Category Archives: Tablets

Logitech Keyboard Case for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Now Available for $100

Posted by on September 15, 2011 No comments

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It wasn’t but Mid-August that we learned about and were able to preorder Logitech’s keyboard case for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The keyboard case is enabled via Bluetooth and essentially turns your tablet into a netbook either in portrait or landscape mode.

I’m sure this will be a hot commodity for many. It’s recently been taken out of preorder status and seems to be in shipping mode, according to their site. Throw down your $100 for one and see if they really are shipping them. Let us know if you are able to report the mission to be accomplished. [Logitech, Thanks Greg!]

Archos’ G9 Honeycomb Tablets Headed Our Way September 20th Starting at $300

Posted by on September 15, 2011 No comments

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Archos definitely has the best-priced Honeycomb tablets coming out and, thankfully for you, it won’t take long to head to store shelves. They’ve just announced September 20th availability with final pricing plans for two of the G9 tablets (two configurations each).

First up, we’ve got the 8 inch model. This one has a 1GHz dual-core OMAP4 processor and 8GB of internal storage (more configurations head) for just $300. They 8 inch line is topped out with a 1.5GHz dual-core OMAP4 and either 16GB or 250GB of internal storage for $329 and $369, respectively.

There are also 10 inch variants with the 1.5GHz OMAP4 processor and 16GB and 250GB of internal storage for $400 and $470, respectively.

Great prices for great specs, though we can’t say we’re huge fans of the design. For $300, are any of you going to be up bright and early to order one of these online? Read on for full press details.

ARCHOS G9 Tablets Available Starting September 20, 2011

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ARCHOS, an award winning technology innovator and pioneer in the tablet market, announce the availability of its new G9 AndroidTM tablets starting on September 20, 2011. The ARCHOS G9 tablets introduced on June 23, 2011 are an unrivaled combination of speed and affordability.

With its 8” G9 tablet, ARCHOS will be the first to market with a dual-core, Android Honeycomb 3.2 tablet under $300 featuring an OMAP 4 processor with an ARM Cortex dual-core A9 at 1 GHz for $299. Pushing the technological boundaries even further, the ARCHOS G9 “Turbo” will be the first and only Android tablet in the market under $400 to use the OMAP 4 dual-core processor up to 1.5 GHz, which gives it 50% more raw computational power over its 1 GHz competitors.

Powered by Android 3.2 ‘Honeycomb’

Android™ 3.2 ‘Honeycomb’ is specially designed and optimized for tablets, giving a full web experience for on-the-go web browsing, communication and applications. With Adobe® Flash® 10.3 support for the true web experience and with the constantly growing number of apps in Android Market™, ARCHOS G9 tablets are your versatile tool for your connected life.

ARCHOS G9 tablets will include access to Android Market, which has more than 250,000 applications available for download. Whether you’re after games, news, tools or widgets to personalize your Honeycomb experience, there are plenty of apps to make your ARCHOS G9 tablet your own.

ARCHOS G9 tablets also come with a suite of GoogleTM mobile applications including Google Talk™ with video chat, Gmail™, Youtube™, Google Maps™ with Street View and Navigation (beta) and Google Calendar™.

Flash storage or 250GB hard drive storage

To give you more space for your media and apps ARCHOS G9 tablets are available with flash storage and 250GB hard drive storage capacities. Using an intelligent caching system on the hard drive versions, your 250GB G9 will feel as fast and responsive as a flash device but gives you storage space to spare.

Wanting to give users the best of both worlds, ARCHOS paired the Seagate® Momentus® Thin hard drive with a dedicated 4GB flash caching system. This ARCHOS engineered hybrid solution offered on all ARCHOS G9 hard drive tablets is designed to limit spinning and to keep the drive powered down when not in use, which will protect it when on the go as well as preserve battery life.

Price and availability

The ARCHOS 80 G9 tablet featuring a 1 GHz dual-core processor will be on pre-sale starting September 20, 2011 on ARCHOS.com with the following recommended retail price:

ARCHOS 80 G9 8GB - 1 GHZ at $299

Additionally, the ARCHOS 80 G9 8GB tablet will be available online and at select retailers including HH Gregg, Amazon, Newegg, Tiger Direct, Brandsmart and Electronic Express on September 30, 2011.

