Hasta La Gadget!

That’s right, that little green blob in the upper left hand corner of that built-in touchscreen is indeed the Android logo, and that display does indeed belong to a tablet of unknown origin, currently riding around on the back of a headrest on a bus somewhere in India. We’re not entirely sure who’s funding this project or which bus line the tablets can be found on, but the login screen you see here does give us a little bit of insight: “As per government policy, we need to record details of the person using the Internet on this device.” The service is apparently free and unlimited, and if this is a government program, it would be right in line with India’s democratic outlook on technology. Sure, Indian college students are still awaiting the storied $35 tablets, but we suppose if they have enough scratch to ride the bus all day, these headrest slates could do in a pinch. For a look at what Android tablets look like on public transit, check out the video after the jump.

[Thanks, Kartik]

Continue reading Android tablets bring touchscreen connectivity to Indian bus riders — still no $35 slates in sight (video)

Android tablets bring touchscreen connectivity to Indian bus riders — still no $35 slates in sight (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s MWC 2011 presentation is this Sunday, at 6PM Central European Time (midday for those on the American east coast). We already know it will feature a dual-core evolution to the Galaxy S smartphone and we know for a fact there’ll be at least one new tablet on show. Pocket-lint is today filling in some details about said Tab successor by identifying it as a 10.1-inch Android 3.0 device. That means Samsung is stepping right up to Motorola, whose Xoom still looks likely to be the first Honeycomb tablet to ship, and saying it can do better. It might just be able to do it, too, as the new and unnamed Tab is said to be physically smaller than Apple’s iPad in spite of having a slightly larger display. Somewhat less believable is the mention of a dual-core Qualcomm processor as the thing to power Samsung’s new tablet — can you really see Samsung undermining the future success of its Orion / Exynos chip by using a competitor’s hardware? Then again, weirder things have happened.

Samsung preparing a 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 2 with Honeycomb for this Sunday? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Call us crazy, but we’re having a hard time interpreting this line of fine print in any other way:

“To activate WiFi functionality on this device, a minimum of one month data subscription is required.”

That’s listed under Best Buy’s most recent ad highlighting the world’s first Android 3.0 tablet, and it most certainly sounds both ominous and ridiculous. Hardcore Verizon followers may remember the days of Big Red crippling Bluetooth radios in phones in order to “coerce” users to purchase ringtones and such from them rather than snagging one on the subway from Tom, Dick and / Jane, so we definitely wouldn’t put something like this by the company. It’s hard to say how this will be implemented once the $800 Xoom hits retail shelves, but it’s certainly hard to believe that this is a Best Buy policy (and not a Verizon mandate). We’ll be digging for more details (after all, this could all be some strange, terrible dream), but we’ll be straight with you — we don’t like the potential implications here.

Update: We’re hearing from some Best Buy Mobile employees that these simply won’t be able to be sold without being first activated on Verizon’s network, so even though you could theoretically cancel the same day, you’ll still likely get hit with a one-time activation fee (and possibly one month of data). Then again, there appears to be typos on the flyer, so you may want to wait for Verizon’s official word before getting up in arms.

[Thanks, Michael]

Verizon locking WiFi on Motorola Xoom until you buy one month of data service? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MSI’s first entry into the wild, wonderful, and oftentimes wishy-washy world of tablets is now on sale, but frankly, we aren’t too sure we’d be jumping to hand over our $710 — er, $709.95 — for the WindPad 100W. The retailer is Simply Electronics, which just so happens to rank a few rungs below Amazon in terms of heardability-ness. At any rate, those willing to take a flying leap of faith should expect a 10.1-inch device loaded up with Windows 7 Starter, Intel’s Atom Z530 1.6GHz single-core processor, 2GB of memory a 32GB SSD and a battery that’ll keep things humming for around six hours. Here’s hoping it’ll perform better than that first wave of Win7 tablets, and you know, that you actually receive one.

MSI’s Windows 7-based WindPad 100W now on sale for $710 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Given current trends, it’s reasonable to believe that the foremost question regarding an HTC tablet is no longer if the Taiwanese company will produce one, but when. So, who could we possibly turn to for help but those ever-loquacious upstream component manufacturers that DigiTimes knows and loves so well? Their latest info points to an Android tablet dubbed the Flyer arriving in the US in March (just early enough to potentially beat the Xoom and PlayBook to market), which will roll out across the world in the second quarter of 2011 and be joined by two more slate devices (Scribe?) in June. Further details are a little murky, including the dubious suggestion that the Flyer will come with Android 2.3 on board and be upgradeable to Honeycomb (3.0), but we’re inclined to consider the overall roadmap credible. In spite of its Thunderbolt launch at CES, HTC was relatively quiet in the big January event, so we suspect it’ll bring the big(ger than a smartphone) guns to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next month.

HTC Flyer tablet tipped for US landing in March, to be followed by two more slates in June originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 01:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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