Google Will No Longer Making Tablets

Google has confirmed it has dropped all plans of releasing any tablet in the foreseeable future. Instead, it will focus on laptops and other devices running Chrome OS.

Google’s initial tablet, the Google Nexus lineup was not meet with much success. The Google Nexus 7 with a 7 inch form factor did well but it was more of a surprise hit. After the disastrous start with Android tablets Google launched the Pixel Slate running Chrome OS in 2018. 

However, even the Google Pixel Slate offered a not well received user experience, performance and failed to attract consumers.

This does not mean that Android or Chrome OS tablets themselves are dead. While you will have a hard time finding Android tablets in the market, Google will continue to support OEMs who are interested in launching such tablets. Samsung is currently the only major OEM which continues to launch Android tablets.


Source: Twitter

Lenovo Said To Unveil New Moto Mods, Tablets, And Moto 360 Smartwatch At IFA 2016

According to a video published earlier today via YouTube titled Sneak Peek at Lenovo's 2016 Holiday Product Launch the company is about to unveil a new chapter in tablets, new Moto Mods for the Moto Z and Z Force smartphones, and a whole new kind of intuitive keyboard.

As for a new Moto 360 smartwatch being showcased at IFA 2016 the new video doesn't directly mention a refresh to the existing Moto 360 smartwatch, it does however show older Moto 360 models in the below video.

Seeing how last year's Moto 360 was officially unveiled in September, it makes sense that we're speculating an announcement of a new Motorola Android Wear watch at this year IFA.
 


Source: YouTube

HTC Rumored To Produce High End Nexus Tablet Later This Year

The report suggests that HTC is the company that has “won orders for a high end model of the Google Nexus tablet that will begin shipping in the third quarter of 2014.” This is not the first rumor going around regarding the maker of the next Nexus tablet. Samsung, Asus and other companies have all been names that have been floating around for the last few months now, but nothing is set in stone at this point.

HP Announces SlateBook x2 Android Tablet

HP is announcing SlateBook x2 today. We're basically looking at a standard 10-inch Android tablet, but in the configuration of what HP is calling a "two-in-one device" that has a keyboard dock. As is usually the case, the tablet is completely contained as a stand-alone device, with a 1920x1200 IPS display, Tegra 4 processor and 64GB of storage. The SlateBook x2 is also shipping with Android 4.2.2, and what looks like very limited customizations from HP -- it even goes so far as to say this is "HP’s push to offer access to the Google experience". The docking station has a full keyboard and trackpad, along with a USB port, SDcard slot and an additional battery to charge the tablet.

Based on the information given to us right now the HP SlateBook x2 is expected to ship in August in both grey and white lid colors, and the pricing seems quite nice at $479.99. However this is a "starting price", and it isn't clear whether or not that includes the keyboard dock. The tablet market may be a bit different by the time this device hits store shelves, but it certainly seems like it will have a better shot at grabbing sales than the Slate 7 does.

HP’s Slate 7 Goes On Sale Today For $169

HP has entered back in to the Android tablet game, after a little over 4 year's working on WebOS. Their first effort, the HP Slate 7 goes on sale today for a very reasonable $169.  

On the plus side, HP offers SD Card expansion, built-in printing, and Beats Audio to the package when compared to the $199 Nexus 7. 

Like the Nexus 7, the Slate is almost entirely Stock Android. Unlike the Nexus 7, however, the screen is the same 1024×600 resolution as the two year old base model Kindle which currently sells for $159.

Source: HP

Ubuntu Teases Tablet Related Announcement For February 19th

We're only a few days away from the preview image of Ubuntu for phones going live, and a new countdown timer has shown up on the Canonical website. This one isn't as cryptic as the last (which tricked us because we didn't expect the announcement a year before the full release), exclaiming clearly "Tick, tock, tablet time!" So, it looks like Canonical is about to show off tomorrow the work done to make Ubuntu tablet-ready.

Canonical and all of the developers contributing to Ubuntu have been working on making Ubuntu tablet-ready since October. The early work has been done with the Nexus 7 as the reference device, and has focused on optimizing the OS to run on mobile processors, to be more efficient with memory, and more power efficient as well. A lot of these improvements have already found their way into Ubuntu 13.04, which is due in 2 months. The plan is to have Ubuntu be an all-in-one OS from phones to tablets to desktop in time for Ubuntu 14.04, due in April 2014. 

Source: Ubuntu

Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 Coming To AT&T For $200

AT&T on Friday announced the addition of the Lenovo IdeaTab A2107 to its line of tablet PCs. The 7-inch slate is equipped with a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 3G connectivity and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The IdeaTab A2107 also includes a 3-megapixel rear camera, a microSD slot, a front-facing camera and a 3550 mAh battery. The tablet’s display isn't nearly as good as the competition, however, sporting a mere 1024 x 600 resolution with a pixel density of 170 pixels per inch, falling short of Google’s similarly priced Nexus 7.

“The Lenovo IdeaTab is a great option for those in the market for a compact, multifunctional tablet at an affordable price,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president of emerging devices at AT&T. “Connecting it to the AT&T network keeps customers connected while on the go to what matters most.”

