Archive for Tablet News
Announcement: Good e-Reader Free Kindle Keyboard Giveaway!
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We are giving away one of our review copies of the previous generation Amazon Kindle Keyboard! This is the only Kindle still marketed by Amazon that has a physical keyboard to type words or internet addresses. You can surf online, share book updates via Twitter, and shop for plenty of newspapers and books!
We are giving this away on February the 7th to one lucky winner of our blog! We will pay for the shipping, and you get the e-reader and everything that originally came with it! To enter, all you have to do is vote for us in the Freescale Smart Mobile Device Pundit 2012 Top 20! Once you vote, simply comment below and let us you did it. We will pick one winner and let them know by email and by updating this post. So check back often and you can vote once a day, so you enter the contest more than once!
Vote for Michael Kozlowski of Good e-Reader at the following link – http://freescale.com/pundit
One Click Vote the easy way – HERE
Introducing the Good e-Reader Android App Store Client
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We are proud to unleash the beta version of our standalone Android App Store client! This is an extension of our browser based store that we unveiled last month. It brings to the table exciting new features and a very clean interface.
The Good e-Reader Android App Store has been a huge success for us with over 50,000 visitors on the website since it launched in the second week of Janurary. The premise of the store is to give people outside of the USA a chance to get their hands on the latest apps! We have apps that Getjar and other alterantive markets simply don’t have and we put a strong emphasis on reading programs. You can get popular apps like Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo, Aldiko, Flash 11, Marvel Comics and tons more! We currently have over 250 apps that are basically, in our minds, the best apps out there.
Our new client is easy to install to your device and there is a few ways you can get it on your Kobo Vox, Kindle Fire, Pandigital Novel, Micro CRUZ or any other android device. You can open up your browser on your tablet and visit our App store HERE. You can also download the Android file straight to your PC and then copy it to your tablets memory. Finally use your file manager on the tablet to launch our app and get downloading new programs right away.
We are always updating the app daily, so much sure to keep on checking for our Beta 2 release. This will give you push notifications when new updates are available, so you will always make sure you have the latest version available. Also you can chat with other people who have installed the app and get troubleshooting assistance with our dynamic commenting system.
We are looking for your feedback on the development of this app, it is polished and nearly done. If you have a large tablet or rooted device, we would love to hear how it looks and any key features we might have missed. Please comment on this post and let us know how it looks on your end and how you like it.
Download the new Good e-Reader App Store for Android Client HERE.
Amazon in the Process of Launching a Retail Store
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Amazon sources close to the situation have told us that the company is planning on rolling out a retail store in Seattle within the next few months. This project is a test to gauge the market to see if a chain of stores would be profitable. They intend on going with the small boutique route with the main emphasis on books from their growing line of Amazon Exclusives and selling their e-readers and tablets.
Seattle is where Amazons main headquarters is based and is known as a fairly tech savvy market. It is a perfect launch location to get some hands on experience in the retail sphere. A source has told us that they are not looking to launch a huge store with thousands of square feet. Instead they are going the boutique route and stocking the shelves with only high margin and high-end items. Their intention is to mainly hustle their entire line of Kindle e-Readers and the Kindle Fire. They also will be stocking a ton of accessories such as cases, screen protectors and USB adapters.
The company has already contracted the design through a shell company as they are most famous for. When Amazon releases new products to the FCC it is always done through anonymous proxy companies to avoid disclosure to their competition on what they are working on. They are doing this for the actual first store layout and design and modeling themselves after Apple.
The store itself they are creating is not just selling tangible items like e-readers and tablets but also their books. Amazon recently started their own publishing division and has locked up many indie and prominent figures to write exclusively with the company. This has prompted their rivals such as Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million to publicly proclaim they won’t touch Amazons physical book with a ten-foot-pole. Amazon launching their own store will give customer a way to physically buy books and also sample ebooks via WIFI when they are in a physical location.
This is exciting news and Amazon in a great position to make a strong go out of their retail endeavors. They are starting locally and small mainly to test the waters with a new store but also figure out how their going to avoid paying massive taxes. In the last few years there has been a huge tax debate because Amazon sells things online and only pays State taxes if they have a distribution center within a particular location. Having a physical store means the company will have to start paying more taxes and they are currently working out the logistics and tax loopholes before they launch.
We have heard a time-frame of their first location starting up before the end of the year to capitalize on the lucrative holiday season. I expect it to launch soon after the Kindle Fire 2 is announced to maximize the exposure they are going to get.
German Court Allows Samsung to Continue Selling Galaxy Tab 10.1N
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The battle between Apple and Samsung, fought in the courts of Germany, has taken a new turn and Apple is counting the losses. The court has ruled the newly redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1N does not infringe on any of Apple’s patent rights and its touchscreen technology. Judge Andreas Mueller said while delivering the ruling at the Munich Regional Court: “Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection.”
