Tablets - 14/17 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

Android-Powered Tablets Take 34% Of The Global Market In Q1

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Android OS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Tablets

When it comes to tablets, the iPad has dominated the market since it first became available back in early 2010. However, Android has been making slow strides towards the top, taking bigger bites out of iPad sales every quarter, and the figures just announced by IDC speak no differently.

In the first quarter of 2011, Android accounted for 34% of global tablet sales, which is up 8.2% from the previous quarter. It's not all good, though, as the tablet market as a whole dropped by 28% during Q1. However, IDC sees this as merely a hiccup in terms of sales and expects the market to continue rising, estimating that the global tablet market will hit 53.5 million units this year.

Jul

Toshiba Thrive Arrives Early - On Sale Now At Best Buy Stores, But Only 16GB and 32GB Versions

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Tablets, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Tips & Tutorials, Toshiba

It seems Best Buy just can't keep its stuff in the stockroom. Contrary to the earlier July 10th tip, we've gotten multiple confirmations that Best Buy stores have already started selling the Toshiba Thrive tablet - you can walk into your local store and pick one up right now.

We've personally confirmed that several stores have the Thrive (16 and 32GB versions only, unfortunately) in stock, but you should call ahead to your local store - just in case. Have the following SKUs handy when you call:

2768901 - 32GB version
2769576 - 16GB version

That means you'll be forking over $480 (at least) if you want a Thrive today.

Jul

[Deal Alert] Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi 16GB $450 (10% Off) On eBay

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Samsung, Tablets, Tips & Tutorials

It seems retailers just can't get rid of the Tab 10.1 - and shrewd consumers are coming out ahead. You can pick up a Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi with 16GB of internal storage for just $450 on eBay (free shipping) sold by DataVision.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is probably the best Android tablet you can spend you hard-earned dollars on at the moment, and at this price (10% off retail), it's certainly not a bad buy. And we definitely liked it. This is the smaller 16GB model, presumably the most popular choice among consumers - so it's a bit odd to see retailers are having to put up discounts to offload them already.

Jun

[Updated: It's Back!] 32GB Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi $100 Off From eBay Daily Deals

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Deals, Motorola, News, Tablets, XOOM

Update 6.30.11: This deal is back for another go! We've updated the links to reflect the new listing, so grab it while it's hot.

It's not often that we see Motorola's Honeycomb tablets on sale, so when I saw $100 off the dual-core XOOM Wi-Fi as this morning's eBay Daily Deal, I had to let you guys know as soon as possible.

The deal is for the larger 32GB version and brings the price down from $599.99 to $499.99. ~~According to the countdown, it will last for another 4.5 hours or so, which means the tablet will be available at a discount until about 1 p.m.~~

Jun

Editorial: Android Tablets - Is It Just A Summer Fling, Or Are Manufacturers Here To Stay?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Tablets

I've been thinking about writing this editorial for some time now. And today, with the announcement of Panasonic's upcoming Toughbook Android tablet, I finally decided to go for it. The point this article is trying to make may not be abundantly clear in the title, so let me see if I can get it across as a question: Is it just me, or are there a suspiciously large number of companies in or planning to enter the Android tablet market?

It sounds like a silly question to ask. And to a degree, it's not exactly a hugely relevant question, either. Who really cares how many companies are trying to get into the tablet market?

Jun

[Updated: Now On Amazon Too] Toshiba Thrive Pre-Orders Live On Toshiba Direct Starting At $429, Shipping In Mid-July

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Tablets, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Tips & Tutorials, Toshiba

Update 6/14/11: All 3 Thrive variations are now on Amazon as well, for those who prefer themselves some tax-free shopping.

Ever since we saw Toshiba's then-unnamed tablet at CES in January, we've carefully put our ears to the ground to learn all we can about this surprisingly capable device. Today's Thrive news, then, has us excited - pre-orders have started, and all iterations of the tablet (8/16/32GB) will be shipping on the same yet-to-be-announced date next month (Toshiba's site now says "Mid-July").

Unlike the Office Depot pre-order, Toshiba Direct allows you to order the thriftier 8GB model, which comes in at a very reasonable $429.

Jun

[Video] A Closer Look At Samsung's Upcoming TouchWiz UX/4 Tablet Interface - It's Not As Bad As You Might Think

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Tab 10.1, News, Samsung, Tablets, Videos

While we've had a chance to put Samsung's upcoming flagship Tab 10.1 tablet through 3 weeks of rigorous testing, there was one thing left that we could not touch - the custom TouchWiz UX tablet interface, also known as TouchWiz 4.0. If you remember, Samsung announced last week that the first tablet units would be running pure Honeycomb, just like our review unit, with the TouchWiz upgrade arriving over-the-air sometime after.

This didn't stop Phone Arena from acquiring some Tab 8.9 hardware with TouchWiz UX already pre-installed and digging through it, looking for goodies Samsung packaged with their soon-to-come overlay.

Jun

Toshiba Tells Us About The Thrive And Its Many Accessories, We Take Notes

Posted by Jakub Glodek in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Tablets, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100

Earlier last week, we got some leaked information about the upcoming tablet from Toshiba called Thrive. Today I had the opportunity to meet Philip Osako, Director of Product Marketing at Toshiba, who gave us a demonstration and a little more background on the development of the Thrive. Starting June 13th you will be able to pre-order the tablet at all major retailors starting at $429 for the 8GB version, $479 for the 16GB, and $579 for the glorious 32GB version.

What Mr. Osako stressed is that rather than taking the typical approach of making a phone first and then just jumbo sizing it, Toshiba wanted to build a product from the ground up.

May

NVIDIA Demos Stunning Real-Time Physics Using The Next-Gen Quad-Core Kal-El Mobile Processor [Video]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Tablets, Videos

Remember Project Kal-El, NVIDIA's first mobile quad-core CPU with 12 GPU cores that was announced back in February of this year? The one that was supposed to be 5 times faster than the current generation Tegra 2, which you can find in such devices as the Motorola Atrix 4G, the LG G2x/2X, the XOOM, the ASUS Transformer, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, and pretty much all other modern tablets.

As the Kal-El chip progresses towards completion in the 2nd half of 2011, NVIDIA put together a 4-minute video demo featuring a Kal-El powered tablet running Honeycomb and a little game optimized to use 4 cores, called Glowball.

May

[Download] Flavors Of The MyWater Live Wallpaper For Honeycomb, Including A Must For Beer Drinkers

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Development, Eee Pad Transformer, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Tablets

Remember the stunning MyWater live wallpaper that was ripped out of the Transformer a month ago, complete with ice cubes floating in water that shifts around when you tilt your tablet? Here it is:

I actually had no idea but apparently the water level changes depending on the battery charge level. Very cool!

This was the only live wallpaper I've ever considered running on my XOOM - it's original, well done, and constantly draws intrigued stares from the people around. It was the only one until today that is, when I saw Ruvort's custom mods to it over at XOOMForums.com.