Mobile Phone Blog:

We all know that tablets are an important sector of the market these days, after the success of the original iPad (a device that I predicted would never, ever take off… oh, how wrong I was), and Android tablets are gaining more traction in the market. Sure, Android tablets made by the likes of HTC or Motorola are nowhere near as popular as the iPad, but Android brings some key benefits to the table, and one of the big ones is that it’s a free OS.

And that means cheaper tablets, which brings us on to the topic of this post. According to IntoMobile, Intel have unveiled a reference design for a brand new Android tablet, called the Studybook.

And it’ll be cheap, as far as tablets go… (more…)

Well, the theme on site has been updated, so I suppose I can’t put it off any longer; it’s time to admit that Christmas is a-comin’. I’ve been putting it off as long as possible, ‘cos needless to say, I haven’t got anyone’s presents bought yet, but I suppose it’s high time I got my bottom in gear.

Fortunately, though, my family are usually nice and cheap to buy for, because they’re not like the people who security specialist Avira surveyed, recently. According to their press release on BusinessWire, they’ve done a survey of what IT type gadgets people might want for chrimbo, and the results speak for themselves, really. Of the people surveyed, 28% want a new smartphone, and 29% want a tablet device… (more…)

Gawd bless Asus. Ever since recent, modern Dell laptops have ended up being a bit ropey, thus ruining the old “Get A Dell” mantra I so strictly followed, Asus (along with Samsung) have been the people I recommend when it comes to lappies. Their recent offerings have impressed me, and one of the ones I rather like is the Asus Transformer, an Android-powered laptop that lets you take the screen off, to use it as a tablet.

So, with that name, it’s already a reference to my childhood, but they’re apparently bringing out a new model, according to AllTHingsD, and it’s got an even more suspiciously familiar name: the Transformer Prime. Yeah. You read that right. Transformer Prime… (more…)

Well, blimey o’riley. Who would’ve thought, after the mauling I gave to the last series of Spooks (magic physics-defying bullet!),that last night’s episode would actually manage to impress me? Well, alright, “impress” is probably too strong a word; let’s instead say that it wasn’t completely awful.

Also, Guy of Gisborne isn’t in this series, what with his character being dead, and everything. This can only be a positive thing, because Richard Armitage gets right up my nose. Maybe it’s that monotonous yet whiny voice, or maybe the fact he looks like he’s wearing eyeliner 24/7, or maybe it’s because the man cannot act, but I can’t stand him. So, good riddance, says I! But anyway, what about mobile phones? (more…)

Motorola has announced the next generation of the Motorola Xoom will be launching soon, no specifications of the Xoom 2 has being confirmed yet.

With the new Xoom coming out soon the company is now trying to budge the original tablet by cutting prices down of $100 in the US and offering UK customers a free wireless keyboard and mouse for users buying in July.

To claim your free keyboard and mouse you simply have to send your purchase receipt for the device to Motorola and the will send you the accessories or you can do it online.

With the Motorola Xoom only just out, the company is hard at work preparing another tablet PC!

The new ‘rugged’ tablet will run on Android Gingerbread, the last version of the popular operating system, and will be aimed at outdoorsy-types.

Much like the Motorola Defy, this yet-to-be-named tablet will be dust and water resistant, able to withstand extreme temperatures, and will survive a drop of up to four foot!

A source close to the company says the 7 inch tablet is currently in the testing stages but that other features will include 1GB RAM, an 8GB internal storage as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.

With two fantastic new handsets released just last week, Sony Ericsson is now hard at work creating its first Android Honeycomb tablet PC, reports have suggested.

Nikkei, the Japanese economic daily, reported that the company, which launched the Xperia PLAY and the Xperia Arc at the end of March, is due to bring out a tablet in late summer of this year.

Codenamed S1, the device is sure to tote the latest in sharp high-res touchscreens, the finest of cameras and the best entertainment capabilities.

The iPad 2 may be in the spotlight at the moment, but it appears that Android fans need not worry too much about it taking over.

A recent statement from Mike Abramsky, RBC Capital Markets’ analyst, reports that the tablet market is set to explode over the coming years, moving up to a global revenue of £42 billion in 2014.

However by that point, the report states that Android will have assumed the market lead as the dominant tablet operating system and predicts a 40% market share for Android on tablets by 2014.

It is stated that the reason for this is due to the larger amount of OEMs and low-cost vendors from Asia bringing the variation and cost down, which largely mirrors the current smartphone market.

This doesn’t mean that Apple will fall behind or even disappear in the tablet race, but the brand will have fewer devices with which to penetrate the market.

It has been ‘rumoured’ that a new version of LG’s G-Slate tablet could be made available in the UK, and sooner than expected.

Announced at the beginning of the month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011, the G-Slate is a 4G-capable model that runs on the Android 3.0 operating system (also known as Honeycomb), but was only available in the US on the T-Mobile network. Although 4G technology is currently unavailable outside the US, LG has ‘suggested’ a non-4G version may be available for use in the UK.

The tablet will feature the latest in Google mobile innovations and also has a theoretical download speed of up to 21Mbps.

Although LG are keeping a tight lid on the G-Slate’s details, it is expected that more will revealed at the Mobile World Congress, the world’s largest mobile phone conference, which will run from 14-17 February in Barcelona, Spain.

HP’s iPad rivals, the PalmPad series, is set to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show next month.

The PalmPad will be a range of four tablets that will run on webOS version 2.5.1, according to FoxNews.com, which claims to have seen a spec sheet. (more…)