Lenovo just introduced the latest addition to its lineup of Android-powered tablets. The Lenovo IdeaTab S2109 runs on Ice Cream Sandwich and packs a 9.7″ 4:3 IPS LCD with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels (sound familiar?).

The IdeaTab packs a standard microUSB jack for charging and data transfers, while a microHDMI enables high-res TV-output. The on-board microSD card slot makes storage upgrades a breeze, while the four speakers at the back aim to deliver the best audio in the tablet world. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 should have been out by now, but Samsung recently decided to push back the launch to the end of this month. Pricing for the 10.1″ Ice Cream Sandwich tablet was never announced, but Office Depot may have let the cat out of the bag.

It has since been pulled down, but Office Depot put a $399 price tag on the 8GB model, which is a pretty low price for a new 10″ tablet. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is the Ice Cream Sandwich refresh of the original Tab 10.1. But it’s more than that really. Despite the specs sheet seems the same it turned out the new Tab 2 10.1 is based on TI OMAP chipset instead on the Tegra 2.

The design has a few new touches as well – a bit different framing and the huge stereo speaker grilles on both sides of the screen. Read more »

Since its launch in December 2011, the ASUS Transformer Prime has been hailed as the best Android tablet on the market and you could even see it in its sales figures which, the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet notwithstanding, were the best in its class. However, other than popularity and success the tablet has also had to deal with rather crippling GPS connectivity issues.

As we discussed before, the problem arises due to the all-metal shell used for the back of the Transformer Prime. Metal is known to block radio signals, which is why you will see devices like the iPad with a full metal back having a plastic patch on top for the radio antennas. ASUS tried to fix the problem with a few software tweaks but it seems neither of them have worked really well. So now we finally have a hardware solution to (hopefully) take care of it once and for all. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 came by our office today and unlike its smaller namesake, left no doubts about its tablet nature. But it’s not just any tablet – the S Pen stylus proved to be very versatile and surprised us with its extensive functionality.

On the outside, the Note 10.1 may look quite similar to the Samsung’s other 10.1″ tablet – the Tab 2 10.1 – but there’s just enough difference to make the Note 10.1 the more desirable tablet. Read more »

When Samsung announced the Galaxy Tab 2 range, which includes the 7-inch and the 10.1-inch models, the launch date was pegged sometime last week, at least in the UK.

As is obvious, the two products did not make it within the promised launch but now we know the reason why. A Samsung spokesperson told Computerworld that the reason that the launch of the two tablets has been delayed is due to Samsung taking its time working on Android 4.0, presumably implementing its TouchWiz UI on top. Read more »

Since we got our hands on the Galaxy Tab 7.7 we were eager to do our battery tests. We were pretty curious to find how the first Super AMOLED Plus-touting display fares, compared to its LCD rivals. Coming with a 5100mAh battery the Tab 7.7 has a theoretical advantage over the 7-inch Samsung slates, but it also has a larger screen with more pixels to power.

So, we did what we usually do – 3G talk, web browsing and video playback tests and we are now ready to share the results with you. Read more »

Now that’s a bit of a surprise. After berating the new iPad for its heating and charging issues, the Consumer Reports now thinks that the iPad is the best tablet on the market.

In case you haven’t followed the entire saga, Consumer Reports first reviewed the new iPad when it came out and showered it with praise. A few days later, they followed the review with a sensational article as to how the new iPad was running uncomfortably hotter than its predecessor and how it refuses to charge while you are using it. And now, a few days later, Consumer Reports is going back on its initial claims and praising the new iPad again for its excellent all-round performance. Read more »

The latest firmware update has gone live, although the listed ICS version still remains Android 4.0.3.

Those of us expecting to take advantage of Android’s face unlock feature, however, will have to play the waiting game a bit longer. ASUS has assured us that it is working on adding the feature, so hopefully we’ll see that included in an another update soon. Read more »

Depressing as that number is, it’s true. RIM’s new CEO, Thorsten Heins just revealed during his company’s fourth fiscal quarter earnings call that the company’s first attempt at a tablet ended up in the hands of just over a million people since being on sale for almost a year now.

This is of course the actual units sold and not the shipped figure that most companies tout. If you are looking for the number of shipments, then RIM says that it is just over 500,000 for the last quarter alone. Considering that’s half of the total units sold all last year, I’m guessing most of them are still sitting on shelves. Read more »

We have been hearing rumors about Google planning to get serious about the tablet segment by launching its own branded Android tablet this year. Eric Schmidt himself said a few months ago that Google plans to bring a tablet of the highest quality to the market in the next six months.

The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Google will be selling co-branded tablets on its own online store, just like it used to with the original Nexus One. This is an interesting move because if you remember, Google had to shut down that service and move to retail-store only as it wasn’t working out well. Read more »

Amazon has pushed the 6.3 update to Kindle Fire. One of the new features that have been added is the ability to share the contents of the book that you’re reading. Users can highlight a particular passage from a book and then share it on a social network of their choice, without having to leave the book. These passages will also be available to other Kindle readers reading the same book.

Another new feature is Book Extras. It provides the user with additional content on a particular book, such as description of the characters, information on the author, etc. and is powered by the community driven book encyclopedia called Shelfari. Think of it as the special features in a DVD, but for your ebooks. Read more »

After getting Ice Cream Sandwich in the beginning of the year, the Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi has now beat everyone to the chase, even Google’s own Galaxy Nexus, and has starting to receive an update to Android 4.04.

That being said, the update is incremental and doesn’t bring major new features, rather small bugfixes and enhancements. Read more »

ASUS US just announced that the Transformer Prime is getting “awesome new features” thanks to an upcoming update. However, it didn’t provide any details about the said update so ASUS Italy had to come to the rescue and reveal the mystery.

And the news are heart-warming indeed. ASUS will launch an important update tomorrow, March 29 which will bring support for a new accessory called “Prime LAN cable”. Yes, the Transformer Prime will be able to rock an Ethernet LAN connection thus getting one step closer to being a full-fledged netbook. Read more »

Having finished the detailed review of the new Apple iPad, we finally found some time to complete its battery test and see if the new gigantic battery makes up for the power-hungry chipset and the high-res screen.

We put the new iPad side by side with its predecessor, the iPad 2 and set to find out which of them drains its battery faster and which one charges faster. Here go the results from the three tests we ran on each of the tablets. Read more »