tablets
Latest
Tegatech Tega v2 review
We haven't seen many -- okay, any -- Windows 7 slates from major manufactures (i.e. HP, Lenovo, ASUS) like Steve Ballmer promised back in July, but one thing is for certain, smaller companies aren't just sitting around waiting for the other shoe, er slates to drop. We've already gotten our hands on products from the likes of CTL and Netbook Navigator, but Australian-based Tegatech also wants a piece of the large touchscreen pie with its 10.1-inch Tega v2. Like the others, the $799 Tega v2 is pretty much a netbook that's lost its keyboard -- it's got an Intel Atom N455 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 32GB SSD that boots Windows 7 Home Premium -- but the 0.5-inch / 1.9-pound slate sets itself apart by being one of the thinnest and lightest out there. Oh, and did we mention that it dual boots Android? So, is the Tega v2 the Win 7 tablet you've been waiting for -- assuming you have in fact been waiting for one? Hit that read more button to find out in our full review! %Gallery-105419%
Lenovo says no Android tablet in US until Honeycomb; no Windows 7 tablet, period
If you happen to be enthusiastic about Lenovo, tablets, and your American residency, look away now. Lenovo still plans to ship the Android-based LePad in China some time soonish, but its US roadmap can pretty much be summed up as "wait and see." The company's COO Rory Read has been cited as saying there are no plans to release a slate for the US market until at least Android's Honeycomb version comes out, agreeing with Google on the point that Froyo is not "the right base to have a fully functioning pad." Lest you think Windows 7 will fill the void until whenever in 2011 that Android tablet does arrive, Lenovo's director of new technology, Howard Locker, sets you straight: "Windows 7 is based on the same paradigm as 1985 -- it's really an interface that's optimized for a mouse and keyboard," and the Thinking machine team doesn't intend to build a slate around it. And if you were thinking of maybe picking up a LePhone as a consolation prize, tough luck, that won't be arriving in the US for at least another two years (which in smartphone terms is basically "never"), although it's good to know that it's now got 13 percent of the smartphone market in China. You know, in case you own stock in LeCompany.
AMD sees a tablet chip in its future, and an end to the core-count wars
AMD told us that it wasn't terribly interested in the iPad market, and would wait and see if touchscreen slates took off, but CEO Dirk Meyer changed the company's tone on tablets slightly after reporting a $118 million net loss (on $1.62 billion in revenue) in a Q3 2010 earnings call this afternoon. First revealing his belief that tablets will indeed cannibalize the notebook and netbook markets, he later told investors that he actually expects AMD's netbook parts to start appearing in OEM slates in the next couple of years, and that AMD itself would "show up with a differentiated offering with great graphics and video technology" when the market becomes large enough to justify an R&D investment. Elsewhere, AMD CTO of servers Donald Newell prognosticated that the number of individual CPUs on a chip won't go up forever: "There will come an end to the core-count wars," he told IDG News. Just as the megahertz race was eventually defeated by thermal restrictions, so too will the number of cores on a chip cease to increase. " I won't put an exact date on it, but I don't myself expect to see 128 cores on a full-sized server die by the end of this decade," he said. So much for our Crysis-squashing terascale superchip dreams, we suppose.
Verizon, Disney deal means ESPN on tablets, ESPN 3D and Goal Line channel for FiOS
Verizon FiOS subscribers can expect a few new channels in the lineup now that it's reached an agreement with Disney for ESPN content across a variety of channels and even devices. While ESPN 3D isn't scheduled for launch until 2011 (maybe in time for the BCS National Championship game, but too late to catch LeBron, Dwyane, Chris and those other guys take on the Knicks) ESPN Goal Line will go live on the 9th for Extreme HD and Ultimate HD package subscribers (except for D.C. and Harrisburg, PA) giving live look ins at all the college football games on Saturday. Playing further into Verizon's tablet plans, the agreement also means customers can watch ESPN live channels directly on PCs or other authenticated devices, mirroring an earlier agreement between ESPN and Time Warner. Beyond that there's a new Disney Junior channel on the way in 2010 plus Disney XD and ABC Family content coming to V Cast but we pretty much tuned out once we got past the sports part. Check the entire press release out after the break.
