Hasta La Gadget!

Tablets will be the must-have gift of 2012, the trend-watchers tell us, but that means a whole lot of slates competing for your dollar. This year has seen Apple raise its game with a second size option, while Android has evolved into a legitimate alternative, and Microsoft has made its own play for the market with Windows RT. Which tablet to pick if you don’t want to be standing in the returns line the morning after? Read on for the SlashGear suggestions.

Smaller tablets – the roughly 7- to 8-inch category have had a mixed history, starting out life as simply oversized phones, but developing into legitimate devices in their own right in 2012. Best value for money is Google’s Nexus 7, delivering the pure Android experience from $199 (and with an unlocked 3G model for those wanting proper connectivity on the move), though we also rate Barnes & Noble’s NOOK HD. Again priced from $199 (though with less storage than the Nexus 7: 8GB versus 16GB) the NOOK HD has an excellent display and a customized interface that’s arguably better suited to ebook and multimedia consumption.

The iPad mini was a late entrant into the small tablet space, but by sticking with the legacy resolution – albeit in a 7.9-inch display – Apple has made sure its new model has access to all the old apps. That’s a compelling argument when the holiday gift wrap comes off and eager owners want to explore the capabilities of their new toy. At $329 for the cheapest model (from $459 for the 4G version, which we also rate) it’s not inexpensive, but it’s an all-round package you can rely on.

Bigger tablets have been dominated by the iPad with Retina display, and Apple’s 9.7-inch model (from $499) is still a strong contender. Like the iPad mini, it has a wealth of app options, but it also throws in an excellent display while still managing 10+ hours of runtime. Its screen, meanwhile, gets some impressive competition from Google’ new Nexus 10, undercutting the full-sized iPad by $100 and out-pixeling it with a fantastic 2560 x 1600 display. We’re yet to see apps that take full advantage of that resolution, however, though the Nexus 10 does a great job with multimedia and web browsing.

Microsoft’s Surface RT is an odd beast. The Windows RT tablet starts from $499, but arguably only really makes sense when you pair it with a Touch Cover keyboard-case, taking the starting price to $599. If you’re a Windows fan then the Surface makes sense, as does using it as a laptop alternative, though a paucity of apps means it struggles to compete like-for-like with the iPad still. Consider an expensive IOU for the Surface Pro, which runs full Windows 8 (and thus all legacy apps too) from $899 in the new year.

Honorable Mention: Is it a tiny tablet? Is it a massive smartphone? Is it somewhere in-between, and one of the best arguments for mobility convergence around so far? Samsung’s Galaxy Note II pushes the envelope with its 5.5-inch display, and while probably fitting more into the phone category, deserves highlighting for those that want some of the benefits of a tablet’s bigger screen but still would prefer to carry a single device. From $300 with a new, two-year agreement (or $650 on a T-Mobile pre-paid) it’s not cheap, but it’s definitely capable.

Still need more tablet inspiration? Check out our full tablet reviews hub!

SlashGear 2012 Holiday Gift Guide: Tablets is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple’s Black Friday sale certainly didn’t disappoint. The company ended up selling a lot of iPads, and while the company didn’t release any specifics on sales numbers, a survey conducted by research firm Piper Jaffray concluded that Apple sold around 11 iPads per hour at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, MN, while Microsoft didn’t move a single Surface tablet off their shelves.

The team at Piper Jaffray spent a total of ten hours on Black Friday, monitoring both the Apple Store and the Microsoft Store at the Mall of America, which are across the hall from one another. They noticed that there was almost 50% less foot traffic at the Microsoft Store than there was at the Apple Store. They also noticed that consumers bought 17.2 items per hour at the Apple Store and only 3.5 items per hour at the Microsoft Store. What’s perhaps even more fascinating about that fact is that all but two of the Microsoft purchases were Xbox 360 games.

However, probably one of the most interesting statistic that the research team came up with during their time at the mall, was that Apple sold around 11 iPads per hour, while Microsoft didn’t sell a single Surface tablet. Then again, the team only spent two hours at the Microsoft Store, but during those two hours, Apple sold 22 iPads.

According to Piper Jaffray, which did the same exact observation and survey last year during Black Friday, traffic at the Apple Store was up 31% from last year’s Black Friday. However, sales of Macs and iPads were down in 2012. Last year, Apple sold an average of almost 15 10-inch iPads per hour at the Mall of America, while this year only saw 6.7 per hour. Mac hourly averages were down 60% since last year as well.

