Lenovo is preparing a seven inches tablet

Although last week Lenovo announced that they are preparing three new tablets with ten inches displays, it appears that by accident, FCC (the commission that approves the electronic devices from the United States) revealed that the company is preparing a seven inches tablet.

Unlike the IdeeaPad and ThinkPad, the new tablet from Lenovo will compete to the rest of the similar devices on the market that have seven inches displays, offering the same functionality like their older brothers in a compact design.

Until this moment, the new device of the company is known by Lenovo A1-07 and the rumors have it that it will come to a processor TI OMAP3621, the same that is used in Nook Color from Barnes & Noble.

It will allow the display of the 1024x600 images and it will also have a capacitive touch screen that includes a GPS chip provided by Broadcom, two cameras and 3G SIM slots and also microSD cards.

The battery has 3700 mAh and it should offer enough life at only one charging stage for the little device. The back of Lenovo A1-07 is protected by a plastic that is shiny, enough thick to offer full protection. It is still unknown what version of Android will run on it, but the experts’ further details on the public announcement of the new tablet.

This comes right after Lenovo already made public the next appearance of three new tablets, and two of them are based on the Android 3.1 operational system. The third one will have the Windows 7 operational system. IdeaPad K1 is one of the announced tablets, that is designed for the regular consumers.It has a dual core processor NvidiaTegra 2, at 1GHz, a 10.1 inches display, the memory of 1GB and two cameras of two and five megapixels.

The Android operational system provides a browsing experience without any interruptions and the same thing is promised on the social network and gaming preferences also. The second device that Lenovo launched is
ThinkPad Tablet that is a special design device for the business segment.

It is very easy to use and access the documents, because the tablet comes with Document to Go option included and also it has an accessory that allows the keyboard to be included and this way the tablet is transforming into a real Android laptop.

The third one is IdeaPad P1 that is stronger than the other ones, but is difficult to be placed in a category because the Windows 7 tablet’s demand is not a big one and the utility is not a wide spread either.

ASUS brings the Transformer TF101 Tablet to India

After a lot of waiting, ASUS has officially launched the much anticipated TF101 Eee Pad Transformer tablet in the Indian market. Right now, the manufacturer has launched its 16GB WiFi-only variant which is priced at 32,999 INR. The company has further mentioned that the 3G variant of the tablet will launch in the market at an later date, however they have not been specific about it.


ASUS has mentioned that the price includes the keyboard docking station, which is the highlight of this tablet device. Docking the tablet gives you two USB ports, a multi-touch touchpad, a full QWERTY keypad and a SD-card reader.

The Transformer TF101 is powered by a dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. It sports a 10.1-inch IPS panel with 10 finger multi-touch, supports 1080p video playback, 1GB of RAM along with Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi n connectivity. The device runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Android 3.2 official, coming to a tablet near you

The latest version of Google's Android operating system fortablets is official, which means the update will likely be arriving on a range of tablets in the near future.

Motorola has already begun to roll out the update on its Xoom tablet, the company confirmed with CNET on Wednesday. Other tablet candidates for a 3.2 rollout include Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, Acer's Iconia Tab 500, and Toshiba's Thrive.

Huawei last month announced what it claims is the "world's first"7-inch Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet to pack a dual-core processor.

Android 3.2 is "an incremental release that adds several new capabilities for users and developers. The new platform includes API (application programming interface) changes and the API level is 13," according to a July 15 announcement posted on Google's Android Developers Blog.

Android 3.2 highlights: 

• Optimizations for a wider range of screen sizes: allows developers to better target a range of screen sizes--not just 10.1-inch. 
• New fill-screen mode: a new zoom-to-fill screen compatibility mode, which "renders the application in a smaller screen area and then scales the pixels to fill the current screen." 
• Media files can be loaded directly from the SD card: users can now "load media files directly from the SD card to apps that use them," and there is a "system facility [that] makes the files accessible to apps from the system media store."
• Extended screen support API: provides developers with more "precise control over [the user interface] across the range of Android-powered devices." It's also meant to "allow [the] targeting [of] screens by their dimensions."

The Android 3.2 software development kit is available for download here.

Via Netbooknews.com.

India’s $35 Sakshat Tablet Finally Arrives, Offered for $49

India’s $35 Sakshat tablet is finally getting ready to ship at a slightly higher price of $49. The oft-delayed Android table is set to ship 10,000 seven-inch units to IIT-Rajasthan by the end of June, while an additional 90,000 units may ship soon after with the goverment covering half the cost, dropping them to just $25.

Features on the device are comparable to other Android tablets including 2GB RAM, front-facing camera and a 32GB hard drive, however the unit also features a relatively cheap construction which pushes down the cost.

The Sakshat has been in development for several years and was originally scrapped when India’s government decided the units were not up to par with computing standards which means the new gadgets are of better quality with only a slightly higher price point.

BlackBerry PlayBook goes on sale in the UK

BlackBerry’s PlayBook tablet will go on sale in London’s Selfridges today, followed by other retailers tomorrow

The first tablet to be launched in the UK by BlackBerry goes on sale today in London’s Selfridges department store, ahead of its national launch tomorrow.

The PlayBook has not received the kind of reviews attracted by Apple’s iPad, but it is expected to find favour among BlackBerry’s many loyal fans.

The PlayBook, the first tablet computer from BlackBerry manufacturers RIM, will go on sale at £399 for the 16GB version, £479 for the 32GB model and £559 for the 64GB.

The tablet will be available from tomorrow from retailers including Best Buy, Dixons, Currys, Carphone Warehouse and Phones4u.

The PlayBook, which was released in the US earlier, has a seven-inch screen, compared to the iPad’s 9.7-inch screen. However, despite its smaller size the PlayBook matches the iPad’s processor and screen resolution and has more memory.

The PlayBook also has dual cameras that can record full HD footage at 1080p.

The device runs a dedicated tablet operating system and as well as being able to run bespoke apps, the PlayBook will also run Android apps and existing BlackBerry Java apps.
Reviews, however, have been mixed - read The BlackBerry PlayBook: review of reviews here. While CNET said that “the PlayBook is only suitable for people who have a BlackBerry smart phone and will never, ever switch to a different brand”, CNN compared the tablet to herpes.