Augen Android tablet bonanza: Espresso Doppio dual boots Ubuntu, Firma packs magical pen powers
Whoa there Augen, you may want to slow down on the artificial sweeteners. Stealing a page from Archos, the company that brought us that unforgettable $150 Kmart tablet is prepping six (yes, half a dozen!) Android 2.2 "Espresso" / "Latte" tablets to launch before the end of the year, and while some are your run-of-the-mill pads at this point, the Espresso Doppio and the Espresso Firma are all sorts of mind blowing. The $599.99 10.2-inch Doppio has a 1024x768-resolution capacitive touchscreen, an accelerometer, 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 CPU, and a 3 megapixel front facing cam, but most interestingly, it'll dual boot Android and some version of Ubuntu. But it gets even zanier -- it comes with a dock that has a backlit keyboard, multitouch trackpad, and a 160GB hard drive. And apparently both components contain separate 6000mAh batteries, which should bring the runtime up to 15 hours. Bold, indeed. The Firma, on the other hand, is priced at $349.99, but seems like a science project at this point. According to the company, it will come with a "magical wand" or ink pen that'll be able to write on regular paper, but instantly bring that handwriting to the 7-inch resistive tablet. It's evidently using RF technology with some sort of proprietary software. To say we're intrigued would be an understatement, but, of course, with the company's history we'd say we're somewhat skeptical. Obviously, Augen's got more affordable and realistic options scattered throughout the lines. There's the $199 7-inch resistive touch Latte, which in all honesty doesn't sound all that different from the original Gentouch 78, though there is an included stylus and 2GB of storage. However, the $249.99 Latte Grande steps it up with an 800MHz CPU, 7-inch capacitive touchscreen, accelerometer and an ambient light sensor. The rest of the Espresso line is a lot stronger (pun sadly intended!) -- each have 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 / A9 processors, capacitive screens and accelerometers. The entry level $349.99 7-inch Espresso will have a Cortex A9 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 3 megapixel front facing camera, while the $429.99 10.2-inch Espresso Dolce gets a larger 1024x768-resolution screen, but drops down to an A8 CPU. We understand that it's a lot to digest, but there's always the press release and renders below to help you make more sense of this highly caffeinated company.%Gallery-104532%
Microsoft creating its own software layer for Windows 7 tablets? Boy, we hope so
It's no secret that Microsoft has a slight tablet, err Slate PC problem on its hands: Windows 7 certainly works on a "pad," but the user interface isn't meant for strictly finger input. The makeshift solution has been, of course, for its partners to create software skins of their own -- see HP TouchSmart UI, the ExoPC "Connect Four" skin, etc. -- but according to Microsoft know-it-all Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet, the guys in Redmond may just be working on a layer of their own. Now, Foley says these are just recurring rumors at this point, but they happen to line up with similar whispers we've heard that Microsoft might develop its own optional "shell." Foley actually believes that it could be based on Windows Media Center, and points to an article by UK blogger Mark Wilson in which Ballmer is quoted saying, "what you'll see over the course of the next year is us doing more and more work with our hardware partners creating hardware-software optimisations with Windows 7 and with Windows 7 Media Center [...]." We don't need to tell you, Mr. Ballmer, that we think that sounds like a glorious idea, and it'll certainly buy you time until Windows 8 is ready in 2012. Speaking of which, he also confirmed that it won't be releasing another version of Windows in the interim as some may have suspected. We've similarly heard that Microsoft is heavily optimizing the new OS for slates, and is already prepping its partners with information on that front. Obviously all of this should be taken with a grain of salt at this point, but we sure are happy to hear that Microsoft's starting to understand how important those UI layers are to consumer adoption and that the wheels may be in motion on finger-friendly interface improvements. Of course, for now we'll be sitting here twiddling our thumbs until next week's October 11 event to see if any elusive Microsoft slate announcements do in fact decide to make an appearance.
No Comment: Microsoft looking at introducing its own tablet
CEO Steve Ballmer is targeting this Christmas season to deliver Microsoft's Windows-based tablet OS into consumer hands. Website Electronista suggests that the HP Slate 500 will provide the most likely platform for the new system. To that we say: Zune. No wait, ... we say: "No Comment."
