Archive for the ‘Tablets’ Category
Toshiba unveils world’s thinnest 10-inch tablet no comments
Tablets continue to get lighter and thinner — Toshiba today unveiled its newest Android tablet, which is the thinnest 10-incher yet. The Excite X10 is 0.3 inches thin and weighs in at 1.18 pounds. 
Some of the features of the Exite X10:
- Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor; 1.2GHz with 1GB LPDDR2 RAM.
- 10.1-inch diagonal LED Backlit widescreen Corning Gorilla Glass display with IPS technology and 10-finger multi-touch support; 1280 x 800 resolution, 16:10 aspect ratio.
- 2 MP front-facing and 5 MP rear-facing cameras; LED flash on rear.
- Ports: Micro USB, Micro HDMI.
- Micro SD card slot.
- Gyroscope, accelerometer, GPS, eCompass and ambient light sensor.
- Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
The Excite X10 is expected to be available in the US in the first quarter of this year and will be priced at $529.99 with 16GB or $599.99 with 32GB.
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Kobo Vox gets software update no comments
Kobo has released a new software update for the Kobo Vox tablet. The update includes some bug fixes including:
- Fixed battery level misreporting.
- Improved Wi-Fi connectivity.
- Improved video streaming.
- Improved stability of device when waking from standby.
The reading app has also been improved:
- Reading menu has been improved.
- Built-in dictionary added.
- New background color – sepia.
- New font – Times New Roman.
Additionally, to help prevent accidental powering on of the Vox, the power button will now need to be depressed for 2.5 seconds to turn the tablet on.
The Vox will issue a notification when the software update is ready or you can check for it manually by going to the tablet’s Settings > About Kobo eReader > System Update.
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A tale of three tablets – Kindle Fire vs Nook Tablet vs Kobo Vox 1 comment
The three largest ebooksellers — Amazon, Kobo and Barnes & Noble — all have new reading tablets out for the holidays. The Kindle Fire in particular has reportedly been selling very well — according to Amazon the Fire quickly became its bestselling product right after launch.
Rather than being full fledged tablets like the iPad or a Honeycomb-based device that might be considered a netbook or even laptop replacement, the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet are primarily platforms for consuming content purchased from their respective makers. But Amazon at least seems more than willing to take on the iPad head-to-head, as can be seen at the Kindle vs. iPad page at Amazon, which directly compares the features of the Kindle Fire and the iPad 2.
In some respects the Kobo Vox is the most tablet-like of the three, as it lets users install ereading apps from all three ebookstores and can gain access to multiple app stores. But the Vox suffers from sometimes laggy performance and a buggy web browser. Unless and until Kobo can fix the performance issues of the Vox with software updates it just isn’t in the same class as the other two tablets. Mostly I will be comparing the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire here, although I will be throwing in the occasional comparison to the Vox as well. The Vox was the first of the three to ship and I have already reviewed it.
Both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire appear to be solidly constructed, while the Vox has a rather plasticky feel and suffers from a bezel that seems too wide. The Nook Tablet has the same designer looks as its predecessor, the Nook Color. The Kindle Fire is more plain-looking, but I don’t think it looks bad; perhaps functional with no nonsense is an apt description. At any rate I find the Fire to be more comfortable to hold and use one-handed. The Nook Tablet, while it is about a half ounce lighter, is larger than the Fire and feels like it really needs to be held in both hands. The Fire fits much more comfortably in my (rather large) hand.
The displays on both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire seem equally good to me (with one exception, which I’ll get to), with the Vox again lagging behind. All three devices have great angles of view. All three are equally useless in the sunshine, although they can all be read outdoors in the shade easily enough. The photo above (from left: Kobo Vox, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet) was taken outdoors in the shade of my patio on a sunny winter’s day.
Presumably if you are looking at purchasing one of these reading tablets rather than a full-blown tablet, reading ebooks is one of the primary uses to which you plan on putting it. All three provide a good ebook reading experience, although the Kobo reading app has less features (except for its social reading features, which are probably the strongest). I still prefer reading on an e-ink display rather than on a backlit LCD, but sometimes one wants the color. A backlit screen is also good for situations like reading in bed when a lamp would disturb someone else.
