Source: Google's Pixel C is a Great Professional Tablet with One Giant Flaw
Friday, October 9, 2015
Google’s Pixel C is a Great Professional Tablet with One Giant Flaw
Source: Google's Pixel C is a Great Professional Tablet with One Giant Flaw
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Tablet Demands Continue To Be Weak
First Posted: Oct 07, 2015 10:25 PM EDT
Credit:REUTERS/Pichi Chuang
Reports about tablet devices being weak in sales have gone around the internet for the past couple of months. And to keep the market interested in new tablets, tech companies have to constantly innovate and add features so that customers will be interested in getting themselves new models. These days, top companies such as Apple and Microsoft have continued to unveil new tablets, and it looks like the market is still promising.
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But while this appears to be the case, Taiwanese IC designers claim that the demands for the tablet device continue to be low and weak. According to a report from Digitimes, more and more customers prefer larger handsets over new tablet models. The sources say that the market for the device is very likely to decline by 10 to 20 percent in the coming years.
The weak demands have prompted chip suppliers to phase out their IC tablets, and more and more suppliers are doing the same over the past few months. Also projected is a decrease in unit shipment of Android tablets, which the sources predicted will fall to less than 160 million units next year. In the coming years, tablet shipment sees further decline to about 120-130 million unit shipment.
International vendors have also left the tablet market because lowering prices to increase sales will yield them more losses instead of revenues. Competition among chip makers and manufacturers is also tight, and pricing competition for the chips is also intense. This adds to the problem of the tablet as a marketable device.
The tablet is also not as easily replaceable as the smartphone, and many tablet users are still contented with their devices by the time a company releases another model of the device. So for now, tech companies will only be able to count on how they interest their customers to buy their new tablets.
Recently, Apple has launched the iPas Air 2, and Microsoft has released the Surface Pro 4. The market has a lot of competition, but who buys what and how many and how often are the questions.
© 2015 iTech Post All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.Source: Tablet Demands Continue To Be Weak
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Hands on: The Surface Book is a laptop. But it’s also a tablet.
Video shot and edited by Jennifer Hahn. 
Enlarge / The Surface Book detached from its keyboard. Andrew Cunningham 
Enlarge / The Surface Book and pen. Andrew Cunningham 
Enlarge / Folded down into tablet mode. You can only use the dedicated GeForce GPU when docked. Andrew Cunningham
Source: Hands on: The Surface Book is a laptop. But it's also a tablet.
Almost as soon as Microsoft announced the Surface RT and Surface Pro in 2012, there was an immediate reaction: "OK, that's sort of nice, I guess, but when will there be a Surface laptop?"
There's never been any doubt about the Surface line's build quality, attention to detail, and aesthetics. But for many of us, a tablet with a kickstand and separate keyboard lacks an essential quality: lapability. The Surface Pro 3's variable-position kickstand and more secure magnetic keyboard attachment meant that the thing could be used on your lap at a pinch, but it never had the stability or convenience of a true laptop with a stiff hinge, and no matter how much Microsoft claimed it to be a laptop replacement, it wasn't.
The Surface Book is a laptop replacement.
It adds the thing that the Surface Pro lacks: a stiff hinge. It's still a tablet with a separate keyboard, but this time around, there's no kickstand. The hinge holds the screen up and lets you hold the screen at whatever angle you want. This fixes the lapability problem once and for all: the first thing I did when I got my hands on it was sit down and put it on my lap, the way I do when I'm on a plane or watching TV. And it worked. I could set the keyboard just so, the footprint of the device on my lap wasn't deceptively oversized (extended by the kickstand), and the screen was at just the right angle. The greatest problem of the Surface Pro 4 is addressed by the Surface Book.
Enlarge / The Surface Book detached from its keyboard. Andrew Cunningham The "dynamic fulcrum hinge," as Microsoft calls it, is an unusual design. With the system closed, it's semicircular, but open it up and it unrolls, slightly enlarging the footprint of the machine. This helps keep the system balanced when it's on your lap.
But Microsoft is still committed to the 2-in-1 concept, and the Surface Book doesn't buck that trend. The screen is firmly anchored into the keyboard/battery base, but press the eject button (or use the software eject button from the Windows notification area) and it comes loose. The result is an astonishingly thin, albeit rather large—it has a 13.5-inch, 3000×2000 screen—standalone tablet. Hold it like a clipboard, draw on it with a pen, poke at it with your finger.
