Tag Archives: inclusion

May 04

Lenovo IdeaPad S2109 gets a video unveiling

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One of the informative scenes from the bass-heavy announcement video of Lenovo's new IdeaPad tablet.

(Credit:Screenshot by Eric Franklin/CNET)

Last week, Lenovo took to YouTube to unveil its first ICS-basedtablet. The new tablet sports a 9.7-inch, IPS screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio and aniPad 2-matching resolution of 1,024×768 pixels. this obviously falls short of the new iPad’s 2,048×1,536-pixel resolution and even mostAndroid tablets, which usually top out at 1,280×800 pixels.

The S2109 includes Micro-USB, a microSD card slot, and a single 1.3-megapixel front camera. However, say what you will about its unibody design, 8.9mm thickness, or its purported 10-hour battery life; the most intriguing detail has to be its inclusion of quad speakers on the back.

All tablets include speakers — usually one or two — but by featuring four, Lenovo is kind of raising my expectations of what I should expect from the tablet’s audio capabilities. With most tablet reviews, evaluating tablet sound quality is honestly not first on my checklist, but with four whole speakers, I now expect to be impressed.

The Lenovo IdeaPad S2109 will ship with Android 4.0 installed. no word yet on when that shipment will take place or how much cash Lenovo will be requesting for it.

Lenovo IdeaPad S2109 gets a video unveiling

Apr 02

Sony Confirms The Xperia Sola, Apple iPad 3 ...

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The Sony Xperia Pepper is finally official. Officially named as the Sony Xperia Sola, it fits right in between the Xperia P and the Xperia U. The Xperia Sola features a 3.7 inch reality display, which is powered by a dual core processor and a NovaThor chipset. So what makes this cell phone so special? The Xperia Sola is the first phone to feature Sony’s new technology called “floating touch”. This new technology allows the user to hover his/her finger over the screen, acting as a cursor. Currently this is feature will be limited to the browser only, however Sony has promised to release apps exploiting this feature and also promised to make it open source for developers. Sony assured that it will release software updates containing apps that utilize this new technology.

Looking at other features of the Sola, we have a 3.7 inch screen with a resolution of 480×854 pixels. The screen employs Sony’s trademark BRAVIA technology. The Xperia Sola also has a scratch resistant glass and a 5MP camera capable of 720p video recording. The phone also boasts of stereo speakers with xLOUD technology. It has NFC connectivity with the inclusion of two Smart tags. These tags can be customized with a maximum of 10 commands, which are executed when the phone is pressed against them. The phone is scheduled to release in Q2, but there are not details of the pricing available as of now.

In other news, Apple’s new iPad 3 graphics processor has finally been benchmarked. The device’s GLBenchmark 2.1 scores put it well ahead of any other device out there. This confirms the much hyped specs of the iPad 3, and ends most of the mystery surrounding the quad core graphics of the new iPad. The underlying chip responsible for the ground breaking graphics is believed to be the PowerVR SGX543 MP4 GPU.

The iPad 3 scored almost 16,000 points on the test (15,924 to be exact) which is 1.5 times that of its predecessor, the iPad 2, which follows at a distant second. The iPad 2 is followed by the iPhone 4S which also uses the same GPU as the former. following the iPhone 4S are two are two of Android’s best tablets; the Acer Iconia Tab A510 and the Asus Transformer Prime TF201. Although NVIDIA has shot down Apple’s claim that the new iPad’s performance is four times better than the Tegra 3, these benchmark scores are clearly indicative of at least a twofold bump in performance. This raises exciting prospects for the Series 6 line of GPUs from PowerVR (the iPad 3 uses the Series 5). However, the Series 6 line is not expected till next year, so the iPad 3 will remain the leader at least for now.

Sony Confirms The Xperia Sola, Apple iPad 3 Benchmark Results out

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Jan 26

Nvidia Shows off Acer Iconia A510 with ICS and ...

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When we stopped by the Nvidia booth at CES, they had a copy of the latest tablet by Acer showcasing the new Tegra 3 quad-core zre processor! Not only did it pack the latest and greatest in terms of speed, but also was bundled with Ice Cream Sandwich!

The new Acer Iconia A510 is an updated model that should see the light of day in the next few months. it packs a screen resolution of 1280×800 pixels and the tablet itself is 7 inches! One of the things I really liked about this unit was the inclusion of a physical home button which makes things a little bit easier. Scrolling from one menu to another was super quick and you can really tell it has a great processor underneath the hood.

