tablets - page 14

After months of anticipation, Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire started shipping yesterday, but even since its unveiling critics have been labeling it a worthy iPad competitor. Its pocket-pleasing price tag coupled with its terrific user interface could make it the first tablet to really give the iPad something to worry about.

But how does it stack up to Apple’s device in terms of performance? Well, at less than $200, none of us expected the Kindle Fire to really match the iPad 2’s speed, but as you’ll see in this video comparison, it does a fantastic job of keeping up while browsing the web, and it’s significantly quicker and streaming Netflix videos.

A trademark feature at Apple retail stores all over the world is the Genius Bar. Operated by a group of Apple experts, the Genius Bar allows any Mac or iOS device owner to take their device to their nearest Apple store and get technical help, repairs, or replacements.

Along with Apple experts, the Genius Bar sports a line of MacBook Pros which Apple staff use to diagnose problems, order parts for repairs, check the status of your product’s warranty, and more. In this “post-PC” era, however, those MacBook Pros are set to be replaced by the iPad.

Amazon is reportedly increasing its orders for its Kindle Fire tablet to 5 million units following continued “strong” early demand for the 7-inch device. But could greater demand for the iPad rival actually backfire on the e-bookseller?

The Kindle Fire may be shaping up to be the first real device to challenge the iPad’s share of the tablet market but it’s not going to go unchallenged: book retailing giant Barnes & Noble have just announced the next generation of their own Android-based reading tablet, and unlike the Kindle Fire, its specs match and even exceed the iPad 2’s for half the price.

Amazon reportedly plans to scale down the screen size of its next Kindle Fire tablet, producing an 8.9-inch device, rather than an originally expected 10.1-inch product for 2012. The report could be another indication that suppliers are busy filling orders for Apple’s iPad.

Despite a number of recent courtroom victories which have seen Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned in both Australia and Europe, one small Spanish firm has proven Apple doesn’t always get its own way in front of a judge.

The Cupertino computer giant just lost a case against NT-K, which makes Android tablets in Spain, after it pulled the company into court and claimed that NT-K’s device rips off the iPad.

Do you remember Microsoft’s top secret Couriet tablet project? It was a dual screen, book-like tablet first leaked well before Apple unveiled the iPad, created by J. Allard, the mind behind Microsoft’s fantastic Xbox console.

It’s a concept that has aged well, mostly because it’s one of the only tablet designs around that isn’t just trying to rip off Apple’s idea of what a tablet should be wholesale. It’s still, in fact, brought up as an example of how Microsoft could have competed with Apple in the tablet market from the get go.

So what happened to the Courier? Why wasn’t it released? It all came down to the fact that Bill Gates had an “allergic reaction” to the project because it didn’t run Outlook.

The iPad has been a staggering success for Apple since its inception in 2009, but if it wasn’t for one loud-mouthed Microsoft employee, the tablet may have never been born. Steve Jobs decided that he would create the device after listening to a Microsoft employee boast about a Windows tablet over dinner. When he got home that night, Steve said, “Fuck this, let’s show him what a tablet really can be.”

Its first generation Kindle Fire hasn’t even launched hit store shelves yet, but already Amazon has the Foxconn factory in China knocking up its successor, the Kindle Fire 2, with plans to ship the device during the first half of 2012.

Although Samsung continues to supply parts for a range of Apple devices, making Apple the Korean company’s largest customer, the pair don’t seem to have the best relationship these days. They are currently involved in a number of legal spats which has seen Apple accuse Samsung of copying the iPhone and iPad with its Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets, but before the courtroom battles began, Steve Jobs gave Samsung the chance to put things right.

If there’s one thing that seems to go hand-in-hand with struggling tablets, it’s generous price cuts. As Apple’s iPad continues to gain overwhelming popularity, tablets that attempt to fight the beast are falling short, and manufactures are being forced to drop their prices to shift their stock.

Amazon’s rumored tablet is very real, according to MG Siegler of TechCrunch. The ‘Amazon Kindle’ tablet runs a fully-customized version of the Android OS that “you’ve never seen before.” The device will sell for half the price of the entry-level iPad, and it’s expected to ship in November.