The Fire reading app gives you more type faces to choose from, while the Nook Tablet gives you more background colors. On the Fire I usually read with the sepia background in the daytime. It’s not that I’m a particular fan of sepia, but Amazon only gives you three background color choices. Amazon pairs the sepia background with a brownish black font that is slightly less contrasty than the darker black font B&N uses with its sepia background. I do wish Amazon would offer more background/font color choices. This is increasingly important depending on how light sensitive your eyes are. B&N’s first Nook for iPad app let users set their own background and font colors; I wish we could have that ability again — I was able to come up with some color combinations that were very comfortable on my eyes.
Both the Nook and the Fire let you access device settings and brightness controls from within your ebook. This is convenient as you don’t have to close your book to tweak the brightness level or turn off the Wi-Fi.
The annotations menu of the Nook is more attractive and includes a Share button for sharing quotes on Twitter or Facebook. 
With the Nook Tablet, B&N finally lets its customers read books in landscape mode if they so choose. This feature will also be coming to the Nook Color with an impending update. Other features such as searching and backtracking seem to be adequately supported in both devices. Pagination is better on the Nook as in addition to telling you what page you are on and how many pages the book has it also tells you how many pages are left in the current chapter. All of the Kindle books I’ve opened on the Fire still use the old location system and percentage read instead of showing real page numbers, even when real page numbers are available when the same book is read on an e-ink Kindle.
Shopping for books works well from both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, with each eagerly recommending new titles you might be interested in as well as providing easy to find links to bestseller lists, etc. I find especially the Kindle Store display is nicely done on the Fire, but one complaint I have about it is that you cannot add a Kindle book to your wishlist from the Fire.
You can add to your wishlist at B&N from the Nook Tablet and from the e-ink Kindle ereaders you can add to your Amazon wishlist; so I’m not sure why Amazon left the ability out on the Fire. Perhaps Amazon is hoping that we’ll just hit the Buy It Now button since we can’t use the Wishlist? Using the Add to Wishlist button is good discipline for those of us who already have way more ebooks in our virtual stacks than we can possibly read.
Another ability the Fire is in need of is the ability to make new categories or bookshelves to better organize your library. At the moment all you can do is place titles from the Carousel onto the Favorites shelf on the home screen. The Nook Tablet does let you create additional bookshelves and so has a big leg-up when it comes to keeping your library neatly organized.
Another area in which I think the Nook is superior is the virtual keyboard. The keys on the virtual keyboard of the Kindle Fire are too close together when in portrait mode, causing me and my big fingers to make frequent typos. The keys on the Nook Tablet are spaced further apart and I have no problems typing on its keyboard. In landscape mode the Fire’s keyboard is larger and is easy to use.
The Kindle Newsstand now includes a number of digital magazines that are optimized for the Kindle Fire and faithfully reproduce the print editions. The overall presentation is similar to that of Barnes & Noble. Tapping the screen brings up a sliding strip of page thumbnails for rapidly scanning through the magazine. There is a text view mode that make articles easier to read. On both the Nook and Fire you can adjust font size, background, type face, etc. when in text view mode.
While the presentation is similar on both devices, the Nook Tablet seems a bit more polished. Pan and zoom and sliding the thumbnail strip seem to generally work a little bit more smoothly on the Nook, although I did have the magazine app become unstable once, forcing me to reboot. The Nook also adds a couple of embellishments like a 3D effect to the thumbnails and page curls when turning magazine pages.
As for stability issues, I’ve found both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire to be quite good. On the Nook Tablet I did have to reboot on the one occasion mentioned above. I had to reboot the Fire once when I started a game app and the buttons on the in-game menu were unresponsive.
One of the new features of the Kindle Fire that received a lot of attention pre-launch is Amazon’s Silk web browser, which uses Amazon’s cloud servers to speed up the browsing experience. I found the web browsing experience on both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet to be generally good and both browsers to be quite quick. I’ve done a number of comparison sets and in one series the Nook will be faster more often while at a different time the Fire will win the series by connecting quicker more often. The relative performance of the two tablet’s browsers seems to just depend on the vagaries of the Internet at any given time. Overall the Kindle Fire does seem to be slightly faster more of the time, but the difference is not usually dramatic.
