Liliputing |
- Amazon: Sure, you can root the Kindle Fire tablet
- Motorola XOOM finally gets its 4G LTE upgrade
- Meet the N5Zero: a cheap 5 inch Android tablet
- HP offers employees another chance at TouchPads, sells out instantly
- BlackBerry PlayBook won’t run all Android apps
- This is HP’s canceled 7 inch TouchPad Go tablet
- Amazon Kindle, Touch, and Fire up for pre-order ($79 and up)
- Amazon introduces the Kindle Fire tablet
- Amazon unveils next-gen Kindle eReaders for $79 and up
- Amazon Kindle Fire tablet to run $199
- Maybe you shouldn’t get used to $299 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets
- Goodbye MeeGo, hello Tizen: Mobile OS for tablets, netbooks, phones
- Toshiba Thrive 7 inch tablet coming in December
| Amazon: Sure, you can root the Kindle Fire tablet Posted: 28 Sep 2011 03:00 PM PDT The Amazon Kindle Fire is different from any other Android tablet on the market because while it runs Android under the hood, it’s designed to be an Amazon device first and foremost. When you turn it on, you’re greeted with a bookshelf with your books, music, movies, and apps — not with customizeable Android home screens. It comes preloaded with Amazon’s app store, music store, movie store, and kindle eBook store. But what if you want to run apps that aren’t available from those stores or change the software interface? Amazon won’t try to stop you. A company official tells PC Magazine that he expects people to root the tablet and make changes. That’s not to say Amazon will support rooted devices or make it easy for people to gain root access and change the functionality of the operating system. But while Apple tends to push out security updates for its mobile devices shortly after a new exploit is discovered by jailbreakers, Amazon doesn’t seem all that concerned. It should be interesting to see whether Amazon’s streaming movie services continue to work once you root — one reason some companies tend to block access to rooted devices is that theoretically there are fewer checks in place to prevent you from downloading and saving content you’ve only paid to rent. But it’s likely that Amazon will be selling the $199 Kindle Fire tablet at or near the price it costs to make the tablet with the hopes of locking customers into its digital media platform and making money by selling music, movies, books, and apps. If you have no intention of buying those things from Amazon, the Kindle Fire might still be a worthwhile investment if you’re looking for a high quality tablet at a reasonably low price — especially if you can root it. The Kindle Fire will have a 7 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel capacitive multitouch display, a 1 GHz TI OMAP4 dual core processor, 8GB Of storage, and an operating system based on Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Even if you don’t root the tablet, Amazon says you’ll be able to install apps that aren’t available from the Amazon Appstore by side-loading them with a USB cable (or possibly by downloading them from the internet). The Amazon Kindle Fire is expected to ship in November, but it’s already available for pre-order. Amazon: Sure, you can root the Kindle Fire tablet is a post from: Liliputing
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| Motorola XOOM finally gets its 4G LTE upgrade Posted: 28 Sep 2011 02:22 PM PDT It’s been about seven months since Motorola and Verizon launched the XOOM tablet with 3G capabilities — and promised customers that a free 4G LTE upgrade would be available soon. Half a year later, it’s finally ready. Starting Thursday, September 29th customers that picked up 3G XOOM tablets will be able to send in their tablets for free upgrades. The upgrade process will take about 6 days to complete, and if you want the free upgrade you’ll need to send in your XOOM within 6 months. On October 13th, Motorola will also start selling the tablet with a 4G modem preinstalled. No upgrades needed. The new LTE model will be available for $499.99 when you sign up for a 2-year Verizon contract with monthly charges ranging from $30 for 2GB of data to $80 for 10GB. The Motorola XOOM features a 10.1 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display, a 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor, 32GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, and Google Android 3.2 Honeycomb. Or you can hang out a little longer and pick up a next-generation XOOM tablet. Word on the street is that Motorola has a new 10 inch model as well as an 8.2 inch version in the works. Motorola XOOM finally gets its 4G LTE upgrade is a post from: Liliputing
