There's been rumors that Appel is testing an 8-inch iPad. If this is true ... then I will be FIRST in line to get one! 8-inch is OK, but I would have prefered a 7-incher.
"Apple Inc. is working with component suppliers in Asia to test a new tablet computer with a smaller screen, people familiar with the situation said, as it looks to broaden its product pipeline amid intensifying competition and maintain its dominant market share.
Officials at some of Apple's suppliers, who declined to be named, said the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has shown them screen designs for a new device with a screen size of around 8-inches, and said it is qualifying suppliers for it. Apple's latest tablet, the iPad 2, comes with a 9.7-inch screen. It was launched last year.
One person said the smaller device will have a similar resolution screen as the iPad 2. Apple is working with screen makers including Taiwan-based AU Optronics Co. and LG Display Co. of South Korea to supply the test panels, the person said."
Apple is getting a little predictable and BORING ... expect the iPad 3 to be unvieled at the Apple conference in March, but the specs are uninteresting to say the least. What we want is a larger iPhone or a smaller iPad !!!
"The iPad 3's big feature will be Retina Display. Rumors regarding the iPad 3's introduction and release dates began circulating back in December, with many suspecting that the iPad 2 successor would make an appearance in February 2012. However, All Things D has reported that an event to introduce the iPad 3 will take place during the first week of March.
The iPad 3 event will be held in San Francisco, California during the first week of March, according to All Things D. Some suspect that Apple will present its latest tablet at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where Apple usually makes its huge product announcements.
The iPad 3, which is still not the confirmed name of the tablet, is expected to resemble the iPad 2 as far as shape and size, but differ as far as what's under the hood. The big difference will be the Retina Display, offering a 2048x1536 pixel screen, which is just over 3 megapixels."
Check out this dual screen tablet from Sony ... SSSexy ;)
"Sony on February 7 unveiled Tablet P, a tablet PC featuring dual 5.5-inch touch screens, Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, a 300,000-pixel front camera and a 5-megapixel rear camera, and support for Wi-Fi/3G/Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. The device is for sale in the Taiwan market at a retail price of NT$18,800 (US$633), according to Sony Taiwan."
Sounds more like a series of Audi cars than processors ... but the new A6 ARM chip could be featured in Apple's upcoming iPad 3.
"iPad 3 looks to be a major bump, will likely be Apple's first LTE modem, may pack its first homemade core, too. Apple, Inc. (AAPL) announced the original iPad in January 2010, and it hit the market in April 2010. The polished device was undeniably a game-changing product that turned an often-overlooked niche (tablets) into a booming market. It was about this time last year that Apple sent out its occasions to a special event. That event -- on March 1 -- turned out to be late Apple CEO and co-founder Steven P. Jobs' last major product announcement -- the iPad 2.
I. What is Known Thus Far
The iPad 3 has been semi-confirmed to have a "Retina" display made by LG Display Comp., Ltd. (KS:034220) (sister company to LG Electronics Inc. (KS:066570)). A report in The Korean Times quotes LG Display CEO Young Soo Kwon as confirming that Retina-display iPads are in production. The publication writes, "[Kwon] said more smartphone manufacturers will release new models employing LG’s “Retina Display’’ that has been used in iPhones and iPads."
This could be one of the first Linux-based tablet on the market. It sports a 1Ghz processor, 4G of internal ram and a touchscreen with a resolution of 800 x 480. It does look nice ... albeit a little disappointing in the spec.
"A more detailed Q&A has been posted for people interested in purchasing the Spark. Originally we weren’t sure what the resolution of the 7-inch screen was. Now we know it’s an okay 800 x 480. There’s a 1.3 MP front-facing camera for video chat. Other specs we reported before:
1 GHz AMLogic processor with 512 MB RAM, and Mali 400 GPU
4 GB internal storage, expandable by microSD card slot
Wi-Fi support
Mer, a community-based version of MeeGo Linux will be running on the Spark. KDE Plasma Active will be the UI layer on top of Mer. All of this software is open-source. The goal is to make Spark as open as possible so that users can mold the tablet into whatever they want."
"Apple continues to add to its war chest, sells record numbers of iPhones. It's beginning to become a broken record when reporting on Apple's quarterly earnings, but the boys from Cupertino have done it again. Apple today announced its earnings for fiscal Q1 2012 and the results are as usual very impressive.
The company reported net profit of $13.06 billion on revenue of $46.33 billion ($13.87 per diluted share). Profit for fiscal Q1 2012 was more than double that of fiscal Q1 2011, while gross margins came in at 44.7 percent compared to 38.5 percent a year ago.
... As for product sales numbers, Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones during the quarter (a 128 percent increase) and 15.43 million iPads (a 111 percent increase). The company's Mac sales also saw an increase, but "only" saw a 24 percent increase year-over-year to 5.2 million units."
Fujitsu has unveiled its Stylistic Tablet M532 powered by a Nvidia Tegra 3 CPU/APU. It also comes with a 8MP HD Camera and a total of 16Gb of internal memory.
"Fujitsu has left us an exclusive on their new tablet that there will be buying in May with Android Ice Cream Sandwich in Germany as a multimedia tablet for 499 €. With an 8MP camera and 3MP rear front of the technical data are quite convincing. Nvidia Tegra provides enough power for three and we have to add that it also thanks to the rubber mat and back was very good in the hand. Behind a nondescript door, you can insert a SIM card and microSD to expand the 16GB internal memory. Otherwise, the usual buttons are on it, a 1280 × 800 HD display with good viewing angle and the Android 3.2 OS has already reacted fantastically fast now."
Seriously, it's not for real. Texas Instruments are working on a chipset that will allow wireless charging of your portable devices and gadgets ... including your iPad!
"This morning we stopped by TI's power management group to check out what all they had in store, and got to check out some demos of their new second generation wireless power chipsets. The new solutions meet the 5W Wireless Power Consortium (Qi) standard, and have a smaller total package area. TI demoed the BQ51013 second generation small form factor power Rx PCB charging a variety of devices, including a Kindle. In addition, TI has some newer small form factor (BQ5002010 and BQ5002011) charging Tx solutions that further reduce BOM cost and require lower input voltage compared to their first generation counterparts."
Please, give it up! It's pointless... OCZ Technology had something similar 3 years ago, and it was an epic FAIL. If you think you're gonna use one of these to replace your remote control ... forget it!
"We'd all love to be able to control stuff with our minds and seeing as Haier's 58-inch Brain Wave TV was at CES we had to try. To use the mind control, you have to snap a controller on your head which attaches to your earlobe and with a small metal pad on your forehead. Unfortunately, we couldn't interface with the set to change channels and adjust volume and such but there was a game where you try to fly a bird through a maze."
