Category: Tablets

Bresser MID-7, 7″ 3G Android Tablet

Posted by – March 1, 2011

This one is a Rockchip RK2818 based, resistive Android tablet, sold about 299€ with 3G built-in.

Netronix 9.7″ Freescale i.MX51 Android Tablet

Posted by – March 1, 2011

Netronix is one of the major e-ink based e-reader makers from Taiwan, they are now also making Android LCD tablets. This one is basically as good as an iPad, with exactly the same LG 9.7″ capacitive LCD as on the iPad1, but it can be sold at half the price, around $250.

Yifang M707, Android Tablet with infrared pen input

Posted by – February 28, 2011

Yifang is a Chinese manufacturer of Android tablets, after having acquired Israelli pen input company pegasus, they now have integrated that technology into the side of one of their Android tablets, when combined with a nice leather case, it makes a very interesting Android powered tool if you can think of being productive scanning your handwritten notes onto Android and use that in real-time somehow. For example, the notes could be broadcast onto a digital whiteboard in real time, notes could be shared online. The price of the whole bundle could be below $199 at retail, as said in the video, the infrared pen input components adds about $40 to the price. This device has the Rockchip RK2818 Android 2.1 for now and will be upgraded to Rockchip Rk2918 Gingerbread/Honeycomb when that one is available within a couple of months.

Worlds First Honeycomb Laptop at CeBIT 2011!!!

Posted by – February 28, 2011

The Asus Eee Pad Transformer is worlds first Honeycomb laptop, it looks fantastic. Honeycomb is awesome on laptops! This proves it! The Honeycomb web browser is fast! While the Asus Transformer combo might feel a bit heavy, that’s also because the keyboard dock includes a full battery, doubling the battery runtime of this Honeycomb laptop to 16 hours of use!

Asus Eee Pad Memo Tablet and MeMic Bluetooth Phone Remote

Posted by – February 28, 2011

Qualcomm Dual-core MSM8260 1.2Ghz based, with a 7″ 1024×600 capacitive touch screen, built-in capacitive stylus, they also plan to offer a Bluetooth Phone Remote device with a fancy transparent screen, check it out.

Arnova 10, $199 10.1” Android Tablet

Posted by – February 25, 2011

Here is a world exclusive video unveiling of the new Arnova 10 entry-level 10.1” Android tablet:

This may become the world’s cheapest ARM Cortex-A8 1Ghz RK2918, 10.1” capacitive Android tablet on the market (I filmed an early pre-production prototype of it with capacitive/rk29 combo at CES here). Until about April, Arnova 10 is released now as a 10.1” resistive ARM9 600Mhz RK2818 tablet. The price remains $199 in the USA, 199€ in Europe (consider all European prices always include ~20% VAT). Look for a slightly different model number once the capacitive/rk29 version starts shipping. They will shift to it as soon as 10.1” capacitive and rk29 components are ready/stable and mass manufactured, the Chinese suppliers are working as fast as they can, this should be in a couple months.

Archos is the second largest tablet maker in France according to GfK sales numbers, having 22% market share, far in front of Samsung with 4%, 67% for iPad. Arnova is a new brand from Archos based in Hong Kong, that uses the design, manufacturing and distribution strengths of Archos but will remain a separate brand for the cheaper $100-$200 Rockchip based devices (see the press release here). The idea here is to get these excellent valued Rockchip based designs to more people in Europe and the USA. But Arnova is also more extensively going to be promoted for developing countries as people there enjoy cheaper stuff. But people enjoy cheaper stuff everywhere.

Rockchip is doing excellent work optimizing cost in their entry level SoC designs, and are doing stable hardware optimizations with the latest versions of Android that can be adapted for the given ARM architectures that they use. Archos has probably been the top selling Rockchip maker thus far with the Archos 7 Home Tablet massively sold in every major electronics store in the USA and Europe these past 12 months (go check your local Staples, Best Buy, etc.. it’s probably there), and they plan to further extend that kind of reach with their new Arnova branding.