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| Meet the N5Zero: a cheap 5 inch Android tablet Posted: 28 Sep 2011 02:00 PM PDT Android phones are now outselling the Apple iPhone (although there are hundreds of Android phones, and just a few iPhone models), and device makers are cranking out Android tablets in an effort to take on the iPad. But up until recently the iPod touch didn’t have much competition. Samsung is set to launch a line of Android-powered portable media devices next month for $229 and up. That’s about the same price as an iPod touch. But while Samsung attempts to compete on features, other companies try to compete on price. I recently reviewed the Skytex Primer Pocket — an $89 Android device with a 4.3 inch display and a 600 MHz MIPS processor. But the screen was pretty lousy, the processor too slow, and many apps didn’t run on the device. Now Charbax from ARMdevices has an overview of another cheap Andorid device, and this one actually looks pretty promising. It’s called the N5Zero, and it has a 5 inch, 800 x 480 pixel capacitive (4-point) touchscreen display, a 1.2 GHz Rockchip RK2918 ARM Cortex-A8 processor, and 512MB of RAM. The little device has 2GB to 16GB of storage and a microSD card slot for expansion. It runs Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and features a 3000mAh battery which is reportedly good for up to 5 hours of video playback or 20 hours of music playback. There’s also a USB host adapter which you can use to connect external storage, a keyboard, or other accessories including a USB 3G dongle. Pinch to zoom seems to work pretty well on the tablet, and 3D graphics look pretty good. The web browser could be a little faster, but it certainly looks usable. The N5Zero actually looks a lot like a tiny Samsung Galaxy Tab. It has the same rounded edges, black bezel around the display, and capacitive touch buttons below the display. Charbax says the tablet sells for $99 — but that’s the price for resellers. If and when you find this little guy on store shelves it will probably cost a bit more. Of course, the odds of finding it in the US are pretty slim, since the manufacturer pretty much ripped off Samsung’s case design. Meet the N5Zero: a cheap 5 inch Android tablet is a post from: Liliputing
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| HP offers employees another chance at TouchPads, sells out instantly Posted: 28 Sep 2011 12:40 PM PDT
Today HP let its employees have first crack at the new crop of tablets — and it looks like the HP Employee Purchase Program store crashed under the pressure almost immediately. PreCentral reports that it’s not clear how many tablets were sold this morning — but it is pretty clear that they’re already sold out. Hopefully HP put aside a few tablets for retail channels. At the very least, it sounds like the folks at OnSale worked out a deal with HP to get some tablets to send to customers who had placed orders in August only to find their orders canceled due to lack of supply. But I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for tablets to show up at Amazon… or at your local Best Buy anytime soon. And if they do, I suspect they too will sell out in minutes. If the limited number of HP employees able to place orders today jumped on the deal this quickly, just think about what will happen when they go on sale to the public again. Now that HP has a new CEO, it’s possible the company could reconsider its plans to kill off its webOS hardware division. But even if HP were to start producing TouchPad tablets again, it seems unlikely that they’d sell for $99… which means it’s also unlikely that they’d sell very well. At this point there are probably somewhere around a million TouchPad tablets in existence… and that’s probably about all we’re going to get. Still, if you’re lucky (and persistent), you might be able to snag one soon without resorting to eBay. HP offers employees another chance at TouchPads, sells out instantly is a post from: Liliputing
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| BlackBerry PlayBook won’t run all Android apps Posted: 28 Sep 2011 11:00 AM PDT Research in Motion is taking two major steps to try to drum up some more interest in the company’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. The first is a series of price cut promotions allowing customers to snag the tablet for as little as $299. The second is a major software update that, among other things, will let users run Google Android apps on the tablet. The PlayBook ships with BlackBerry Tablet OS, an operating system based on QNX. Since it’s a pretty new operating system, there aren’t that many third party apps available for it — BlackBerry Tablet OS can’t run normal BlackBerry apps and only a small number of apps in the BlackBerry App World store are designed to run on the tablet. So opening the door to Android apps could make the tablet a much more useful device. There are hundreds of thousands of applications designed to run on Android phones and tablets, and once the Android App Player is available for the PlayBook, many of them will also work on RIM’s tablet. But not all of them. It should come as no surprise that some apps — such as those that only work as home screen widgets, won’t run on the PlayBook. That’s because the PlayBook doesn’t use home screen widgets. There would be nothing for those apps to do. THe same goes for Android Live Wallpaper apps. The folks at Thinq have some more details though. RIM engineers apparently outlined some of the limitations at a recent event in Europe, and it looks like the PlayBook also won’t support apps that:
