tablets

After an aborted launch last Halloween, the WikiPad Android gaming tablet looks ready to finally hit the market. So says WikiPad Inc., anyway, who this morning declared that its unique gaming device will finally hit shelves this coming Tuesday, June 11 (aka the first official day of E3).

This new WikiPad, you may recall, is a shrunken edition of the 10-inch behemoth (itself an update of the original 8-inch version) the company was showing off last year.

This new model, which came to light this past February, has the same core features as the 10-inch model -- removable standalone Android … Read more

Apple apparently still has its eye on NFC, at least as described in a freshly won patent.

Awarded Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, an Apple patent called "System and method for simplified data transfer" describes a way of automatically transferring data from one device to another.

Both devices would be configured to copy data from one to the other. The first device may be set up to save and transfer data associated with specific apps. Powering up the second device would automatically tell the first device to transfer the data. The devices outlined in … Read more

Foxconn and Mozilla announced a partnership Monday under which the Chinese electronics manufacturer will build not just Firefox phones, as others have announced, but tablets, too.

The rumored partnership was confirmed as Mozilla and Foxconn announced their tie-up at the Computex show in Taiwan. By including software in its devices, Foxconn gets to sell a more complete and therefore potentially valuable product to those companies that actually will attach their brands to the hardware.

"We believe that the integration of software and hardware development will offer greater benefits to our customers and consumers," said Young Liu, the general … Read more

Intel's next-generation chips have officially arrived.

Developed under the codename "Haswell," the new line of chips has been engineered to enable thinner and lighter designs and longer lasting computers, and the company hopes it will reinvigorate a market that's in the doldrums.

The processor, the fourth generation of Intel's Core line, boasts double the graphics performance of the previous generation and a 15 percent raw computing boost, according to the company. That means the computer speed should be snappier, and users can perform more graphics-intensive tasks without always needing a discrete graphics chip.

Intel has officially revealed its next-generation lineup of desktop and mobile processors in the Core i3, i5, and i7 family, also known as "fourth-generation" or code-named "Haswell." The two-part announcement started over the weekend with Intel's quad-core enthusiast-level processors, and now the veil has been lifted on dual-core desktop and mobile processors, too.

This FAQ will mainly focus on the dual-core processors and what they'll do for mobile systems. For a detailed rundown on the quad-core processors, check out our hands-on look.

What is it? Haswell is Intel's code name for the fourth … Read more

The Xperia Tablet Z is the thinnest and lightest large tablet I've yet held. A fact made somewhat more impressive given that Sony doesn't skimp physical features. An MHL connection, expandable storage, and two better-than-decent cameras -- tablets with quality cameras are still somewhat anomalous -- all made the cut.

The Tablet Z is also fully waterproof: I've had it submerged in half a foot of water for minutes at a time and have thoroughly hosed it down with a level of fervency only the most diligent of corrections officers can relate to. Yet after a quick … Read more

According to Samsung, the recently announced Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 is "built to be the leading 10-inch tablet in the market." This market Samsung speaks of must be in a galaxy far, far away, because the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1's underwhelming specs make its latest effort at creating the top 10-inch tablet over before the device even hits stores.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 features a 1,280x800-pixel resolution TFT display, houses a 1.6GHz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, and will run Android 4.2. The tablet will come with the options … Read more

Samsung's ever expanding universe of tablets welcomed a new 8-inch member to its Galaxy Tab 3 series. The Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, which fits comfortably between the 7-inch and 10.1-inch models in the series, ships with Android 4.2, sports a 1,280x800-pixel resolution TFT display, and houses a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1.5GB of RAM.

The 8-inch tablet will come with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage and is designed to fit comfortably in one hand. It also features a 5-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and microSD card expansion slot.

In the PC era, Microsoft's Windows dominated with more than 90 percent market share of systems, including desktops and laptops. It was a virtual monopoly, and Microsoft was able to attract the best and brightest talent and developers. With the massive shift to mobile devices, however, Microsoft has fallen behind where the market is heading.

But reports of the death of the PC are premature. According to Net Applications, Microsoft is still the king of the desktop, with about an 83 percent share of the desktop market.

However, that market is in steep decline, with PC sales falling nearly 14 percent … Read more