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Review: Advantech UTC-515 ubiquitous touch terminal
Businesses the world over are seeking new and innovative ways to automate and improve service, and the application potential for smart touch terminals seems endless. RuggedPCReview.com took a detailed look at the Advantech UTC-515 15.6-inch Intel Atom-D510/525 based "ubiquitous touch computer" that runs Windows Embedded Standard. It's an elegant, very solid and very expandable design that is also small enough (also looks good enough) to fit anywhere. [See review of the Advantech UTC-515 touch terminal] -- Posted Thursday, January 26, 2012 by chb

Apple posts record results
Apple's Q4 2011 financials may well go down in history. Apple's stock is at US$450 (as of January 25, 2012), Apple's market value is US$420 billion, highest in the world. Q4 2011 revenue was at US$46.3 billion, with a record profit of US$13.06 billion. Apple sold 37 million iPhones, up 128% from a year ago. Apple also sold 15.4 million iPads, up 111%, and Mac sales also rose 26% to 5.2 million units. On top, Apple has no debts and almost US$98 billion in cash. -- Posted Wednesday, January 25, 2012 by chb

Full review: Winmate G570Z 5.7-inch rugged handheld device
The Winmate G570Z may look like a large PDA, but it's actually a small Windows tablet. With a very bright 5.7-inch resistive touch screen and running embedded Windows XP on an Intel Atom Z510 processor, the 8 x 4.7 inch G570 weighs around two pounds, considerably less than larger rugged tablets. The device is highly configurable (1D/2D scanner, RFID, 3.5G WWAN), runs a full shift on dual batteries, and with a 4-foot drop spec and IP65 sealing can be deployed almost anywhere. [See review of the Winmate G570Z rugged tablet] -- Posted Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by chb

NDP DisplaySearch: Wide viewing angle LCDs on the move
We've been preaching the virtues of wide viewing angle displays for many years and marveled at the fantastic viewing experiences on Hydis and other IPS (in-plane switching) and FFS (fringe-field switching) displays (HP used Hydis displays already in their 2003/2004 TC1100 Tablet PC). Well, according to NDP DisplaySearch, with the increasing use of tablet PCs and smart phones to view and share video, wide viewing angle performance is finally becoming a requirement in TFT LCDs. In our opinion, wide viewing angle displays are so much better as to make them virtually mandatory on most mobile computing devices. [See NDP DisplaySearch release on wide viewing angle LCD technologies] -- Posted Thursday, January 19, 2012 by chb

Fujitsu releases advanced POS touch terminal
While we haven't heard much from Fujitsu in terms of mobile tablets as of late, the company is very active in the point-of-sale area where its TeamPoS all-in-one touch terminals represent the state of the art. The latest addition is the TeamPoS 7000, which Brian Yates, Director of Retail Product Marketing at Fujitsu America, described as follows: "The TeamPoS 7000 AIO terminal is a key building block for creating the retailing environment of the future. This vision starts with multiple in-store touch-points sitting atop an open architecture with remote system management. We then integrate CRM, multimedia and social media, and leverage cloud integration and mobile commerce solutions to provide customers with a holistic and interactive retail experience that will increase loyalty and drive powerful new marketing programs." [See Fujitsu press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 17, 2012 by chb

Review: Acer Iconia Tab A500
Contributing editor Dan Rasmus felt it was a little strange to be writing a review of a shipping tablet just as CES 2012 is over. But unlike much of the gear touted in blogs, endless television coverage and various radio shows, the Acer Iconia Tab A500 is shipping, and at a reasonable price. [See Dan Rasmus' review of the Acer Iconia Tab A500] -- Posted Friday, January 13, 2012 by chb

Staples media tablet stats
Staples, from a variety of statistical sources, compiled the following tablet statistics: The average tablet user spends 90 minutes per day on their tablet. 88% use their tablet on the road. 54% of tablet users are 34 or older. The most common tablet display size is 10 inches. The average tablet user spends US$34 on apps. 80% of tablet users say tablets have improved their work/life balance. [See Staples tablet stats summary] -- Posted Thursday, January 12, 2012 by chb

Synaptics announces single ASIC large touchscreen ClearPad solution for tablets
Synaptics announced the latest addition to its single ASIC ClearPad Series 7 touchscreen family, the single ASIC ClearPad 7300 solution. Supporting up to 12-inch touchscreens with tracking of 10 or more fingers, the ClearPad 7300 is designed for the tablet market. [See ClearPad Series 7 Product Brief (PDF)] -- Posted Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by chb

RIM previews BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 at CES
RIM is previewing the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 at CES in Las Vegas. The software upgrade, which will be available for free download to all BlackBerry Playbook users in February, includes a large number of enhancements to make the OS more integrated and connected. [See RIM press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 10, 2012 by chb

Atmel announces next-gen maXTouch S Series
Touch technology specialist Atmel Corporation announced the availability of its new maXTouch S Series family of touchscreen controllers, the next gen of their unlimited touch plus stylus technology with systems supporting touch screens from 3.5 inches all the way to 17 inches. The S Series facilitates thinner and lighter devices without sacrificing responsiveness, touch fidelity or battery life. [See maXTouch S Series YouTube video and white paper] -- Posted Monday, January 9, 2012 by chb

TI to demo Windows 8 on OMAP 4 platform at C ES
Texas Instruments will be showing an OMAP4470 processor-based tablet running on a pre-release version of Windows 8 at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, demonstrating how the latest OMAP 4 platform supports Microsoft's upcoming next version of its operating system. [See TI press release] -- Posted Monday, January 9, 2012 by chb

Growing influence of tablets
According to NPD DisplaySearch, the tablet category expanded its role in the mobile PC market, with shipments of 72.7 million units, accounting for 25.5% of mobile PC shipments in 2011. By 2017, notebook PC shipments are forecast to reach 432 million units, and tablet shipments are projected to reach 383.3 million units. DisplaySearch also projects that of the 432 million notebooks, ultrabooks, with their sleek design and convenience like instant-on and long battery life, will contribute about 40%. -- Posted Thursday, January 5, 2012 by chb

Neonode announces single chip optical touch controller
Neonode is the company that offered touch and swipe-controlled smartphones years before Apple, but simply was ahead of its time (see our review of the Neonode N2) and the phones are long gone. Neonode, however, marched on as a provider and licensor of its innovative optical touch technology that uses an infrared grid to detect the position of the finger or pen. Now they announced what they claim is the world's first ultra-low power single-chip optical touch controller, developed in conjunction with Texas Instruments. Suitable for handheld and small to midsize devices, Neonode's touch technology combines elements of resistive and capacitive digitizers, and the new single chip solution makes for a lower chip count and lower cost. The technology has some issues, but is attractive and usable enough to score a number of high-profile licensees. -- Posted Wednesday, January 4, 2012 by chb

Rugged tablets used by motorcycle riders in Taiwan
There are a lot of motor scooters in Taiwan. In fact, every second citizen has one. However, due to the nature of Taiwanese traffic laws, there are hardly any larger bikes. Well, the laws have changed now and big bikes are suddenly quite popular. Given Taiwan's expertise in mobile electronics, it's not surprising to see rugged mobile computers integrated into big bikes, where they serve as big-screen GPS, information centers, and for weather forecasts, traffic reports, and more. The image shows a Samwell RUGGEDBOOK SR820 tabled mounted on a Honda. The Intel Atom-powered, 2.9 pound SR820 with its magnesium alloy chassis and housing and a 8.9-inch WSVGA touch display (see our review) seems well suited for the task. [See Rugged tablets used by motorcycle riders in Taiwan] -- Posted Monday, January 2, 2012 by chb

Tablet PC redux at Acer?
Mobile computing historians will recall that Acer was one of the early adopters of the Tablet PC back in 2001/2002 when Bill Gates/Microsoft made another push to establish the platform. The Acer TM100 (see our 2002 report), in fact, almost singlehandedly established the convertible notebook concept that remains quite popular in vertical markets (Panasonic, Getac, Twinhead, etc. all offer them) and was the early Tablet PC leader, but Acer never seemed to fully mature the concept, and quickly dropped it. Now history seems to repeat itself with Acer on another rollercoaster ride in media tablets with aggressive claims and predictions of leadership alternating with dismissals of the tablet market. The latest news, as reported by the Taiwan Economic News, now is that Acer is likely to withdraw from the tablet market entirely. [See article] -- Posted Wednesday, December 28, 2011 by chb

iPad continues to dominate in Q3 of 2011
It's almost two years after the iPad's introduction, and Apple's blockbuster tablet continues to rule. According to IDC, Apple sold 11.1 million iPads in Q3 of 2011 for a 61% market share. That's compared to a combined total of just six million for all Android tablets combined, for a 32.4% share, down from 33.2% in Q3 of 2010. Android, though, seems poised to benefit from the new generation of hybrid tablet/book readers such as the Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble Nook that may boost Android market share over 40%. -- Posted Tuesday, December 27, 2011 by chb

Winmate unveils ruggedized, Intel Atom/Windows Embedded Standard 7 powered 9.7-inch tablet with projected capactive touch
Winmate announced the attractively styled R09ID9M-RTL1, also known as the Winmate 9.7-inch Compact Rugged Tablet PC. Running Windows Embedded Standard 7 on an 1.6GHz Intel Atom N2600, the semi-rugged device brings the elegance and ease of use of projected capacitive touch to embedded systems custom applications. There's also USB and LAN/HDMI connectivity, WiFi, Bluetooth, optional 3.5G WWAN, and despite the extra ruggedness, the tablet still only weighs two pounds. [See description and specs of the Winmate 9.7-inch Compact Rugged Tablet PC] -- Posted Sunday, December 25, 2011 by chb

Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet
The original IBM ThinkPad of the early 1990s was a tablet and ran PenPoint, so it's only fitting that the new Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet should explore Android for business. Dan Rasmus analyzes the new Lenovo Tablet and finds much to like (superior keyboard and case), but it comes at the cost of extra weight. And Android still seeks to find an identity, in business at least. [See Dan Rasmus' review of the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet] -- Posted Sunday, December 18, 2011 by chb

