WIth the B15 you’re getting a dual-core 1Ghz Cortex A9 processor powering a 4-inch 800 x 480 pixel resolution display along with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. There’s a microSD card slot inside able to take on 32GB of additional storage, and the whole phone is ready to fit in the palm of your hand easily – especially if you’re a construction worker or massive person of sorts, generally the type to get into situations where such damage-resistant features as this one has will come in handy. But the audience this device has is not limited to those that pick up and smash down large rocks!

You’ll be working with aluminum (or aluminium, depending on how British you are), and shock-absorbing rubber on the outside. This is a device that will not – ever – need a case to protect it. The display up front is covered by Gorilla Glass (though we’re not sure at the moment if it’s Gorilla Glass or Gorilla Glass 2), and the aluminum and rubber frame comes up ever-so-slightly around the edges so if your device falls to a flat surface, the display will be further protected. You’ll see a couple of DEATH-DEFYING DROPS in the hands-on video above.

The CAT B15 is able to drop from a height of 6 feet, fall onto concrete, and survive to tell the tale. You’ll also be working with 3 feet of water protection as the whole of the device is sealed with more shock-absorbing rubber for the safety of its innards. Heat is also protected against up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit as well as cold, down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit.

You’ll be picking this device up in March if you live in one of the 50 countries the device is launched in across the world at first for right around 299 Euro. At the moment though we’ve heard from CAT that the device is planned for USA release in April, pricing has not been decided as deals with carriers have not been finalized. We shall see soon enough!

Be sure to have a peek at the rest of our up to the minute news blast and hands-on collection in the Mobile World Congress 2013 tag portal here on SlashGear. We’ll be here all week, and we’ve already seen quite a bit of excellent bits and pieces from manufacturers and developers of mobile greatness alike!

Gorilla Glass 3 is not only the thinnest iteration yet, but it’s also Corning’s most durable. Of course, it isn’t going to do much if your device takes a spill onto a hard surface like concrete, but it’ll do quite a bit to keep your display scratch-free. That’s especially handy considering that scratches inevitably happen with everyday use, so if Gorilla Glass 3 can cut down on the frequency of those scratches even more than Gorilla Glass 2 did, then we have a lot to look forward to.

One benefit of making the glass thinner is that your display will be sharper, which is always welcome. Corning says that it has improved Gorilla Glass on a molecular level, improvements which the company is calling Native Damage Resistance. With everything tallied up, Corning says that Gorilla Glass 3 will be three times stronger than Gorilla Glass 2, 40% better at preventing scratches and hiding the ones that do show up on your screen, and 50% stronger once the display becomes flawed. That’s especially important, since deep scratches can lead to shattering later on.

Unfortunately, we won’t be seeing devices outfitted with Gorilla Glass 3 for a little while. Corning says that there won’t be any Gorilla Glass 3 devices available to check out at CES 2013, and they actually won’t begin popping until a couple of months after the show wraps. We’ll see if we can’t spend a little time with Gorilla Glass 3 at CES, but in the meantime, be sure to check out our hands-on with Gorilla Glass 2 for a bit of a refresher.

[via Android Community]

Hardware

I had major reservations about the LG Nexus 4 after having experienced the strangely slippery hardware of the LG Optimus G (see our full review here). I’m not talking about any sort of slipperiness in an ephemeral sense – I mean the plastic and glass that makes up the bulk of the device is literally slick. As it turns out here with the LG Nexus 4 though, any little bit of grip friendliness lost is more than made up for by the fabulously well-crafted curved edges of the front-facing panel.

Both the front and back panels on this device are made of Corning Gorilla Glass 2, the newest in undeniably tough glass action from the biggest name in reinforced glass panels for mobile devices today. Under the back panel you’ll find the same Crystal Reflection pattern that the LG Optimus G has, many different squares of reflective material creating an ever-changing pattern of light and dark. The name “NEXUS” sits on the back in big clear letters so you know what you’re using, too.

