Category Archives: Android

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Gets Reviewed, Found Skinny and a Bit Buggy (Video)

Posted by on September 16, 2011 1 comment

The time has come to review the world’s most controversial tablet and it’s not even a HP model I’m talking about. Coming after a couple of months of legal trouble from Apple, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 started off as a potentially doomed slate, since it was banned in a few countries, but the ban was eventually lifted. What we have right here is a Honeycomb unit and the one that I tested lacked TouchWiz sadly.

Considering what I’ve been hearing recently, that the TouchWiz update cripples the Galaxy Tab 10.1 rather than enhance it, I’m lucky I didn’t get it. Supposedly, TouchWiz and the update bricked a number of units and really dug into the battery life. Back to our device on the testing table, this slate is thinner and lighter than the iPad, at 8.6mm and 565 grams respectively… and that’s felt the moment you grab the gadget with two hands.

The only time when I felt that Samsung was copying Apple was when I found out that this tablet lacks any kind of useful port. No trace of SD or microSD card slot, micro USB, full USB, HDMI or anything like that. We’ll have to do with an audio jack and the 30 pin port provided by Samsung. The display is top notch quality, with a 10.1 inch diagonal, widescreen view and 1280 x 800 pixel resolution, superior to the one on the iPad 2.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 comes with a 1GB of RAM, up to 64GB of internal memory and the usual dual core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor at 1GHz. HSPA+ connectivity of up to 21Mbps is available, as well as WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0. Don’t expect too much from the 3MP camera at the back, although on paper it promises HD 720p video recording. At least it has an LED flash and autofocus.. and it’s paired with a front 2 megapixel camera for videocalls.

The experience with this model didn’t give me any specific thrills in comparison with other Honeycomb models. The only difference here is the Samsung dedicated App Store and the Music Hub, that gives you the latest hits in the music industry for a certain price. In the Samsung application store there are a few nifty apps, like the Benny e-book for kids or the Star Chart for astronomy buffs. All in all I had a pleasant experience with this very light and thin tablet… but in the end the software spoiled it for me.

The tablet froze to bricked status for a day or two and that was a complete turn off for me. I may have been unlucky enough to get a buggy device, but that’s not the case. The bugs I saw here are the same as the ones on any other Honeycomb tablet: force closes especially in the YouTube app and lots of lag and blocks when the tablet runs multiple apps. Maybe with Android 4.0 this slate will perform better…


ViewSonic ViewPad 7e Affordable Tablet Becomes Official

Posted by on September 16, 2011 No comments

ViewSonic has just unveiled a new low price tablet, the ViewPad 7e, a model with affordable price tag and Android 2.3 Gingerbread as the OS. Priced at $200 and shipping in late October, the device won’t support access to Android Market, but it will still get the Amazon Services for Android to compensate.

The slate comes with some preinstalled apps such as Twitter, TuneIn Radio and Amazon Kindle. As far as specs go, you get a 7 inch 800 x 600 pixel display with LED backlight, a microSD card slot, a miniUSB port and a miniHDMI out. The device also packs dual cameras, Adobe Flash 10.3 support and 4GB of internal memory.

The Android version that this unit runs is customized with the ViewScene 3D software and there’s also a homescreen launcher on board with substantial eye candy, that involves a 3D carousel. This is no HTC Sense, but still it’s pretty hot. Will you spend $200 for this gadget?


HTC Flyer Bootloader Can Now Be Unlocked With HTC Software

Posted by on September 15, 2011 No comments

HTC has great news for the owners of the Flyer tablet: they’ll be allowed to unlock their bootloader using a HTC web tool made available by the Taiwanese company. On HTCDev.com you’ll find this tablet among the unlockable devices, in both the international WiFi and 3G version.

However, before you start to unlock the bootloader, you must check up the Flyer model you’re using, to make sure you have the correct firmware version, that must be up to date. Strangely enough, the list of unlockable devices doesn’t include the HTC EVO View 4G, the WiMax flavor of the slate available on Sprint, so bad news if you’re on this carrier.

