Hasta La Gadget!

If leaked Verizon screenshots are to be believed, then Motorola’s Xoom will arrive stillborn, dead before it even launches. Pictures showing the MAP, or Minimum Advertised Price, of the upcoming Motorola Android tablet list it at $799. The equivalent 32GB 3G iPad is $729.

The problems are manifold. First, the price of the iPad is widely perceived to be $500, and any other tablet will be compared in the regular consumer’s eyes to that price point, despite it being unfair. Thus, anyone else making a tablet needs a low-end, 16GB Wi-Fi-only model for this reason alone.

And even when compared apples for Apples, as it were, the Xoom comes in at $70 too much. And remember, the Xoom is set head-to-head with the iPad, whereas the already successful Samsung Galaxy Tab manages to be its own category by way of its smaller size.

The one hope for the Xoom is that a MAP isn’t necessarily the final retail price. A MAP is a result of an agreement between retailers and the manufacturer, and the retailer can actually sell at any price it likes. Add to this the likelihood of a carrier subsidy and the Xoom is back in business. Of course, when the Android Honeycomb-based X males it into stores, it will be up against the iPad 2, not the current iPad.

Minimum advertised prices set for Motorola Xoom [Android Central]

See Also:

• XOOM
• Motorola Previews New Android Tablet, Droid Smartphone
• Video: Android 'Honeycomb' Tablet OS Revealed
• What We Know About Honeycomb, the Android for Tablets

“The iPad 2 has a camera.” We know, it feels all but certain at this point (even when it’s far from official), but perhaps we can expand on that quoted assertion further. Like everyone else who can laugh at Objective-C jokes, 9 to 5 Mac has been digging through the latest iOS SDK and found some data referring to K94, which it claims is the codename for the next-generation iPad. (For reference, the original iPad was K48.) Anyway, within that code lies a string reference to “Back Facing 1MP Photo.” Going further, the front-facing camera is reportedly VGA — same as the iPhone, same as the iPod touch. It’s unclear if the also-found “K95” files also included the the same data, or what exactly that codename might be, but if you’re the betting sort, feel free to say, “the iPad 2’s megapixel mullet is 0.3 up front, 1 in the back.” It’s still a gamble until Apple unveils it with a puff of virtual smoke on a presentation slide.

iOS 4.3 beta suggests iPad 2 has one megapixel rear camera originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A screenshot inside the latest iOS 4.3 beta from Apple gives further evidence that there will be both front and rear-facing cameras in the iPad 2. The shot, which is used to preview desktop backgrounds in the Settings app, shows icons for the FaceTime, Camera and PhotoBooth apps. PhotoBooth is currently an OS X-only App for taking and applying filters to photos of yourself.

The image is exactly the same as the current one except for the addition of these new icons, and the movement of the icon for the settings app to the last position in the list. Further, MacRumors has also found evidence of PhotoBooth filters within the beta, including “Thermal Camera, Mirror, X-Ray, Kaleidoscope, Light Tunnel, Squeeze, Twirl and Stretch.”

This would seem to be the clincher for expectations of a dual-camera-equipped iPad 2. It also means that I have just lost all incentive to buy an iPhone 4, now that the next iPad will do everything the iPhone can do, only without the pesky phone-calls.

FaceTime, Camera and PhotoBooth Icons Confirm Camera in iPad 2 [MacRumors]

Picture: MacRumors

See Also:

• Apple: New Multitouch Gesture Not for Public Consumption
• Apple's Next iOS Improves Interface, Adds New Gestures
• New Multitouch Gestures Lead to Buttonless iPad Rumors
• Rumors: iOS 4.3 Will Offer App Subscriptions as Early as December …
• Screenshots Hint All iPhones Could Become Wireless Hot Spots …

Oh, hello. A trusted tipster just sent in these internal renders of HP / Palm’s “Topaz” webOS tablet, which is one of two tablets currently being developed in Sunnyvale. That’s right, two tablets: the 9-inch Topaz and a 7-inch model codnamed Opal — a lineup that fits nicely into Palm’s “Something big, Something small, Something beyond” tagline for its upcoming February 9th event. Looking at the render, we’re seeing the no-button design we’d previously heard about (we’re assuming the gesture area rotates with the display), a front-facing camera, a micro USB port on the bottom, and what appears to be a Vizio Tablet-style three speaker arrangement for stereo audio in both landscape and portrait modes — that’s two speakers along the left side and a third on the right. (That’s just a guess, though.) We’d also note the back appears to be a glossy material, which might rule out a giant Touchstone for charging — Touchstone backs have heretofore been soft-touch, but anything can change, we suppose.

We’re told that units will start to arrive at Palm HQ in June as production ramps up for launch later this year — a timeline backed up by an internal marketing slide we received that lists WiFi-only, AT&T 3G, and Verizon LTE versions of the Opal arriving in September 2011, and on AT&T LTE in July 2012. The slide also indicates the Opal will have a particular e-reading focus, which makes sense for a 7-inch device, and there’s a mention of “premium audio,” which nicely reinforces our speaker hypothesis. Unfortunately, we don’t have any word on specs or pricing yet, but these things had better be packing some serious heat for cheap if Palm is really planning to wait until September to launch them — they’ll be going head-to-head with the Xoom, the PlayBook, and presumably the iPad 2. We’re still digging for more, so keep an eye out — things are going to get crazy leading up to February 9th.

Update: We’re told that they both have unspecified 1.2GHz processors, and that Topaz may arrive before Opal. We’ll let you know if we learn anything else.

Exclusive: HP / Palm’s webOS tablets — pictures, plans, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Jan 2011 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is a cyclical creature, like bears, unicorns and ladyfolk. iPods in September; iPhones in June; and likely, iPads in April. April is not so far away! So, unsurprisingly, we’re starting to hear what the next iPad looks like. More »