When announcing the new iPad this month, Apple claimed that its A5X processor delivers four times the graphics performance of Nvidia's Tegra 3, a quad-core chip used by some Android tablet makers. But as a couple of independent hardware tests show, Apple's claim is a bit misleading.
The timing couldn’t be worse: Amidst stories that Chinese officials are pulling Apple’s iPad from select stores over trademark infringement, Apple’s iPad unexpectedly vanished from Amazon China earlier this week.
Get ready to pinch yourself: The number of adults in the U.S. who own a tablet computer — of any persuasion, mind you — just about doubled from last year’s final holiday selloff period through the first few weeks of the New Year. That’s according to surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center over the past few months.
I don’t buy the notion that the Consumer Electronics Show is dead or dying, if only because the Samsungs, Sonys and LGs of the world need a place where they can peacock on a grand stage — and Las Vegas is ideal. But over my last three years of covering the show, I’ve realized these gadget makers can’t do much to make CES exciting. That responsibility falls to Apple, Google and Microsoft, regardless of whether or not they pay for a booth or deliver a keynote.
Asus is promising what seems like the impossible with the MeMo 370T, a 7-inch Android Ice Cream Sandwich tablet with a quad-core processor for $250. I got my hands on a prototype during CES 2012, and I’m happy to say it’s real, and it could be spectacular.
It’s a familiar refrain among parents of young children: Kids don’t want to play with toys anymore because they’d rather play games on an iPad or a smartphone. Now, some toy makers are trying to adapt by fusing phone and tablet apps with store-bought toys. One of these companies, WowWee Toys, recently showed me some of their prototypes as part of a toy line they’re calling “App Gear.”
Almost two years after it was announced, Apple’s iPad remains the very definition of a category-defining product. Every other tablet that’s arrived since — and there have been bajillions of ‘em — must start by trying to answer a basic question: “Why should somebody buy this instead of an iPad?”
If you missed out on the last round of $199 Blackberry Playbook tablets, here’s another chance.
OnLive aims to put no-compromises gaming at your fingertips on devices of all sorts. In June of 2010, the company released versions for Windows PCs and Macs. Later that year, it introduced a $99 “MicroConsole” the size of a slice of pound cake that put the service on HDTVs. And now it’s announcing apps for the iPhone, iPad, Android phones, and Android tablets.
Say hello to Nabi, a $200 tablet for kids with a monstrously large protective case and a bundle of child-friendly apps.
The chance to try Windows 8 in beta form may be just a couple months away. Citing “sources close to Microsoft,” The Next Web reports that Microsoft will launch a public beta of Windows 8 in late February.