Microsoft's October 11 event could involve slate device announcements, unicorn sightings
Thought you knew all there was to know about Microsoft's October 11 event already? Maybe you do, but it's always good to pepper some good old fashioned rumors atop well established facts for that extra bit of spice. Neowin cites insider sources in reporting that Microsoft intends to use its Windows Phone 7 launch as a platform for revealing its plans for the tablet realm as well. Specifically, Steve Ballmer and crew are expected to "announce Slate devices which will be available for the crucial holiday season." We can't think of anything that would make the Redmond CEO happier, but let's not go building our hopes up too high. Just one revolution from Microsoft will be enough for us. [Thanks, George]
Marvell shows OLPC some serious love with a $5.6 million grant for XO-3 tablet
Marvell and One Laptop Per Child's close partnership has been no secret, but according to Xconomy, Marvell's about to put a whole lot more green into the XO. The semiconductor company is forking over $5.6 million to fund the creation of the next gen XO-3 tablet, and according to OLPC founder and former Engadget Show guest Nicholas Negroponte, it's still slated for a 2012 release. Obviously, the tablet will be based on Marvell's SoC -- though, there's no telling which version of Armada will be up for grabs by then. Additionally, Marvell and OLPC will be showing another tablet at CES, but this one is apparently for children of the developed world and won't carry OLPC's brand. Our guess is that it'll be something closer to the Android-running Moby than to the plastic, bendable, Pixel Qi-equipped XO-3. It's all sounding rather confusing to us, but hey, at least the kids won't have a shortage of tablets to choose from.
Netbook Navigator Nav 9 Slate PC review
It's been over nine months since Steve Ballmer whipped out the HP Slate at CES and divulged that there'd be Windows 7 "Slate PCs" hitting the market. It sure was a memorable keynote, but since that fateful day all we've got to show for actual Win 7 tablets are a slew of leaked videos of HP's elusive device, information / trade show sightings of lots of similar products, and the less than stellar Archos 9. Until now that is. A small company, interestingly and rather ironically called Netbook Navigator, has managed to get its act together slightly ahead of the rest with its Nav 9 Slate PC. Starting at $599, the 8.9-inch resistive-touch Windows 7 Home Premium tablet is powered by an Intel Atom N280 processor and can be configured with up to 2GB of RAM and 32GB of flash storage. Yep, it sounds a heck of a lot like your first generation netbook with its keyboard cut off... and, well, that turns out to be just one of the Nav 9's major problems. You'll want to see what we mean in our full review after the break. %Gallery-103660%
HP's Bradley: HP isn't trying to be Apple, will sell 15 million webOS printers next year
It's no secret that HP's Todd Bradley is one of the leading candidates to succeed ousted CEO Mark Hurd, and it doesn't look like he was doing much to dissuade that notion at the now happening TechCrunch Disrupt conference. In addition to addressing a question about whether it's ethically wrong to charge so much for ink by responding "ask me next year, if I take the [CEO] position," Bradley also sounded more than a little like a CEO throughout, and made a fair bit of news in the process. That includes a confirmation that HP won't be licensing webOS to other companies, and the attention-grabber of a statement that "emulating Apple is not part of our strategy." As if that wasn't enough, Bradley also made the rather bold promise that HP will sell 15 million webOS-based printers next year alone, and he predicted that tablets will become a $40 billion market within the next few years -- a market that HP plans to enter in a "big way." Head on past the break for a video of the interview.
Marvell unveils 1.5GHz triple-core application processor, all current smartphones look on in envy
Marvell's decided to whip out the "game changer" tag for its latest slice of silicon, but when you read the spec sheet that accompanies it, you might be willing to forgive it. Just this once. The new Armada 628 application processor delivers three cores, two of which crank along at 1.5GHz, and enough graphical prowess to churn 200 million triangles a second. You might remember we were once impressed by the Hummingbird's 90 million -- yeah, not so much anymore. The 628 is capable of 1080p 3D video and graphics (meaning it can sustain two simultaneous 1080p streams, one for each eye) and pledges to have an "ultra" low power profile: more than 10 hours of 1080p video or 140 hours of music playback are on offer. If that's not enough, it's also the first mobile SOC to include USB 3.0 support, adding yet another speed crown to its bulging resume. Now if it can also be SuperSpeedy in coming to market, that'd be just swell.
