Friday at Computex, Intel displayed a prototype tablet made by Compal that had Intel Inside. The Intel 1.5GHz Atom Z670 Oak Trail processor with 1GB of RAM, was combined with a GPU based on the PowerVR SGX535. While it all sounds potent, the tablet’s score on several benchmark tests was disappointing.

The guys at Tweakers.net put the tablet prototype through several benchmark tests such as CaffeineMark, Linpack, and Quadrant. In those tests, the tablet with Intel Inside finished behind other Android flavored tablets like the  Acer A500 Iconia Tab, and the Samsung Galaxy 10.1. For example, on the Linpack test,Tegra 2 packing tablets scored about 36 MFLOPS compared to the 9.4 MFLOPS tally produced by the Intel powered prototype. On the other hand, the results of the SunSpider benchmark had the Intel powered prototype tablet in first place, ahead of the Asus Eee Transformer Pad, showing that at least, the Intel chips can process JavaScript quickly.

Overall, the test scores were not great news for a company trying to break into a market that already has two proven brands with Nvidia’s Tegra 2 and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. And there is also TI’s OMAP4 series to contend with. Intel has to make up a lot of ground for the Oak Trail to be a player in this market.

source: Tweakers.net (Translated) via AndroidandMe

Last month  we got word that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE would be coming to Verizon Wireless. Today we are one step closer as Verizon officially announced the device. Through the release is still said to be a couple weeks away, pre-orders start on June 8th for $529.99 for the 16GB model and $629.99 for the 32GB model. Both will be avaliable in a Metallica Gray and Glossy White color.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G LTE will run on Android 3 Honeycomb and will feature a 10.1″ HD display with 1280×800 pixel resolution, 1GHz dual-core processor, 3MP rear camera and a 2MP front camera for video chat, full Flash 10.2 support, and will come in at only 8.6mm thick. Optional accessories include a full-sized keyboard dock and a multi-media docking station.

You can register your email at the Verizon Galaxy tab site to receive notice when it is avaliable.

source: Verizon Wireless

Differentiation is what tablets have been sorely missing and that’s the main reason for our excitement over the Asus Padfone, but as innovative as it is we asked ourselves one question: Does it make sense? Do we really need a strange bundle of a smartphone and a tablet? And do we need even more confusion with the tablet in the combo not being a real tablet, but rather just a plain chassis holding a screen, stereo speakers and a battery with no processor brains of its own? Our short answer to all those questions is probably yes.

But we have to mention that the Padfone we saw announced at Computex was far from a final unit. Still an early mockup, the Padfone is set to arrive in its full twin glory at the end of the year. So our comments are more on the idea than on the real product. It’s not groundbreakingly novel – Motorola was the first to bring the chassis in a notebook form with its Laptop Dock for the Motorola Atrix 4G, but price was the major stumbling point there. Will Asus, however, be able to materialize its concept?…

Read the whole article at PhoneArena.com!

Pre-orders for the HTC EVO View 4G, or Sprint’s version of the HTC Flyer, have been available for some time now, but so far, no hints have been given out regarding the tablet’s release date. Luckily, the Internet is full of rumors about pretty much everything, and the EVO View 4G is no exception.

Thanks to a screenshot coming straight from Sprint’s internal Rewards Me web page, we now have a reason to believe that the HTC EVO View 4G may get released on June 24. Adding further credibility to the speculation is the alleged HTC EVO 3D release date, which also happens to be June 24. Could Sprint be planning on launching both EVO-branded devices on the same day? Oh well, we will probably find out for sure in three weeks time.

source: Engadget

It seems like we have been waiting forever for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to launch, but the days of anticipation are finally coming to an end. The Wi-Fi-only variant of the world’s slimmest tablet is officially landing on US soil on June 8 with prices set at $499 for its 16 GB version and $599 for the 32GB model.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1’s release date coincides with a number of earlier rumors that have been teasing us for quite some time. The sad part, however, is that availability will be limited, and that the tablet will be only sold at the Best Buy Union Square Store in New York City. This means that everybody who wants to get their hands on Samsung’s 10-inch tablet yet does not live nearby will have to wait a little longer, or until June 17 to be precise, when the device will be available nationwide both online and in stores.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a waistline of only 8.6 millimeters, which makes it thinner than any other tablet currently on the market. It features a touchscreen panel with 1280×800 resolution, a 3-megapixel camera on its back, and a 2-megapixel front-facing shooter. Under the hood you will find Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chipset clocked at 1GHz, and the whole show is ran by Google’s Android 3.1 Honeycomb.

source: Samsung

iPad rivals are cutting down on build plans, says a research note from J.P. Morgan’s analyst Mark Moskowitz. Manufacturers’ production plans for Android and other tablets in the January-March period, have been cut with 10% on average.