The Nook Tablet has 16GB onboard memory, of which only 1GB can be used for content not purchased at B&N. There is also a microSD card slot. The Kindle Fire has 8GB of built-in memory and beyond that depends on storage in Amazon’s cloud. Personal documents and other content can be stored in the user’s Kindle archive and downloaded to the Fire, Kindle ereader or other devices equipped with a Kindle app as needed. Music can be stored in the cloud and streamed via the Amazon Cloud Drive. Storage is free for music purchased at Amazon.
When listening to music with earphones both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire have much better sound quality than the Vox. Between the Fire and the Nook, the Kindle has the stronger bass, while the Nook Tablet to my ears has somewhat clearer mid-range and highs, but slightly muddy bass. The Nook Tablet’s sound quality was also marred by a faint but ever-present and annoying background hiss. The Fire has an equalizer in the music player’s settings that can be played with to tweak the sound a bit. Overall, I think the Kindle Fire has the best sound.
Both the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire come with Netflix and Hulu Plus apps. Netflix worked fine for me on both devices, but the picture quality seems slightly better on the Nook Tablet — colors are just a little brighter and the picture is a little sharper. The Netflix app is the only place I’ve noticed any real difference in display quality between the two, and I expect that this could be fixed at some point by an update to the Netflix app for the Fire.
The Kindle Fire also has access to Amazon’s streaming video services, and for Amazon Prime members there are over 10,000 movies and TV programs that can be streamed for free. While I was not able to get a Netflix app to work properly on the Vox, it does support more video formats than the Nook or Fire. Users of the latter two devices will likely be spending time with Handbrake or a similar program in order to sideload their own videos.
Apps have the capability to make a device useful for more than just reading and watching video, and when it comes to available apps, the Amazon Appstore has more titles to choose from than B&N’s Nook app store. The Vox enjoys the greatest access to apps as it can gain access to the Amazon Appstore and other app sellers in addition to the Getjar store app it comes with.
I’ve only tried a couple of games but, as expected, performance on the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet was a little smoother than on the Vox. The better displays of the Fire and Nook also make for a better gaming experience.
The first video below is an overview of the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet.
The second video below compares the digital magazine reading experience on both tablets, as well as graphic novels, video on Netflix and YouTube, and a bit of game playing on the Kindle Fire.
So which is the best reader tablet?
To my mind the real choice here is between the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, as the Kobo Vox has issues. Kobo will possibly be able to improve the performance of the Vox and, if so, it may yet prove to be a contender. The Vox’s strong point is that it is not tied to just one content provider. Its weak points are lower performance and a less vibrant display.
I wish I could say that it is a clear-cut choice as to whether the Kindle Fire or the Nook Tablet is better, but I can’t. Both are quite nice for what they do, and both have their own strong points. B&N has been doing the reading tablet thing longer and in some ways the Nook Tablet is a bit more polished, but I would expect Amazon to catch up quickly via software updates. The Nook Tablet has some stronger specs, but the Kindle Fire is backed up by a stronger ecosystem.
To some users, the Nook Tablet’s on-device memory will be more appealing than Amazon’s cloud features. The Nook Tablet will also probably be a better choice for rooting. The Nook Tablet’s better battery life (up to 11.5 hours vs 8 hours) is also appealing. In the end though, I think the choice for most people will depend on which company they prefer doing business with. I like both devices and think that either one will be a good choice if you don’t need the capabilities of a more powerful and more expensive tablet. The Kindle Fire, at $199 does have a price advantage over the Nook Tablet, which is $249.
Personally, I have to say that I prefer the Kindle Fire for my own use. Partly this is because it feels more ergonomic than the Nook Tablet to me, but also because I just like the Kindle platform and the Kindle Store better. Most of my ebooks are Kindle books, and while I still prefer reading them on an e-ink display, the Fire is great when you need color and/or video.
It should be noted that the Kindle Fire does not have all of the abilities that the e-ink based Kindle ereaders have when it comes to organizing and handling text-based content, but that will hopefully change. Since the Fire has been selling so well I would expect and hope for Amazon to bring its capabilities up to the level of the rest of the Kindle family.