Dell Inspiron Duo hybrid netbook / tablet stars in another film
We'll freely admit how smitten we are with Dell's concept, the Inspiron Duo. While it's supposedly coming to retail by the end of the year, it's so special that every time we spy new photos or video footage of it, we watch joyfully. Of course, Intel doesn't need to watch from afar, as demonstrated in a new video -- they simply asked Dell's Inspiron Product Marketer, Dave Zavelson to show it off on film. The Duo, in case you've been hiding under a rock since before IDF, is a 10-inch netbook with a swivel screen which enables you to use it as a sort of tablet... you know, those things that everybody's cranking out these days. It also boasts a dual-core Atom N550 CPU and Windows 7 Home Premium. Regardless, we still haven't heard any pricing or definite availability info yet, but the video is below.
Ocosmos unveils crazy OCS-9 tablet with Oak Trail CPU, stylus stand and removable keyboard (update: close up pics!)
Before IDF 2010, you'd likely never heard of a South Korean electronics company called Ocosmos. Now, their crazy concepts are bursting out of the woodwork. This OCS-9 tablet above not only boasts an Oak Trail processor and 9-inch, 1024 x 768 capacitive touchscreen, but also a removable stylus that slots into a hole into the back to stand the tablet up in either portrait or landscape modes and -- get this -- a slide-out, removable touchscreen QWERTY keypad with two OMOS Keys on either side. There's a 3 megapixel webcam on the front and Windows 7 will reportedly run inside, and the whole thing slots into a TV dock with a host of video ports to let you watch video when sitting down. No word on battery life or performance quite yet, as the tablet's most definitely an early prototype, but the company's shooting for a working version by CES and a release in Q2 2011, for a $500 estimated price. Here's hoping these dreams come true, because as far as concepts go, we likey. Update: Now with close-up pics of that removable keypad, stylus stand and more, plus a few shots of another potential look for the OCS-1. These folks never stop prototyping! By the by, we're told the OCS-9 tablet has pretty much the same hardware inside, including GMA 600 graphics and 802.11 b/g WiFi. %Gallery-102627%%Gallery-102631%
CTL 2goPad SL10 Windows 7 tablet available to pre-order for $499
That's right, folks: you've been looking around, dying for a Windows 7 slate to throw down your money on... so here you go. The CTL 2goPad SL10 (which we first spotted at Computex) features a capacitive touchscreen, an Intel Atom N450 CPU, a 250GB hard drive, and 2GB of RAM. Of course the tablet also fully supports both HTML 5 and Flash, and has a 1.3 megapixel webcam to boot. The 2goPad SL10 is available to pre-order now at $499, and orders are expected to begin shipping on October 15th.
Samsung Galaxy Tab loses voice capabilities in the US
Bad news, folks: not only is the Sprint Samsung Galaxy Tab a 3G-only device, but Samsung just confirmed to us that telephony was cut out of the Tab for the US market. That means you won't be able to pair up a Bluetooth headset and use the Tab as a really large phone like you can on the Euro model. That's super lame -- telephony features might have been the only way the inevitable two-year carrier contract would have been justifiable. Suffice to say, we're even more curious to hear about official pricing now, but it doesn't look like we'll be getting it until Samsung and its carrier partners are good and ready. We'll let you know.
