Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• What the shift to the cloud means for the future EPG
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution
• CES 2012: a recap and analysis

While I’m impressed by most of the hardware, Samsung skimped a little on the cameras. They’re adequate for basic shots or video and video chatting, but won’t replace a modern smartphone. The software is where I find the new Galaxy Tab 7.7 lacking. Oh, it’s obviously usable, or I wouldn’t be using it as my daily device.

But Android 3.2, or Honeycomb, still doesn’t impress me. I prefer Android 4.0 on phones and tablets, so I’m looking forward to the update that Samsung has promised. In the meantime, Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface makes up for some of Honeycomb’s issues. And my hope is that third-party developers will update their apps to take advantage of the high-resolution, but relatively small, tablet display; often icons and text are small because of this. Even with these challenges, this is the fastest small tablet I’ve used yet for browsing, and it’s great for watching video, playing games and social networking.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The connected planet: Smartphones aren’t the only player
• What the Google-Motorola deal means for Android, Microsoft and the mobile industry
• Analyzing the wearable computing market

Mint’s financial management software made the move from Android phones to Android tablets on Wednesday. A new tablet-optimized version is freely available in the Android Market and supports slates running Android 3.0 or better. The software offers the same functionality as Mint’s iPad app, which is experiencing much higher take-up rates on tablets as compared to smartphones.

Here’s a quick overview of the app’s functionality:

• Organize all accounts. One complete overview of your finances.
• Obtain financial insight. Detailed graphs drill into spending by category or spending over time.
• Stay on top of spending. Personalized budgets to track spending.
• Get personalized updates. Account alerts, bill reminders and personalized advice.
• Track cash spending. Enter cash transactions while on the go.
• Easily find transactions. Search transactions or purchases by merchant, category or tags.
• Review finances anywhere. Offline support from the latest download.

Last week I spoke with Ken Sun, the mobile product manager for Intuit PFG, the company that purchased Mint in 2009. With Android tablets only just showing signs of sales momentum, Sun says he is unsure of download expectations. However, there is an interesting precedent and good reason to suspect Mint for Android tablets could see heavy downloads.

“Mint for iPad really boosted registrations,” Sun told me by phone. “Since Christmas until a few days ago, the user-base growth rate on the iPad is 10 times higher than on the iPhone.”

Sun also noted the different use cases and times for Mint usage on phones compared to tablets. “Tablets offer a landscape aspect and more real estate that offer more opportunity for exploration,” Sun said. Mint on phones starts to be used early in the morning and sparingly during the day, with a peak time of 10 a.m., dropping off by 6 p.m. That’s the time when tablet use largely picks up, with spikes around 10 to 11 p.m., when people have more time to delve into their finances.

One interesting programming tidbit came out of my conversation with Sun. Graphs for the Android version weren’t as snappy as those for the iPad initially. The Mint team reached out to Google, which readily supplied some coding suggestions and hardware acceleration knowledge, which brought the graphs up to a zippy 40 frames per second rendering.

The higher take-up rates for tablet owners make sense for an app such as Mint’s. While some apps excel at bringing a mobile experience to small-screened phones, others are prime candidates for tablets. Software that offers large amounts of data, charts and the ability for heavy interaction can surely benefit from the larger screen of a slate. Perhaps we will start seeing these types of apps arrive first for tablets instead of smartphones going forward.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Is Android broken and if so, will Google fix it?
• What the Google-Motorola deal means for Android, Microsoft and the mobile industry
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues

The Transformer Prime is unique in that it supports an optional $150 keyboard dock. Besides adding easier input with a full keyboard and trackpad, the dock adds another 8 hours of battery life to the 10-inch tablet, which can already run for up to 12 hours on its own. The dock also adds a full-sized USB port, which has let me use an Xbox 360 controller to play PC-quality games. Here’s what it looks like:

Two other Transformer Prime standouts are the processor and software. This slate is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 3 chip; a quad-core processor with 12 graphic cores, which helps explain the excellent gaming. The chip is also powering Android 4.0, or the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, which is improved slightly over Honeycomb, which ran on tablets last year.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 isn’t yet available in the U.S. — an LTE version is coming for Verizon — but I purchased a unit from an importer. I’ve used the original Galaxy Tab daily since December of 2010 and the newest Samsung slate is already proving to be a solid upgrade.

