Wacom launches new Bamboo edition tablets

Wacom India Pvt. Ltd. has announced the launch of a new line-up of its Bamboo tablets. The new multi-touch and pen tablets are targeted at those wanting to create personalised digital content like drawings and other forms of art. The new devices will have wireless capability and are aimed at people wanting to store their ideas, thoughts or paintings in a graphic form. 

A hand at drawing, anyone?

The range of tablets includes the Bamboo Fun (medium), the Bamboo Pen & Touch (small) and the Bamboo Pen (small). The pen’s design has been improved from the earlier versions as well. However, it still maintains the 1024 pressure levels that enable users to make accurate cursor movements and handwritten notes. 

Bamboo Paper is available as a free app in Bamboo Dock (which sits on a computer’s desktop). This library of apps also includes games and tools for creating and sharing. A comparison between the three different versions is given below. 

A comparison chart

The Bamboo range is available for purchase from the 13th of October, 2011. The Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch is available for Rs. 13,500, while the Bamboo Pen and Touch is for Rs. 7500 and the Bamboo Pen is for Rs. 5,500. More details about Wacom's new products can be found here.

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Where's the Fire Amazon?

The latest to grace us with its presence is the highly anticipated Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon. What I can’t seem to fathom is why exactly any new tablet that is rumored about and then launched is somehow designated as some sort of iPad killer. It’s ridiculous in some cases and the hype in the industry just now, comparing the Kindle with the iPad, is just plain ludicrous, in my opinion.

Sure the iPad set a precedence for the industry and even I will admit that it definitely is at the top of the list with devices like the Galaxy Tab 750 and Motorola Xoom coming in at second place. I do understand that any new tablet that launches will eat into the overall market share of the “almighty” iPad, but that’s only because the world simply has another option to choose. Comparing the two devices doesn’t make logical sense. The Fire is quite clearly not in the same league even though it has quite a decent set of specs. I would however, choose to compare it with the likes of the HTC Flyer or the upcoming Galaxy Tab 8.9 which could be serious competition. Let’s just leave the PlayBook out of this to save RIM some ridicule about its poor sales figures.

What's all the fuss about?

What does the ‘over-hyped’ Kindle Fire offer that makes it a ‘worthy competitor’ for the big players? Is Amazon’s Cloud service truly that spectacular that it should merit so much attention? Or is it just because a popular brand like Amazon has entered into the fray and the community has been craving new blood? Of course the biggest question is what does all this mean for the Indian consumer? We were denied the official consumption of the Kindle e-Book Reader and had to resort to alternative means for purchase. With that in mind, we need to anticipate the chances of this device making it here just to see if it’s actually worth all the fuss. Although Amazon’s Cloud storage is available to us, it’s quite unclear whether their streaming video service and Amazon Prime will be made available even if the Fire does make it here.

The Kindle Fire is no more than a Dual-Core tablet that will no doubt be speedy and comfortable to use. I am however, looking forward to seeing the rather impressive looking UI in action which is, no doubt, the most customized UI out there apart from HTC Sense. There, I said it. But that’s about it. The lack of a camera, additional storage space and 3G connectivity makes it quite mundane, for lack of a better term. The latter feature makes the Amazon Cloud and streaming service quite redundant in a country where Wi-Fi hotspots are hard to come by and 8GB of space is not all too impressive either. Perhaps a 3G device is in the works, but that’s a big hopeful.

Suffice to say, I’m not totally impressed with Amazon’s new offering. While there’s enough to merit it with competition to the smaller tablets, I believe the iPad has nothing to seriously be worried about. There’s also the question of the ridiculously low pricing which, if it were to be sold here, would surely be a whole lot more. Keeping my fingers crossed, I estimate the Fire to be in the Rs. 15,000 price range where it will compete with the likes of the iBall Slide, the Reliance 3G Tab and the Beetel Magiq. What this specific product has the potential to do is help make future and possibly existing Android tablet prices take a further dip. As it is, devices like the Reliance 3G Tab and Magiq are already priced reasonably enough for most users to afford, and they aren’t ones you can easily ignore either.

I wouldn’t compare the Fire with the iPad, but should the Fire be made available (easily) to us on this side of the big pond, I just might consider the investment.

Motorola Xoom to get Ice Cream Sandwich, no specific date in sight

Since the day Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich was announced, every manufacturer running Android on their devices is in the race to feature the latest OS build on their handhelds. As of now, Samsung is the only company who can officially claim to feature the latest and best Android OS on their handset, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. After ICS was announced, Samsung’s competition has stepped up and said they are working to get the firmware on their devices. These companies include HTC, Motorola as well as Sony Ericsson. However, there is no official word on when this operating software would be featured on a tablet and which tablet would be the first to get ICS up and running on it.

ICS coming to Motorola Xoom

According to a page on Motorola’s support forum, discussing if the Motorola Xoom would be the first tablet to receive Ice Cream Sandwich, forum manager, Matt spoken up. According to a post by Matt, he says, “I don't know anything about if it will be first or not -- have no insight into how other manufacturers do updates -- but Xoom will get ICS. I just don't have any timing to share.”

This is the first real confirmation that a manufacturer would feature Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich on their tablet. However, as the trusted source reveals, there is no official timing given. As of now we have to just wait and watch and hope that this OS comes to tablets sooner than later.

Do you think the Motorola Xoom will be the first tablet to feature ICS? Or will it be the Asus Transformer 2 that will beat them to the delicious dessert? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Amazon now accepting old Kindles in 'Trade-In' program

The Kindle Fire is an amazing e-reader and you want it really bad, however, you already have an older generation of the e-reader and just don’t want to shell out the big bucks to pick up the newest model. Amazon has just announced a solution for this dilemma that is faced by many people by including the Kindle in their trade-in program.

Amazon offering Trade-Ins to get your hands on a Kindle Fire

According to a report by TFTS, Amazon said, “Starting today, Amazon Trade-In adds Kindles and other e-readers to the hundreds of thousands of eligible trade-in items. Amazon is constantly updating the Trade-In Program with new products. Based on customer feedback, Amazon learned that a lot of customers are interested in trading in their used Kindles and other electronics to upgrade to something new.  With the launch of the new $79 Kindle as well as Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire, we expect many customers will be excited to upgrade to one of these new Kindles.”

In the Trade-In program one can get as much as $29.25 for an original version, up to $47.50 for the Kindle Keyboard 3G and up to $36.25 for the Kindle Keyboard Wi-Fi. However, these prices may vary depending on the condition of the e-readers as well as accessories included. For more information on the Trade-In program from Amazon, click here.

Kindle Fire due to sell millions, hit with patent suit

Amazon's $199 Fire sparks supply, margin questions

The rock-bottom price of the new Kindle Fire tablet computer is raising questions about Amazon.com Inc's ability to keep up with demand and the device's effect on the company's already razor-thin profit margins. Amazon's billionaire Chief Executive Jeff Bezos unveiled the Fire on Wednesday at a lower-than-expected price of $199. Bezos said Amazon is making "millions" of the tablets, without being more specific. However, he urged customers to pre-order the device early. "When Bezos quipped that people should get their pre-orders in quick, that wasn't just a sales pitch," said Brian Blair, an analyst at Wedge Partners. "That was him warning this will sell out." When the first Kindle came out in 2007, Amazon hadn't made enough and the e-reader sold out in less than a week. That meant the company missed out on sales and got the device into fewer customers' hands, limiting quick adoption.

"I hope they learned their lesson from the last time," said Vinita Jakhanwal, an analyst at IHS iSuppli, which tracks electronic component supply chains. Amazon spokeswomen didn't respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Amazon has lined up about four to five million screens for the Fire in the fourth quarter, which is a "fairly significant" amount, Jakhanwal added. However, the technology that is being used for the Fire's screen has been around for at least a year and already has been produced in high volume, reducing the chances of supply shortages, Jakhanwal said.

