HTC is planning a tablet -- and it claims to have a real trick up its sleeve to challenge the likes of the iPad, Asus Transformer Prime and Google Nexus 7. HTC's only entry into the tablet game so far has been the HTC Flyer, pictured above, one of the earliest 7-inch tablets. Despite the name, the Flyer never took off. But with the success of the Amazon Kindle Fire in the US and the coming of the Nexus 7, compact 7-inch tablets are much hotter now than they were then -- could HTC be looking at building another dinky slate? The fact the latest version of Android has arrived works in HTC's favour. The Flyer used Gingerbread, an older version of Google's Android software that wasn't designed for the larger screen of a tablet. But version 4.1 Jelly Bean works across phones and slates. Arriving this month on the Nexus 7, Jelly Bean is here in good time to make an appearance on a new HTC device. At least the Flyer had a decent tablet interface, in the form of a tweaked version of HTC … [Read more...] about HTC planning a tablet with ‘something unique’
The digital transformation playbook
Huawei MediaPad 10 review: test-driving the company’s first 10-inch tablet
Toward the end of Huawei's Mobile World Congress press event this past February, company executives made a brief mention of an upcoming 10-inch, quad-core tablet. For the media in attendance, it was a coup d'oeil at best and a dangling hardware carrot, for sure. At the time, the company kept curious journalists at bay, but did confirm some high-end specs: a 1,920 x 1,200 IPS display, 8-megapixel rear camera, LTE (Cat 4) / DC-HSPA+ radios and a proprietary, quad-core K3V2 CPU buffered by 2GB of RAM. It wouldn't be until CTIA in New Orleans three months later when we'd actually get some hands-on time with device. Now that we're at the tail-end of the year and the MediaPad 10 is on sale in Europe, much of the buzz has evaporated in the wake of some high-profile product launches (think: Google's Retina-searing Nexus 10, or the recently refreshed iPad). But is there a reason to give the MediaPad 10 a second look anyway? Will a price of 424 euros and limited regional availability mar … [Read more...] about Huawei MediaPad 10 review: test-driving the company’s first 10-inch tablet
iPad mini review
The iPad mini has been rumored for nearly as long as the original iPad has existed, but it wasn't clear early on how many of those rumors were based on fact and how many were based on hope. Hope, that was, for a smaller, more portable tablet that would bring access to all the Apple ecosystem had to offer, in a package you could easily hold in one hand. Specifically, a package more affordable than the 10-incher. … [Read more...] about iPad mini review