Author Archive: Gareth

Archos GamePad video debut

We have recently been treated to an exciting collection of videos for Archos’ new GamePad, a 7" tablet that favours gaming over all else. Running Ice Cream Sandwich and a fairly ingenious method of binding hardware keys to on screen functions Archos are taking steps into untested waters with this device that is likely to shift a good few units, especially at the proposed price of less than ?150! The idea of having hardware buttons rather than relying on Touchscreen will obviously be attractive to many.

It’s got a 1024×600 capacitive touch screen but more importantly for gaming, it’s got game controller buttons on each side of the screen. This device runs on the Rockchip RK3066 dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor with the quad-core Mali-400MP4 GPU.

Of course No. 1 Archos Fanboy Charbax got a bit of time with it. You can see the videos below:

A Google U-turn

This has to be the most shocking news of the day, (if not the week and month). Apparently Google’s subsidiary, Motorola Mobility has completely withdrawn their ITC patent complaint against Apple. In case you missed it previously, Motorola filed a complaint with the ITC attempting to ban sales of a multitude of Apple’s products from sale in the United States. Supposedly, these products infringe upon seven patents held by Motorola. The case was under investigation for these claims since August 17th.

For whatever reason, Motorola asked the ITC to "terminate all claims in this investigation without prejudice," and adding that "there are no agreements between Motorola and Apple, written or oral, express or implied, concerning the subject matter of this investigation."

Right now, there is nothing but speculation as to why this might have been the case. Currently, there are only two theories that we have heard as to why this might have happened. One is that Motorola themselves somehow determined the patents were not actually being infringed and decided to withdraw the case before things made them look bad. The other is a much happier outcome, and that is maybe, just maybe, Google and Apple finally worked out some sort of licensing agreement and can begin to end the ridiculous patent wars. Wouldn’t that be great?

Posted by: Gareth

Warning – HP in Attack mode!

It seems that HP is going to jump back into the tablet market big time. In fact, they are also planning to "aggressively attack" the smartphone market as well, and they plan to use the Android OS to do it. Here’s a quote with some of the details,

Quote:

HP will “aggressively attack” both the smartphone and tablet markets, according to Jefferies analyst Peter Misek recent note to investors.
“While the move makes sense strategically, we see it as a high risk move,” Misek explained. “On top of adding costs and working capital burdens to an already stressed balance sheet, there could be additional write-offs.”
HP’s last attempt to enter the mobile space was a short-lived one. Just around a month after it launched the webOS-based HP TouchPad, the company pulled the plug on webOS, cancelled its HP Pre 3 project, all under the strong influence of then CEO Leo Apotheker.
Newly appointed Meg Whitman seems to renew HP’s somewhat lost focus in consumer products and the mobile industry and we can only hope the company brings a great Android device, competition is always welcome.

This seems like a daring move by HP. We are looking forward to seeing what they can come up with. Would you consider moving to an HP phone or tablet?

Posted by: Gareth.