WASHINGTON: Apple said Tuesday that the iPad 2, the latest model of the hot-selling tablet computer, will go on sale in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea in April.
The examination of Apple's continues, and now benchmarks of its graphics performance compare it favorably with both its predecessor and one of its most capable rivals, the Apple's claim of the iPad 2's graphics performance over the iPad 1 might be exaggerated, according to AnandTech's reviewer Daniel Dilger, who said he's "not sure that you'll ever see 9x running real game code." In fact, the iPad 2's graphics performance with the original iPad and the Motorola Xoom, and using GLBenchmark 2.0, the iPad 2 was between 3 and 7 times faster than the iPad 1, and was a surprising 2 to 7 times faster than the Tegra 2-packing Motorola Xoom tablet.
NEW YORK - The new iPad went on sale on Friday as Apple fans lined up outside stores around the United States to be the first to snap up the sleek touchscreen tablet computer.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs emerged from medical leave on Wednesday to unveil a new version of the iPad designed to tighten the company's grip on the booming tablet computer market.
U.S. investigators plan to announce criminal charges concerning the alleged theft of email addresses and other personal information belonging to about 120,000 users of Apple Inc's iPad tablet computer.
Prosecutors said the charges arise from an alleged hacking of AT&T Inc's servers, which affected iPad users who accessed the Internet through AT&T's 3G network.
Paul Fishman, the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, and the FBI plan to hold a press conference Tuesday afternoon to discuss the charges.
SEOUL, South Korea – Acclaimed South Korean film director Park Chan-wook has discovered a new cinematic tool: the iPhone.
The director of South Korean movies "Old Boy," "Lady Vengeance" and "Thirst," said Monday that his new fantasy-horror film "Paranmanjang" was shot entirely on Apple Inc.'s iconic smartphone.
"Paranmanjang" means a "life full of ups and downs" in Korean. It is about a man transcending his current and former lives.
Park told reporters the new technology created strange effects because it is new but also a medium the audience is used to.
Park made the 30-minute film with his younger brother Park Chan-kyong, also a director.
LAS VEGAS - US computer giant Dell announced plans on Thursday to launch a new touchscreen tablet computer and a smartphone powered by Google's Android software.
Dell unveiled the new phone, the Venue, and the tablet, the Streak 7, at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, which draws tens of thousands of buyers and sellers from around the globe to Las Vegas.
Dell launched a smartphone late last year with Microsoft, using the US software giant's Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system, but it opted for Google's free Android platform for the latest device.
Dell said the new Streak 7 tablet has a seven-inch (17.8-centimetre) screen, slightly larger than the display on the first Streak the company released last year.
Dell said the Streak 7 is designed for the faster Internet speeds of US wireless carrier T-Mobile's 4G network.
"With its dual-core processor, seven-inch multi-touch screen and dual cameras, the new Dell Streak 7 tablet takes full advantage of the unrivaled power of T-Mobile's 4G network," said John Thode, vice president of Dell's Mobility Product Group.
The Streak 7, which Dell said will be available in the coming weeks, is one of dozens of touchscreen tablet computers being launched at CES as electronics manufacturers seek to match Apple's success with its iPad.
US telecom maker Motorola Mobility jumped into the bustling tablet computer market Wednesday with a touchscreen device powered by "Honeycomb," the latest version of Google's Android software.
Sanjay Jha, the chief executive of Motorola Mobility, also presented three new Android-powered touchscreen smartphones to reporters here on the eve of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Motorola Mobility's hotly awaited tablet computer, the "Xoom," will be available in the first quarter of the year, Jha said.
With a 10.1-inch (25.6-centimeter) screen, the Xoom is about the same size as Apple's iPad, which hit stores in April and has other leading technology companies around the world scrambling to catch up.
More than 100 firms are expected to unveil tablet computers at CES, which officially opens on Thursday and features more than 2,600 exhibitors of the latest gadgets.
Jha said the Xoom will be the first tablet computer to hit stores featuring Android 3.0, or Honeycomb, an operating system developed with tablets in mind instead of smartphones.
"It's been designed ground up for the tablet, the user interface, the whole interaction," Jha said. "It has multi-tasking capability."
"All of these things, I think, deliver an experience which makes Android 3.0 on our tablet probably in my opinion the most competitive product in the marketplace," he said.
Jha pointed out several features on the Xoom that the iPad does not have including front- and rear-facing cameras and the ability to play Adobe Flash video software, which is banned from the Apple device.
He said the first Xooms to hit the market will feature 3G connectivity to the Internet through US carrier Verizon Wireless. A 4G Xoom will come out later in the year and 3G versions can be upgraded to 4G.