Tablet survey says connection speed is everything
European network solutions provider Brocade research suggests that while 85% of consumers in their survey use their smartphones or tablets to do their holiday shopping, almost 70% were only prepared to wait a maximum of 20 seconds for a web page to load before going to another retailer. And 13% said they'd only wait a maximum of five seconds for a retailer's web page to load before giving up and trying another site. [See Brocade press release] -- Posted Sunday, December 18, 2011 by chb

Getac UK announces rugged 7-inch Android tablet
Getac UK has announced a 7-inch fully rugged Android-based tablet computer. The Getac Z710 tablet is designed to withstand 5-foot drops, carries IP65 sealing (i.e, it's dust-proof and can handle water jets from all directions), can handle operating temperatures from -22 to 140° Fahrenheit, and passes numerous MIL-STD-810G tests. The Z710 runs Android 2.3, comes with 16GB of memory, has a microSD Card slot, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, USB, dual cameras (HD front, 5mp rear). Note that the new Getac tablet has not yet been announced in the US where John Lamb, Director of Marketing, Getac Inc. stated "We have numerous rugged notebooks, convertibles, handheld and tablet products in development and we are excited about the pipeline." [See Getac UK press release] -- Posted Thursday, December 1, 2011 by chb

HCI introduces Android-powered TVs for healthcare
HCI has released the next generation of their RoomMate TVs designed specifically for use in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The new connected TVs run the Android OS and use Android apps to entertain and educate patients, visitors, and staff. [See HCI Android TV platform] -- Posted Thursday, December 1, 2011 by chb

Jon Peddie Research sees big boost in stereo cameras in smartphones
Jon Peddie Research released a new study on mobile devices. Among the findings: 80% of smartphones will have stereo 3D cameras by 2015, not just for 3D viewing, but also for gesture based controls, advanced augmented reality applications, and visualization with depth. Peddie also forecasts shipment of over 750 million smartphones in 2016, as well as almost 300 million tablets. -- Posted Thursday, December 1, 2011 by chb

Apple's efficiency hurts chip vendors
Bloomberg reports that the iPad's low chip count (about 75% fewer than in a standard notebook) is hurting chipmakers, especially those specializing in memory chips. [See Bloomberg article] -- Posted Thursday, December 1, 2011 by chb

MobileIron 4.5 to offer comprehensive Android security platform
MobileIron announced global availability of MobileIron 4.5, which provides a deep set of security features to Android devices. With support for Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), MobileIron 4.5 includes encryption enforcement, secure SSL VPN, Exchange account configuration with certificates, a single MobileIron client for all Android devices, hardware lockdown and more. -- Posted Thursday, December 1, 2011 by chb

DisplaySearch forecasts much higher resolution in tablets
The NPD DisplaySearch shipment forecast indicates that the average resolution of tablet PC displays will grow to more than 200 pixels per inch (ppi) in Q2'12. Expect the launch of higher resolution displays in tablets, such as 10.1' 1920 × 1200 and 9.7' 2048 × 1536. -- Posted Tuesday, November 29, 2011 by chb

Burns & McDonnell implements mobility solutions for increased productivity and efficiency at the Point-of-Service
Motion Computing announced that Kansas City-based Burns & McDonnell, a full-service engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting services firm, is utilizing Motion F5v Tablet PCs for increased time savings, productivity and efficiency at the point of service. "When factoring in price, performance, features and usability, the F5 was the complete package," said Bryan Claxton, associate project manager, Burns & McDonnell. [See Motion case study on Burns & McDonnell deployment] -- Posted Tuesday, November 29, 2011 by chb

Grapevine Push-to-Talk now on Panasonic Toughbook U1 tablet
DecisionPoint Systems, which provides field-based workforce automation solutions, announced that its Grapevine cloud-based Push-to-Talk software is now certified on the Panasonic Toughbook U1 ultra mobile rugged PC. Grapevine Push-to-Talk is a worldwide communication system that is "always on," enabling instant voice communication over a range of mobile devices and PCs. -- Posted Tuesday, November 22, 2011 by chb

Autodesk ForceEffect app for iPad
Autodesk announced the Autodesk ForceEffect iPad app. ForceEffect allows engineers to quickly simulate design options during the conceptual phase by tapping objects to select, move, rotate and scale for immediate feedback on the performance of a design. ForceEffect, which is free, is one of Autodesk's growing collection of very inexpensive or even free tablet apps. Our take: ForceEffect is also an example of software companies using the large media tablet market to cleverly and inexpensively promote their brands with limited but very useful products that can lead to sales of their primary products. [See ForceEffect on iTunes] -- Posted Tuesday, November 22, 2011 by chb

Next gen of Microsoft Surface available for pre-order
Samsung and Microsoft announced that the next generation of Microsoft Surface is now available for pre-order through Samsung resellers via the Samsung Electronics website. Initially unveiled earlier in 2011, the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface features PixelSense technology that allows LCD panels to see without the use of cameras. The SUR40 looks like a 40-inch HDTV with four legs to make it a table and, in conjunction with Microsoft Surface, is intended to allow users to manipulate screen content with hands and gestures. -- Posted Saturday, November 19, 2011 by chb

iData Partners with Audatex to supply Motion Tablet PCs
iData Distribution, a distributor of automated ID and mobile technologies for the reseller market in southern Africa, reports it has supplied Audatex (the world's leading supplier of vehicle repair data) with 160 Motion Computing Tablet PCs. The Motion "Audapad" tablets are loaded with the Abuntex motor vehicle assessing software and deployed for accurate customer information gathering on the road, simplified results tracking and reporting, while eliminating duplicate efforts, such as re-keying data. [See iData press release] -- Posted Saturday, November 19, 2011 by chb

Qualcomm unveils next-gen Snapdragon S4 processors
Qualcomm announced the expansion of its Snapdragon S4 class of next-generation mobile processors (and enhancements to its Snapdragon S1 for entry-level smartphones). The new S4s, using Qualcomm's Krait CPU micro architecture, seek to lower design, engineering and inventory costs while bringing leading-edge 3G/4G connection speeds to next-gen mobile devices from smartphones to tablets. Qualcomm announced several new S4 chipsets, including the MSM8660A, MSM8260A, MSM8630, MSM8230, MSM8627, MSM8227, APQ8060A and APQ8030. These are in addition to the previously announced MSM8960, MSM8930 and APQ8064. [See Snapdragon S4 Processors white paper (PDF)] -- Posted Thursday, November 17, 2011 by chb

Fujitsu UK & Becrypt launch ultra-secure tablet for public sector
Fujitsu UK and Ireland reports that it has joined forces with data protection expert Becrypt to offer the first comprehensively secure tablet PC for UK government deployment. Becrypt's DISK Protect Baseline full disk encryption software has been developed and modified for use on the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550, delivering peace of mind for customers handling sensitive data. The Becrypt software will be CESG(1)-accredited to protect information and files saved locally up to Impact Level 3 (restricted access). [See Fujitsu press release] -- Posted Wednesday, November 16, 2011 by chb

Entertaining Intel site helps with picking the right Core processor
While Intel kind of designates its Core i3/i5/i7 processors as "good," "better," "best," it's notoriously difficult to make the case for one processor line over the other, unless there are very specific requirements (such as the use of some specific Intel technology that may be available in one line but not the others). Apparently Intel is aware of this confusion and predicament and has created a special multimedia website where users can figure out which Core processor is right for them. It's not very scientific, but quite entertaining. [See the visibly smart Intel Core processor family site] -- Posted Tuesday, November 15, 2011 by chb

Panasonic launches the Toughpad at Dallas Cowboy Stadium
With the stated goal of providing the first tablet designed for business, Panasonic introduced their new Toughpad in grand style at Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Available early 2012, the 10.1-inch Marvell/Android-based Toughpad A1 offers IP65 sealing, a 4-foot drop spec, dual cameras, 10 hour battery life, daylight viewability, and enterprise level security. A smaller 7-inch B1 version will be available later in 2012. [See full coverage of the Panasonic Toughpad launch event] -- Posted Friday, November 11, 2011 by chb

Xplore gets US$14+ million rugged tablet order
Xplore Technologies announced it has received purchase orders from one of the world’s largest utility companies for more than 4,000 of its newly launched iX104C5 rugged tablet PCs, representing over $14 million in aggregate sales orders. These C5 tablets are expected to be delivered during the first half of calendar 2012 and will be used to improve the productivity of the customer’s field service operations. [See Xplore press release] -- Posted Thursday, November 10, 2011 by chb

Amazon orders 5 million Kindle Fire tablets
According to Digitimes, Amazon has increased its Kindle Fire tablet order to a cool five million, based on strong pre-orders of the 7-inch US$199 device that comes with 8GB of storage, WiFi, measures 7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 inches, and weighs less than a pound. -- Posted Thursday, November 10, 2011 by chb

Windows 8: a bit of fear, uncertainty and doubt
In mid-September 2011, Microsoft showcased a preview of the next release of Windows at the BUILD developer conference. After reading up on it, I wrote down my impressions in the days following the preview, but held off putting it in the RuggedPCReview blog until I had a bit more time to let it sink in and contemplate the likely impact on rugged mobile computing manufacturers and users. My thinking hasn't changed, so below is pretty much what were my first impressions about Windows 8 and what it will mean for mobile computing... [Read more] -- Posted Thursday, November 10, 2011 by chb

Analysis: Fujitsu Lifebook T731 and Styistic Q550
What should you get if you want business-class tablet functionality? A pure tablet? Or a notebook that can be converted into a tablet? Dan Rasmus analyzes two Windows 7-based devices from Fujitsu, the Intel Core i5 or i7 powered Lifebook T731 and the light and sleek Stylistic Q550. [See analysis of the Fujitsu Lifebook T731 and Stylistic Q550] -- Posted Friday, November 4, 2011 by chb