While the number might not seem significant, the sheer fact that manufacturers xpect the tablet market to shrink beyond their sales predictions is pretty telling. To put things in perspective, however, we must note that Apple also sold quite a bit less iPads than analysts expected in its latest quarter, but supply issues due to the Japanese earthquake were deemed the culprit. So was the case with the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, though.

The analyst provides the following table with production plans details, from which it becomes clear that only Apple, HTC and Lenovo haven’t reduced their sales estimates from January to March. Of course, most tablets were hardly available at that time, so a snapshot of the same plans taken in the end of June would be more appropriate.

Nevertheless, Mr Moskowitz claims that tablet manufacturers are having an “early dose of reality”, slashing production plans, but at the same time he expects tablets to hijack a significant amount of market from desktop and notebook computers in 2011, enough for a spillover effect, and real shift in the industry.

So the guy is hedging his bets, but it’s actually too early to tell how the tablet market will develop. Seeing how Asus can’t make enough of the Eee Pad Transformer, BlackBerry PlayBook is selling better than expected, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not even available yet, not to mention the iPad 2, it’s pretty obvious that the tablet game of chess is with a yet-unknown outcome.

source: AppleInsider

Someone working at Motorola might be seeking employment elsewhere after a re-design of the manufacturer’s web site led to the accidental leaking of four previously unannounced devices. The four include the Motorola Zaha, the Tracy XL, the Streamline and the XOOM 2 tablet. All but the latter are probably code names, so don’t start complaining that the manufacturer is sticking lame titles on its products

Although no specs were revealed, a look at the pictures show us that the Motorola Zaha and Streamline are two very thin devices, possibly close to matching the measurements of the Samsung Galaxy S II. The Zaha resembles the Motorola Citrus or Bravo while the Streamline has the squarish shoulders seen on the DROID series.

The Tracy XL is a watch in the style of comic strip detective Dick Tracy’s once seemingly impossible two way wrist radio. There is no word on whether the watch will give the user a full Android experience on the wrist, or if it is just a notifications accessory like the Sony Ericsson LiveView. The Motorola XOOM 2 is the follow-up to Motorola’s first Android tablet, and keeping with the manufacturer’s new apparent focus on making thinner and lighter products, the tablet will follow suit.

Just in case these pictures were not meant to be seen by human eyes at this point in time, we suggest you study the images very well and commit them to memory. In fact, you won’t find the pictures anymore at the source link as Motorola Mobility requested that the site remove them. So far, we have not received that request so you will find the photos below.

source: Pocketnow

Slimline

Motorola Tracy XL

Zaha

While obviously far from fully-baked, some tablets with Android 3.0 Honeycomb have been lined up at Computex 2011, powered by Intel’s Oak Trail chipset, just as promised. The current generation of the Atom family is running Android with some hiccups, it seems, but let’s not forget this is a trade show, and the products showcased are far from final.

Intel boasted about more than 30 tablet designs with Atom inside, but for the ones not running Windows we don’t really see the advantage before ARM-based tablets, like the iPad 2, or the Android ones, other than to prove the concept.

What’s more interesting, though, are Intel’s plans for its upcoming silicon. The chip giant is going down to a 22nm production process, and we should see the fruits of this insanely efficient effort as soon as Q1 of next year. Of course, ARM will not sit still in the meantime, and has some die shrinkage plans of its own, and one of its licensees, Qualcomm, announced yesterday that it is on track to ship a 28nm Snapdragon by year-end.

Intel’s Medfield chipset, which is being developed specifically for smartphones, is also supposed to appear by the end of the year, so we should have some intriguing ARM-wrestling come the next generation of mobile silicon. Intel is not stopping either, though, it plans to speed up its production process die shrinkage from one every two years to one annually, and the 22nm will be the first out of the gate next year, followed by 14nm chipsets.

