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Engadget's tablet buyer's guide: spring 2013 edition
Much like bears, tablet designers are coming out of hibernation: there have been a handful of noteworthy models reaching the wild after a few months of silence. Most of these are the Windows 8- and RT-based tablets that didn't quite make the cut for the holidays, and we're launching our 2013 spring tablet buyer's guide with a dedicated Windows section to accommodate a distinct and rapidly filling category. Just be careful before you commit to a purchase, wherever your allegiances lie: Mobile World Congress brought us tablets that haven't quite shipped yet, like the FonePad and Galaxy Note 8.0. (We've included a heads-up in those situations where waiting a few weeks, or months, may be wisest.) As chaotic as spring can be, our guide might just provide some kind of stability if you're shopping for your next slate.
The Daily Roundup for 04.11.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Editor's Letter: The social smartphone
In each issue of Distro, editor-in-chief Tim Stevens publishes a wrap-up of the week in news. There's a good chance 2011's HTC Status, with its portrait QWERTY layout and dedicated Facebook button, never found its way into your social network. That last attempt at the mythical Facebook phone failed to garner much praise, but if social networks gave up so easily, well, we'd all still be using MySpace. HTC and Facebook are at it again, this week launching the $99 First, exclusively on AT&T in the US. Yes, it's a name every commenter could love (or hate). Yes, it's a name every commenter could love (or hate), a title cheekily reminiscent of the HTC One. This, though, is a rather different device, aiming more toward the mid-range and relying on some serious social integration to make it stand out. It's the first phone running the Facebook Home interface, which will be available on many devices starting on April 12th. It delivers a far more comprehensive Facebook experience than the previous apps have managed, and intriguingly Zuckerberg himself said that Home is "the next version of Facebook." The end of the web? Stay tuned.
MMObility: Fifteen fun free MMORPGs for your tablet or smartphone
Mobile MMORPGs are still hard to come by. Sure, there are a ton of pseudo-MMOs and developers who claim to have created an MMO, but the fact is that persistence -- a key to defining what an MMO is -- is often gone from many of these games. I want to be able to log out of the game while the rest of the digital world goes on without me. Or better yet, and in the case of most MMORTS titles, I want to log out of the game and continue to have an effect on the world through trades, wars, or the fallout of diplomacy. Even though the market is often bare, there are still quite a few MMOs out there. Many of them are fun as well! I know, I know, I am making it seem as though the smartphone or tablet MMO market is empty of all content, but the truth is that for its age, it's doing very well. There are more and more coming out all of the time, and hopefully I'll be there to cover them. In the meanwhile, enjoy a list of the specific titles that rest on my Nexus 7 3G tablet, just waiting to be played anywhere and any time!
How would you change the Nexus 7?
Google's Nexus 7 has a rather colorful life story. It started out as the ASUS MeMO ME370T, until a sharp-eyed Google executive decided that it was ripe for a Mountain View makeover. When Andy Rubin and friends were done, it had Android 4.1, whip-smart internals and, best of all, it cost under $200. As such, it's perfect, right? Well, that's what we want to know. We've been toting these units around since last summer, and that means it's high time we asked you what you loved, hated, and more importantly -- what would you change?
The Daily Roundup for 02.22.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Japanese retail survey shows Nexus 7 edging out iPad in December
The iPad lost some of its market share to Google's 7-inch tablet in Japan last month, according to a survey of retailers. Among the 2,400 businesses surveyed by BCN Ranking, the Nexus 7 captured 44.4 percent of tablet sales as opposed to the iPad's 40.1 percent. Apple's tablet had accounted for the majority of device sales at the surveyed retailers in previous months. As part of its survey, BCN asked retailers for the most common feedback from customers regarding their choice of tablet. A majority of responses indicated that the Nexus 7's lower price point was the overriding factor in choosing the tablet over Apple's. As noted by Digital Trends, the iPad mini was in extremely short supply during the period the survey was conducted, so it's entirely possible that if Apple's own 7-inch offering had been widely available that we'd be seeing the market share tipped in Cupertino's favor. It should be interesting to see how things change when January's survey results are in.
Super Hexagon on Android is 'basically done,' Nexus 7 owners out of luck
There's good news and bad news. The good news is that the Android port of Super Hexagon is "basically done," Terry Cavanagh wrote in an update on the game's progress. The bad news is that Cavanagh and Laurence Muller, who is actually coding the port, have run into a rather serious bug. The sort of goodish news is that the bug only seems to affect Google's Nexus 7 tablet.Specifically, testing on the Nexus 7 has shown a bit of input lag, meaning that player movement is registered slightly after the screen is pressed. Not a huge problem for most games, but a very big problem for Super Hexagon. As Cavanagh puts it, "even a slight control responsiveness issue like this basically kills Super Hexagon – every single touch overshoots." It's possible to play earlier levels, but the higher levels are "unplayable," which makes the game "unreleaseable" on Nexus 7.The next step for the duo is to test other Android devices for similar issues. Once that's done, the game should be released "very soon for any Android device that can handle it." Sadly, it looks like that won't include the Nexus 7.
