Author Archive: Gareth

Advent Vega gets honeycomb 3.2

Though the Advent Vega ships with a version of Android better suited for mid-range handsets than a decent tablet, for its price you really can’t complain. After Honeycomb was first ported to the budget dual-core tablet back in the Spring, the latest release of the OS has been shoehorned onto the slate, complete with native GPU acceleration. There are still some bugs in this unofficial Android 3.2 build, as should be expected, but weighing your options that seems better than nothing. You can check out the ROM and instructions at the the Tablet Roms site. There is a video demo after the break.

Eee Pad Slider detailed

It appears from reports that ASUS may be gearing up to release the Eee Pad Slider in September. Also, the full specs have been revealed:

• Android 3.1 installed, with a promised 3.2 upgrade later
• QWERTY-Sliding Keyboard
• 1280 x 800 WXGA display
• Dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
• 1GB of memory
• 5 megapixel rear-facing camera
• 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera
• USB 2.0, mini-HDMI, microSD card reader
• WiFi and Bluetooth

It will come in 16GB and 32GB "flavours" and will probably go for $400 and $550 models respectively. Asus is also throwing in one year of "unlimited ASUS Web Storage."

Posted by: Gareth

Android 4.0 coming in October?

With the iPhone 5 strongly rumoured to drop in either September or October, it seems as though Google has loaded up their cannons to return fire at Apple with their highly anticipated Android 4.0 update, dubbed “Ice Cream Sandwich.” First announced at Google I/O 2011, there is still a great deal of mystery surrounding the next version of Android, but thanks to reports from multiple sources, we have learned that it should be showing up on devices in October. We say devices, rather than phones, because Ice Cream Sandwich will not be a phone-exclusive platform; we’ll be seeing Ice Cream Sandwich on phones, tablets, computers. who knows where else.

Redmond Pie reported on a source who, according to them, has knowledge of Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich plans. The source states that the first device, which may be either a smart phone or a tablet, will be released in October (earlier than planned) to compete with Apple’s next-generation iPhone which is strongly expected to release either in September or October.

Here are some of the features we DO know about Ice Cream Sandwich:

USB Hosting
It is understood that Android 4.0 will bring about USB Hosting which will allow you to use practically any device with the tablet ranging from an Xbox controller for games to a keyboard/mouse for surfing and other things. You will also have the ability to integrate a USB device to work specifically with an app. So a heart monitor used with a fitness app, for example.

Tracks Your Face
Android 4.0 wil have the ability to track your face so instead of you trying to move around to get into the camera, the camera will auto-focus on to you instead. It will also be handy in video conferencing because the camera will move to you when you begin speaking and then move to whoever speaks so you don’t waste time trying to move your phone or tablet every time the you want to focus it on someone in particular.

Posted by: Gareth

Galaxy Tab 8.9 on sale very soon

The wait seems to be coming to an end. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9, the smaller brother of the Galaxy Tab 10.1, was up for pre-order via the Amazon UK site listed at a price of £605.34. The listing shows that the tablet packs a 3G modem inside and has an in-stock date of August 12. This was last week however the pre-order option has since been removed.

With 8.9 inches, Samsung is clearly aiming for not just the right size, but the features to go with. This is something the company failed to do with the original Galaxy Tab.  The device is 8.6 mm thin, 465 grams in weight, and has a 6,000 mAh battery that supports up to 10 hours of video playback, and a platform built specifically for tablets.

Posted by Gareth

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hitting retailers

Vodafone have it up for pre-order, with no prices listed, however Dixons have it ready for purchase including a list of prices for all the alternate models. Starting at £399 and rising, gradually to £659. The device has a number of different variants, wifi, 3G, Black, White, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

Prices aren’t terribly surprising and are priced at exactly that of the iPad 2. I guess this is a sensible move, however, given that most people pay a premium for Apple products it will be interesting to see if Samsung can capture a decent percentage of the market. I guess they can drop the prices and rally up a bit more custom in the months running up to Christmas.

Posted by Gareth