It's all about demand and supply

One of the components that was in shorter supply in the first half of 2011 was the 10-inch screen, mostly because of the iPad, according to Bradley Gastwirth of technology research firm ABR Investment Strategy. "This is probably one of the main reasons why Amazon started off at the 7-inch form factor," he said. Still, other specialized components may be in short supply and that could limit how many Kindle Fire's can be made quickly, Jakhanwal said. Other components aren't known yet, according to Wedge's Blair. But he expects a re-run of 2007, with the Fire selling out quickly. Colin Sebastian, an analyst at RW Baird, kept his Amazon tablet sales forecasts the same on Wednesday on concern about potential supply issues. He expects two million to three million units to be sold this year and four to six million next year. Amazon has better data on consumer demand and supply chains than it did in 2007, said Scott Devitt, an analyst at Morgan Stanley. "But the $199 price point could drive heavy demand, so supply issues are possible and something to consider," he added. Part of Apple Inc's success with the iPad and other products was driven by the company's tight control of its supply chain, which ensured it got enough parts before rivals.

"Apple's supply chain, production and distribution capabilities provide a competitive advantage over Amazon, which may find it difficult to produce more than a few million Kindle Fires for the holiday season," said Gene Munster, an analyst at PiperJaffray. MARGINS The Fire's $199 price has Munster and others concerned about profit margins at Amazon too. Amazon always competes aggressively on price, often sucking up losses when it enters new markets. The company is currently branching out in several new areas and its profit margins have suffered. Apple enjoys gross profit margins over 30 percent on the iPad. That's partly because the company offers digital content cheaply to promote purchases of such devices. In contrast, Munster estimated that Amazon will probably lose about $50 on each Kindle Fire it sells.

Anthony DiClemente, an analyst at Barclays Capital, expects Amazon's pro-forma operating profit margin to be 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter, down 160 basis points from a year earlier. Still, Amazon hopes to make up any losses on the Kindle Fire through extra purchases of the company's other products and services made by users of the device. Morgan Stanley's Devitt cites the example of ebooks. The Kindle Fire may increase purchases of digital books, hastening the demise of physical bookstores, he explained. That would "lead to an industry with fewer merchants and thus higher long-term margins," Devitt said. 

RIM denies plans of pulling PlayBook out of the market

As if dealing with stocked PlayBooks in their inventory wasn’t bad enough, BlackBerry makers – Research in Motion Pvt. Ltd. (RIM), now have speculations to ward off. Early this week, we had reported that as many as 800,000 units of BlackBerry's PlayBook were lying in RIM’s inventories after the tablet failed to attract much attention. It was also revealed then that BlackBerry asked its supplier, Quanta Computers to stall the production of the tablet altogether, owing to less or no sales. Following this, Quanta shut the production of PlayBook in its Northern Taiwan unit, rendering as many as 1,000 workers there jobless.

What's the road ahead like? 

Now, according to latest reports, it has been learnt that Collin Stewart semiconductor analyst, John Vihnan stated that RIM may have stalled the production of its PlayBook tablet, altogether, and cancelled additional projects. He went on to state that RIM may well be on its way out of the tablet market, after it decides to pull the plug on the under-performing PlayBook and that that they most definitely think that RIM has stopped the production of its PlayBook tablet and an exit is on the cards. Just when rumors of RIM's probable exit from the tablet space began gathering steam, the company came forth and denied all rumors and called it 'pure fiction'. RIM, in fact added that not only was the news of PlayBook exiting the market a topic of pure fiction, they were committed to PlayBook, and the QNX platform used in it. 

The RIM spokesperson also did mention the company's plans of using the QNX platform (currently used in the PlayBook) in their 'superphones', scheduled for a launch sometime next year. 

Source: Agencies

Apple must show patents valid in Samsung case - U.S. judge

A U.S. judge said that Samsung Electronic's Galaxy tablets infringe Apple Inc.'s iPad patents, but added that Apple has a problem establishing the validity of its patents in the latest courtroom face-off between the technology giants. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh made the comments in a court hearing on Thursday, but has yet to rule on Apple's request to bar some Galaxy products from being sold in the United States.

Apple has to prove the validity of its patents now 

Apple and Samsung are engaged in a bruising legal battle that includes more than 20 cases in 10 countries as the two jostle for the top spot in the smartphone and tablet markets. Earlier on Thursday, an Australian court slapped a temporary ban on the sale of Samsung's latest computer tablet in that country. Apple sued Samsung in the United States in April, saying the South Korean company's Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets 'slavishly' copies the iPhone and iPad. Apple then filed a request in July to bar some Samsung products from U.S. sale, including the Galaxy S 4G smartphone and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Mobile providers Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA have opposed Apple's request, arguing that a ban on Galaxy products would cut into holiday sales. Apple must show both that Samsung infringed its patents and that its patents are valid under the law. Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan argued that in order to defeat an injunction bid, Samsung need only show that it has raised strong enough questions about the validity of Apple's patents. "We think we've clearly raised substantial questions," Sullivan said at the hearing on Thursday in a San Jose, California federal court. Apple attorney Harold McElhinny said Apple's product design is far superior to previous tablets, so Apple's patents should not be invalidated by designs that came before. "It was the design that made the difference," McElhinny said.

Koh frequently remarked on the similarity between each company's tablets. At one point during the hearing, she held one black glass tablet in each hand above her head, and asked Sullivan if she could identify which company produced which. "Not at this distance your honor," said Sullivan, who stood at a podium roughly ten feet away. "Can any of Samsung's lawyers tell me which one is Samsung and which one is Apple?" Koh asked. A moment later, one of the lawyers supplied the right answer. Additionally, at the hearing Koh said she would deny Apple's request for an injunction based on one of Apple's so-called 'utility' patents. She did not say whether she would grant the injunction based on three other Apple 'design' patents. Koh characterized her thoughts on the utility patent as 'tentative', but said she would issue a formal order 'fairly promptly'. "It took a long time to make that distinction," Koh said. After the hearing, Samsung spokesman Kim Titus said Apple's injunction request is 'groundless'. Apple spokeswoman Kristen Huguet said, "It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad ... This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our ideas." 

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 11-1846. 

Amazon's tablet may be hottest holiday gadget

The Kindle Fire tablet may be the hottest selling gadget this holiday, pressuring Amazon.com Inc's profit margins but giving the world's largest Internet retailer potentially millions of new high-spending customers. Since Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos unveiled the tablet at a lower-than-expected price of $199 on Sept. 28, some analysts have increased their sales estimates for the device. Amazon got 95,000 Fire pre-orders on its first day and has been averaging about 20,000 a day since then, email-monitoring firm eDataSource estimated. The device ships Nov. 15.

Technology blog AllThingsD reported on Oct. 6 that Amazon is selling over 25,000 Fires a day, citing unidentified sources close to the company. "The rumored numbers out on the Web are far too low," said Mark Gerber, an analyst at Detwiler Fenton & Co. "Really strong pre-orders and the surprising $199 price means they will easily do five million units this quarter." Gerber previously expected Amazon to sell three to four million Fire tablets in the fourth quarter. Amazon declined to comment. But Gerber and other analysts will be watching closely for clues on tablet orders when the company reports results on Oct. 25. The company is expected to make a third-quarter profit of 24 cents a share on revenue of $10.93 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Amazon offering Trade-Ins to get your hands on a Kindle Fire

Peter Rojas, head of gdgt.com and co-founder of gadget websites Gizmodo and Engadget, expects the Kindle Fire to be the hottest holiday product this season, ahead of Roku Internet TV boxes and Canon's new PowerShot S100 camera. The Fire's $199 price means people who already own Apple Inc's more expensive iPad will buy the device as a second tablet for their family, Rojas said. "A lot of people started to have more than one computer in the home in recent years and cheaper netbooks fulfilled that need perfectly," Rojas told Reuters. "The Kindle Fire could meet the demand for a second tablet." Other buyers will be people who dislike Apple or passed on buying an iPad because it was too expensive, Rojas noted. "They have been waiting for that iPad alternative to emerge and it never did," Rojas said. "Amazon played it smart -- there's just enough dissatisfaction out there with iPad alternatives."

