A spokesperson for the company told the Inquirer that the Archos 8 will be coming out this year, very soon after the release of the 7.

The device is set to have an 8-inch screen capable of showing 800×480 pixels, be less than a half-inch thick, weigh 400g and come with 4GB internal storage.

It is not yet known whether there will be expansion slots like a USB port or a card reader.

According to French website ArchosLounge, the Archos 8 will be part of Archos’s new lineup consisting of six tablets with a screen size ranging from 3-inches to 10-inches.

The device will be priced significantly cheaper than its competition, Apple’s iPad, with the cheapest costing $100 and the most expensive $350.

A prospective Archos 10 is likely to have an ARM Cortex 1GHz, Multitouch and 3G Open GL capabilities.

Given that we already know there are 3, 7, 8 and 10-inch tablets, we are left with only one remaining unknown model. As for the Archos 8 Tablet, it should be with us within the next few months.

Resource:
http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/5/10/archos-preparing-new-archos-8-tablet/

But T-Mobile wants you to keep an eye out for its myTouch line, which gets a robust update in the myTouch 3G Slide. This new landscape slider, which comes out in June, takes a lot of the best attributes of HTC’s Sense user interface and builds another layer on top.

It creates an even more polished experience, with added touches from T-Mobile that make the phone more social and helpful for users than its predecessor.

The main improvements include a Faves Gallery for up to 20 of your favorite people. This specialized contacts application lets you see all your communications with your favorite people and prioritizes your updates from those people. For instance, your phone will flash a green light when one of your Faves contacts communicates with you.

There’s a Genius Button that lets you activate voice commands for making calls, composing texts and e-mails, conducting Web searches or launching applications. The feature will also read incoming text messages.

And finally, there’s myModes, which builds off the Sense interface themes. Themes allow you to customize your interface for different occasions, say for work, evenings and weekends. MyModes automates the switching between themes based on the time of day or your location. So it can switch from work mode to home mode when you leave the office or hit a certain point in the day.

MyTouch 3G Slide also has full Microsoft Exchange support as well as the ability to run seven panes from the home screen.

The phone also boasts a full slide-out keyboard without adding much bulk to the body. The camera gets an upgrade to 5 megapixels and the screen is bumped up to 3.4 inches. It will run Android 2.1, which includes free turn-by-turn navigation.

This adds momentum to the fast-growing Android platform. We’re still waiting for Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone, expected to be released in June, but the well of Android competition keeps getting deeper.

Resource:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/04/BU051D9034.DTL

The design of the Joojoo isn’t bad by any means, with nice design touches all over. Set against the benchmark of style over substance, the Ipad, the Joojoo does well, with Apple-esque touches such as a logo that alters its position depending on the device’s orientation and a tapered edge that makes it more comfortable to hold than Apple’s tablet.

While it is more comfortable to hold, we don’t recommend you hoist the device with its 12.1-inch screen for too long. The Joojoo tips the scales at 1.1kg and its weight, combined with its large screen, means you’ll want to lay it on a table or your lap. Even the firm’s CEO, Chandra Rathakrishanan, says that the Joojoo is for “couch computing.”

The screen itself is a twisted nematic (TN) panel, meaning it doesn’t have the impressive wide viewing angles of the Ipad’s in-plane switching (IPS) display. In a refreshing show of humility, Rathakrishanan admits that the Ipad’s screen is technically superior but argues that most won’t hold a tablet at angles that make the TN screen unreadable. We could easily see the difference in both colour rendition and viewing angles. However given that most laptop screens including that of Apple’s Macbook Pro are similar, the Joojoo’s screen is far from inferior, rather just falling short of the Ipad’s lofty standards in colour brightness and pixel density.

The display’s widescreen 1366×768 resolution is handy for watching videos and in portrait orientation it does reduce the amount of vertical scrolling that needs to be done. Videos encoded in widescreen aspect ratios display properly unlike on the Ipad. Thanks to Nvidia’s Ion chip high definition playback works without any problems.

As the Joojoo supports Adobe’s Flash, Youtube simply works. Joojoo has a version of the YouTube player that enables certain videos on the site to be accelerated by the device’s Ion graphics chip. We were told that in the coming months all videos on Youtube, regardless of their encoding format, will be decoded by the Ion chip, in effect rubbishing Steve Jobs’ claim that only Flash video encoded with the H.264 codec can be hardware accelerated.