ASUS Nexus 7 dock hands-on
Along with the Qube and the VivoTab Smart at CES, ASUS also quietly showed off its dock for the Nexus 7 at its remote suite outside CES. Judging by the tablet's position in the above photo, you can tell that the fairly weighty dock makes use of the tablet's pin connectors towards the bottom of its left side. Swing to the back and you'll see a micro-USB port plus an audio-out socket. That's actually pretty much it for the dock, and there's no price or availability just yet for the US so we'll keep our eyes open for more detail. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Flipboard lands on Android tablets, now supports Nexus 10
It's no secret that we're big fans of Flipboard here at Engadget, but there's one thing we've been longing for: a tablet-optimized Android version. Until now, running the app on the Nexus 10 (by sideloading the APK) or even the Nexus 7 (officially supported) meant living with a scaled-up phone experience. Today, Flipboard is getting updated in the Play Store to supports a variety of Android tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1, the Galaxy Tab series and the Nexus 10. A setting lets you chose between phone and tablet modes, which is useful for mid-size devices like Amazon's Kindle Fire, the Nook and the Nexus 7. Flipboard worked closely with Samsung to optimize the app and take advantage of larger, higher resolution displays. This means more of your favorite tiles, larger story snippets and landscape support (at last). We spent a few hours using Flipboard's new app for Android and came away suitably impressed -- anyone familiar with the iPad version will feel right at home. PR after the break.
iPad, iPad mini win battery life shootout among tablets
UK consumer watchdog site Which? has tested the world's leading tablets to see how their battery life compares and both the iPad with Retina display and the iPad mini came out on top by a large margin. To be fair to all tablets, Which? took into account the screen size and brightness of each one. First, testers divided the tablets into two categories: those with screen sizes of 9.4-inches and larger and those with screen sizes of 7.9-inches and smaller. Then the company used a light meter to set the screen brightness of each tablet to 200 nits. For its tests, Which? measured the battery life of the tablets while using WiFi and 3G connections (if applicable) for web browsing and while watching videos. Out of the seven tablets tested in the 10-inch category for WiFi browsing, the iPad with Retina display handily beat out the rest of the competition. It tallied up a total of 811 minutes of WiFi browsing (that's 13.5 hours). The iPad 2 came in a distant second place at 590 minutes (9.8 hours). By comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 came in at 532 minutes (8.8 hours) and the Microsoft Surface RT came in at 501 minutes (8.3 hours). The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime came in at the bottom with a mere 335 minutes (5.5 hours). Of the five tablets tested in the 7-inch category the iPad mini was the big winner -- and by a wide margin. It came in at 783 minutes (13 hours) while the runner up, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, came in at 591 minutes (9.8 hours). The Nexus 7 scored third at 550 minutes (9.1 hours) while the Amazon Kindle Fire came in at 437 minutes (7.2 hours) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 came in last at 425 minutes (seven hours).
Nexus 7 dock hits Japanese ASUS shop with December launch window, ¥3,580 sticker price
Sick of propping your Nexus 7 up with books, backpacks and terrifying spider-stands? ASUS has something for you -- an official charging cradle. This wedge shaped slab dock was leaked in an accessory presentation back in July, flaunting a Micro USB connector and 3.5mm audio jack -- now it's back, flaunting a ¥3,580 ($42) sticker price on the Japanese ASUS shop. There's no word yet on international availability or official US prices, but the product page pegs the cradle for an early December ship date.
Comparing the iPad mini, Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7 displays
Now that the iPad mini has hit the market, choices for consumers have become a bit more complex. After all, the iPad mini (US$329), the Kindle Fire HD ($199) and Google Nexus 7 ($199) are all small tablets that are targeting the same market, each with its own app ecosystem (Apple App Store for the iPad mini, Kindle Appstore for Kindle Fire HD, Google Play for the Nexus) and fan base. One real difference to consumers is where the eye meets the app -- the display. DisplayMate Technologies Corp. did a "Display Technology Shootout" for Gizmodo comparing the displays on the three tiny tablets, and the results were ... interesting. The full results of the shootout are here for your viewing pleasure, but TUAW will provide you with a couple of highlights. First, the iPad mini placed third in the comparison behind its competitors, but still managed a "B" in terms of "overall display grade." Next, the iPad mini received a "poor" score for reflectance (the amount of light reflected from a pencil beam of light). Finally, the iPad mini has the shortest battery life of the three devices tested, although at 6.1 hours it's still rated as good. An informal tally of personal results from a weekend of iPad mini usage compiled from tweets seems to show that most owners are quite happy with the display. A number of those tweeting said that the light weight more than compensates for the non-Retina display. What's your take on the iPad mini display?
