Pictured above is the NOVO7, which is actually the world’s first Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. It’s a 7-inch device that features a 1GHz processor with 1080p HD video output — not top of the line, but certainly not assembled from the scrap heap. It’s not much with the rear camera, just 2 megapixels, and the front-facing one is just VGA. While there are some downsides, the upside is considerable. That is, the device is selling for just $100. That’s a pretty magic price point. Can it work for this device?
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While there’s been plenty of hype for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, it’s not the only Android tablet Samsung plans to release this year. In fact, they’ve recently released the follow-up to their 7-inch Galaxy Tab from last year. It’s a bit early, since it was supposed to hit shelves on November 13th, but right now you can grab the new Galaxy Tab 7-inch device. As with the 10.1, the 7-inch version ranks among the best Android tablets on the market. Even better, it doesn’t suffer from the same pricing pitfalls as its larger sibling.
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It was only a matter of time before GameStop got into the tablet gaming market. They’re already taking iPad and iPod trade-ins, which signals a start to their platform expansion. There were also rumors that they’d release their own gaming-centric Android tablet. While that could still happen at some point, they’ve gotten a head start by offering a number of existing Android tablets — pre-loaded with seven games.
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Even a week after its announcement, it sounds as thought the Kindle Fire buzz is still running strong. They have more than 250,000 pre-orders right now, and with a November 15th release date they’ll surely add to that number. The Fire will undoubtedly top any Android tablet launch to date by a significant margin — despite it not being your typical Android tablet. Which brings me to a question for those in the tablet market: Are you more apt to pick up the Fire or a more traditional Android tablet?
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Remember that image? It came from an article about a month ago regarding the market for Android tablets. As the image shows, people are more apt to buy a tablet PC from Amazon than any other Apple competitor. That’s convenient, because Amazon is planning at least two tablets for this year. What else is convenient: they’re apparently listening to what consumers actually want. As part of the same survey, 80 percent of customers said that they would buy an Android tablet over the iPad if the Android tablet were less than $250. According to a report in the New York Post, Amazon plans to sell its tablet for “hundreds less than the entry-point $499 iPad.” That could then put the price point at around $200, which, if consumers are being truthful, would sway many of them away from the altar of Apple. This could absolutely change the tablet landscape, just in time for a holiday season that will likely see many tablets exchanged as gifts.
Via Phandroid.
Yesterday Boy Genius Report ran the results of a survey on tablets. It revealed a few things, not least of which that the tablet market still has plenty of room to grow. But there is one aspect in particular that struck me, and it strikes me as an opportunity for Android tablet makers. As you can see in the image above, there are many manufacturers from which people would buy a tablet. Of the seven listed, five are Android-based tablets (while a sixth, RIM, will soon run Android apps). Yet it’s the data that follows which makes me think that we could see a surge in Android tablet sales later in the year.
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While we don’t know much about it, we do know that Amazon will release a tablet later this year. We can assume at this point that it will run Android. Amazon has run some trick plays in the past, but I doubt they’ll go so far as to create their own mobile OS, especially since they recently released their own Android app store. There is huge potential here for Amazon to one-up the market and have the device this holiday season. With a few lucky breaks it might even generate iPad-like hype. This all has me wondering what the Amazon tablet will look like. What will it bring to the table that other tablets do not?
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So far, with the biggest names in Android tablets, we’ve seen only 3G versions. In a way this makes sense. Tablets are portable, and there aren’t WiFi connections everywhere. The full tablet experience certainly includes always-on cellular data. But for some people the full tablet experience just isn’t affordable. Hence, WiFi tablets. To date we haven’t seen this from the two most hyped Android tablets, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Motorola Xoom. But if recent rumors play out, we should see both in three weeks.
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Apple got another head start, but Android is again hot on its tail. It started, of course, in 2007, when Apple released the first iPhone. There was no Google Android right then, and it took over two years before the platform really started to gain traction. Four years later, Android is running pretty much neck and neck with the iPhone. The time for Android tablets to catch the iPhone won’t be as long. Already it’s making progress, and despite a new iPad coming in the next few months, Android has plenty of momentum behind it.
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The next level of cellular networks is upon us. They’re terming it 4G, even though neither LTE nor WiMax qualifies, but the point isn’t the marketing material. It’s the speed. With LTE and WiMax we’re offered speeds previously unattainable by 3G mobile networks. While we haven’t seen much in the way of LTE, we know Verizon has big plans for it. What we have seen is WiMax, though that has gotten off to a slow start. Even with today’s announcement of six new WiMax markets, Sprint’s service covers just 68 markets nationwide. Even then, they have only a few handsets — the Epic and the EVO among them — that are compatible. It all makes me wonder when we’re going to see the huge WiMax tablet splash.
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