The display on this device is a lovely 768 x 1280 pixels across 4.7-inches of IPS PLUS LCD. That’s 320 PPI, just above Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus at 316 PPI (PenTile* in that case), and the Nexus S which was all the way back at 235 PPI. For comparison purposes: the iPhone 5 (and 4/4S) sit at 326 PPI and the highest sharpness on the market today exists on the HTC DROID DNA at a massive 440 PPI (across 5-inches of display, no less).

*See more on Samsung’s PenTile choices here: “PenTile keeps you happy for Longer” – as spoken by Philip Berne for Samsung (Philip is also a columnist for SlashGear, mind you.)

The Nexus 4′s display is as bright, sharp, and vibrant as your eyes can handle – so says DisplayMate. Touch sensitivity on this display has been nothing less than top-notch, and viewing angles are essentially perfect. This device works with an RGB subpixel arrangement rather than the PenTile we’ve seen on several recent device including the Galaxy Nexus. LG’s choice here means that that any pixelation you might have noticed in the Galaxy Nexus is gone here and the display experience is easily one of the best you’ll find on any smartphone or tablet out today.

This device also works with not just wireless mirroring in the near future with Miracast, but SlimPort as well. With SlimPort accessories you’ll be able to mirror your display via full-sized HDMI while your device charges at the same time – quite similar to what the HDMI converter accessories for MHL-compatible devices do. Here though you’ve got compatibility with HDMI, VGA, DVI, and DisplayPort too – though just the HDMI accessory exists at the moment.

Also note that the Miracast standard wireless technology exists on several devices at the moment, also including the Samsung Galaxy S III. You wont find so much as a peep from this technology in the Nexus 4 at the moment, though – we must assume that it’ll show itself once more accessories working with the Miracast standard hit the market. It is strange that Google would market the device as having said abilities without them being utilized right out of the box – isn’t it? Have a peek at a column by the name of Miracast Accessories: don’t jump in head first just yet for more information on the future of this technology – the imminent future, that is.

Camera

The camera is a vast improvement over the Samsung Galaxy Nexus’ clunky 5-megapixel shooter, and not just because you’ve got a few more megapixels to toss around here. It would appear that LG, Qualcomm, and Google have come together to create a camera experience here that’s sharp and clear. It’s not perfect, and we’re not quite ready to say it beats out the Samsung Galaxy S III, Nokia Lumia 920, or iPhone 5, but it’s certainly a contender.

The panorama mode as well as Photo Sphere create images that are impressive to behold, but again, are not perfect. While the stitching of images together to create a whole are rarely done without error, the final product is almost always worth keeping. Have a peek at a couple of Photo Spheres in action in the following: [Mall Parking Lot], [Gas Station], [Arcade] – each are posted to Google+ in full-on exploration mode so you can see them in their natural state. Google cross-promotes their social network and the software here as Android 4.2 Jelly Bean+ will bring on this Sphere ability to all devices that run with it from that point onward – fun stuff!

Initial Cost and Data Plans

Once again, let’s not forget that you literally get the same device from T-Mobile that you’d get from Google here, packaging and all. That said, the off-contract price for the T-Mobile-sold Nexus 4 is up at $499, that being approximately $150 more than the off-contract model you can buy from Google Play. Considering the fact that the Google Play online store is completely sold out of the device right now, with a 4 week wait (for some) before device delivery, you might want to drop that $150 to get it sooner.

The device is available from T-Mobile attached to a 2-year contract for $199.99 (this being that $150 less than the Google Play $349.99 price), which you might as well go for if you’re planning on working with T-Mobile one way or another. T-Mobile has a large collection of monthly plans for data, text, and talk, with the largest being a lovely $124.99 per month for unlimited action for all services with 10GB of data working at full speed (with throttling after that). This plan also includes hotspot abilities so you can share data from your smartphone to your other devices as well as 10GB of cloud storage.

Though T-Mobile does have several unlimited data plans, its worth mentioning that you will be “throttled” after the specified amount of data is used each month. Throttling data speed means you’ve got significantly slower data delivery than, in this case, T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ network normally delivers. You’ve also got a $79.99 per month plan that includes unlimited data, text, and talk, this time with 2GB of high-speed data before throttling.

