Displaying items by tag: Tablet

We have talked (at length) about Microsoft’s new move to the cloud and also their push with the Windows 8 Ecosystem (which is the cloud). We have pointed out many items of concern as well as shown some of the good parts to the OS; such as faster boot times, much better windows explorer interface, significantly improved task manager etc. However, the one massive point that we cannot get past is the choice Microsoft has made in making the Xbox and Windows Phone the center of the connected home. What Microsoft has done with this mode of thinking is what earned me a D- on a science paper in High School; Concluding the Assumption.

Although it was rumored (and possibly shown off at CES 2012) the long awaited Nexus 7 (I wonder is the Tyrell corporation was involved) 7-inch tablet from Google is coming today to be officially launched during the Google I/O conference. The new tablet will feature 1GB of RAM and a quad (quint?) core Tegra 3 under the screen. For capacity you will get either 8 or 16GB and all of the usual trimmings (no 3G though). The pricing and size would indicate it is intended to rival both the iPad and the Kindle Fire.

*** Update It is live, real and you can buy this new tablet from Google and Asus!***

Well the world is abuzz with the news that *gasp* the Microsoft Surface tablet only comes with WiFi. For some reason this appears to be a big deal to many news sites that also have articles that list reasons why you should wait for the iPhone 5 and a few others. What I find interesting is that very few appear to remember that both Windows 8 and Windows RT will have the ability to utilize peripherals attached Via the included USB port.

When Microsoft announced the new Surface tablet we saw a lot of analysts comment on its form, features and more. What we did not hear a lot about until hours (and in some cases about a day) later was the impact that this would have on Microsoft’s partners. It was one of the first things that we thought about when it rolled out. Did Microsoft lets any of its partners know and what are they feeling right now.

We wondered when this would start happening, but Microsoft’s decision to compete against their own partners has had its first casualty. It seems that after the Surface was announced last night LG has decided to stop working on new tablets for the foreseeable future. Is this decision in response to having to compete with Microsoft or a decision that is based on LG’s poor sales in the market?

Well the cat is out of the bag now and the winner is a new tablet called Surface from Microsoft. The thin (.5 inches) tablet was shown off today at the big event that Microsoft had planned for a long time. From the pictures we have seen it looks like a nice device 10.6 inches long with a gorilla glass display, full sized USB port, MIMO antenna for WiFi a track pad, 64 or 128GB of storage, and a built in kickstand. There is just one problem; Microsoft’s partners. By entering into the market like this Microsoft runs the risk of alienating their major partners for Windows based tablets.

As we reported not all that long ago the days of the 1920x1200 ARM based tablets are quickly approaching. There was a time when the market viewed the tablet as a low resolution device and indeed many had the same or lower resolution as your typical smart phone. This was odd considering the one of the biggest benefits to a tablet it more screen real estate. However even after the launch of the iPad we saw signs that touch panel technology was scrambling to get ahead of the game.

With all the Apple news yesterday (and filtering over to today) we thought you might like some news about “the other guy” in the mobile race. We are talking about Android her and no, they did not hold a massive dog and pony show. Instead we have a nice and simple announcement from Rock Start games this morning. Max Payne is coming to Android.

Every now and then in the midst of products that are intended to make your system more powerful or impress your friends we get to play with products that are fun. We found this in a pair of external speakers from a company called Accessory Power. The speakers are designed to look like the heads of animals (in a cute way) and can work with PCs, phones, tablets and pretty much anything with a 1/8-inch speaker jack. In addition to their function as a speaker set they are also intended to bring awareness to endangered species. We were lucky enough to receive two different models for our testing and enjoyment. So let’s take you along as we see if the Accessory Power Gogroove Speaker Pals Panda and Koala sets are worth your time and money.

At Computex in Taipei AMD is showing off a prototype Windows 8 tablet. This is something that we predicted they would do right after they announced their shift to low power CPUs (well really APUs). It was a move that we predicted was not only logical, but one that was necessary for AMD with the shift to tablets and ultrabooks that many companies are making in anticipation of Windows 8 and its very touch oriented design.