Reasons to unlock the Flyer there are plenty, the simplest of them being the fact that you can install custom firmware not approved y HTC, unlike the official software. Keep one thing in mind though: you have to be familiar with such unlock methods and if you haven’t done this before, you should keep away for now. Especially since it will void your warranty…


AT&T to Start Selling the Acer Iconia Tab A501 Honeycomb Tablet From September 18

Posted by on September 13, 2011 No comments

AT&T has big plans for this month and no, we’re not talking about the iPhone 5, but rather about a new tablet they’re going to sell. It’s the Acer Iconia Tab A501 I’m referring to, a Honeycomb model that will debut on this carrier starting September 18. The device supports HSPA+ connectivity and the 501 is simply an enhanced version of the A500 tablet released months ago.

Keep in mind that A501 should have been released in Q2, becoming the first 4G tablet on AT&T. However, this title was snatched by the HTC Jetstream, the upcoming 4G slate with 10 inch diagonal and Sense customization. The A501 may not support LTE, but HSPA+ is still a pretty nice addition to its supported connectivity list.

Other than that the specs are predictable, including a 10 inch 1280 x 800 pixel display, dual core 1GHz processor in the Nvidia Tegra 2 flavor, plus front and rear cameras. Expect an over the air update to Android 3.1 soon enough, but we don’t know exactly when. The price of the A501 will be $480 in full retail, or $330 on AT&T’s 2 year contract. Starting 18 September, the device will hit the shops.


Gamestop Gaming Tablet With Android Coming in 2012

Posted by on September 13, 2011 1 comment

With Amazon and Chinese Alibaba e-commerce website getting ready to release their own tablets, it’s only a matter of time till any company with over 10k employees and online involvement will start dreaming of its slate. This is also the case of the game retailer Gamestop, that will release a gaming tablet based on Android next year.

We must mention that Gamestop has been losing market share because of the popularity of mobile games on handsets and tablets. Founded in 1984, the company had 6,450 locations in 2009 and served titles worldwide, but business isn’t going so well now with all the mobile gales out there. Tony Bartel, Gamestop president recently explained to GamesIndustry that the sale and distribution of an Android tablet with gaming capabilities is looked into.

There will also be a special controller for this device, reminding me of HTC’s initiative to turn tablets into gaming gadgets. Gamestop also promised its very own mobile apps and full retail releases from its own catalog. I sure hope that this idea doesn’t get stuck in prototype phase, as it would be nice to have a gaming tablet out there.


Malata Makes China Proud With Very Own Android 3.2 Tablet

Posted by on September 12, 2011 No comments

There’s a new tablet coming from China, no surprise here, but some of you may be familiar with the name Malata. This was the company that made the Evolio Neura 3G, a Romanian rebranded tablet that was actually made in China and that I reviewed for you all here. Things have changed since that failure of a product…

The new Malata Z-Pad comes with Android 3.2  and it’s called the T9. This device uses an Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, a 10 inch display with 1200 x 800 pixel resolution, 1 GB of RAM, 16/32GB of storage , Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. There’s also a 3650mAh battery on board. From what I can see here, the specs are very similar to the ones of the Evolio Neura 3G, aside from the Honeycomb 3.2 part.

Also, as a bonus, we get cameras this time, unlike the original Malata model rebranded in Romania. I’m talking about a main 5MP camera and a secondary 2MP one upfront, for videocalls. There’s also a standard USB port on board and a mini USB one. As far as connectivity goes, there’s WCDMA 3G and Malata also promised a new piece of gear called the Zpad T10, an ultrabook with dual touch 7 inch display.


Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 Gets Previewed in Short Hands on Experience (Video)

Posted by on September 11, 2011 1 comment

The folks of Telefonino.net were lucky enough to have some quality hands on time with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, a device that was introduced at IFA 2011 in Berlin. This model is shown in action in the video below and we have to mention that this is yet another controversial Samsung piece of gear, that was removed from the IFA Samsung booth, because of the product ban in Germany.