GameStop now selling several media tablets with games pre-installed
GameStop is now selling media tablets as well, and they all come with six free games already installed. Initial tablets sold are the Acer Iconia (US$325), the Asus Eee Pad Transformer (US$399) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (US$499). GameStop now also issues store credit to customers who trade in their iPod, iPhone or iPad. GameStop's move doesn't necessarily signal the end of dedicated consoles, but many gamers may start balking at expensive console games (usually US$60) in favor of less expensive downloadable games. [See GameStop tablet offers] -- Posted Friday, November 4, 2011 by chb

HP announces Windows 7-based Slate 2
HP introduced the HP Slate 2, which is very much like the unloved HP Slate 500 except for a switch from an 1.86GHz Intel Atom Z540 to a 1.5GHz Atom Z670 processor and a few minor changes. Microsoft's preview of Windows 8, however, makes the HP Slate 2 a more attractive proposition, but for now it's Windows 7 on a 8.9-inch multitouch/pen display with first-gen netbook resolution (1024 x 600). Pricing is US$699 for a WiFi-enabled 32GB version and US$799 for a 64GB version. [See HP Slate 2 on HP website] -- Posted Thursday, November 3, 2011 by chb

New Norton Tablet Security protects Android tablets against loss, theft and online threats
Symantec released Norton Tablet Security and new updates for Norton Mobile Security, including a new "Scream" feature that helps users find a lost or stolen phone quickly. Both offerings for the Android platform further support the Norton Everywhere initiative, which extends Norton's security expertise and technologies to protect consumers everywhere they go, regardless of device or platform. -- Posted Wednesday, November 2, 2011 by chb

Atmel maXStylus/maXTouch demo video
Atmel uploaded an interesting video demonstrating and explaining its maXStylus technology that combines a very precise stylus with a 1mm stylus tip with the company's maXTouch multi-touch touchscreen technology. [See Atmel maXTylus demo video] -- Posted Monday, October 31, 2011 by chb

Handheld teams up with PUMA for Volvo Ocean Race
Handheld Group, a supplier of innovative and advanced rugged PDAs and devices, has teamed up with PUMA Ocean Racing for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012. As part of the sponsorship, the PUMA crew onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Monster of the Sea) will use Handheld's ultra-rugged Algiz 7 tablet on deck for everything from navigation to calculations and communication. Handheld Marketing Director Sofia Löfblad said, "This is the kind of tough environment the Algiz 7 was built for, and I'm especially interested in hearing the crew’s response to our new MaxView screen technology." -- Posted Monday, October 31, 2011 by chb

Dell Latitude ST Windows 7 tablet
Dell's upcoming Windows 7-based and Intel Atom Z670-powered Latitude ST tablet offers both capacitive multi-touch and an active pen (using N-Trig technology). The 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel display has Gorilla Glass protection, and there are rubberized bumpers to help survive use in the field. There are USB and HDMI ports, WiFi/BT4, dual cameras (720p front, 5mp rear), up to 128GB SSD, and up to 6 hours of battery life. Measuring 10.6 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches and weighing just under two pounds, the Latitude ST reminds a lot of the Fujitsu Q550. The Latitude ST will cost around US$1,000 and become available early November, 2011. [See Dell Latitude ST product page] -- Posted Friday, October 28, 2011 by chb

One Xoom sold for every 130 iPads
Motorola Mobility revealed it had shipped just 100,000 Motorola XOOM Android tablets in Q3 2011. That compares to 13 million iPads. Honestly, this has us baffled. Media tablets are super-hot, the XOOM is a very good product, so what's the problem? Perhaps Motorola Mobility, which concentrates on consumer phones, should pass the Xoom on to the vertical market oriented Motorola Solutions. [See Motorola Mobility Q3 Financials] -- Posted Friday, October 28, 2011 by chb

Samsung adds Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
Samsung announced the upcoming availability of the US$399 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus that runs Google Android "Honeycomb" on a 1.2GHz dual core CPU. The device has an IR interface to control home theater setups via its Peel Smart Remote TV application.
-- Posted Saturday, October 22, 2011 by chb

Motion introduces SlateMate add-on modules for its CL900 tablet
Motion Computing introduced the Motion CL900 SlateMate snap-on module technology that extends the functionality of the ruggedized CL900 Tablet PC. Securely attached to the tablet's internal frame, the first CL900 SlateMate module provides a 1, 2 and 3 track magnetic stripe reader and a 1D/2D barcode scanner for mobile data acquisition and transaction processing. [See Motion CL900 SlateMate page] -- Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2011 by chb

Global tablet shipments 18.7 million in Q3 of 2011
According to Digitimes Research, gobal tablet PC shipments reached 18.7 million units in the third quarter, with Apple iPad shipments accounting for 13 million units of that. Non-iPad tablet PCs suffered from high inventory issues in the third quarter and many new tablet PC product launches have been delayed. In terms of components, for tablet PC CPUs, Nvidia has become the second-largest supplier in terms of shipments with Texas Instruments dropping to fourth. As for ODMs, Inventec is currently the second-largest with Quanta Computer dropping to fifth. -- Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2011 by chb

Xplore closes additional financing
Xplore Technologies Corp. announced that it received $2.32 million in gross proceeds from the issuance of 2.32 million shares of Series D Participating Convertible Preferred Stock in a private placement. According to the company, the placement will enable Xplore to fulfill the expected increase in demand for its new product line and maximize its chances of success in a market with growing awareness and traction. -- Posted Monday, October 17, 2011 by chb

Australian ski resort uses Motion F5v tablets
At Australian ski resort Perisher this winter season, it's not only the skiers and boarders who are on the move. The resort is reporting excellent results after equipping its lift crews and IT department with Intel Core i7-powered Motion Computing F5v Tablet PCs. On the first day of the 2011 ski season, the tablet PCs and RFID gates were launched to process lift passes and immediately changed the way the resort services its guests. [See press release] -- Posted Monday, October 17, 2011 by chb

Motion celebrates 10th anniversary with CL900 tablet give-away
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Motion Computing is giving away a CL900 Tablet PC to a lucky winner. How do you enter? By becoming a Motion Computing fan on Facebook and posting, before November 1st, a photo of yourself using your current Motion tablet and a brief description of why you love it, or a photo of where you would use a new Motion CL900 tablet and a brief description of how you would use it. [See Motion Computing Facebook page] -- Posted Monday, October 17, 2011 by chb

Motorola Solutions introduces enterprise-class 7-inch capacitive multi-touch Android tablet
Seeking to provide the familiarity and popularity of a consumer-class user experience to a true enterprise-class device, Motorola Solutions introduced the Android-based ET1 ruggedized 7-inch tablet. The TI OMAP 4-powered capacitive multi-touch ET1 brings enhanced durability (4-foot drop, IP54, etc.), an optional barcode scanner and magnetic stripe reader, hot-swappable battery packs, and secure system software. [See description and specs of the Motorola Solutions ET1 tablet] -- Posted Monday, October 10, 2011 by chb

Display resolution in mobile devices expected to rise
According to DisplaySearch, increasing demand for high information content and multimedia capability in mobile devices continues to drive flat panel display resolution to higher levels of pixel density. With panel makers developing ultra-high resolutions, such as 2048 x 1536 pixels QXGA and higher for tablet PCs and 1280 x 800 pixels for smartphones, the average pixel density of flat panel displays is expected to grow over the next few years. -- Posted Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by chb

GD-Itronix introduces fully-rugged GD3080 tablet
General Dynamics Itronix introduced the GD3080 fully-rugged tablet computer as a next-gen version of its Duo-Touch II tablet. The 4.0 pound fanless tablet now features higher XGA resolution on its 8.4-inch DynaVue display that has an auto-switching resistive touchscreen/active digitizer combo. The GD3080 runs Windows 7 and offers more memory as well as higher capacity hard disk and SSD options. Up to three RF modems and GPS can be integrated in a unit at one time. Sealing is at the IP54 level and the machine, which starts at US$3,250, can handle significant abuse. [See description and specs of the General Dynamics Itronix GD3080] -- Posted Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by chb

Hot Hardware preview: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet
Hot Hardware ran a nice hands-on preview of the business-class Android-based Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet [See Hot Hardware preview of the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet] -- Posted Monday, September 26, 2011 by chb

Apotheker out, Whitman in at Hewlett Packard
After shutting down WebOS and plans to jettison its entire world-leading PC business in favor of becoming a software and service company didn't go over well with analysts and Wall Street, HP's board did another knee-jerk reaction by replacing beleaguered CEO Leo Apotheker with former eBay CEO and recent unsuccessful candidate for California's governorship, Meg Whitman. Let's hope things will settle down at HP so the company can return to be the rock-solid technology powerhouse it once was. -- Posted Thursday, September 22, 2011 by chb

EMEA tablet shipments robust
According to IDC, media tablets did well in the EMEA market during the second quarter of 2011. The Apple iPad maintained and enforced its leading position with a 67% market share, followed by Samsung with 7% and Acer with 6.1%. Q2 tablet shipments were up 82% on the previous quarter and grew to over 4.4 million units. -- Posted Tuesday, September 20, 2011 by chb

Archos to release two new Android 3.2 G9 Series tablets
Archos is introducing its G9 series of Android 3.2-based tablets, consisting of the 80 G9 (8-inch 1024 x 768 display) and the 101 G9 (10.1-inch 1280 x 800 display). Specs for both models are very similar (1-1.5GHz TI OMAP chip, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, mini HDMI, micro USB, microSD card, 720p front camera) and the units will be available with either 8 or 16GB of Flash, or a 250GB hard drive. Pricing will be US$299 to 369 for the 8-inch model and US$399 to 469 for the 10.1-inch model. -- Posted Monday, September 19, 2011 by chb