Wrap-up

The LG Nexus 4 is just as awesome a Nexus device as any that’ve come before it. Google continues to bring forth stronger and stronger devices, amalgamations of power here in addition to standardization for developers. With this generation comes one of the most powerful processors on the planet along with one of the strongest cameras on the market and a rather top-tier experience for not just the expert Android user, but the average smartphone lover as well.

The only thing you’ll want to keep your eye on is the fact that this device does not work with 4G LTE – if you need data speed in a mobile way, this isn’t your best bet – not yet, anyway. If you’re in the shade of the great wi-fi gods on the regular: no worries. Outside of data speed, this is easily one of the most fabulous smartphones on the market today.

Hardware

This machine works with a set of two USB 3.0 ports, one micro-HDMI-out port, a combo headphone/mic jack, and a DC-in jack for your power cord. On the right you’ve got a dual memory card reader for SD and MMC, and also included in the box you’ve got a couple of adapter cords, one made for VGA output, the other allowing you to use an Ethernet cord (USB to RJ-45). The camera up front is a 1.3 megapixel HD webcam able to pick up 1280 x 1024 for video chat, the battery inside is a 4-cell lithium polymer at 4680mAh, and you’ve got 4096MB DDR3 dual-channel memory (4GB onboard memory) as well as Intel HD Graphics 4000 to keep that massively dense display high-powered.

This machine works with Optimized Dolby Home Theater v4 audio enhancements with two built-in stereo speakers and high-definition audio support. There’s also a built-in digital microphone for use with your video chat adventures, and under the hood you’ve got a lovely 256GB SSD drive as well. The touchpad is what Acer calls their “ZoomPerfect” unit with single and multi-finger scroll action – that’s up to 5 fingers to scroll, pinch, rotate, flip, and the like.

Weighing in at 2.86 lbs / 1.3kg and measuring in at 17.2″ W x 3.58″ D x 10.67″ H (437mm W x 91mm D x 271mm H), you’ll find this mix of metal and glass to be a joy to use – and to look at. When you open it and feel the unique edges around the touchscreen as well as the Gorilla Glass top, you’ll find yourself dually impressed. This machine is an Acer triumph without a doubt in its hardware build – the aesthetics alone make this easily one of the most beautifully full-looking notebooks on the market – and not just in the Windows 8 category.

The machine folds down to a thinness that’s straight up surprising, making it opening it for the first time an experience that may very well have you skipping the pleasantries and kicking your pocketbook out immediately. But you’ll want to take heed: there are some drawbacks to such a thin beast with a display that’s both touch-capable and incredible sharp, not to mention bright as you could possible want it to be. Battery life – as I’m sure you’re wondering about – will betray you if you’re expecting to go more than 4 hours at full-blast high-action video streaming and interactive touchscreen gaming.

But if you’re a realist and never go anywhere with your notebook computer without a power cord anyway, you’re going to have a bit more difficult a time finding reasons not to want this machine. Of course the price is always going to be a factor here in our present when it’s above $1,600 USD. That’s a massive price for a computer, especially if you only plan on using it to impress your friends and surf the web. That’s not what this computer is made for.

Instead you’re going to want to focus on what you get for the price. Acer has created a masterpiece for the Windows 8 generation. This is the computer Steve Ballmer should be carrying around to show off what Windows 8 can do – it’s that slick.

Peruse the rest of the reviews of this machine as they appear popping up across the web over the next few weeks and see where the low points are – you’ll find many folks saying the price is prohibitive while the rest suggest that the battery life in any notebook should be 6 hours or more. First you should know that we’ve gotten 5+ hours out of the device on multiple heavy-use occasions – great by your average user’s standards. Next you’ll be glad to hear that standby time for this notebook is undeniably great – Acer assures that with “Acer Hybrid Standby Technology” you’ll be able to get 80 days of standby power: that’s intense, and we’ve not seen any evidence yet to suggest they’re telling us anything less than the truth there with months of up-time. These “low points” are completely forgivable for what Acer is presenting here in the Autumn of 2012.

