Android Archive

Hyundai A7 Android 4.0 ICS Tablet Priced at $110, is Actually Decent

– March 31, 2012Posted in: Android, NewsFeed

We’ve read about a ton of Android 4.0 tablets, both cheap and high priced, but it’s usually the affordable models that we discuss here. Today we found out about the Hyundai A7 slate with Android 4.0, priced at $110 and offering some decent specifications.

This is a 7 inch 480 x 800 pixel device, with a capacitive screen with 5 point multitouch and a 1.5 GHz Cortex A8 processor. There’s also 512 MB of RAM, 8 GB of storage and a microSD card slot. You must know that his Hyundai branding must not be confused with Hyundai the car maker. Other features include micro HDMI out for gaming and watching movies on a bigger screen, and the design isn’t that bad. There’s a discrete home button, most of the ports on the lower side of the slate and the usual rectangular form factor.

Other ICS tablets out there gravitating around the $100 mark may end up having a resistive screen or a worse CPU, so this Hyundai A7 tablet is actually decent. If you access the source link below you’ll get free shipping to the USA.

7 Inch Gingerbread Tablet Costs Merely $51!

James A.

– March 30, 2012Posted in: Android, Chinese Tablets, NewsFeed

If you want a tablet for less than $60, you can score a 7 inch Gingerbread model with A10 processor for as low as $51. The VIA8650-based units are some of the fastest selling slates in the Shanzhai tablet market, because of the very affordable price. However, the alternative comes now through this model, produced by Eser. The CPU here is kind of a bummer, though…

We’re dealing with a 7 inch tablet from Shenzhen company Eser, an entry level model that has a resistive screen with a resolution of 800 x 480, the A10 processor instead of the VIA8650 mentioned above as popular choice and the Mali 400 GPU. There’s also 2160P video decoding ability, 512MB of RAM and 4 GB of storage on the feature list. The device has a metallic back, 3 buttons at the front (Menu, Home, Back), a HDMI port, SD card slot and mini USB port.

WiFi and external 3G via dongle, plus front camera are also usual presences on cheap tablets, that also apply here. Android 2.3.4 is the OS of choice, but don’t hope for ICS to come… like ever!

Google Nexus Tablet Sold Directly to Consumers?!

James A.

– March 30, 2012Posted in: Android, ASUS, NewsFeed

A recent report from the Wall Street Journal says that Google may plan to sell the rumored Nexus Tablet straight to the consumers, like they did with the Nexus One handset. We’ve been hearing a lot of speculation about said tablet, starting from price point ($150 to $250) to its maker (ASUS) and specs (quad core Tegra 3 or merely a dual core CPU) and now this info.

Google will launch an online store apparently, similar to Apple’s, but that will happen later in the year. The purpose here is to give the customers a chance to purchase the slate online and keeping only the Google logo on it, without further brandings from carriers or other middle men. Let’s just hope that Google doesn’t get burned with the Nexus Tablet, like they did with the Nexus One, that they also sold directly online and people didn’t quite seem to buy that device, although it was pretty hot.

The expectations here are of a 7 inch tablet made by ASUS, most likely the 7 inch Eee Pad MeMO killed in favour of this project. Google I/O seems like a logical launch point, so in June we’ll get to see the real device, but that doesn’t mean that around April or May we couldn’t have a teaser posted online… or maybe a leak from ASUS. Do you see yourselves buying straight from Google via online store?

Nvidia CEO Hints at Tegra-Based Win 8 Slate… May Have Also Refered to Nexus Tablet?

James A.

– March 29, 2012Posted in: Android, NewsFeed

If you want an enthusiastic CEO ready to talk about anything then Jen-Hsun Huang, the main man at Nvidia is the one to go to. In a recent interview with the New York Times he mentioned a “$199 tablet that anyone can buy at a 7 Eleven” and also said he’s disappointed with Android’s evolution and might consider Windows 8 for the future.

