Hasta La Gadget!

It’s a sign of the times: a company originally known for typewriters, and struggling to find its place in a tech-driven market, turns to manufacturing tablets. This week, Olivetti announced the release of the OliPad, staking its claim to a slice of the slab pie, and repositioning itself on the enterprise PC market. Heralded (at least by Olivetti) as Italy’s first tablet, the OliPad sports a 10-inch screen, 3G, WiFi, and Bluetooth connectivity, NVIDIA Tegra 2, Android 2.2.2, and a 1024 x 600 display. It also features USB and HDMI ports and a 1.3 megapixel camera, but perhaps most telling is the simultaneous launch of the Application Warehouse, “a virtual storehouse of configurable and customizable software applications designed by Olivetti specifically for business and government.” Considering the vast and varied competition, we’d say sticking to what it knows — and Olivetti knows business solutions — is probably a safe bet. Now, if they could just make the thing look as good as the Olivetti Valentine… The OliPad goes on sale this Monday for €399. Full PR after the break.

[Thanks, Riccardo]

Continue reading Olivetti launches OliPad tablet, second coming of the typewriter?

Olivetti launches OliPad tablet, second coming of the typewriter? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Over the years we’ve certainly seen that Archos can do some decent things on limited hardware, but of course the real money is to be found on the higher end, where your iPads and your Xooms play. According to tabletblog.de, Archos has stated intent to announce two new tablets at IFA later this year, fitting into the 7- and 10-inch domains like the older (and lower-rent) 70 and 101 Internet Tablets above. Supposedly the company doesn’t know what hardware either will be running, only that they’ll be top-shelf components integrated using posh design. Surely that’ll mean a posh price, too.

Archos planning to launch high-end tablets at IFA later this summer? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 05:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not much to look at, is it? Still, though, if you squint and use the most overactive parts of your imagination, you can kinda see how this is the Honeycomb-powered Galaxy Tab 10.1 that Samsung is starting to launch in some markets this month. Sure enough, the FCC has granted certification to model number P7100 (the original Galaxy Tab is P7000, by the bye), and the early stamp of approval by the feds plus the support for 850 / 1900MHz 3G gives us hope that there’s a plan for an American launch in the near term — likely on AT&T, we suppose, since this radio setup wouldn’t be appropriate for any other of the US nationals. In the meantime, though, we encourage you to stare into this large, white, rectangular space and tell us your deepest thoughts.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 steps out with an FCC certification originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft is finally issuing its full-fledged answer to the iPad. Next year. Word is that the company’s long awaited consumer tablet OS will finally be hitting the market, just in time for back to school 2012, which will likely put the tablets in direct competition with the third generation iPad.

According to “people who declined to be identified because the plans haven’t been disclosed publicly,” cited by Bloomberg, Microsoft is set to begin public testing on the tablet-friendly version of Windows 7 later this year. The update will be designed specifically to work on touchscreens, taking advantage of tablet screen size and battery concerns.

Apple, of course, currently dominates the market, with the latest figures somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 percent of tablet sales in the U.S. Google’s Android is set to make a big grab, thanks to the recently released Motorola Xoom and a slew of upcoming tablets that will take advantage of Google’s tablet-oriented Android Honeycomb.

Unless Microsoft hits back with a downright revolution, the timing certainly doesn’t bode well for the software giant’s chances in the market. Sure the company got good reviews and even some moderate sales with Windows Phone 7 devices, but failed attempts to offer tablets to consumers in the past aside, Microsoft is really starting from scratch on this one.

Whether you love or loathe Apple, you have to be happy with the company’s aggressive upgrade of the iPad. It has led to Samsung, purveyor of an Android 3.0 tablet by the name of Galaxy Tab 10.1, to look more closely at its own hardware and pricing model and, according to executive VP Lee Don-Joo, “improve the parts that are inadequate.” We don’t know what those are, specifically, however he notes that “Apple made [the iPad 2] very thin” and also goes on to say that Samsung will be rethinking its pricing strategy with the Tab 10.1. It was originally going to cost more than the 7-inch Galaxy Tab, but in light of Apple’s new product, Samsung might have to cut into its profit margins… or maybe even forgo profits altogether to make its new Tab a success.

Samsung finds parts of Galaxy Tab 10.1 ‘inadequate’ compared to iPad 2, reconsiders pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 07:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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