I sold my Nook Color to clear some room on my desk (and in my wallet) for the Nook Tablet. If you are wondering if you need to upgrade from the Nook Color, I would say it is probably not necessary for most users. Especially in view of the fact that the NC will be getting what sounds like a major software update in the very near future. The Nook Tablet does have a faster processor, more onboard memory and improved battery life, and will therefore probably make for a more attractive device to root than the NC. The Nook Tablet will also be better for video as it does support more formats. The incoming software update will bring Netflix and Hulu Plus to the Nook Color.
If, on the other hand, you are trying to decide between the Nook Color and the Nook Tablet, I would spend the extra $50 for the tablet. The better specs will provide some future-proofing.
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Kobo Vox reading tablet – review & video no comments
Kobo managed to beat both Amazon and B&N to market with its tablet offering. Like other Kobo readers I’ve tried before, the Kobo Vox feels like something of a work in progress. When I first turned the Vox on I was greeted by a firmware update that was already available and took awhile to install itself before I could use the tablet.
The Kobo Vox is a bit blocky in appearance and feels rather plasticky. It is slightly thicker than both the Fire and the Nook Tablet. A more rounded edge would probably have made Kobo’s tablet look a little more elegant, and the lip of the case is not perfectly flush with the screen, which gives an impression of somewhat cheap construction. The Vox features Kobo’s trademark quilted back with a nonslip coating which does make it comfortable to hold.
Kobo has thoughtfully placed the speaker on the edge of the Vox, so it does not get muffled when the tablet is laying on its back on a table. Sound is not very loud over the speaker, but is more than loud enough when earphones are used. I did find the bass rather lacking when listening to music with earphones. The Vox will probably not be the best choice for listening to music.
The display of the Vox is nice, although it is nowhere close to the display quality of the Nook Color/Tablet or the Kindle Fire. The viewing angle is good. In spite of any hype you may have seen about the display being suitable for outdoor use (“Enjoy Reading Outdoors with the Most Advanced 7 inch AFFS+ multimedia touchscreen with anti-glare”), it is pretty useless in full sunshine, although it can be read in shade.
I often found the Vox to be a bit laggy when loading apps or in transitions during games. Things like orientation changes and pinch-to-zoom generally work quickly and smoothly. YouTube videos played well for me.
The web browser on the Vox is a bit hit and miss. When it is working properly it seems quick, and features like pinch-to-zoom and orientation changes work smoothly. Sometimes the browser stops working though, and every site I try to load gives me a Webpage Unavailable error, even when the Vox is well connected to my Wi-Fi network.
Sometimes hitting the menu button and closing all except the current window will fix this problem. Sometimes clearing all of the cache, history and cookies has also worked, but occasionally the only way I can get the browser to work properly is to reboot the Vox.
For reading the Vox comes with the Kobo for Android app. One of the Kobo ereading platform’s strongest features is its social reading suite. Reading Life shows your reading stats and awards, While Pulse lets you share your thoughts and comments about a book with other Kobo users. Pulse will also reveal some statistics about the Kobo book you are reading, such as how many other people have read the book and what comments they have made about it. Notes and highlights can be shared on Facebook. Both Reading Life and Pulse are included in Kobo’s Android app. All of the social reading features can be turned off if that is your preference.
Other than the social reading features, I find that the Android app from Kobo is in some ways a bit vanilla. There is a night mode, but no options for differently colored backgrounds other than black. Font size is selected by means of a slider rather than by icons that show the relative size of different fonts, which I prefer. The largest font is about the same size as the largest Kindle font and will be good for readers with visual impairments. There are nine different font styles to choose from. Books can be read in landscape with either one or two pages displayed, but there are no page turning animations if you are into that.
Other reading tools include a slider to quickly navigate through the book, an icon to take one to the table of contents, an info icon that brings up an overview of the book, and an icon to view your notes and highlights. One thing I don’t like is that you cannot make multiple bookmarks anywhere you like — a bookmark is automatically placed at your last-read page. I also am not a big fan of Kobo’s system of chapter-centric pagination. The Kobo for Android app does not currently support PDF files, but you can download a number of apps for that. Neither does the app have a built-in dictionary — getting a definition requires closing down the Kobo reading app and opening the standalone Merriam Webster app that comes preloaded on the Vox.
For digital newspapers and magazines the Vox comes preloaded with PressReader and Zinio. Some of the other apps that come preloaded onto the Vox (like Rdio, Globe2Go, etc.) may be unwanted but it appears one is stuck with them as they seem to be unremovable.