Nvidia Shows off Acer Iconia A510 with ICS and Tegra 3 at CES

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Jan 21

NEW: TECH TIME: Motorola’s Xyboard is a strong, ...

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Motorola leaped into the tablet market last year with the Xoom, and the reviewed were hit and miss. it had its good points, but also some bad ones.Now, they have unveiled their newest tablets, the Motorola DROID Xyboard line with models of 10.1 inches and 8.2 inches – and the results are decidedly better in terms of overall quality and use.they are not the official sequel to the Xoom tablet, but might as well be. they are improved in a lot of ways, are show that Motorola knows it must improve its tablet offerings to better compete with bigger names like the iPad. among the improvements are a lighter and thinner build, faster processor; better materials used and inclusion of a stylus pen.I recently tried out a 10.1-inch Xyboard (pronounce Zi-board, if you’re wondering); and here’s a full report of what I found.LOOKSThe Xyboard is a tablet, so it’s got the usual rectangular slab shape. To make it unique, Motorola has given the edges a big of a unique curvature that is pretty attractive. This is one slick-looking device, without a doubt. and of course, it’s very light and thin so it can be portable – the very idea of a tablet.Full dimensions are 6.8 inches x 9.9 inches x 0.34 inches. Most notable there is the extreme thinness – just a third of an inch. due to this, the weight is only 1.3 pounds. Not bad for a 10.1 inch tablet.in terms of materials, the Xyboard is well built and doesn’t feel cheap. it features scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass and a nanocoating to help repel water in case of spills.on beef I have with the device is that I did not like the location of the on/off switch. It’s on the back of the device, and inset. This makes it hard to find without turning over the tablet, which is annoying. It’s also right next to volume up/down rocker, perhaps too close.you get mini-HDMI and USB ports on the device too. Continued…

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NEW: TECH TIME: Motorola’s Xyboard is a strong, but pricey, tablet alternative

Dec 28

Here’s a gift you can open early – ...

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Patrick is our NDK evangelist here at Research in Motion® (RIM®) – and he has some great news on BlackBerry® PlayBook™ 2.0 Beta and NDK updates. Patrick will be back in the new year as a member of the Dev Blog team! – Ed.

We’re well into the holiday season, and Santa and his elves are busy in their workshop making sure all the good boys and girls have fun and exciting presents to open. What about the elves here at RIM? well, I’m happy to tell you that the hardworking teams have version of the BlackBerry® Native SDK 2.0 for Tablet OS ready for you now! I know, I know…the title’s a mouthful but, like a festive holiday meal, the mouthful is worth it!

Continuing on the success we saw with our launch of the BlackBerry Native SDK for Tablet OS at BlackBerry® DevCon Americas this fall and the release of an initial beta for the BlackBerry Native SDK 2.0, the second beta release contains:

  • The inclusion of the Scoreloop SDK 1.0 beta 1
  • Updated documentation to help developers solve tricky problems
  • Tooling/IDE changes:
    • A streamlined deployment setup wizard designed to help with the setup of your development environment and to provide better feedback when there are issues in the process. it also leverages the automatic device detection feature to help you set up your targets.
    • Adobe® AIR Native Extension (ANE) support – new workflows have been added to the IDE to help you build and debug native extensions. This includes an ANE project type that works with the Adobe command line tools to generate ANEs. in addition, the new ANE launch configurations helps you debug your ANE on the device.
    • Per project SDK support – You may now configure your BlackBerry Native SDK on a per-project basis. This allows you to have projects in your workspace build against different versions of the device. for example, you could have one project in your space build against the latest release BlackBerry Native SDK (1.0.8) and another build against the latest developer SDK (2.0 DR2). Previously, all projects in your workspace built against the same BlackBerry Native SDK.

We continue to evolve and improve the developer experience on the BlackBerry platform. in that same vein, we have produced a BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS 2.0 beta 2 (DR2) for our native BlackBerry Native SDK users. be sure to white list your device’s PIN so that you can download the DR2 release (Developer Release beta 2) of the BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet OS.

As mentioned in the list above, the BlackBerry Native SDK 2.0 for Tablet OS 2.0 beta includes the Scoreloop SDK 1.0 beta 2 release – the next-generation technology that enables mobile social gaming. it lets you integrate the Scoreloop SDK’s set of social gaming features into your games.