Intel testing context-aware API for smartphones and tablet PCs, teams with Fodor on dynamic travel app
Intel CTO Justin Rattner just described a future where your devices know more about you -- not just "where you are," but "where you're going," to use his words. Intel's working on a context-aware API that uses not only physical smartphone and tablet sensors (like accelerometers and GPS) but also "soft sensors" including social networks and personal preferences to infer what you're doing and what you like, and deliver these inferences to a "context engine" that can cater to your tastes. It's presently being tested in an app by travel guide company Fodors on a Compal MID that dynamically delivers restaurant and tourism suggestions based on these factors, and also in a social cloud service (demoed on a prototype tablet) that can show you what your friends are up to (using game-like avatars!) on the go. Rattner told us that the API itself is not quite like the typical experiments out of Intel Labs -- while there aren't presently plans to make the API publicly available, he said the context engine was made to commercial software standards specifically so it could become a real product should the technology pan out. In other words, Intel just might be agreeing to do all the heavy lifting for a new generation of apps. How sweet. %Gallery-102358% %Gallery-102357%
Blio for PC will be available on September 28, iOS and Android apps soon after
The fact that Blio was preloaded on our Toshiba Libretto W105 was a good hint that the company was getting ready to release its software to the digital reading masses, and sure enough in just a few weeks that's exactly what's going to happen. The full-color program, which was designed to mimic the look of a book with fancy 3D page turns, will be available for download starting on September 28 directly from Blio's website. Sure, Blio's no Amazon or Barnes & Noble, but they're promising a million free titles at launch and they've partnered with Baker & Taylor to provide another 10,000. We're also intrigued by the software's advanced text-to-speech capabilities -- hey, don't forget Ray Kurzweil is the founder! Not too far after the launch of the PC software, Blio will be releasing Android, iPhone and iPad apps. It's also promising that there will be numerous partnerships with device (i.e. tablet, laptop) manufacturers, retailers, and carriers, so it looks like we'll be hearing quite a bit about the company in the weeks to come. We'll hit you back with our impressions of the apps sometime soon, but in the meantime you can peruse the screenshots and press release after the break. %Gallery-102197% %Gallery-102324%
Neofonie and 4tiitoo WeTab hands-on (update)
We'll be honest: the first time we heard a company named Neofonie was making a tablet, we figured someone was up to no good... but having just experienced the 11.6-inch MeeGo machine for ourselves at IDF 2010, however, we think it's safe to say we were dead wrong. The WeTab may not have pinch-to-zoom (yet) but we never missed it once while browsing webpages and tiled apps on the large capacitive screen, using one of the most intuitive, practical touchscreen interfaces we've ever had the pleasure to try. Get a brief glimpse at the device in our gallery below, and find more after the break. Update: Though the internet at large has reported for ages now that the tablet's made by Neofonie, that's not quite correct. As it turns out, a company named 4tiitoo is responsible for the fancy UI, and the hardware itself (like the ExoPC) are actually made by Pegatron. Update 2: Extended impressions (and video!) after the break. %Gallery-102086%
Velocity Micro Cruz Reader hits stores, Cruz Tablet hitting in October along with more in January
Like everyone else, Velocity Micro's about to cannonball into the tablet pool with the hope of making a big splash. Its first product, the $199 Cruz Reader is already boxed up and arriving on store shelves this week. The seven-inch tablet / e-reader runs Android 2.0 and comes preloaded with Borders' e-book application. We got a chance to check out the device this morning, and while we're impressed with the solid build and rubbery back, it's fairly heavy at a pound and the glossy screen results in less-than-excellent viewing angles. Still, it shows a lot more promise than the Pandigital Novel and Augen GenTouch 78 -- we'll never like resistive screens on this sort of device, but we were able to turn pages by tapping as well as scroll relatively well by dragging a nail down the screen. There's no access to the Android Market, but Velocity has its own Cruz Market and preloads some apps like Twidroid. But the tablet buck doesn't stop there for Velocity Micro. The Cruz Tablet that we've been hearing about since April will hit a "major electronics retailer" in October for $299. The Tablet we saw today wasn't working, but we nabbed some shots of the hardware below. This one will have a capacitive screen; however, the company isn't planning on rolling it out with Android 2.0 -- it feels the 600MHz processor isn't quite powerful enough to handle that Froyo and Flash goodness. Not to worry: its future eight- and 10-inch capacitive tablets, which will be announced at CES, are going to be powered by an NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU and run Android 3.0. Told you it's aiming for a big splash! Hit the break for a short hands-on video of the Cruz Reader and stay tuned for a full review of that one soon. %Gallery-102016%