You may still be able to install some of these apps on a PlayBook, but they won’t run properly because the PlayBook doesn’t have all of the features you’d find in a true Android tablet. It won’t have Google Maps, Google’s in-app billing, or other functions, for instance. All in all, there’s nothing particularly surprising about this news… but it’s good to see RIM talking about which apps won’t be supported in advance of the BlackBerry Tablet OS 2.0 software update so that we can temper our expectations. via SlashGear BlackBerry PlayBook won’t run all Android apps is a post from: Liliputing
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| This is HP’s canceled 7 inch TouchPad Go tablet Posted: 28 Sep 2011 09:00 AM PDT Just before HP decided to pull the plug on its webOS smartphones and tablets this summer, the company had been preparing to launch a 7 inch tablet called the TouchPad Go. It would have looked a lot like the 10 inch TouchPad tablet which made a splash only after HP cut the price to $99. But you know… it would have been smaller and stuff. Now the folks at PreCentral have managed to get their hands on some documents that paint a pretty good picture of the tablet that never made it to market. What you’re looking at is the HP TouchPad Go. It would have sported a 7 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel IPS display, a 1.3MP front-facing camera, a 5MP rear camera, stereo speakers, and metal buttons. While the larger TouchPad has a home button placed on one of the shorter edges (suggesting you might want to hold the tablet in portrait orientation), the TouchPad Go had a home button along one of the longer sides, for ease of use in landscape mode. The little guy would have shipped with a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual core processor. It’s actually the same chip used in the larger TouchPad, but originally HP had underclocked the processor to run at 1.2 GHz. The rear-facing camera would also have been new. The original TouchPad only has a front camera. It looks like HP was also planning to pack the TouchPad Go with a GPS receiver — something that wasn’t available on any of the 10 inch models that were released. The device would have had 1GB of RAM, and 16GB to 32GB of storage. It would have weighed about a pound and measured about half an inch thick, making it a little easier to hold than is big brother. Related:
This is HP’s canceled 7 inch TouchPad Go tablet is a post from: Liliputing
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| Amazon Kindle, Touch, and Fire up for pre-order ($79 and up) Posted: 28 Sep 2011 08:22 AM PDT Amazon introduced three new Kindle devices this morning: two eBook readers and the Kindle Fire tablet which is designed to access music, eBooks, movies, and apps from Amazon’s digital content stores. All three devices are expected to ship in November, but you can place pre-orders starting today. Kindle Fire This 7 inch tablet sort of stole the show at today’s kick-off event. At $199 it’s the most expensive Kindle device Amazon offers at the moment, but that’s a pretty remarkable price for a device which can do as much as the Kindle Fire can — even if it doesn’t come with full access to the Android Market or other goodies that you get from some competing Android tablets. Instead, the Kindle Fire ties into Amazon’s digital media stores and runs a highly customized version of Android that puts that content front and center. The home screen looks like a book shelf with your books, movies, songs, and apps. The tablet has a 7 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, weighs 14.6 ounces, measures 7.5″ x 4.7″ x 0.45″ and supports 802.11b/g/n WiFi. It has 8GB of storage, speakers and a headphone jack, and ships November 15th. It’s available for pre-order for $199 Kindle The newest Amazon Kindle eReader Amazon is offering two versions of the new Kindle. For $79 you can pick up a model “with special offers,” which is to say it will show sponsored ads as your screensaver. There’s also an ad-free version for $109. The new Kindle has 2GB of storage space. Kindle Touch Amazon is launching its first E Ink Kindle with a touchscreen. It’s called the Kindle Touch Since there are no buttons, just a touchscreen display, the Kindle Touch is the smallest 6 inch eReader Amazon has released to date. It actually weighs a tiny bit more than the new Kindle though, at 7.5 ounces. The Kindle Touch has 4GB of storage, about 3GB of which is available to users. It includes speakers and a 3.5mm audio jack, a USB port, and 802.11b/g/n WIFI. Kindle Touch 3G This model includes a 3G radio which allows you to download and read eBooks or magazines without a WiFi hotspot. The 3G service is available as a free add-on, with no service contracts or monthly fees, and it’s available in 100 countries. Amazon’s Kindle Touch 3G
