Hasta La Gadget!

Look familiar? The Xyboard tablet is not all that different from the Xoom. Photo courtesy of Motorola

“Those who cannot remember the past,” George Santayana wrote, “are condemned to repeat it.”

Motorola must have a very short memory. This much is apparent in the impending release of the Xyboard, Motorola’s successor to the Xoom Android tablet. The Xyboard is up for pre-order on Verizon’s web site, but by most measures, the device isn’t all that different from its predecessor.

For one thing, it boasts markedly similar specs. The Xyboard comes with a slightly more powerful dual-core processor (1.2GHz instead of 1GHz), a 10.1-inch screen (same as the Xoom), and front and rear-facing cameras with the same resolutions as those in the previous tablet (5 and 1.3 megapixels, respectively). The only major difference that we can discern thus far is that the Xyboard will measure in slightly lighter and thinner than the Xoom.

And for those who want more than just Wi-Fi, built-in 4G LTE connectivity on Verizon’s network is also an option. That’s an update to the Xoom, which required sending the device back to the manufacturer for a 4G upgrade (sheesh).

But here’s the ugly kicker: Motorola is selling the Xyboard at premium (read: pricey) rates, starting at $530 for the 16GB version, and stepping up gradually to $630 for 32GB and $730 for 64GB. And those prices are after signing a two-year Verizon Wireless contract.

To be fair, these prices represent a $100 price cut relative to comparable iPad 2 models, and the Xyboard includes 4G instead of 3G. So it would seem that you’re getting a deal by choosing Android over iOS.

But as the past year has vividly shown us, customers don’t want to buy Android tablets at premium prices. We’ve only seen non-iPad tablets fly off the shelves when hitting bargain bins, and even then the parent companies have been forced to sell premium components at a loss. That’s no way to run a business.

So why not learn from previous mistakes? And further, why release another device — one that is, for all intents and purposes, identical to the previous flop of a tablet launch — when both quad-core processors and a new version of Android are on the horizon?

Maybe the company knows something we don’t? Or maybe not.

The Xyboard goes on sale nationwide on Monday, with pre-orders currently available on Verizon’s web site.

It has been a long year for Google TV. The first (and only, so far) round of hardware started shipping in October 2010 and at the time, promised the Android Marketplace with its wealth of third party apps early in the next year. That clearly didn’t happen, and it quickly became most notable for what it was being blocked from doing, like streaming video from TV providers like Hulu and various network TV websites. After various false starts and delays, Sony Google TV and Logitech Revue hardware will finally receive updates to Android 3.1 Honeycomb (congratulations Google, now where’s Ice Cream Sandwich?) starting this weekend with Sony up first and Logitech “shortly thereafter.” The biggest additions are the aforementioned apps, a new interface, and a refocused system for content discovery that starts with the new TV & Movies app pictured above. Check out the gallery for more pictures of the new Google TV, while more details and videos follow after the break.

Continue reading Google TV, take two, arrives next week with Honeycomb, Android Market

Google TV, take two, arrives next week with Honeycomb, Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clutching at its chest and panting as it nears the finish line, T-Mobile has finally announced the release date for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on its not-quite-4G network. You can write November 2nd in your diaries as you struggle to remember which century it was that you decided to wait for the as yet unpriced magenta version of the tablet. T-Mobile’s Springboard will be arriving five days later, on November 7th. The Huawei Mediapad-with-shiner-shoes packs a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 5 megapixels in the rear, 1.3 up front and has a crunchy Honeycomb center. Inexplicably, the company still won’t ‘fess up about pricing for this guy either, so we’ll just repeat what we’ve heard a hundred times before — it’ll be under $200 on contract.

[Thanks, Cliff]

T-Mobile Springboard and Galaxy Tab 10.1 finally get official launch dates originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 09:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus WiFi hitting the US November 13th for $400, available in 16GB for now

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus WiFi hitting the US November 13th for $400, available in 16GB for now originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just witnessed quite the interview between ASUS chairman Jonney Shih and Walt Mossberg at AsiaD, and outside of revealing the Transformer Prime (and affirming that the impending Padfone would ship with Android 4.0), he also dropped a few other nuggets worth mention to the audience here in Hong Kong. For starters, he finally caved to Walt’s pestering about who his main competition was, specifically related to the new Zenbook. “The Mac[Book] Air,” he stated, chuckling slyly afterwards, but quickly continuing on to plug his own machine based on its own merits. Not surprisingly, he also expressed his confidence that Android tablets still had a lot of life left in the market, and he stated that ASUS is still on track to move its target — around two million — Android tablets this year. Moving onto the topic of netbooks, Shih noted that rather than being buried, netbooks are simply “evolving.” More importantly, however, was his subtle confirmation that a new ASUS netbook is en route: “You’ll see on our new netbook, it’ll be very thin.” In fact, he even suggested that the design may follow that of the Zenbook, but just… smaller.

When asked about his thoughts on people replacing laptops less frequently, and perhaps shifting disposable income to smartphones and tablets, Jonney maintained that all of those markets were key to ASUS’ success, and that none were taking a backseat. “We believe that this a very critical time, transitioning from the personal computing era to the ubiquitous cloud computing era.” Sounds a bit like another mantra we heard, truth be told, but ASUS has been riding the cloud bandwagon long before most other consumer companies even knew what it was. The original spate of Eee PCs had next to no internal storage; rather, they relied on accessing the web in order to deliver the bulk of their functionality. Jonney also noted that ASUS is attempting to tackle an interesting problem with its products, which is that few people can truly separate work and entertainment — in other words, you need products that adequately handle both worlds. We’re guessing a Padfone + Transformer Prime + Zenbook is his preferred trifecta to do just that.

ASUS’ Jonney Shih: Android 4.0 hitting tablets by year’s end, ultrathin netbook is coming originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Oct 2011 22:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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