Jha also unveiled three new smartphones, the Atrix 4G, available through US telecom giant AT&T in the first quarter of the year, the Cliq 2 and the Droid Bionic.
A laptop dock for the Atrix 4G allows a user to connect the phone to a computer monitor and surf the Web using a full Firefox desktop browser.
The Cliq 2, available through Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in the United States from January 19, features a slide-out keyboard and was described as a device offering "business-ready features and robust entertainment options."
The Bionic Droid, which will be available in the second quarter of the year, is designed specifically for Verizon's 4G network, which was launched in December and currently covers about one-third of the US population.
It offers mobile Internet speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G and will, for example, allow high-quality streaming of television shows.
Chief executive Jha rolled out the new products here a day after the Illinois-based Motorola split into two companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions.
Motorola Mobility will focus on mobility, the Internet and computing markets while Motorola Solutions will target next-generation communications solutions to government, public safety and enterprise customers.
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has announced its plans to transform the face, feel and future of the fixed line business with a new offering that bundles a landline service with a touch-screen tablet and a high speed myDSL service all under one service plan.
Unveiled to the public last December 13, the PLDT TelPad unit includes a special handset that also serves as a charging dock for an application-rich, 7-inch screen tablet computer. Subscribers can use the handset or the portable tablet computer to make and receive phone calls.
However, what make the PLDT TelPad truly remarkable are over a hundred thousand online applications at the subscriber’s disposal. “The intuitive design allows subscribers to access information, entertainment and lifestyle apps easily with simple touch of the screen. Aside from Android based applications such as e-readers, news widgets and games, there are other apps being developed for a more enjoyable PLDT TelPad experience,” said Dan Ibarra, Head of PLDT Retail Business Group.
Patrick Tang, PLDT Vice President for Retail Voice, explained that the PLDT Telpad highlights the enhanced value of landlines to households and businesses. “The PLDT TelPad tablet has built-in widgets and many applications that can access PLDT-run content-rich portals such as PLDT@Home, askPLDT and very soon, even PLDT Watchpad, which is PLDT’s online multi-media entertainment portal.”
Subscribers who enjoy a multi-media lifestyle can also take advantage of the TelPad’s built-in HDMI port which can be plugged into any flat screen TV allowing subscribers to watch movies, play games and very soon, even sing along with the Videoke app on the TV’s larger screen, making the multimedia experience richer. The TelPad tablet can also be used to listen to music, read e-mail and display photo slideshows.
The PLDT TelPad tablet is powered by a 1Ghz Cortex A8 processor that enables the device to deliver snappy performance. It runs on Android’s latest operating system version 2.2, which offers genuine multi-tasking capabilities. Users of TelPad can download a wide range of applications from the Android Market, Google’s online store which offers over 125,000 applications like business apps, e-books and magazines and digital games like the highly popular Angry Birds.
Japan's top carrier NTT DoCoMo is to launch a tablet computer running Google software to challenge Apple's hot-selling iPad, a report said Saturday.
DoCoMo will marry the new Google-backed Android operating system with a device made by South Korea's LG Electronics to launch the product in Japan by the end of March, the Nikkei business daily said, without naming sources.
Users will be able to get on the Internet via DoCoMo's cellular connections, it said, adding pricing and other details were yet to be decided.
Google is expected to release a tablet-friendly operating system worldwide early this year.
NEW YORK : Online retailer Amazon on Monday said its latest Kindle had become the company's best-selling product ever.
Without giving details of the number of units sold, the company said sales of its third generation e-reader had beat sales of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and CEO, said the product's 139-dollar price tag meant owners of tablet computers, such as the iPad, were also buying Kindles.
"We're seeing that many of the people who are buying Kindles also own an LCD tablet. Customers report using their LCD tablets for games, movies, and web browsing and their Kindles for reading sessions," Bezos said.
Amazon also announced that it sold around 158 items a second on the peak holiday sales day, November 29 -- dubbed "Cyber Monday."
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc's next iPad tablet will start shipping as early as the end of February from electronics maker Foxconn Electronics' factories in China, DigiTimes reported on Tuesday.
The report, citing unnamed sources from Taiwan-based components makers, said Apple originally planned to start mass production of the new device, known as iPad 2, in January.
Those plans were postponed since the device's firmware, or set of software instructions that are programmed into the device's hardware, was still being tested, according to the report.
The iPad 2 will mainly be supplied by plants in Shenzhen belonging to Foxconn, the parent company of Hon Hai, DigiTimes reported. An initial shipment of 400,000 to 600,000 units are expected.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment.
Apple sold 4.19 million iPads in the fiscal fourth quarter. That was lower than markets expected, but analysts expect sales to ramp up this holiday season as Apple resolves supply glitches.