Amazon Kindle, Touch, and Fire up for pre-order ($79 and up) is a post from: Liliputing
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| Amazon introduces the Kindle Fire tablet Posted: 28 Sep 2011 07:45 AM PDT Amazon has officially unveiled the Kindle Fire — its new 7 inch tablet. As expected, it basically looks like a BlackBerry PlayBook — you know, if the BlackBerry PlayBook ran a customized version of Android and tied into Amazon’s app store, movie store, music store, eBook store, and digital newsstand. The Kindle Fire will be available November 15th for $199. The tablet has a 7 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel IPS Gorilla Glass display, a dual-core processor, and weighs just 14.6 ounces. Amazon is positioning it as sort of a Kindle for all the different types of digital content the company offers. While the original Kindle devices were simply eBook apps, it’s been a long time since Amazon was just a book store. The company offers over 100,000 movies and TV shows for download, and if you pay $79 per year for an Amazon Prime membership you can stream 11,000 of them for free. There are more than a million songs in the Amazon MP3 music store. And there are millions of books in the Kindle eBook store. Amazon also has one of the strongest cloud-based platforms around, so one of the benefits of buying a device tied to Amazon services is that whenever you purchase an app, movie, song, or magazine, it’s stored in your online account. You can download it and access it on any device running Amazon software (including iOS or Android phones or tablets) and even sync your last read page across all the devices you’re using to read a book. Videos work the same way — you can start watching on one device and continue on another. You can also delete content from your device and easily re-download it at any time. This is the sort of functionality Apple is building into its iCloud service for iOS devices, but Kindle Fire users will get them all on day one… because they’re really just extensions of services that Amazon already offers. Amazon also introduced a new web browser for the Kindle Fire. It’s called Amazon Silk, and it uses Amazon’s EC2 service to accelerate web browsing by rendering web pages on a remote server before sending them to your device. This is pretty much what the Opera Mini and Skyfire web browsers do, and it seems strange to see Amazon offer it today when mobile web browsers do a pretty good job of rendering web content. But Amazon is making the case that the Kindle Fire isn’t just a device, it’s a service — and it’s a cloud service at that. So using cloud features even in the web browser makes sense… I guess.             Amazon introduces the Kindle Fire tablet is a post from: Liliputing
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| Amazon unveils next-gen Kindle eReaders for $79 and up Posted: 28 Sep 2011 07:15 AM PDT The Android-toting Kindle Fire tablet with a full color screen isn’t the only new member of the Amazon Kindle family. Today Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos took to the stage to introduce several new devices including a model with an E Ink, touchscreen display and a dirt cheap eReader which will sell for just $79. Kindle Touch Unsurprisingly the touchscreen model is called the Kindle Touch. It has a high contrast E Ink display, and an IR touchscreen similar to the ones used by the latest NOOK and Kobo devices. It’s also the smallest Kindle to date, since there’s no need for a keyboard. The Kindle Touch will be available for just $99, making it one of the cheapest E Ink eBook readers on the market. While the budget model is WiFi-only, Amazon will also offer a 3G capable version for $149. There are no monthly fees or contracts to use the 3G, and it works with wireless networks in 100 countries. Of course, we’re talking about 3G data for downloading books and maybe doing a little web surfing and not much else. Kindle Touch pre-orders will open today and the eReaders are expected to ship on November 21st. Kindle The model without a touchscreen? That’s the new Kindle. It’s a little smaller and lighter than the latest Kindle… and it’s way cheaper, at just $79. Like earlier Kindle models, it has buttons for turning pages. But the little guy weighs less than 7 ounces. Amazon is also loading up “special offers” which means you’ll see ads and local deals on your screen saver. Amazon unveils next-gen Kindle eReaders for $79 and up is a post from: Liliputing
