Archive for the ‘tablet pc’ tag
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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Splashtop Remote Desktop app gets optimized for Honeycomb tablets no comments
Splashtop is an app that lets you access and control your computer from your
mobile device. The app has been a bestseller at the Apple App Store for the iPad and iPhone. Today an update to the Android version of the app was released that provides optimization for Honeycomb tablets.
Splashtop will connect via Wi-Fi to computers running Windows 7, Vista, XP or Mac OS X 10.6 or higher. Besides enabling you to work on your computer documents and access files and applications remotely, the app is also capable of doing things like streaming video and audio from your computer to your tablet. Gaming is also supported.
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Dolby sues RIM – wants to halt sales of PlayBook no comments
Dolby Laboratories has filed a set of patent infringement lawsuits against Research in Motion. Dolby is seeking financial damages and is also trying to get an injunction against RIM to halt sales of RIM products that allegedly infringe on the company’s patents, including the PlayBook tablet.
The lawsuits explain that RIM infringes Dolby patents covering highly efficient digital audio compression technologies which allow manufacturers and consumers to provide and enjoy high quality audio while using extremely limited amounts of transmission and/or storage space for such audio. RIM employs Dolby’s patented technologies in its Blackberry smart phones and Playbook tablet devices, without having obtained licenses from Dolby, the lawsuits say. All other major smart phone makers have agreed to license the Dolby technologies which are the subject of this litigation.
“Litigation was regrettably our last resort after RIM declined to pay for the use of Dolby’s technology,” said Andy Sherman, executive vice president and general counsel of Dolby. “We have a duty to protect our intellectual property.”
Dolby has filed lawsuits against RIM both in the US and in Germany.
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HP TouchPad to touch down soon no comments
The webOS powered TouchPad tablet from HP will be available for pre-order in the US beginning June 19, with shipments expected to start going out around July 1. The TouchPad will be priced at $499.99 for 16GB and $599.99 for the 32GB version.
Some of the features of the TouchPad:
- Operating system: HP webOS.
- CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-CPU APQ8060 1.2GHz.
- Display: 9.7-inch multitouch; 1024 x 768 resolution.
- Supports Microsoft Exchange.
- Supports Adobe Flash Player and HTML5.
- Built-in GPS (3G models only), accelerometer, compass, gyroscope.
- Front-facing 1.3 megapixel webcam.
- Supported A/V formats: Audio (without DRM): MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV; Video: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264.
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n; Bluetooth.
- Micro USB port (USB 2.0). 3.5mm audio jack.
- Stereo speakers with Beats Audio.
- Dimensions 190mm (7.48 inches) x 240mm (9.45 inches) x 13.7mm (0.54 inches); weight 1.6 pounds.
The TouchPad will provide some additional synergy when combined with an HP Pre smartphone. For example, you can share a website address between the two by just touching them together. You will also be able to answer incoming calls and text messages to your HP Pre phone from the TouchPad. The TouchPad will also have the ability to print wirelessly to compatible networked HP printers.
Amazon will release a free Kindle app for the TouchPad and Kobo has announced that its app will come preloaded on the new HP tablet.
HP will be launching the TouchPad in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany and Canada in July as well. Other countries, including Spain, Italy, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore should see the tablet arriving on their shores later in the year.
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Toshiba Thrive tablet pre-orders starting June 13 no comments
Toshiba’s Digital Products Division announced today that its Thrive tablet will
be available for pre-order beginning Monday June 13. The Thrive will be powered by Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) and will be priced at $429.99 for the base model with 8GB. A 16GB model is available for $479.99 and 32GB of internal memory will cost you $579.99.
“The Thrive Tablet is a reflection of what consumers have come to expect from Toshiba products – finished innovation,” said Jeff Barney, vice president and general manager, Toshiba America Information Systems, Digital Products Division. “Designed to be complete, customizable, connected and convenient, the Thrive Tablet stands out from other tablets as it gives users features that are already familiar to them, as well as the freedom to integrate the device into their digital lifestyles.”
Some of the features of the Toshiba Thrive:
- NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor.
- SD Card slot.
- 10.1-inch multitouch LED display; 1280 x 800 resolution; Display is enhanced by Toshiba’s Adaptive Display and Resolution+ video enhancement technologies to increase clarity and sharpness.
- Connectivity: USB 2.0, HDMI, Wi-Fi
- 2MP front-facing webcam and 5MP rear-facing camera.
- Gyroscope and accelerometer.
- Stereo speakers tuned with sound enhancement technology from Toshiba and SRS Labs.
The Thrive features a user-removable back cover that can be replaced with covers of different colors to personalize the tablet. Toshiba will also be offering two docking stations: A Standard Dock for $40 that will charge the Thrive and has a built in 3.5mm stereo audio port; The Multi-Dock that includes a full-size HDMI port, two USB 2.0 ports and a 3.5mm stereo audio port. The Multi-Dock will be priced at $60. There will be an official cover for the Thrive from Toshiba as well.
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Taptu launches app for Android tablets no comments
Taptu has released a new version (v1.4) of its visual news reading app that has been optimized for use with Android tablets, including those powered by Honeycomb. 
Taptu is a free app that lets you ‘DJ the news’ by mixing stories on topics that you choose. You can import up to 100 RSS feeds from your Google Reader account or find streams in the Taptu StreamStore, share news with Facebook and Twitter accounts and save articles for later reading to your Instapaper account.
I just installed Taptu on my Moto Xoom last night and have had a few hours to
play with it. I really like the graphic way in which Taptu presents individual articles from RSS feeds as thumbnails, making for a much faster way of scanning through them. Lately I only have time to scan my RSS feeds once or twice a week — the Taptu layout makes it much easier and faster for me to do this.