As it stands right now with Rockchip, Eclair is the furthest they can go for ARM9 RK2818 based devices (Donut for their older ARM9 RK2808 without graphics acceleration), and Gingerbread is the furthest they can go with ARM Cortex-A8 RK2918 based devices. But who knows, Google may announce tomorrow Honeycomb support for every popular ARM architecture used in any previously certified or not certified Android tablets out there, even including the cheapest Rockchip designs. I asked some Google people at MWC, including in my interview with Honeycomb designer Matias Duarte, they told me Honeycomb has no minimum hardware requirements, which hopefully also means other than opening Honeycomb source code for all to use, that Google will also allow for Google Marketplace on all devices without requiring stuff like compass/gps/3g, and hopefully Google also plans to dedicate resources to help all SoC platform makers and device maker with getting great and fully hardware optimized new firmwares with Honeycomb and Marketplaces onto all these cheaper devices as well (evt with Holographic UI effects disabled on low hardware specs).

$800 for a Honeycomb tablet is a lot of money for some people. Sure enough, the Dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 Tegra2 Honeycomb experience is awesome, but a lot of people prefer paying 4x less if they can get a decent ARM Cortex-A8 Honeycomb experience, if Google and companies like Arnova just allow consumers to have that choice.

Specs:
Price: $199 in USA, 199€ in Europe (consider all European prices always include ~20% VAT)
Capacity: 4GB (or 8GB) with MicroSD slot
OS: Android 2.1 Eclair (on RK2818), Gingerbread (on RK2918 version available ~April), Honeycomb? (depends on Google/Rockchip)
Display: 10.1″ 1024×600 touch screen (resistive now, capacitive version available ~April) , 16 million colors
Video playback (on current RK2818 model): H264 up to 720p 30fps 5mbitps, Mpeg4 30fps 2.5mbitps, RMVB up to 720p 30fps 2.5mbitps, in these extensions: .avi, .mp4, .mkv, .mov, .flv (RK2918 version available ~April may add 1080p and higher bitrates support)
Audio playback: mp3, wav, ape, ogg, flac
Photo: jpeg, bmp, gif, png
Interfaces: USB 2.0 Slave MSC, USB 2.0 Host MSC, MicroSD slot
Wireless: WiFi b/g
Other: built-in speaker, microphone, G-sensor, front-facing VGA camera
Battery runtime: TBC music, up to 6h video
Size: 272×152.3×13.5mm (10.7″x6″x0.5″)
Weight: 570gr (20.1oz)

Arnova 8, $149 8″ Android Tablet

Posted by – February 25, 2011

As with the Arnova 10, this one also starts resistive/rk2818 for now, and becomes capacitive/rk2918 during the next couple of months, staying at $149 MSRP.

Read much more on the rk2818/resistive platform of this device (released now) and the rk2918/capacitive version (to be releasing around April) in my Arnova 10 post.

Specs:
Price: $149 in USA, 149€ in Europe (consider all European prices always include ~20% VAT)
Capacity: 4GB with MicroSD slot
OS: Android 2.1 Eclair (on RK2818), Gingerbread (on RK2918 version available ~April), Honeycomb? (depends on Google/Rockchip)
Display: 8″ 800×600 touch screen (resistive now, capacitive version available ~April) , 16 million colors
Video playback (on current RK2818 model): H264 up to 720p 30fps 5mbitps, Mpeg4 30fps 2.5mbitps, RMVB up to 720p 30fps 2.5mbitps, in these extensions: .avi, .mp4, .mkv, .mov, .flv (RK2918 version available ~April may add 1080p and higher bitrates support)
Audio playback: mp3, wav, ape, ogg, flac
Photo: jpeg, bmp, gif
Interfaces: USB 2.0 Slave MSC, USB 2.0 Host MSC, MicroSD slot
Wireless: WiFi b/g
Other: 2 built-in speakers, microphone, G-sensor
Battery runtime: 22.5h music, 6h video
Size: 205x153x12mm (8″x4.2″x0.5″)
Weight: 500gr (17.6oz)

Android Native Code SDK for advanced Game Development

Posted by – February 22, 2011

HyperDevBox is a development company based in Tokyo Japan, developing games exclusively for Android. They are presenting Spectral Souls for Android, the first tactical RPG game for Android and explaining how the Android Native SDK is being used to run native C or C++ code, there is no Java code at all in the game.