The IdeaTab A2107 is available now for $200 without a two-year agreement or $100 on contract.

Google Makes The Nexus 7 Tablet Official

Google has officially taken the wraps off of the Nexus 7, its first reference-grade tablet. The 7-inch slate is the first and currently only device shipping with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and takes advantage of its optimization for smaller tablet screens, magazines and movies it's also the first to ship with a finished Chrome for Android. Like what was widely suspected, the tablet is built by ASUS and mostly draws our attention in terms of what we get for the money: that quad-core Tegra 3, 1.2-megapixel front camera, NFC and 1280 x 800, IPS-based LCD are traits we'd normally look for in a pricier tablet. Google is asking just $199 for a 8GB model and $249 for a 16GB version that's a lot of speed for the money, especially with a $25 Google Play credit and a slew of bundled content. There's no SD card slot, however. 

Microsoft Said To Announce Windows 8 Tablet Monday June 18th

Windows fans who have enviously watched iOS and Android users toting around tablets won’t have to wait much longer. Microsoft sent out a press invitation on Thursday for a “major announcement” slated to take place in Los Angeles on Monday, June 18th, and AllThingsD is reporting that it will center around Windows RT-based tablets. According to AllThingsD, Microsoft is expected not just to show off its ARM-based Windows 8 tablets at the event but also to “highlight some of the kinds of programs and services that will run on the products, according to sources outside the company.” Having tablets in the fold would be a much-needed boost for Microsoft’s mobility brand, especially since Nokia, the company’s major Windows Phone manufacturer, is in such dire straits.

HP Announces It Will Be Making Tablets Again

At its Global Influencer Summit this week in Shanghai, China, HP's executives were questioned by several reporters about the company's plans for tablets, a market it has essentially been out of since it cancelled the TouchPad and all other webOS devices last year. In response, CEO Meg Whitman and EVP for Printing and Personal Systems Todd Bradley announced that HP was resuming production of consumer tablets...running Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system with "cloud-based technology" for shared content across devices.

Sadly for our community, there were no reported mentioned by Whitman, Bradley or anyone else from HP about the role HP's Open webOS initiative might play in the revived tablet product line, or otherwise on HP's hardware. We can only hope that, whether by design or through the efforts of our wonderful homebrew/webOS hacker community, we will be able to run Open webOS on new tablets and other devices at some point in the near future.

Nokia Looking To Enter The Tablets Market

Nokia may have posted a massive $1.7 billion loss for Q1 of this year, but the company is trying to fight back with its Lumia Windows Phones in partnership with Microsoft. What else does the company have up its sleeve going forward? Jorma Ollila, chairman of Nokia, has revealed that the company is looking into the possibility of a tablet, and some other form factors too.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Ollila said: “Tablets are an important one, so that is being looked into.” He also alluded to other form factors being researched: “And there will be different hybrids, different form factors in the future.”

When asked about Nokia’s current situation, Ollila said that he was happy with the way things were progressing, and that it was only natural for it to take time for Nokia to find its way back into the market. “When you have such strong competitors in the marketplace it will take a bit of time but things are going well.”

It comes just after Nokia’s design chief revealed in March that Nokia was indeed working on a tablet, saying that he was devoting a third of his time to the project. Rumors indicated that Nokia would be using Windows on ARM, with a dual-core Qualcomm chip and 10.1-inch display. The tablet is said to launch sometime towards the end of the year, Q4.

BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins Says LTE PlayBook Is Coming

RIM CEO Thorsten Heins made it clear at BlackBerry World that the LTE PlayBook tablet is coming later this year. This announcement is no surprise, yet it is confirmation of what we knew was coming. A BlackBerry PlayBook rocking 4G connectivity has been spied at FCC in the past hinting it was close to coming to market.

With confirmation that the tablet is on its way, we still don’t know a firm launch date. Heins would only say, “later this year.” The bigger question now is with every other version of the PlayBook having failed at anything resembling a normal price, why does RIM think a 4G LTE version will do well?

RIM apparently believes that BlackBerry 10 will solve some of the problems the tablet had. The company is reportedly happy with the hardware, and the software seems to be lacking point. Would a PlayBook tablet with 4G LTE support BlackBerry 10 interest you? I think unless the tablet was very cheap most people will still opt for the iPad.

iPad Mini Rumored For Fall, Priced At $249 To $300

The latest rumors from China are suggesting once again that Apple is preparing to kick off an iPad mini this fall, with an initial shipment of 6 million units. The supposed $249 – $299 price point would compete nicely with the lower-end Android tablets that are coming out of the woodwork, and meet upcoming Windows 8 tablets head-on. The source is apparently close to Hon Hai, the parent company of Apple’s primary manufacturing partner, Foxconn.

RIM Buys BlackBerrySpin.com Domain

When a company purchases a domain name, it can sometimes point to a new product name. However, sometimes it may just be to thwart confusion, as seen with the case when RIM purchased ‘BlackBerryBlackPad.com’ after rumors circulated that the BlackBerry tablet was codenamed ‘BlackPad’.