The 7.7-inch display and 7.89mm thickness keeps the device portable for most situations and uses Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus technology with 1280 x 800 resolution, making for superb visuals and viewing angles.

Unlike the Prime, this tablet uses a 1.4 GHz dual core chip, but I’m already finding it to more than powerful enough for most tasks. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 also runs on Honeycomb, so owners will have to wait for an upgrade to Android 4.0. Since the unit only just arrived, I’ll have more thoughts to follow this week.

Although these two tablets are new, the most popular Android slate appears to be one that doesn’t use Google’s services at all: The Amazon Kindle Fire may be the best selling Android tablet yet. Android tablet sales spiked to an estimated 39 percent of the tablet market last quarter, but by some measures, the Kindle Fire accounts for 40 percent of all Android tablets sold during that time frame. That shouldn’t surprise, given the relatively low $199 price tag and the functionality gained for that cost.

On the software side of things, my favorite third-party Android browser gained some new tricks this week. Dolphin Browser, which supports themes and extensions, added support for both Skitch and Evernote; two popular and useful services. Skitch allows you to draw or annotate on-screen while Evernote is a powerful cross-platform web-clipping and note-taking application. Both the browser and these new supported services are free on Android.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The connected planet: Smartphones aren’t the only player
• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• Tablet market to hit over 377 million units by 2016

Just like the old A500, Acer chose a 1 GHz dual core processor and the Honeycomb version of Android for the new A200. The device is lighter and keeps the many ports from the prior model: Full-sized USB, microSD card slot and micro USB jack to name a few. Gone is the rear camera on the A200, but it does keep a 2 megapixel front-facing sensor for video chatting or images. At this price, the A200 is surely worth a look and will be even more attractive once Acer pushes out the expected software update to Android 4.0; possibly as early as next month.

Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi tablet owners don’t have to wait for a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich, however. The company began to roll out Android 4.0.3 to the Xoom this week and will continue to push the software out in waves. The updated software could help give new life for the first Android tablet, which arrived nearly a year ago to generally mediocre reviews.

How much will Android 4.0 improve the experience on a Xoom tablet? That will vary by each individual’s needs, but overall the device is better with the updated software according to Jason Perlow of ZDNet. He used a enthusiast-created version for two weeks and then got the official upgrade a few days earlier than consumers. There are still some rough edges in the operating system, he says, but most will welcome the improved interface on their tablet.

While I wait for Android 4.0 to appear on my own 10.1-inch tablet, I’m enjoying Android 4.0 on my smartphone and this week found a new app that I consider a “must try”, if not a “must have” for Android devices. Wikipedia finally debuted its Android app this week and while you could use a browser to access the online encyclopedia, I find the free app in the Android Market much better. Simple sharing of Wikipedia entries, support for offline article reading and GPS-powered local Wikipedia results all add to the experience.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• CES 2012: a recap and analysis
• Connected world: the consumer technology revolution

It’s too soon to say, but for those seeking a low-cost, large tablet, there are a few points to consider in the A200. Although it’s a new model, it’s still based on last year’s tablet technology. The device is powered by a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, for example, and runs Android 3.2 (Honeycomb). Acer is said to be rolling out a software update to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) as early as mid-February, however.

I reviewed the similar A500 tablet last year and found it to be a capable slate and a good value for the $449 price tag. Just like that model, the A200 uses a 1280 x 800 resolution display. Those who want ports and options certainly should be happy with the A200, as it generally provides most of the important ones: full-sized USB 2.0, micro USB, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, microSD memory card slot and 2-megapixel front-facing camera. Battery life is estimated at 8 hours.

That Acer found a way to build a similar tablet that shaves a little weight as well as $100 off the suggested price is certainly impressive. Once the device sees the Android 4.0 software update, I expect it to impress even more. But new Android tablets with more capable hardware are coming soon, so sales are likely to depend on how much value consumers perceive in the A200. I plan to hit up my local Best Buy over the weekend and see for myself.