Thanks to Intel’s 1.6Ghz Atom processor and Nvidia’s Ion chip the Joojoo has active cooling. During high definition video playback the fans did whirr up. Given the nature of the device and where it likely will be used, the fan noise, though not excessive, is highly undesirable. That said, the fans do a good job as the device didn’t get particularly hot.

Where the Joojoo is let down is by the apparent ‘beta’ quality of its software. The problem isn’t with its appearance, but rather speed. Transitions seemed slow and many screen presses seemed not to be recognised. Transition between portrait and landscape mode was often somewhat slow. The firm has said that it will be employing an aggressive update strategy and at this point such a policy seems like a good idea.

Fusion Garage uses the term “app store” somewhat liberally, with each “application” being a web site bookmark. One can argue whether some ‘Web 2.0’ sites such as Google Docs offer the same functionality as installed applications but the reliance on the web could be a problem given the patchy connectivity found outside of urban areas.

Having a USB port does make the device a whole lot more attractive than Apple’s Ipad. While the software may be below the fit and finish consumers have come to expect, the Joojoo can be loaded with other operating systems, as Rathakrishanan confirmed to The INQUIRER.

The Joojoo certainly has potential on many fronts. Hardware wise, the device has commodity hardware that makes it easy to develop for. While the screen isn’t as good as Apple’s Ipad, it’s hardly bad and during use there’s little perceptable difference. Rathakrishanan’s design displays a blend of honesty and understanding what hardware enthusiasts actually want. This gives the Joojoo good potential beyond just what’s underneath the screen.

The ability to connect drives and load your choice of operating system is a boon for functionality and should endear the device to those who care about technology rather than fashion. If Fusion Garage can tap into this then the Joojoo could become the technology enthusiasts’ device.

The most pressing matter for Fusion Garage is to bring the Joojoo’s shipped software up to scratch. It isn’t lacking functionality but just the final two per cent and a bit more polish that will make the Joojoo a complete and enjoyably useful package that might be able to give Apple’s Ipad some stiff competition.

Resource:
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/1603965/joojoo-tablet

After hearing rumors that the oft-discussed-but-never-acknowledged two-display folding tablet had been axed, Gizmodo asked Microsoft for confirmation and received this reply from Redmond’s communications veep, Frank Shaw:

At any given time, we’re looking at new ideas, investigating, testing, incubating them. It’s in our DNA to develop new form factors and natural user interfaces to foster productivity and creativity. The Courier project is an example of this type of effort. It will be evaluated for use in future offerings, but we have no plans to build such a device at this time.

Leaving aside his statement that Microsoft’s DNA includes the development of new form factors and natural user interfaces, Shaw does acknowledges the existence of the Courier project, but he doesn’t specifically hammer the final nails into the concept’s coffin.

It appears that Courier was an investigative effort, elements of which may surface in future Microsoft products, but which won’t – to use an industry buzzword – be “productized” in the foreseeable future.

And although we’re loathe to kick a website when it’s reeling from public approbation, Gizmodo made a curious omission when it wrote: “It makes sense for Microsoft to continue to trim away splinter versions of its core operating systems and focus on Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 unity across all its devices.”

There’s a third Windows OS that they neglected to mention, and one that may be more appropriate for a tablet form factor such as the one used in the Courier project: Windows Embedded Standard 7, the RTM version of which was announced just this Tuesday at the Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) in San José, California.

Perhaps – just perhaps – the Courier project was eliminated because its raison d’être had run its course with the graduation of Windows Embedded 7 Standard from beta to RTM. Of course, Windows Embedded Standard 7 is an OS designed for, well, embedded devices that range – in Microsoft’s own listing – from multimedia internet devices to networked media devices to thin clients to fuel pumps (yes, fuel pumps) and more. But that’s in its RTM form. Perhaps – just perhaps – one variant of it was given a spin as a tablet OS in the Courier Project.

More likely, Windows Embedded Standard 7’s graduation and the Courier project’s demise occurring within two days of each other is merely a coincidence. In any case, the rumored spate of challengers to Apple’s iPad has just been reduced by one.

And if you believe a report from Wednesday’s Business Insider, you can add HP’s Slate to the drop-out list – which makes sense, seeing as how HP acquired Palm in part because: “We see further opportunities beyond smartphones into additional connected mobile form factors.”

In other words, why build a tablet based on a non-mobile operating system such as Windows 7, when a leaner, more communications-integrated operating system such as webOS just dropped into your lap?