The app store for the Kobo Vox is Getjar, but the selection of apps you have access to there is tailored for the Vox. For example, Getjar does have the Kindle for Android app, but if you sign in with the Vox you will not see it. The Nook app is available at Getjar and can be installed on the Vox.
Getting the Kindle Android app onto the Vox is not difficult. You can use the browser to search for “Kindle APK” (you will probably have to go into the settings and under Applications allow installation of non-Market applications before you can install this).
Or you can simply point the browser to Amazon.com where you should be greeted with a button to “Get Amazon Apps for Android” (this is on Amazon’s mobile site which should open by default on the Vox’s browser) which will enable you to download and install the Kindle app, Amazon Appstore for Android as well as Amazon’s other mobile apps. Other app stores can also be installed on the Vox to give you access to even more apps. The Vox, like other tablets that run versions of Android intended for phones (Android v2.3 in the case of the Vox), cannot access the Android Market.
The fact that you can install ereading apps from multiple ebook sellers does give the Kobo Vox a leg up over both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet in terms of being able to access ebooks from all three of the major ebooksellers in North America from one device. With access to Amazon’s Appstore, Getjar and other app stores the Vox will have access to 
more apps as well. Now obviously these tablets will get rooted and probably thereby gain access to the Android Market — I’m just talking about what’s available for them out of the box.
The OverDrive Media Console can be installed for borrowing library ebooks. You can download it here (you have to agree to the license to start the download). Adobe Digital Editions unfortunately does not yet recognize the Kobo Vox.
The most recent Netflix APK does not seem to want to install on the Vox. I have also tried a couple of older versions without success. The closest I could get was to be able to sign into my Netflix account and see my queue, but when I tried to play a video the app would force close. Hopefully the Vox will have access to Netflix and Hulu in the future or it will be a major mark against it when compared to the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. Video I’ve played on the Vox has worked fine, both when encountered on the Internet and that which I’ve sideloaded.
My impressions of the Kobo Vox so far are so-so. Kobo is good about continuously improving its ereaders with firmware updates and presumably will be doing the same with the Vox. Once I have been able to use the Nook Tablet and the Kindle Fire I’ll be able to do some side-by-side comparisons and it will be interesting to see how the Vox holds up. My Kindle Fire arrived last night while I was finishing this up and, while I only have been able to use it for a few minutes, my first impression is that it blows the Vox out of the water.
The one major advantage the Vox does seem to have over the Fire and Nook is that you can get reading apps from all three stores onto it and it will have access to more apps. A few reading apps from Kobo, Wattpad, Aldiko and others are available in the Amazon Appstore for Android, and I was hoping that these would be installable on the Fire. That, unfortunately, is not the case.
The Vox is available now for $199.99 direct from Kobo,or from Best Buy and Fry’s in the US. In Canada the Vox is available from Chapters Indigo Coles, Future Shop, Best Buy and Kobo.
Below is my video review of the Kobo Vox. While I was working on it my Kindle Fire arrived, so it also makes a brief appearance at the end.
Covers and Cases for the Kobo Vox
There are not many covers available yet for the Vox. A couple to look at are the Leather Executive Folio ($20) and the Leather Executive SRX Series Case ($25), both by Kiwi Cases.
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Moto Xoom refurb $330 no comments
Woot has Motorola Xoom 32GB refurbished tablets on sale today for $329.99. This is a little lower than I remember having seen these priced at before.
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B&N announces Nook Tablet, lowers NC and Nook ST prices no comments
Barnes & Noble today unveiled the Nook Tablet, which will be competing directly with the Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon. The Nook Tablet will be priced at $249, and B&N will be lowering the price of the Nook Color to $199 and the Nook Simple Touch ereader to $99. 
The Nook Tablet will feature streaming HD movies and TV programming via Netflix and Hulu Plus, which is a larger pool of content than Amazon’s instant video service that the Kindle Fire will have access to. B&N also will be launching a Nook Comics store that will be dedicated to graphic novels.
Stylistically, the Nook Tablet appears to feature the same elegant design as the Nook Color, and will also feature a 7-inch VividView display from LG. The Nook Tablet will be powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor and comes with 16 GB of internal memory. Additional storage space can be added via a microSD card slot. Battery life is said to be up to nine hours of video or 11.5 hours of reading. The Nook Tablet weighs in at 14.1 ounces — slightly less than the Kindle Fire’s 14.6 ounces.
