Sony releases slimmer 9.4-inch Tablet S as part of Xperia line
Sony announced today the launch of the aluminum-bodied, NVIDIA Tegra 3 quadcore-powered Android 4.0 Xperia Tablet S, a thin and light device packed with original apps and Sony exclusive features such as a universal remote control with a guest mode. The 1.26 pound Xperia Tablet S has a 9.4-inch 1280 x 800 pixel IPS display, HDMI, a full-size SD Card slot, a 10-hour battery, and it comes in 16GB (US$399), 32GB (US$499) and 64GB (US$599) versions. -- Posted Wednesday, August 29, 2012 by chb
Archos unveils very thin 101 XS tablet
Archos announced its Gen10 XS tablet line. The OMAP 4470-powered ARCHOS 101 XS, a 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel Android 4.0 tablet that weighs 1.3 pounds and is less than a third of an inch thick, will debut mid-September followed by the ARCHOS 97 XS and ARCHOS 80 XS later in 2012. The 101 XS, which will retail for US$399, has 16GB of Flash memory, micro-SUB, MicroSD, mini-HDMI, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. [See Archos 101 XS page] -- Posted Tuesday, August 28, 2012 by chb
OmniVision launches cost-competitive 5-megapixel CameraChip sensor for tablets and smart devices
OmniVision, which makes digital imaging solutions, announced the OV5648, a high-performance, low-cost 5-megapixel CameraChip sensor for smartphones and tablets. The new sensor combines a smaller die size with higher quality photography and high definition (1080p/30 and 720p/60) video, and adding a significant improvement in low-light performance. The entire sensor fits into a 6 x 6 mm fixed focus module with a height of less than 4.5 mm. -- Posted Tuesday, August 28, 2012 by chb
DAP Technologies unveils ruggedized Windows tablet with 9.7-inch multi-touch IPS display
Today's market is ready to deploy tablets in numerous areas, but many businesses require a Microsoft OS platform and more ruggedness than media tablets can provide. DAP Technologies addresses these issues with their new Intel Atom N2600-powered M9700 2.2-pound tablet with a 9.7-inch multi-touch display that currently runs Windows Embedded Standard 7, but looks to be Windows 8 ready. The M9700's ruggedness specs far exceed those of consumer media tablets. [See analysis and specs of the DAP M9700 rugged tablet] -- Posted Friday, August 24, 2012 by chb
Latest MobileDemand blog: rugged tablets in retail
MobileDemand posted a new article entitled "Increase Retail Effectiveness with Rugged Tablet PCs." Note that MobileDemand posts brief articles on all sorts of ways of making tablet computers work for industry and business. The latest can always be found here, so if interested, check back frequently. -- Posted Wednesday, August 22, 2012 by chb
N-trig's active pen + multi-touch DuoSense certified for Win 8
N-trig announced that its DuoSense pen and multi-touch user interface has passed Microsoft's requirements for Windows 8 certification with approval of a production-ready system from a major OEM. Optimized for Windows 8 apps that take advantage of the active pen and multi-touch user interface, DuoSense seeks to transform the mobile computing experience from simple media consumption to content creation, increased productivity and true interaction. -- Posted Monday, August 20, 2012 by chb
Weird: Major vendors drop Win RT tablet plans due to "component supply delays"
According to Bloomberg, Toshiba followed HP in announcing it won't initially make tablets for Microsoft's upcoming Windows RT for ARM-based devices. The given reason was "component supply delays." Soooo... Windows tablets were always supposed too expensive and too clumsy to catch on, but now that Windows RT promises less expensive, sleeker ARM-based Windows tablets, the big players want to stay with good, old X86-based tablets. Seems a classic Catch-22. -- Posted Friday, August 17, 2012 by chb
Kno education app and Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 bring interactive textbook experience to Android
Kno, an erstwhile tablet hardware hopeful turned pioneer in education software, announced that its digital textbook app will debut on Android with the new Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1, providing more choice for parents and students who are heading back to school. Kno's app with over 70 interactive features comes preloaded on the GALAXY Note 10.1, which features Samsung's S Pen technology to enable handwriting recognition and richer interactivity. -- Posted Thursday, August 16, 2012 by chb
Full review: the new Motion F5t tablet
The latest version of Motion's F5 "field tool" has received yet another major power boost thanks to a switch to the Intel 3rd generation Core processor platform. The performance boost is massive and clearly noticeable in almost every aspect. Our benchmarks show an overall 2x improvement over the predecessor model. Even with the much more powerful processor and the same size battery, battery life of the 10.4-inch 3.3-pound tablet has improved significantly. [Read full review of the Motion F5t tablet] -- Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2012 by chb
iPad has 72% marketshare in China in Q2 2012
DigiTimes reports that, according to Chinese Analysys International, the Apple iPad grabbed 72% tablet marketshare in China for Q2 of 2012. Lenovo was a very distant second at just 8.4%, Samsung, Acer, Asus, etc., all had under 4%. Given the large number of Chinese "white box" tablets, the iPad's dominance is surprising. -- Posted Wednesday, August 8, 2012 by chb
Use handwriting to search Google
Did you know you can use handwriting to search Google mobile on touchscreen devices? Simply enable "Handwrite" in the Google screen Search Settings. Thanks, Adam Pash at Lifehacker for pointing that out (see here)! -- Posted Monday, August 6, 2012 by chb
RIM introduces 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook
Research In Motion (RIM) launched a new and faster (1.5GHz dual-core CPU) 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet with built-in support for cellular networks. Featuring the latest (QNX-based) BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2 software and 32GB of storage, the 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.4 inch 4G LTE BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is also enterprise ready. It can be managed with BlackBerry Mobile Fusion and includes BlackBerry Balance technology, which allows a user to use a BlackBerry PlayBook for both work and personal purposes by keeping business information highly secure and separate from personal information. -- Posted Friday, August 3, 2012 by chb
Thanks to tablets, 2012 will bring new world record in PC shipments
Canalys reported that global client PC shipments rose 12% to 108.7 million units year on year in Q2 2012. Growth in pads more than compensated for disappointing sales of Ultrabooks. The new iPad had the biggest single impact on growth rates in the quarter, but Asus and Samsung made progress with their Transformer and Galaxy Tab product lines. Total pad shipments increased 75% to 24 million units, representing 22% of all PCs. [See Canalys press release] -- Posted Thursday, August 2, 2012 by chb
InfoSonic launches IPx5-sealed R800 7-inch Android tablet
InfoSonics — a designer, manufacturer and provider of wireless handsets and related products to OEMs, carriers and distributors — announced its new shock-resistant Android-based WiFi/3G verykool R800 Outdoor Tablet with with a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen, up to 16GB of storage and an IPx5 sealing rating, which means it is protected against low-pressure water jets from all directions. [See InfoSonics R800 page] -- Posted Thursday, August 2, 2012 by chb