Software

The 10-finger touchscreen you’re working with here includes some software enhancements – most of them aesthetic – that make your Windows 8 experience the best we’ve seen thus far. You get tiny momentarily-visible transparent dots wherever you tap the screen, and as you move your fingers around, you get ghostly trails from your fingertips, allowing you to instantly understand how your tips are touching and moving. Having used several touchscreen PCs before the dawn of Windows 8, we can safely say that this is a major leap forward in real-world usability, without a doubt.

Have a peek also at our full Windows 8 review to see exactly what we’re dealing with here, with a few additions that include mostly new apps and security measures from Acer. You’ve got Acer Theft Shield, Acer Cloud, Acer Backup Manager, ePower Management, and eRecovery Management, and a whole lot more. For the most part, Acer’s additions to the basic Windows 8 build include connections to their own ecosystem – most of which are entirely positive and worth the effort you’ll be using to attach yourself.

You’ll be using your touchpad here in combination with the touch screen, but you’ll be able to use one or the other exclusively if you’re up for it. There’s an on-screen touch keyboard you can use if for some reason you want to move your hands up 4 inches above your perfectly capable physical keyboard, and the touchscreen isn’t necessarily required, so to speak, for anything if you don’t want to. You also get a Bluetooth mouse with the package if you’re feeling like some standard plastic mouse action – it’s standard, and certainly usable, but not a whole lot more than that. The physical keyboard also uses the computer’s light sensing abilities to keep your eyes happy, with backlighting activating as the atmosphere dims.

If you have trouble with “setting up” your computer, you can refer to the included “Setup Poster” included in the box, or you can use your Wireless Setup Card too – Acer has made the process simpler than ever before here – strange since the process includes no more than a few button taps and maybe even a connection with password to your wireless network. Important point here is that it’s simple enough for your parents to do themselves – really!

Have a peek at our standard benchmarking results here with Geekbench and feel the power – it’s a top of the line experience whether you’re cruising through your newest massively power-hungry game or viewing your favorite HD feature film.

Sound

The speakers on this machine are good enough for a personal computing experience and accurate even up to their loudest positions. Acer isn’t messing around with the external speaker sound quality here, with two Acer 3DSonic stereo speakers backed up with sound enhancements by Dolby. The fans on this machine, working with Acer TwinAir cooling technology, can get a bit louder than we’d like to hear on a regular basis. It’s not an issue unless you’re working with high-powered gaming or hours and hours of streaming video, and the trade-off is a rather pleasant lap experience – we’ve not felt anything hot going on yet.

Unique Touchscreen Experience

This machine has a hinge that allows it to fold back to 180 degrees – that means you’ll be able to go flat against a table, keyboard and touchscreen included. If you’ve used a machine that folds back further than this, you’ll find yourself feeling a bit limited by the flat-stop. If you’ve only ever used a notebook that folds back to 45 degrees, on the other hand, you’ll be surprised by how often you’ll want to push that screen back further, and further, and further. The viewing angles on the display are also near-perfect, making any angle look as great as the next (unless you count the high-gloss reflection-intense glass, of course).

This will also be a new experience for those of you used to using a tablet computer exclusively, as it really does combine the notebook and tablet experiences into one. If you’ve ever found yourself tapping your notebook screen after extensive tablet use, you’ll fall right in line with the S7′s experience. Windows 8 and the developers optimizing their applications for touchscreen action here in the first Windows 8 wave of app upgrades make this touch-and-tap combination one we’re really, truly enjoying. Working with the Aspire S7 will make you want to convert to this new universe – it’ll make you want to change and be assimilated.

Wrap-Up

This machine is Acer’s best effort yet. It’s an Ultrabook that makes the Windows 8 experience an enjoyable one – and on a personal note, it’s the first in many moons that’s made certain Apple-exclusive family members of mine think about trying a switch (having seen it at Thanksgiving, of course). You’ll certainly have to weigh the benefits of having this top-class machine in your position against the amount of cash you’re going to have to dish out since it’s certainly not the most budget-minded beast on the market, but after that, it’s all smooth sailing.

