Most of the hardware specifications and pictures line up with what we saw back in January:

• 8-inch LCD with 1280 x 800 resolution
• 5 megapixel rear camera, 1.3 megapixel front camera
• 2 GB of memory, 16 GB of storage (up to 64 GB microSD expansion supported)
• Android 4.1.2 with Samsung TouchWiz
• A 1.6 GHz quad-core processor
• S-Pen and supporting software

The 8-inch tablet is basically a super-sized version of the Galaxy Note 2 smartphone, owing largely to its digitizer support for the S-Pen and similar features. Like the Note 2, the new Note 8.0 supports hovering with the pen for drill-down information in many apps and the ability to run two applications on the screen at one time. I love this feature on my Note 2, but I can see even more value on the larger display of Samsung’s new tablet. Of course, the Note 2 works with cellular voice calls; the same can’t be said of the Note 8.0.

Surely the $399 Galaxy Note 8.0 will be compared heavily to Apple’s $329 iPad mini. I’ve already seen comments and reviews that the Note 8.0 is too expensive by comparison. Even without getting my hands on Samsung’s new slate, however, I find that to be a short-sighted viewpoint.

Yes, the tablet is $70 more. For that premium, you’re getting a slightly higher pixel density, digital pen support, ability to upgrade the memory with a microSD card. Are those features worth the $70? That’s up to you and how you use your mobile devices, of course.

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Capture for iPad and iPad mini comes with quick editing tools, has image stabilization and color correction, and the ability to add music to a clip, all within the app. Sharing options include Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

There is no such dedicated app for Android phones or tablets, but that’s likely because direct-to-YouTube uploading is already supported in Android.

The folks at YouTube are aware that filming with a device that is so large it requires two hands can be physically and socially awkward — it reminded users of the iPad app to “film wisely so your iPad isn’t blocking everyone’s view.” But mobile is a huge chunk of its business these days — 1 in 4 YouTube video views come from a mobile device, the company says. So supporting as many popular devices as possible is an important priority.

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The two factors driving Android’s tablet rise are costs and size. Apple’s iPad starts at $329 for a 16 GB Wi-Fi model while tablets with similar hardware running Google’s Android software can be had for half that cost. It’s a valid argument to suggest that consumers may get a better experience with the more expensive iPad, but if $329 isn’t in a consumer’s budget when tablet shopping, a lower-priced Android may land in the shopping cart.

Apple was also a little late to the small slate market. Decent Android tablets sized at 7 inches were available as far back in 2010; a time when Apple publicly squashed the idea of a tablet in this size. We all know how the company changed its tune: After reading articles and reader comments on the merits of a 7-inch tablet, Apple executives realized there was indeed a market for these. And in late 2012, the iPad mini arrived, with its 7.85-inch screen.

IDC’s data suggests that one in two tablets shipping this quarter are 8 inches or less in size, confirming a recent report from Display Search. The research firm that studies display panel shipments — and the implications of those numbers — says the iPad mini will outsell larger iPads this year.  IDC Research Analyst Jitesh Ubrani echoes the usability of small slates that I noted in 2010: ”Vendors are moving quickly to compete in this space as consumers realize that these small devices are often more ideal than larger tablets for their daily consumption habits.”

Where does that leave Microsoft Windows tablets? IDC doesn’t hold out much hope for Windows RT, forecasting a dismal 2.7 percent of the tablet market by 2017. I agree with IDC here because tablets running the full version of Windows 8 with the same battery life as RT devices can be had for nearly the same price. There’s simply not a huge market for Windows RT without a drastic price drop in the devices.

Windows 7 and 8 tablets, however, should eke out some gains over Android and iOS tablets over the next five years, says IDC. These could account for 7.4 percent of the tablet market by 2017. If Microsoft continues to evolve the platform at the same time hardware improves, I think 10 percent (or more) of the market is actually possible by then.

Ultimately, Apple doesn’t care about its overall market share provided it continues to rake in massive profits. That’s a good strategy, but I’m curious to see how the sales mix of iPads and iPad mini devices affects Apple’s profit margin in tablets. Surely the ASP, or average selling price, will decline due to the lower-priced iPad mini. Can Apple make it up in volume?