The ARCHOS G9 tablets running a dual-core processor up to 1.5 GHz will be available in stores and online in October with the following recommended retail price:

ARCHOS 80 G9 16GB – 1.5 GHz at $329
ARCHOS 80 G9 250GB - 1.5 GHz at $369
ARCHOS 101 G9 16GB - 1.5 GHz at $399
ARCHOS 101 G9 250GB - 1.5 GHz at $469

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Up for Pre-Order at Best Buy

Posted by on September 15, 2011 No comments

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If 10.1-inches of Galaxy goodness was just a bit too much, the Samsung’s smaller (but not smallest) Honeycomb slate is coming to offer an alternative. Best Buy has launched pre-orders for the 16GB and 32GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 on their website, though specific shipping dates are not mentioned. The 16GB model is priced at $469.99, while the 32GB version is priced at $569.99. Both versions are WiFi-only and feature a dual-core CPU, 1GB RAM, and 8.9-inch display (as suggested by the name).

Samsung recently unveiled a beefed-up LTE version of the Galaxy Tab 8.9, but from the Best Buy product listing this appears to be the older version of the slate revealed at last year’s Mobile World Congress.

[via LapToping]

Seton Hall University Hands Out 400 Lenovo ThinkPad Tablets to Students and Faculty

Posted by on September 15, 2011 No comments

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As more and more institutes of higher education dabble in the tablet as a tool useful for learning, Seton Hall University has become the first to deploy Lenovo’s Android-powered ThinkPad. The university handed out over 400 tablets to students and faculty alike. The ThinkPad slates came loaded up with applications and tools such as Documents to Go, and custom apps are in the works. Lenovo’s director of worldwide educations Michael Schmedien said, “We believe the tablet will be instrumental in changing how students learn and influencing teacher-student interactions in and out of class.” Stephen G. Landry, chief information officer at Seton Hall, echoed his statements, saying, "We see tablets as the next wave of technology to implement to support teaching methods and learning outcomes." You can read the full press release on the matter below.

Seton Hall University Adds 400 Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet PCs to Mobile Technology Toolkit

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ - September 15, 2011: Seton Hall University announced today it is the first higher education institution in the U.S. to use Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet PC, with more than 400 tablets now circulating amongst students and faculty in the Sciences, Honors and School of Business Leadership Programs. The University is making the 10.1-inch, Android 3.1 tablets a central part of its Mobile Computing Program as well as an essential teaching device.

Seton Hall students will use a variety of the ThinkPad Tablet’s pre-loaded applications. Documents to Go allows them to view and edit Microsoft Office documents and synchronize their latest papers with their desktops via USB or Bluetooth. In addition, the University is developing its own customized chemistry science application that aims to expand the classroom experience by delivering more interactive experiment processes for students.

"We believe the tablet will be instrumental in changing how students learn and influencing teacher-student interactions in and out of class," said Michael Schmedlen, director of worldwide education, Lenovo. "With the ThinkPad Tablet, Seton Hall and other education institutions can take advantage of an incredible piece of hardware to complete assignments, consume multimedia content and collaborate with peers, all in a device that’s standardized and IT-friendly."

ThinkPad Tablet and Laptop are University’s New Power Couple
Seton Hall continually pushes the envelope on technology leadership, so the ThinkPad Tablet deployment complements this commitment. Each year, the award-winning Mobile Computing Program outfits its incoming freshmen class with new Lenovo ThinkPad laptops to use in their classes. Now with tablets, the program enlarges students’ technology footprints with new ways to explore subject matter beyond the typical textbook, pen and notepad.

"We see tablets as the next wave of technology to implement to support teaching methods and learning outcomes," said Stephen G. Landry, chief information officer, Seton Hall University. "The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablets are reliable companions to our ThinkPad laptops. We know this technology combination will appeal to our students for a long time to come."

Hello to New Breed of Science Experiments
Say goodbye to the old days documenting data by hand with pen and paper. On the new Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet, students will use a soon-to-be released customized Android application developed by the University’s IT department to guide them through lab safety and instructional content. Students will complete the lab, and then create and submit their final reports for review through their Lenovo tablet. During the lab, students will write digitally using the digitizer pen to complete math and science equations. The days of the pencil may soon be erased forever!

