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Dell close to launching 7-inch tablet

Posted by Harshad

Dell close to launching 7-inch tablet


Dell close to launching 7-inch tablet

Posted: 29 Sep 2010 07:20 PM PDT

Dell close to launching 7-inch tabletDell Greater China President Amit Midha has said today that the company is launching a 7-inch tablet within weeks and a larger 10-inch device within a year.

The computer giant currently sells the Streak, a 5-inch hybrid phone/tablet that runs Android.

Dell CEO Michael Dell briefly showed off the device at an Oracle conference last month, but gave no timeframe for its release.

"It was showed off at Oracle World by Michael last week and we'll be launching very, very soon—within the next few weeks," says Midha.

Furthermore, Dell will be releasing smaller new products, as well, including a number of smartphones running Windows Phone 7 and Android.

"In fact, very much in the near future we'll be launching the seven-inch tablet as well as the additional three-inch product," says the president.

Dell has said it is still considering whether to create a product that runs Google's upcoming Chrome OS.

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Best Buy wants to carry RIM PlayBook

Posted: 29 Sep 2010 07:05 PM PDT

Best Buy wants to carry RIM PlayBookAccording to CEO Brian Dunn, Best Buy is already in talks with RIM in an effort to bring the upcoming PlayBook tablet to brick-and-mortar stores around the nation.

"When it comes to market, we're going to be very happy to offer it to our customers," says Dunn.

Because the device does not have built-in 3G, there were questions about how the PlayBook would be distributed. Other tablet makers have deals with wireless carriers and therefore the tablets are offered in-store at thousands of locations.

Best Buy currently offers the iPad and Dell Streak.

The tablet will measure in smaller than the iPad at just 7 inches, but it is thinner at 9.7 millimeters. Furthermore, the tablet has a rear and front-facing camera, and the ability to natively playback Flash videos.

BlackBerry smartphone owners can tether their devices and use the 3G via the tablet.

The Playbook will not run on RIM's new BlackBerry 6 OS, instead it will run on a brand new mobile operating system created by QNX Software, which was acquired by RIM earlier in the year.

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T-Mobile G2 shipping to early pre-orderers

Posted: 29 Sep 2010 06:46 PM PDT

T-Mobile G2 shipping to early pre-orderersA number of early pre-orderers have reported today that their T-Mobile G2 has shipped, over a week before the device hits retail stores and Best Buy.

The G2 will be T-Mobile's first device to support HSPA+, the carrier's very fast 3.5G/4G data network.

Furthermore, the device will have an 800MHz Snapdragon MSM7230 processor, which has the HSPA+ support built-in. While slower than current 1GHz chips, the processor can still record 720p video and handle Flash videos and is as powerful as those 1GHz chips.

The G2 will also run a stock Android 2.2 (with no custom UI) and will have Swype as the default keypad.

Made by HTC, the phone has a 3.7-inch multi-touch screen, an optical trackpad, a 5MP camera with LED flash, 4GB of internal memory and an extra 8GB microSDHC card.

Upgrade price is $200 with contract, $500 without.

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RIM defends low 'App World' app count

Posted: 29 Sep 2010 06:29 PM PDT

RIM defends low 'App World' app count RIM VP of product platform management Alan Panezic has defended the low BlackBerry App World app count today, saying "we don't need 200 fart apps."

The App World currently has just over 10,000 apps, tiny in comparison to Android's 100,000 and Apple's 250,000.

Continuing on, Panezic says: "Those are apps you'll use three or four times then never open again (the fart apps). You're not looking at ads, clicking on ads or buying premium upgrades, and the app isn't adding any value to your device."

RIM mainly adds "super apps" to its store, apps that will be heavily used and improve the phone as a whole.

Panezic says Android and iOS app counts are "deceptive" since many are useless and a significant amount are redundancies with different names and slight differences.

With all that being said, the VP did note that BlackBerry app sales are poor due to how expensive their apps are compared to other stores. Until a month ago, RIM forced a $3 minimum for paid apps.

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iPhone 4 sales in China top 100,000

Posted: 29 Sep 2010 05:54 PM PDT

iPhone 4 sales in China top 100,000China Unicom has said they are doing their best to get iPhone 4 smartphones to buyers who pre-ordered the device last week.

Over 200,000 pre-orders were taken before the device went on sale last Saturday but Unicom only got 50,000 out on launch day before exhausting their supply.

As of today, 100,000 units have been sold, meaning there are still a significant number of consumers waiting for their device.

Unicom says they should be getting their next shipment on October 1st.

In 2009, Unicom began selling the iPhone 3G, but saw only 100,000 units sold in its first two months of availability.

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R.I.P: Mobile Firefox development for iPhone

Posted: 29 Sep 2010 03:21 PM PDT

R.I.P: Mobile Firefox development for iPhoneSpeaking about the future of Firefox Home, Mozilla has said today that a true mobile Firefox app for the iPhone is likely not happening, ever.

Firefox Home is the current iPhone app that gives users a way to sync their Firefox history, bookmarks and open tabs from their desktops to their mobile device.

Says the post:
"We are working to bring as much of your Firefox experience as possible to Firefox Home. People have asked about adding more browser-like features to Firefox Home, but there are technical and logistical restrictions that make it difficult, if not impossible, to build the full Firefox browser for the iPhone. We are focused on building Firefox Home as a rich, cloud-based application and making it a valuable product that people will continue to love and use."


Earlier in the year Apple allowed the Opera browser into the App Store, marking the first time a "rival" browser had been made freely available.

To use Firefox Home you must download Firefox Sync for your desktop version of the browser.

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Nintendo 3DS release dates revealed

Posted: 29 Sep 2010 03:07 PM PDT

Nintendo 3DS release dates revealedFollowing months of speculation, Nintendo has finally revealed the release dates for its upcoming Nintendo 3DS handheld.

President Satoru Iwata says the 3DS will hit Japanese stores on February 26th, 2011, and then the US/European markets one month later.

In Japan the handheld will retail for ¥25,000 (about $300 USD) but the prices for the European and American models were not revealed.

At launch, the system will be available in "Aqua Blue" and "Cosmo Black" colorways.

The company also revealed the first 10 launch games for the system which are: Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Nintendogs + Cats, Pilotwings Resort, Pro Baseball Spirits, Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle, Ridge Racer 3D, Samurai Warriors Chronicle, Steel Diver, Super Monkey Ball, and Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition.

Nintendo will be bundling the console with a 2GB SD card used for downloadable content and will have a "Virtual Console" service for Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles.

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Hulu Plus headed to TiVo, Roku boxes

Posted: 29 Sep 2010 02:52 PM PDT

Hulu Plus headed to TiVo, Roku boxesBoth Roku and TiVo have announced today that Hulu Plus will be headed to their set-top boxes in the upcoming weeks.

Hulu Plus is the premium streaming subscription service from NBCU, ABC and Fox that offers back catalogs for popular TV shows.

The service is $10 a month.

Roku offers set-tops for as low as $60 while TiVo's "Premiere" boxes will run you $300, plus a monthly $13 subscription fee.

Although there have been discussions, CBS remains the lone holdout from the major broadcasters to join Hulu, preferring to have its shows available from CBS.com.

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