Some of the other specs of the Nook Tablet:
- Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x .48 inches.
- 7-inch VividView Touchscreen with IPS; 1024 x 600, 169 PPI.
- Processor: TI OMAP4 Dual-core with 1GB RAM.
- Email client with unified inbox.
- Parental controls to disable web browser.
- Video formats: MP4, Adobe Flash Player format, 3GP, 3G2 MKV, WEBM (Video Codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, H.263, VP8).
- Built-in microphone; this will be supported by new Nook Kids books with a new Read and Record feature.
It was also announced that “Barnes & Noble’s largest software update ever” will be coming to the Nook Color in early December. Finally, with this update, B&N will address one of the most requested features for the Nook Color — the ability to read ebooks in landscape mode. Netflix will also be coming to the Nook Color, with Hulu Plus to follow in the near future. 
Altogether, the update will include over 100 enhancements.
There is also a new software update for the Nook Simple Touch ereader that is available today. You can manually download v1.1.0 now or wait for it to be pushed out over the Wi-Fi connection within the next few weeks.
B&N also had a couple of announcements pertaining to its Nook platform in general: Beginning next month B&N will enable Nook Book and Nook App gifting from its website. Customers will also be able to apply their Barnes & Noble gift cards to purchases made while shopping at B&N.com from the Nook Color and Nook Tablet.
The Nook Tablet is available now for pre-order for $249. It is expected to be in stores on Nov 17, which is about the same time as the Kindle Fire will be out. Yesterday a few new retail partners for the Nook ereaders were announced; TigerDirect, CompUSA and Fry’s will all soon be offering the Nook ereaders.
Nook Tablet vs Kindle Fire
Barnes & Noble has not only introduced a strong new entry into the tablet market today but with the accompanying announcements pertaining to the Nook Color and Nook Touch ereader has strengthened its ereader platform as a whole.
Neither the Nook Tablet or the Kindle Fire is out just yet, but looking at the published specs makes for some interesting comparisons:
- Pricing: The Kindle Fire is $199 vs the Nook Tablet’s price of $249.
- Styling: The Kindle Fire looks like just another tablet, while the Nook Tablet looks like a fashion accessory. Seriously, I think Amazon’s ereaders need some improvement in the Looking Good Department.
- Size and weight: The Kindle Fire (7.5 x 4.7 x 0.45 inches) is slightly smaller than the Nook Tablet (8.1 x 5 x .48 inches), but is a little heavier — 14.6 ounces vs 14.1 ounces for the Nook Tablet.
- Battery life: The Nook Tablet gets better battery life: 11.5 hours reading, 9 hours video vs 8 hours reading and 7.5 hours video for the Kindle Fire.
- Storage: The Nook Tablet has 16GB of internal storage plus a microSD card slot; the Kindle Fire comes with 8GB of internal memory.
- Content: Personally I still like the Kindle Store best, but I also like the Nook Book store, which has improved by leaps and bounds. You are still more likely to find a contemporary ebook title at the Kindle Store, especially if it is farther out in the long tail. The Kindle Fire will also have access to ebooks from Kobo and Wattpad via the apps in the Appstore for Android. When it comes to streaming video, the combination of Netflix and Hulu Plus mean more video content will be available for the Nook. But these are both subscription services. Existing Amazon Prime members will have over 10,000 movies and TV programs to stream at no additional charge. Prime members can also read 5,000 Kindle books for free that are part of the Kindle Lending Library. Prime membership costs $79 per year and includes free two-day shipping on eligible items sold at Amazon. UPDATE: Amazon has announced that Netflix will be available for the Kindle Fire at the Appstore for Android when the tablet ships. Hulu Plus, Pandora, ESPN ScoreCenter and Comics by comiXology will also be available for the Fire.
- Other features: The Kindle Fire will be a good choice if you purchase your digital music through Amazon as you can store it and stream it using the Amazon Cloud Drive. To some extent Amazon’s cloud storage might make up for the smaller onboard storage of the Kindle Fire for many users. For web browsing Amazon’s Silk browser looks promising and should result in a faster browsing experience.