Tablets Can Do What?
Students and faculty will explore how applications like Blackboard Mobile Learn, CourseSmart, DropBox and Wolfram Alpha deliver new ways to learn and teach. Seton Hall’s IT department will conduct three different surveys over the course of the semester to capture metrics on tablet usage to identify new levels of creative flexibility and positive learning experiences like increased faculty-student engagement and use of digital materials. The ongoing user assessment will allow the University and its peers in the higher education community to evaluate use cases and establish and share best practices on an ongoing basis.

Seton Hall University Joins Lenovo’s Global Education Research Initiative
The University’s tech prowess and commitment to leveraging new tools for classroom learning make it a perfect fit for Lenovo’s Global Education Research Initiative (ERI). Through this initiative, Lenovo seeks to gain insight into technology’s impact on the learning environment. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative research, the initiative seeks to measure the effect of technology on the learning experience from grade one through the university level.

Sharp Cuts Back Galapagos Tablet Line, Will Continue to Sell 7-Inch Only

Posted by on September 15, 2011 No comments

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Sharp is putting all of their eggs in a 7-inch basket as low sales have resulted in the discontinuation of their 5.5-inch and 10.8-inch Galapagos tablets. Two of three Galapagos models, the tablets were introduced to Japan last December and followed by a 7-inch Honeycomb slate last month. Sharp today confirmed that it would cease taking orders for the two older models on September 30th.

Sharp is struggling to move tablets in light of the Apple iPad’s market dominance, a scenario not uncommon to manufacturers of Android-based slates around the globe. Still, the company hopes to bring their 7-inch device to new markets, including the United States. It could launch on American shores by the end of the year.

[via TechCrunch]

Playstation Suite SDK Coming In November to Playstation Certified Devices

Posted by on September 15, 2011 No comments

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The Tokyo Game Show is taking place right now in Japan and Sony is dropping a world of hurt on the gaming industry thanks in part to their new PlayStation Vita handheld gaming device. To help capture the mobile market, Sony is introducing the Playstation Suite SDK for developers to be available this November. This new SDK will allow developers to make cross platform games and apps that work with any Playstation Certified device like (of course) the PSVita as well as Android powered devices like the Xperia Play and Sony’s new brand spankin’ new Tablet S and Tablet P. Sony expects C# developers to have some content up and running by Spring of 2012. This is HUGE news for Android as Sony hopes to have their own Android game market for all Android users regardless of your device. Check out the full press release below.

Sep 14, 2011 23:37 ET
Sony Computer Entertainment to Offer Software Development Kit for PlayStation®Suite Starting This November

SCE to Provide Strong Support to Content Developers for PlayStation®Suite With the Distribution of the Newly Developed Content Starting Next Spring

TOKYO, Sept. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today announced that it will offer software development kits (SDK) for PlayStation®Suite (PS Suite), called “PlayStation®Suite SDK,” *1 for content developers starting this November. PS Suite is an initiative solution to deliver the world of PlayStation® to Android™ based portable devices.

Through PS Suite SDK, content developers can create content for PlayStation™Certified (PS Certified) devices, hardware certified through the PS Suite license program, as well as for PlayStation®Vita (PS Vita).

Supporting C# as the programming language, PS Suite SDK can run programs developed in C# on virtual machine equipped on both PS Certified devices and PS Vita. By supporting development for multiple devices and by adopting libraries to create a variety of content not only limited to games, PS Suite SDK will not only help developers save their cost in creating new content but also allow them to efficiently create their content on one SDK and without having to create on several different SDKs.

Through PS Suite SDK, SCE will provide to game developers and publishers the potential to further expand their business opportunities to Android based portable devices. In addition, SCE can approach to a wider range of content developers, non-gaming developers and individual programmers. The detailed information of PS Suite SDK, including how to download, will be announced via a dedicated PS Suite section on SCE’s official website.

As of September 15th, 2011, PS Certified device line-up includes Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB’s Xperia PLAY, Sony Corporation’s “Sony Tablet” S, “Sony Tablet” P, and SCE will continue to further accelerate the expansion of PS Certified devices in addition to the current hardware line-up.