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Why the big change? It’s an early data point, but Display Search found that small tablet screen shipments dwarfed larger panels at the beginning of this year.

“Shipments of 9.7” tablet PC panels collapsed, falling from 7.4 to 1.3M, while 7” and 7.9” panel shipments grew rapidly, from 12 to 14M. Shipments of 10.1” panels grew only slightly. The January panel shipment data may be an indicator for 2013, starting with Apple’s product mix shift. As we noted in December, Apple had planned to sell 40M iPad minis (7.9”) and 60M iPads (9.7”) in 2013. However, the reality seems to be the reverse, as the iPad mini has been more popular than the iPad. We now understand that Apple may be planning to sell 55M iPad minis (7.9”) and 33M iPads (9.7”) in 2013.”

A visual representation of tablet panel shipments between Dec. 2012 and Jan. 2013 (in millions of units) show this stark difference between small and large displays. While one month doesn’t make a trend, it can surely be the beginning of one:

The lower price of smaller tablets is surely one driver for sales of the iPad mini, Google Nexus 7 and other similar devices in this market. Apple’s newest iPad starts at $499 while a Kindle Fire, Nexus tablet or iPad, for example, start at $159 to $329. But another reason is what I noted when comparing portability of the original iPad and a 7-inch Galaxy Tab in early 2011:

“I purchased the Tab on a weekend at the local T-Mobile store and my family wanted to hit the mall afterwards. I either carried the device in hand or placed it in my back jeans pocket while cruising the mall for hours. As my wife or daughter stopped to browse for clothes, I quickly whipped out the small tablet to manage email, web-surf, and watch YouTube videos.

I wouldn’t have been able to do that with the iPad for one simple reason: the iPad wouldn’t have come with me on a trip to the mall in the first place.”

Fast forward two years and I do take an iPad to the mall and nearly every other place I go. But it’s the iPad mini because it offers all of the features of a standard iPad in a more portable package. It’s easy to use in more places and simple to take everywhere.

There’s clearly still a market for larger slates; they’re better for productivity and media consumption due to the larger screen. Simply put, Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad isn’t going away anytime soon; nor will the Google Nexus 10, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Asus Transformer or any number of other large slates.

The trend, however, is toward downsized tablets — or large phones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, depending on your definition of what’s a smartphone and what’s a tablet.

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The service lets you stream music you already own from the cloud or store songs locally. The first 250 songs can be stored for free, but for $25 a year users can store up to 250,000 songs.

Cloud Player was once only available for Android users. But the company has expanded its music app’s reach to iOS, as well as to cars. In January Ford announced that it was adding Cloud Player to its FordSync connected car platform.

The Cloud Player app is free on iOS and the latest update is available in the App Store as of Wednesday morning.

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The Slate7 is HP’s new entry-level tablet, a cheap-ish 7-inch Android device that has two main selling points: its shell is stainless steel, and it features Beats Audio, just as the TouchPad did. The choice of materials means the Slate7 is not the lightest in its class – at 368g, it outweighs the 340g Nexus 7 and 308g iPad mini — although it is lighter than the 395g 7-inch Kindle Fire HD. As for Beats Audio, well, it should produce decent bass.

The tablet runs on an ARM dual-core 1.6GHz processor and has a 3-megapixel camera on the back and a VGA camera on the front for Hangouts and Skype There’s no word yet on screen resolution or the possibility of a mobile-broadband-equipped version – the initial announcement is of a Wi-Fi-only affair that will go on sale in “selected” countries in the EU, Middle East and Africa for €149 ($196).

Multi-platform strategy

HP’s mobility chief, Alberto Torres, joined the company in September last year – he was previously in charge of the MeeGo project at Nokia. In a statement today, he laid out HP’s new mobility strategy pretty plainly:

”To address the growing interest in tablets among consumers and businesses alike, HP will offer a range of form factors, leveraging an array of operating systems. Our new HP Slate7 on Android represents a compelling entry point for consumers, while our ground-breaking, business- ready HP ElitePad on Windows 8 is ideal for enterprises and governments.”