[via Fortune]

Apple averaged 11 iPads sold per hour on Black Friday is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Welcome to Thursday evening folks. Today Microsoft’s former Windows head Steven Sinofsky discussed his recent and surprising departure from the company, but didn’t go into too many specifics when it came down to why he actually left. The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 started shipping ahead of schedule today, while new reports are suggesting that Apple may delay the new iMac into 2013. NASA was the victim of a major security breach recently, and today it said that it will make sure all of its laptops are equipped with full disk encryption by the end of the year as a result.

HP’s PC chief took some time out of his day to talk some smack about Microsoft Surface, while Google started sending out emails that said some Nexus 4 orders have been placed on backorder for three weeks. We learned today that 4G LTE networks are surprisingly easy to bring down, and Dell’s earnings for Q3 are showing a pretty big decline year-over-year. Usage of Microsoft’s SkyDrive has doubled in six months (and there are new features on the way), while a new survey is telling us that consumer demand for Windows 8 is a little on the low side.

We learned that the Steve Jobs biopic will be comprised of a collection of pre-keynote footage, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk talked about the future of space exploration. Steve Ballmer had some harsh words for the likes of Android and Apple today, while we learned that thieves made off with a shipment of 3,600 iPad minis. The HTC Deluxe was leaked today, leading us believe that it’s the international version of the HTC DROID DNA, and a new augmented reality game called Google Ingress was officially revealed.

Microsoft will be holding Windows Store app labs in 30 different cities to help Windows 8 developers make apps for the new OS, Xbox Live celebrated its 10th birthday. Spotify confirmed that its web app beta is rolling out to select number of users today, and Bethesda shared a bunch of new screenshots from its upcoming Dragonborn DLC. Finally tonight, Don Reisinger asks why the music industry seems to dislike fairness, while we go hands-on with the new Samsung Galaxy Camera – it’s a cool little device, so you’re not going to want to miss that one! That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: November 15, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft‘s tablet/PC hybrid, the Surface RT, is advertised at 32GB and 64GB, depending on which model you purchase. As with all cell phones, laptops, tablets, and other devices with internal storage, the actual user-available capacity is lower due to the operating system and such. Andrew Sokolowski, a California lawyer, isn’t happy about this, and has sued Microsoft over his 32GB Surface’s storage space.

The issue started when Sokolowski quickly ran out of storage capacity in his 32GB Surface after adding media files. After poking around, he realized that while the device has a 32GB drive, only 16GB of that capacity is available for users’ data. Thusly Microsoft is being sued for false advertisement, with the suit seeking class action status.

Microsoft issued a statement. “Customers understand the operating system and pre-installed applications reside on the device’s internal storage thereby reducing the total free space.” If a user wants to increase the amount of storage capacity, they can use a microSD card or an external hard drive, never mind that the external drive will put a serious damper on the Surface’s portability.

Microsoft states on its website how much user-available storage space there is, specifically listing the 32GB device as having 16GB of free space, and the 64GB model as having 45GB of free space. The clarification was posted on November 5, and Sokolowski purchased his device on the 7th. According to his lawyer, however, the information is buried and purposely hard to find.

[via Seattle Times]

Microsoft sued over the Surface’s storage capacity is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft pushed out a firmware update today (Patch Tuesday) for its hybrid laptop/tablet, the Surface RT. The update brings with it a variety of performance improvements, according to preliminary reports from users. There were a total of eight updates released for the device, four of which corrected some issues and improved performance, as well as a firmware update and some security-related downloads.

According to ZDNet, the four updates include an update that addresses “Favorites” not showing up in Internet Explorer 10 and a fix that enables WinRE using the out-of-the-box wizard in Windows 8/Server 2012. Also part of the updates was an update for files containing a digital signature in Windows 8/Server 2012, and a Windows 8/Server 2012 cumulative update. You can download these updates for your Surface via Windows Update.

The first update listed above is self-explanatory, while the second update corrects the problem caused by an issue with the Boot Configuration Data store. The update for files containing a digital signature is due to files expiring prematurely on Windows 8/Server 2012 systems. And finally, the cumulative update enables the ability to customize the lock screen, fixes the problem that can cause Apps to be installed incorrectly, and improves performance upon waking the device and when the device is asleep, which ultimately improves battery life.

Now that the update has been out for a bit, reports are rolling in from users who say their devices are running faster and smoother. Some users say that app transitions seem “snappier” as well, and that Internet Explorer 10 is running better after the update. Have you updated your Surface? Let us know what improvements you’re seeing in the comments!

[via ZDnet]

Surface RT gets performance boost from updates is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.