A Significant New Tablet to be Present at CTIA, Says Vice President
Vice President of the CTIA Rob Mesiro has gone on record to say that a major new tablet will be unveiled at CTIA. What exactly they’ll be showing wasn’t hinted to. All we suspect so far is that Samsung will introduce an 8.9 inch model of the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
We can’t outright assume that this tablet will be running Android, but when asked what he expected to see more of at the show, his exact response was “Android, Android, Android”. We’ll be keeping our eyes on the list of exhibitors to see who’ll stand out coming up. CTIA’s Spring show is slated to kick off March 21st. [PC World]
Things We Missed, You Shouldn’t [March 3rd]
- The Huawei Ideos S7 is launching in Indonesia.
- Virgin Mobile is bringing the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play to France. [Into]
- Square processes over $1 million in transactions across iOS and Android each day. [Gizmodo]
- The Nexus One for Mobilicity has received its Gingerbread update. [MobileSyrup]
- The Samsung Captivate has received its first proper CyanogenMod7 build giving the Galaxy S handset a taste of Android 2.3.3.
Deciding on a tablet by comparing specs? You’ve missed the point
Last night, I was browsing through story after story on the interwebs that hoped to help people decide on a tablet purchase by comparing the Motorola Xoom specifications with the iPad 2. From multitasking to chip speed to RAM, analysists attempted to find consumers the best possible value for the money.
And they completely missed the point.
When it comes to tablets, it's not about the specs. It's about user experience. It's about the way we use the device and how the device fits itself to the way we want to use it.
Continue reading Deciding on a tablet by comparing specs? You've missed the point
Deciding on a tablet by comparing specs? You've missed the point originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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New 13-inch MacBook Pro Hard to Beat
CNET reviewer Scott Stein writes that “the new 13-inch MacBook Pro’s significant CPU updates and fantastic battery life make it one of the top laptops we’ve reviewed.” Stein likes the device’s “excellent” ergonomics, keyboard, and large Multi-Touch trackpad, as well as its seamless metal body, which “compared with other flexy laptops…feels like modern art.” He adds: “…for the price and the size, it’s hard to beat what the 13-inch MacBook Pro offers.”
“Mind-Blowingly” Fast MacBook Pro
PC Magazine reviewer Cisco Cheng calls the new 15-inch MacBook Pro “the fastest, most technologically advanced laptop to grace our Lab’s benches.” Highlighting standout features like its “mind-blowingly fast” performance, improved battery life, ultrafast Thunderbolt input/output connection, and new FaceTime HD camera, Cheng calls MacBook Pro a “technological tour de force.”
MacBook Pro Is Editors’ Choice
Computer Shopper gives the new 13-inch MacBook Pro a score of 9.3/10 and makes it their Editors’ Choice. Reviewer Jonathan Rougeot writes that MacBook Pro “continued to trounce its competition in our battery test” and notes that the processor performance “far exceeded expectations.” He concludes: “…once again, Apple takes a notebook that we already loved and makes it even better.”
Motorola XOOM Spotted At Sam’s Club And Costco, Who Wins On Price?
The flood of iPad 2 news has past with yesterday’s announcement, so let’s take a look at its rival, the Motorola XOOM. The promising dual-core tablet running Android 3.0 Honeycomb was launched last week on February 24th and today we spotted the device at Costco and possibly Sam’s Club. The pricing is inline with predictions but it looks like one discount warehouse may have the other beat by just a tad.
We took some snapshots of the Motorola XOOM at Costco showing the device on sale starting from $589.99 with a 2-year agreement on a $50-80 per month rate plan. Stepping down to a 2-year agreement on a $20-35 per month rate plan bumps up the pricing to $639.99. And with no contract signing, just the device itself is priced at $789.99. With this price range, they’re not exactly flying off the shelves as we can see in the image below. Either no one’s got word yet that Costco’s got the devices, or they’re just really well stocked on the cardboard placeholders.
According to Android Community and Droid Life, the Motorola XOOM should be at Sams Club as well with a starting price of $539. However, the snapshot of the price sheet that was obtained shows no information on what rate plans this price point entails. Also unclear for both locations is whether the model stocked is the Wi-Fi only or the 3G/4G version.
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Group Building Own Arcade Cabinets For PAX East
Game group The Behemoth is constructing custom arcade cabinets running their own developed games and will present them at Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East 2011 in Boston. The group will be bringing five arcade cabinets with them to the event, four of them will be running the groups newest build of BattleBlock Theatre and the fifth one will run the original four player Castle Crashers.
The group built an arcade cabinet for PAX 2010 running Castle Crashers and decided to expand on the concept and build a few more for the upcoming expo. BattleBlock Theatre will run off an Xbox 360 and the Castle Crashers arcade cabinet will be running off a PS3. Each cabinet will sport an additional display that comes out of the back of the machine via remote, so that the crowd can watch the action as well.
The group posted up some timeline photos of the cabinets progress and you can definitely see the amount of effort placed into each one. If you’re in the Boston area from March 11th to the 13th go check out PAX East.
[via The Behemoth]
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HP Shows Off The Connected “Metal Watch” For The First Time
Companies are always striving to create an ecosystem for users where all their devices are connected and information can be shared easily with each one. HP has taken this idea in a strange direction by developing an “integration point” device in the form of a watch, dubbed the “Metal Watch.” The concept was first hinted at last year when some mysterious pictures of HP CTO Phil McKinney holding a blacked-out tablet, smartphone, and watch surfaced along with a tweet that the gadgets would be shown at the upcoming SXSW 2011.
Now fast forward to this week, and McKinney is showing off the concept watch at HP’s Future of Innovation event in Shanghai. HP combined forces with Fossil to make the “Metal Watch”, a device that will connect all your other devices together. Actual details on how the watch works or even what it does weren’t given out, but from video and pictures, it looks very much like a regular timepiece. McKinney said that the watch “runs a full software” and that it “acts as an integration point for a family of devices that you carry.”
Sony Ericsson has its LiveView that can be worn like a watch, but it has a touchscreen that you can interact with. The “Metal Watch” doesn’t seem to have anything outside the regular knobs on the side of the face. HP is thinking about devices that you don’t just carry around, but that you actually wear such as the “Metal Watch.” It will be interesting to see where they end up with this development and maybe we’ll catch a glimpse of it in action at SXSW.
[via PocketNow]
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Despite iPad 2 Launch, Analyst Says Android Tablets Will Dominate by 2014
In light of the launch of the iPad 2, what little hype recent Android Honeycomb tablets had begun to accumulate has been somewhat squelched. For whatever reason, Apple products have a tendency to do that. Still, RBC Capital Markets General Manager Mike Abramsky sees Android emerging as the dominant tablet platform by 2014. Though it’s still a few years away, Abramsky believes 40 percent of the projected 185 million tablets sold through the end of 2014 will run on some version of Android.
By that time we will have the iPad 3, and no doubt even the iPad 4 to content with, but the key for Android will be the low-cost tablets coming from OEMs out of Asia. By that time, there is hope that what were once a $200 paperweights running older versions of Android will instead come with some variant of Android Honeycomb (or beyond) designed specifically for the tablet interface. The combination of user experience and low price will be key in winning the tablet war, something current big-name Android tablets have struggled with.
[via IntoMobile]