Apple's iPad created a new segment of the personal computer market and now Amazon has created a new segment of the tablet market, according to Dominic Field, a partner at The Boston Consulting Group and author of a recent report on the tablet market. "Our research suggests that $199 is the price point that mass market America was looking for in a tablet," Field said. "This is the point at which it moves from being a very successful phenomenon for early adopters to the mass consumer market." Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, recently raised his Fire sales estimate to five million units in the fourth quarter, from an earlier forecast of three million. There was initially a problem with the supply of displays for the device, but this has been fixed, Kumar said. "They are priming the supply chain for this to be a blockbuster product under a lot of people's Christmas trees this season," he added. Colin Sebastian, an analyst at RW Baird, has published a fourth-quarter sales estimate of three million Fire tablets, but he said five million units are possible if Amazon avoids production, shipping and other bottlenecks.

Initially, Kindle Fire sales will dent Amazon's profitability, partly because the company is selling the device close to cost or even at a slight loss. Dan Geiman, an analyst at McAdams Wright Ragen, expects Amazon's operating profit margin to fall to 1.5 percent in the third quarter from 3.5 percent a year earlier. However, getting the tablet into as many hands as possible may drive higher sales and profit at Amazon in coming years, Geiman and others said. The Kindle Fire comes with one month of Amazon Prime for free and the device is expected to encourage more customers to sign up for the service. The Prime service costs $79 a year in the United States and includes free two-day shipping on eligible Amazon purchases.

It also gives members free access to instant streaming of more than 12,000 movies and TV shows. Amazon has over 12 million Prime customers and they buy at least three times more products after they sign up for the service, according to estimates from ChannelAdvisor, a software provider that helps retailers sell online. UBS analysts Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald estimate that Prime members increase purchases by five to eight times, a year or more after joining. ChannelAdvisor expects Amazon to sell more than five million Fire tablets in the fourth quarter and more than 20 million next year. The UBS analysts have more conservative sales estimates. But if half of Kindle Fire users sign up for Prime, Amazon could end 2012 with more than 20 million "heavy-spending" Prime subscribers, they said.

Kensington’s SecureBack case keeps your iPad locked down for safety

Kensington has announced a back cover for the Apple iPad 2 called the SecureBack. The cover is not your ordinary protective case that are available everywhere. This cover  comprises of two pieces of plastic that have to be slider from either side  to cover the back and then are locked together using a third piece of plastic that works like a sliding latch. The cover supports Kensington’s ClickSafe locks, so to lock it down you need to purchase that separately.

Available for for pre-order now for $50.

Coolpad to launch a CDMA tablet in India

According to an article in Hindu Business Line, Coolpad Overseas, who recently launched an Android phone in the Indian market will soon be launching a 7-inch tablet in India. The tablet will be priced below Rs 12,000 and come in a tie-up with Reliance.

“We will continue to focus on the CDMA segment and launch the tablets in November this year. Talks are on with Reliance Communications to market the product,” Mr Sami AlLawanti, Managing Director, Coolpad Communication toldBusiness Line.

 

 

India’s 35$ tablet Shakshat shows up on an e-commerce site – priced at 2,200

It seem’s that India’s 35$ tablet Sakshat is done playing hide and seek finally. The tablet is now available on NaapTol, an e-commerce portal and is priced at Rs 2,200 (around USD $45).

As per the site, this is an approx price and the product details goes as -

The Hcl Sakshat Tablet has been specially manufactured for students and teachers of school and collages in India. The HCL planned this tablet to provide computer education for students at a less price. The Hcl Sakshat Tablet has 7 inches touch screen with an inbuilt keyboard. It possesses 32 GB internal storage and 2 GB RAM. It provides MS office, internet surfing, Wi-Fi and USB support.

The listing clearly states it as the HCL Sakshat, so its clear that the device has been manufactured for the Indian govt by HCL

NEC launches Lavie Touch Windows Tablet with DVD drive

NEC has announced a 10.1-inch Windows 7 Tablet today. The unique thing about the tablet is that it comes with three accessories out of the box. THere is a wireless keyboard, a wireless mouse and a ‘MultiStation’. The multi station is a dock that features a built-in DVD-drive. When the tablet is connected on the dock, it can access the drive just as a Windows computer would do to an external drive.

The specification are -

• 10.1-inch IPS LCD panel with 1,280×800 resolution
• Windows 7 Home Premium OS (SP1, 32bit)
• Office Home and Business 2010
• ExTouch UI
• Atom Z670 (1.50GHz) CPU
• Intel SM35 Express chip set
• 2GB memory
• 64GB SSD
• IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
• 1.3MP camera
• ports: 2xUSB, HDMI, SDHC
• 10.6 hours battery life
• size: 263×183×15.8mm, weight: 729g

NEC plans to roll out the LaVie Touch in Japan next month (price including the add-ons: US$1,230).

Samsung Galaxy tab 7.7 tablet and Galaxy Note announced at IFA

Samsung has announced an update to its existing 7-inch Galaxy tab as well as an entirely new device called the Galaxy Note at IFA last week.

The galaxy Tab 7.7 comes with 7.7-inch SuperAMOLED display with a resolution of  1280 x 800 pixels. The tablet run Android 3.2 on a dual core 1.4Ghz processor, 1GB RAM and will come in 16/32/64GB storage (expandable via MicroSD slot). The device is just 8mm thin and weighs around 335g. It has a 3.2MP camera on the back and a front 2MP camera. The specs are almost exactly the same as we reported earlier

The galaxy Note on the other hand has a 5-inch super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and comes with an S-pen – a stylus, for input. Hardware specifications are the same as Galaxy Tab 7.7, though the Note  runs Android 2.3 and sports a 8MP camera on the rear that records videos in 1080p resolution. It also comes with a barometer, optional NFC support, TV-out, can be used as phone and will be the first device to come preloaded with Samsung’s own chat client called Samsung ChatON.

Both devices are expected to be available in the beginning of next year.

 

iBall launches budget Android tablet – iBall Slide for Rs 13,995

iBall, popularly known for manufacturing budget cabinet and computer peripherals has announced its entry into the segment market with its 7-inch tablet named iBall Slide.

It has a 7-inch capacitive display with 800 x 480 pixel resolution with multi-touch capabilities. The tablet is powered by a 1Ghz processor with 512MB RAM and 8GB onboard storage expandable via microSD card. It runs Android 2.3 and will come preloaded with various applications. There is Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity as well (3G dongle supported via host USB cable). The tablet also comes with a mini HDMI out to connect directly to an HDTV and has front 2MP camera for video calls. There are separate mini USB ports on the tablet – one works as  USB host and other works for on the go connectivity to connect USB drives.

Battery life is claimed at 6.5hours and the tablet is priced at Rs 13,995 and will be available in the market at all leading stores in the coming days.

 

More HP TouchPad will be availble from October

If you were on the lookout for the $99 priced HP Touchpad, but were unable to get your hands on one because they got sold out in the blink of an eye, then here is some good news for you.

HP Touchpads are expected to be back in stock with vendors and online stores in late October. HP is producing more units of the Touchpad to help suppliers clear out inventories, including touch panels, batteries, and chassis, while maintaining good relationships with companies involved.

On September 1 Bryna Corcoran, HP’s Social Media Manager tweeted, “The US SMB (small medium business) team is working to fulfill orders made prior to Monday, August 22nd at 4 a.m. CT.”

For the latest updates on sales of the last stock of HP TouchPad tablets follow Bryna Corcoran’s Twitter account @BrynaAtHP

Motorola drops price of its Xoom tablet in India

It seems that Motorola finally realized that they had priced the Xoom at a stupid price right in the beginning. Initially, Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi version was priced at Rs 32,990 (MRP: Rs 34,490) and the Best Buy for the 3G version was Rs 39,990 (MRP: Rs 41,490).

Now, Motorola has dropped it to Rs 29,990 for the WiFi 32 GB version and Rs 35,590 for the 3G 32 GB version. Letsbuy is already selling the tablet at this reduced price for this interested to pick up one.