Media Tablets 2011 table: updated
It took well over a year for the industry to come up with serious competitors to Apple's iPad, but now customers increasingly have vendor/platform/features options when it comes to selecting media tablets. We've compiled a spec table of the major media tablets, almost 40 in all, and will keep adding to the list, so check back frequently. [View updated 2011 Media Tablet Spec Table] -- Posted Sunday, September 18, 2011 by chb

Seton Hall University adds 400 Android-based Lenovo ThinkPad tablets
Seton Hall University announced it is the first higher education institution in the U.S. to use Lenovo's ThinkPad Tablet PC, with more than 400 tablets now circulating amongst students and faculty in the Sciences, Honors and School of Business Leadership Programs. The University is making the 1280 x 800 pixel 10.1-inch, Android 3.1 tablets a central part of its Mobile Computing Program as well as an essential teaching device. [See press release] -- Posted Thursday, September 15, 2011 by chb

Singletouch Mobile now available on tablets
Singletouch Corporation, whose software toolset gives industrial contractors control of their business, introduced a tablet-based deployment of its Singletouch Mobile that extends the functionality of the platform into remote worksites that lack internet connection. [Read Singletouch press release] -- Posted Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by chb

Microsoft previews Windows 8 at BUILD conference
At its developer-focused BUILD conference in LA, Microsoft did a preview of the next major release of Windows, code-named Windows 8. Windows 8 is supposed to have "the best of Windows 7, only better," support ARM chips, and will be compatible with "the devices and programs you use today on Windows 7, without compromise." Microsoft says Windows 8 will enable new ultrathin PCs and tablets that "turn on instantly, run all day on a single charge and stay connected to the Internet." Windows 8 will have a "Metro" interface that is built for touch, but works just as well with mouse and keyboard. Metro-style apps will be full-screen and communicate with one another. There will be a Windows Store for apps. -- Posted Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by chb

Atmel's maXTouch/mXT1386 touch system used in the Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC.
Atmel announced that its Atmel maXTouch mXT1386 is the first touch controller to enable touch performance with Microsoft's touch-centric Metro interface in the previewed Windows 8. The mXT1386 controller is used in the Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC. Leveraging Atmel's proven maXTouch technology, the mXT1386 is the first device in Atmel's maXTouch family that will support Windows 8 for touchscreens in a variety of sizes. [See press release and Atmel mXT1386 product page] -- Posted Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by chb

Qualcomm Gobi and Snapdragon to power upcoming Win 8 hardware
Qualcomm announced that it is collaborating with Microsoft to enable Qualcomm's Snapdragon family of mobile processors to power the first generation of Windows 8-based PCs. In addition, Qualcomm's Gobi mobile Internet connectivity solutions will provide Windows 8-based PCs with wireless 3G/4G connectivity to deliver an always-connected experience. [See Qualcomm powers Windows 8] -- Posted Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by chb

Current Analysis launches Tablet Tracker
Current Analysis announced the launch of its new Tablet Tracker designed to provide vendors, carriers, and retailers with detailed insight into the competitive landscape for consumer tablets on a monthly basis. -- Posted Monday, September 12, 2011 by chb

Microsoft signs Android patent deals with two more companies
Acer and Viewsonic have also signed Android patent agreements with Microsoft in deals that cannot be viewed as anything but Acer and Viewsonic joining the group of companies that have already been pressured into paying protection money to Microsoft in order not to get sued by Microsoft, which has nothing to do with Android at all. It is shameful and regrettable that this sort of thing is legal. -- Posted Monday, September 12, 2011 by chb

Sony reveals specs, release date of 9.4-inch Tablet S
A while ago, Sony announced two tablets, the Sony Tablet S and the Sony Tablet P, without revealing specs other than the somewhat unique concept of each device. Sony has now finally revealed specs for the Nvidia Tegra 2-powered Tablet S, a folded-book 9.4-inch design with a thicker booklike spine, 1280 x 800 resolution, Android 3.2, SD Card, dual cameras, 16 or 32GB of storage, and a weight of just 1.22 pounds. Both Sony Tablet devices come complete with access to a full suite of Sony's network entertainment services. The Sony Tablet S will cost US$499/599 and will be available in the US starting around September 16. [See Sony Tablet S in Sony store] -- Posted Friday, September 2, 2011 by chb

United Airlines launches paperless flight deck with 11,000 iPads
United Continental Holding announced that it is converting to paperless flight decks and deploying 11,000 iPads to all United and Continental pilots. The electronic flight bags (EFB) replace paper flight manuals, and as a first for major network carriers, provide pilots with paperless aeronautical navigational charts through an iPad app. Distribution of iPads began earlier this month, and all pilots will have them by year end. -- Posted Wednesday, August 24, 2011 by chb

Lessons learned from the HP TouchPad
I was supposed to write a review of the HP TouchPad, but like so many others this morning, I am writing its epitaph. HP's decision on August 18, 2011 to cease production of the TouchPad as well as other WebOS devices leaves WebOS in limbo, though HP may try to recoup some of its investment by selling WebOS to another company. Regardless of if WebOS continues to exist to not, the HP TouchPad offered some lessons that Microsoft and Android developers, including Google, should heed. Failure is always a teaching moment, but rather than focus on what HP did wrong, I will share my thoughts on what they did right that others can learn from. [... more] -- Posted Friday, August 19, 2011 by chb

HP kills webOS devices, including TouchPad
HP will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. HP said "the devices have not met internal milestones and financial targets. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward." So sorry, Palm. You deserved better. [See HP report] -- Posted Thursday, August 18, 2011 by chb

Received: Motion Computing's August 2011 newsletter
We received Motion Computing's August 2011 newsletter. Info on new CL900 accessories, webinars, events, and reviews (including ours, both web and video). See an online version here. -- Posted Thursday, August 18, 2011 by chb

Google to acquire Motorola Mobility
Google and Motorola Mobility announced that Google will acquire Motorola Mobility in a US$12.5 billion cash transaction. According to the press release, "The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business." Note that this will not include Motorola Solutions, the spun-off part of Motorola that provides rugged mobile computing products and solutions. [See press release] -- Posted Monday, August 15, 2011 by chb

Sprint cancels WiMax PlayBook, RIM to concentrate on LTE
Sprint announced that the WiMax version of the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook has been cancelled. RIM says the company is working on an LTE version of the PlayBook. -- Posted Sunday, August 14, 2011 by chb

Acer releases Iconia Tab A100 on US market
Acer announced that the Iconia Tab A100 media tablet is now available in the US. The A100 runs Android 3.1 on a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 250, has 1GB of RAM, a 1024 x 600 pixel 7-inch capacitive touch screen, microUSB, microHDMI, microSD, 1 and 5MP cameras, measures 7.7 x 4.6 x .5 inches, weighs 0.92 pounds, and costs US$329 for an 8GB version and US$349 for a 16GB version. No WWAN, the non-replaceable battery lasts just 5 hours, and the plastic design is reminiscent of Acer netbooks. [See Acer press release] -- Posted Sunday, August 14, 2011 by chb

N-trig: DuoSense in Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet
N-trig announced that its DuoSense pen and projected capacitive multi-touch solution enabled over a single digitizer is integrated into the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet. The advantage of DuoSense is that it provides the ease-of-use of projected capacitive touch while still supporting applications and systems that work better with a pen (theirs has a AAAA battery). -- Posted Tuesday, August 9, 2011 by chb

Acer: Tablets and ultrabooks are fads
According to Digitimes, Acer founder Stan Shih has commented that the fads for ultrabooks and tablet PCs are both short-term phenomena and urged companies in the notebook supply chain to come out with more value-added products through innovation. This in sharp contrast to former Acer CEO Lanci's statement last November that Acer plans to become the leading supplier of tablets. -- Posted Sunday, August 7, 2011 by chb

Genius upgrades US$99 pressure-sensitive tablet
Taiwanese peripheral maker Genius launched an upgraded version of its G-Pen F610 Writing Graphic Tablet for Windows 7. As an ultra-slim, 6 x 10 inch wireless text graphic-design tablet, the Genius G-Pen F610 has 1024-level pressure sensitivity and 29 programmable Hot-Key areas to set up shortcuts for word processing, Internet and operating system tasks. Suggested retail price is US$99.90. [See G-Pen F610 product page] -- Posted Thursday, August 4, 2011 by chb

Full review: What to expect from Motion Computing's rugged CL900 Windows 7-based tablet
Tens of millions of iPads have been sold and everyone wants tablets, but integrating them into Microsoft Windows-based corporate IT is not so easy. So why not run Windows on a tablet? That's not so easy either. Motion Computing analyzed the situation and decided to bring, in a ruggedized form, much of what makes the iPad unique to those who need to run Windows. In a detailed report, RuggedPCReview discusses the US$899 Motion CL900 Windows 7-based tablet, its opportunities and challenges, how well it works, and where it fits in. [See full review of the Motion Computing CL900 tablet and a video demonstration of how it works] -- Posted Tuesday, August 2, 2011 by chb

Rugged tablets in aerial mapping: Applanix POSTrack and Ruggedbook SR820
Global enterprise increasingly relies on complex commercial land-based mapping, aerial and marine surveys, and remote sensing applications that use vehicle and sensor position and orientation to capture and mine data in ways never possible before. And they often work in conjunction with rugged, lightweight tablet computers with touch screens and displays that are both sunlight viewable and capable of being dimmed for nighttime applications. For an example, see Samwell's Ruggedbook SR820 tablet used with the Applanix POSTRack GNSS-Aided Inertial Direct Georeferencing and advanced Flight Management System. [See Ruggedbook/Applanix POSTrack page]
-- Posted Monday, August 1, 2011 by chb

Lenovo adds two similar, but different Android tablets
Added two new Lenovo tablets to our comprehensive Media Tablet Table. Both the Lenovo IdeaPadK1 and the ThinkPad Tablet have 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel screens, run Android 3.1 on Nvidia Tegra 2 processors, have 2mp front and 5mp rear cameras, and weigh about 1.65 pounds. The difference is that the IdeaPad K1 is a playful consumer tablet available in different colors whereas the ThinkPad Tablet is entirely more businesslike with a pen in addition to multi-touch, a multi card reader, both USB and microUSB, and an optional keyboard that pretty much turns the tablet into a versatile notebook. [See updated Media Tablets table] -- Posted Monday, July 25, 2011 by chb