Apple had filed a suit against Samsung stating that the technology by which the scrolling effect on the screen occurred had been copied by Samsung. Samsung on their part argued on the basis of the time period that is mandated for a patent was active and hence sale of their tablet shouldn’t be banned before the nine months period has elapsed.
The Tab10.1 N is Samsung’s response to an earlier law suit by Apple wherein they claimed their iPad had been copied in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Samsung had tweaked a bit of the outer design of their Galaxy Tab and came up with the 10.1N variant. Now the court has freed Samsung from the ban on the 10.1N model. Samsung has, however, been barred from selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany, though Samsung will remain unscathed as it had already stopped selling that particular tablet.
via bloomberg
Corning Releases Day of Glass 2 – Where Screen Display Technology Might Go
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Corning, the company behind the famous Gorilla Glass screen technology found in many phones and tablets, has been living and breathing the avant garde. The brilliant minds at the company have been releasing concept technology for many years, trying to get companies to bite. They released a new video today that expanded upon their original day of glass video that saw seminal success.
The video shows how their glass technology can be employed in the home, school, business, and medical fields. Words simply cannot do this video justice and you have to watch it to fully appreciate the company’s vision to durable and highly interactive display surfaces.
BlackBerry PlayBook for $199 Is Back Again
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Perhaps RIM has made more experiments with the price of its PlayBook than anyone with a tablet device anytime before. However, of all the prices that the PlayBook can be associated with so far, it seems it is the $199 price tag that suits it best. Which is perhaps why the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet is up for sale at just $199 one more time. Last month, the same tablet had been made available for $299 and the price covered any of the 16, 32, or 64 GB PlayBook model. However, you have until the 11th February to avail of the special prices, after that the prices won’t be this low again, though you never know when RIM will start it all over again.
For those in Canada, wireless carrier operator Telus is offering an even better PlayBook deal. They are offering the 16 Gb and 32 Gb PlayBook model for $150 and less starting from the 3rd of February.
The much awaited PlayBook OS 2.0 is expected this month, while RIM has already announced they are also developing a sequel to the current PlayBook device. Looks like the worst for the PlayBook is already well past it and the beleaguered tablet can only grow from here.
via pcworld
Amazon Kindle Fire Satisfaction Survey Released
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The Amazon Kindle Fire since it sale last year has quickly became the most demanded android tablet in the USA. A recent survey was conducted with over 254 new Kindle Fire owners and asked them various questions to see how they used the device and what they thought about it.
When asked how satisfied they are with their new tablet device, better than one-in-two Kindle Fire owners (54%) say they are Very Satisfied. Another 38% say they are Somewhat Satisfied.
In previous ChangeWave surveys we’ve found that the percentage of tablet owners who say they are Very Satisfied with a particular device is highly predictive of future demand for that device. So how does the Amazon tablet rating match up against other tablet devices?
While the 54% Very Satisfied rating for the Kindle Fire is considerably below the 74% rating of the industry leading Apple iPad*, it is higher than the 49% average rating for all of the other tablet devices combined.
They also asked the users what they actually liked about the tablet itself. The Cost of the Kindle Fire (59%) is by far the thing new owners like best about their device, followed by the Color Screen (31%) and its Ease of Use (27%). Other top responses include the device’s Selection of Books and its Size/Weight.
Now obviously not everyone is going to be totally happy with their purchase and we got some indication on what exactly people aren’t enamored about. The top dislikes reported by Kindle Fire owners are No Volume Up/Down Button (27%), the fact it has No Camera (21%), and that the Battery Life is Too Short (15%). Other dislikes include Lack of 3G/4G Capability and Number of Apps Available
New Asus Tablet – TF300T Revealed
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Asus is working on a new tablet device with the model number TF300T. Now this is one of those pieces of news that need to be ingested with some salt though just to add some respectability to it, the model number does rhyme with those associated with other Asus tablets such as the Transformer Prime. The original Transformer carries the model number TF101 while the same for the Transformer Prime is TF201.
Meanwhile ASUS has also announced their upgraded Transformer Prime would be carrying the model number TF700. The tablet would be running on a Tegra 3 quad core processor and will have a screen resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels.
Not surprisingly, almost everything about the new tablet is in the dark except a few photographs which shows a read textured background.
US Cellular Launches LTE network With Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
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Cellular services in the US has hit a new high with Regional player US Cellular all set to enter the LTE scene in that country. US Cellular however isn’t offering a pan American service as yet but they mention their network will grow quickly over time. In the meantime, they are offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with built in LTE capabilities to mark the upgrade.