As with all of our reviews of products large and small, this is not the end of the review – let us know if there’s anything else you’d like to know about the machine and we’ll do our best to let you know what we know! We’ll continue to test this machine into the future and will let you know if anything ground-shattering changes our experience in any grand way – meanwhile feel free ask any and all questions you may have and make requests to your heart’s content!

Corning released their Q3 2012 earnings today, and along with the earnings, they touted that over 1 billion (with a “B”) devices are equipped with Corning’s toughened Gorilla Glass. Furthermore, 33 major brands are using Gorilla Glass on at least one of its products, and 500 individual models of devices are equipped with the glass technology.

The trend of toughened glass isn’t only spreading on smartphones, but tablets, laptops, and even televisions are equipped with Gorilla Glass. These are fairly impressive numbers, and they should continue to rise as the popularity of scratch-resistant and toughened glass rises. It may even become the standard one day.

As far as sales figures, Corning earned a revenue of $2.04 billion during Q3, which is up 7% from last quarter, but down 2% from last year. The company ended up with a net income of $521 million, up from $462 million last quarter. However, it’s 36% down from last year, which saw a net income of $811 million.

As it turns out, the curved glass iPhone was scrapped mainly due to money concerns as the technology in glass at the time was not up to par with what Apple needed to create a successful phone. With two pieces of curved glass popping up on both sides of the phone you’ve also got to think about the ease in which the device could break – that’s an issue as well.

“The technology in shaping the glass, the cost relative to shaping the glass at the time, and some of the design features of this specific shape were not liked… The technology at the time had a lot to do with it. The qualities of the glass at the time had a lot to do with it. These are models — I’m trying to remember a time frame — that were before gorilla glass and before a lot of the other factors.” – Satzger

As for how the fragility of the glass would be a factor, Stringer let it be known that drop tests were indeed done on all models. He makes certain to note, for whatever reason, that the drop tests done on the iPhone models throughout the process did not have much of an effect on the final design. The “shape” did not change as a result of the drop tests, he says, and each of the various forms were indeed dropped.

“It changed as a result of those fine-tuning the design. From a composition point of view, we were trying to decide how much of a border we wanted around the glass, the angles, the dimensions, the corner radii. We excruciatingly put through how we wanted this thing to appear. So yes, it did take various forms along the way… I can tell you quite plainly that this shape is not determined as a result of drop tests.” – Satzger

The second model detailed a bit more today was an Extruded Aluminum prototype which you can see above on the right. This model looks rather similar to what we’ve seen in the iPhone 4/4S here in the final product universe, but it ultimately had to be scrapped for a variety of reasons. When asked whether this model, amongst other iPhones with bezels, were studied to determine which configurations best protect the display from cracking or breaking, Satzger had the following to say:

“We made prototypes of the product that included the bezel, and yes, they were dropped. But from an appearance point of view, the design, if you will, it remained unchanged in any significant way through the process.” – Satzger

And so the iPhone “look” was born. But have a bit of a closer look at Satzger’s talk on the extruded metal model and find how it diverged from the iPods at the time as well. Note how a “full metal jacket” was considered as well.

“To get the extruded aluminum design that was applied to the iPod to work for the iPhone, there were too many added features to allow it to be comfortable and to work properly… If you put an iPod up to your ear, the sharp edges, because of the processes, aren’t comfortable, and you can’t get antennas to work properly in a fully enclosed metal jacket. So each one of those things needed to apply other features that started.” – Satzger

Have a peek at the timeline below to follow along with the Apple vs Samsung trial over the past week, and stick with SlashGear as we continue to dig in with the case as it expands through the future as well.

This next-generation glass will allow curved displays to be a reality and will support the creation of thinner backplates as well as brighter displays. Dr. Dipak Chowdhury, division vice president and Willow Glass program director spoke this week on the creation of this glass and how it will move the industry forward.

