With no refresh of the $199 Nexus 7, the latest Android tablet from Hisense is worth a look. It has nearly all of the same hardware features as Google’s tablet, plus a few more, but costs $50 less. Read more »
Amazon is making its Kindle Fire HD tablets broadly available internationally, with preorders shipping in June. The tablets were already available in Europe and Japan. Read more »
Roughly half a dozen new mobile operating systems will come to market over the next 6 to 12 months. Many of these look to be more sophisticated than the older ones controlled by Apple and Google, for whom serious competition could be just around the corner. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Acer’s Iconia W3 is the second coming of Ultra Mobile PCs, only this time, there’s a touch-friendly user interface. The Windows 8 desktop is still the biggest challenge on a small slate; perhaps Microsoft should offer a “Metro”-only license? Read more »
Uh oh. Looks like Windows 8 is due for some changes, according to a Financial Times report featuring thoughts from a Microsoft executive. Read more »
Does Intel still stand a chance in the highly-competitive mobile chip market? Yes, if the company’s new Silvermont chip lives up to its promise of 3x the performance of today’s Atom or 5x the power efficiency. Read more »
Canonical Founder Mark Shuttleworth has really big, plans to put Ubuntu on your smartphone, on your tablet and (via OpenStack). What he doesn’t offer is details on revenue. Read more »
Tablet sellers had a really good first quarter. As a result, Apple’s overall share of tablet sales is slipping. Read more »
BlackBerry’s CEO is making waves again, this time by saying tablets won’t be necessary in five years and that they “aren’t a good business model.” Samsung, Apple and mobile computing trends beg to differ. Read more »
Google may be up-sizing its tablet line in a few weeks: A reported Samsung road-map shows a Nexus 11 tablet with two potential firsts. This could be a Nexus with memory expansion and also use an octa-core Samsung Exynos chip. Read more »
Google continues to make it easier for developers to improve the Android app experience on tablets. When submitting apps to Google Play, a new optimization tip tool alerts developers when they’re missing out on tablet support. Read more »
We’ve hear rumors of Google Chrome tablets in the past but they’ve never panned out. Google, in fact, denied working on one. The most recent Chrome OS build gives strong hints that point to the contrary, however. Read more »
The mobile market has been good to ARM Holdings, which designs the chips that power most smartphones and tablets. The company is growing revenues and nearing 1,000 licensees. Read more »
“Social customer service” refers to those services that provide customer support via social media channels. Providing such services is no longer merely a niche or specialty sideline. Challengers, or disruptors who were early with the new technology, are working to expand and integrate their offerings into enterprise systems and processes. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
A model that combines thumb movements with English-language tweets created a new keyboard layout to optimize thumb typing on tablets. Typing with KALQ was 34 percent faster than on QWERTY. A free Android app will be released in May. Read more »
Despite flat year-over-year WIndows revenue, Microsoft logged a 19 percent profit year over year. Not too shabby for the much maligned company. Read more »
Among Microsoft’s hardware partners few are publicly backing Windows RT after low sales and demand. Dell is standing out from the crowd here, likely in an attempt at relevancy in the mobile market. But it’s not a good bet on Dell’s part. Read more »
Being a sucker for small slates, I dropped $399 on the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 this weekend. How is it? Not bad, but not ground-breaking either. Here are my first impressions. Read more »
With data gathered from nearly a million of its users, Animoca’s information shows that five of the top six Android tablets are small slates. That’s good for Microsoft, if it is indeed planning a smaller Surface tablet. Read more »
Reports indicate Microsoft is planning a smaller Surface tablet for later this year. It won’t be the first though: Remember UMPCs? The idea was sound, but the interface and hardware weren’t; two things that Microsoft can easily fix now. Read more »
We can pretty much stop arguing about whether the PC industry is deathly ill or not: the numbers speak for themselves, with its worst quarter since tracking began in 1994. Read more »
Podcast directories are a dime a dozen, but Podcast Gallery is a new one that’s well worth a look. The web service integrates with Dropbox and Google Drive to save podcasts, plus you can use any browser to view or listen to episodes. Read more »
It’s about time Google’s Nexus 7 tablet gets a refresh and sources tell Reuters it will happen in July. Here’s what to expect in terms of pricing and hardware changes. Read more »
Now that we have 1080p smartphones, its likely that screen sizes will get even bigger because of the high pixel densities. Samsung may continue leading that charge with a 5.8- and 6.3-inch smartphone says SamMobile’s sources. Read more »
Kobo is now selling its e-readers directly through its website in the U.S. and Canada. Previously, customers had to go to third-party retailers to buy the devices. Read more at paidContent »
What can a book look like in the digital age and how will people pay for it? This is one of the themes we’ll be exploring at paidContent Live on April 17 in New York Read more at paidContent »
Expense management is crucial for companies who wish to install successful, safe BYOD programs. Here’s a look at the ways in which enterprises can monitor costs when it comes to their employees’ personal mobile devices. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The latest GigaOM Research podcast examines the value of BYOD in enterprises and how companies can address security, privacy, and the latest technologies. Read more »
Looking for a Windows 8 slate with mobile broadband? Samsung has added an LTE radio in its Ativ Smart PC Pro 700 tablet, but it will cost you quite a bit up front for the privilege. Read more »
Barnes & Noble is running a weeklong promotion: Customers who buy a Nook HD+ tablet (starting at $269) will get a Nook Simple Touch e-reader ($79) for free. Read more at paidContent »
That small slate market — which in Apple’s eyes, didn’t exist — will account for more sales than larger slates, says IDC. And due to lower prices, Android’s tablet market share will reach just past that of iOS this year. Read more »
Worldwide IT spending finished out 2012 with a growth rate of 3.8 percent over 2011, the lowest growth rate since 2009. Fourth-quarter 2012 earnings reports and guidance were notable in their lack of any decisively positive news to raise 2013 spending expectations much. Those optimistic about […] Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Mobile device users already know about TouchPal, the third-party keyboard that speeds input with swiping gestures and word prediction. The free app has now graduated to the big screen of Windows 8. Read more »
Nexus 7 owners paying attention to Google Play may have scored the official tablet dock for $30 … if they were quick. The dock is already sold out; another sign that Google needs to up its sales and inventory game. Read more »
Uptake for Android 4.0 or better continues to rise and there are finally more devices fitting this category than those that use the old Android 2.3 Gingerbread software. That’s good for users and for developers. Read more »
First Samsung decided not to even sell its Windows RT tablet in the U.S. Now it appears to be pulling the product out of Germany and unspecified other European regions. Here’s why. Read more »
When it comes to apps for mobile phones and tablets, Android owns one market while iOS owns the other. Yet few top-tier titles come to Android first. ABI research suggests that changes this year. Here’s why I don’t see that happening. Read more »
HP is back in the tablet game with an Android slate, but some of the specs are from 2010. Will the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 and Asus FonePad get to keep their voice functions in the U.S.? I’m not so sure. Read more »
A 101-year-old marathoner, who U.S. gets weather forecasts wrong, what does 212 have to do with rotary dial, India’s rice revolution, Armed Forces and their treatment of women, rise and fall of Alex Rodriguez and amazing chef Curtis Duffy. Read on … Read more »
Apple’s iPad mini may be the right device at the right time. According to Display Search, shipments of smaller tablet screens far outnumbered those for large slates early this year. Read more »