Image courtsey: www.androidos.in

 

iBall Slide tablet User Interface video

The ball Slide tablet is in the house and we have to admit it is one of the best so far in terms of responsiveness and UI speed.

Here is a small video demonstrating how smoothly the tablet works.

 

Asus Eee Pad Transformer tablet also gets a price drop

Although, we haven’t seen the tablet available at any stores, and only a few people have actually dared to buy it so far, the Asus Transformer price has also dropped.

The tablet that was launched at Rs 32,999 is now selling on Letsbuy for Rs 30,499 including the dock. As per the letsbuy description -

Asus TF101 Transformer is powered by 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual Core Processor. As a result, the Transformer browses the web at blazing speeds, providing a snappier response time and better performance when multi-tasking. The 10.1” Capacitive Touch Screen has high resolution and Bright Colors to display. The surrounding of this glossy gadget has a strip of bronzed metal, lending the Transformer an impressive sense of quality. It comes with Dockable Keyboard which when attached makes the Tablet PC a complete notebook. Google’s Android v3.0 Honeycomb is the next generation of android installed in ASUS TF101 which gives the glance look to the users interface for ultimate experience such as HD videos, high Internet speed. Merely 13mm thick for ultra-portability, this attractive gadget has a touchpad, 3.5mm audio jack, two USB ports as well as a built-in SD Card reader for easy file sharing and storage expandability make the Transformer a versatile media hub. The new offering comes preloaded with Polaris Office 3.0, a professional mobile office Solution that helps users to edit various types of office documents. This makes the device a suitable option for professionals. Asus TF101 Transformer has Dual Camera, 5.0 MP Main Camera and 1.2 MP Front Camera. It has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for web access and file sharing. The Dockable KeyBoard has separate Battery to power it.

 

Apple iOS 5

The roll-out of Apple's new mobile operating system, iOS 5, is now underway and bar a few early troubles dealing with the demand, iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users are now exploring the new features the update brings to their devices. 

We've been living with the developer build before upgrading to the final version on our devices and we've been looking closely to see exactly what you get. Will this put Apple at the head of the mobile pack? Is it simply playing catch-up with increasingly sophisticated opposition? Will this change everything, or is it merely an incremental update?

Previously on iOS you had to connect your iPhone or iPad to your iTunes account on a computer via a cable and then follow a series of on-screen instructions. That has now moved over to the device, so you can, in theory, run your iPhone completely without a computer. 

 

The setup process starts by getting you to set-up fundamentals, like Wi-Fi, and signing in to your Apple account. It also lets you enable various new services you get for free, like iCloud and Find My iPhone which we'll talk about later. It's great to finally have this on the iPhone: Android, Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry users have been doing this sort of thing for quite a while.

We've been through the setup a couple of times and you get the option to set your device up as a new iPhone, as well as restore it. Here you now get a "Restore from iCloud" option, which then lets you choose the particular backup, so if something happens (assuming you have an iCloud backup), you'll be able to setup a new phone just like your previous device with just a few clicks and no need for wires.

Our initial setup took less than 3 minutes; a restore took about 20 mins because of the apps it was loading in, but it's a better out of the box experience than ever before. 

The biggest visual change is notifications. Apple has finally embraced a system that won’t see you shaking your fist at your phone every time someone retweets you and that can only be a good thing. Previous notification were not dynamic, they offered information but little else.

 

There are a number of different notification systems, a drag-down tray, the on-screen notifications and lock screen notifications, all of which offer a degree of customisation, so you can choose to have banners or bigger alerts (similar to previous iOS versions).

Notifications are controlled through the Notifications settings menu and within that, you'll get a list of apps in your "Notification Centre". You can then dive in and change the notification style for each of the specific apps. You might choose to have emails as a banner, because you get so many of them, and the calendar as alerts so you don't miss them.

Very Android in its approach, you are now able to swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal all your notifications in one place including certain dedicated widgets like weather and stocks, both controlled through the same notification menu. Tapping a notification takes you to that app, appointment or message. Tapping on either of the widgets takes you through to the full app.

 

Each main app group - email, messages, phone calls, or app notifications are listed alongside a small version of their icon and you’re able to clear the clusters individually, leaving others if you still want a reminder. For example, you can kill the emails, but keep the personal messages you need to reply to.

Lockscreen notifications are more useful than previously as you can action individual alerts, swiping the alert to read that message. Again you can control which alerts make it through to the lockscreen. This could be dangerous if you regularly get racy text messages, or just anything you want hidden from prying eyes, as all will be able to see them even if you’ve got a passcode enabled.

The bottom line is that it’s a far, far, far better system than is found in iOS 4.3 and one that makes upgrading to iOS 5 worth the effort. Yes it’s like Android, yes it’s like Windows Phone 7, yes your friends with those operating systems will welcome you to 2011. But, hey, you’ve got a decent notification system now, and dare we say it, the level of customisation here surpasses the options you get on other platforms.

Taking on BBM, iMessage is Apple’s new instant messenging service built in to iOS 5. Found in Messages, the idea is that as long as you’ve got someone’s Apple ID email address, you can start pinging them instant messages like text messages without having to send a network SMS. This effectively means you can communicate with anyone with an iOS device in their hand, so long as you know the address to get them on. Fortunately, the system is clever enough to work out what contact address is iMessage capable and what isn't - if you don't have their Apple ID, you'll be sending a regular message instead. Pick the right address and the message pane changes to iMessage. 

 

In effect, it's something that most of us have been doing for a while in various forms, be it through Skype or some other IM client. iMessage goes hand-in-hand with FaceTime's video calling. Effectively, Apple has brought a native service to iOS that was being met by third-party apps like Skype previously.

One concern we have is spam and it will be interesting to see how Apple protect you from junk messages clogging up your inbox from mass iMessage spamming of email addresses. Also, whilst iMessage is nice, it's another service that's limited to iOS. If everyone you know uses an iPhone, then great, but if not, you'll probably stick to other methods that give you cross-platform chatter.

Currently there is no desktop integration of iMessage, although we're sure that will come soon enough. Also, although the system will detect which contact address is capable of iMessage, it would be nice it this was clear - perhaps like the "online" notification that Android Skype users get integrated into their Contacts.

We’ve all been there, wanting to take a picture with your iPhone only to miss the moment by the time you’ve swiped to unlock it, entered in your passcode, then found the camera app and waited for it to fire up. Now a double tap of the home key on the lock screen presents a camera button for you to use straight away.

If that wasn’t enough to get you giddy with photographic excitement, Apple has added even more to the camera, like the ability to use the volume up button as a dedicated shutter button. It makes sense for a number of reasons. Firstly it's easier to hold the phone steady and press the button than touch the screen, so less shaky photos as a result. Also, it's far easier to snap a picture of yourself with the main camera using the button.

 

Shooting at arm's length, we found the best technique was to line up our eye in the shiny Apple logo on the back of the phone. This framed us nicely within the shot. Simple. If composition is your thing, you'll also be able to overlay a grid so you can use the rule of thirds for framing.

Once you do finally take your picture, you’ll now get new editing features too. Press the edit button on a photo and you get the chance to rotate it, magically enhance it using Apple’s algorithm, apply red-eye fix and, finally, and most helpfully, the ability to crop the image either manually, or in various formats (square, 4 x 6, 5 x 7, etc.). The original image is kept intact for you to still edit, however, you don’t get a separate image clogging up your photo album.

You'll also get Photo Stream, part of iCloud. Photo Stream will appear on your iOS devices, recent versions of iPhoto and Aperture as well as on Apple TV, so you can get those pictures you snap easily, be that for editing or sharing.

You like Twitter, we like Twitter, it seems Apple likes Twitter a lot with the social networking service being baked into the OS at a core level. 

 

In practice it means that everything has a Tweet option allowing you to share it regardless of whether you’ve previously had a Twitter app installed or not. All you have to do is put your Twitter details in via the settings pane and you’re done.

There is even a dedicated new keyboard that includes easy access to the hash and @ keys for you to share your love of whatever you are trying to tweet. Sadly, there is no auto complete on hashtags, but there is on people you follow as soon as you start typing after the @ symbol. You are also able to add your location, should you dare.

