LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 — Toshiba’s Excite X10, a tablet the company calls the world’s lightest and thinnest, is finally landing on U.S. shores, and we got our first hands-on experience with it at CES last night as Toshiba readies to release it here in a few months.
It’s hard living in a post-PC world, especially if you’re chip giant Intel. A Wall Street analyst downgraded the company from “Buy” to “Neutral” after key PC makers signaled plans to adopt rival ARM – not to mention the smartphones and tablets also throwing sand in Intel’s face.
While Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices are susceptible to cracks and smashes — just like any other smartphone or tablet — you’ll be surprised by how strong the Gorilla Glass that’s used on each of these devices really is. And it’s about to get even stronger, with Corning set to announce Gorilla Glass 2 at CES in Las Vegas next week, which is said to be even lighter and stronger than its predecessor.
What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.
There’s nothing like a family fight and one may be brewing between Android creator Google and the Kindle Fire, one of the few Android-based tablets able to lay a finger on the iPad’s overwhelming success. Although unconfirmed, a report suggests the Internet giant is planning to unveil its own tablet in early 2012 that could undercut Amazon’s price advantage. It brings tears of joy to the eyes of Apple fans.
In late 2010, after years of abstaining from entering the netbook market, Apple finally succeeded in transforming the MacBook Air from a disappointing promise of laptops to come into a machine that revolutionized ultraportables the same way the iPhone revolutionized smartphones and the iPad revolutionzed tablets. Not only was the MacBook Air as thin as a samurai sword and about as small as a 12-inch netbook, it had the performance of a beefier laptop thanks to the inclusion of a proper CPU, dedicated GPU and ubiquitous flash storage… all at a sub-$1000 price point.
Overnight, the MacBook Air finished what the iPad had started and almost completely killed off netbook demand once and for all. Now all of the gadget makers who had previously been counting on netbook sales to boost their bottom lines are trying to catch up with Apple. But as usual, they’re about a year late.
What does this mean for CES 2012? Expect to see ultrabooks, ultrabooks and more ultrabooks.
In the highly-competitive holiday sales period, Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet ‘at most’ cost Apple 1 million to 2 million iPad sales, one Wall Street observer said today. Despite the dent in sales, the tech giant is expected to turn in record iPad sales figures for this quarter.
How can Apple ward off iPad challengers such as Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet? One way, according to experts, is to offer the popular iPad 2 device at a much lower price – perhaps $299. Such a move could “seriously” impact the Kindle Fire and others attempting to gain market share by providing a low-cost alternative to the iPad. Others are dropping prices for another reason — nobody wants their tablets.
If you thought Android was on a roll and RIM was toast — surprise, surprise. The mobile operating system that Google built continues to cool down while Apple and the Waterloo, Ont. gang that can’t shoot straight gain momentum. Just half of November mobile ad requests came from Android-based devices, a new report shows.
Remember the Motorola Xoom tablet, Google’s first attempt to compete against Apple’s iPad? It was only a bad dream. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt is now promising a purely Android tablet “of the highest quality” in six months.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTpldq3myV0
We’ve seen cats enthralled by tablets and dogs who just love iPhone adverts, but this is the first time we’ve seen a reptile playing smartphone games. In this video posted to YouTube by “ThatSpecialGuy,” a bearded dragon crushes ants using her tongue in her favorite smartphone game, Ant Crusher.
The video has already attracted a whopping 1.2 million views on YouTube. Surely this is now the world’s most famous lizard?
Apple recently requested that Samsung start designing its tablets differently. Why? So as not to infringe on the iPad’s precious design.
What would Samsung’s next tablet look like if Apple had its way? The answer: really, really bad.
While all the information we have on Apple’s iPad 3 is purely speculation at this point, it seems inevitable that the device will boast a high-resolution Retina display. The Retina display has been a big selling point for the iPhone and the iPod touch for a couple years now, and we’re all crying out for one in the iPad.