Furthermore, SCE will provide a variety of content towards these PS Certified devices from end October through PlayStation®Store*2 on PlaySation®Network, starting with original PlayStation games (PS one® classics). The service will start in nine countries including Japan, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Australia and with more countries to follow. In next spring, SCE will enhance the PS Store for PS Certified devices and provide content created by PS Suite SDK, further prevailing the world of PS Suite.

Through PS Suite, SCE will deploy various measures to support content developers in their business for rapidly prevailing Android based portable devices and will expand the PlayStation entertainment experience on an open operating system.

*1
Software Development Kit is a set of development tools and software libraries. Developers are able to obtain this SDK by signing a license agreement with SCE and by purchasing tool products.
*2
Users can download vast digital content including games through PS Store for PS Network for PS3, PSP, PS Vita and PS Certified devices.
*3
Number of content differ by regions.

[Via Engadget]

Asus Eee Pad Slider Will Be Available By The End of Month for $475 [Video]

Posted by on September 15, 2011 No comments

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The eagerly awaited Asus Eee Pad Slider will finally be available in the US before the end of the month. According to Engadget who got some extended hands-on time with the tablet hybrid, the device will start at $475 for the 16GB model with the 32GB model jumping a hundred bucks to $575.

The Asus Eee Pad Slider features a 10-inch 1280×800 resolution IPS display, Android 3.2 Honeycomb and none of the heavy manufacturer skinning we’ve seen from OEM’s like Sony or Samsung. Is anyone still interested in this tablet? Still waiting for a quad-core Android tablet or has Windows 8 taken away some of the glitz and glamor of Honeycomb?

[Via Engadget]

ZiiLABS Outs Super Slim Jaguar3 Reference Design Tablets

Posted by on September 14, 2011 No comments

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ZiiLABS has outed the latest reference design in their Honeycomb series of tablets, the Jaguar3. Based around the company’s ZMS series of chips, the slates measure in as some of the thinnest yet. The standard magnesium case measuring 8.1mm thick gives the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 a run for its money, but if you are willing to run with your own money the design can be tooled down to a mere 7.4mm. The 10.1-inch slate can be outfitedd with the 1.5GHz dual-core ZMS-20 CPU or a quad-core ZMS-40, and other specs include a customizable camera configuration maxing out at 12MP. The photo snapper can be coupled with software supporting HDR imagery and panoramic shots. Upgraded sound configurations are handled courtesy of Creative’s Sound Blaster.

The whole package isn’t designed as a direct-to-consumer slate but rather as a starting point for OEMs to leverage the ZMS CPUs integrated into the setup. When we could see our first street-legal version of the Android 3.2 Jaguar3 isn’t known at this point.

[via Engadget]

Qualcomm Unveils Plans for their Own 2.5GHz, Quad-Core CPUs Due Next Year

Posted by on September 14, 2011 No comments

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We knew NVIDIA and their “Kal-El” line of processor wouldn’t be the only cowpokes in the quad-core rodeo, but with other chip manufacturers playing catchup in the dual-core department we weren’t sure when to expect the likes of Qualcomm to reveal plans for their next generation of CPUs. The manufacturer of the Snapdragon platform that has become almost synonymous with high-end Android smartphones announced that their 2.5GHz quad-core chips could be making it to mobile handsets during the early parts of 2012.

The new Snapdragon chips will be coupled with Adreno graphics and support 3D, full 1080p, and LTE at a bare minimum. With that sort of power, next year’s smartphones and tablets could start to take on the laptop market in terms of mobile computing power. It’s kind of scary, actually, to think how far we have come since the days of the 1GHz single-core Snapdragon.

[via PocketLint]

HTC Flyer Gets Official Bootloader Unlock Support

Posted by on September 14, 2011 No comments

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HTC’s continuing to add devices to their bootloader unlock program. This time, four different variants of the HTC Flyer have gotten support, allowing you to break the chains off your 7 inch tablet at the expense of your warranty. Like the Sensation and EVO 3D, the process is fairly simple but be sure to read thoroughly and carefully before proceeding. Head over to HTCDev.com to get started. [Thanks Florin!]