Tablets - 7/17 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

[CES 2012] Acer Unveils Iconia A700 Tablet, Quad-Core Tegra 3 Processor, 1080p Display, Ice Cream Sandwich - Coming Q2 2012

Posted by David Ruddock in Acer, Iconia A700, Tablets

We arrived at CES earlier today, and Acer's pre-CES event was the first item on our agenda (yes, on a Sunday). The company unveiled a number of ultrabooks. a new cloud service, and briefly mentioned that it was bringing a brand-new Android tablet to market later this year - so briefly that we didn't even hear the name of the device mentioned (obviously, we later found out what it was called).

The Iconia A700 will be the company's second attempt at a flagship, 10.1-inch Android tablet. While we didn't grab any hands-on time with the new tab at Acer's press event earlier today, we watched the device demoed and it looks fairly impressive.

Jan

HTC's Growth Stalls While Samsung Has Record Quarter

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, HTC, News, Samsung, Tablets, Toshiba

The latest unaudited results from HTC for Q4 2011 indicate that total revenues reached NT$ 101 billion (US$ 3.34 billion), a 2.49% drop as compared to the same period in 2010. In stark contrast, Samsung just had a record breaking quarter with profits reaching 5.2 trillion won (US$4.5 billion), almost double the figures of Q4 2010. Samsung's results for Q4 2011 breaks its previous record profit period of 5.0 trillion won (US$ 4.3 billion) from Q2 2010 and is an increase of 22% from Q3 2011. According to an analyst Samsung shipped an estimated 35 million smartphones in the previous quarter alone, but this is likely to include Samsung's low-end bada operated devices.

Jan

Acer Iconia Tab A200 Set To Launch On January 15, Will Cost $329.99 For 8GB And $349.99 For 16GB; ICS Upgrade Coming Mid-February

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Iconia Tab A200, News, Tablets

Announced late last year, the Acer Iconia Tab A200 is a slick Tegra 2 Android tablet which will be one of the first Ice Cream Sandwich devices available in the market. The tablet has the following specifications and features:

10.1" multitouch display (1280x800)
1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor
1GB RAM
8GB or 16GB internal memory
2MP front-facing camera
Six-axis motion sensing gyroscope
Full-size USB 2.0 port
Micro-USB port
MicroSD slot
1.5 pounds
Android 3.2 (upgradeable to 4.0)
8 hours battery life

The tablet is set to launch on January 15 in the United States, but Acer has stated in their press-release that the device will be freely upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in mid-February.

Jan

Rumour: Google To Launch 7-Inch Nexus Tablet In Late Q1 2012

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, News, Tablets

Late last year Google chairman Eric Schmidt commented to an Italian newspaper that "in the next six months [Google planned] to market a tablet of the highest quality". His statement generated much speculation primarily over whether Google planned on releasing a self-branded "Nexus" tablet or whether they would merely partner with a device manufacturer, such as Motorola, Samsung, or HTC.

According to a rumour from Taiwanese electronics daily DigiTimes, Google may be preparing to launch an "own-brand tablet PC...targeting Amazon's 7-inch Kindle Fire". Naturally, Google Taiwan has already released a statement indicating that it has "never heard about plans of launching an own-brand tablet PC".

Jan

[Sale Fail] RIM Throws In The Towel And Starts PlayBook Fire Sale, Fails To Make Them Cheap Enough

Posted by David Ruddock in Editorials, News, Off-Topic, Tablets

When the tech world first heard of the BlackBerry tablet, it was greeted with a fair amount of optimism. It was thought that the very daring (for RIM) device could be just what the company needed to get out of its unabashed slump in popularity, particularly in the United States. In addition, rumblings that the device would be able to run Android Market apps (and actually can now) had Android and RIM fans alike excited for the possibilities of cross-platform development.

Image Credit: Liliputing

Unfortunately, consumers never really went after the PlayBook in droves, and sales went from less-than-great to absolutely terrible by Q3 of 2011, at just 150,000 units sold for that 3 month period.

Dec

[Update: Working As Intended] ASUS Transformer Prime GPS Performs Very Poorly Without Wi-Fi, Massive XDA Thread Ensues

Posted by David Ruddock in ASUS, Eee Pad Transformer Prime, News, Tablets

Last Updated: January 3rd, 2012

Update 2: ASUS has issued an official statement on the matter and determined that the Prime's GPS is functioning as intended, which for many folks means essentially non-functional.

Please note that this product is not a professional GPS device ... To avoid inconveniencing users who demand a powerful GPS device, we made the decision to remove it from our specification sheet and marketing communications. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

ASUS

That means if you're actually unable to live with your Prime without true GPS, there's not a lot to do but sell it - because ASUS isn't going to (and apparently can't) do anything about it.

Dec

Software Update Coming Soon To Verizon's Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 – I905.EL01 Brings TouchWiz Enhancements, Photo Editing, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Galaxy Tab 10.1, News, Tablets, Verizon Wireless

According to Verizon's system update documentation, owners of big red's Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 can expect a software update any time now. While it isn't the Ice Cream Sandwich users are undoubtedly craving, the update (bringing system software to I905-EL01) offers quite a few interesting features.

Among these are improvements to Samsung's Touchwiz UX, a new Social Hub widget, built-in photo editing capabilities, and The Daily – a news app that allows users to "access the best of print, web, and broadcast news from around the world."

The update also brings Bluetooth 3.0 compatibility, additional support for more Wi-Fi routers, DivX, security patches, enhancements to TouchWiz's music and video players, and built-in support for "industry standard VPN clients." There's no word yet on just when the update will be available, but we'll be here to keep you updated.

Dec

Android Police Presents The First Annual Andy Awards: The Best of Android In 2011 - Submit Your Nominations Now

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Android Police Andy Awards: 2011, Apps/Games, Features, Tablets

For the first time, Android Police is having its go at a "best of the year" series, and we're going to need your help. Android Police will be featuring a number of posts in the coming weeks leading up to CES 2012 showing off the very best of what Android has brought to people around the world over the last year. Your favorite phones, tablets, apps, and games, will all be facing off for the chance at a (probably not very highly coveted) Android Police Andy Award, recognizing the best - above the rest.

Where do you come in? Well, first off, we want your input in helping to nominate potential winners.

Dec

Size Really Does Matter: Common Tablet Resolutions Compared

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Android OS, Tablets

In one of the the more recent weekend polls, we asked what is your ideal tablet screen size? - most users went for 9.51" - 10.5", which ended up taking about 50% of the overall votes. This is not much of a surprise since 10.1-inch is the most common size of Android tablet.

For those who don't already own a tablet, though, trying to decide what size to get can be somewhat of a task. Today we're going to take a closer look at a couple of different tablet resolutions to give you a better idea of how they compare to one another.

Dec

[Rumor] Samsung To Unveil An 11.6" 2560x1600px Tablet At Mobile World Congress In February 2012

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Rumors, Samsung, Tablets

Word from a "trusted source" at BGR is that Samsung is set to unveil a new tablet at MWC packing an 11.6" screen at 2560x1600. That's nearly twice as many pixels as 1080p in a dinky 11.6" package; thanks to a thinner bezel, said package is only slightly larger than the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Unsurprisingly, other specs are bumped up a notch as well, with the tablet reportedly equipped with a 2GHz dual-core Exynos 5250 CPU. Other details are light, although the source says the tablet will pack Android Beam, has a wireless docking mode to interface with HDTVs, and most importantly, it will be running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0).