The emerging tablet market is dominated by Apple to such a degree that some experts have worried about anti-trust legislation as iPad sales far outstrip competitors. Some have sued over patent infringement but the core of the matter is that the Apple iPad 2 is the most well-developed product on the market and also dominates with the number and range of apps available. This has certainly helped the corporate giant make tablets mainstream, yet competition is ultimately good for the consumer. Thankfully, Apple’s dominance may be starting to fade as numbers show that more people are picking up Android tablets. In the third quarter of 2011, 26.9% of tablets shipped ran Android’s OS. The new Kindle Fire is also aiming to capture some of this market.
Android devices have by no means overtaken Apple, yet it is good news to see that Google is putting up a fight. In the next few quarters we may see competitors such as RIM and Samsung begin to gain steam in this market. This will ultimately spur competition, lower prices and lead to better products. Tablets offer a lot of promise, but they are a fairly new concept and there is still a lot of work to be done.
If we look at the recent iPhone update we can see many examples of ideas pioneered by other companies that Apple have adopted and integrated into their iOS. Hopefully, a similar process will follow with iPads where competitors arise and force the creation of even better iPads, as well as host of alternatives for non-Apple lovers.
Posted by: Matt
The white BlackBerry Bold 9900 is coming soon to Vodafone UK, the only network it will be available to buy from.
The all new white version joins its black counterpart, a firm favourite amongst Vodafone customers since its launch, and will be available on Vodafone Data Test Drive.
Vodafone’s Data Test Drive enables pay monthly smartphone customers to use as much data as they like, for whatever they like, for three months so they can fully explore what their brand new smartphone has to offer. At the end of the three month period we’ll let them know exactly how much data they’ve used and whether the price plan they’ve chosen suits their needs.
If you need a reminder on what we thought of the Bold 9900 you can read our extensive review here.
Posted by: James
The BlackBerry Torch 9860 is RIM’s first touch only Smartphone with a capacitive screen. Sure, we have had the Storm and Storm 2 but they didn’t use the same screen technology and I’m not sure if RIM are too proud of those devices. Things have moved on now and the Torch 9860 is running BlackBerry 7 and like its brothers, the Torch 9810 and Bold 9900 it is powered by a 1.2Ghz processor.
These new features bring a new experience to a BlackBerry, but is there a market for a BlackBerry without the well known hardware keyboard and is the Torch 9860 a worthy competitor to all the touch screen Android devices and the iPhone?
You will have to read on for my verdict.
I’m not a golf lover in real life but what I am partial to is a golf game on mobile devices. Let’s Golf 2 recently arrived for the BlackBerry PlayBook and although I have used the game on iOS before I knew that downloading it for the PlayBook was a must.
If you want realism from a golf game then Let’s Golf isn’t the one you want. It is not designed to be real but more good fun. The characters are more cartoonish than real people but that said it is still a fantastic game and not as complicated as some golf games on other platforms.
You can see a demo of the game below:
Another simple yet addictive game for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Burn The City uses a similar concept to Angry Birds yet in a very different way.
You think you’d like to burn the city? Wanton destruction is easier than ever in Burn The City. Unleash the monster within in this fiery puzzle game that has you demolishing cities for points. Spit fireballs to raze buildings and send those puny humans packing. It’s not just about flinging fire, though-rack up combos for bonus points by exploiting the surrounding environment and maximizing power- …
For 99 pence this one is a real bargain. Dozens and dozens of fun yet challenging levels to be completed. The first time I played it I couldn’t put it down and made it through 28 levels first go.
You can see a brief demo video below:
For power-users, the new Asus Transformer Prime Android tablet could very well become the new "de facto standard" by which a host of Android tablets are compared to throughout the beginning of next year. The new power-house flagship tablet will be sporting the new NVIDIA Tegra 3 Quad-Core processor, and could possibly be the first tablet with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Even if it comes with Honeycomb, it is likely that it will get an update to ICS very shortly.
Also, it is likely coming very soon as it’s website landing page has just gone Live! There are no details on pricing or availability yet.
Here’s the Landing Page: Asus – Prime is Coming Landing Page
Posted by: Gareth
I do like a good car game and they don’t come much more fun than Reckless Racing. The game popped up in BlackBerry App World for the PlayBook earlier this week and I knew I just had to download it.
I have played the game before on iOS but I don’t think you can beat playing games on a 7 inch tablet. The PlayBook gives you a big screen but not too big that your thumbs cant get to the important parts of the screen.
Reckless Racing offers three styles of game in one. Hours of fun to be had here.
You can see a brief demo below:
Samsung has gone and gotten all official by release date for their Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, the successor to the 7-inch model launched around this time last year. The new device will see a dual-core CPU upgrade and Android Honeycomb. Pre-orders are set to being October 23rd, the 7.0 Plus will land on shelves November 13th with the 16GB model retailing for $399.99. Samsung is pushing TV connectivity with the slate, which comes pre-loaded with Peel and has an IR transmitter built in to remotely control your boob tube. See the full press release below.
Here’s the press release, note there is no mention of Ice Cream Sandwich however.
Google today debuted a new movie rental store in the Android Marketplace in addition to the ability to purchase books. UK Android users will have 1,000 films to begin with, starting around £2.49. The rental period lasts 30 days and the movie will be available on any connected device the user logs into. That means the user’s Android smartphone, tablet, and even the computer can be used to watch the movie. Sounds brilliant however, once the user starts watching a film, they get 48 hours to finish. If you don’t finish in the 48-hour window, you will have to pay again.
At present the selection of movies is varied. However, as a debut the selection is pretty good. It all seems to link back to your Youtube account.
This week sees the release of two great games for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. You can find the details below.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2012
The highly acclaimed Tiger Woods PGA TOUR franchise is back for the 2012 PGA TOUR, allowing you to experience many of golf’s most prestigious courses and to play with golf’s greatest PGA TOUR pros.
Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12 has some of the world’s most renowned golf courses including Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, TPC Sawgrass, Hazeltine, Doral, Greenbrier, TPC Boston as well as the fantasy PREDATOR course. The game also features a full PGA TOUR season and also allows users to casually hone their skills in the all new Tiger Challenge Mode, featuring over 20 mini games.
INC
INC is an original title from Orange Pixel, considered one of the finest independent developers in mobile gaming today.
The game features simple gameplay within a unique, cartoon style post-apocalyptic setting. It offers an addictive platform gaming experience- shoot anything and everything that gets in your way! Watch the game in action here below:
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