In the meantime, rumors are saying that the Google Nexus Tablet will be made by ASUS and priced around $149 to $249. Speculations say that the Tegra 3 CPU was dropped and that this device is in fact a redone/rebranded ASUS MeMo 370T tablet, the one showed at CES 2012. With Huang hinting at a $199 Tegra 3 tablet, it would be a pity for Google not to jump on this idea, but maybe they want an even cheaper slate, at $150. So, will they used Tegra 2, TI OMAP or Snapdragon?

Don’t forget that Huawei also has its very own quad core CPU flavor, that may be the surprise underdog to make it to the Nexus tablet in the end, if it’s cheaper. Back to Huang, he said that the idea of a Tegra tablet with Windows 8 “would be nice”, but that may be polite talk, since Nvidia and Android have gone hand in hand for the past year and Tegra 2 tablets sold quite a bunch of units and popular ones too.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Passes FCC Tests, Headed to AT&T

Radu Iorga

– March 29, 2012Posted in: Android, NewsFeed, Samsung

Samsung was present at MWC 2012, even if you may have missed them, but they only brought products with minor improvements from their predecessors. Among them there was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 slate, that has just reached the FCC, passed its tests and it’s headed to AT&T.

This is the direct sequel to the Galaxy Tab 10.1, that actually hit the FCC in the WiFi version weeks ago, but now the HSPA+ unit passed the tests. In case you didn’t know, the Galaxy Tab 2 will come in 7 and 10 inch versions that will be named confusingly Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7 and Galaxy Tab 2 10. Features include the same dual core Tegra 2 processors as the predecessors, plus 1GB of RAM and 16/32GB of storage. The design has been slightly changed, when it comes to speaker grills, in order to avoid and beef with Apple.

The biggest modification is the fact that the devices run Android 4.0 ICS from the box, which no other Samsung tablet is capable to do right now. Samsung may issue updates in Q2 for most of their slates, but they want to cash in seriously on the Galaxy Tab 2 till then. Will there also be a LTE version of the new Tab? We’ll have to wait and see…

Amazon Kindle Fire Update Offers Book Extras, Print Replica Texbooks and More

Radu Iorga

– March 29, 2012Posted in: Amazon, Amazon Kindle Fire, Android, NewsFeed

Amazon Kindle Fire will get their money’s worth not only through the content on the device, but also through its features, that have just been upgraded. A recent software update coming from Amazon brings some nifty tweaks on the slate, stuff like sharing, book extras, print replica texbooks and more.

Sharing was missing from the tablet initially, so you couldn’t share interesting portions of text like you did with some E-Ink devices out there. Now you can not only share but also rely on the Shelfari service for Book Extras, extra info related to the book that you’re reading. Amazon is also taking a stand when it comes to education, by supporting print replica textbooks, that may eventually evolve into something similar to Apple’s offering. The update also makes it easier for users to skim through long articles online, thanks to a special reading view in the Silk browser.

This one strips out all the bloatware and gives you pure text reading for information gathering. Other stuff that the update brings is WiFi fixing and a switch in time limit on movie rentals. Said limit now starts when it’s first played not when it’s downloaded. Obviously, this is not the most incredible update I’ve heard of, but Kindle Fire users may be happy with it. Pushing it to all the users will take a few days.

ASUS Transformer Prime Upgraded Version Coming on March 29th, Includes Ethernet Support

Radu Iorga

– March 28, 2012Posted in: Android, ASUS, NewsFeed

ASUS has just unveiled that an update for the famous Transformer Prime quad core tablet will come soon, but they didn’t give out too many details. However, while ASUS US was shy on details, the folks of the Italian subsidiary of the company mentioned both a March 29th release date (locally) and support for a new “Prime LAN cable” accessory.

This accessory allows the slate’s USB port to connect to a wired Ethernet cable, making the Prime even closer to a laptop alternative. There’s also an updated software on board, version 9.4.2.21, that brings a new camera firmware update system, that removes the need to update separately the software for the camera. This means that from now on users will get the cam updates with regular firmware updates. Other changes include the move to the Play Store instead of Android Market, Play Books, Play Music and such, plus the ASUS Vibe software goes to version 2.0 and gets a refreshed UI.