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| Amazon Kindle Fire tablet to run $199 Posted: 28 Sep 2011 06:53 AM PDT The long-anticipated Amazon tablet is almost here. The company is holding an event in New York City to officially introduce its 7 inch Android device this morning, but the folks at Bloomberg just couldn’t wait — and they’ve spilled some of the beans. Here’s what we know so far: The device will be called the Kindle Fire and it will sell for $199 and run Google Android. But it will have a unique user interface that’s tied to Amazon’s music, video, and magazine content. BusinessWeek reports that Amazon can keep the profit margins on the tablet low because it’s hoping to make up the difference with app and media sales. This is similar to the approach Barnes & Noble has taken with the NOOK Color eReader, which sells for $249. The difference is that Amazon also established an Android app store earlier this year, which means there are thousands of apps already available for the Kindle Fire, comapred with the a much smaller number of NOOK Color apps. As you might expect from a device aimed at consuming media, there’s no camera or mic on the Kindle Fire. And while we’d been hearing rumors that Amazon would bundle an Amazon Prime subscription for free video streaming and 2-day shipping on goods ordered from Amazon, it turns out that the company will only be giving customers a 30-day free trial. That’s not particularly exciting, since Amazon offers anyone a 1 month free trial of the service — tablet or no tablet. Update: Amazon has officially introduced the tablet. Amazon Kindle Fire tablet to run $199 is a post from: Liliputing
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| Maybe you shouldn’t get used to $299 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets Posted: 28 Sep 2011 06:09 AM PDT Retailers in the US and Canada recently started slashing the price of BlackBerry PlayBook tablets with instant rebates and gift cards. These brought the price of a 16GB tablet down from $499 to $299. But maybe you shouldn’t get too used to the new price: Research in Motion says these are just promotions. In other words, the base price of a PlayBook tablet is still technically $499. RIM is hoping to drum up additional interest in the tablet in response to sluggish sales. But at some point the promotion could end and the tablet could go back to full price. On the other hand, if the $299 price proves more successful — and if RIM is still able to turn a profit at that price — maybe RIM executives could decide to keep the promotional pricing in place in order to move more tablets. The company also plans to launch BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 soon. The software update will add native email, calendar, and contact apps to the BlackBerry tablet, as well as the ability to run some Google Android applications. Maybe you shouldn’t get used to $299 BlackBerry PlayBook tablets is a post from: Liliputing
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| Goodbye MeeGo, hello Tizen: Mobile OS for tablets, netbooks, phones Posted: 28 Sep 2011 03:40 AM PDT There’s a new open source, Linux-based mobile operating system in town. The Linux Foundation has announced the launch of Tizen, an operating system aimed at smartphones, tablets, netbooks, and other devices including in-vehicle entertainment systems and smart TVs. While the Linux Foundation will host the project, it will be led by Intel and Samsung. The Linux Mobile (LiMo) Foundation is also signing on. But wait… wasn’t Intel backing MeeGo Linux? Yes… it was. But now it looks like the MeeGo project may be all-but-dead. A post on the MeeGo website encourages developers to transition to Tizen. And yes… that post is aimed at developers, not users, because let’s face it: There are almost no MeeGo users at this point. The MeeGo project started about a year and a half ago when Intel and Nokia teamed up and merged the Moblin Linux netbook platform (Intel) and Maemo Linux smartphone platform (Nokia). Yet the first Nokia device featuring MeeGo wasn’t introduced until this summer — and the Nokia N9 will also be the last smartphone featuring MeeGo, since Nokia has shifted gears and will partner with Microsoft on Windows Phone 7 devices in the future. The N9 will never even see the light of day in the US. Meanwhile Asus launched one of the first netbooks featuring MeeGo Linux just a few weeks ago. It too, will probably be the last. The good news is that the Eee PC X101 is a $200 laptop, so I’m not sure people are expecting much in the way of support or upgrades. The bad news is that today’s announcement essentially means Asus is selling