version rumored to cost $399, arrive on April 4th
Shocking as it might be, we still haven't had a Galaxy Tab from Samsung that rocks nothing but the WiFis, though that seems about to finally change. The 3G-deprived 7-inch Tab, promised for Q1 2011, has slipped on its schedule a little and looks set to now hit retail in the first week of April, at the admittedly appealing price of $399. Now, we all know the tablet market of April 2011 is shaping up to be extremely rich on machines with high specs, large screens and inflated opinions of themselves, but there could still be a fine little niche for an affordable, well built slate, even if it does only run on Froyo.
WiFi-only Motorola Xoom appears at Sam's Club, bearing $539 price?
You might have seen Motorola's WiFi-only Xoom popping up at European e-tailers, but it's reportedly flying the red, white and blue today, having materialized at Sam's Club in the good ol' USA. Droid-Life stumbled upon several snapshots of these Xoom Wi-Fi vouchers, with a $539 price tag hanging above their heads -- plenty cheaper than a cellular Xoom, and also slightly more affordable than a similarly specced iPad 2. Of course, Sam's Club deals in wholesale merchandise, and even should this price be accurate the tablet may not be widely available at the same rate, so don't count out $599 as the Xoom Wi-Fi's MSRP. Meanwhile, let us know if you manage to find and ring one up at the register, eh? [Thanks, Michael]
Motorola prices WiFi-only Xoom at £500 in the UK (update: €700 in Germany with 3G)
Finally Motorola gives us a chance to say something positive about its pricing of the 10.1-inch, Tegra 2-powered Xoom tablet. UK electronics retailer PC World has just put up its Xoom pre-order page, which will surprise many waking Brits with an extremely reasonable £450 ($730) asking price. That's £60 less than the direct competitor 32GB WiFi-only iPad -- the Xoom only has one storage option of 32GB and the model listed here comes without 3G -- and perhaps more importantly, is only £10 more than the 16GB version of Apple's tablet. It's common knowledge that to take on the iPad empire you'll have to at the very least match its price, and Moto is doing even better than that in the UK. There's only one worrying sign, we haven't been able to place a Xoom into our shopping basket yet, as the "Pre-order today" button seems to be malfunctioning, but we're guessing that's a temporary glitch that will be fixed without the price shooting up skywards. Update: T-Mobile Germany has also revealed its Xoom pricing, this time for the 3G model: €699.95. Distribution will begin at the end of April and T-Mo will have a three-month exclusive on the tablet in its native land. The pricing positions the Xoom a mere 95 Euro cents above the 32GB-equipped iPad WiFi + 3G, meaning that your choice will truly come down to preference and not economics. See T-Mobile's full press release after the break. Update 2: The PC World price and pre-order have been pulled. Gulp. Let's hope they comes back unchanged. Update 3: The page is back, this time with an April 9th delivery date, but the price has Xoomed up to £500. Oh no. [Thanks, John]
Motorola posts specs for GSM and WiFi-only Xoom, indentical to original save the radios
What's the difference between a WiFi-only Xoom tablet and one equipped with EV-DO Rev. A or HSPA bands? Just $200 and the radio chip within. Motorola just released the full spec sheets for its full lineup of Android Honeycomb tablets, and they're otherwise exactly the same inside. That goes for the Tegra 2 SOC, of course, but also surprisingly the GPS, which is often baked right into the cellular radio in mobile devices like these. Good on Motorola for keeping the functionality in! [Thanks, David W.]
Motorola Xoom gets Q2 European launch, WiFi-only and silver models now extra official
Motorola just went official with its WiFi-only Xoom headed to Europe along side its 3G and WiFi cousin in the second quarter of 2011. Besides that little detail, it's still the original 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet built upon a dual-core 1GHz processor and 1280 x 800 pixel resolution display. Oh, and look at what we spotted here in Barcelona. Yup, a Xoom decked out in silver just for your viewing pleasure in the gallery below. %Gallery-116526%
WiFi-only Motorola Xoom tablet does its FCC duty, silver version spotted in Dubai (video)
We heard some weird reports over the weekend that the 3G Motorola Xoom tablet couldn't be sold unless you bought at least one month of wireless data. That, plus the groan-inducing $800 MSRP, is surely giving some potential buyers a wee bit of pause. This might help. Crossing the wires at the FCC is what appears to be a WiFi-only version of the Xoom, called a "wireless tablet with embedded WLAN." It's lacking a 3G radio so, unless Moto has another trick up its sleeves, this is probably that. Obviously any speculation on price would be highly... speculative, but here's to hoping ditching that modem brings this thing down a Benjamin or so. Also spotted, this time in Dubai but also embedded below, was a silver version of the Xoom, sporting a two-tone back that will nicely complement your Casio Data Bank calculator watch. No word on whether we'll get that on these shores, but we hope so. Variety is, dear readers, the spice of life.
Sony says NGP will be 'affordable,' won't cost $599, WiFi-only version also coming
We had quite the interview with Sony's Jack Tretton, but we certainly didn't corner the market on hot new NGP details -- Eurogamer and Game Informer quizzed the company's Andrew House and Shuhei Yoshida, respectively, and came out with some important tidbits about the quad-core gaming handheld, particularly regarding pricing. Though Tretton seemed to suggest we'll see a price somewhere northward of the Nintendo 3DS's $250, Yoshida was quoted as saying "It's not going to be $599," laughing off the idea that the system would cost as much as the PlayStation 3's infamous appraisal at launch, and House said that Sony "will shoot for an affordable price that's appropriate for the handheld gaming space." While none were willing to cough up a real ballpark estimate, the SCEE president revealed one way that the cost might come down: pushing out a lesser model, a strategy we've seen before. House said that while all devices come with WiFi, "a separate SKU will have 3G," making us wonder which of the handheld's other groundbreaking features might carry a premium. After all, OLED screens don't come cheap. Find the rest of Eurogamer's excellent interview (including a bit about how Sony will prioritize downloadable content over physical media) at our source link.
WiFi-only Galaxy Tab hits Best Buy for $499.99 only to be delayed by Samsung?
Remember the leaked promo material for the $499.99 WiFi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab headed to Best Buy? Well, SKU 1409447 of the 7-inch Android tablet is being promoted right now in the weekly ads on Best Buy's very own mobile site. Unfortunately, our urge to celebrate is tempered by a sneaky pic of a Best Buy "pullback" (found after the break) noting that the WiFi-only Galaxy Tab is not in fact available due to manufacturer delay. The whole Best Buy listing turns out to be an unhappy comedy of errors showing a non-existent "silver" 3G model on Sprint and wishful "Super AMOLED" display. Ugh.
$149 WiFi-only Nook confirmed, 3G price dropped to $199 (update: official)
Turns out all our snooping was spot on with this one. We first spotted a simpler, cheaper Nook making its way through the FCC late last month, and then only last night we got tipped off to a $150 price point for the e-reader sans cellular connection. Now Best Buy has confirmed the whole thing with its listing of the BNRV100 model, which comes in over $100 cheaper than Barnes and Noble's original ($259), although Best Buy has seen fit to give that a price trim as well. We like where this is going, especially if it triggers B&N's competitors to lower their own fees. [Thanks, Paul] Update: Barnes and Noble has now gone fully official with its new $149 Nook. The 3G version has taken a price drop to $199 as well, matching the pricing indicated by Best Buy. B&N is today also outing its firmware version 1.4, which allows the free use of AT&T wireless hotspots everywhere.
