Author Archive: Gareth

Acer A110 might be a Nexus 7 killer

The guys over at Coolsmartphone.com picked up on a little story from Stuff about a tablet Acer have mentioned in the past. Acer’s A110 tablet has  a 7? screen, Tegra 3 CPU and Jelly Bean confirmed to be on the way. We had prices from the US however with 8GB this is merely priced at £179 at launch. The one big spec that propels the Acer is that the tablet will have a microSD slot. That’s one of the two major options covered that many will have been holding back on buying the Google Nexus 7 tablet for. The Nexus 7 lacks both expandable storage and a 3G modem option. However, this does have a problem in that there is no guarantee of future updates to the Android operating system.

It looks like the budget tablet market has really been shaken by the Amzazon Kindle Fire and, more recently, the Nexus 7 and its open ground for the manufactures to get creative in. The Nexus 7 has set the benchmark very high and it will be fun watching to see just what company will surpass it.

Posted by: Gareth

Apple to post online that Samsung did not copy them

Apple has been claiming that Samsung "slavishly copied" the looks of the iPad. However, it is proving tough to convince the courts. This is especially true for the U.K. Judge, Colin Birss. Bloomberg are reporting that this is the same judge that previously threw out Apple’s case against Samsung proclaiming that Samsung’s tablets were unlikely to be confused with Apple’s iPad because they weren’t "cool enough." He has taken things a step further in his final ruling and has ordered Apple to publicly state on their own website that Samsung did not copy them. Here’s a quote with some additional detail:

A U.K. judge ordered Apple Inc. (AAPL) to publish a notice on its website and in British newspapers alerting people to a ruling that Samsung Electronics Co. didn’t copy designs for the iPad.
The notice should outline the July 9 London court decision that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets don’t infringe Apple’s registered designs, Judge Colin Birss said. It should be posted on Apple’s U.K. website for six months and published in several newspapers and magazines to correct the damaging impression the South Korea-based company was copying Apple’s product, Birss said.
The order means Apple will have to publish "an advertisement" for Samsung, and is prejudicial to the company, Richard Hacon, a lawyer representing Cupertino, California-based Apple, told the court. "No company likes to refer to a rival on its website."

Apple may have to stand in the corner for the rest of lunch break and possibly have to send a letter of apology to Mr. Samsung for being such a big silly.

Posted by: Gareth

Huawei drop off a monster tablet

As we discussed in the podcast, there are a number of companies that have gone head to head with Apple to try and rustle up a little piece of the 10.1″ action. Asus, Samsung, Acer and more have had their go with varying degrees of success however Apple’s iPad managed to hold it’s ground maybe only accruing the odd bruise. The only way that any of the tablet manufacturers have been able gain any success is by targeting the market Apple did not already occupy, smaller, cheaper and less powerful devices. Google’s new Nexus 7 seems to be positioning itself to put the squeeze on the iPad, but again, it isn’t really in the same class.

Maybe one of our favourite underdog’s could come along and steal the thunder from the bloated fruit. Huawei is that new combatant. They are set to launch their new MediaPad 10 FHD in late August for only $475 dollars, and it has some surprisingly beastly specs:

Fingers crossed for the HTC Vertex

HTC’s first foray into the Android tablet market didn’t set the world on fire. The HTC Flyer and the Jetstream, which was not released here in the UK, were hugely overpriced for their specs. Because of this, HTC stayed out of the tablet market for a while. However, now it seems that they are planning to attempt a return. A new device has appeared in Nenamark2 and Antutu benchmarks, called the HTC Vertex. Here’s the known specs at this time,

• 10.1" display with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels
• Quad-core Tegra 3 processor
• 2MP rear / 1.3MP FF cameras
• Bluetooth
• Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich (although this might change if the device is released late enough)

Ultimately, the success of this device will be in how aggressively it is priced. There are a ridiculous amount of Android tablets saturating the market right now, with the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire at the top of the heap. HTC has a large hill to climb to be competitive. In fact, since this was a leak, it’s entirely possible that this is a scrapped project considering their current financial situation.

Posted by: Gareth