Mobile Devices

Head of Nokia France: Nokia to Venture into Tablets in 2012

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While discussing the French Lumia 800 launch with the newspaper Les Echos, Nokia France GM Paul Amsellem drops an interesting quote-- "...in June 2012, we will have a tablet running Windows 8."

Nokia LumiaNokia itself is yet to officially confirm the revelation, preferring to instead concentrate on the newly launched Windows Phone handsets. 

Will the Nokia-Microsoft partnership manage to successfully tread in such Apple-dominated tablet territory?

Maybe (Windows 8 is designed for tablet and touchscreen use after all)... but maybe not. DigiTimes says says pure hardware companies (giving the examples of HP, Acer, Asus and Dell) have no chance in a tablet market dominated by content providing heavyweights such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Apple.

And what's Nokia if a mobile hardware maker?

Why? The content providers make profit from their devices through digital content sales, not hardware sales-- allowing them to heavily subsidise device prices, if not start giving out tablets out for free. 

Meanwhile Apple is, well, Apple. The iPad rules the market, and is surely there to stay, even if it will get a couple of bruises on the way. 

Moving back to smartphones, Amsellem hopes Nokia will take 22% of the French mobile market-- a region where over 60% of mobile customers still don't use a smartphone. He also compares the Lumia 800 to a BMW 5 Series and says "...we will soon have a full range with a Series 7 and Series 3."

Wonder which car metaphor will describe a Nokia tablet best?

Go Nokia, Microsoft Off To Conquer the Mobile Phone (Les Echos)

Go PC Hardware Players to Phase Out from Tablet Market in 2012 (Digitimes)

The iPhone Projector Case

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It might look like a chunky case, but the Pocket Projector for iPhone 4 from Texas Instruments and Brookstone offers your customers on-the-go video projection instead of device protection.

iPhone 4Inside is a TI DLP Pico projector chip, together with a 15 lumen LED lamp, a 0.5W speaker and a USB-rechargeable 2100mAh battery (also usable as a back-up batery). The companies claim it projects images of up to 50" in size from 2.4m distance with 640 x 360 resolution.

Image control comes through a focus adjustment knob.

It is compatible with apps supporting dock-connector video out, including the stock video, photo and Youtube apps.

Go Pocket Projector for iPhone 4

Barnes & Noble Fires Competition Against Amazon

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Amazon is not the only book retailer stepping into tablet-infested anymore-- Barnes & Noble launches a Nook Tablet, a similarly priced low-end offering upgrading on the Nook eReader series.

Nook TabletIt has a 7" IPS laminated display, a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB storage (expandable via microSD cards) and pre-loaded Netflix, Hulu and Pandora apps.

Comparisons to the Amazon Kindle Fire abound-- the Nook tablet has twice as much storage as the Fire, and, more crucially, free in-store support through Nook kiosks in Barns & Noble retail locations.

It will also provide customers with access to 250 magazines and comics from Marvel and other publishers.

Android Gingerbread powers the device-- but the retailer doesn't offer open access to the Android Market.

Will Barnes & Noble managed to rival an Amazon-powered cloud infrastructure? Maybe not (although in-store kiosks could be a draw) but either way the low-end tablet race is heating up.

Go Nook Tablet

Asus Primes Eee Pad Transformer

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Asus launches the successor to the Eee Pad Transformer-- the Transformer Prime, the first tablet from the company carrying the newly revealed quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor (previously known as Kal El).

Eee Pad Transformer PrimeThe Transformer is best known for having the keyboard dock turning it into an Android-powered laptop of sorts.

The Prime carries a 10.1" 1280 x 800 display, 8.3mm-thick body, 1GB of RAM and 32 or 64GB of storage, together with mini-HDMI output, microSD slot, SonicMaster audio and 2 cameras (1.2MP front-facing, 8MP back-facing with an auto-focusing f/24 lens). The exterior gets a Zenbook-style spun aluminium makeover, and has in hydro-oleophobic coating preventing fingerprint smudging.

It uses Android 3.2, and Asus promises an Ice Cream Sandwich update will be available by December 2011. The company claims the tablet has a battery life of 12 hours (through 22Wh battery), with the dock adding a further 6 hours of power.

The separately available keyboard dock also gets an upgrade, being thinner and lighter. It has a touchpad, USB 2.0 port and a full-size SD slot.

Go Asus Eee Tablets

I'm Calling from My Wrist

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Will Dick Tracy-style wrist-mounted gadgets ever be fashionable? Italian device maker I'm certainly hopes so as it launches the I'm Watch-- a "smartwatch" looking a bit like an iPod Nano in a wrist-strap case.

I'm WatchThe I'm Watch has a 1.55" 240 x 240 curved TFT touchscreen, 64MB RAM and 4GB of storage, and uses a version of Android 1.6. Tethering to a mobile phone via Bluetooth, it handles caller ID, speakerphone (calling Dick Tracy!) and music streaming duties, and at launch will work with iPhone and Android devices.

The company says I'm Watch will also have an app store, which should get a preview at CES 2012.

It has 3 different versions-- Color (with an aluminium casing in x7 different colours), Titanium and Jewel (for the more discerning of customers, with gold and jewel encrusted casing).

Pre-orders are already open, and shipping starts in January 2012.

Go I'm Watch