Resource:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/30/microsoft_kills_courier/

Little is known about the stealth company, whose founders created the A4 chip Apple uses in its iPad, before leaving for smaller pastures. These founders, according to the New York Times, joined Apple by way of PA Semi and left unhappy.

The Times and others believed Agnilux made servers, server chips, or at least something to do with computing for the love of all things high-tech.

In trying to divine what Google would want with the company, I suggested that perhaps Google wanted to plumb the minds of the engineers to build a chip for its alleged Android tablet:

Perhaps Agnilux has made a technological breakthrough in server processing, something major along the lines of what PeakStream provided for Google when the company acquired it to boost its application processing.

It could be that Google will take the chip work Agnilux has done and use it as the processing engine for a possible tablet. Remember, these Agnilux engineers did make the A4 powering the iPad and possibly the forthcoming iPhone 4 chip.

It seems I was right about the tablet connection between Google and Agnilux, but off base on the methodology, which I thought was hardware-based.

I believed Google bought Agnilux so its programmers could make a special chip for the Google tablet, allegedly based on Android and not Chrome Operating System.

The Times, advancing its original coverage of Agnilux April 21, cited a source who claimed: “It’s not chip design. It’s getting software platforms to work on different kinds of hardware with lots of obscure back-end technologies.” .

Specifically, this source told the Times Google “acquired the firm not for silicon expertise or to build actual hardware, but for help with porting Google platforms like its Chrome and Android operating systems onto other devices – like tablets, or possibly even television set-top boxes.

The set-top box angle is intriguing because it points to another rumored play, Google TV, in which the company is trying to make our plasmas another computer from which to surf the Web and watch YouTube.

Another source told the Times Agnilux’ technology could help Google run its software platforms on tablets “without draining the battery,” which is pretty much what these guys did for the iPad with the A4 chip.

This seems completely plausible and that’s why the Agnilux buy lends credence to the notion that a Google tablet is in the works.

Agnilux could be one of those foundational technologies on which Google rests its mobile Web device and platform strategy versus Apple, whose iPhone is entrenched and whose new iPad is strong and growing stronger.

Maybe we’ll look back at this quiet, innocuous-seeming buy and say Agnilux did for Google what its engineers did for Apple as employees of PA Semi.

Resource:
http://googlewatch.eweek.com/content/google_ma/googles_agnilux_play_is_about_the_google_tablet_after_all.html

We know little about the new models other than we won’t get the 7 incher before late 2010 and the 10in could be as far off as 2011 which will have Apple laughing its socks off. Naturally enough Dell has refused to confirm the products saying to engadget “Dell continually develops and tests new products that extend the mobile experience. We have not made any product announcements and do not comment on speculation, rumor or unannounced products.” Which is about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. That said Dell also has security about as effective as a chocolate fireguard so I’d suggest the leak is bang on the money.

Consequently I’ll make a few well educated guesses: multi-touch, Android – possibly Windows 7, optional 3G and SSDs. By which time we’ll be saying “nice, but it might be worth waiting to see what Apple does with its second generation iPad”…

And so the endless upgrade cycle begins again..

Resource:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/news/2010/04/19/New-Dell-7in—10in-Tablet-Photos-Reveal-iPad-Influence/p1

Today’s supposed contender: Finnish phone giant Nokia, which is working with design and manufacturing partners on a new touch-screen tablet that could emerge as early as this fall–at least according to one analyst, Ashok Kumar of Rodman Renshaw.

“Nokia hasn’t fielded any breakaway products in years,” TheStreet.com quotes Kumar as saying. “This is a new window, and Nokia had better be at the starting gate if and when the product category takes off.”

Nokia, of course, isn’t new to portable Internet devices, having in the last five years come out with the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet and subsequent N800, N810, and N900, not to mention the Nokia Booklet 3G Netbook.

It’s unclear whether the alleged Nokia tablet that’s getting ink Tuesday would be a follow-on to that line of devices or a more full-featured direct competitor to the iPad and HP Slate, as well as devices sure to come from the likes of Dell, Lenovo, and any of the other companies eyeing tablet territory. The timing would suggest the latter.

Also of note: Nokia and Intel’s technology merger earlier this year fusing Intel’s Moblin and Nokia’s Maemo software to form a new operating environment dubbed MeeGo. It’s expected to power a range of devices, including pocketable mobile computers, Netbooks, tablets, connected TVs, and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

Resource:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20001875-1.html