The screen, at least in the less-than-brightly lit moody atmosphere of Microsoft's hands-on session, looked bright and beautiful. 3000×2000 is an unusual resolution—it looks like Microsoft has decided to ditch the variety of weird and wonderful resolutions that are found in the PC world, typically derived from strange multiples of VGA's 640×480 resolution—but it means that there are a ton of pixels on the screen: 6 million of them, 267 per inch. Viewing angles were good, and both touch and pen responsiveness were solid.
Enlarge / The Surface Book and pen. Andrew Cunningham And the keyboard unit itself? Both the keys and the touchpad eclipse anything previously branded Surface. Type Covers aren't bad, and the newest one designed for Surface Pro 4 is the best yet, but they still compromise a certain amount of feel in the name of being thin. The Book's keyboard doesn't, and the keys feel crisp with good travel.
Aside from lapability, the weakest part of the previous Surfaces has been their touchpads; undersized and imprecise. The glass touchpad on the Surface Book feels vastly better. It's going to take extended testing to get a real sense of how it compares to Apple's touchpads, but at the very least this one should be usable without leaving users aching for a mouse.
The look of the thing is going to be divisive. That dynamic fulcrum hinge doesn't completely close; the screen isn't flush against the keyboard. Look from the side and there's a gap.
Enlarge / Folded down into tablet mode. You can only use the dedicated GeForce GPU when docked. Andrew Cunningham The gap is going to drive some people crazy. I don't mind it at all. Much like many of Apple's machines (and, like it or not, they're still the benchmark against which all others are judged, as Apple has consistently managed to build high quality laptops for many years), it feels solid, well-engineered, and designed. Like other Surfaces, the magnesium alloy Surface Book has a plain, unadorned, almost industrial look to it. It won't be to everyone's taste.
The Surface Book should offer another feature found in laptops: better performance. The keyboard unit can include a discrete NVIDIA GPU. That's only usable when the tablet is docked, of course. The keyboard also includes an extra battery; the system as a whole can manage a 12 hour battery life, Microsoft says, but that's only when using both batteries. The tablet itself has much less battery life.
The one sour point is the price. The Surface Book starts at $1,499 for a Core i5, 8GB RAM, and a 128GB PCIe SSD. But there's a catch: that system doesn't include a discrete GPU. The cheapest Surface Book with the discrete GPU is $1,899. That's still a Core i5 with 8GB, though it also ups the storage to 256GB. The top spec is a Core i7 with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD, and that costs an eye-watering $2,699.
We'll have a full review of the Surface Book in due course. But from what we've seen and used so far, this time around, Microsoft really does have its laptop replacement.
Listing image by Andrew Cunningham
Source: Hands on: The Surface Book is a laptop. But it's also a tablet.
Monday, October 5, 2015
What we expect from Microsoft's massive device launch: new Surfaces, Lumias, and Band
But we have a hunch that the software is going to be the real star (or goat) of the launch.
Hurricane Joaquin may be skipping New York City, but Microsoft's own maelstrom of hardware is still expected to hit October 6—most likely three new Lumia phones, an updated Surface Pro 4 tablet, and a new Microsoft Band.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that Microsoft's device business will steal the spotlight. But their success could arguably turn on something else: software.
Somewhere within Redmond, Microsoft executives are making a choice: Do they show Microsoft's new flagship phones running the safe, stable, and established Windows Phone 8.1 OS? Or will this be the official coming-out party for Windows 10 Mobile?
That's just one of a swirl of storylines as Microsoft readies its launch. Then there are the rumored flagship Lumia phones, the Lumia 950 and 950XL, which have appeared seemingly everywhere but the event itself and are the first premium Windows phones in over a year. (Microsoft may also launch a third phone, the Lumia 550.) Then there's the launch of the second of the Band fitness trackers, a product Microsoft never seemed all that committed to as the market for wearables cools.
The most boring part of the launch could be the one that Microsoft should be most excited about: the Surface Pro 4, a refresh of Microsoft's powerful productivity tablet that's nearing a billion dollars in revenue per quarter.