Notifications will now be controlled from the lockscreen, jumping into the related app, as the user bypasses the homescreen. Face Unlock is also supported and on the connectivity side we get ad hoc WiFi network support and wireless bugfixes. You’ll also be able to choose between portrait and landscape orientation for video shown via HDMI output. ASUS Italy finally mentions that a TF101 upgrade is also in the making.

Android 4.0.4 Starts Rolling Out to Motorola Xoom WiFi Owners – Testers First (Video)

Radu Iorga

– March 28, 2012Posted in: Android, Featured, NewsFeed

Good news if you have a Motorola Xoom tablet! There’s a fresh release of Ice Cream Sandwich headed your way this week and some lucky testers are already receiving it. I’m talking about version Android 4.0.4 that’s already rolled out to one of our friends, @myandroidlife, as shown by the guys of Mobilissimo.ro. There’s also a video that our source did, showing the update of the Xoom WiFi.

This is software version Android 4.04 IMM75, that’s based on the usual bug fixes and improvements to the system’s functioning and some features of the slate. Among the improvements we find a faster rotation of the image on the Xoom, a new setting that allows you to choose the way the Power button blocks the tablet and a couple of policy changes for Microsoft Exchange. Phone number recognition is better now and image and camera quality have also evolved, plus the stability of the device is greater.

In the video below there’s proof that the upgrade process is taking place on the Xoom, for testers first. If you’re an owner of the WiFi Xoom out there, expect the option of OTA update to appear in the next days and if it does, don’t be shy to drop off a comment here and give us feedback.

ASUS Transformer Prime Doesn’t Infringe Hasbro’s Trademark, Documents Reveal Disappointing Transformer Prime Sales

Radu Iorga

– March 28, 2012Posted in: Android, ASUS, NewsFeed

Remember when at the end of 2011 ASUS had some legal problems with Hasbro, that wanted trademark for the Transformer branding, saying that people may associated the quad core Prime tablet with the Transformer robots? Well, now a federal judge has ruled that ASUS Transformer Prime doesn’t infringe any Hasbro Transformers trademark, so ASUS is safe from Autobot attack.

The judge is saying that people won’t confuse a tablet with Hasbro cartoons and toys, since they have nothing in common. The same authorities mentioned that Hasbro also waited a bit too long to file the suit. Another aspect that came out of the documents of the suit are some less than impressive sales. The court filings reveal that the pre-orders for the Tegra 3 tablet reached 2,000 units a month ago, which is a big letdown for a huge name like ASUS.

Add to that 80,000 unites delivered to retailers worldwide and you get a very tiny portion of the success that the original Transformer was, shipping 400k units a month last summer. Not to mention the Kindle Fire that has been flying off the shelves in the millions. Of course, these are merely figures extracted from a document where ASUS may choose to only reveal part of its marketing scheme and plans, so we may not have the entire picture here and shipments/sales could be bigger…

Looking for Cheap Android 4.0 Tablets? Coby’s Got Some!

James A.

– March 28, 2012Posted in: Android, NewsFeed

Coby is a brand of low end electronics, that just unveiled an entire set of Android 4.0 tablets with basic specs. Each of the newcomers runs ICS from the box and the new product line includes no less than 6 different tablets. There’s the Coby MID7042, with a 7 inch 800 x 480 pixel display, there’s also an 8 inch 800 x 600 screen model, the Coby MID8042 and the Coby MID9042 with a 9 inch, 1280 x 800 screen.

Also, there’s 3 more models, one with a 9.7 inch display with 1024 x 768 res and two with 10 inch screens, one with 1024 x 600 resolution and the other with a 1280 x 800 res. All of these newcomers pack a 1 GHz single core Cortex A8 processor, 1 GB of RAM and capacitive touch displays. I’m curios if these models get Google Play support, but right now it appears that they don’t, so they rely on the GetJar store instead. The 7 inch and 8 inch models come with merely 4GB of internal memory.

Each of the tablets gets a microSD card slot, HDMI and USB ports, plus front cameras. The larger tablets offer 8 GB of storage and the prices go from $179 for the cheapest unit to $279 for the priciest one. Right now the Coby website only lists the MID7042 and MID1042 models.

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