Amazon will consign production of a 10-inch Kindle Fire tablet to Foxconn, according to an Asia-based report. If true, this would mean that Amazon has its sights on a slightly bigger tablet than previous reports have claimed.

Shipments of the 10-inch class Fire would begin in the second quarter, according to a report in DigiTimes.

Previous speculation had cited a 9-inch class Fire. Currently, Amazon sells a 7-inch device. The Internet retailer has sold 4 million to 5 million units during the last quarter, according to estimates by various market research firms.

Quanta and Inventec manufacture the 7-inch Kindle Fire … Read more

A couple of reports today claim to expose more pieces of the iPad 3's design puzzle.

The first is a purported photo of the next-generation iPad's circuit board. If legitimate, the chip inside the next iPad--let's call it the iPad 3--is dubbed the "A5X" not the A6 as has been rumored.

So, who cares what the chip is called you might ask? Well, barring a Photoshopped rendering of the board, this could lend credence to the speculation in some quarters that the iPad 3 won't be quad-core but a souped-up dual-core chip.

And that … Read more

Comparing Apple's iPad 2 with Motorola's XyBoard and Amazon's Kindle Fire is fraught with peril. But here goes anyway.

Let me preface my review by saying that a few overzealous readers (I'm being charitable with that description) almost invariably call the writer (me) an idiot for not being as savvy and/or perceptive as they claim to be. That's par for the course. But let's get a few things straight here.

First, this isn't an official review. Like the kind you would find at CNET Reviews. Second, I don't favor one manufacturer … Read more

The supply chain--that gaggle of component makers behind the products people actually buy--is talking about a smaller iPad again.

On Tuesday, a report in The Wall Street Journal claimed that suppliers have shown Apple samples of a device with an 8-inch class screen.

Suppliers of the sample 8-inch class panels include AU Optronics and LG Display, according to the Journal.

This follows a CNET report--citing supply-chain sources--back in October when suppliers were yapping about a 7.85-inch screen.

If Apple commits to commercial production of a smaller iPad--which is unknown at this point--it would be a big step in … Read more

With Windows 8 now on a clearer path to release, expect the big device makers to try to crash the raucous Apple party with Microsoft leading the way.

Whither Android? So far, the only Android tablet supplier to come close to busting up the nonstop iPad festivities is Amazon.

That's high irony. Amazon is hardly a hardware company. And certainly a far cry from the likes of Motorola, Dell, Sony, Toshiba, Samsung, and Asus. All of which have failed to come up with a blockbuster Android alternative to the iPad. (Samsung and Asus have had limited success, but nothing … Read more

One thing was made crystal clear today by Microsoft. Windows 8 on ARM will not be the same experience as Windows 8 on Intel-AMD--despite a big effort by Microsoft to be consistent.

Windows 8 ARM devices will run on processors from Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Nvidia--marking the first time that a mainstream Windows operating system will run on processors from ARM chip suppliers in addition to those of Intel-AMD.

Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky said today that Windows 8 on ARM (WOA) will launch at the same time as Windows on Intel-AMD (x86)--though he didn't say when--and that ARM-based … Read more

In the wake of a research note from Citigroup that seems to discount the possibility of a MacBook Air with iPad-like features, it's worth pondering what this could mean to Apple's future product lineup.

First, let's look at Friday's note from Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner, who met with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer on Thursday. Here's an excerpt.

"Tim Cook reiterated his view that rapid innovation on the iOS platform (and mobile OS platforms in general) will significantly broaden the use case for tablets, eventually pushing annual tablet volumes above those of … Read more

Amazon's Kindle Fire falls short of the iPad in a satisfaction survey but has some big upsides, said market researcher Changewave Research in a note released Thursday.

The Kindle Fire has become surprisingly popular because it's affordable yet versatile for its price. And the numbers bear this out.

Bob O'Donnell of IDC told CNET this week that he believes Amazon shipped just under five million units in the latest quarter. "That's huge. Remember they didn't ship until early November so that's essentially two months," O'Donnell said. (Amazon does not reveal exact … Read more

Qualcomm, along with Ericsson, has successfully completed a major hurdle that will enable Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE).

The technology, called Single Radio Voice Call Continuity, or SRVCC, enables continuity of service by seamlessly switching to a WCDMA network when a consumer on a VoLTE call leaves the LTE network's coverage area, Qualcomm said.

Qualcomm and Ericsson have completed the first voice call handover from an LTE mobile network to a WCDMA network using SRVCC.

A Snapdragon-powered Ericsson device, using Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 3G/LTE multimode processor, will be on demonstration at Qualcomm's Mobile World Congress booth, Qualcomm said. … Read more