PCWorld will be reporting live and providing our hands-on impressions of what we're allowed to touch and feel. So what is going to be there? Here's our best guess.
Surface Pro 4The Surface Pro 3 that launched about 17 months ago was finally the Windows tablet everyone wanted. Its success turned on its design: a svelte, streamlined productivity PC that just so happens to be a tablet. Microsoft's Surface business raked in $888 million in revenue during the June calendar quarter, and it's certainly possible that Microsoft could disclose that it topped a cool billion for the just-completed third quarter.
Agam Shah Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 shown on stage in May 2014.
If Microsoft announces a Surface Pro 4, many expect it will include Intel's new Skylake chip for increased performance. I would like to see a Windows Hello camera built in to enable biometric logins, but the recent launch of the Lenovo Miix 700—with a rear-mounted Hello camera—makes that a bit doubtful.
One rumor also claims that the Surface Pro 4 will essentially do away with the bezel — on all but the side with the Windows button, presumably. Tom Warren of The Verge suggests that the SP4 could have a 4K or even 5K display, to go along with a new stylus, and perhaps a fingerprint reader. I'd hope for the latter but not the former, because I'd rather not have a high-res display eating away all my battery life.
Warren also suggests that Microsoft could be preparing a monster of a surprise: a full 14-inch "laptop"-y version of the SP4, compared with the 11.6-inch display we're used to with the Surface Pro 4. This is a reasonable and intriguing possibility, though you'd have to balance a larger size's greater productivity against its impact on portability.
One angle slightly worries me: Six months ago, a USB-C connector was considered the hot new I/O direction, because of its blazing throughput, ease of use (you can align a USB-C connector in either direction) and the fact that you can route power through it as well. The SP3 has just one USB-3 port. The problem is this: there aren't any USB-C charging-and-I/O dongles available today. If an SP4 includes just one USB-C port—and we don't know if it will—you won't be able to charge the tablet and use it to drive an external display until those dongles ship.
Finally, there are the other Surfaces you need to worry about—the ones that don't come from Microsoft. Lenovo already announced its Miix 700 at IFA, which falls between the Surface 3 and the Surface Pro 3 in terms of specs. VAIO (the spinoff brand formerly owned by Sony) has its own Surface clone, the $2,199 VAIO Z Canvas, and we're hearing rumors of yet another waiting in the wings. Ladies and gentlemen, the Surface clone is going to be a thing.
Lumia 950, Lumia 950XL, and Lumia 550At this point, what don't we know about Microsoft's new flagship phones? A Microsoft presentation in Spanish has described the phones in detail. Then Microsoft did, itself, on its own Store page. About the only discrepancy is that the midrange Lumia 550 appeared on Microsoft's Latin America leak, while that phone was omitted from the United Kingdom's Microsoft Store page.
Forever Nokia Latin America Most of the specifications of Microsoft's phones have already leaked...
To recap:
Lumia 950
Lumia 950XL
Lumia 550
All of these phones will be designed to run Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft's upcoming version of Windows 10 for phones and tablets.
Microsoft's flagship feature looks to be Continuum, a feature that allows your phone to connect to a monitor and run universal apps—which would normally be constrained by the phone's display—and run them at the resolution of your monitor. This effectively turns your phone into a PC, and that's a compelling message to sell.
...from Microsoft itself.
The way Microsoft does this is via what Microsoft is calling the Microsoft Display Dock, a a small box that appears to have USB and microUSB inputs and connects to an external display. According to the slide, it will also have a Bluetooth connection built in.
But Windows 10 Mobile is... kiiiind of... ready for prime time. A small group of users running preview builds, including myself, are familiar with how Windows 10 Mobile operates. But for many in the press—think USA Today, Time, and others—this may be their first experience with the new operating system.
I have no doubt that Windows 10 Mobile will be demonstrated on stage, possibly with some new apps. But I will be very interested to see what OS powers the phones the press are allowed to play with, and in what context Windows 10 Mobile is referred to—as a preview, or as a finished product. I would also expect to hear updates on how Microsoft's developer tools to port Android and iOS apps to Windows 10 are progressing.