“Displays become more pervasive each day and manufacturers strive to make both portable devices and larger displays thinner. Corning Willow Glass provides the substrate performance to maintain device quality in a thin and light form factor. Currently manufacturing in a sheet-to-sheet process, we expect Corning Willow Glass to eventually allow customers to switch to high throughput, efficient roll-to-roll processing, a long-awaited industry milestone.” – Chowdhury

Have a peek at what Corning means when they describe a roll-to-roll process here:

Then take note that Willow Glass will be made using Corning’s proprietary fusion process, this process making it possible to create glass that is just 100 microns thick – as thin as a sheet of copy paper! Stay tuned as we find out which devices will be working with Willow Glass first!

BONUS: Have a peek at how Ultra-slim flexible glass will benefit displays here:

This factoid was not included on official releases from Samsung on the whole thus far and only a confirmation straight from Corning is good enough for the most hardcore fans of the glass. This announcement moves the Galaxy S III up into the next generation of rough and tough devices, it being protected by what Corning would let you know is the most battle-ready glass on Earth. Hear what they have to say in their official blurb:

“We are pleased to offer our customers the thin elegance and refined style of the GALAXY S III using Corning Gorilla Glass 2. New Corning Gorilla Glass 2 is an ideal solution for Samsung’s high-quality smartphones, enabling a superior touch experience and a lightweight and slim design, with the damage and scratch resistance consumers have come to expect.” – Corning

This new improved layer of glass is able to be 20% thinner than its predecessor and its ability to let shine the display it protects has increased along with touch response you get from your device and the overall lightness in the end. Have a peek at some hands-on action we had with Gorilla Glass 2 this spring at CES 2012 Then head below for all the Gorilla Glass you can handle in our Corning timeline, and watch our for diamonds!

[via Android Community]

Gorilla Glass 2 was first unveiled at CES 2012 earlier this year and was touted as being 20 percent thinner than its predecessor, while being just as strong. The thinner material not only allows for thinner form factors for mobile devices but also brighter displays and greater touch sensitivity.

The company announced that since unveiling Gorilla Glass 2 last month, it has qualified the glass with more than half of its current customers and its first orders having already been shipped. Among these first customers are Acer and Asus, the latter of which plans to use the new material on the Transformer Pad Infinity. Hence, this could mean the new tablet will launch within a few short months, although other devices sporting the new glass may land in the meantime as well.

[via MarketWatch]

Corning continues by showing off Electrochomic Glass, this being a type that in the future will be used for windows to insulate houses, shade or become transparent on command, and is of course, durable. Along these same lines is Architectural Display Glass which allows you to move through your hallways with touch-sensitive boxes galore. Automotive Design Glass will be photosensitive like the Elecrochromic Glass, lightweight, and touch sensitive if need be. Wall-Format Display Glass has the gigantic wall ready to move with a professor, touch-sensitive of course, and Specialty Tablet Glass has your future hand-held book-sized displays ready to roll with anti-microbial, scratch, and chemical resistant formulas to bring you the best overall experience.

The video above is just the short format presentation. Corning has also provided a long-format vision for the future in an explanatory segment that’s twice the length. Enjoy with us the vision Corning has for the glass-filled world of tomorrow in A Day Made of Glass 2: Same Day. Expanded Corning Vision. Head to our timeline below as well to check out extended coverage once again with Gorilla Glass and beyond!

Perceptive pixels has been shipping these large-scale displays since mid-2011 but what makes this one special is the outer layer on the screen. This prototype device represents the largest touch display to feature Corning Gorilla Glass, adding Corning’s thin, visually stunning and durable glass to the world’s largest projected capacitive flat-panel display technology.

With Perceptive’s class-leading technology and Corning’s new Gorilla Glass 2 measuring just 2mm thick they are able to make these entire screens just 6 inches in depth. Adding the strengthened glass from Corning allows these panels to be used in a wide array of situations and horizontal positions. You can see right on video the demonstrator uses the stylus with force and near the end even punches the display to demonstrate the strength from the glass –something that will surely protect these expensive screens from impact damage.