Mobile Multi Display system by UMIC-RWTH of Aachen University

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Combine many tablets and smartphones into one big touchscreen. In this demo, 3 iPhones and 2 iPads are combined into one big touch screen. Any other Android smartphone or tablet can also be used. You can find more informations here: graphics.rwth-aachen.de

Tap n Tap Android user interfaces at Mobile World Congress 2011

Posted by – February 22, 2011

Tap ‘n Tap develops applications, user interfaces, to integrate deeply with hardware acceleration, delivering aa complete software stack to provide differentiated Android experiences for companies that want to implement alternative Android based UI on their tablets.

PTPT user interfaces at Mobile World Congress 2011

Posted by – February 22, 2011

ExB Communication Systems GmbH presents the PTPT touch screen interface, a suggested UI to manage “all the information around you”. PTPT stands for people, things, places and time. It’s an Android Home Replacement that will be available in the Google Marketplace next month.

ARM Dual-core Web browsing performance compared to Single-core

Posted by – February 20, 2011

ARM is demonstrating Dual-core usage and how it increases web browsing speed at same power consumption.

Huawei S7 Slim and Huawei S7 Pro Android Tablets

Posted by – February 20, 2011

After the Huawei S7 released last year (check my top viewed video from last year), Huawei is upgrading their 7″ Android tablet with a slimmer design in the S7 Slim, capacitive touch screen, it may sell below $300 with or without 3G built-in. Huawei are also showing a mockup of their upcoming S7 Pro tablet that will come with a dual-core processor.

Asus Transformer, Honeycomb Tegra2 Laptop/Tablet device

Posted by – February 20, 2011

Asus made this Tegra2 Powered Laptop and Tablet combo device, where the tablet part can slide out of the bottom keyboard part. This prototype feels heavy though, perhaps it’s just because it’s a very metallic design.

Asus Eee Pad Slider

Posted by – February 20, 2011

Interesting slider design by Asus, to add a keyboard behind the tablet.

Moimstone MIP2000 and MIP3000 VOIP Phone with Android Tablet

Posted by – February 20, 2011

Moimstone is one of the leaders in VOIP phones for home or office use, they are now showing one that can dock an Android Tablet, for large screen overview of contacts and video conferencing.

Sony-Ericsson Liveview

Posted by – February 20, 2011

The concept is pretty awesome, this small touch screen bluetooth screen that can be worn as a watch can interact with any of your Bluetooth enabled Android devices, it’s got an SDK for app developers to add Bluetooth remote functionality for their apps. I’m hoping someone make remote controlling for VOIP apps, calling contacts, and other useful Android apps on your smartphone or tablet.

BusinessInsider.com: Microsoft has 1000 engineers working on ARM Windows 8 to be released this year

Posted by – February 20, 2011
Category: Tablets, Laptops, Windows

According to Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Holt and according to a source reported by BusinessInsider.com, Microsoft is investing very heavily on accelerating their support of Windows for ARM Powered devices, targeting a release of full Windows 8 Tablets before Christmas even. This could be closer than what some people think.

At CES last month, Microsoft showed Windows 8 at their keynote (using “existing” UI) running on current Texas Instruments OMAP4430, Qualcomm Dual-core MSM8660 and Nvidia Tegra2. For sure, Windows 8 could use the next gen ARM Processors coming out later in the year even better for full performance, such as the TI OMAP4440, Qualcomm Quad-core and Nvidia Tegra3 Kal-el, all coming out in consumer devices on the market before the end of the year already.

HTC Flyer Android Tablet

Posted by – February 19, 2011

HTC’s first Tablet, it’s got a 7″ 1024×600 capacitive touch screen, it’s 420gr, 1GB RAM and runs a 1.5Ghz Qualcomm processor. HTC implemented some kind of special external stylus feature that allows for scribbling on top of a snapshot of the screen, so one can scribble on top of anywhere within Android, but the actual integration of that touch screen handwriting technology with the Android apps is still to be seen, and the stylus has to be slotted in an external leather case.

Nvidia shows project Kal-el Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9

Posted by – February 19, 2011

Nvidia Kal-el is now sampling, demonstrated here at Mobile World Congress 2011, to be in commercial products already in August this year. Nvidia goes on showing the first Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 sample, getting those samples to their partners and planning for commercial launch by August this year already. This is impressive stuff, web browsing speed is doubled.