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