We remind you that this is a 7.7 inch Super AMOLED display tablet, with a very thin case that’s a mere 7.89mm thick. The device weighs 335 grams, runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb and comes with A-GPS, data connectivity (HSPA+), a microSD card slot, WiFi, Bluetooth and a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. Its camera is 3MP in resolution, comes with a LED flash, autofocus and 720p HD video capture.

At the inside we find a dual core 1.4GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM and a Mali 400 MP GPU, providing a great graphics experience. The battery inside is a 5100 mAh unit, that should provide enough functioning time to compete with the iPad 2 (8, 9 maybe 10 hours). Good to see that they’ve finally implemented ports, unlike the Galaxy Tab 10.1, that lacked the majority of them.

And here’s the hands on video:


HTC Sends Invites to September 20th Event, Jetstream Tablet Coming?

Posted by on September 10, 2011 No comments

HTC sent out some invitations to a mysterious event taking place on September 20th. We don’t have many details, but the most likely launch will be the one of the Jetstream tablet that should bring Honeycomb and a 10 inch diagonal to AT&T. Rumor has it that this event is actually related to fashion, since it takes place in the Fashion Week in New York City.

Considering the invitation here and the Fashion Week one might think that we’d witness the debut of that female-friendly HTC phone we’ve been hearing so much about aka the Bliss. We remind you that a week ago we got to see the debut of the HTC Titan and Radar handsets in London, during a special event.

Back to the most likely product to be announced, HTC Jetstream is a HTC Sense-based tablet with an ATT&T release scheduled for this month and a 10 inch display with WXGA resolution. In case you didn’t know, this is a LTE slate, with Android 3.1 on board, a dual core 1.5GHz CPU, an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash and 7,300 mAh battery.

Other rumors claim that we’ll see the HTC Ruby phone, or maybe the HTC Holiday, perhaps the HTC Vigor with 720p or at least a first look at HTC Sense 3.5


Germany Declares War on Galaxy Tab: Forever Banned!

Posted by on September 9, 2011 No comments

Germany should be called AppleLand, considering the number of decisions they’ve taken in favor of the fruit and against Samsung. This is the country that originated the European ban of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the same country where the ban still stands and also applies to the freshly announced Galaxy Tab 7.7. And it gets worse…

Now it seems that the local authorities have decided to ban forever the Galaxy Tab and all its versions from Germany. The reason? Samsung is ripping off the design of the Apple iPad, a dispute that’s been going on and on in court and outside it. Most people expected Samsung to win the legal battle, especially with Apple using doctored pictures, but it seems that the fruit won, since the court considered the products are too similar.

Samsung declares that it’s disappointed with the decision and also sees this as a limitation of consumer choices and rights in Germany. An appeal for this ruling is set to come from Samsung’s side in  the following weeks. And now HTC is starting a beef with Apple. Will Germany ban HTC devices as well?


Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G Available in Canada, Priced at $349.99

Posted by on September 9, 2011 1 comment

In case you’re hardened Apple fans and disregard competition, than you wouldn’t like what’s happening now in Canada: the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 4G version has been made available locally. It’s sold by 5 Canadian mobile carriers: Rogers, Telus, Bell, Virgin Mobile and Sasktel.

This is the HSPA+ version of the tablet, so don’t start imagining any LTE support right here. The slate goes for $349.99 on Rogers with a 3 years contract, or $449.95 on Bell with a 3 year commitment. This is as low as it gets price-wise up North, while Telus charges quite a lot, with a price tag of $649.99 for the device.

Virgin Mobile and Sasktal have yet to reveal Canadian pricing for the 4G Galaxy Tab 10.1. At a mere 8.6mm in thickness and lighter than the iPad 2, this model has stirred up some controversy when it was banned in Australia, then Germany, then temporarily in the entire Europe, only to come back after a fight in court between Samsung and Apple.