On the whole a great app — especially if you have a lot of RSS feeds and want a faster and more visually appealing way to scan through them.
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Looking for color ereaders at CES 2011 no comments
I just got back from spending a day and a half at CES. 
The disappointing news was that there was no new color ereader announced that would be hitting the shelves here soon. I did get to see demos of three color ereaders using reflective display tech: Mirasol from Qualcomm, Hanvon’s color ereader using a color e-ink display from E Ink Holdings, and the color ereader manufactured by Delta Electronics using Bridgestone’s QR-LPD (AeroBee) display. Curiously, Liquavista did not seem to have a display this year, and the company has not even sent out any recent press releases.
Apologies on the quality of the videos – CES is extremely crowded and noisy. It also didn’t help that I started loosing my voice by the end of the first day.
Qualcomm’s Mirasol display definitely looks like the best by far of the reflective color display technologies for dedicated ereaders. The colors on both the color e-ink and QR-LPD displays were very muted. The QR-LPD display took a long time to refresh and the color e-ink seemed slower than the monochrome version as well. The QR-LPD based ereader has a touchscreen that requires a stylus. At times it seemed not very responsive, but this could have just been the demo unit – these things take a lot of abuse.
Vivitek will be distributing the Delta Electronics/Bridgestone ereader in China this year. At the booth I was told that they hope to bring it to the US in the second half of 2011. There are two sizes: an 8.2-inch model and a 13.1-inch model that seems more targeted at business users. The resolution of the QR-LPD displays is not very high: 480 x 384 for the 8.2 inch and only 800 x 600 for the 13.1-inch display. Bridgestone’s display technology will also be used for signage.
Hanvon’s color ereader will be available in China in a few months and most likely come to the US later this year.
We should see Mirasol-based ereaders some time this year from some as of yet undisclosed ereader maker (quite possibly PocketBook). Of the other technologies, I like the Liquavista display demo I saw last year better than either the color e-ink or QR-LPD solutions.
As expected there were tablets galore at this year’s CES. I really liked the Motorola tablet shown in the video below. Its guardian at the Motorola booth said that the Xoom is what the engineers at Google have and are using to develop Android 3 (Honeycomb) on (not sure if it is the only tablet they are using). This is also one of the few new tablets that comes close to matching the iPad’s battery life. Verizon will be the service provider for the Xoom tablet and it is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2011.
Another very interesting tablet from an ereading perspective is the Android-based LT-W Cloud Communicator from NEC. This is a dual 7-inch screen device that is very portable and versatile. When web browsing you can display one page in either portrait or landscape mode across both screens or have separate windows open in each screen. You can also do things like show a whole document on one screen while zooming in for a closer view on the second screen. The dual displays can either work together on one project or on separate projects. When reading ebooks the LT-W displays one page on each screen just like an open pbook. I was impressed with the LT-W and will do a separate post on it.
And finally, a couple of small bits of news I heard while touring the booths:
I was told at the M-Edge booth that the company presently has no plans to produce the waterproof Guardian Case for the Kindle 3. They were eager instead to focus my attention on their new product – MyEdge – a new service that will let you design and personalize your own Kindle and Nook jackets for about $40 and iPad jackets for $50.
At the OverDrive booth I was told that an iPad optimized version of the OverDrive Media Console that will include support for ebooks should at last be available by the end of Q1. In the meantime you can of course use the iPhone app, but it is not optimal.
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Amazon to introduce Kindle apps tailored for Android and Windows tablets no comments
Amazon announced today that it would be releasing its Kindle apps tailored specifically for Android and Windows based tablets. Like the other Kindle apps, the new versions will be able to sync across devices.
The current crop of Android tablets cannot access the Android Market and there is no reason Amazon would not want these users to have access to the Kindle Store. The Kindle for Android app originally was available through the Android Market, but has been showing up lately in other app stores as well. Soon the app should be easily available to all of the Android tablets out there.
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North Korean eReader 1 comment
Well actually it’s a PDA, but one of the things you can do with it is read ebooks. Other features include a translation dictionary 
that includes a large Russian-Korean and Korean-Russian section (apparently because Russian is said to be absent from similar devices made in South Korea). There are also dictionaries for English, Chinese and German.
Additionally, this latest gift bestowed by the Great Leader upon his people is said to be able to play videos and music and play games. The top of the line model comes with 8GB of memory and with an actual slot for the stylus. On your next trip to Pyongyang you can pick one of these babies up for $140.
Source: Show and Tell Pyongyang, where you will find more photos, via The Register.
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ViewSonic unveils tablets no comments
ViewSonic unveiled two new Android-based tablets yesterday. ViewPads will come in both a 7-inch model powered by 
Android 2.2 and a 10.1-inch dual boot tablet featuring both Windows 7 and Android 1.6.
The ViewPad 7 comes with a 800 x 480 WVGA LCD display with capacitive multitouch. It will be 3.5G capable and will feature Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Both front and rear facing cameras are featured. In addition to 512MB of internal memory an SD card slot can add up to 32GB of storage. Battery life is said to be up to 10 hours. The ViewPad 7 will be able to access the Android Market.
ViewSonic expects to release the ViewPad 7 by the end of the year for around $479.
The ViewPad 10 with its dual-boot OS will follow in the first quarter of 2011 and is expected to have an MSRP of around $629. It seems to me that if the ViewPad 10 is not coming out until the first quarter of next year it would be better for ViewSonic to use Android 3.0, which should enable access to the Android Market.
The tablet market is starting to look like the ereader market did at the end of last year — if all of the announced tablets actually make it to market it is going to be a very crowded space indeed.
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