The Scoreloop SDK is a fully customizable SDK that is designed to allow you to seamlessly integrate the Scoreloop SDK’s features into your games while maintaining the look and feel of your applications throughout. the social features are modular, so you can integrate as many or as few social features as you want.

Some of the features currently available include:

  • User profiles
  • Leaderboards
  • Challenges
  • Awards and achievement

It’s a great time to be developing for the BlackBerry platform!

On that note, happy holidays to everyone. Thank you for your continued efforts, and I look forward to sharing more exciting news with you in the new year. I’ll be showing up at as many meetups, Mobile Mondays, events, conferences, and developer gatherings as possible. If you see me, come say hi, and let me know how I can help you succeed in your mobile development challenges.

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Here’s a gift you can open early – BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0 Beta and NDK Updates

Nov 28

Acer Iconia Tab A700/A701 Surface, Could Have Full ...

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As the first reports of the upcoming Acer Iconia Tab A700 and A701 emerge, it isn’t so surprising that the tablets will likely feature the quad-core Tegra 3 processor. The chipset follows up the highly-favored Tegra 2 and is already seeing its fair share of deployment in future Android slates. Slightly more interesting is the suggestion that the A700/A701 will feature full HD displays with 1080p resolution. The information was gleaned from a user agent profile, which aren’t always the most trustworthy sources of information. but with 720p displays already reaching smartphones, the inclusion of high-definition screen technology in tablets doesn’t come from left field — the notion has our interest piqued. Acer’s next-gen lineup of Iconia Tabs could sure be a thing of beauty.

[via HDBlog.it]

Acer Iconia Tab A700/A701 Surface, Could Have Full HD Display and Tegra 3

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Nov 25

Tablet Reviews

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Thanks to their slim designs, touch screens, and light weights, tablets have taken off in the last few years as a popular alternative to Netbooks and, in some cases, even laptops.

Unfortunately, a tablet screen isn’t the most ideal environment for typing. by including a built-in keyboard, the Asus Eee Pad Slider attempts to offer a solution to this problem. But does the inclusion of a keyboard defeat the purpose of owning a thin, light, and cool-looking media device?

Obviously, there’s more to a tablet than its looks and ergonomics. available apps, services, and functionality are just as

more

Originally posted at Android Atlas

Tablet Reviews

Nov 05

An Update on BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0

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We know that many of you are looking forward to BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0, and we wanted to provide you with an update on the progress that we’re making.

As much as we’d love to have it in your hands today, we’ve made the difficult decision to wait to launch BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 until we are confident we have fully met the expectations of our developers, enterprise customers and end-users. and here’s what we’re doing to accomplish that.

First off, we have decided to defer the inclusion of the BBM™ application to a subsequent BlackBerry PlayBook OS release. We are committed to developing a seamless BBM solution that fully delivers on the powerful, push based messaging capabilities recognized today by BlackBerry® users around the world and we’re still working on it. in the meantime, BlackBerry smartphone users will be able to continue to use BlackBerry® Bridge™ to securely access BlackBerry® Messenger™ on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet’s high resolution display.

Secondly, we are excited to now be providing developers with the gold release of the native SDK for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet as well as a beta of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 (launched last week at BlackBerry DevCon Americas). The developer beta allows developers to begin porting their native apps to the PlayBook platform. in the following months, the developer kit will be updated with the full Cascades animation and UI engine that was first demonstrated at BlackBerry DevCon. We expect that the developer beta will generate thousands of new applications for BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.

Shortly we will also be starting a series of closed betas of BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 with select enterprise customers from our Early Adopter Program (EAP). These betas will be rolled out over the course of this year and are an important next step to bringing our unmatched enterprise app deployment, device manageability, security and email integration capabilities to the tablet category. The betas will be conducted within global enterprise environments and will test the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet solution from end-to-end within corporate IT infrastructures. Feedback and improvements from these betas will benefit the overall BlackBerry PlayBook customer experience.

We believe BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will deliver a great experience for our customers, building on the powerful performance introduced with BlackBerry PlayBook tablet earlier this year. The software update will add advanced integrated email, calendar and contact apps, a new video store, as well as new functionality that will allow your BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook to work together even better.