Nevertheless, a new domain purchased by RIM has been spotted. The new domain is ‘BlackBerrySpin.com, which of course doesn’t lead anywhere yet. The domain was registered through the brand protection company MarkMonitor, where other web properties that RIM owns like BlackBerryTablet.com are managed.

What could ‘BlackBerry Spin’ be? A BlackBerry 10 phone, tablet or service? Or, merely nothing more than a defensive measure to protect RIM’s intellectual property? If RIM did use ‘BlackBerry Spin’ what should they use the name for?

RIM: BB10 OS Coming To BlackBerry Playbook

Turns out that the BlackBerry PlayBooks that were recently spied in the FCC with HSPA+ and LTE connectivity aren't the only bits of good news for RIM's 7-inch tablet. Rob Orr, RIM's VP of product management, has told TechRadar that the PlayBook will be updated to the BlackBerry 10 OS. Orr didn't specify when PlayBook owners could see the upgrade, but he did mention that RIM plans to release its first BB10 handset towards the end of the year and that the OS will then make its way to the PlayBook after that launch, but we imagine it will be around the same time that the first BB10 smartphone hits the market.

Ice Cream Sandwich Update Available For The ARCHOS G9 Lineup

 

If you own one of the ARCHOS G9 tablets, 7 or 10 inch model, today is your lucky day. Starting today they will be pushing out an over the air update to Ice Cream Sandwich. And the update should come with all the Google apps we know and love, after all the ARCHOS G9 lineup is certified by Google.

Rumor, Galaxy Note Heading to Sprint

Though the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is still absent from Sprint’s rich roster of smartphones, it appears that another Samsung giant may be on the way. A proven source close to SprintFeed states that the Samsung Galaxy Note is set to make its way to the Now Network. They were not able provide release specifics, but suspect that CES might be the platform used to announce the Note’s U.S. arrival.

The Sprint variant of the Galaxy Note is said to carry similar specs to its cousin from across the pond. It remains unsure if this device will sport an ill fated WiMAX connection, but LTE is pretty much out of the question. No matter what the Note’s connection turns out to be, the question is, would you buy a 5.3-inch phone/tablet hybrid? For those of you that are somehow unfamiliar with what the Samsung Galaxy Note is, we’ve tacked on a brief promo video for your viewing pleasure.

Samsung hits milestone with Galaxy Note

Samsung announced today that it has reached a respectable milestone with its Galaxy Note tablet/smartphone hybrid, citing one million units shipped globally to date.What makes the figure even more impressive is that the Note isn't officially available yet in one of Samsung's largest markets-- the United States. The Galaxy Note is currently gaining in popularity in France, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Samsung says, and will hit American shores "next year." Hit the source link for Samsung's full statement, via its Flickr account.

Google Nexus tablet in next 6 months teases Eric Schmidt

Google will begin promoting what could be the first official Nexus tablet within the next six months, according to chairman Eric Schmidt, the latest stage in the “brutal competition” between it and Apple. “In the next six months we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality” Schmidt told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sea, while also confirming that Google plans to leverage its voice recognition technology to better challenge Apple’s Siri.

Schmidt was at pains to praise Apple co-founder Steve Jobs for his work in transitioning the tablet from vertical and enterprise markets to a consumer-centric product. “Steve Jobs was the Michelangelo of our time” he told the newspaper, “[he] realized the revolutionary potential of the tablet and has created an amazing product like the iPad.” However, “our companies compete” he continued, “it is capitalism.”

Exact details of the upcoming tablet were not revealed, and it’s unclear whether the slate will be specifically branded with Google’s Nexus nomenclature or be another manufacturer’s model that the search giant will champion. A similar strategy was put in place earlier in the year, when Google worked with Motorola to launch the XOOM, the first Honeycomb tablet on the market.

Now, of course, Google is partway through the process of acquiring Motorola Mobility, and could well use its closer ties with the company to develop a true Google Nexus tablet. Whatever the manufacturer, the slate will likely use Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Android; the tablet UI for ICS was discovered accessible in the Galaxy Nexus late last week.

Google has used the Nexus range – so far limited to phones – to help push its interpretation of how the smartphone should evolve. The first model, the HTC-made Nexus One, led the market in processor speed, while its successor, the Samsung-made Nexus S, introduced features like NFC. Most recently, the Galaxy Nexus arrived, the debut device for ICS.

Android tablets have generally struggled to compete with Apple’s iPad, and even the HP TouchPad managed to squeeze ahead of Android-based models in 2011 sales thanks to its cut-price discounting. Common criticisms include the somewhat jerky performance of Android 3.x Honeycomb, as well as a shortage of slate-scale apps to suit the larger displays.

Verizon said to be getting the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

Verizon may be gearing up for a 4G LTE release of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. For some people, a 7 inch device is far more ideal size-wise than a 10.1 inch devices which is why we always appreciate options. For those who think Verizon’s current offerings are a tad unwieldy you might be seeing something in your range sometime soon.