ARBOR launches 2.2 pound rugged POS tablet
ARBOR Technology of Taiwan has introduced the Gladius G1050, a slender but rugged 2.2-pound Atom Z530-powered tablet with a 10.4-inch touchscreen. Designed for point-of-sale and a warehousing and similar applications, the G1050 has strong data capture functionality (RFID, 1D/2D scanner, AF camera, keypad) as well as optional Gobi3000 WWAN. The device can also handle 4-foot drops, extreme temperatures and carries IP54 sealing. [See description and specs of the ARBOR Gladius G1050 POS tablet] -- Posted Monday, July 25, 2011 by chb

Full review: DRS ARMOR X7 rugged tablet
We analyzed and tested the DRS ARMOR X7, the latest addition to a line of rugged industrial computers offered by DRS Tactical Systems. The X7 is a very light and compact tablet computer that is tough and rugged enough for use in the harshest environments. Its 7-inch display is small, but just large enough for Windows 7, and it offers very good outdoor viewability. The easily expandable X7 offers IP65 sealing and can also handle steep drops (up to six feet), and a very wide operating temperature range. [See full review of the DRS ARMOR X7] -- Posted Monday, July 25, 2011 by chb

TouchType launches SwiftKey X for Android smartphones and tablets
TouchType announced SwiftKey X for smartphones and SwiftKey Tablet X. The launch builds on the company's original Android keyboard app SwiftKey that came out a year ago and has had more than 1.5 million downloads. SwiftKey X predicts and corrects by observing how a user composes text and then predicts what they will likely type next. It also uses cloud-based personalization that learns from a user's message history to offer a custom-fit prediction and correction experience unique on mobile or tablet. Finally, it conducts real-time analysis of the user's touchscreen typing precision to improve word accuracy and predictions. [See SwiftKy X page] -- Posted Friday, July 15, 2011 by chb

Detailed review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Samsung was widely credited with offering the first serious competition to the iPad with their original 7-inch Galaxy Tab. Now they're upping the ante with the sleek 10-inch Galaxy Tab 10.1. Dan Rasmus took a detailed look at the elegant new Samsung tablet and found it to be a great value. But there are still some stability issues and he'd like to see more features. [See detailed review and specs of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1] -- Posted Tuesday, July 12, 2011 by chb

Projected-capacitive now dominant touch technology
DisplaySearch reports that projected capacitive became the leading touch screen technology in terms of revenue in 2010. Growth has been explosive since being popularized by Apple in 2007, and many tablet PCs manufacturers have adopted it. In 2011, projected capacitive shipments are expected to grow by more than 100% Y/Y, and will account for 70% of all touch screen revenues. Over 60 companies are supplying projected capacitive in 2011. -- Posted Tuesday, July 12, 2011 by chb

Toughbook H2: Panasonic drops a Core-i5 into its (formerly) Atom-based tablet
Panasonic announced the Toughbook H2, a rugged handheld tablet computer that appears to be the successor of the H1 Health and H1 Field tablets. The new H2 uses a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-2557M processor for a major performance boost, though battery life remains at 6+ hours and there is still no fan. The rugged tablet (6-foot drop, IP67) receives Panasonic's "TransflectivePlus" 10.1-inch display that pioneered in the Toughbook 19, more memory and larger disks, and also external ports (USB, serial, LAN). [See description and specs of the Panasonic Toughbook H2] -- Posted Tuesday, July 12, 2011 by chb

TechRepublic cracks open the HP Touch Pad
Our friends at TechRepublic have cracked open another tech gizmo, and this time it's the about-to-be-released HP Touch Pad. Their verdict? Easier to take apart then the iPad 2, but more difficult than the Moto Xoom. The Touch Pad is built more like a PC, which is good for repairs, but it's also what makes it a bit thicker and heavier. [See TechRepublic crack open the HP TouchPad] -- Posted Friday, July 1, 2011 by chb

Detailed review: HTC Flyer
HTC was the company that practically put the Pocket PC on the map. And HTC has continued to make among the best and innovative smartphones. Now they are getting into tablets. Dan Rasmus took a detailed look at the handy 7-inch HTC Flyer, found some interesting innovation, but not a home run. [See detailed review and specs of the HTC Flyer] -- Posted Friday, July 1, 2011 by chb

Motion CL900 verified as Citrix Ready
Motion Computing announced that the Motion CL900 is the latest Motion Tablet PC that has been verified as Citrix Ready. Citrix Ready is a product verification program that allows customers and users to quickly and easily find partner products and solutions that are trusted to enhance Citrix offerings. The CL900 joins Motion’s C5v, F5v and J3500Tablet PCs, making Motion’s complete line of rugged tablet PCs Citrix Ready verified. [See Motion press release] -- Posted Wednesday, June 29, 2011 by chb

Algiz 7 tablet from Handheld now certified by Verizon Wireless
Handheld US, a North American supplier of rugged PDAs and devices, announced that its Algiz 7 rugged tablet computer is now certified for connectivity on the Verizon Wireless network. The Algiz 7 (see our review) is an ultra-rugged, 7-inch widescreen tablet that runs Windows 7 and offers users wireless communication across the globe via optional Gobi 2000 technology that supports both GSM and CDMA high-speed data networks, giving users their choice of wireless frequency anywhere in the world. [See press release] -- Posted Tuesday, June 28, 2011 by chb

CENS.com: Inventec receives orders for tablets from HP
According to an article in the Taiwan Economic News, Inventec Corp. has received a large order for tablets from HP. HP supposedly has ordered 400,000 to 450,000 TouchPad tablets per month. [See CENS.com article] -- Posted Friday, June 24, 2011 by chb

Motion C5v tablets used in New Zealand health organization
Motion Computing reports that the Tairawhiti District Health Board in New Zealand upgraded its mobile technology solutions to the Motion C5v Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA). “We left the decision up to our clinicians who, immediately after testing a demo tablet, requested we implement the tablet PCs as soon as possible,” said Max Ponomarev, the Board's team leader for IT Infrastructure. “I can’t remember them ever being this enthusiastic about a new technology.” [See Motion press release] -- Posted Friday, June 24, 2011 by chb

HP announces webOS Pivot
HP announced HP webOS Pivot, providing users an entertaining and informative editorial resource for discovering webOS 3.0 applications for the HP TouchPad, which launches July 1. Designed to complement the HP webOS App Catalog, Pivot will showcase a broad range of applications – and the developers who create them – by providing customers the freedom to explore based on their interests and lifestyles. -- Posted Friday, June 24, 2011 by chb

Added: LXE Marathon tablet
Introduced late last year, the LXE Marathon field computer picks up the "open book" design that combines a display and a keyboard in a very compact tablet. The Marathon weighs just over two pounds, has a 7-inch 800 x 480 pixel outdoor-viewable touchscreen, runs Windows 7 on an Intel Atom Z530 processor, and includes a camera, a fingerprint reader that doubles as a mouse, and also offers a wealth of bolt-on accessories such as a mag stripe reader, 2D imager and extended battery for up to 6 and 9-hour operation. The device, which measures about 8 x 7.6 inches, includes 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth, and is sealed to IP 65 spec. [See description and specs of the LXE Marathon] -- Posted Thursday, June 23, 2011 by chb

PeopleNet chooses MobileDemand rugged Tablet PC for its portable onboard computing system
MobileDemand, the nation's leading provider of Rugged Tablet PCs to the transportation industry announced that PeopleNet has chosen the MobileDemand xTablet T7000 for the PeopleNet TABLET integrated onboard computing and mobile communications system for next generation fleet management. PeopleNet, a provider of innovative and integrated onboard fleet management systems, holds an exclusive agreement with MobileDemand and has begun taking delivery of thousands of MobileDemand xTablet T7000 Rugged Tablet PCs to offer its own customer base a way to improve driver efficiency and speed the accounting cycle. [See MobileDemand press release] -- Posted Wednesday, June 22, 2011 by chb

Panasonic Toughbook 19 gets performance, display, and storage updates
Panasonic has given its venerable Toughbook 19 rugged convertible notebook computer another substantial update. There's a major performance boost via a switch to a 2.5GHz standard voltage Intel Core i5-2520M processor, amazingly still without the need of a fan. The display is now a slightly smaller 10.1-inch transflective design with a special reflective layer that provides great sunlight viewability without a superbright backlight. The 19 can now have up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a high-speed 320GB disk or up to 256GB of SSD, as well as upgraded wireless, including 4G LTE. [See description and specs of the Panasonic CF-19 Mark 5] -- Posted Friday, June 17, 2011 by chb

American Airlines to use Samsung Galaxy Tab in planes
American Airline announced it has ordered 6,000 Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 media tablets and will use them to replace the their current seat-back entertainment devices on many transcontinental and international flights. -- Posted Thursday, June 16, 2011 by chb

Toshiba taking pre-oders for Android-based 10.1-inch Thrive tablet
Toshiba started taking pre-orders for its 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel Android 3.1-based media tablet initially just called the "Toshiba Tablet," but now named the Toshiba Thrive. Pricing is set at US$429/479/579 for 8/16/32GB units. The 10.7 x 6.9 x 0.6 inch unit weighs 1.7 pounds, has a 2mp webcam and 5mp rear camera, offers USB and HDMI, and adds to the number of Android-based brand name contenders in the media tablet market. [See the Toshiba Thrive page and our updated media tablet table] -- Posted Monday, June 13, 2011 by chb

Ricoh introduces the eWriter solution
Ricoh introduced its new eWrite Solution: a business-class tablet and back-end services designed to improve business efficiencies by moving paper processes online. The company also announced that the device and services will be offered through its new business unit, Ricoh eWriter Solutions (EWS). The eWriter Solution is comprised of the Ricoh eQuill, a one-pound 9.7-inch tablet with stylus, camera, and 20 hour battery life that functions as a digital clipboard, and the eWriter Workflow Services. -- Posted Friday, June 3, 2011 by chb