Finally, there's the question: Who will sell them? Microsoft has long said that it's finding more success outside the U.S. with Windows Phone than within it. On Friday, Reddit noticed that T-Mobile USA had purged all of its Windows Phones from its store. Clearing out inventory? Or is T-Mobile done with Microsoft?
Microsoft Band 2When it launched, I felt Microsoft's Band was a relatively useful wearable that held up well against the current state of the competition. Unfortunately, the Apple Watch debuted shortly afterward. Android Wear watches also have iterated quickly, enough that they're arguably dominating the smartwatch market.
MicrosoftInsider The new, curvier, Microsoft Band.
Since the Band debuted, Microsoft has given its wearable just a few updates of significance. One expected update to the Band 2 is a curved display that will help it conform more naturally to the wrist, as well as possibly some other sensors. Blair Hanley Frank, my colleague at IDG News Service, reports that Microsoft employees have also been seen wearing Band 2s with metallic clasps: chrome and rose gold.
The Band epitomizes what I call Microsoft's Nintendo syndrome: great first-party experiences, but a struggle to win third-party developer support.
New Xbox experience?It's not a phone or a tablet, but Xbox is another Microsoft platform due for an update. Microsoft recently asked a small group of people to try out what it's calling the New Xbox Experience, part of the Windows 10-ish revamp of the console's OS, including backward compatibility with Xbox 360 games.
A screenshot of what the new Xbox Experience will look like.
Microsoft has promised to roll this revamp out this fall; I'm part of the small group of people who have been invited to join, although, as of the time I'm writing this, I haven't received the build yet. It's possible we'll get a peek at what's up this Tuesday.
A big dealMicrosoft spent about $7.2 billion to acquire Nokia's devices business about two years ago. This week, we'll see if it's money well spent.
Anyone who's followed Microsoft's hardware business, however, knows that the company can (and will) weather huge losses without long-term consequences. Two years ago, Microsoft wrote down $900 million in inventory after the Surface RT tanked. But Microsoft stuck with it, and the Surface Pro 3 now represents one of the company's unqualified successes. We could see the same sort of resurgence in Windows phones, although I'd argue that challenge is considerably greater. We'll keep you posted on the day-of as news arises, and stay tuned for hands-on with any new devices or software that arise.
Source: What we expect from Microsoft's massive device launch: new Surfaces, Lumias, and Band
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Nvidia Shield Tablet 2 Release Date, News, and Specs: 'Nvidia Shield Tablet 2' To Be Released on a Tegra K1 SoC Processor?
Since Nvidia's release of a gaming tablet, there a number of tech companies who wanted to follow their steps. However, the main problem with the gaming tablet is that it has a fire hazard problem mainly because of the battery. Needless to say, there are reports that Nvidia is still going to release a Nvidia Shield Tablet 2 and that it will run on Tegra K1 SoC processor.
Nvidia Nvidia Shield Tablet 2
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Here's the latest on 'Nvidia Shield Tablet 2' release date, news, and specs.
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Recently, Nvidia announced;
"...today announced a voluntary recall of its SHIELDTM 8-inch tablets that were sold between July 2014 and July 2015, which the company will replace. NVIDIA has determined that the battery in these tablets can overheat, posing a fire hazard. The recall does not affect any other NVIDIA products.
NVIDIA is asking customers to visit www.nvidia.com/support/tabletrecall for information on how to obtain a replacement device. NVIDIA is also asking consumers to stop using the recalled tablet, except as needed to participate in the recall and back up data. Consumers will receive a replacement tablet after registering to participate in the recall."
Previously it was reported that The Nvidia Shield Tablet 2 is set to come out this year (according to Techno Buffalo and PC Advisor UK).
Nvidia Shield Tablet 2 will still run on Android, this time using the updated 5.1 Lollipop version. According to PC Advisor UK, this new tablet from Nvidia is expected to pack Nvidia's latest Tegra X1 processor, which offers better performance and higher quality graphics any gamer will enjoy. In addition, Nvidia Shield Tablet 2 offers 10 hours of video viewing and web browsing before the battery needs to be charged.
For gaming use, the battery should be charged after 5 hours . The Tegra X1 chip is quad-core and runs at 2.2 GHz and 2 GB of RAM. It is the same processor used on the latest Nvidia Shield Android TV device.