a device with an operating system that’s already been rejected by its primary developers. The app development platform for the new OS will be based on HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, and other web-technologies. That means that coding apps for Tizen devices may be similar to coding web apps or native apps for phones or other devices that support HTML5. This could seriously cut development time. Intel has also announced that its AppUp Center app store will support the platform, giving users a central place to purchase and download third party apps — although as an open source operating system I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a way to use a different package manager. But the sudden abandonment of MeeGo is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of developers that have been working on MeeGo apps for the last 18 months. Up until recently, MeeGo had been encouraging developers to write native apps using QT. Now it’s not at all clear if those apps will be supported by Tizen. So while MeeGo may not have gained widespread acceptance among device makers or consumers, the project did manage to attract some open source Linux developers… many of whom are now being told that the hard work they’ve put into their apps may have been for nothing. Tizen will apparently support some native apps that don’t use web-based technologies, and there will be a native development kit. But the new project leaders haven’t yet spelled out the details. The first version of Tizen is due out in the first quarter of 2012, and a software development kit should be available at the same time. Intel insists that MeeGo isn’t actually dead yet — at least not as far as “devices in the market” are concerned. But it’s not clear how much support the operating system will have in the future, despite Intel’s encouragement to developers to continue coding for the platform. I’d be surprised if we see another MeeGo device released once Tizen is available. Today’s announcement comes at a time when Apple iOS and Google Android dominate the smartphone and tablet space, with Microsoft making plays for both with its Windows Phone 7.5 and Windows 8 platforms. It should be interesting to see if an open source platform led by a coalition of companies rather than a single big name can come up with a product that will make a dent.
Goodbye MeeGo, hello Tizen: Mobile OS for tablets, netbooks, phones is a post from: Liliputing
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| Toshiba Thrive 7 inch tablet coming in December Posted: 27 Sep 2011 06:23 PM PDT
Under the hood, the two tablets have identical specs, including a 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor, a 5MP rear camera and 2MP front-facing camera, and even a high resolution 1280 x 800 pixel display. But the smaller tablet won’t have all of the goodies that you get with the 10 inch Thrive. Instead of full-sized USB, SD card, and HDMI ports, you get mini and micro versions. And the back cover of the Thrive 7″ is not removable, which means the battery isn’t meant to be user replaceable. The good news is that the Thrive 7″ isn’t just smaller than its older brother. It’s also lighter, weighing just 0.88 pounds (compared with 1.7 pounds for the original Thrive tablet). The new kid isn’t as svelte as some of its peers in the tablet world, measuring about 0.47 inches thick, but the textured plastic on the black is designed to make the tablet easy to grip. The Toshiba Thrive 7″ will ship with Google Android 3.2 Honeycomb and features SRS audio, WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS. It will be available with 16GB to 32GB of storage. 7 inch Android tablets seem to be all the rage these days. Acer recently launched one, and Lenovo will offer a budget 7 inch tablet for $200 soon. One of the few companies that doesn’t seem to be working on a 7 inch tablet is Motorola. Instead we’re waiting for a new 8 inch tablet from Motorola. Apparently little is big these days. Or maybe the goal is just to try to provide something different enough from the Apple iPad to convince some tablet customers to choose Android… and to convince Apple not to sue for intellectual property crimes.                Toshiba Thrive 7 inch tablet coming in December is a post from: Liliputing
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After HP liquidated its remaining TouchPad tablet inventory last month by 
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has a 6 inch E Ink display and weighs about 6 ounces. It has buttons below the screen and on the side of the device for navigation.
, and if you’re cool with advertising you can grab one for $99. The ad-free variety costs $139.
runs $149 if you get the special offers edition, or $189 if you go without the offers.
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