Twitter has infiltrated everywhere. Contact details, photo sharing, web page sharing, you name it, it’s there. Welcomed as it is, it doesn't go as far as offering you sharing beyond Twitter. You've got all these apps installed, but if you want Facebook, you still have to go to Facebook, if you want Flickr you have to go to Flickr, whereas Android will accumulate your sharing options into the Share list so you can take your pick.

As a result, Twitter inclusion is nice, but it's is only really a tiny step in making iOS more sociable: you'll still need to move around a lot of different apps if you want to spread things far and wide.

Safari has had a series of updates too. The main one for iPad users is tabbed browsing allowing you to zip through webpages quickly. It works really well and as with most things, should have been there from the start. iPad users also get gesture swiping which reflects some of the navigation changes that recently came to OS X Lion.

For the iPhone and the iPad you now get private browsing in the browser that you can switch on and off via the settings. Marked by a black surround rather than a blue one, it means your history isn’t captured and stored. It also means that you can ditch the need for a third party browser like Atomic browser for surfing to places you probably shouldn’t be.

Private browsing or not, a new feature that has come from desktop Safari is Reader. This bit of technology allows you to strip out all the ads and garbage from the page so you can read the text easily on the screen. Thankfully for web publishers, it looks like you still have to load the page to start with so they can still earn money from advertising, but once you’ve loaded the page into Reader you can then change the font size making it bigger and easier to read.

 

If you haven't got time to read it there and then, you can opt to add it to your reading list for later. Cleverly this also syncs with Safari on your PC, so you can add a page to a reading list to then pick-up on your device later, which is really handy. Your bookmarks from your desktop browser will also sync across devices.

iCloud is a new feature that we've already looked at in some detail. It ties together your iOS devices and your PC, using your Apple ID. Effectively, it is an umbrella for a range of services, so we've already seen here, and some that are new. iCloud can also be accessed online for various functions on iCloud.com.

iCloud is controlled via the settings in iOS where you can turn on and off iCloud integration with various areas. Basically it can be applied to mail, contacts, calendars, reminders, bookmarks, notes, photo stream, documents & data and finally find my phone (or other device).

 

There are also iCloud backup options. Previously you'd backup your iDevice when connected to your PC via iTunes. You still get that option, but now you can backup and restore from iCloud, so you don't need the PC at all. This backup contains your device options, settings, app data and other bits, and we've found from using the restore function that it effectively took the phone and put it back the way it was, which is very smart and easy to do.

iCloud.com will let you access various things. It offers you mail, calendar, contacts, iWork and find my iPhone. Mail works with a @me.com addresses and isn't a global webmail service, but if you use, or want to use, me.com, then you can set that up across Apple devices. Calendar and contacts is straight syncing from your iPhone/iPad with iCloud, and then on to iCal and address book in OS X (10.7.2 required).

It's nice to know that your contacts are safe in the cloud somewhere and that changes you make on the device will be reflected in Address Book and iCal without the need to sync with wires, but we couldn't make it work with our existing Google accounts. As such, we still have iCal syncing with Google Calendars, but that doesn't then travel through to iCloud, so it isn't going to be a perfect solution for everyone.

iWork is pretty clever in iCloud, as it will sync with iOS versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote, so you can access documents across your iOS devices. Taking this further, iCloud.com will let you upload and download these documents so you can work on them on your PC. It doesn't appear to offer integration with iWork OS X applications yet, but we're sure that's not too far off.

Overall, the syncing side of things is great for those with a simple system, but if you're already hooked into Google, you might find it unnecessary, or limiting. We like the way that documents are handled, although there is very little to let you organise those docs - it isn't like Dropbox where you can establish lots of folders, so will probably only really appeal to those who want access to mobile docs on an ad hoc basis.

For more on iCloud, read our feature: Living in iCloud.

Forming a big part of the iCloud picture is iTunes in the Cloud. This is part of the puzzle that sees you being able to banish your cables and move into that "post-PC" era. Effectively iTunes in the Cloud means that your iOS devices will sync with content that you buy without you having to do anything. Buy a song on your iPhone and it will appear in iTunes on your PC and on your iPad. It doesn't copy your music into iCloud, it just releases it from Apple to your device.

  

What it doesn't do, however, is let you play your music from the cloud like Android Music does - there is no iCloud.com player for you to access on any computer. It isn't really new either - if you paid for an app you always could download it on another device without paying again, but the system is much slicker now.

An additional service, iTunes Match, will be rolled out in the US at a cost of $24.99 a year. This will deal with music that you didn't buy from iTunes, for example a CD you ripped, or something from AmazonMP3. If iTunes can identify the track it will then let you have that across devices from Apple's collection again. If it can't recognise it, it will import your own file and make it available elsewhere. User in the UK won't have the service, although it is estimated to arrive in 2012. 

Choosing an app via iTunes on the desktop and it also appearing on your iPhone at the same time is great. It's something that Android users have had for a while through the Android Market website, although that also lets you choose which device to send the app to so you can do it from any computer with an Internet browser. In some ways, delivering apps to iTunes on your computer now feels unnecessary. 

We've put these together with Wi-Fi syncing because for many the two will go hand-in-hand. Whilst you can now setup your iOS device without the need for a physical connection to your PC, that isn't the end of the story. If you want to sync via cable you still can and you'll need to connect to iTunes on your PC to let it know that you want to sync via Wi-Fi.

In the past you'd have to leave the device connected, now you can check the "Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi" box and that's all you need to do. Thereafter iTunes will know about your device and you can sync it when both are connected to the same Wi-Fi network all things being well.

Within iTunes you still get the normal run of options, so you can control what is synced and we like the fact you can toggle syncing from either end by pressing the sync button on your device or in iTunes. Automatic syncing is also available, triggered when the device is charging, and connected to the same network as your PC.

It all sounds great, but we've found it can be a bit hit and miss. Sometimes syncing happens and you barely even notice. Sometimes you'll find iTunes and iPhone refuse to talk to each other over Wi-Fi, sometimes you'll find that one says it is syncing and the other doesn't. Often we'll get the message that syncing will take place when our MacBook is ready, but with no determinable reason for it not being available.

Newsstand is what iBooks is for magazines and newspapers allowing you to manage your subscriptions. This will be one that appeals more to iPad owners than iPhone owners we're sure, but it is another avenue to content for you to consume. 

 

Reminders is essentially a to do list. The nice thing about them is that you can not only set yourself a task, but you can set a time frame and a location. So if you need to remember to do something whilst out, for example on your way home from a meeting, you can set it to remind you when you leave that address. Unfortunately the locations seem rather limited. You can select a current location or an address in your Contacts but that's it. That's fine is you have your local dry cleaner in there so you can remember to pick up your laundered suit, but otherwise it doesn't quite hit the mark.

We've looked at number of new features at add to the iOS experience. Of course some things haven't really changed. The system still looks and behaves in much the same way as it has done from the birth of the iPhone. The grid of icons remains unchanged and the world of widgets and home screens isn't here. Sure, you can change the lockscreen picture or the wallpaper, you can make folders of apps and change the icons, but there isn't the range of options that Android offers you, or the live tile excitement of Windows Phone 7.

The App Store continues to offer the best selection of app around and even though the Android Market offers a substantial choice, it's clear that developers push a lot of app innovation towards iOS first. You can find some of the best apps sitting ready for iOS and the stability is a step ahead of Android. Much as we love Google's mobile OS, it does throw up more faults for us in daily use than iOS does.

There is also a consistency in iOS that isn't matched in other mobile platforms. Although things like BlackBerry OS and Android offer you more controls and more settings, they can be a little disparate. By comparison, having all your "location services" settings for apps in one place and having app options all bundled together can make control of everything easy to find. It might make apps feel a little inflexible at times but you can't complain about being consistent.

