WOW!! Look at the NEW app for iPad.

ITS THE NEW SLAP APP. Jajajajaj. How many want this app??

Tablets in 2012

By Will765 | Tablet Roms

 

Assuming the Mayan doomsday prediction is wrong, what will the tablet landscape look like by the end of this year?  One thing for sure is that a lot of tablets, whether running iOS, android, or Windows 8 will be sold.  Most estimates put the number around 125 million or so for the year.  With Apple set to launch the iPad3, probably in March, expect the usual buying frenzy which accompanies the release of any new Apple product.  Another factor will be the reduction of price for existing iPad models, which will open up their sale to those who are unwilling to pay the high prices now being charged.  One thing is certain, Apple will retain the top spot in tablet sales for at least this coming year.

 

Android tablets have been, and still are, suffering from one major problem-fragmentation.  So many vendors, with a variety of operating system versions.  Different specifications, with varying screen sizes.  It’s no surprise the public is often confused about android tablets.  Amazon tried to overcome these problems by emphasizing utility over specifications with the Kindle Fire, and it looks to have been a success.  Consumers want something that works, and really don’t care(or understand much) about what’s under the hood of the tablet.  Seven inch tablets seem to be coming more and more popular, with their greater portability and lower prices.   With the launch of Ice Cream Sandwich, Google has begun to consolidate it’s operating system.  One problem is still that manufacturers integrate their own UI over android, which makes it less of a common experience.

 

One wildcard in the tablet world is whether the Windows 8 tablets prove popular.  Potentially,  the installed base of Windows users could provide a huge market for windows tablets.  The implementation will be a key for the success of such devices.  If  Windows 8 works really well on tablets, many manufacturers will be quick to start producing them.  The corporate world will likely buy large numbers of them, as well as many consumers.  The only drawback is that there are not expected to be many tablets out by the end of 2012. This will allow both android and Apple to continue to expand their influence, and dominance, in the tablet market.  Microsoft may just be getting to the party a little too late.

What do you think? Feel free to leave your comment

iPads seized in China

By Will765 | Tablet Roms

 

After winning a trademark lawsuit last year, Shenzhen Proview Technology has asked investigators in the city of  Shijiazhuang, southwest of Beijing, to confiscate iPads and promotional material with the iPad name.  The devices have been removed, and it’s possible that the same thing will happen in 20 other cities in China.  Proview had a subsidiary sell the name iPad to Apple a few years ago, but Chinese courts have decided that does not apply to mainland China, only to other countries where the trademark was registered.  So now Apple faces the prospect of it’s biggest growth market being stifled by this action.  The subsidiary sold the trademark to Apple in 2009 for around $55,000USD.  Expect any settlement with the main division of Proview to cost Apple substantially more.

Army-approved winter gloves work with touchscreens

 

By Mark Milian, CNN

(CNN) - The U.S. Army has been working for about two years on outfitting its soldiers with smartphones, but one obstacle to this technological upgrade likely will be familiar to anybody who has tried to operate a touchscreen phone in the winter:
Smartphones and gloves do not get along.
Rather than putting government money toward developing a new type of glove, the Army went on a little shopping spree. If the government is coming late to smartphones, and buying those from stores instead of building them, then surely someone must have solved this problem.
They aren't mainstream yet, but several companies indeed sell gloves that let the wearer operate a touchscreen without taking them off. And as more people discover the limits of their Android companions on a snowy day, these types of gloves could take off.
The Army and Air Force have landed on one brand in particular: Agloves. The little-known Colorado company is up against giant brands, including North Face, and more than half a dozen other scrappy upstarts, like Dots, Echo Touch, Freehands, Power Stretch, Tavo and TouchTec.
Yet, Agloves gets the top endorsement from the Army, where a shoddy glove doesn't mean a missed call but perhaps a lost life. The Army's Fort Bliss outpost in Texas tested several models of gloves promising smartphone compatibility as part of its mobility program. Evaluators favored Agloves, and the Army has sent many pairs of them overseas to fighters.
"These technologies coming out of small companies are literally game-changers," Michael McCarthy, a technology director for the Army, said in a phone interview.

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Apple readying a 7-inch iPad?

Apple is once again said to be getting a 7-inch version of its iPad ready for release, despite Steve Jobs early comments about the impractical form factor. This time the source of the rumor is Technology Business Research analyst Ezra Gottheli saying Cupertino is preparing to tablets for launch soon.

Now, we’d definitely take this with a grain of salt - it’d actually go against Apple’s own principles, and we find it hard to believe that Apple will suddenly change its opinion about smaller tablets, but it’s nonetheless possible.

Now, Gottheli specifies that the 7-inch tablet won’t arrive at the same event as the third-generation 9.7-inch iPad, and that it’s also likely to come with a tailor-made keyboard case as an accessory.

"I believe that's always been in the plan" Gottheil said despite Jobs’ vision of 7-inch tablets being too small. "Actually that's a good form factor for some users, and although they will also charge a premium above other similar-sized tablets, they want to protect that price flank."

Now, what’s your take on this, possible or not?

Seeing how the market is growing for the 7 inch pads…Sure 7 inchers are very comfortable and they are easier to take along when you compare to a 10 incher. Apple apparently wants a piece of the cake but what will we see…another stale pad, No efforts to make it look better, obligate you to buy apps from them. Don’t get me wrong…Apple is good but these are some features that have people turning heads and choosing ANDROID.

What do you think?

source: ComputerWorld

CNN's Stan Grant talked to a Foxconn worker in China about conditions in factories where Apple products are made

"Mrs. Chen," as CNN calls her, works in a Foxconn plant installing iPad screens for virtually every waking hour of her life. Despite this, she never actually saw an iPad until CNN whisked her away. Her reaction will surprise you.

The video investigation, popping up (deliberately) close to the NY Times' piece on Apple labor practices, tells us what we already know: many Foxconn employees complain of inhumane conditions while building the gadgets we love:

During my first day of work, an older worker said to me, ‘why did you come to Foxconn? Don't ever think about it again and leave right now'…Foxconn employees have a saying, "they use women as men and men as machines… there's another way of saying it, ‘they use women as men, and use men as animals."
But when Mrs. Chen is handed an iPad—an object that's for her entirely foreign, despite being front of her face daily—she loves the alien slate that rules her life. "I like it," she says, adding that she'd like to own one someday if she ever has enough money. Not even brutal, humanity-bending work conditions are enough to kill gadget lust. [CNN via 9to5Mac]

The HTC Evo View 4G

The HTC Evo View 4G puts a new spin on the 7-inch Android tablet, fans of 7-inch tablets will appreciate the HTC Evo View 4G's screen quality, durable construction, HD video recording, and unique features.

While the rest of the industry is rushing to produce 10-inch tablets that compete directly against the Apple iPad 2, HTC and Sprint are throwing out a curveball called the HTC Evo View 4G. Using a 7-inch screen and running Android 2.3, the HTC Evo View 4G 32GB model is one of the best 7-inch tabltes out their and it gets even better...YOU ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO A CONTRACT.