Also taking into account HP’s Pavilion Chromebook and its Envy X2 Windows 8 tablet, it is clear that HP is hedging its bets in both the tablet and notebook spaces. A major question now is which platform the company chooses for its smartphone strategy, which CEO Meg Whitman hinted at last year.

And across all these platforms, we still need to see what HP’s big differentiators will be. Hopefully I will get my hands on the Slate7 at Mobile World Congress in the coming days, so we can see if HP is counting on style alone to set itself apart from the plethora of 7-inch rivals.

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Originally, I was leery of the dock at that price. After all, who wants to damage their several hundred dollar iPad mini investment for a ten-buck accessory? But after reading the review at Pocketables, I’m not concerned. The dock itself is really just a pass-through and doesn’t have any power components of its own:

This is a fully passive dock, meaning it doesn’t require an authentication chip or anything like that, because all it does is extend the device’s Lightning connector to the back of the dock. It’s a simple extension cable, really, but it’s still possible to screw that up with bad soldering points. In this case though, I liked what I saw, and everything was like it should be with the connections.

The dock only comes in black and the way it’s designed, it can’t hold an iPad mini that has a case; there’s just not enough room. One other thing to keep in mind: You’ll need to hold down the dock when removing your iPad mini because of the connector design.

Despite those small shortcomings, I plan to order one of these and see for myself how it works. I generally have the iPad mini next to me on my desk while working and it would be nice to have it propped up in portrait mode while charging; something I can’t do with Apple’s Smart Cover.

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It’s always difficult to interpret Apple’s supply chain moves, given that the company is so secretive and also because it relies on multiple vendors for components. And we may never truly know if the iPad mini is outselling the standard iPad: Apple hasn’t broken out iPad sales by model and isn’t likely to do so.

The best indicator would be the average selling price (ASP) for iPads, given that the cost difference for comparable iPads and iPad minis is $179 $170. Sales of the reduced-cost iPad 2 would muddy that figure as well.

Even without the breakdown of sales by model, Reuters notes that BNP Paribas is expecting the iPad mini to total 60 percent of all iPad sales in the first quarter of 2013. A lower price-point for a fully capable iPad is one reason the firm could be correct. But, as I’ve suggested for over two years: portability is a feature of devices and the iPad mini is easier to use and carry around in more scenarios, something the consumer market is now aware of.

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The reported specifications don’t include one key piece of information: There’s no indication which chip will power the Galaxy Note 8.0. It’s a very safe bet that a Samsung processor will be inside and I’d hope for one of the company’s new quad-core Exynos chips to be present, paired with the reported 2 GB of memory. The display is expected to be a Super Clear LCD running at 1280 x 800 resolution, which is slightly higher than the 1024 x 768 panel used on Apple’s iPad mini. Android 4.2 is expected and the tablet is rumored to be available in both a Wi-Fi and a GSM 3G version.

I owned a similar slate prior: the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. I liked the size of it but find the actual tablet app experience to be slightly better on iOS. That’s arguable, of course, but I’m not seeing as many developers as I expected truly taking advantage of the larger screens and higher resolutions found on Android tablets. But as I learned with my Galaxy Note 2 smartphone, there’s more value in a digital pen than I had expected as well. That’s something that could sway some small tablet buyers to the Galaxy Note 8.0 if such a device does arrive.

Before dismissing the idea of a digital pen, consider that when I bought the Galaxy Note 2, I really had no intention of using the S-Pen. I quickly found a number of valuable uses for the stylus, mainly because Samsung has developed some excellent mobile apps that are pen-friendly. If the company continues to mature and add to those apps — and I see no reason for them to abandon that strategy — a Galaxy Note 8.0 could give some potential iPad mini buyers a reason to consider Samsung’s slate.

I’m not suggesting that such a device will outsell the iPad mini; a pen alone won’t do that. However, Samsung appears to be the only Android manufacturer really trying to differentiate its Android tablets with innovative hardware and software — it also supports multi-window app usage — which I think gives it a better chance than its peers to compete against Apple’s mobile products.

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