tablets. ces 2012

Can the education-focused OLPC XO 3.0 tablet teach consumer manufacturers anything useful?

Nearly 18 months ago, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) laid out plans to introduce a $100, education-focused tablet. While the design and features of that original mockup have changed, at CES 2012, OLPC and Marvell finally introduced a working model, the X0 3.0.

We briefly covered the announcement during CES week, but in getting some hands-on time with the device and speaking with the developers of this unique tablet, it got me thinking. With its low-power, low-cost approach to tablets, is there anything useful the XO 3.0 can teach consumer tablet manufacturers?

Honestly, to avoid burying the lede too much here, I'll say that I'm not sure it can. What sets the XO 3.0 apart from consumer tablets is that consumers won't actually have access to it.… Read more

Here's what an HD Zelda Wii U game might look and play like

LAS VEGAS--Nintendo held a few behind-closed-door meetings with an up-close and personal demo of the Wii U at CES 2012.

While the vast majority of demos and presentations were mostly stuff I had heard before, I was able to put together what playing a Zelda game on the Wii U might look and play like.

I had seen this quick Zelda on Wii U teaser video before, but through some generous imagination, I was able to carefully piece together how it could potentially work.

The Wii U's tablet controller's screen is very impressive, and would be the perfect … Read more

Google issues Ice Cream Sandwich style guide

LAS VEGAS--When Google first showed off Ice Cream Sandwich last year, the company promised that the update would unify the Android experience between tablets and smartphones.

And today at CES, Matias Duarte, Google's director of Android user experience, announced a further step in that direction.

While speaking with editors of The Verge, Duarte announced that Google has developed an Ice Cream Sandwich style guide for device manufactures and developers.

According to Android Developer Blog, the guide will be a place where developers can "learn about principles, building blocks, and patterns for creating world-class Android user interfaces." In … Read more

Asus Memo 370T changes the game by offering four cores for the price of two

LAS VEGAS--On Monday, Nvidia and Asus teased a product that may change everything. At the Nvidia press conference the companies flashed that a quad-core, Tegra 3-based 7-inch tablet would soon be released for only $250.

The tablet in question actually turned out to be the Asus Memo 370T. An upgraded version of the 7-inch stylus-supported Memo tablet Asus debuted at CES 2011.

While the previous version ran on Honeycomb and utilized a dual-core Qualcomm 8260-1.2Ghz CPU, the 370T will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich and houses a quad-core Tegra 3. No word yet on the actual speed of the … Read more

The ViewPad 10e is too expensive, even given its sub-$300 price

LAS VEGAS--As demanding as CES can be for writers to cover, vendors must experience an even crueler level of hell. As a vendor, you can lay your plans the best you can, only to have your thunder stolen at a moment's notice by the competition.

The Viewsonic ViewPad 10e is a newly announced 10-inch tablet for $280, that lives now in the wake of Asus' announcement of its $250 quad core 7-incher.

The ViewPad 10e actually sports a pretty thin design, measuring 9.1mm and felt fairly light in my hands. Also, its 10-inch IPS screen is bright with … Read more

ViewSonic's E70 tablet puts ICS only $170 away

LAS VEGAS--You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, and apparently the same goes for bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to a sub-$200 tablet. At least for ViewSonic. The company's ViewPad E70 offers an ICS experience for less than $200, but made a few sacrifices to get there.

The E70 sports a 7-inch screen with a 800x480-pixel resolution. That's two-thirds fewer pixels than most 7-inch tablets, which usually house 1,280x800-pixel screens.… Read more

Asus MeMo returns to CES with a low price and two more cores

LAS VEGAS--Hey, remember the Asus MeMo that debuted a year ago at CES 2011? Don't worry, not many do. Anyway, it's back this year and according to Asus, the 7-inch tablet will actually be released in the second quarter of 2012. The kicker is that it will sport a Tegra 3 CPU and cost only $250.

Editors' note: This post was updated on January 10, 2012, to reflect corrected pricing, specs, and feature info for the Asus 370T.

For those not familiar with the long-delayed device, let me catch you up. The MeMo is a 7-inch tablet, with a 1,280x800-pixel-resolution IPS screen. There are versions that will be released in other countries that include stylus support, but Asus has dropped the stylus for the 370T's US release.… Read more

Asus Transformer Prime gets major screen upgrade

LAS VEGAS--Not even a month after the Asus Transformer Prime's official release, Asus has already announced the next version of the tablet. The new version sports an upgraded 1,920x1,200-pixel-resolution screen with a few other improvements thrown in for good measure.

While the "old" Prime delivered images on a 1,280x800-pixel screen, the new Asus Transformer Prime TF700T, as it's called, more than doubles that pixel count, while retaining a 10.1-inch screen.

The TF700T will also see two other key improvements. First, its front camera will go from 1.2-megapixel to 2-megapixel and will now allow for HD video chat conferencing.… Read more

Toshiba's new tablet is thinnest yet, but does its price kill it?

LAS VEGAS--Touting a thin product draws lots of attention and not to be outdone by the Transformer Prime in the svelteness department, on Sunday, Toshiba introduced the thinnest tablet yet, its Excite X10.

Compared with the now previous skinny champion, the Transformer Prime, the Excite X10 is a full 0.6mm thinner, measuring 7.7mm, compared with the Prime's 8.3mm profile. At 1.2 pounds, it's also the lightest tablet to date, coming in at 0.4 pound lighter than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The X10 will come in both 16GB and 32GB varieties, at $… Read more

Acer teases tablet with highest screen resolution yet

LAS VEGAS--Not content to rest on the laurels of its recently announced A200, Acer today unveiled a new Iconia Tab tablet, featuring a screen resolution of 1,920x1,080 pixels (1080p).

Typically, tablet screen resolutions top out at 1,280x800 pixels, but thanks to the faster speed of quad-core processors (Acer didn't reveal which quad-core CPU the new tablet would be using), look for high-res screens like this (and even higher) to become a trend over the next year.… Read more