In the meantime, I found a nice overview video of the A200 at Android Central to satisfy my curiosity. More important to me than the hardware look is the software customization Acer revamped for the A200. I like what I see in the new Ring launcher and integrated screenshot capture function. Have a look and see what you think.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• CES 2012: a recap and analysis
• The connected planet: Smartphones aren’t the only player
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues

As someone who uses a 7-inch tablet and 4.65-inch phone daily, you’d think I would like the Galaxy Note for AT&T; it’s almost a perfect compromise between the two devices. In general, I do like what I see: a brilliant, large display powered by a peppy processor. But the note-taking ability isn’t optimal for me.

It’s an ergonomic challenge as I would hit the Android software buttons under the display from time to time. Perhaps with more time or a review unit, I’ll feel differently.

There isn’t much not to like about the Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE for Verizon on the other hand. It’s fast, very thin and light for its size and the screen is superb. If I had to pick a bone with it, I’d say it’s with Honeycomb. Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface hides some of Honeycomb’s warts, but this Tab would be better suited with Android 4.0 in my opinion.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• What the Google-Motorola deal means for Android, Microsoft and the mobile industry
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• A Media Tablet Forecast, 2011 – 2015

Orange today is introducing a new Android tablet, the first to come with Orange’s own branding instead of that of the tablet-maker. Called the Tahiti, the device, Orange tells me, was built by Huawei, sports a seven-inch screen and runs on Android Honeycomb, Google’s tablet-optimized version of the platform.

Possibly the most unique selling point — or at least the one that Orange is touting above others — is its price point. The 3G and WiFi-enabled tablet will cost users a mere £69.99 ($108), in addition to a commitment to a 24-month, £25/month contract. That sounds potentially reasonable until you work out the total cost: £669.99 ($1,036). That includes two gigabytes of data, 1 GB of which is during “quiet time” when fewer people use Orange’s network.

Prior to this, Huawei had developed two of its own-branded tablets to-date; both have seven-inch screens like the Tahiti. The IDEOS S7 is marketed as a content-friendly device, while the higher-specced MediaPad was the company’s first foray into using the Honeycomb OS.

By comparison, the Tahiti looks very much like the MediaPad (pictured) in its button-free face and camera positioning in the upper corner of the device. It may well be the MediaPad but under a different name. That would be a clever way for Huawei to shift stock further than its own retail steam might allow.

Orange tells me this is the first time it has launched an own-branded tablet in the UK, and the first time that it is selling this specific product. But that does not mean that it is new to the game. The company launched another own-branded tablet last year, which it distributed through its operations in Spain, Poland, Romania and Slovakia around the concept of offering inexpensive tablets against pricier branded products like the iPad.

That first tablet was a rebranded IDEOS S7, Orange told me at the time. Clearly that did well enough for them to try the concept out again with a more expensive tablet in a more developed market.

The Tahiti looks anything but exotic, so why the name? It could be a play on a type of fruit, the Tahiti Orange, AKA the Persian Lime. The other connection: Orange already has a line of own-brand handsets named after various destinations (San Francisco, Rio, Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Atlanta).

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Tablet market to hit over 377 million units by 2016
• Is there a tablet market, or is it just an iPad market after all?
• 5 Companies That Ruled Mobile in 2010

Verizon Wireless didn’t unleash an army of new Android and Windows Phone LTE devices at CES like its archrival AT&T, but the handful of gadgets it did unveil Monday are worth noting. Motorola announced a new Droid for Verizon’s LTE network that appears to be a combination of all the Android smartphones Moto has released to date, as well as an oddly fatter version of its ultrathin Razr. Meanwhile, LG kicked in what can only be termed a ‘movie phone’, Samsung brought its new Galaxy Tab 7.7 to the U.S. and even RIM chipped in a new BlackBerry Curve.

Motorola’s LTE Droid 4, like the other Moto Droids before it, has a fold-out qwerty keyboard. Its hardware specs have improved with a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM and an 8 megapixel camera, which records 1080p video, but not much has changed in its software specs. It sports Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), but Motorola said it will eventually take the upgrade to 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, as will all of its new CES devices. The Droid 4 also mimics the Droid Bionic and Atrix in that it supports Webtop, hooking into Motorola’s lapdoc shell. Finally, Motorola is borrowing form the Razr’s playbook, adding support for Smart Actions, which allows users to automate power and application management.