Further, US Cellular isn’t revealing the tablet’s price just yet though it would supposedly be declared only when the 4G LTE network service will go live in March. However, pricing is expected to be competitive vis-a-vis other established players such as AT&T and Verizon. US Cellular will also have the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator smartphone to offer as well.
via slashgear
Rumor: Apple iPad 3 to Feature A6 Quadcore Chip, Global LTE
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The iPad 3 isn’t officially announced yet, which means the next gen Apple tablet is still very much on speculation and rumor territory. Also, given the Apple way of doing things, there are a lot of expectation from the iPad 3 as well. However, while Apple is lip locked on details about the new tablet, some information obtained through sources who claim that they have access to the tablet state that it would be based on the A6 chipset which is patented by Apple itself and is quadcore in architecture. Further, the new iPad will also have GSM/CDMA/LTE radio abilities built into it. The model would have the J1 and J2 references as was seen in the iOS beta and is believed to refer to the Wi Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G/4G models of the tablet.
The A6 processor is supposed to have better graphic rendering capabilities which should prove enough to support the ‘Retina display’ that the upcoming iPad 3 is believed to come with. The display will have an exceptional resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. Ironically, the A6 chip is being manufactured by Samsung with whom Apple is embroiled in legal tussles all around the globe.
via bgr
Here is Why Notion Ink Choose TI OMAP Over Tegra 3 For Adam II
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Notion Ink has recently announced a successor to its Adam tablet device which is being called the Adam II. However, unlike its ancestor, Adam II is making far less noise and that’s hardly surprising. This since the Adam has failed to live up to the kind of hype that it had generated during the time of its launch. However, the upcoming Adam is still in news which can be attributed to NI’s choice of processor for the new tablet — the TI OMAP SoC processor that has raised many an eyebrows.
The normal choice should have been the Tegra 3 quad core chip and that was what had also been announced initially. The switch to TI OMAP therefore has been a reason for intrigue to many people out there. Notion Ink though explained the swap claiming the actual usage of power of the processor is more optimal in case of the TI OMAP rather than the Tegra 3 chip. They further clarified that even though Tegra 3 has a better GPU or the OMAP have more memory than Tegra 3, these issues have a lower precedence than the actual usage of available resources.
Where TI OMAP beats Tegra 3 chip is the plethora of documents, use-case models, white papers that are available on it. These in tun makes it easier to draw out the most from the capabilities of the TI OMAP chip. For firms that do not have the ability to carry out its own R&D, relying on such documents and case models could be the only way out. Another great reason to opt for the TI chip is that those who developed the TI OMAP are placed in Bangalore, which is where Notion Ink is also located.
Further, the fabrication of the TI OMAP chip is based on the 28 nm process while that of the Tegra 3 is based on the 40 nm process. The advantage of this for TI OMAP is that the process is cheaper as also less taxing on the power consumption aspect. Battery life of the devices based on TI OMAP would naturally be more than those based on the Tegra 3 chip.
Surely most of the reason mentioned above are purely technical in nature and hence well beyond the scope of the average tablet buyers. For them, what matters most is a device that is well put together, has decent battery life and has the performance to boast of. Let’s just hope the Adam II delivers on these aspects.
Introducing the Good e-Reader News APP for Android
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We have just rolled out the first version of our official Android News App today! Get caught up with the latest Good e-Reader News while on the go on your phone or tablet! We have dedicated sections of all of our major categories so if you are just interested in publishing or ebook news, you can read with ease.
We made it very easy to navigate and install the application! Simply download it from our own Good e-Reader APP Store right HERE! In the next few days we will be having it listed in the official Google Android Market for those of you that can connect to it. The main reason we are carrying it in our own APP Store is because we know many tablets like the Kobo Vox, Kindle Fire, and Pandigital Novel can’t access the real Google Market. We like to make things as easy as you can. Remember like always, you can open up our App Store in your tablets internet browser and download any app right to your tablet or e-reader.
This App is in Beta! This means graphically things will drastically change in the near future but in the here and now, it works great. We are proud to be the only e-reader blog in the world offering an app to read our articles.
3G Variant of Sony Tablet S and Tablet P Now Available in India
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Stores in India now have the 3G enabled Sony Tablet S and Tablet P for sale. Both the 3G versions will join the Tablet S that Sony had launched last year though in its Wi-Fi avatar.
The Tablet S 3G is the same configuration as that of the Wi-Fi only version with just the 3G feature added to it. This one was supposed to be available in India in mid January, but has slipped some days.
The Tablet S 3G has been priced INR 33990 while the Tablet P 3G will cost INR 36,990.
Also, both the tablet devices run Android 3.2 Honeycomb though Sony has already announced the upgrade to Android 4.0 ICS would be launch this Spring itself.
Click here for the comprehensive review of the Sony Tablet S.
via androidos