Toshiba unveils WT310 media tablet in Japan
Toshiba Japan announced the WT310, an Intel Atom Z670 powered and Windows 7-based media tablet with a large 11.6-inch 1366 x 768 pixel display. Measuring 11.7 x 7.7 x 0.63 inches and weighing just 2 pounds, the WT310 has a 64GB SSD, 2GB of DDR2-800 RAM, USB, HDMI, an SDXC card slot, and is clearly geared towards the enterprise and business markets that rely on Windows. (See Toshiba Japan WT310 product page] -- Posted Thursday, June 2, 2011 by chb

Samwell displaying new rugged multi-touch Windows 7/Android Honeycomb 7-inch tablet at Computex
Samwell is showing a new rugged Intel "Oak Trail" Atom Z670 based media tablet with a high-res (1280 x 800 pixel) capacitive multi-touch screen at Computex, Taipei (May 31 - June 4, 2011). Weighing well under two pounds, the RUGGEDBOOK SR810 carries IP65 sealing, can handle 4-foot drops and extreme temperatures, has dual cameras, onboard USB/serial/HDMI, and optional GPS, WWAN, barcode reader and RFID. Most intriguing: the SR810 is designed to run either Windows 7 or Android Honeycomb. Samwell will show the SR810 at TWTC Exhibition Hall 1 C0625. [See SR810 at Computex, and our initial SR810 description and specs] -- Posted Sunday, May 29, 2011 by chb

Over 5 million tablet panels shipped in April
Displaybank reported that tablet display panel shipments exceeded 5 million units for the first time ever in April 2011. Broken down by size, 4.3 million were 9.7-inch panels, 0.7 million 10.1-inc panels, and a negligible 0.04 million were 7-inch panels. In terms of overall shipments, tablet panels passed mini-note/netbook panels (down to 2.5 million), and gained ground to standard notebooks (15 million). [See release] -- Posted Tuesday, May 24, 2011 by chb

Full review: Winmate 10.4-inch Patient Service Tablet PC
Winmate's 10.4" Patient Service Tablet PC is really a product closely fashioned after the Mobile Clinical Assistant, or MCA, hardware reference concept Intel introduced a few years ago. Winmate's interpretation concentrates on good functionality, local connectivity, extension customization options, and simplicity of design with an embedded OS running on minimal hardware. [See review of the Winmate 10.4-inch Patient Service Tablet PC] -- Posted Tuesday, May 24, 2011 by chb

iSuppli: iPad-style media tablets to outship PC tablets by 10:1 through 2015
IHS iSuppli has bad news for traditional PC-type tablet PCs: Shipments of traditional PC-type tablet PCs will be dwarfed by the newer media-type tablets like the iPad, with the media category outshipping the PC variety by a factor of 10 during the period from 2010 to 2015. "While there's clearly a need for tablet PCs with full PC functionality, the media-type tablet pioneered by the Apple with the iPad will reign supreme during for at least the next five years," said Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor research at IHS. "Because the tablet form factor will favor media consumption - rather than content creation - media tablets will massively outsell their PC-type tablet alternatives." [See iSuppli release] -- Posted Monday, May 23, 2011 by chb

Tablets to have highest 3G/4G attach rate
InStat projects that by 2015, tablets will have the highest 3G/4G attach rate among all cellular-enabled portable and computing devices with 78% of tablets shipping with a 3G/4G modem. InStat also predicts that over 50% of all 3G/4G tablets in 2015 will have LTE WAN connectivity. -- Posted Monday, May 23, 2011 by chb

N-trig presents advantages of DuoSense multi-touch + pen for tablets
N-trig addressed attendees at the recent SID display Week Conference (LA, May 17-19, 2011) in two sessions entitled "Making Tablets Work for Consumers and Enterprise" and “Bringing Pen Into the Conversation.” N-trig is emphasizing its DuoSense multi-touch plus pen technology as a solution to making tablets more functional in numerous business applications. [See N-trig video] -- Posted Monday, May 23, 2011 by chb

Struggles of first-gen Android tablets
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who has a big iron in the fire with their Tegra 2 chips, has been reported as being disappointed over Android-based tablet sales, and blames both marketing as well as the products. "It's a point of sales problem. It's an expertise at retail problem. It's a marketing problem to consumers. It is a price point problem," the CEO reportedly said. Our take: It's tough to take on a very good product with a good price and a great infrastructure (the iPad), and the flood of cheap Android tablets with resistive screens certainly hasn't helped. There's also precedent of multi-vendor alternatives struggling against a monolithic megahit (early Windows CE devices against Palm), and the lack of a cohesive product strategy (different Android versions, different sizes, lack of true differentiation) is also still hurting Android tablets. Once this falls into place, it's hard to see how Android tablets could not grab market share from Apple. -- Posted Monday, May 16, 2011 by chb

Motion Computing webinars on enterprise-ready CL900 tablet
Motion Computing will present a free half-hour webinar entitled "The New Motion CL900, Enterprise-Ready Tablet PC" on Thursday, May 19 and 24 at 1PM CDT. Unlike consumer media tablets, the Motion CL900 is specifically designed for mobile business. [Register for Motion CL900 enterprise-ready tablet webinar] -- Posted Monday, May 16, 2011 by chb

Fujitsu TH40 keyboard tablet
Fujitsu Japan announced domestic June 2011 availability of the TH40, which is sort of a flat Intel Atom Z670-powered netbook, with the tablet-style 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 pixel multi-touch display facing up. The hard disk-based TH40 runs Windows 7, measures 10.8 x 7.4 x .6 inches, weighs a netbook-like 2.4 pounds, and lasts six hours on a charge of its non-user accessible 23 watt-hour battery. Connectivity is netbooklike, too, with USB, Bluetooth, WiFi, webcam, HDMI, but no LAN or 3G. The price is 79,800 yen, which currently translates to an uncompetitive US$985. [See the Lifebook TH40 on the Fujitsu Japan website] -- Posted Friday, May 13, 2011 by chb

Motion donates F5v tablets for flood clean-up
Motion Computing announced that the company donated five Motion F5v Tablet Computers to Queensland Urban Utilities to support crews out in the field as they tackled the region’s daunting water rehabilitation and clean-up effort after January’s flood disaster. [See Motion press release] -- Posted Wednesday, May 11, 2011 by chb

Tablets to replace most of netbook sales?
According to Digitimes, ViewSonic Europe and Asia Pacific resident Alan Chang believes that tablet PCs will replace as much as 70% of global netbook sales in 2011. The forecast is based on the observation that netbook inventory levels in European retail channels have been increasing significantly due to strong tablet PC demand, with large chain retailers in Europe ready to shelve netbook products later this year. Our take: That would actually surprise us. With Apple still being virtually the sole prime time tablet contender and netbooks providing significant value at very low prices, we expect the netbook to stick around. -- Posted Wednesday, May 11, 2011 by chb

Full review: the new Xplore iX104C5
Xplore Technologies is introducing the latest generation of its ultra-rugged iX104 tablet computer at New York's Harvard Club on May 9, 2011. RuggedPCReview.com has had hands-on with the new Intel Core i7-powered Xplore ix104C5 and found significant enhancements in the sunlight-viewable 10.4-inch dual-mode display, overall functionality, and, especially, performance. [See review of the Xplore iX104C5] -- Posted Sunday, May 8, 2011 by chb

Full review: Juniper Systems' unique Mesa rugged notepad
Juniper Systems of Logan, Utah, calls their new Mesa the "world's first rugged notepad," a device designed to offer the advantages of both a Tablet PC and a rugged handheld, but without the disadvantages of either category. We reviewed the Juniper Mesa in detail and found it to be a class-busting much larger handheld that brings Windows Mobile simplicity, instant-on, speed and battery life to a satisfyingly large 5.7-inch touch screen. Windows Mobile has never looked so good. [Read full review of the Juniper Systems Mesa rugged notepad] -- Posted Wednesday, May 4, 2011 by chb

DLI announces price reduction for its rugged tablets
Now here's welcome news! DLI, which makes a series of rugged tablets, announced price reductions of 10% to 27% for its entire line of rugged devices (DLI 8300, 8400, 8500, 8800). The company said the price reductions are the result of DLI's growing market share both domestically and abroad, manufacturing and design efficiencies gained at the DLI corporate facility in La Porte, Indiana, and the recent ISO certification of the DLI design office located in Taiwan. [See DLI release and new pricing] -- Posted Wednesday, May 4, 2011 by chb

MIPS now porting to Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)
MIPS Technologies, one of the original RISC processor pioneers and now primarily a provider of processor architecture and core licensing for digital home, networking and mobile applications, announced that MIPS is now porting Android 3.0 to the MIPS architecture. This is an important step for MIPS as there is a market perception that Android is largely an ARM-centric platform and that Google's anti-fragmentation efforts might affect non-ARM platforms. [See MIPS release] -- Posted Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by chb

Is the race for media tablet supremacy already over? Many developers think so
Who could forget Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stomping around the stage and yelling "developers, developers, developers!" at conferences in the mid-2000s (see Balmer developers spoof video on YouTube)? Well, according to the Appcelerator/IDC Mobile Developer Report, April 2011, the developers have spoken and the news isn't at all good for Microsoft, and not even that good for Android. [read more] -- Posted Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by chb

Android tablets: developer enthusiasm stalled?
Appcelerator and IDC surveyed 2,760 Appcelerator Titanium developers from April 11-13 on perceptions on mobile OS priorities, feature priorities, and mobile development plans in 2011. The survey reveals that developer momentum is shifting back toward Apple as fragmentation and tepid interest in current Android tablets chip away at Google’s recent gains. Though these drops stand in contrast to steadily increasing developer interest in Android, they are consistent with an increase in developer frustration with Android. Nearly two-thirds (63%) said device fragmentation in Android poses the biggest risk to Android, followed by weak initial traction in tablets (30%) and multiple Android app stores (28%). Ominous news for Microsoft: 62% of respondents say it will be impossible for anyone to catch up to market leaders Apple and Google. [See Appcelerator/IDC Mobile Developer Report, April 2011] -- Posted Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by chb