Smart Actions was designed to account for the Razr’s remarkably thin battery, but apparently energy management wasn’t enough. Moto also unveiled a duller version of the Razr on Monday, called the Razr Maxx. At 8.99 mm (compared to 7.1 mm for the regular Droid Razr), the phone is still remarkably thin, but all of that extra space is devoted to a larger battery. Verizon and Motorola claim the Maxx will run 21 hours straight on a single charge.

LG’s contribution was a video-centric phone called the Spectrum, which utilizes the same in-plane switching technology as LG’s HD TVs. Like several of the new HD phones shown by AT&T, the Android 2.3 Spectrum packs a lot of pixel depth with a 1280 x 720 display and power with a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, but the Spectrum’s 4.5 inch display is matched perfectly to the 16:9 aspect ratio of true cinematic video. The picture isn’t distorted – it’s a really long phone. Verizon also announced an exclusive deal with ESPN to stream full HD 720p video clips to the device through ESPN’s ScoreCenter app. Spectrum buyers who also happen to sports fans should probably sign up for one of Verizon’s fatter data plans.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 was introduced at the IFA in Europe last year, but this is the first appearance of Samsung’s miniature tablet in the U.S., complete with an LTE chip. The ultra-slim and lightweight tablet isn’t that much bigger than the Galaxy Note for AT&T, but it’s officially a tablet — not a smartphone — and doesn’t use the Note’s stylus interface. But the Tab almost seems underpowered in comparison to the Note, boasting only a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor compared to the Note’s 1.5 GHz chip.

Finally, BlackBerry unveiled a new Curve with Verizon, which, apart from its GSM radios allowing for global roaming and its low $99 price, doesn’t have much to recommend it. RIM still hasn’t built a single smartphone with LTE embedded. Granted most people don’t use BlackBerrys for high-bandwidth data services, but at this rate they never will.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• What the Google-Motorola deal means for Android, Microsoft and the mobile industry
• Mobile Q2: Smartphone growth surges; iPad’s rule continues
• CES 2012: a recap and analysis

Engadget  was tipped by a reader who Googled the Toshiba Thrive’s part number; the search results pointed to ACOS, which offers limited information and says to “call for stock.” No technical specifications are offered by the reseller; however, Toshiba has already shared what hardware to expect in the smaller Thrive tablet:

• 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor
• Options for 16 or 32 GB of internal storage
• Google Android Honeycomb, version 3.2
• 1280 x 720 resolution display
• Dimensions of 7.44″ x 5.04″ x 0.48″
• Front- and rear-facing cameras

My expectation is that Toshiba’s officially recommended price for the smaller Thrive tablet is far lower than what ACOS is selling it for. Logic dictates it has to be: The 10-inch Toshiba Thrive starts at $379 for an 8 GB model. Based on that, I could see Toshiba offer the 7-inch Thrive for $299 or so. Aside from competing against its big brother, the 7-inch Thrive joins several others in the small-slate market.

The HTC Flyer, a comparable Wi-Fi tablet being readied ready for the Honeycomb software update, costs $399, as does Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. These no-contract prices are all comparable, but show a significant premium to watered-down tablets build on Android.

Specifically, I’m thinking about the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire and $249 Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet. Heck, you could include last year’s Nook Color at $199 too. All three of these products are essentially media tablets that excel at viewing digital content: movies, TV shows, e-books, magazines and even the web. But all three also run a limited subset of popular Android apps and can even be tweaked to run as native Android tablets.

How the similar Thrive — not to mention the Galaxy Tab and Flyer — will justify more than double of a price tag is an open question at this point. Over the long haul, my expectation is that none of these will, meaning they’ll either sell very few units going forward, slowly die off, or see some price reductions in the coming months.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The connected planet: Smartphones aren’t the only player
• What the Google-Motorola deal means for Android, Microsoft and the mobile industry
• Is there a tablet market, or is it just an iPad market after all?