There are still areas that could be improved, of course. Incoming calls could be better dealt with, sharing could be more encompassing, and we've picked out some niggles above, but in reality, iOS 5 has dealt with some of our biggest bugbears. For us, notifications is the change we appreciate the most as they are now much more dynamic, much more useful and acknowledge the level of notifications that modern smartphone users now get.

iCloud is welcomed, working in tandem with iTunes to create an organised wireless umbrella to draw your devices together. Cutting the wire with the PC makes iOS feel more sophisticated, even if heavy Google users may still find that Android's wireless approach is easier to set-up and sync. In reality iCloud and iTunes in the Cloud aren't entirely new, but the extra reach into the desktop makes for a better experience within the Apple world. We imagine that Apple will take this further, offering you a more enhanced browser-based experience on iCloud.com so you can access more of your content away from your iDevices.

This isn't just an incremental update, iOS 5 brings changes that alter how you use your device(s) on a daily basis. But at the same time it doesn't move away from the "iPhone way". As a result, iOS 5 will be apprecitated by those who have it and those coming into the iOS family, but probably won't make Android or Windows Mobile 7 users jealous. 

Fujitsu Stylistic Q550

Buying a Windows tablet before Windows 8 comes out? It's not a bad idea if you want the Windows 7 tablet features like running PC apps and handwriting recognition now and Fujitsu's Stylistic Q550 combines the power of Windows with a touch screen and stylus - and the new Oak Trail Atom CPU which delivers decent battery life. That comes at a price, and a price tag, that won't suit everyone, including Windows tablet fans. ?

The Q550 looks like a business machine with a few concessions to modern styling. The angled edges make it look thinner and the rounded corners are comfortable to hold. But the matte black plastic doesn't match the matte black glass bezel or the white grey back with reflective logo. The utility of the removable battery trumps quibbles about whether the back of the case looks messy because of it. And as Fujitsu hasn't managed to fit a well for the stylus into the case at all, leaving it dangling from a lanyard, we expect the Q550 will spend most of its time in a case which does have a slot for the pen. ?

Finding room for the stylus would be difficult because all the edges of the case are already in use, but it's a small omission that makes the Q550 much harder to use. On the bottom is a docking port for a cradle or keyboard, the single speaker and the power jack, which is a robust right-angled connector rather than the slim versions we're getting used to on ultraportables.

The top edge is taken up by an SD Card slot and the edge of the removable battery. On the left edge is the array microphones, single USB port, and full-size HDMI. The headphone jack and the smartcard reader are also located on the left, with the fingerprint reader set further back. The right edge of the case is taken up by buttons that make Windows more usable on a tablet. As well as the sliding power and wireless switches there are buttons to open the on-screen keyboard, flip the screen if you have auto-rotate turned off and send the equivalent of Ctrl-Alt-Del. These work before Windows loads the touchscreen drivers, and you can use them to navigate lists and press enter in the pre-boot screens, so you never feel you have to plug in a keyboard just to deal with getting started. ?

The Q550 isn't as light as an Android tablet or iPad, and at 800g it's a little heavier than the HP TouchPad too, but it doesn't feel it. Despite its weight, it's thinner and better balanced than most. That said, you wouldn't want to hold it in both hands to watch a full-length movie but it balances very well in one hand when you're writing notes on screen. ?

The Q550 is the first tablet PC we've used with Ntrig's latest combination active digitiser and capacitive touch, instead of the more common Wacom screen. Being able to use your finger and a pen on the same screen is ideal for Windows, you can hand-write notes or type on the responsive, multitouch on-screen keyboard. You can also use your finger to scroll through a Web page then switch to the pen to tap an icon too small for your finger (like the close button on most windows). We liked the virtual keyboard, because it's large enough for you to type at a reasonable speed and has useful text prediction. ?

When the pen is near the screen capacitive touch is disabled, so you can rest your hand on the screen as you write, which makes your writing neater and more accurate than trying to hold the pen without brushing the screen. Even so, inking isn't as smooth and fluid as with a Wacom pen (like the one on the HP EliteBook 2740p) and the touch resolution isn't as high, so while you can tap larger buttons and scroll Web pages with ease, so you will have to use the pen for many menus and icons. ?

There's also a grainy cast to the screen because of the Ntrig layer, which you can actually see at certain angles; that's a shame because this is otherwise an excellent, with rich, vivid colours, crisp details, good brightness and reasonable contrast in dark images. We did have a problem with reflections in some lighting conditions, but the 1280 by 800 resolution is adequate for the 10.1-inch screen (and the graphics card couldn't cope with anything higher anyway). Front and rear-facing cameras are a nice touch to go with the twin microphones for Skype calls. ?

The volume of the single speaker is unusually low. Hold the tablet up against your ear and the sound is clear and bright with excellent treble, clear detail in the midrange and a tolerable amount of bass with hardly any distortion even at high volume levels. ?

We're disappointed in the performance of the Atom Z670 CPU in the Q550, and particularly in the GMA 600 graphics - especially for full-screen video. You don't expect zippy performance from an Atom, even at 1.5GHz, with only 2GB of memory. But this is unusually slow for things we're used to finding acceptable on netbooks, like adding folders to libraries. We had no problems running Office applications until we tried using OneNote's handwriting recognition - a key feature for a tablet PC aimed at business users. It is perhaps because the handwriting sub-system runs on a separate CPU thread, we found this would briefly hang the program at frequent intervals - it recovered every time and we didn't lose data, but we were repeatedly interrupted while trying to take notes. We're also miffed that after installing Office 2010, you'll only have 3GB of storage left to use on the 32GB SSD. ?

Video performance is also unusually poor; 1080p video streamed from the Web had excellent detail and good colour but was jumpy. We found the same problem with 720p HD video played over the local network, especially full screen, which skipped frames and showed definite artefacts. The GMA 600 graphics didn't give us any hardware acceleration in GPU-accelerated software like IE 9. This is something that can indicate a graphics driver problem, as can the interference lines we saw at the top of some full-screen video playback. Fujitsu's update utility couldn't find a newer driver to try though and as the system only reports DirectX 9 support we don't think a driver update would improve the video performance (though we hope it would fix the visible glitches). With such inferior video performance it's small comfort that the case never gets noticeably warm and that the system is silent in operation. ?

The performance issues are balanced out by excellent battery life for a Windows tablet. We got a full five hours with Wi-Fi on, continually streaming music, video or browsing Web pages. That's without having to turn on any of the extreme power-saving options (which would drop performance further). Fujitsu claims eight to nine hours, and you could get that with Wi-Fi off and the eco power-saving mode on. ?

Bundled software is minimal, you get Fujitsu's own utilities, including a disappointing widget-driven launcher, Office Starter and Windows Live Essentials. There's also Norton Internet Security that you'll have to remove for performance reasons. At least you get Windows 7 Professional though, handy for business users.

The Q550 makes a lot of compromises and they may not be the right ones for you. You get business security features and full-size ports in compact but sturdy package - but not the full power to go with them.

Although it doesn't compete with the price of Android tablets or the iPad, it's one of the cheapest Windows tablets with both pen and touchscreen interfaces. Unfortunately, keeping the price down means it's short on memory and storage. Performance is the real problem here; the Atom Z series was promised as the right chip for tablets with full features and good battery life and here it only delivers the reasonable battery life.

Acer Iconia A100

Steve Jobs doesn't like 7-inch tablets. Hardly surprising, given that Apple only has one tablet, and it's not 7-inches. But Pocket-lint likes all tablets, especially ones that give the people what they want: choice.

The Iconia A100 is Acer's most recent entry into the Honeycomb tablet market. It's small, sturdy and powerful too. It costs around £300 for the Wi-Fi only model we're testing here, comparable with Samsung's 7-inch, Wi-Fi only Galaxy Tab, the P1010.

As is the trend, the A100 has only one "hardware" button. This is an Apple-esqe design decision that sort of works, but strikes us as a little pointless. Either have no buttons on the face of the device, or festoon it with the little chaps. There seems to be no point in going halfway. Also, because the home button is a touch-sensitive control, it's all too easy to press it when you're holding the tablet. This means you'll often find yourself dropping out of what you were doing, because you pressed the home button by accident. There's a reason Apple has a physical key on its devices.

