Liliputing |
- Samsung’s 4, 5 and 8.9 inch tablets coming in October
- Amazon Kindle “Fire” Tablet coming in Novemer?
- Deals of the Day (9-26-11)
- HP TouchPad Android progress: Bluetooth now supported
- Asus Tough tablet shows up in Japan
- BlackBerry PlayBook price cuts hit the US ($299 and up)
- Asus to launch UX series ultrabooks October 11th
| Samsung’s 4, 5 and 8.9 inch tablets coming in October Posted: 26 Sep 2011 04:34 PM PDT Samsung has anounced official US prices and launch dates for its upcoming 8.9 inch tablet and 4 and 5 inch portable media players. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 goes on sale in the States for $469 and up starting on October 2nd. The Galaxy Player 4.0 and Galaxy S 5.0 handheld media players will be available starting October 16th for $229 and up. Or at least that’s what the press release says. But the truth is that we’ve already seen some of these devices go on sale. While Best Buy missed the original September 22nd ship date for the 8.9 inch tablet, the device is already available for pre-order. And the Galaxy S WiFi 5.0 was briefly available from bargain website Woot for $170 earlier this month. The Galaxy Tab 8.9 is basically a smaller version of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. Both tablets have 1280 x 800 pixel displays, 16GB to 32GB of storage, and Google Android Honeycomb software with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface running on top. They also have the same 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 250 dual core processor. But while the 10.1 inch tablet weighs about 1.3 pounds, the Galaxy Tab 8.9 weighs a little less than a pound. The 16GB model will run $469, while the 32GB version has a $569 price tag. The Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 and 5.0 look like smartphones, but they don’t feature cellular capabilities. You won’t be able to make phone calls or surf the web unless you have a WiFi signal (or a voice over IP app such as Skype). But both devices run Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread and feature full access to the Android Market which means that they should be able to run most of the apps available for Google’s operating system. Both media players feature 800 x 480 pixel displays, front-facing VGA cameras and 3.2MP rear cameras, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and 8GB of storage. The 5 inch model features a 2500mAh battery, weighs 6.4 ounces, and will sell for about $269. The smaller 4 inch Galaxy S WiFi 4.0will have a 1200mAh battery, weigh 4.2 ounces, and run about $229. Samsung’s 4, 5 and 8.9 inch tablets coming in October is a post from: Liliputing
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| Amazon Kindle “Fire” Tablet coming in Novemer? Posted: 26 Sep 2011 02:04 PM PDT Amazon is holding an event in New York on Wednesday, and plenty of folks are expecting the company to introduce its long-rumored Android tablet. In advance of the event Amazon has announced that it’s reached a deal with FOX to add thousands of TV shows and movies to its online video streaming service and there’s a rumor that the company will offer digital magazine subscriptions from the top periodical publishers in the US when the tablet launches. Now TechCrunch’s MG Siegler reports that the tablet will be unveiled on Wednesday, but it won’t actually be available for purchase until November. It’s reportedly called the Kindle Fire and that it will have a dual core Texas Instruments OMAP processor, a 7 inch color, backlit display, and the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system — although the software will be skinned so that it looks little like other Android devices. That makes sense, because the Fire isn’t necessarily meant to be an iPad-killer. Instead it will go up against Barnes & Noble’s $250 NOOK Color eBook reader… which also happens to run Android and a limited number of Android apps. The difference is that while Barnes & Noble has an extensive eBook store and a relatively small Android app store, Amazon already has a fairly well established app store, one of the industry’s largest selections of eBooks, and also an MP3 music store and digital video marketplace. The Fire will likely be positioned as a media consumption device first and foremost, and a general-purpose tablet for surfing the web and running apps second. Siegler says it’s not clear exactly how much the tablet will cost at the moment, but it could sell for $250 to $300, and it may come with a one year membership to the Amazon Prime service (which normally offers free 2-day shipping on orders from Amazon.com and thousands of digital movie and TV show streams for $79 per year). TechCrunch has reported in the past that the device will look a lot like a BlackBerry PlayBook, and gdgt’s Ryan Block dug up a good reason for that — apparently both devices were produced by Taiwanese ODM Quanta. In fact, the Kindle Fire may simply be based on the designs Quanta already user for the PlayBook tablet. Block says he’s hearing that Amazon rushed the tablet to get something out by the end of the year, and Quanta and Amazon may have had to cut some corners — but that he expects future generations of the tablet to be of higher quality. Amazon Kindle “Fire” Tablet coming in Novemer? is a post from: Liliputing
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| Posted: 26 Sep 2011 11:45 AM PDT Starting today you can pick up a BlackBerry PlayBook 7 inch tablet in the US for $299 — or about $200 off the original list price. That’s a pretty good price for a pretty good tablet, albeit one that doesn’t currently support a lot of third party apps. But if you’re looking for something with a slightly more Windows, or Android flavor, here are some of the best deals we could dig up today:
You can find more bargains in our daily deals section. Deals of the Day (9-26-11) is a post from: Liliputing