Engadget's tablet buyer's guide: fall 2012 edition
Three months is a long time in tablet-land, it seems. Since we last brought you a buyer's guide, a few things have changed. In fact, this is probably the biggest shake-up yet, with not only the long-rumored iPad mini making an appearance, but also new offerings from two other big guns -- Microsoft and Google. Oh, and that means there's a whole new species of device altogether. With Windows RT finally shipping, there's new hardware to go with it, and we expect to see more popping up on the list in the months to come. This is all good news for you prospective tablet owners, as more competition can only mean more choice. With more options, though, comes more confusion. That's where we come in, armed with a few notable picks. Read on to find out what made the cut this season.
The Engadget Interview: ARM's Lead Mobile Strategist James Bruce (video)
Last week we got the chance to spend a few minutes with James Bruce, ARM's Lead Mobile Strategist, to chat about the company's past, present and future. We discussed the recent Cortex A50 announcement and ARM's broad history -- including key products like the Nokia 6110 and how the company's chip designs have "changed how people compute and lead their digital life" over the past five years. We also talked about the scalability and flexibility of the ARM architecture, from embedded systems to smartphones and tablets to servers. So what's in the pockets of one of the most important people in the chip world? A Nexus 7 and a global Galaxy S III, it turns out. Go ahead and watch the full interview above.
Hexxeh ports Chromium OS to the Nexus 7 simply because he can (video)
Coder extraordinaire Hexxeh earned much of his reputation from porting Chromium OS to just about everything, some of his targets more audacious than others. It's about time he come full circle and port a Google platform to another Google platform, and he just recently did that with a very early Chromium OS conversion for the normally Android-based Nexus 7. Details are scarce other than that WiFi and touch input are working, although that's really all that's needed for something so web-centric, isn't it? We'll cut Hexxeh some slack when he says he's in no rush to produce a more easily installed build for Jane and Joe Modder -- when he mentions spending hours hacking the OS into the tablet just for fun, he probably deserves some leeway. [Thanks, yo2boy]
EA bringing 13 new games to Google Nexus devices
Alongside the announcement of Google's new Nexus 10 tablet and its Nexus 4 smartphone, EA has revealed plans to release several new games compatible with the Nexus line (including the Nexus 7). 13 games are planned, though EA has only announced Need for Speed: Most Wanted, The Sims FreePlay, World Series of Poker and Theme Park and Tetris Free so far. The new games should be available in time for the Nexus 10 and Nexus 4 launches on November 13.Obviously, it's nice to know there will be some more entertainment options for new Nexus owners. Not that they'll need it once they have immediate, portable access to all the funny cat videos they could ever want.
Asustek Q3 net profits said to be up 43 percent to $230 million thanks to Nexus 7, convertibles
Asustek has just painted a pretty Q3 financial picture, showing a 43 percent jump in net profits -- $230 million compared to $160 million last year, according to the WSJ. Gross revenue also climbed 9 percent to around $3.8 billion, which the company attributes to the popularity of its Google-partnered Nexus 7 tablet, along with convertibles like the Transformer Prime TF201 and a healthy notebook lineup. Asus boosted PC shipments nearly 12 percent according to the last round of Gartner surveys, helping it stay the fifth largest player in that market. The company sees good things ahead for Q4 too, expecting double digit gains in PC and tablet shipments due to its burgeoning Windows 8 lineup finally hitting the market. That'll depend, of course, on how well users gravitate toward the fledgling OS.
Editorial: Apple vs. everyone
It's a big storm, moving slowly. A gigantic span of ferocious swirl meets a front of chilly resistance. The effect of that collision is amplified by powerful tidal influence. Upheavals and surges swamp the landscape. Many people are displaced; countless others stay with the familiar. Also, in the real world, some nasty weather is happening. But I'm talking about the tech industry of the last five business days, which has aligned and concentrated its forces in a crystal-clear demonstration, if one were needed, that mobile is where the bets are placed and futures will be won and lost. Apple is at the eye of the storm, where its devoted legions expect it, but no longer as a pioneer. Defending its territory rather than breaking new ground, the post-Jobs company did something its late and fabled leader scorned, split hairs to justify it, engaged in implicit combat with four competitors, ticked off some of its best customers and was squeezed by inexorable pressure of a quickly evolving industry.
Google's refreshed Nexus 7 on sale now, Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 sign-up pages go live
Remember the 8GB Nexus 7? So long, old friend. The 16GB Nexus 7 has now taken center stage in Google's Play Store, with $199 netting you a slate that's currently boasting a "now shipping" status. Those willing to fork out $249 can get a 32GB model (also listed as "In Stock"), while $299 provides access to a GSM-enabled 32GB model that'll hop onto cellular networks -- unfortunately, that one's listed as "coming soon." Those hoping to keep themselves informed about the incoming Nexus 4 smartphone and Nexus 10 tablet can visit the source link in order to register for email updates, with shipments expected to begin in many nations on November 13th.