For more information regarding Gorilla Glass 2 check out our timeline below for the details. In the future we can expect even more from both of these companies as things progress.

Tonight at the CES Pepcom event we gave it a try and even pushed our hardest but it just wouldn’t give. The new and improved Gorilla Glass 2 has more than a few improvements. According to our tests, and Corning, their new formula and fortified glass is around 20% stronger and 20% thinner. This will bring us thinner and smaller devices from tablets, smartphones, and everything else in between. They didn’t mention scratch tests, or show them — but I was told the compacted process should help preserve those precious screens even better than before.

I do the occasional workout (other than a keyboard workout), and it didn’t crack even under a good 121 pounds of pressure. Just like previous tests the “competition” fortified glass cracked at around 74 pounds or less, and Corning’s original fortified glass held up well past 100 pounds of weight.

So what can we expect from Corning and Gorilla Glass 2? Smartphones and tablets that are stronger, sturdier, and more durable. All while coming in at around 20% thinner in the glass department. It’s up to the manufacturers to make the rest sleek. According to Corning we can expect to see their new glass appear in devices in late Q3 2012 — so for now the original will still have to do.

The photo’s below show competitors glass all the way through the new Gorilla 2 so check it out.

Corning has also detailed a few more bits that are sure to make the masses jump with glee. This new amalgamation in the glass allows for brighter images on the whole (though they don’t mention exactly how) and greater touch sensitivity. Specifically they’re touting this touch sensitivity as working really great with this year’s oncoming torrential downpour of Windows 8 devices. Touch your way to a whole new experience, essentially.

The folks at Corning have also sent along some details on what they’ve done as far as business for 2011 goes – specifically that inside 2011, once all the numbers are tabulated, they’re expected to reach more than $700 million USD in sales. That’s more than triple, they say, what they made in 2010. With simple yet fabulously effective improvements such as what they’ve revealed here, there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t bump up again this year. We’ll be checking out Corning tonight to see what they’ve got in store for us for hands-on action. Join us then!

This new forumula should improve Corning’s standing in the mobile world that, at the end of 2011, saw a few major releases with Gorilla Glass noticeably missing from the equation. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, for example, came after waves of Samsung’s Galaxy S II devices (which had Gorilla Glass) with a surprise: reinforced glass, but not Corning’s. So the folks at Corning are releasing their second iteration – not necessarily because of the Galaxy Nexus, of course, but releasing it all the same.

Senior vice president and general manager of Corning Specialty Materials James R. Steiner had the following to say on the second wave:

“Corning Gorilla Glass has been a tremendous success for Corning, enjoying excellent market acceptance across mobile device industries. … As we did last year [at CES], we’ll provide consumers and customers visiting the Corning booth the opportunity to test first-hand the outstanding damage resistance and flexibility of this industry-leading, ultra-thin, and tough specialty glass,” – Steiner

That’s all we had to hear. Have a peek at last year’s display in the video below, and check out the [Corning portal] to see all the devices that had Gorilla Glass incorporated in their build over the past 12 months or so. An intense number, to be sure.

Hardware

This tablet is made of Gorilla Glass, radial-spun aluminum, and a whole bunch of varied innards that we’ll never come in contact with. The only moving parts on the tablet are the removable covers for each of the ports, the volume bar, and the power/lock button. Unlike the original Transformer whose volume and power buttons have been prone to get a bit loose after extended usage, these are set nicely in place like a high quality product’s buttons should.

The tablet is cold to the touch most of the time because of its entirely aluminum back, and the glass along the front has a nearly up to the edge coverage, making the whole tablet seem rather refined in its industrial design. The back camera boasts an impressive 8-megapixel rating and has a single LED flash, an upgrade on both accounts when you compare this device to most of the rest of the tablet selection out on the market today, including the first generation Transformer.

We won’t go too deep into the products of the camera today, but know this: it’s a vast improvement over most tablet-type camera toters your humble narrator has seen thus far. The camera interface remains mostly the same as your average Honeycomb shooter, as does most of the user interface, but ASUS has done an excellent job modifying the few bits that it has, including first of all the pop-up menu in the lower right-hand corner, it now including the all-important Super IPS button which will blast forth the brightness up to 600nits for outdoor reading.