The first Nvidia Shield Tablet used Tegra K1 SoC processor and came with an 8 inch display screen with 1920 x 1200 resolution that offered users the ability to output 4K resolution to TVs. Nvidia Shield Tablet 2 retains this resolution. It will also feature a 5- mega pixel camera both at the front and at the rear of the device. Also in front are two front-facing speakers.
A micro- USB, microSD and mini HDMI ports can be found on its side. Reports say it will be lighter in weight at 13.1 oz. It may be heavier than Nexus 7, but only by 3 oz., and its extra screen space and extra internal thermal shield that keeps the device cool, more than make up for the difference in weight. Another feature at the back of each unit is a slip-resistant surface, a step Nvidia has taken to further protect the device.
With a suggested retail price of US$ 299 (wifi version), the Nvidia Shield Tablet 2 is pretty much affordable given all the improvements on power and features the tablet offers.
Source: Nvidia Shield Tablet 2 Release Date, News, and Specs: 'Nvidia Shield Tablet 2' To Be Released on a Tegra K1 SoC Processor?
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Proposal to give tablets to PMC school students
Shiv Sena corporator says one-time investment, along lines of BMC initiative, will cut costs in long run and update education
Source: Proposal to give tablets to PMC school students
Along the lines of an initiative undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a corporator has suggested that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) also provide electronic tablets to corporation- run school students. Senior Shiv Sena corporator Prithviraj Sutar has submitted the proposal for the standing committee meeting scheduled for the coming Tuesday.
PMC runs a total of 309 schools — 225 Marathi-medium, 34 Urdu-medium, 2 Kannada-medium and 50 English-medium. As many as 1.04 lakh students study in these; the school board's annual budget is around Rs 350 crore per year.
Sutar told Mirror, "PMC spends almost Rs 40,000 per student in its schools — it can easily provide tablets to them to help reduce the school bag burden and provide quality education. Most students in these schools are from underprivileged backgrounds, and ofte n cannot invest in such facilities themselves. It is the administration's duty to provide them with an updated education."
He added, "We are already spending money on books and notebooks. Tablets will be a one-time investment and save the civic body money. BMC has already done it — Pune, known as the Oxford of the East, should implement it, too."
Interestingly, a state government order issued in July states that the prescribed weight for school bags for students from classes I to VIII should be limited to between 1,800 and 3,425 gms.
In August, BMC approved a proposal to distribute 22,799 tablets to Class VIII students across all its municipal schools, despite severe opposition from several parties that claimed it to be unnecessary, given that they would be more useful only with accompanying Wi-Fi facility or 3G services.
PMC administrative (education) officer, Baban Dahiphale, said, "There is no problem providing tablets to students, but we have to make a provision in the budget first. We have already tabled the next year's budget in the standing committee."
Source: Proposal to give tablets to PMC school students
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Consumer Alert: Take care with laptops, tablets
DETROIT -
Source: Consumer Alert: Take care with laptops, tablets
Whether you're a busy working parent or a student loaded with homework, you might be using a laptop or tablet to get some work done. Safety regulators in Washington, D.C., are reminding consumers those devices come with some powerful batteries that bring a potential burn hazard into your home.
"Laptops and tablets both have lithium ion batteries, which are very powerful in a very small space, so you need to respect that battery, that powerful battery," said Patty Davis, of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Many of us get very casual with our laptops. They might be sitting on a plush bed or the living room couch. Regulators said both are mistakes.
A couple years ago, an apartment in Virginia caught fire thanks to an overheated laptop battery. The battery was under recall at the time. U.S. Consumer Producer Safety Commission officials said it's aware of 674 reports of incidents with laptop computers between 2001 and June of 2015 -- reports of overheating, smoking or catching fire.
And, while they may be called "lap" tops, you might think twice about using them on your lap too often.
"It can get hot on your lap. Use it on a desktop. Use it on a hard surface so that it can have some airflow," Davis advised.
In fact, some medical journals said over time, the heat emitted from the device can cause a mottled skin condition known as "toasted skin syndrome."
This year alone, Nvidia and Lenovo have recalled thousands of tablets and battery packs because of overheating.
Even if you're not having any problems with your device, it's always a good idea to keep an eye on recalls on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's website.
Source: Consumer Alert: Take care with laptops, tablets
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