HP Slate 7 overcomes delay rumors, is available now

HP Slate 7 overcomes delay rumors, is available now

   April 28, 2013       Unknown

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We got a look at HP‘s then-unreleased Slate 7 tablet at Mobile World Congress earlier this year and liked what we saw. HP had said the device would be available for purchase in April, but then a bit of debacle started when its product page was updated to show a revised release date in June. That spurred rumors that the slate was delayed, but then the product page changed again, this time back to April, leaving many to wonder when we’d actually see the device on shelves.

HP didn’t say anything about the date change either way, and April has progressed without any changes – until today, that is. The tablet is now available as HP promised, coming in just a handful of days shy of May and in the timeline that HP both originally and revisionally supplied. Users can order it from HP’s website for $169.99.

The HP Slate 7, as its name suggests, features a 7-inch display with multitouch support and a resolution of 1024 x 600. Inside, users will find an ARM Cortext A9 dual-core 1.6GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, as well as 8GB of internal storage and a microSD slot for bumping that number upwards by another 32GB. Connectivity is standard 802.11b/g/n/ wifi and Bluetooth 2.1.

The onboard cameras leave a bit to be desired, with the front camera offering VGA resolution and the rear camera offering 3-megapixels. The battery has a 3500mAh capacity, and the entire device weighs in at just a touch over 13 ounces. The most notable feature on HP’s soft-backed tablet is the inclusion of Beats Audio, which HP says makes it one of the best sounding tablets around.

[via HP]

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Where does Google see its future

Where does Google see its future

   April 22, 2012       Unknown

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Google’s Page ‘quite focused’ on lower ends of tablet market

Where does Google see its future in the tablet market? Try the bargain bin.

 Responding to a question about tablets during the company’s earnings call today, Google chief executive Larry Page said: “We definitely believe that there is going to be a lot of success with the lower ends of the market, as well with lower-price products; that will be very significant, and definitely an area we think is important, and we’re quite focused on.”

Tablets running on Google’s Android operating system have struggled to compete with the iPad, which dominates the market.

“There is a number of Android tablets out there, and obviously we have strong competition there,” Page said. 

One of the most popular budget tablets is the Kindle Fire, as Page suggested on the call.

“There’s also obviously been a  lot of success on some lower-price tablets that run Android, maybe not the full Google version of Android,”  Page said, referring to Amazon’s tablet. 

The Kindle Fire is based on Android, but Amazon has reconstructed the software so significantly that it doesn’t help the search giant much. Amazon doesn’t bundle Google’s services, like its search engine, e-mail and social network, with the tablet.

Google has been rumored to be working on a so-called Nexus tablet that will introduce a new version of the Android operating system and sell for a low price. The Verge reported last week, citing unnamed sources, that the tablet’s release date had been pushed back to July in order to reduce production costs.

As part of Google’s harder push into tablets, Page’s ambitions include making Android phones and tablets play better together, probably relying more heavily on cloud synchronization. Google Play, the media hub that the company released last month, will help with that unification, Page said.

“You won’t have to manage all these devices,” Page said. “You want to think about all these screens around you working seamlessly.”

 That goal will be especially important when Google puts a screen directly in front of your eyeball.

                                                                                                              MARK MILIAN

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