The iPad makes an almost perfect portable media player; big, bright screen, great interface and a speedy processor. Wahay. Problem is, it’s hard to jam a decent speaker, let alone two, into that svelte aluminum shell — the result is sound from anemic speaker with volume that won’t top a moderately loud tea party.

Luckily there’s no shortage of auxiliary speakers available, and Logitech’s Tablet Speaker for iPad ($50) is one of the simplest, least expensive and most portable.

PC Maker Lenovo just released their first would-be iPad killer, the IdeaPad K1. It is, of course, a piece of junk, with This Is My Next calling it “chunky and cheap-feeling” with software that is “unstable to the point of being unusable.”

You’d think that would damp anyone’s aspirations in the tablet game: HP pulled out of the tablet market despite garnering much more positive reviews for the TouchPad. Nevertheless, Lenovo not only thinks that Apple will lose dominance of the tablet market, but that Lenovo itself will become “one of the strongest… players in this area.” Now that’s pie-eyed optimism.

No, that’s not an electronic Tootsie Roll — It’s Logitech’s brand-new $50 iPad Speaker (actually, they’re calling it the “Tablet Speaker”; because, apparently, there are other tablets out there. Who knew.)

Remember Panasonic’s 3DO game system back in the mid ’90s? Not surprised if you don’t; it failed miserably and was discontinued after three years, despite being packed with promise and cutting-edge technology. But the three-year sales record of this flop have thus far still managed to handily beat that of Android tablets — all of them. Combined.

It looks like Apple may have won round two in the global fight against Samsung in the tablet turf wars.

German news agency DPA just reported that Apple has been granted a preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Android-based Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Acer founder Stan Shih has opened his mouth and said something extraordinarily stupid: the ultrabook and tablet form factors are nothing but a stupid fad with no future. Someone should tell Apple that, so they can stop selling iPads and MacBook Airs to a throng of millions of excited customers.

We’re all aware of how popular Apple’s tablet is. It spawns endless lines outside of Apple stores for days after its launch, and it no other tablet is anywhere close to being as successful. Apple’s iPad is so popular in fact, that one in six Hong Kong citizens own the device.

The staggering success of Apple’s iPad has inevitably spawned a myriad of wannabe devices from a large number of electronics manufacturers. While many of these tablets are yet to really compete with Apple’s tablet, the Cupertino company is still preparing itself for a worthy adversary by “adjusting the cost structure” of the iPad 3.

Foxconn Electronics currently assembles a whole host of Apple gear, and apparently persuaded the Cupertino company recently to make it the sole producer of a third iPad expected to launch later this year. It seems that’s not enough for the China-based manufacturer, however. It has no intention of being as loyal to Apple in return. According to industry sources, it will also produce what could be one of the iPad’s biggest rivals: an Amazon Kindle tablet.

Sources for the Wall Street Journal claim Amazon is getting set to launch its first tablet this October. The 9-inch device will go head-to-head against against Apple’s iPad, though it may not pack as many features.

Despite recent claims that Apple will launch an ‘iPad HD’ later this year, any delay could mean that Motorola is the first to launch a high-resolution tablet, with one report maintaining that the company is already testing a prototype device with a 2048×1536 Retina display-like resolution.

 Washington Post senior vice president and chief digital officer Vijay Ravindran lost his MacBook Air when his son’s spilled baby bottle put the fizzle in it.

So he got an Asus Transformer (aka Asus Eee Pad) to replace it and never looked back. He ponied up $399 for the 16-gigabyte version with a 32-gigabyte memory card then added a $150 keyboard dock that essentially transforms it into a netbook.

The Philadelphia Media Network announced today that in addition to local news it will also peddle “deeply discounted” Android tablet computers pre-loaded with four apps, including digital versions of its two newspapers, The Inquirer and the Daily News, as well as additional content from The Inquirer and the Philly.com website.

Too bad they can’t offer at least one thing anybody actually wants.