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| HP TouchPad Android progress: Bluetooth now supported Posted: 26 Sep 2011 10:30 AM PDT As the CyanogenMod team continues its work to port Google Android to run on the HP TouchPad tablet, it looks like the team has crossed another item off the to-do list. Bluetooth is now working. That means you’ll be able to use a Bluetooth keyboard or possibly other devices such as Bluetooth headsets with the TouchPad once Google Android is made publicly available. There’s still a lot of work to be done. Video drivers are still a work in progress, as is compass support. There are problems with using the tablet after resuming from sleep. Power management is still problematic, and if you turn on airplane mode it’s stuck on unless you reboot the tablet. According to a post from DarkRedFlame at the RootzWiki forum, the CyanogenMod Android build for the TouchPad is about two thirds complete at this point. On the one hand, that’s pretty great news since it shows how quickly the independent developers are making progress. Work on the project only began about a month ago. On the other hand, CyanogenMod developers have been showing videos for the past few weeks showing Android on the tablet, and it certainly looks like Android works pretty well in those videos. That probably raised a lot of people’s hopes that the team would release software for the tablet soon. But the videos only show the things that are working, not the bugs that still need to be squashed. The HP TouchPad is a tablet with a 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel display and a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor. It originally shipped with webOS 3.0 software, but after HP discontinued the tablet and sold of remaining inventory for prices as low as $99, interest in an Android port for the tablet grew. The TouchPad’s hardware is similar to that of many other Android devices and some tablets were even accidentally shipped with Android, suggesting that the manufacturer had tested the operating system on the tablet. But HP only officially supports webOS for the tablet. Hopefully the fast progress the CyanogenMod developers have been making will continue, in which case we could see a public release of unofficial Android software for HP’s tablet in the next few months. You can keep up with the development progress at the CM TouchPad Google Code project page. HP TouchPad Android progress: Bluetooth now supported is a post from: Liliputing
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| Asus Tough tablet shows up in Japan Posted: 26 Sep 2011 08:54 AM PDT Japanese wireless carrier KDDI will soon offer a new Android tablet from Asus… and it’s one that sort of came out of nowhere. Asus hasn’t made any official announcements about the Asus TOUGH ETBW11AA in the West, so I’m guessing this one’s a Japanese exclusive for now, but the folk sat Impress got a chance to check out the new tablet. It has most of the usual Android tablet specs including a 1280 x 800 pixel display, 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor and Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system. But it’s also the smallest Asus Honeycomb tablet to date, with a 7 inch display. As the “Tough” name suggests, this new tablet also has a few semi-rugged features including a case that’s both water and dust-resistant. It also supports 4G WiMAX wireless broadband. Unfortunately the tough case also adds a little weight. The tablet weighs about 1.4 pounds and measures about 0.9 inches thick. That wouldn’t be bad at all if this were a 10 inch tablet, but the Asus Tough is a little chunky for a 7 inch tablet. via SlashGear Asus Tough tablet shows up in Japan is a post from: Liliputing
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| BlackBerry PlayBook price cuts hit the US ($299 and up) Posted: 26 Sep 2011 07:35 AM PDT US retailers are starting to offer $200 price cuts on the BlackBerry PlayBook. Or rather, the base price of the 7 inch tablet has fallen from $499 to $399, and companies are offering $100 rebates as well, bringing the total price of a 16GB tablet to $299. A 32GB model now runs $399 after rebate, while the top of the line 64GB version is available for $499. On Friday we saw similar price drops in Canada, the home country of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion. The price cuts follow news that RIM has only shipped about 700,000 PlayBooks so far this year. The company is hoping the price cuts, as well as an upcoming software update, will help boost sales. RIM isn’t ready to pull an HP and cancel the PlayBook yet, which is why the company is still selling tablets for $299 to $499 instead of liquidating them for $99. Right now the PlayBook is designed to appeal to existing BlackBerry smartphone customers. For instance, in order to use the tablet’s native email, contact, or calendar apps you need to pair the device with a BlackBerry phone. But the upcoming software update will remove that restriction while also adding the ability to run Google Android applications — thus expanding the number of third party apps available for the PlayBook. The PlayBook has a 1024 x 600 pixel capacitive touchscreen display, 1GB of RAM, a 3MP front-facing camera, and a 5MP rear camera. It features 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1. The tablet has a 1 GHz dual core TI OMAP4 processor, can handle 1080p HD video playback and features BlackBerry Tablet OS, which is based on QNX software. It weighs about 0.9 pounds. Staples and Office Depot are two of the first stores to offer the tablet at its new price of $299 and up. via PocketBerry BlackBerry PlayBook price cuts hit the US ($299 and up) is a post from: Liliputing
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| Asus to launch UX series ultrabooks October 11th Posted: 26 Sep 2011 05:54 AM PDT An ultrabook is a thin and light laptop which weighs less than three pounds, measures less than 0.8 inches thick, and has a starting price of under $1000. Intel coined the term this summer and also wants ultrabooks to have solid state disks and the latest Intel processors, although not every manufacturer seems to be on board with the price or SSD requirements. In May, Asus was the first company to show off its ultrabook prototypes – and now the company is set to be one of the first to bring its ultrabooks to market. Asus will hold a launch event in New York on October 11th. We already know about at least two models: The 11.6 inch Asus UX21 and the 13.3 inch Asus UX31. The smaller model will measure just 0.67 inches thick, weigh 2.4 pounds, and have a choice of an Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor. It will have a 1366 x 768 pixel display. The last we’d heard, the UX31 will have a 13.3 inch, 1600 x 900 pixel display and an Intel Core i7 processor. It’s expected to weigh 2.9 pounds. I suspect those early specifications may be subject to change, so I wouldn’t be shocked if the screen resolution, processor options, or other features are a little different come October 11th. But it’s also possible that Asus could flesh out its ultrabook lineup with a few additional models. This summer there were reports that Asus would actually launch at least 5 different ultrabook models in October. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see 5 radically different devices though. Asus tends to assign different model numbers to products that have moderately different features. For instance, two virtually identical netbooks could have different model numbers if one has Bluetooth and a 6 cell battery while its sibling is WiFi-only and has a 3 cell battery. via Blogeee Asus to launch UX series ultrabooks October 11th is a post from: Liliputing
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