Both the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet look good and both have their pros and cons. It will be interesting to have both tablets side by side to see the relative performance. The Nook Tablet looks to be a very strong contender with some stronger specs, although it is pricier. Actually, at $199 and with the addition of Netflix and Hulu Plus the Nook Color has strengthened its position against the Kindle Fire. For those who do a lot of shopping at Amazon a Kindle Fire plus a Prime membership will probably be the winning combination.
P.S. I have to say that I am not a big fan of 7-inch tablets. While they are very portable, I find that the larger 10-inch screen format is better for many of the things I want to do with a tablet. On the other hand a 10-inch tablet is often a little too large to be really portable. I have played with demo units of the 8.9-inch Samsung Tab and I think this screen size is a nice compromise.
The rumor mill has had it that Amazon is planning a 10-inch version of the Kindle Fire for early next year. A few days ago DigiTimes reported that the latest word from its sources is that Amazon will instead launch an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire in 2011 with larger sizes to possibly follow in 2012. If you also feel that the 7-inchers are somewhat less than satisfying this is good news and it may be worth waiting for a slightly larger Kindle Fire.
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HP announces a new tablet no comments
HP recently announced plans to abandon its PC hardware business and to shut down its WebOS operations. In its hurry to close the door on WebOS, HP liquidated the remaining stock (and then some) of its WebOS based TouchPad tablet at a ridiculous price. The TouchPad had been suffering from disappointing sales until HP marked it down to $99.
In an about-face HP later decided to abandon its plans to abandon its PC division and instead abandoned its CEO. And apparently HP never intended to completely abandon the tablet market as today it introduced a new one of those. 
The Slate 2 tablet will run Windows 7 and is aimed at business users rather than consumers. It will feature an 8.9-inch multitouch display and run on an Intel Atom Z670 processor. Beefed-up security features will help guard sensitive data. Available accessories include the HP Retail Mobile Point of Sale Case, which features an integrated magnetic stripe reader and barcode scanner for retailers.
Some of the Slate 2 tablet’s other features:
- Display: 8.9-inch; WSVGA 1024 x 600 or 1024 x 768 for some applications.
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 600.
- Security: TPM Embedded Security Chip 1.2 HP ProtectTools: Security Manager, Embedded Security, Computrace.
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, optional 3G.
- Internal memory 2GB.
- Forward-facing webcam and rear-facing 3MP camera.
- Battery life up to 6 hours.
- Dimensions: 9.21 x 0.61 x 5.9 in (23.4 x 1.5 x 15 cm); Weight: Starting at 1.5 lbs (0.69 kg).
Currently HP lists two versions of the Slate 2 tablet: A model with a 32GB SSD that will sell for $699 and a 64GB version for $799. The Slate 2 is expected to be available worldwide later this month.
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Cruz R101 for $60 no comments
Daily deals site Daily Steals currently has the Velocity Micro Cruz R101 7-inch tablet on sale for $59.99. This is about the lowest price I remember seeing on this older model tablet. The sale will last for 24 hours only and ends tomorrow, Nov 2 in the evening.
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Tablets outsell netbooks for first time in Q2 2011 no comments
Or at least tablets out-shipped netbooks in the second quarter — 13.6 million tablets vs 7.3 million netbooks. This according to a newly released study from ABI Research.
The iPad 2 made up the lion’s share of tablet shipments during the period, accounting for 68% of the total. ABI expects 32 million netbooks and 60 million tablets to ship worldwide this year.
“This is a trend that we do not expect will reverse,” says Jeff Orr, group director, mobile devices. “As they are different segments, this is not a direct replacement behavior, but a changing of leadership for the most interesting device type.”
I can say that my own netbook has become rather attention-starved since a couple of tablets joined my tech kit.
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Netflix updates its Android app to support 3.x devices no comments
Netflix updated its Android app today to support devices running Android 3.x. I previously had an earlier Netflix APK I had downloaded on my Xoom as the Android Market would not let me install the earlier versions on it. Picture quality was not very good so I didn’t use it much. The new official version (v1.5.0) works fine on my Xoom and picture quality is much improved.
Some of the reviewers at the Android Market are reporting that the update breaks the video with some devices, so read the reviews before updating. This update does not seem to want to play at all with anything running CM7.
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