tablets

Report: iPad suppliers deny any delays

Denying a report of delays, iPad component suppliers say they are on schedule to deliver parts to the manufacturer.

The suppliers said that Foxconn, Apple's longtime manufacturing partner, should be able to deliver 600,000 to 700,000 iPad tablets in March, according to a DigiTimes report on Wednesday. The suppliers also predicted that 1 million iPads can be delivered in April, as production ramps up.

This is in stark contrast to a report from Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams, earlier this week. Misek said Monday that production problems could limit the number of iPads coming to … Read more

Panasonic Toughbook C1: a 3.2-pound 'business rugged' convertible tablet

Is there room for a thin "business rugged" laptop that costs more than twice what "regular" laptops do? Walking the liminal plane between touch tablets and ultraportable laptops, the newly announced 12.1-inch Panasonic Toughbook C1 looks like an attempt to capitalize on the tablet meme while still catering to a small business crowd that may not take to boxier and more weatherproof designs. Slimmer than many Toughbooks before it but not exactly as super-durable as them either, the newly announced Toughbook C1 bridges the gap with a look that reminds us of mainstream Panasonic laptops … Read more

Archos tablets go bigger, dumber, cheaper

Do you like the idea of a coffee table tablet PC, but can't imagine shelling out $500 for an iPad? If so, perhaps you'd be interested in paying half as much for half the functionality at half the speed.

That seems to be the logic behind the latest announcement (Google Translate) from Archos, where details for a pair of "Home Tablets" were made public ahead of Cebit.

The Home Tablets are both based off Google's Android operating system, but skinned and augmented by Archos in a similar fashion as the Archos 5 Internet Tablet released near the end of last year.

The smaller of the two new tablets is the Archos 7, which sports a design similar to the Archos 5, but uses a larger 7-inch touch screen. Internally, the Archos 7 takes a big step back from the Archos 5, running its system on a basic 600MHz ARM 9 processor. You can connect over Wi-Fi to check e-mail and browse the Web, but Archos 5 features such as Bluetooth and GPS are a no-go.

The Archos 7 also includes a microSD memory slot, which is a good thing considering the device will only come in 2GB and 8GB capacities. Multimedia playback is mentioned in the press release (including Flash video), but no… Read more

Wacom revamps 21-inch Cintiq display-tablet

Well-funded digital artists take note: Wacom has announced its Cintiq 21UX, a second-generation device that combines a 21.3-inch display with the company's pen-controlled tablet.

The new Cintiq is geared toward artists, designers, and others who benefit from being able to draw or otherwise interact directly with images on the screen rather than through a separate tablet or mouse. It doesn't come cheap, though, with a price of $1,999 when it ships in late March or early April.

The color LCD, with a resolution 1600x1200, can be laid flat or rotated one way or the other up to 180 degrees in its stand, or dismounted altogether, Wacom said in its Monday announcement. On the back are two "touch strips" that let a finger slide adjust properties such as zoom or drawing brush size. … Read more

New HP EliteBook tablet adds capacitive touch, new Intel processors

Lest anyone be left out of the tablet/slate wave that's currently crashing over the laptop and ultraportable industry, HP has announced a new 12.1-inch EliteBook convertible tablet for the business-minded who feel the need for pens and capacitive multitouch displays at the same time.

Equipped with a stainless steel finish and magnesium casing, the EliteBook 2740p tablet PC will be available with either a Core i5 or Core i7 processor, a reinforced glass screen, and a touch interface that will also work with an included pen. The 2740p (and its non-tablet sibling, the 2540p below) also meet … Read more

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Lenovo continues to break ThinkPad mold wide open

Since Lenovo took over the ThinkPad brand in 2005 from IBM, for the most part the line has kept its iconic, no-nonsense form intact. Love it or hate it (and many do love it), that branding has originally a far more recognizable part of Lenovo than the name Lenovo itself.

Years later, Lenovo has gotten some wind in its sails with a number of IdeaPad laptops and innovative computing products, and perhaps this has fueled some of the inevitable changes away from the ThinkPad as we generally know it.

Most recently, Core i7 updates to the dual-screen workstation W701DS and … Read more

Reading the tea leaves of iPad competitors

It turns out Apple isn't the only company readying a touch-screen tablet computer.

We say that half-jokingly, of course. In the last few months, quite a few companies have signaled their intentions to go head-to-head (or at least offer an alternative) to Apple's much-ballyhooed iPad, which should hit stores in March. Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, and Sony have or are in the process of readying gadgets they say will compete with the iPad. We've seen some demonstrations at the Consumer Electronics Show and other trade shows, but several gadget makers admitted to waiting to see what Apple was going to do before setting the specifications and price of their competing touch-screen tablets.

Now that they know, what are they going to do about it? That might sound a bit silly considering companies like HP, Dell, and Acer have larger market share than Apple--when it comes to computers. But in other, faster-growing areas--smartphones and music players--Apple's popularity far outstrips theirs. And in a new device category (it's reasonable to consider this a new category) they're all essentially starting from scratch.

So how will every company not named Apple try to compete for your touch-screen tablet computing dollar, assuming such a dollar exists? They will try to emphasize something about theirs being better, of course, be it in terms of price, style, speeds and feeds, or the movies, books, games, or TV shows available via their gadget. Dell, for example, providing evidence that an old dog can at least attempt new tricks, tends to emphasize style these days. HP's commercials try to sell you on how easily their product fit into your lifestyle.

More than anything, they should try to avoid selling it as a computer, in the classic laptop computer sense. If Dell and HP and Acer and their compatriots do that, they'll end up trying to convince people to spend money on basically yet another Netbook; something that's sort of like a PC, but not quite. It's just smaller, cheaper, and with less functionality than a traditional PC. And after sophisticated smartphones and cheaper Netbooks, do consumers really need yet another device that's not quite a laptop?… Read more

OpenTablet 7 is Flash-friendly iPad alternative

As Apple's launch date for its iPad multimedia tablet draws near, competitors are scurrying out of the woodwork. Whether its Archos, FusionGarage, or the e-reader flavor of the week, iPad rivals are quick to position themselves as the permissive, open-armed alternative to Apple's "walled garden" tech philosophy.

One of the latest contenders to step up to the iPad is the OpenTablet 7, a 7-inch touch-screen tablet that supports Flash-based applications and includes HDMI output and dual cameras.

At 9 inches by 5 inches, with a 0.59-inch thick body, the OpenTablet stays pretty close to the … Read more