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Ten... Apple iPad Mini alternatives
Product Round-up Before you rush out and buy a device that the late Steve Jobs said wouldn’t, couldn’t and shouldn’t exist - well, kind of - you may care to consider some of the alternatives on offer, assuming that is you can’t quite make the nut and afford a full-size iPad.
Until Windows RT fondleslabs percolate down to those of us empty of …
Apple iPad Mini 8in tablet review
Hitting the Apple Store shelves a whole week after Amazon's new Kindle Fire HD tablets began arriving in the post, and two months after Google launched the Asus-made Nexus 7, the iPad Mini deserves to suffer in comparison. Even Google managed to slip a new 32GB version of its Nexus 7 under the radar at the beginning of the week …
Acer Iconia A110 8GB Android tablet review
Acer’s Iconia A110 7in Android tablet is the first real competition that Google's Nexus 7 has faced. It’s similarly sized, similarly priced and uses the same quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 underpinnings. It also runs the same Jelly Bean version of Android.
Acer Iconia A110 8GB Android tablet Lucky seven? Acer's Iconia A110
The main …
Apple's iPad Mini released, analysts predict slow burner
Apple's iPad Mini and the fourth-generation refresh of its bigger brother hit stores today as analysts forecast lower than usual sales - for the opening weekend, at least.
In a note to investors, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said he expects between 1 and 1.5 million iPad Minis will sell during the gadget's first weekend on …
Asus pledges Android 4.2 update for Google Nexus 7
Asus has confirmed that the Google Nexus 7 tablet will be getting Android 4.2 “in the very near future”.
It’s no great surprise, the 7 being a Google-branded gadget an’ all, but the new will reassure Nexus 7 owners who noted that while the new Nexus 4 smartphone from LG and the Samsung-made Nexus 10 tablet, both announced a week …
iPad Mini's quite a handful
First Fondle Apple's iPad Mini is not easy to hold in one hand.
The Reg's antipodean outpost took advantage of Australia's time zone and popped into a local Apple store to fondle the new slab. We found the mini is everything one would expect of an Apple product: sleek, pretty and simple.
But a couple of issues quickly became apparent.
One …
Inside the iPad mini: Pray you never have to open one
Teardown It's no wonder why the iPad mini assemblers at Foxconn rioted – its innards are fiendishly complex and tightly packed.
Well, to be honest, we don't really know if the iPad mini's complexity contributed to those Chinese workers dissatisfaction, but if what the tool-parts-and-repair folks at iFixit discovered when they …
Asus: we ship a million Google's Nexus 7s monthly
Asus is shipping around one million Nexus 7 tablets a month, the company has claimed.
Google's affordable fondleslab was hugely popular with consumers and rapidly sold out during its first product run. However, exact figures remained hazy. Now manufacturer Asus finally lifted the veil.
"At the beginning, it was, for instance, …
Hmm, I think I'll order an iPad Mini on Amazon ... Oh no I won't
Amazon has weighed into the tablet pooh-pooh battle, following Apple's blow by blow comparison with a Samsung Galaxy Tab during the iPad Mini launch last week.
The gloves are off down at Tablet Club, and this time the iPad Mini is on the receiving end. Amazon is taking a direct swipe at Apple's littlest Pad with a point by point …
Google goes ahead, unveils Nexus 4 and 10
Google didn’t wait: it has just outed the Nexus 7 with 32GB of storage and the Samsung-made Nexus 10.
The Nexus 7 line now runs from 16GB to 32GB - the old 8GB model is out, replaced by a cheaper 16GB tablet, for $199/£159, and the new 32GB unit, which will cost $249/£199.
Google Nexus 10 Nexus 10: Samsung made with a 2560 x …
EC tells Euro rebels: Hike up your ebook tax to 15%, or else
Luxembourg and France must stop applying a reduced VAT rate to electronic books because doing so distorts competition across the rest of the EU and is in breach of EU tax laws, the European Commission has said.
The Commission said it had issued both member states with "reasoned opinions" formally requesting that countries change …
GooPad's eight-incher gives Apple fans cheap relief
Knock-off iPad manufacturer GooPad has followed Apple and unveiled a mini version of its i-style slate. It packs similar specs, ish, but as you can imagine, has a far cheaper price than the real thing.
The GooPad Mini may be devoid of the highly-sought fruit logo, but with an 8in display at 1080 x 768 pixels, a 1.4GHz dual-core …
Amazon lends e-books free to Prime subscribers
Amazon’s UK wing is now a lending library, albeit a private one exclusive to folk willing to cough up £49 a year.
Yes, Amazon Prime subscribers with Kindles can now borrow any of 200,000 e-books for no charge other than their annual Prime sub. They can pick no more than one book a month, but there’s no digital equivalent of the …
Surface RT: Freedom luvin' app-huggers beware
Review “It’s the ultimate expression of a Windows PC,” says Windows chief Steven Sinofsky... or “a compromised, confusing product”, according to Apple’s Tim Cook, who has not used one. This is Surface RT, Microsoft’s first own-brand tablet, which went on sale today.