Intel also hinted that it is revamping entirely its philosophy towards mobile computing, and some of these future chipsets will be oriented towards placement in a very thin, very light category of devices, for which it trademarked the name Ultrabook. Intel also expects merging of netbooks with tablets. They will have touchscreens, but might have sliding keyboards as well, or swivel displays, and should get instantly on and always connected, with very good battery life. Intel said that we will be seeing very innovative converging form factors from now on – with the Samsung Sliding PC 7 Series, or the Asus PadFone concept, we couldn’t agree more.

The world’s largest chip manufacturer also clarified that it is not exactly been a loser in the tablet/smartphone push, as all these new devices have spearheaded demand for data centers to support them. Those data centers are mostly powered by Intel machines, it said, and that’s where the high margins are.

source: Digitimes & Engadget

Intel-powered tablets running Android

Samsung has been hard at work on releasing Android-powered tablets its Galaxy Tab line, but while its slates haven’t enjoyed the widespread popularity of Apple’s iPad, the company reaffirmed its commitment to Google’s Android platform for tablets:

“We’ll continue to work with Android on future tablets,” Samsung’s man in charge J.K. Shin commented for The Wall Street Journal.

Samsung released its first tablet, the 7-inch Galaxy Tab late last year, but the yet unoptimized for tablets platform at the time made it look slightly unfinished. Since then, however, Google has been hard at work polishing its Android Honeycomb platform for tablets and Samsung has reworked the design of its upcoming Galaxy Tabs to match the thin profile of the iPad 2, which was released meanwhile.

“Android is the fastest-growing platform and the market direction is headed toward Android so we’re riding the wave,” senior VP of sales and marketing, Younghee Lee, said.

Initially at launch, Honeycomb left a raw aftertaste, but recent additions have fixed some of the issues with the platform. Nevertheless, app selection for tablets remains poor in comparison to the plethora of apps on the App Store. While Samsung remains loyal to Google’s platform at the moment, it’s by large the company’s only option as there are virtually no alternatives. MeeGo seems to be taking its baby steps with Intel, while Microsoft’s Windows 8 is expected to be made available for tablets only next year.

source: AFP

When it comes to tablets, Apple has pretty much set the hard to reach golden standard of $500 for the basic model of its iPad, but while some companies have found it hard to match, others – like MSI – have cut some corners. Ladies and gents, welcome the 7-inch MSI WindPad Enjoy 7 and the 10-inch Enjoy 10, the sub-$300 tablets by MSI running Android Gingerbread.

Sure, they don’t have stellar specs, but have rather packed just enough horsepower to run Android smoothly. The Enjoy 10 comes with a single core Cortex A8 processor clocked at 1.2GHz accompanied by 512MB of DDR3 RAM, all powering Gingerbread on the 10-inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 768. Not impressive, you might think, but still good enough to bring 1080p full HD videos to your screen and even more so given the $299 price tag of the slate.

On the downside, however, 4GB of built-in memory seem a bit insufficient, but you can easily expand storage as the tablet supports microSD cards with capacity of up to 32 gigs. The tablet comes with two 2-megapixel cameras, one of which capable of recording HD video footage. In terms of connectivity you’re treated with pretty much everything you need: Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, Wi-Fi b/g/n, mini-HDMI and a mini-USB port.

Image courtesy of Engadget

The MSI WindPad Enjoy 7 is the smaller sibling, but it packs an equally capable 1.2GHz Cortex A8 chip powering the seven inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. Except for the difference in screen size, the Enjoy 7 is virtually identical in terms of specs. Both devices aren’t the lightest you’ll see – the 10 incher weighs a hefty 28 ounces (795g), while the seven inch Enjoy 7 tips the scales at 13.93 ounces (395g).

When it comes to battery life, the 4700mAh battery on the smaller tablet and 3500mAh on the bigger one should last you 4-5 hours of watching videos, which is not too bad. Already excited? The MSI WindPads were yet in their pre-production variety at Computex, so you’ll have to hold until late July to get them, but with the tempting prices this might seem like a short wait.

source: MSI via Engadget