Sony announces two tablets
In the midst of the ongoing downtime of its apparently hacked PlayStation Network, Sony announced two tablets, the S1 and the S2. The S1 is a media tablet with a 9.4-inch display and a somewhat gimmicky design that invokes an opened print magazine with pages flipped over. The S2 is a clamshell design with two 5.5-inch displays that looks more like Sony's answer to Nintendo's dual screen handheld games. Both devices run Android 3.0 on Tegra 2 chips, have WiFi and 3G/4G WWAN, and Sony hints at significant content and network integration. No additional specs for now, and the devices won't be available until Fall 2011. -- Posted Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by chb

Netbook vendors facing predicament
It must be tough to be a netbook vendor these days. The web is full of reports on how Apple is soaking up virtually the entire touch screen production capacity out there, leaving traditional netbook makers with not only an uncertain future, but also a component logistics problem. Add to that not knowing what OS and size to bet on, and how to differentiate yourself from Apple, and netbook vendors are in a tough spot. -- Posted Monday, April 25, 2011 by chb

RIM BlackBerry Playbook under fire
InfoWorld published a very negative review of the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook, calling it "unfinished, unusable" and gave it an overall "poor" score. The reviewer was particularly chagrined over inconsistent security and the PlayBook's requirement to have a BlackBerry phone tethered to it to access business mail, contacts and calendars. [See InfoWorld PlayBook review] -- Posted Thursday, April 21, 2011 by chb

RAM mounting solutions for media tablets
With millions of media tablets increasingly used in all walks of life and business, people need proper proper mounting solutions for them. We're taking a look at RAM Mount's media tablet mounting solutions for the iPad/iPad 2, Motorola Xoom, BlackBerry PlayBook, the Samsung tablets and any other 7- and 10-inch tablet, including lock-mounts, an iPad case and various mounting methods. [See RAM mounting solutions for media tablets] -- Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2011 by chb

Acer selects Atmel maXTouch for Iconia Tab A500
Atmel, which offers microcontroller and touch technology solutions, announced that the Atmel maXTouch solution is being used in the recently-announced 10.1-inch Android Iconia Tab A500 tablet from Acer. -- Posted Tuesday, April 12, 2011 by chb

Gartner: iOS will dominate media tablets through 2015
Gartner has also issued a report forecasting the media tablet OS landscape through 2015. Here the Apple iOS platform will continue to dominate, rocketing from about 15 million sold in 2010 (83.9% market share) to almost 140 million in 2015, with still a 47.1% market share. Android is expected to steadily gain share, from 14.2% in 2010 to 38.6% and 113 million in 2015. Gartner doesn't see anyone else gain traction; QNX (RIM) will reach 10% by 2015, WebOS just 3%. No mention of Microsoft at all, so Gartner apparently does not expect a media tablet version of Windows. [See press release] -- Posted Monday, April 11, 2011 by chb

Kno gets an additional US$30 million in funding
Beleaguered tablet company Kno announced it received an additional US$30 million investment from Intel Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Advanced Publishing. Apparently, a lot of people in high places believe in Kno and its effort to design education tablet computers for students around the globe. The original Kno dual-tablet, which was rather large and heavy, has been dropped. Our take: a commendable effort as schools will inevitably switch from heavy, expensive text books to tablets, but also a tough sell against the likes of Apple and Android-based tablets. -- Posted Friday, April 8, 2011 by chb

Acer Iconia A500 tablet available for BestBuy pre-order
Acer announced that its Iconia Tab A500 media tablet is now available for pre-order at BestBuy. The Iconia Tab A500 uses a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 250 processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 16GB of storage (32GB available later), and has a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel multi-touch screen. There are dual batteries providing up to ten hours of life, an HDMI mini port, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.1a/b/g/n WiFi, dual cameras (2mp front, 5mp rear), a 6-axis accelerometer, a microSD card slot, but so far no 3G. The Aluminum-bodied Iconia A500 measures 10.25 x 7 x .52 inches and weighs 1.7 pounds, making it larger, thicker and heavier than the iPad 2. [See Acer Iconia Tab A500, and updated Media Tablet Table] -- Posted Friday, April 8, 2011 by chb

Acer CEO gone
Just four months after Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci declared the iPad too closely focused on the US market and thus destined to fade away while Acer would grab the rest of the world and rule the tablet market, the optimistic exec is gone. That's because Acer has so far failed to get traction in tablets while tablets demolish Acer's traditional low-cost notebook and netbook markets. [See Reuters article] -- Posted Thursday, March 31, 2011 by chb

Media Tablets 2011 table: updated
It took a year for the industry to come up with serious competitors to Apple's iPad, but now customers increasingly have vendor/platform/features options when it comes to selecting media tablets. We've compiled a spec table of the major media tablets, 22 in all, and will keep adding to the list, so check back frequently. [View updated 2011 Media Tablet Spec Table] -- Posted Wednesday, March 30, 2011 by chb

Synaptics ClearPad in Huawei IDEOS S7 media tablet
With media tablets coming on so strong, the battle among touch technology providers is heating up, too! Synaptics, which has been providing human interface solutions for 25 years, announced that Huawei has selected its ClearPad 7010 single-chip solution (see product PDF) for the Android 2.2-based IDEOS S7 Slim tablet. -- Posted Tuesday, March 29, 2011 by chb

Asus releases Eee Pad Transformer in Taiwan
Asus has launched the 10-inch 1280 x 800 Tegra 2-powered Android 3.0 Eee Pad Transformer tablet in Taiwan. The "Transformer" part of the name refers to an optional keyboard dock that also serves as an extension battery. Announced models come with 16 or 32GB, 3G versions may become available later, and pricing in Taiwan is at the US$575 level for the 32GB version; the keyboard will add about US$125. Problem is that this is not a very novel concept and there isn't much transforming going on, indicating the difficulty of generic Android tablet vendors to differentiate their products. -- Posted Sunday, March 27, 2011 by chb

Motion webinar: Motion J3500 Rugged Tablet PC Overview
Motion Computing will hold a free webinar entitled "The Motion J3500 Rugged Tablet PC Overview" on Tuesday, March 29 at 1:00pm CDT. Those who attend the webinar will not only learn all the details on the Intel Core i7/i5 powered J3500, but they can also receive $500 off the purchase of a new Motion J3500 tablet. [Click here to register] -- Posted Friday, March 25, 2011 by chb

ThinkPad convertible gets yet another upgrade
You gotta hand it to Lenovo: they are doing their darndest to make the most of the IBM PC business they took over a few years ago. Their latest ThinkPads look every bit as impressive as they did under Big Blue, and they are keeping things up-to-date. The ThinkPad X220 tablet is a follow-up on the X200/X201, but with new "Sandy Bridge" processors, a wider display (1366 x 768 pixel), dual input (multi-touch and active pen), and very impressive battery life. [See description and specs of the Lenovo ThinkPad X220] -- Posted Monday, March 21, 2011 by chb

Full review: Panasonic U1 Ultra rugged UMPC
The latest version of the Panasonic Toughbook U1, the U1 Ultra, is a very small and compact Intel Atom-powered Windows 7 computer with a 5.6-inch 1024 x 600 pixel touch screen. It's an ergonomic, fanless design that's easy to use, easy to hold, and easy to carry with a weight of just 2.5 pounds as tested, and hot-swappable dual batteries that combine for up to nine hours of uninterrupted operation. Because it is so unique, the Toughbook U1 requires a bit of learning, adapting, and some sacrifices. If that's not an issue, the IP65-sealed Toughbook U1 provides full Windows 7 computing power in places where handhelds will not do and notebooks just can't go. [See full review of the Panasonic Toughbook U1 Ultra] -- Posted Friday, March 18, 2011 by chb

Fujitsu's Tablet PC History
Fujitsu created a most informative history of their involvement in tablet computers. It shows all of the company's the tablet PC innovations and advancements (see here), and then presents individual pages for about three dozen Fujitsu tablet and notebook convertible computers going all the way back to the Poqet PC in 1989. [See Fujitsu Tablet PC History -- Posted Thursday, March 17, 2011 by chb

Motorola matches iPad 2 price with WiFi Xoom
Stung by criticism over its high pricing for the Xoom tablet, Motorola announced the upcoming availability of a 32GB XOOM Wi-Fi edition for US$599, the same as Apple charges for the 32GB iPad 2. It will be available in the US starting March 27 from Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam's Club, Staples and Walmart through both online and retail store channels. -- Posted Wednesday, March 16, 2011 by chb

DisplaySearch on touch screen shipments 2011 and 2012
According to the DisplaySearch Q1’11 Touch Panel Market Analysis update, touch screen shipments for tablet PCs are forecast to reach 60 milliom units in 2011. Apple will likely continue to account for the majority of tablet PC touch screens in 2011 and 2012, yet other brands could catch up in 2012 and beyond. DisplaySearch forecasts total touch panels for tablet PCs to reach 260M units in 2016, up 333% from 2011. -- Posted Tuesday, March 15, 2011 by chb

iPad 2 vs Moto Xoom contemplations
Marc Weber Tobias wrote an excellent, detailed article on tablets, and especially the iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom, in his "The Travelgeek" blog on the Forbes website. While discussing general issues, technologies, background and impressions, the author's stated goal is to make a case for which tablet represents a better business tool. [See Marc Weber Tobias' Apple iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom] -- Posted Tuesday, March 15, 2011 by chb