Away from the front though, there are plenty of flaps and buttons on the A100. At the top, there's a power button and headphone socket. On the right-hand side, there's an orientation lock switch as well as a volume rocker switch. At the bottom of the right side, there's a socket for a microSD card. There is also what looks like a SIM card socket, which has a blanking plate over it. Clearly, there will be a GSM A100 at some point in the future. Indeed, the user manual makes mention of installing a SIM card before you turn the device on.

At the bottom of the A100, there is an HDMI output, proprietary dock connector and USB socket. You can also see the twin-speakers and the daft proprietary power connector. It's worth mentioning the sound here too, because although it has Dolby Mobile, the built-in speakers aren't all that powerful. Headphones tell a better story though, and audio quality is pretty good.

One of the other things we noticed about the A100 is its decent heft. At 470g, it's quite a lot more weighty than the Galaxy Tab 7-inch - which was 380g. The problem, however, is not so much what it weighs, but that it really feels like it weighs a lot.

It does, however, have the advantage of fitting in to much smaller spaces than an iPad or Motorola Xoom would. This means that carrying it around is much more practical, and we think that as a result of that, you're much more likely to carry it around than a 10-inch tablet.

During our testing we noted that the A100's screen wasn't really very bright. Indeed, it was so dim that we had to turn off the automatic brightness control and stick it to the maximum setting. This was inside too, so outdoors, you're really going to struggle to see what's going on in bright light.

With the device on less than full brightness, we also noticed a slight shimmer on the screen. This made it slightly more difficult to use the device, and again required we boost the backlight to full to mostly get rid of the problem.

On the whole, the screen was sharp though, which we really liked. It has the same resolution as rival ViewSonic's ViewPad 7x at 1024 x 600, but that's really not bad for a 7-inch tablet. Interestingly though, like the ViewSonic, the viewing angle is very strange on the Acer. In one direction, it's quite good. But flip it the other way, and it washes out really badly. This is confusing, and irritating, because we found that holding it with the home button on the right, and tilting the tablet backwards was the worst angle. But this is the very angle at which most people will hold the tablet.

In our test environment we use two routers to provide two Wi-Fi networks. For web browsing, we had no problem on either. When it came to access Google's services like Gmail and the Android Market, we came unstuck. The market kept asking us to authenticate as a Google user, while Gmail refused to allow us to access new mail.

Other Android devices on our test network have no such problems. We have several Android phones and a Samsung Galaxy Tab all working fine, and we've never seen anything like this before. A full reset fixed the problem, but it could easily come back again later.This could have simply been a Google authentication error, but its persistence was troubling. 

There are two cameras on the A100. The rear-mounted is 5 megapixel, with the front-facing one offering 2 megapixels. This is good news for people looking to make video calls, although the number of apps that support this functionality are pretty small. Skype is adding support for new devices all the time though.

The rear camera is fine for basic uses. We don't think many people will use a tablet as a camera all that often, so we're not too concerned with the quality. It is, however, not very good, so if a good camera is important to you, this isn't the tablet for you.

On the plus side, the camera app is gloriously simple to use, reacts quickly and doesn't confuse with lots of options.

Although the processor in the A100 isn't the most powerful we've seen, Tegra certainly helps the performance of the tablet no end. Games, in particular, are very slick and speedy. As are the menus, indeed, the whole device feels very slick indeed, and we like that.

There are options open to Tegra-powered devices too, there's a special gaming zone where you can grab games and demos, which is handy if you're looking for a little more content to cheer up your day.

The Processor is a dual-core A9 ARM chip, which runs at 1GHz along with the Tegra GPU, which handles the graphical donkey work. There's only 512MB of RAM though, which could be a performance issue if you're using complex apps and multi-tasking.

The A100 has 8GB of storage too, for file storage. This can be expanded by an additional 32GB via a microSD card slot. We'd be inclined to grumble about the slightly mean internal capacity, but with SD cards costing so little these days, we're more inclined to keep our mouths shut and pop online to get some more removable storage cards instead.

In our testing we discovered one crucial thing, clear.fi is utterly useless for most things. If you've never heard of this app before, then we should explain that it's just another way of describing DLNA. If you want to send video, music or photos from your PC to your tablet, it should, in theory be easy to do so.

In fact, we did manage to grant the A100 permission to access the files on our Windows 7 machine, but it still refused to actually do so. To confound us further, we were easily able to get files from the A100 onto our PC. This is unusual, as DLNA functioning in one direction usually means everything is set up correctly.

But worse than the difficulty getting the devices to talk to each other, was the inexcusably dreadful clear.fi app. It seems to have been written with the sole purpose of generating confusion and misery. Perhaps, in fact, it isn't a media streaming app, but a programme designed to demotivate and hamper morale in advance of an attack from space aliens.

Or it could be that it was designed by people who have never met another person. No one would be able to understand how this UI works, it's simply too illogical. Browsing various machines on the network looks simple enough, sure, but when it comes to actually seeing files stored on them it's near impossible to figure out what's going on.

If it's not clear, our advice is to avoid clear.fi at all costs. Try Skifta instead, which handles DLNA with minimal fuss and is free from Android Market.

Half a day of light use had the Acer A100 down to 80 per cent battery. When we looked into the power source, we were a little bewildered to discover that Acer has put only a 1530mAh power pack in the device. Compare this to the 4000mAh in the original Galaxy Tab, and you can see that there's much less capacity here than we would hope for.

Each generation of Android gets better at managing power, of course, but putting in a low-capacity battery into a power-hungry device is never a brilliant idea. If you're heading off on a transatlantic flight, you've really got little or no hope of this machine lasting the whole journey. Our Galaxy Tab on the other hand can manage a good 7 hours, more with some brightness adjustments.

Really, you want longevity with a tablet. Phones cause enough problems with their twice per day desire to be charged, a tablet really needs to be ready to go when you are. And the A100 doesn't feel like it would be.

Although there's plenty to moan about with the A100, we did like many things about it. The screen is sharp, even though the viewing angle is outright weird. We love the power of the device, and we think it's got a lot of potential for people who want a tablet for gaming.

That said, the A100 is a bit chunky and the design just misses slightly for us. There are a lot of sockets and buttons around the device, and we're not totally convinced by the need for a propriety dock, USB and proprietary power connector.

DLNA, or clear.fi, as it's known, is a mixed bag. We could share photos and video with our Windows computer, but trying to stream anything from DLNA servers was just impossible.

The battery is also less capacious than we'd really like, and that has a big impact on the usability.

Sony Tablet S

Sony is a comparatively late entrant into the Android tablet fray, bringing forth two tablets of very different character. The Tablet S is the rather more conventional of the pair, but Sony does at least manage to differentiate. Is there a place for the Sony Tablet S in a market flooded with similar devices?

The most obvious differentiator is in design. We heard of it likened to a folded newspaper and that's how it feels in the hand. It's interesting certainly, and the effect is something you feel as soon as you pick it up. Other tablets can feel a little difficult to grip sensibly with one hand, but held in portrait, the Tablet S sits very nicely indeed.

The design also suits landscape gripping rather well. It is lighter and more comfortable to hold than many similar specced tablets. At 598g it's noticeably lighter and more comfortable than something like the Motorola Xoom. That "folded" design gives you a little more substance to grip when holding the tablet to watch a movie or browse the Internet.

It's light, thanks to the use of plastics. It doesn't have a "premium" aluminium shell or anything else and it does feel a little cheap. There is some flex in the centre of this folded section which we imagine is largely empty inside - it certainly sounds hollow when you give it a knock. This has to be set in the context of weight however so that's the trade-off: it's lighter but has a plasticky feel to it.

Finally on the design we found that we often covered the speakers when holding the device. They're placed a third of the way up on the left and right sides, just about where you might want to grip the tablet. The opening is on the rear slope of the screen - inside the fold, if you will - so you don't muffle it entirely, but we did occasionally have to shuffle the tablet around to get the best performance. The speakers are typical for a device of this type and headphones will give you a much better audio experience.