For the enterprise, we’re addressing many barriers to tablet adoption, including device manageability and enterprise application deployment. Enterprises will uniquely have the ability to manage tablets from a centralized server, while BlackBerry® Balance ensures a seamless user experience for personal and professional needs and gives CIOs the peace of mind that corporate data is secure. Plus BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will provide dedicated shelf space inside the BlackBerry App World™ storefront to make approved enterprise applications easily available to an organization’s end users. together these features will help change the way enterprises view and use tablets.

So when could an end user get the new update? We expect to deliver the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS to customers in February 2012 and we’ll continue to keep you updated as we progress to the launch.

- David J. Smith, SVP, BlackBerry PlayBook, Research in Motion

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An Update on BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0

Oct 14

Acer Iconia Tab A501 Review – Watch ...

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Hardware featuresAs we mentioned at the start of this review, aside from the inclusion of 4G, the Acer Iconia Tab A501 is nearly a spec-for-spec clone of the A500 as well as nearly every other Honeycomb tablet. inside, both devices take advantage of a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and 1GB of RAM, and each boasts 802.11 n Wi-Fi, an integrated Micro-HDMI output, support for Bluetooth 2.1, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, GPS, a digital compass, memory expansion via microSD, and a SIM card slot, although no SIM card is actually included with the A500.

The Acer Iconia Tab A501′s SIM/Micro SD card slot, opened and ready to be used

The A501 is available at 16GB and 32GB capacities, with a useful full-size USB host port. and though it’s a small thing, we’re glad to see that Acer included a dedicated screen-rotation lock instead of burying the feature in the system menu tray.

Software featuresThe A501 comes with Android 3.0.1 installed; disappointing, since Honeycomb users are currently enjoying version 3.2. Check out the original Acer Iconia Tab A500 review for more information about Android 3.0.

Acer preloaded a number of applications on the A501, including Clear.fi, Acer’s media aggregator; Acer Sync, which allows you to sync contacts, calendar, and media across Acer devices; and a trial version of Docs to go, as well as various games.

The most useful addition, however, especially if you’re planning to take advantage of AT&T’s per-session deal, is the AT&T Communication Manager app that tracks your current data usage and your international roaming data usage, and informs you of your next billing cycle date. The app sits on the home screen by default and updates in real time.

PerformanceIn terms of general system performance, the Acer Iconia Tab A501 performs as ably as any of the original Android 3.0 tablets did when they debuted. since then, Google has made noticeable upgrades to the operating system’s performance, resulting in smoother Web page scrolling and zooming, which the A501 currently doesn’t take advantage of. still, apps launch quickly and the Honeycomb interface felt responsive.

Unfortunately, high-bit-rate, 720p, MP4 videos wouldn’t load on the A501. The HTC Flyer, which runs Android 2.3.3, had the same problem, but this wasn’t a problem with any tablet running Android 3.1 or higher. we didn’t have any additional Android 3.0 tablets lying around with which to check if this was an OS issue.

In terms of photo and video quality, the A501 matches most Honeycomb tablets in contrast, clarity, and video frame rate. we did find that pictures taken on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G had a higher level of color saturation and a higher perceived contrast ratio than the A501′s pictures. Additionally, the A501′s camera can’t hold a candle to the Sony Tablet S’ capable camera in terms of picture quality.

The camera lens on the back of the Iconia Tab is prone to finger smudges due to its placement. If you’re shooting from the hip, taking that extra second to habitually clean the lens could make or break a great photo.

The A501 uses AT&T’s HSPA+ 4G network and while Web site loading speeds on the network were only 1 to 2 seconds slower than with Wi-Fi, app download speed was a different, more disappointing story.

We downloaded Angry Birds Rio, a 17MB file, using both our Wi-Fi network and AT&T’s HSPA+ 4G network. Depending on where in San Francisco we were, Wi-Fi download speeds of the game were up to 85 percent faster compared with HSPA+.

Anecdotal battery life feels typical for most Honeycomb tablets, lasting several hours under maximum brightness with frequent use and 4G turned on. Check back soon for official battery results once CNET Labs has a chance to drain it.

ConclusionThe Acer Iconia Tab A501 4G is the cheapest 4G Honeycomb tablet currently on the market, but its adherence to Android 3.0, relatively low-quality screen, and hefty design ultimately make it the least appealing of the 4G tablets. still, it is cheapest, so if that’s your deciding factor and you absolutely need a 4G tablet right now, it’s not a bad deal. If you can wait, we’d recommend giving it some time to see how the 4G tablet landscape develops over the next few months.

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Acer Iconia Tab A501 Review – Watch CNET’s Video Review