Author Archive: Gareth

Sony Xperia Tablet Z

Just in case you haven’t heard about it, Sony’s new Xperia Z products will not just encompass a smartphone. Apparently, there will also be an Xperia Z Android tablet, the specs for which have just been recently leaked. Here’s the skinny:

Xperia Tablet Z:

• 10.1 inch screen – 1080p resolution screen
• Quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor
• Waterproof and dust proof specifications
• LTE
• NFC
• Android 4.1
• 6,000 mAh battery
• 6.9 mm shell

The specs look pretty darn good. If they can offer it at a competitive price, we might just have a worthy tablet from Sony to fight in the Android arena.

Posted by: Gareth

Free game every day for some Sony phones

Sony have announced a free PlayStation Mobile game every week, The first one Being Samurai Beatdown.

Great for Vita owners or any of following: PlayStation Vita, Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet P, Xperia Tablet S, Sony Xperia PLAY, Sony Xperia S, Sony Xperia acro S, Sony Xperia T, Sony Xperia V, HTC One series smartphones.

Oh, Happy New Year!

Posted by: Gareth

Qualcomm Revamps Snapdragon Line

Qualcomm officially unveiled their new Snapdragon lineup. They are moving away from the "S" series naming convention. Their new chips will be called the Snapdragon 200, 400, 600 & 800. The 200 series will be their budget-friendly chips, and the 400 will be for the moderate crowd. The 600 and 800 are left for the high-end flagship devices. Of course, we are most excited by the upper echelon chips, so here’s a breakdown of specs for Qualcomm’s newest beastly tech:

Acer Iconia B1 Launched at CES

We teased the Iconia B1 last week, and had a strong suspicion it would be launched at CES this week. It turns out we were right, and some folks from Phandroid were able to video the tablet in action at the tech show. The tablet will only debut in Europe and Latin America, which is sad news for folks in the US. It will retail for $119 Euros (about $160 US Dollars). Here’s a spec breakdown:

• 7-inch screen
• 512MB internal memory
• MicroSD for expandable memory
• 1.2GHz processor
• Android Jellybean
• .3MP camera
• 3.5mm headset jack

This seems like a pretty competitive price point, and could do really well in the markets it is destined for. Check out the hands on over at Phandroid.

Posted by: Gareth

ASUS shows off Qube Google TV set-top box at CES

There will be quite a lot going on over at the ASUS booth during this year’s CES. That’s because the company will have a whole bunch of gadgets to show off, including its fresh lineup of Windows 8 tablets and Ultrabooks. However, while most of these are devices we’re already familiar with, one of them is a brand new arrival.

Remember that mysterious Google TV gizmo that appeared at the FCC in November? No? That’s okay, there was. We now officially have the ASUS Qube. What we have on our hands is a set-top box that allows you to enjoy content from the Google Play store, Netflix, and the Amazon Instant Video service right on your HDTV. Access to the web via the Chrome browser also comes standard, in addition to the built-in YouTube client. In addition, an advanced remote control with motion sensing is included in the set, but alternatively, users can control their ASUS Qube from an Android app designed for the purpose. Each Qube comes with 50GB of cloud storage, courtesy of ASUS.

Ubitus Announces Their Cloud Gaming Solution for Google TV

At CES yesterday, a Japanese company called Ubitus just announced that their cloud gaming solution will be joining forces with Google and coming to the Google TV. They plan to bring what they call their "industry leading cloud gaming solution" to the Google TV, and promise a "console and MMO gaming" experience for the device. Just a few of the games on their service are pretty big names, like Resident Evil 5, Lost Planet 2, and Super Street Fighter IV. They didn’t specify what international markets the service will be available for, but it is possible it will launch across all possible Google TV areas. We will keep you apprised when we find out more.

Vizio Outs A 7-Inch Tegra 3 Powered Android Tablet

It probably would have been a surprise if Vizio, the well-known budget-friendly HDTV manufacturer, had only announced a high-end 10-inch Android tablet at CES. After-all, they’ve done a remarkable job dominating that segment with TVs, so it wouldn’t make sense to completely abandon that strategy with their Android tablet products. It runs out they haven’t. Vizio also announced this morning they will be launching a new 7-inch Tegra 3 powered Android Tablet sometime early this year. Here’s what we know about the tab:

• Like a Nexus 7 but packaged the size of a Kindle e-reader
• Tegra 3 processor
• 7-Inch 1280 x 800 IPS display
• 16GB of storage
• 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera
• "Bone stock" Android Jelly Bean

It’s not clear how Vizio will be able to distinguish themselves with a tablet that seems very similar to the Nexus 7, but based upon their past history, it is likely to be priced very aggressively. We will keep you informed when more details emerge.

Posted by: Gareth

Alcatel Unveils One Touch Evo 7 HD Tablet and More

Alcatel just announced new 5-inch Android phablets yesterday, but they apparently are not done there. They also announced their new One Touch Evo 7 HD Android tablet, and a new Evo 7 tablet with optional 3G modem. Here’s a quote with the details,

Quote:

At $179 the Evo 7 HD has a 7-inch touchscreen with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels, a dual-core 1.6GHz processor backed by 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of internal storage. There is also a microSD card slot, a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera, VGA front-facing camera, and it runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). The competitively priced basic model also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, but intriguingly you can opt to pay out $249 for a model with a removable 3G module, or $349 for a 4G module.
The plain Evo 7 is the same size, but it only has a 1024×600 pixel resolution touchscreen, a single-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM, and it runs Android 4 (ICS). It also lacks the rear-facing camera of its big brother, but otherwise looks much the same. The optional module for it is 3G only.
In addition to being able to take the 3G module out you can try a range of colorful frames. We’re not entirely clear on why you would want to remove the cellular data module. In any case the Evo 7 HD is due to hit the U.S. in May, but we don’t know when the Europe-bound Evo 7 will be landing or what it will cost.

It’s interesting to see how many companies are trying to stake a claim for themselves in the Android tablet landscape. Only time will tell which ones rise to the top.

Posted by: Gareth