IDC: almost 18 million tablets shipped in 2010
According to market research firm IDC, 18 million media tablets (which IDC defines as "devices with color displays larger than 5 in. and smaller than 14 in. running lightweight operating systems) were shipped in 2010, with Apple having an overwhelming market share. Samsung's Galaxy Tab was the primary competitor in the holiday season, beating other players to market and capturing more than 17% share, while a number of smaller regional players also participated. IDC expects Apple to maintain a 70-80% share of the market, and described the Motorola Xoom as "a worthy competitor in function, although the relatively high price is expected to be a barrier to gaining significant share." [see IDC release] -- Posted Friday, March 11, 2011 by chb

iPad 2 causing competition to postpone launches
According to DigiTimes, Apple's announcement of the iPad 2 is causing several notebook brand vendors to postpone their own tablet models as the iPad 2's low US$499 price is hard to meet or beat, and higher cost models could not compete. Digitimes' sources pointed out that tablet PCs will need to be priced below US$399 to have chance to enter the tablet PC battlefield, and none of the current Wintel or ARM/Android platform are capable of achieving such a price level. -- Posted Tuesday, March 8, 2011 by chb

Full review: Fujitsu Lifebook T580
Fujitsu has a long history of providing innovative convertible Tablet PCs in various sizes. With the Lifebook T580, the company offers a netbook-sized, but far more powerful and versatile, solution for road warriors, students, and anyone who wants a handy notebook that can double as a tablet. The 1366 x 768 pixel 10.1-inch wide-format display supports both touch and a pressure-sensitive pen, performance is very good, and the price reasonable. [Read full review of the Fujitsu Lifebook T580] -- Posted Monday, March 7, 2011 by chb

Apple's iPad 2 -- Upping the ante
Here's a more detailed explanation of theApple iPad 2 and our assessment of it: iPad 2 -- Upping the ante -- Posted Thursday, March 3, 2011 by chb

iPad 2 available March 11, 2011
Steve Jobs announced the iPad 2 on March 2. The new model looks almost exactly the same, but is considerably thinner (0.35 vs 0.5 inches) and weighs less (1.3 lbs. vs 1.5 lbs.). It will be powered by a 1GHz dual core Apple A5 processor that, according to Jobs, is twice as fast and offers 9x graphics performance. There are now two cameras (VGA in the front, 720p in the rear), a gyroscope for additional functionality, the 25 watt-hour (unchanged) battery will last the same ten hours, there's HDMI-out via a cable, and the iPad 2 comes in black or white, and in AT&T and Verizon versions. No word on cost of data plans, no obvious changes in the display, and no dual speakers. Pricing remains exactly the same as for the original iPad: US$499 (16GB), US$599 (32GB), US$699 (64GB) for the WiFi-ony versions, and US$130 more for 3G versions. Apple also announced iMovie, and GarageBand for iPad (US$4.95 each). [See iPad 2 specs and see how the iPad 2 compares to the competition.

-- Posted Wednesday, March 2, 2011 by chb

N-trig expands work with ISVs
N-trig, which makes the DuoSense pen and projected capacitive multi-touch solution enabled over a single digitizer, announced they are expanding their partnerships with ISVs to support the development and increase of pen-enabled applications for the rapidly growing slate market. N-trig also said that DuoSense will be integrated in a number of Android- and Windows-based slates due to be launched in 2011. [See N-trig release] -- Posted Tuesday, March 1, 2011 by chb

Detailed review: Dell Inspiron Duo
With the Inspiron Duo, Dell seeks to extend the netbook concept with tablet functionality. For a netbook, the dual core Intel Atom N550 powered Duo sports impressive specs (1366 x 768 resolution, Broadcomm Crystal Media HD accelerator, up to 320GB disk), but there are some puzzling omissions (no onboard video-out, no onboard card slots, weak battery). As a tablet, despite the inclusion of the touch-friendly Dell Stage interface/suite, Windows 7 simply doesn't work well here, so the big question is: Who is the Duo for? Read Dan Rasmus' detailed review of the Dell Inspiron Duo. -- Posted Tuesday, March 1, 2011 by chb

Tablet PC Magazine's 2011 media tablet table
It took a year for the industry to come up with serious competitors to Apple's iPad, but now customers increasingly have vendor/platform/features options when it comes to selecting media tablets. We've compiled a spec table of the major media tablets, 15 in all, and will keep adding to the list, so check back frequently. [View Tablet PC Magezine's 2011 Media Tablet Spec Table] -- Posted Monday, February 28, 2011 by chb

CoActiv EXAM-PAD bundles 10-inch Win 7 tablet with PACS software
We're starting to see custom applications sold packaged with the new breed of media tablets. An example is CoActiv Medical, a healthcare software and IT systems provider that sells digital image and data storage services and related solutions for hospitals, imaging facilities and medical practices of all sizes. CoActiv is now offering the Windows 7-based EXAM-PAD Model 10 PACS (picture archiving communications system) solution with exam viewing technology that connect to an EXAM-PACS server to display high quality multi-modality images securely in real time from anywhere in the world. The tablet itself appears to be a an Atom N450-powered Onkyo TW117 media tablet with a 10.1" capacitive multi-touch 1024x600 LED display. [See CoActiv EXAM-PAD page] -- Posted Monday, February 28, 2011 by chb

Fujitsu announces Stylistic Q550 tablet
Fujitsu, which had been one of the very pioneers in tablets but recently concentrated on convertible notebooks, again has a Stylistic tablet. The Intel Atom-based Q550 runs Windows 7 on a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel outdoor-viewable multi-touch screen that can also be used with an electromagnetic pen in an auto-switching arrangement. There's an SD Card slot, Smart Card, a fingerprint reader, 30 or 62GB of solid state disk, as well as WiFi, Bluetooth and optional Gobi 3000 with GPS. Pricing starts at under US$800 and the device will be available in April. [See description and specs of the Fujitsu Stylistic Q550] -- Posted Friday, February 25, 2011 by chb

NEC releases contactless hybrid finger scanner
With security becoming ever more important, NEC's announcement of a hybrid finger scanner that can simultaneously acquire fingerprint and finger vein characteristics without physical contact is relevant. The NEC HS100-10 works with major access management software (such as IBM Tivoli and Novell) and NEC will provide the “Hybrid Finger Authentication Development Library.” [See NEC hybrid finger scanner] -- Posted Friday, February 25, 2011 by chb

iPad competitors finally gearing up
According to DigiTimes, HP will start selling its webOS-based TouchPad in April, and expects to ship four to five million units in 2011. Motorola, in the meantime, may be in for a hard time with it Xoom tablet due to an unexpectedly high price ($599.99 with a new two-year Verizon contract or $799.99 without a contract). -- Posted Tuesday, February 22, 2011 by chb

Motion announces low-end version of C5v MCA tablet
Motion Computing is now offering a low-end version of its C5v Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) using an Intel Core i3 processors and a smaller 30GB solid state disk. This new option makes a lower entry price point (US$1,899) available for healthcare organizations that require the durability, integrated features and ergonomic design of the C5v, but do not need the advanced systems management capabilities of the Intel i5 or i7 vPro processors. -- Posted Tuesday, February 22, 2011 by chb

Tenfold increase in tablet sales predicted
Even though the tablet market is still largely just the Apple iPad, both DisplaySearch and iSuppli predict massive increases in tablet sales over the next three to four years. DisplaySearch predicts an increase in tablet unit sales from just under 20 million in 2010 to a staggering 172 million in 2014, or over a third of all PC sales. iSuppli sees total sales of 242 million in 2015. Note that the projections differentiate between "media tablets," such as the iPad, that will account for the lion's share of unit sales, and tablets with full PC functionality, which are also expected to greatly advance to almost 40 million in 2015. -- Posted Thursday, February 17, 2011 by chb

Acer hedges bets, launches two more tablets
Acer is cranking it up in the tablet arena. Adding to the already announced Iconia Tab A500 tablet PC, at Mobile World Congress 2011, Acer also announced the AMD-powered Iconia Tab W500 that runs Windows 7 on a 10.1-inch screen, and the Nvidia Tegra-powered Iconia A100 that runs Android 3.0 on a smaller 7-inch display. Both tablets have dual cameras. -- Posted Tuesday, February 15, 2011 by chb

HP announces webOS-powered TouchPad
As expected, Hewlett Packard announced the TouchPad, a tablet that is virtually identical in design, size and weight to the Apple iPad, but runs webOS, which Palm pioneered on its Pre and Pixi smartphones. Powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm "Snapdragon" processor and offering either 32 or 64GB of memory, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G WWAN, and a 1.3mp camera, the TouchPad will be available in the summer of 2011. HP did not release information on battery life, price or carriers. [See description and specs of the HP TouchPad] -- Posted Thursday, February 10, 2011 by chb

Full review: updated Getac V100
The Getac V100 is a compact rugged mobile computer that can either be used as a standard laptop or, by rotating the display, as a tablet PC. The latest technology update (2010/2011) includes an energy-efficient ultra-low voltage 1.2GHz Intel Core i7-640UM processor, a large 320GB serial ATA hard disk, gigabit Ethernet, fast wireless PAN and WAN implementations, SD Card reader, super-bright outdoor-viewable screen, and an integrated camera. RuggedPCReview.com spent several weeks with the updated V100 and found much to like. [Read detailed review of the updated Getac V100] -- Posted Tuesday, February 8, 2011 by chb

Mobile Demand adds xTablet C1200 rugged convertible tablet
Mobile Demand announced it is complementing its lineup of rugged Tablet PCs with the xTablet C1200 convertible tablet computer. The C1200 has a 12.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel touch display with optional digitizer and runs Windows 7 on an Intel Core i5-520UM ultra low voltage processor. The 12.9 x 10.9 x 1.6 inch device weighs 5.5 pounds, has an integrated carry handle, solid state storage, a spill-resistant keyboard, and a 4-foot drop spec. I/O can be customized via modules, and a secondary battery can boost battery life to eight hours. [See description and specs of the Mobile Demand xTablet C1200] -- Posted Thursday, February 3, 2011 by chb

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