However, Apple may not be the first to bring a Retina display tablet to market, because Samsung is working on one of its own which could be unveiled in February.
It had to happen: Apple’s workhorse, the iMac, is expected to relinquish its title as best-selling all-in-one computer in 2012. What with its success in smartphones, tablets and notebooks, Apple appears ready to throw the PC industry a bone — a very limited one, however.
Remember those sneaky Smurfs? The in-app iPad purchases from the free game Smurf’s Village – and dozens of games like it – had parents seeing red as their toddlers accidentally ran up credit card bills.
The Kindle Fire also has a similar problem. Kids who play about with the 7-inch tablet are just a few swipes away from Amazon’s famous 1-Click Ordering, a feature that cannot be disabled on the device. (If you haven’t disabled in-app purchases on your iPad, here’s how.)
Reuters reports that Jason Rosenfeld’s 3-year-old daughter basically bought her own Christmas presents after seeing Dad’s shopping history on the tablet.
In late 2010, Steve Jobs commented on the sudden influx of 7-inch tablets by calling them ‘tweeners. He said that Apple had considered 7-inch displays for the iPad, but after extensive testing, a 7-inch screen was too small to really be useable.
Android tablet makers, of course, scoffed… then rushed to market with their own 10-inch tablets once they discovered that Steve Jobs was telling the truth. So how long until Amazon updates the Kindle Fire to 10-inches? The results of Kindle Fire usability studies are in, and the 7-inch Kindle Fire is an ugly, hideous mess of missed taps and users screaming out of frustration.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire could be the gateway drug for iPad users. That’s the belief of one analyst who sees the $199 7-inch device as a way for consumers to get a taste for tablets and want more — like the iPad.
Microsoft appears more intent on gunning for Apple when the software giant unveils its Windows 8 ARM-based tablets sometime in early 2012. Reports today suggest Microsoft is throwing out its desktop app and will go finger-to-finger with the iPad’s touchscreen only interface.
Trying to compete against Apple’s iPad can be costly – especially if you are RIM and your PlayBook tablet went from design to discount bin in record time. Today the Waterloo, Ontario company announced it will take a $485 million charge for a growing number of PlayBooks it just can’t sell.
Netbooks were the dodo birds of technology: ill-equipped to compete and eventually done in by a consumer form of natural selection — the iPad. After just about a week on the shelf, the Kindle Fire is being labeled the “netbook of the tablet market.” Analysts looking beyond the $199 price believe the Amazon tablet just can’t compete with the market-leading Apple device. Are Kindle Fire purchasers headed for a serious case of buyers remorse?
Here comes more evidence Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet is Apple’s first serious rival in a tablet war so far strewn with the corpses of the iPad’s Android-based victims. In the first skirmish between the two tablets, the Kindle Fire is outselling the 16GB iPad on Best Buy’s website.
Apple has begun airing a new commercial for the iPad 2 called ‘Love’, which showcases our love for the company’s incredibly popular tablet. In the thirty-second clip, we see people of all ages using the device while they go about their daily lives, doing things like movie editing, music recording, painting, learning, and more.
“Getting lost in the things we love has never felt quite like this.”
The folks at Canlys this morning are doing what analysts are fond of: playing the ‘if’ game. If iPads were included in the same category as computers, Apple might soon overtake HP as the world’s largest PC maker — particularly if the Cupertino, Calif. company launches the iPad 3, anticipated by many to be a 2012 release. Canalys, which does count tablets as PCs, expects Apple to pass HP before mid-2012.
High-profile PC makers such as HP and Dell may be preparing to “gradually phase out” of the tablet business, leaving the market to Apple’s iPad, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble’s Nook tablets. The rumored sea change follows the realization that best-selling tablets make money from the content they pump out, not from selling the hardware.
Retailers have found getting rid of non-iPad tablets can be like selling Halloween candy in November. Retail giant Staples is taking a cue from other failed attempts to rival the Apple device and cutting up to $300 off RIM’s PlayBook, just in time for Christmas.