The display is a 1280 x 800 pixel 9.4-inch LCD, resulting in nice sharp and colourful visuals. It isn't the brightest display out there, and once you get into the glare of the great outdoors or next to a big bright window, you'll find that it suffers. It gives you a pixel density of 160ppi, higher than most other tablets, so copes better with fine detail than some: text looks crisper and you can resolve more on a website with less zooming, for example. The design also means that when lying "flat" the screen is at an angle, much more practical for reading, typing or browsing. The only problem we found is that when typing, our heavy fingers were obviously causing some flex in the Tablet S, again bringing us back to that question of whether the plastics are sturdy enough.

Naturally, as this is a Honeycomb tablet (Android 3.2 at the time of writing), the controls are on-screen, so you are only left with the power/standby and volume controls.

Physical connections are on the light side. There is the 3.5mm headphone jack and then a Micro-USB and SD card slot hide under a flap. The decision to go with SD card is interesting, as we see this is aimed at those wanting to pull the card out of their digital camera, rather than at those who want to expand the internal storage.

Support of external storage cards was a recent addition to Honeycomb and in this case, Sony don't support it in the traditional sense. You can't expand over the internal memory, but you can copy files from the SD card using the File Transfer software on the Tablet S. This is simple enough to use, allowing you to copy folders to your internal memory.

If you happen to have a Micro-USB to USB adapter you'll be able to attach any USB thumb drive, but again you'll have to transfer the content to your internal memory. Our review model came with 16GB of internal memory although there is a more expensive 32GB option too, if you are willing to part with an extra ?80.

Power comes in the form of a bespoke connector on the bottom left-hand corner of the device, ideal for those who want to dock the Tablet S. Sony do make a charging "cradle", the SGP-DS1, which will cost you ?39.99. In terms of wireless connections you get Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 and you can opt for 3G if you're willing to fork out the cash on the most expensive model.

Internally you'll get a fairly typical tablet hardware configuration: a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, with 1GB RAM sitting in support. There is a 5-megapixel camera on the rear of the device and 0.3-megapixel unit on the front, average specs for Android tablets.

One thing that you won't find elsewhere is the IR transmitter, more on which later.

Differentiation needs more than just a fancy design however, so Sony has added a few software tricks to try and set the tablet apart from its rivals. Sony has eyes on the Tablet S as a sofa companion: it's all about entertainment at home, the IR control meaning you can control your existing devices after setup and media support giving you a route to Sony's content.

Starting with the very basics, this is an Android tablet offering you the same Honeycomb user interface we've seen on any number of rival tablets, such as the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Asus EeePad Transformer or ViewSonic ViewPad 7x. We've covered this in detail previously, so we're not going to do so again here, save to say it works well on tablets, bringing the connectivity of Android to the fore, whilst giving you plenty of space to play. There is still a lack of apps specifically designed to cope with a larger display format, but that's never been a barrier to getting apps to work well on Honeycomb tablets.

Each manufacturer tries to bring some sort of software tweak and for Sony that comes in the form of some alterations to Android and apps to leverage existing Sony assets. In Honeycomb you'll notice additional icons across the top of the display, offering easy access to things like the browser, giving you more space on the main homescreen.

There is also a Favorites app, into which you can pile said favourites, although given that you can easily customise any of the five homescreens we have to wonder whether this has much real value. The app menu has changed visually too, and it seems counter-intuitive that Sony have removed the shortcut to the Android Market from the top bar, making it just that little more fiddly than the original.

The keyboard has also been changed and we actually found it very usable. A lighter take than the Honeycomb average, Sony haven't changed too much, but it is responsive and we found, thanks to the rake of the display, it's easy to type on. Alternate characters are available with a long press of various keys, and predictive/corrective suggestions are present.

Sony has bundled a number of applications that access various parts of the existing Sony machine: Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited, for music and video downloads and Reader, for handling ebooks. A Social Feeds Reader will give you Twitter and Facebook and SelectApp offers app suggestions, although this is through the browser and isn't anything to get excited about.

The IR remote functions are a little more exciting. Like any universal remote, the Tablet S comes preloaded with hundreds of manufacturers and remote configurations and within minutes we had our Samsung TV and Blu-ray player, Virgin Media box and a second, much older, LG TV all set-up and running. You can also custom program remotes through a learning function. The beauty of this feature is that you can sit with your tablet on your lap and control your TV without scrabbling around for the remote: it's a one-stop entertainment shop.

Music Unlimited has spun out of Qriocity, but we found that tapping icon told us the service wasn't available yet, so we're guessing the app is yet to be developed, because you can access the music via the browser. Video Unlimited likewise is on offer, the app is there and ready to sell you videos on a rental, or permanent ownership basis at varying prices. Owning a movie can be expensive though, with titles costing more than a DVD would, and nearly as much as a Blu-ray. And that's for standard definition.

Finally you have Reader. The features that Reader offers will differ depending on where you live. If you don't have access to the Sony Reader Store in your region, you'll have no access through the app. Sadly, the Tablet S also didn't care that we connected it to a Mac running Reader for Mac, so there are no direct syncing opportunities that we could find with existing Reader devices.

More significantly, we couldn't find any way to authorise Reader on the tablet with our Adobe ID, so although it reads EPUB files, it won't read those with DRM in place, i.e, anything you might have purchased. Overdrive Media Console, Aldiko and the Kindle app may serve your ebook needs sufficiently and are universally available in the Android Market.

The Tablet S has the PlayStation Certified logo on the back, meaning you'll get access to games that you won't find elsewhere. Whether those are enough to draw you to this tablet is a different story: we weren't quite convinced that the offering was strong enough on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, a device built for gaming, Crash Bandicoot or not.

Elsewhere you get DNLA streaming integrated into the media players of the Tablet S, so you can effectively "send" your music or video to connected devices. This rivals Apple's AirPlay in function. It is neatly implemented and in a world where out-of-the-box functions matter, it's great to see it included and working so well, and direct from the music and video players.

The DNLA app had no problem finding our Cisco media server and playing back the content from it, with a range of video formats and audio formats supported. It isn't fully aware of all codecs however, and we can't help feeling that if Sony wanted a killer media tablet, then supporting more formats would be an obvious move.

One thing we quickly noticed with the Sony Tablet S was problems with Wi-Fi. The Tablet S consistently refused to connect to the BT HomeHub 3 but would connect to a second Wi-Fi point on the same network, even if the range seemed limited. This is the first time we've seen this in any Android device, so it's certainly something to look out for.

However, Sony has done some clever tweaking to the browser, so the page loading speeds are faster than you might expect and set alongside our Motorola Xoom, it loaded pages faster. We did find one oddity with BBC iPlayer: it would regularly flash a triangular tear in the upper left quadrant of the playing video. We didn't notice this on any other video websites, but it happened on every visit to BBC iPlayer, so could be a wider problem.

The 5-megapixel camera on the back is pretty respectable, even though we don't think photography from a tablet really holds much stock. It is autofocus and Sony has tweaked the interface slightly, giving you a gallery roll across the bottom of the screen to see the pics you've captured. Video offers continuous autofocus at 720/30p so puts in a good showing for itself.

Battery life from the Tablet S seems typical. We managed to get around 10 hours from it, which is quite decent really.?

There is a lot going on in Sony's tablet. As a package, it's certainly appealing for those that don't want to mess around finding the right apps to do the various jobs that the Tablet S will do out of the box. But at the same time, there isn’t much here that you can't do on any other Android tablet: Spotify, Skifta, Aldiko and Lovefilm basically cover the elements that Sony brings.

The uniqueness comes in the form of that IR remote and the neat design, which do set it apart. We'd perhaps like it to be a little more sturdy, but we appreciate the lightness in the hand. We're sure that the Wi-Fi issue and the issue we encountered with BBC iPlayer can be addressed through software updates, but not being able to expand the memory with a card is a little inhibiting.

We're sure the Tablet S will be popular because it is convenient and competitively priced at ?399 for the 16GB Wi-Fi version. But for us, there are a few issues that should be sorted out before we'd put it to the top of our Android tablet list.