Tag Archives | Tablets

WebOS: Coming Eventually to a Non-HP Device Near You?

Posted by Harry McCracken on June 1, 2011 at 12:06 pm

Here at Qualcomm’s Uplinq conference, reporter Kevin Maney is interviewing Jon Rubinstein, former head of Palm and now the guy in charge of HP’s WebOS business. Rubinstein did all the things you’d expect he’d do–he brandished two WebOs phones (the new Veer and upcoming Pre3), showed off a TouchPad tablet, and ran a demo video. Fine. But when Maney asked him whether HP would be willing to license WebOS to other companies, he said that the company had no interest in getting into the licensing game. And then he hedged a bit: he said that it might be interested in working with “one or two special companies.”

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The WWDC Keynote is a Go–and It’s About Software

Posted by Harry McCracken on May 31, 2011 at 11:04 am

We pretty much knew this already, but now it’s official: Apple’s WWDC event next week will begin with a keynote on Monday. The big news at the keynote will be OS X 10.7 Lion. And the next version of iOS. “And iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering.” Steve Jobs will host the keynote. (Okay, that part we didn’t know.)

Last week, one site said that it had learned that Apple’s UK PR team was urging journalists over there to make the trek to San Francisco for the event. That site came to the “obvious conclusion” that Apple must have been planning to announce the next iPhone at the keynote. I never understood what was so obvious about that conclusion. New hardware is neat, but the biggest opportunity for any phone or tablet platform to make great leaps forward lies in in its software and services. So WWDC has the opportunity to be a huge deal even if not a single new device is announced.

I’ll have more thoughts between now and Monday morning, but in the meantime: What features would you like to see in Lion, the next iOS, and/or iCloud?

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Analysts: Microsoft Not Tardy for the Tablet Party

Posted by Ed Oswald on May 27, 2011 at 1:08 pm

Steve Ballmer at CES 2010 with "Slate PCs"

Microsoft may still have time to make its mark in the tablet market, some analysts are saying. Although Apple still has the lion’s share of the business at the moment, it’s still so new that there’s plenty of room for growth.

Citigroup research analysts said in a recent note that it expected the next version of Windows to ship between January of next year and March 2013. It noted that Microsoft could ship the tablet version first, enabling it to garner significant share in 2013 and beyond.

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7-Inch Honeycomb Tablets May Be Bad News

Posted by Jared Newman on May 25, 2011 at 4:19 pm

When Google announced Android Ice Cream at the Google I/O developer conference earlier this month, it was a bittersweet moment for folks who want the perfect 7-inch tablet. Ice Cream Sandwich will finally optimize Android for a wide range of screen sizes, but the announcement implicitly condemned any 7-inch Android device that dared implement Honeycomb, the current version of Android.

So I’m not entirely surprised to hear a rumor from DigiTimes that Acer is pushing back its 7-inch Acer Iconia Tab A100 until August or September. Sources tell DigiTimes that many Android applications are incompatible with the 7-inch display in Honeycomb, and Acer is unwilling to revert to older versions of Android, which aren’t optimized for tablets.

Google is reportedly busy “resolving other issues,” the sources said. I’m reminded of when Samsung was working on the Galaxy Tab with Android 2.2, and Google’s director of mobile products, Hugo Barra, warned against the idea of putting a smartphone OS on a tablet.

It’s unclear whether Acer is tweaking Honeycomb on its own or simply waiting for Ice Cream now. At least one tablet maker, ViewSonic, is reportedly pushing ahead with its own 7-inch Honeycomb tablet, the ViewPad 7x. ViewSonic will show off its tablet later this month, according to Pocket-Lint, so we may see whether the smaller screen can handle Honeycomb at all.

But if DigiTimes’ report is accurate, it reaffirms the idea that if you want a 7-inch Android tablet, Ice Cream Sandwich is worth waiting for. Unfortunately, Google hasn’t said when this version of Android will launch, so the 7-inch tablet of my dreams remains unrealized.

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Landscape Tablet Users: You’re Holding it Wrong?

Posted by Jared Newman on May 23, 2011 at 4:15 pm

Tim Bray, Google’s Android developer advocate, has stirred the pot by unequivocally declaring that portrait orientation makes for a better tablet experience than landscape orientation.

He notes that outside of tablets, tall and narrow is the natural way to convey information. Books arrange themselves into dual walls of text, newspapers are arranged in columns and windows on the computer screen tend to be tall and thin, or at least sliced into vertical panes. “So hold your damn tablet the right way up. That’s the way the information wants to be, anyhow,” Bray writes.

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The State of Android Honeycomb Updates: Better, But Not Stellar

Posted by Jared Newman on May 17, 2011 at 1:58 pm

Joanna Stern at This is My Next has been getting the scoop on Android 3.1 updates for several Honeycomb tablets. The situation’s a lot better than it is on Android phones, whose updates are often set back by phone makers and carriers, but it’s not quite ideal.

Here’s the rundown on updates for existing Android Honeycomb tablets, from Stern’s report and elsewhere:

  • The Verizon version of Motorola’s Xoom got the 3.1 update last week, after Google announced it at Google I/O. The Wi-Fi version, however, will be updated over the “next several weeks.”
  • Asus and Acer both expect updates in early June for the Iconia Tab A500 and Eee Pad Transformer, respectively.
  • LG and T-Mobile won’t give a time frame other than “coming soon” for the G-Slate.
  • Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition, which was handed out to attendees at Google I/O, will get Android 3.1 in “in the coming weeks.”

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At Last, Slacker Gets On-Demand Music (and a Neat iPad App)

Posted by Harry McCracken on May 17, 2011 at 2:13 am

Way back in March of 2010, nifty Internet radio service Slacker began demoing features for on-demand listening, putting it more squarely in competition with Rhapsody, Napster, and other all-you-can-eat subscription services. Today, it’s finally launching the service. It’s available in its browser-based version and iPhone/iPod Touch, Android, and BlackBerry versions–and also in a new iPad version.

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Hands-On With Google Music Beta

Posted by Ginny Mies on May 11, 2011 at 10:43 pm

While many of us Google I/O attendees were unsurprised by yesterday’s announcement that Google was launching its own cloud-based music service, we were excited to learn that every one of us would be getting a priority invite to the service. As a big music nerd, I was excited to give it a test spin. Can Google do music? Read on to find out.

What It’s All About

Music Beta lets you upload your personal music collection to the cloud for streaming to your computer and other Android devices. Sound kind of familiar? You might recall that Amazon also rolled out a music player this year, Cloud Player. But unlike Amazon’s service, Google’s Music Beta does not sell music. So what’s the appeal? It’s simple and if you do everything through your Google account anyway, you might as well add music management to the mix. Furthermore, Android has always had a miserable music organization system so Music Beta is definitely a welcome addition to the platform.

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