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Dec

[Update: Possibly Fake] Best Buy Reduces Price Of Verizon's Galaxy Tab To $500 Without Contract

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Deals, Galaxy Tab, News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless

Though it previously retailed for $599, the Verizon version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab can now be purchased from Best Buy without a contract for just $499. The price drop may be an indication that the WiFi-only Galaxy Tab could retail for much less.

Update: It looks like this is fake! Our own source at Best Buy, as well as calls to various brick-and-mortar locations, suggest to us that this is just a case of Photoshop trickery. Sorry for any confusion! -- Aaron

Update 2: According to commenter K, this deal has indeed been going on for a bit - to get the discounted price, you have to sign up for at least the $20 plan, which can be canceled after the first month.

Dec

Motorola Teases Honeycomb Tablet, Promises Unveiling At CES 2011

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Motorola, News

Samsung might have made some cool commercials for the Galaxy Tab, but you and I both know that when it comes to advertisements, Motorola still reigns supreme. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the first promo video for their upcoming Honeycomb tablet is nothing short of epic:

As you can see, Moto thinks it has what it takes to take out both the iPad and the Galaxy Tab - in fact, the video calls the former "a giant iPhone" and accuses the latter of running "Android OS for a phone." Furthermore, tablets of old (i.e. ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic tablets) are ridiculed as having "good graphics" but "difficult portability."

Unfortunately, the video doesn't reveal many new details on the tablet other than confirming that it will run Honeycomb, as evidenced by the bee seen at the end of the video.

Nov

Archos 43 16GB Tablet On Sale Now For $250 In US And Canada

Posted by David Ruddock in 43, Froyo 2.2, News

If for some reason you were lusting after the Archos 43 upon ogling the company's lineup of Froyo tablets, good news, you can buy one right now from Archos, for a tidy sum of $250 (this is for the 16GB model, the 8GB model is not currently available). What does a quarter of a grand get you? We've provided Archos' full tech specs at the end of the post, as they're quite lengthy. Currently, Archos appears to only be shipping the 43 to Canada and the US, via their online store - somewhat odd, as they are based in France (the French store shows the device is still "Coming Soon").

Oct

T-Mobile To Launch Samsung Galaxy Tab For $399 On Contract/$649 Off? Does It Stand A Chance Against The WiFi/WiFi+3G iPads? [Comparison]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Tab, News, Samsung, T-Mobile

Earlier this week, BGR leaked a likely $399 on-contract price tag for the Sprint's version of the upcoming Galaxy Tab. Today, TmoNews dug up some slides showing T-Mobile's version of the tablet coming with the same $399 price tag (on a 2-year contract of course), albeit after a $50 rebate. The version that will free you from the carrier's firm grip will make you part with an additional $250 and cost a whopping $649.99.

Galaxy Tab Vs The iPad

Comparing this to the iPad, where $499 buys you a comparable WiFi-only 16GB version and $629 gets you the WiFi+3G one, the Tab fits kind of in the middle.

Sep

Fruit Ninja Now Available For Android

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

We told you it was coming today, and indeed here it is - Fruit Ninja, one of the most popular iOS games just entered the Android world, powered by OpenFeint.

Download

You can download the game for $0.99 by clicking or scanning the barcode below:

A Few Notes

it is quite big - almost 14MB, but it doesn't yet support apps2sd in Froyo. I'm sure that is coming later
the graphics, physics, UI - everything is very well done. It's a direct port from the iOS version using the NDK (Native Development Kit) - not a Java rewritten version
in my opinion, the copycats, such as Ninja Kaka and Fruit Pirate are nowhere near as good
the new Arcade mode is coming soon - for now it's only available on iOS

Screenshots

Sep

Nielsen Mobile App Report: Android Users Respond To Advertisement The Most + More [AppNation]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

I am live here at the AppNation conference in San Francisco, and after San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom's welcome speech, in which he tried to get a bunch of developers to make apps for the government for free (yeah, riiight), we are looking at a mobile report from Nielsen, called The State Of Mobile Apps.

Nielsen, one of the largest media research companies in the world, compiled a report containing a few interesting metrics, such as:

Most Popular Apps
Application Discovery Methods
Free VS Paid Apps
App Billing Preference
a few Advertising related stats

You can download and read the full report below, but before you do that, I wanted to highlight one metric that I found the most interesting.

Sep

Samsung Galaxy Tab Hands-On Preview Roundup; Consensus: It's The First Serious Android Tablet

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Editorials, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy Tab, News, Reviews, Tablet Reviews

Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

Ever since the first rumors about an Apple tablet started circulating around the blogosphere, we Android enthusiasts have been dying to see an Android tablet of equivalent caliber, and it seems like Samsung's new Galaxy Tab might just be the one.

Unfortunately, Android Police did not have a chance to visit, simply because no member of the team lives close enough to Germany to drive there in a reasonable amount of time, and not one of our readers offered to pay for the plane tickets (how disappointing!).

However, several other tech blogs were there, and for now, we'll have to settle for their humble opinions, at least until we get our paws on a review unit, which shouldn't be too long (besides, it's not unlikely that we'll get some hands-on time with the Tab at Samsung's New York City press event next week).

Jul

Lenovo Plans Android Tablet To Compete With iPad In China

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Lenovo, News

Lenovo has a strong name in China, and hasn’t faced much competition from Apple there. In fact, they’ve even mocked Apple about “wasting” their presence in the enormous market. However, as the iPad is set for release in Hong Kong this Friday – and is expected to be fully available in China soon – Lenovo plans on stepping up their game and challenging Apple with an Android tablet.

Other than the fact the tablet (the “LePad”) will run Android, no real specs have been revealed. However, it was confirmed that the tablet would launch exclusively in China at first, and good sales could prompt releases in other markets.

Jul

HP Cans Android Slate Tablet For webOS Slate Tablet, Promptly Reminds Us That They’re HP

Posted by David Ruddock in HP, News

All Things Digital is reporting that HP’s planned Android Slate tablet has been delayed, possibly indefinitely. Given HP’s recent acquisition of Palm, it seems likely that HP is choosing to focus on development of their webOS tablet to compete with Apple’s iPad as quickly as possible. From a business standpoint, HP is probably making the right move. For Android and open source fans, though, this is indeed a sad day.

Despite HP’s less-than-perfect reputation for hardware quality, the Slate platform is definitely the slickest-looking tablet this side of the iPad, and Android would have benefited from a wide-release, US market tablet.

Jul

HTC: No Android Tablet In The Works, Yet

Posted by Nate Kimmey in HTC, News

HTC may be pushing the limits on the size of smartphones with the EVO4G, but don’t expect that trend to translate tablets any time soon. While the iPad is undoubtedly the dominant tablet on the market right now, a number of Android-powered tablets are under development, and some are bound to hit the market sooner or later. Unfortunately, HTC is not one of the companies working on such a device, instead preferring to play wait-and-see with the competition: