Toshiba Excite 10 LE (16GB) Tablet Review

The good: The Toshiba Excite 10 LE is the thinnest, lightest 10-inch tablet yet, an achievement made more impressive by the inclusion of HDMI, Micro-USB, and microSD memory expansion.

The bad: The proprietary charging adapter is a beast; the screen is so-so; the internal speakers sound thin; and the construction quality looks better than it feels.

The bottom line: The Toshiba Excite 10 LE sets a new design standard for thin and light 10-inch tablets, but the specs don’t live up to the name.

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This Is the iPad 3 Hiding In Plain Sight

Gizmodo - Apple just flashed their new iPad 3 on their Wednesday 7 event invite. You can clearly see the new Retina displayin all its glory. Compare the left (invitation) to the right (the iPad 2).

The top has a lot more definition. It’s clear on the typography in the Wednesday, the spacing in relation to the icon and the edges of the icon itself.

Not only that, but there seems to be NO home button, which explains the mention of the “And touch.” in their invitation. How can we know? First, the photo they are showing is on portrait mode. You can’t achieve that icon spacing in the landscape mode (which is the only explanation for the lack of home button).                 More

iPad 3 rumor roundup

CNET - With the success Apple is enjoying with the iPad 2, we’re not sure it even needs to make an iPad 3.

It will, of course. Just as it’s done over the past two years, Apple will likely unveil its latest, greatest tablet around April 2012. Until then, it’s open season on iPad 3 rumors.

In this ongoing blog post, we’ll be collecting the best, most interesting rumors and predictions for the Apple iPad 3. Which of these rumors will pan out? Only time will tell.

Looking for an iPhone 5 rumor roundup? We have one of those too.

February 17
Is this the iPad 3′s Retina Display?
A purported photo of the iPad 3′s display is published by MacRumors. A microscopic inspection shows it to have more pixels than the current model, while maintaining the iPad’s same 4:3 aspect ratio and 9.7-inch screen size.

February 14
Supplier chatter points to smaller 8-inch iPad
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is talking to component suppliers about an iPad with a smaller screen. This rumor matches up with a previous rumor that Apple may create three tiers of iPads, including a smaller model offered at an entry-level price.

February 13
Verizon and AT&T to back iPad 3 4G capability
The two telecom carriers will carry a next-generation iPad running on the fast, next-generation wireless technology, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. Both carriers currently offer versions of the iPad 2 that make use of their respective 3G networks.

February 10
Apple March announcement, iPad 2S a possibility
A source quoted by the New York Times claims that the next generation of the iPad will be announced in early March 2012, and will look very similar to the iPad 2. The article goes on to speculate that the new iPad may not be called “iPad 3,” considering how Apple’s modestly updated iPhone 4S was thought to be called the iPhone 5.

February 9
iPad 3 launch to coincide with iOS 5.1
Profiles created for different iPhone operators point to early March as a possible date for the release of iOS 5.1, one that could coincide with the debut of the iPad 3.

February 9
Alleged iPad 3 Retina Display photographed
Leaked photos surface of what looks to be a new iPad-compatible high-resolution display. The panel is manufactured by Sharp, matching up with one previous rumor.

More

Review: Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

The good: The Asus Transformer Prime sports an iPad 2-inspired design that’s even thinner and nearly as light, while also managing to include microSD and Micro-HDMI support. The Prime delivers smooth and clear 1080p video, and the 8-megapixel camera captures detail and color more accurately than any other tablet we’ve reviewed. Ice Cream Sandwich makes small, but significant improvements to Honeycomb.

The bad: Not every game takes advantage of the quad-core CPU, and frame rates can suffer as a result. When connected to the dock keyboard, the tablet is top-heavy and can easily slide off a lap or table if you’re not careful.

The bottom line: The Asus Transformer Prime is the best full-featured Android tablet yet, with a sexy design, thoughtful features, and an impressive camera.

Editors’ note: We changed the Asus Transformer Prime review text to reflect the Ice Cream Sandwich update the tablet received in Januaray 2012.

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At CES, tablet obsession gives way to tech’s bigger picture

Crowds descended upon Las Vegas to see the latest gear 

at the Consumer Electronics Show

ars technica - Last year’s Consumer Electronics Show was dominated by tablets to what now seems like a ridiculous extent. Everywhere you looked were Android and Windows 7 tablets—with at least one device running both operating systems. There were tablets promising only three hours of battery life, tablets costing more than $1,000, and dual-screen tablets including an Acer Iconia monstrosity with two 14-inch touch screens.

If vendors thought they could make headway in the iPad-dominated tablet market with mediocre devices, they seem to have realized their mistake. Much CES press coverage has dwelled on the show’s declining stature and noted that the year’s premium products are likely to emerge later on, because vendors would rather announce on their own product development and marketing schedules than reveal all their best stuff at CES.

That may be true—Microsoft’s news-free keynote and CES exit supports the argument—but at the very least vendors at this year’s conference seemed to have a more coherent plan based around multiple products like Ultrabooks and smartphones and tying them all together with cloud services. More importantly, CES took on the great technology debate of 2012: The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its potential impact on Internet freedom.

It all made for a show more focused on the bigger picture than in the previous year. Although Microsoft’s keynote was disappointing—I was on the verge of apologizing to readers during our liveblog—Intel made up for it the next night by detailing its plan for bringing x86 processors to smartphones, in what it hopes will be the company’s answer to ARM’s mobile success. Intel also showed a prototype Ultrabook/tablet hybrid with a keyboard that can be folded under the screen or used as a stand for watching movies.           More

Meet the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the World’s First Supercomputer Tablet

When Apple’s Power Mac G4 came out it was classified 
as a super computer. It had dual-processors! 
What would the people 
of the past have made of this tablet computer, 
which is the first 
to have a quad-core processor?

Hell, what will the people of today make of it?

On paper this absolutely blows all other tablets out of the water. Besides being the first to use NVIDIA’s new quad-core (plus one) Tegra 3 a.k.a. Kal-El processor (click here for an amazing demo of what it can do), it looks gorgeous. The original Asus Eee Pad Transformer was one of the most popular Android tablets of the year, but it was thick and boxy—just sort of a big, boring rectangle. The Transformer Prime is way more attractive. They’ve swapped out the cheap plastic back for some very nice looking aluminum with a swirl pattern. It is extremely thin and light: 8.3mm (or 0.33 inches) and 586 grams (1.29 pounds), which is slightly thinner and lighter than the iPad 2, despite the Prime’s screen being larger by 0.4 inches (10.1 versus 9.7 on the iPad 2). Speaking of the screen, it’s a Super IPS+ display (at 1280×800) under Gorilla Glass and has a 178-degree viewing-angle and some proprietary tech that supposedly makes it much brighter. The original Transformer and the Eee Pad Slider both had pretty ho-hum screens, so this is a welcomed upgrade.

Full size

And yes, it’s a Transformer Pad, so you know it’s got a keyboard dock (sold separately). We liked the original, but this new dock will be thinner and sport an aluminum casing with a revised metallic swirl pattern to match the Prime unit. Touch-screen typing has grown by leaps and bounds, but when you’ve got to pound out some serious emails there’s no substitute for a real keyboard.

More

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Review: The New Best Android Tablet, Again

I had major deja vu writing this. That’s because as cool as the Galaxy Tab 8.9 is, it’s basically just the Galaxy Tab 10.1, but slightly smaller. Which actually makes it noticeably better.

Why It Matters

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the best Android tablet I’ve used. It’s light, slim, quick. The Galaxy 8.9 Tab is almost perfectly identical to the 10.1, they just managed to get the same goodness into a smaller package.

Using It

 

Everyone I’ve handed the 8.9 to has had this moment of, “Oooh, this feels nice!” It really does. It’s an extremely tight package. The 10.1 felt a little flimsy, but despite having a similar plastic back plate, this one just feels much stronger. I don’t know if they’ve upgraded the plastic, or if it’s just stronger because it isn’t stretched across as large an area, but that worrisome flex is gone, and that’s a very good thing.

It comes running Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI overlay. I’m not generally into these 3rd party skins, but this is one of the least offensive ones. It comes pre-loaded with some of Samsung’s proprietary software like Media Hub, Music Hub, and Social Hub, none of which are particularly compelling, and it just emphasizes why I kinda wish Samsung would stick to hardware. It does come with a full version of Polaris Office, which is excellent for creating/editing documents on the go.    More

Review: Asus Eee Pad Slider SL101 - Tablet With Keyboard

The good: The Asus Eee Pad Slider SL101‘s keyboard mechanism is well-implemented and useful to those frustrated with typing on a tablet screen. Also, the inclusion of Mini-HDMI, a microSD card slot, USB 2.0, and the latest version of Honeycomb makes this tablet worth its price.

The bad: The Slider is bulky and heavy for a tablet and can’t be detached from the keyboard plate. Also, the typing environment feels cramped and the curved design on the keyboard plate blocks the spacebar. No LED flash on the camera means no nighttime picture taking.

The bottom line: Though it prevents a “pure” tablet experience, the Asus Eee Pad Slider’s built-in keyboard is a welcome feature for those who break into cold sweats whenever typing on a tablet is mentioned.

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Review: Sony Tablet S (16GB)

The good: The Sony Tablet S goes above and beyond the typical Honeycomb tablet experience by offering exclusive apps, ergonomic design, PlayStation certification for mobile gaming, DLNA video and music streaming, and an integrated IR universal remote control.

The bad: It’s on the pricey side, the charging adapter is proprietary, and screen brightness isn’t what it could be.

The bottom line: Sony took its time with Tablet S, and it shows. The industrial design is smart, and the software refinements are both practical and restrained.

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