Along with the fact that it runs Windows 8, there are two notable …
iPad Mini vs Nexus 7: inch makes all the difference, says Apple CEO
To Apple CEO Tim Cook, an inch is everything.
Apple’s iPad Mini has an 8in display - its closest Android-based rivals all have 7in screens. A big difference, says Cook.
"We would not make a 7in tablet," he told financial analysts and journalist eavesdroppers during a conference call last night. "We don't think they're good …
Surface tablet's touch cover is ZX81 REBORN
FIRST FONDLE The Surface tablet's Touch Cover is eerily reminiscent of typing on a ZX81, The Register can report after fondling one of the elusive (to non Microsoft-adoring press) computers at the Australian launch of Windows 8.
To do so, we elbowed aside other media and scored a few minutes on a Surface running Windows RT. We were able to …
Bookeen lights up Odyssey e-reader screen
Bookeen has become the latest e-reader maker to offer a device with a ‘backlit’ screen.
Enter the Cybook Odyssey HD, a version of Bookeen’s existing reader, this time with a 1024 x 758 screen and an array of LEDs that shine light through the panel to reflect off the screen’s rear surface, highlighting the text.
Bookeen Cybook …
Amazon ships Kindle Fire HD, Paperwhite to Brits
Amazon would like you to know that its Fire HD tablet and Paperwhite e-readers are now available to us Brits. And that Lovefilm, Amazon’s film streaming and DVD rental service, can be accessed on the former.
The Fire HD, with its 7in, 1280 x 800 display - a rather higher pixel density than the iPad Mini - comes in 16GB and 32GB …
Panel production problems may stop iPad Minis getting into fans' mitts
Woe to you, Apple fanboy, you may not be able to get your hands on a shiny new iPad Mini because Apple may not be able to ship enough of them to go round.
So says DisplaySearch, a market watcher, which reckons supply will be constrained by LCD panel makers’ inability to sent enough 8.9in, 1024 x 768 screens to Apple.
Screen …
Amazon quietly un-wipes remotely wiped Kindle
Never let it be said posting your woes on the internet doesn’t yield results. After Linn Nygaard allowed Norwegian blogger Martin Bekkelund to reveal that Amazon had not only wiped her Kindle without warning but had refused to explain precisely why it had done so, the online retail giant has grudgingly relented and re-instated …
Apple's iPad Mini mishap: scratching out the retina screen
Analysis Apple will undoubtedly sell more than enough iPad Minis to keep its shareholders happy. Its fans might be less impressed with the diminutive tablet.
Sure, the new, small slate looks smart, but Apple seems to have taken little account of the competitive landscape. It’s true, in most respects its 9.7in iPad is well ahead of the …
Apple unveils iPad mini, upgrades its big brother
Yes, it's called the iPad mini – and that was one of the few heretofore unknown facts about the new iPad that Apple rolled out at its "a lttle more" event on Tuesday in San José, California.
That and its price: $329 for the entry-level, Wi-Fi model. Pre-announcement speculation was somewhere in the $299 range, with some overly …
Amazon accused of remotely wiping punter's Kindle
It’s bad enough that when you ‘buy’ an e-book, you’re really only renting it, but now we hear that at least one e-book seller will, it has been alleged, wipe your device if it sees fit.
Norwegian writer Martin Bekkelund tells the story of a chum, called Linn, who claims to have had her Kindle remotely wiped by Amazon UK.
Linn …
Iffy image said to signify incoming 10in Google tablet
It’s thumb and forefinger sodium chloride collection time, perhaps, but a photo has turned up on Google’s Picasa picture-sharing site that was taken on a device called the Nexus 10.
The reference to the device is embedded in the image’s EXIF photo metadata. The picture, uploaded on 15 October, is of a rather blurry multi-colour …
Google hails hacks to WinPho 8 spoiler event
Crafty Google is hosting an announcement a week on Monday - the same day Microsoft will be formally launching Windows Phone 8. It’s also less than a week after Apple is expected to announced the ‘iPad Mini’.
The 29 October Google launch, for which is begun mailing out invites tagged “The Playground is now open”, takes place in …
Argos flyer confirms incoming 32GB Nexus 7
Argos is so confident there’s a 32GB Nexus 7 tablet on the way it has put the machine into a Christmas brochure.
Spotted by a recipient, photographed and emailed to Teck [sic] Comes First, the Argos rag shows the same old Asus-shot pictures of the Nexus 7 we’ve all seen before but with 32GB capacity clearly there in black and …
Microsoft Surface priced up for Blighty
Advanced orders for Microsoft's Surface tablet are now being taken in the UK. Prices starting at £399.
That'll get you a 32GB version of the ARM-based slate without the touch-to-type keyboard-equipped Touch Cover, which comes bundled for an additional £80. Buy the cover on its own and you'll pay £100.
Alternatively, those after …
Microsoft Surface ad targets preppy, Glee-watching youngsters
Is it an Apple advert, a commercial for insurance, or an episode of Glee? No, it’s the first Surface commercial from Microsoft.
Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s Windows 8 ad – which seemed to bury the tablet and emphasise the traditional PC – Microsoft's latest ad flogs its own hardware: the Windows 8-based Surface.
The ad is …
Asus doubles up phone-slate combo's specs with Padfone 2
Asus has refreshed its three-in-one smartphone, tablet and notebook concept and unveiled the all-new Padfone 2.
As with many products that take far too long to materialise, the original Padfone was a great idea on paper that never quite lived up to its hype. By the time it was eventually launched, at Mobile World Congress (MWC) …
Carphone Warehouse lauds Nexus 7 while eagerly eying iPad Mini
Asus’ Google-branded Nexus 7 tablet is “the best selling Android tablet ever”, at least according to Carphone Warehouse.
Incidentally, Google has now posted the Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update that triggered headlines last week but failed to show up.
Not ‘best selling tablet’, you’ll note - the Nexus has some way to go to match …
Affected by ebook price-fixing? Amazon has a few shiny pennies for you
Amazon has gleefully started contacting US ebook customers about the funds they're entitled to claim after three publishers settled price-fixing lawsuits.
The Kindle-maker told customers that they'd be getting partial refunds of $0.30 to $1.32 for each eligible ebook bought between April 2010 and May 2012.
Ebooks will be …
Retailer leaks iPad Mini price list starting at £200
Apple's new iPad Mini will sell for £200, if screenshots on a German site are to be believed.
Mobilegeek.de is showing images of an inventory spreadsheet from the German gadget store Media Markt, which shows various models of iPad Minis listed alongside their prices.
The cheapest iPad Mini, an 8GB Wi-Fi-only device, is listed …
Amazon reportedly looking to buy TI chip-maker at heart of Kindle Fire
Mega-etailer Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy a mobile chip business from Texas Instruments.
TI's mobile chips, which are used in Amazon's Kindle Fire fondleslab, could be in the market as the company moves away from smartphones and other mobile devices and into industrial clients like carmakers.
If the talks lead to a deal …
Online mutterings foretell iPad Mini on October 23
Rumours about the new iPad Mini have fixed the date for its launch on October 23rd, which would put the miniature slab in stores in time for Christmas.
Mutterings had previously set the mini-tablet launch as sometime in October: and AllThingsD and Apple Insider are betting on 23rd October as the day. The other touted date - the …
Amazon's Bezos confirms content pays for Kindle
That Amazon makes little or no money selling its Kindle e-readers has been a popular assumption for some time. But assumption no longer - company chief Jeff Bezos has confirmed Amazon is after content sales profits instead.
The first Kindle was launched in April 2008 and cost $399 - £248 at today’s exchange rate - and follow-up …
Amazon prices up Kindle Paperwhite for Blighty
Amazon has priced up the Kindle Paperweight - sorry, Paperwhite; Freudian slip there - for the UK.
The Paperwhite is Amazon’s first e-reader with a backlit E Ink display, the notion being that the illumination doesn’t merely make it possible to read books on the gadget in the gloom, but also that it makes for a higher contrast …
Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight e-reader review
Review It’s not hard to imagine how Barnes & Noble’s Nook Simple Touch initial design meeting went. Assorted hardware engineers, industrial designers and marketing types assemble to examine Amazon’s Kindle Touch and work out how they can make something better.
And they have. On almost all points, the Simple Touch - and the Simple Touch …
Archos Android update said to brick G9 slates
An Archos firmware update - supposed to take the company's budget G9 Android tablet up to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich - has been pulled after users complained that it bricks their hardware.
The Archos G9 - which can now be picked up for as low as £115 - actually comes equipped with Android 3.2 Honeycomb, but promises an …
Apple to spice up Blighty iPads with 4G
Apple will refresh its current iPad with support for Everything Everywhere's 4G network, while the upcoming 'iPad Mini' will be limited to Wi-Fi connectivity, moles maintain.
Industry whisperers have told the Guardian that an iPad Mini announcement is imminent. However, a 3G-compatible version is unlikely.
This should allow the …
Lenovo unfolds smaller Yoga tablet-laptop hybrid
Lenovo has announced an 11in version of its still-to-ship Yoga tablet-laptop hybrid.
Part of the IdeaPad line-up, Yoga is so named because the hinge on its clamshell casing allows the screen not merely to be lifted up from the keyboard and folded flat against the desk but can be pushed further round to form a tablet.
Lenovo …
iPad Mini pics spied on Twitter
We don’t who Sonny Dickson is - a “tech enthusiast” and “9to5Mac researcher”, apparently - but he’s just posted a small set of iPad Mini pictures on his Twitter feed.
Alas, there isn’t a shot of the device working, so the unit on his desk may simply by one of the many mock-ups that have been doing the rounds of late. Certainly, …
AMD unveils 'sweet spot' processor for 'sexy' tablets
AMD has released its new Z-60 microprocessor – called in company parlance an APU, for accelerated processing unit – which it aims to squeeze into the Windows 8 tablet market above Intel's Atom line and below Chipzilla's lowest-power Core processor, the i3.
The Austin, Texas, chip designers just might have a solid offering for …
