tabs

For some tablets, iPad Mini is a big threat in a little package

Apple's introduction of the iPad Mini this week generated two lines of thinking about competition in the tablet space.

The first, articulated by some analysts, holds that lower-cost tablets have nothing to worry about. Reuters collected their comments in an article giving shape to their general lack of concern. The reason? The entry-level Mini's $329 price, enough to give it distance from cheaper tablets on the market. A note from Nomura Equity Research indicated that "demand for Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire is unlikely to be much affected by the launch of the … Read more

Google's Nexus 7 is inching its way into Web-traffic stats

In the first three months since it was introduced, Google's Nexus 7 tablet has begun making a dent in web traffic, according to new data.

Compared to the iPad, which accounted for 91 percent of all tablet traffic in the latest Chitika tablet market share report, the Nexus 7 is just a blip. But Google has to start somewhere, and so it may be heartened to see that the tablet's share of traffic jumped 135 percent from July.

Of course, it was basically starting from zero, and still represents only 0.33 percent of Web traffic. The heaviest … Read more

iPad Mini Wi-Fi version lacks GPS found in similar tablets

The iPad Mini Wi-Fi version is missing one key feature found in many other 7-inch tablets -- GPS.

Looking at the Location specs for the iPad Mini on Apple's Web site, the cellular edition shows built-in GPS. But the Wi-Fi version doesn't include that feature.

At yesterday's iPad launch event, Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller seemed to enjoy comparing the iPad Mini with Google's Nexus 7 tablet. Schiller proclaimed the iPad Mini the winner due in large part to its bigger 7.9-inch screen size.

But the Nexus 7 comes with GPS. I've used the … Read more

U.K. judge shoots down Apple's Galaxy Tab appeal

Apple has lost an appeal against Samsung in an ongoing U.K. case over design patents relating to the iPad.

A U.K. High Court appeals judge ruled in favor of Samsung at a hearing this morning, finding that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 had not infringed Apple's design patents relating to the iPad.

The original case in July heard Judge Colin Birss overseeing the case saying the Samsung tablets were not "cool" as the iPads, because the software did not feature the "extreme simplicity" that the rival Apple product has.&… Read more

Acer intros 7-inch 'mini' Iconia A110 Tablet

Fans of the iPad can keep guessing about the iPad Mini, but if you want a more concrete option to set your mind on now, Acer's offering its own mini tablet, with specs similar to Google's Nexus 7.

The company today announced the Iconia Tab A110, a lightweight pocket-size tablet with a 1,024x600-pixel-resolution 7-inch multitouch screen. This is in a way the mini version of the recently reviewed 10.1-ich Iconia Tab A700, sharing the same Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor and 1GB of system memory. The new tablet, however, will run the latest version of the Android operating system, version 4.1 aka Jelly Bean.… Read more

Microsoft Surface and its rivals: The first wave of Windows RT tablets

Windows RT. I'd say it's divisive, but I don't think there's enough support in its corner to elicit much in the way of disagreement. In other words, most people either don't like it or don't understand its purpose. Or both.

If you've no idea what Windows RT is, here's a quick breakdown. It's essentially the "lite" version of Windows 8. It runs on ARM processors (cheaper and more energy-efficient than its Intel counterparts) and is optimized for Microsoft's Windows 8 touch interface. It's also incompatible with traditional Windows programs.

Sure, we've gotten insight into the reasons it was developed, but I still have problems with some aspects of its execution. Namely the Desktop interface.

Also, so far, only three of the five officially announced Windows RT tablets have actually been released, and one of the five, the Samsung Ativ Tab, won't be showing its pretty face to the U.S. market at all. The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 is the only officially announced yet unreleased Windows RT tablet.

Both Nokia and HTC Windows RT tablets have been rumored for a while, but there's still nothing official yet.

Will we see further Windows RT tablets or will the OS suffer a quick death? By "quick" I mean less than a year and by "death" I mean no other Windows RT tablets are announced in the next few months.

It's still too early to tell, so in the meantime if you're interested in a lower-priced Windows tablet, the following four are currently your only choices.

Sprint to sell LG Optimus G, LG Mach, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1

Sprint Nextel expanded its lineup of 4G LTE devices, nabbing the LG Optimus G quad-core smartphone, the LG Mach QWERTY slider, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 tablet, and a 4G USB stick.

Apart from the previously announced LG Optimus G, Sprint announced the new devices at the MobileCon wireless trade show today. No pricing or availability information was available.

The brand-new LG Mach features a full QWERTY keyboard and is expected to be a more affordable device. The smartphone runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, has a 5-megapixel rear camera and VGA front-facing camera, and is … Read more

Acer brings Android 4.1 to four Iconia Tab models

Acer confirmed that an Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update is in the cards for at least four of its Iconia Tab models.

The software update is coming to the Acer Iconia Tab A110, Tab A210, and Tab A510 models, a company spokesperson recently said.

Each tablet will reportedly get the tasty OS treasure later this quarter. The Iconia Tab A700, on the other hand, began seeing its own Jelly Bean rollout last week.

It's not all good news for Acer owners, though. The company rep says that the Tab A100, Tab A200, and Tab A500 will not see … Read more

Add tabs to Windows Explorer with QTTabBar

A little Internet Explorer shell named Netcaptor introduced tabbed browsing, and major players like Opera and Mozilla Firefox (and then Google Chrome) made the feature a default tool for surfing the Web. Even though Microsoft eventually added tabbed browsing to its own browser with Internet Explorer 7, the idea of tabs never really translated to Windows Explorer ... until QTTabBar.

QTTabBar is an extension that brings tab functionality to the Windows Explorer file browser. Began as a project by a Japanese developer known as Quizo, QTTabBar (which also goes by QT TabBar) added tabs to Window Explorer during the many years … Read more

U.S. judge given go-ahead to decide on Samsung tablet ban

In a new ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit says a lower court judge should make a determination on whether to dissolve a U.S. sales ban affecting Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Samsung's once-flagship device was given a preliminary sales ban in June, with stipulation that it could be reversed if Samsung was cleared of infringing Apple's D'889 tablet design patent. That's just what happened in the jury verdict that was delivered last month, leading Samsung to appeal the decision.

"When the jury found that the Galaxy … Read more