Tablet Digger

Tablets to drive more web traffic than smartphones by 2013

Kyle — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:53:46 +0000

Adobe has been researching web traffic on tablets, smartphones, and computers and has released their findings. They found that tablet web traffic has grown 10 times as fast as smartphones in the first two years on the market. Tablet web traffic has also increased by over 300% since last year. One reason that Adobe found for this is tablet owners view more web pages on tablets than smartphone owners view on smartphones. This makes a lot of sense since the smaller tablets are 7 inches and the bigger ones are around 10 inches. Those sizes provide a much more enjoyable browsing experience than 3.5 – 5 inch smartphones do.

The report also shows that Adobe estimates tablet web traffic will be greater than smartphone web traffic by early 2013. Tablets will also hold 10% of the total web traffic by 2014.

These numbers all seem correct to me. Tablets are becoming more and more popular and the web browsing experience is getting better with more powerful hardware, higher resolution screens, and better browser software.

Source: MarketWatch.com

Windows 8 tablets launching in November?

Kyle — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:30:28 +0000

CNET is reporting that Windows 8 tablets powered by Intel CPUs will be available in stores this November. At least half of these tablets will also feature docks to transform them into laptops, think ASUS Transformer. These tablets will all reportedly use Intel’s Clover Trail Atom chip. It is a dual-core 32nm chip. Hybrid devices with a keyboard dock are expected to run the latest and greatest Ivy Bridge processor eventually as well.

Source: CNET.com

ASUS PadFone Video Demo

Kyle — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:13:52 +0000

The ASUS PadFone is a truly innovative device. It is a 4.3 inch smartphone that can power a tablet when placed inside of its 10.1 inch tablet component. It can then turn into a netbook when docked into the keyboard dock. The beauty of this is that you only have one device and one data plan.

The QR code throughout the video links to a page on ASUS’s website for those looking for more information about this remarkable device. Also you do not need to watch past the first two minutes because it restarts the video at that point without the music.

Best budget tablet

Kyle — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:56:57 +0000

The iPad is far and away the most popular tablet, but not everybody wants to pay the $500 for the base model. Android tablets have lowered in price in the couple years. Now there are some perfectly capable tablets with quality hardware that won’t break the bank.

If somebody asked me a few months ago what tablet to get if they wanted to save money, then I would have pointed them towards the $199 Kindle Fire. It ran a forked version of Android 2.3 that looks nothing like Android. The Kindle Fire has no cameras or volume buttons. Its lock button is in a terrible location at the bottom of the device causing it to shut the screen off at inconvenient times. The processor is a 1 GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 coupled with 512 MB of RAM.

I would tell them something different if they asked now. The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is a Samsung-built tablet has a 7″ display with the same resolution 1024 x 600 as the Kindle Fire. It has double the RAM with the same processor. Also, the Galaxy Tab 7.0 has two cameras, a volume rocker, and a power button located near the top. It costs more at $250, but runs an actual tablet operating system, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, instead of the phone operating system on the Kindle Fire.

Latest 7-inch iPad rumors

Kyle — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:02:08 +0000

A smaller version of the iPad has been rumored for a very long time. Steve Jobs thought that seven inch tablets were too small, but Tim Cook is the CEO now. The latest rumors for the tablet include a release month of October. It is also said to have a 7″ display. Both of those things seem plausible. The next two rumors don’t.

The rumors report that the 7-inch iPad will have a resolution equal to that of the new iPad (iPad 3), 2,048 x 1536. That will give the iPad a pixel density similar to the iPhone 4/4S. Even if that was technically feasible, it can’t possibly be done cheaply. The next part of the rumor is that the iPad will cost between $200 and $250. There is no way that it will be that affordable with that display resolution.

The source for all of these rumors also says that the only difference between the iPad 3 and this iPad is the size of the display. You can look up the rest of the specs for the iPad 3 on Apple’s website if you are curious.

Source: Mac Rumors

Wi-Fi + 4G iPad now known as Wi-Fi + Cellular

Kyle — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:37:31 +0000

As we all know, Apple’s latest iPad comes in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 4G. They branded the tablet as Wi-Fi + 4G because it features a 4G technology called LTE. It is only compatible with LTE in North America though. Apple has been advertising the iPad in other countries calling it Wi-Fi + 4G and it was misleading since the 4G connection was not available in those countries.

Apple has been sued over this and is now changing the name to Wi-Fi + 4G in some countries. It has been changed in the following countries (so far): Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, and Vietnam. You can see the new name reflected on Apple’s website.

Source: 9 to 5 Mac

ASUS Eee Pad Slider receives OTA update to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0)

Kyle — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:14:41 +0000

The Eee Pad Slider is an ASUS made hybrid tablet much like the Transformer tablets made by the same company. Instead of docking this tablet into a keyboard dock, the Eee Pad Slider has a keyboard that is always attached and slides out. This is why it was dubbed the Eee Pad Slider.

The company just tweeted the following tweet on their Twitter page.

UPDATE. #Android ICS release v9.2.1.21 hits the Eee Pad Slider SL101 today in the US.

— ASUS (@ASUS) May 10, 2012

It looks like the update will only be available to tablets in the United States, but we will be sure to update you when we know more about other countries. Leave a comment about your experience with the update!

Source: @ASUS via Phandroid

eGlide XL Pro 2 announced for $219.99 with ICS

Kyle — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:56:15 +0000

Ematic just announced a new Android tablet. It runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich which is more than most Android tablets can say. Most still run Honeycomb (not including the Kindle Fire) and are waiting for an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich and some might never get an upgrade. Some tablets (a ton if you include the Kindle Fire) are still being powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Although the eGlide XL Pro 2 has Ice Cream Sandwich, it does not have access to the Google Play market.

The eGlide XL Pro 2 is a 10 inch tablet with a 1 GHz single-core CPU and a 400 MHz GPU. As for memory the tablet has 4 GB of storage and 1 GB of RAM. It also has an HDMI port for mirroring onto HDTVs.

This tablet might be relatively cheap compared to the iPad and some of the more expensive Android tablets, but there are too many better Android tablets around the $219.99 price point that the eGlide XL Pro 2 has. Amazon sells it if you insist on having one.

Leaked iPad 3 display has 2048 x 1536 resolution

Kyle — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:54:02 +0000

Mac Rumors has gotten their hands on an iPad 3 display and plopped it under a microscope. Their findings are that there is four times as many pixels in the same amount of space. That effectively means that the dimensions have each been doubled from 1024 x 768 to 2048 x 1536. At that extremely high resolution, Apple will undoubtedly market it as a Retina display.

That is enough confirmation for me. I will be extremely surprised if the iPad 3 does not have a 2048 x 1536 display. Now the main question I have is will the A6 processor be dual-core or quad-core.

Source: Mac Rumors

iPad 3 rumored to be announced first week of March

Kyle — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:41:10 +0000

All Things D is reporting that Apple will hold an event to announce the iPad 3 during the first week of March. This would fit perfectly with their iPad 2 launch during the same time last year.

The iPad 3 is suspected to have 2048×1536 Retina Display and a quad-core A6 processor. There are also new rumors floating about that it will only be dual core, like the iPad 2, but lets just hope it is quad.

Source: All Things D