There’s also to three modes in which you can work: power saving, balanced, and high-performance (aka normal). In our initial battery test, we stayed in Normal mode for the majority of it, and with it we’re seeing something like 10+ hours with a large bit of that being screen off time. This is by no means the scale to judge the battery life by as it wasn’t done under any kind of controlled set of rules, but it is a very basic peek at what we’re likely dealing with here. Expect a vast improvement when we flip the power saving mode on.

Initial Benchmarks

Check out our first round of benchmarks here, and note that each of the following is on the tablet without the keyboard dock attached — also head to the gallery below to see the improvement this tablet has made over the original transformer if you wish.

We’ll also be doing extended tests showing the original Transformer verses the new Prime in a later post, just so you know, as well as any other comparisons to mobile devices you’d like us to do.

Transformer Prime vs. Macbook Air

Another possibility is us comparing this tablet docked in its keyboard dock compared to the MacBook Air. One thing I’ll say right now, something I’m sure some of you out there will have a tiny heart attack reading, is that this device with its keyboard dock may well be a good alternate for those of you thinking the MacBook Air is too costly for your tastes. The Transformer Prime attached to its keyboard is both thin and light, and the whole thing is made of a nice thin but tough aluminum, so what does that sound like to you? Also the keyboard itself is really quite good, comparable to full-blown laptop keyboards from that same fruit-flavored company.

Hands-on

In our first two hands-on videos you’re going to see the device compared to the original Tranformer and some of the unique bits in the software on the Prime, followed by a nice close-up look at the keyboard dock. First up have a peek at the intro and mind the whale at the end, I think you’ll find the bubbles to be more than enough to entice you to go under the sea to track your batteries, if you know what i mean:

Then it’s time to head down deeper into the settings on this tablet / transforming tablet computer, noting especially how NVIDIA wasn’t about to let us take a peek at their Tegra 3 processor embedded inside without testing out a plethora of new games. The games will be shown in future hands-on videos, mind you, so let us know which ones you want to see first and I’ll be sure to fire them up.

Release Details

Then note this: the ASUS Transformer Prime, otherwise known as the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, will be released $499 for the 32GB TF201 model, $599 for the 64GB model, and $149 for the new docking station in the USA. The tablet will be available in Amethyst Gray (like ours) and Champagne Gold, and per Asus: “We expect availability to start the week of 12/19 based on the pre-orders and inbound shipment schedules.” Sound like a good deal to you?

Wrap-up and Questions

At this time I’d like to ask you, the prospective user to ask any and all questions you may have of this tablet so that we can answer them in the upcoming hands-on and review posts. Anything at all, ask away, and don’t forget to mind the videos as well as the photos incase you answer appears there in some form or another. Thanks in advance, and expect the full review in just a few days right here on SlashGear in the main news feed!

When you hit the search button on the term Gorilla here in our archives on SlashGear, you’ll find that Corning’s ultra-strong glass formula appears as recently as the upcoming most powerful Android device on earth, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, a tablet toting NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core chipset. What we must assume here is that either Samsung and Google had a special deal going on with a separate company for the glass, or they saw that Corning’s Lotus Glass would be the next big thing to have anyway, and opted for a nameless glass in the interim. Note in that Lotus Glass article that Rue suggests that its possible the high resolution has something to do with the switch as well.

Peek at a hands-on with the Galaxy Nexus next to the Galaxy Note here if you’ve not already, the Galaxy Note is another new Samsung device to refrain from having Gorilla Glass for one reason or another.

What do you think, do you need Gorilla Glass in order to have a great time with a device and not worry about it getting scratched? Have a peek at this hands-on with Gorilla Glass from earlier this year as well and see what it means to have nearly un-damageable fronts to your mobile devices. Heed the breaks.

[via Android Community]

It’s the very first invention that’s got my attention, for sure – as a woman walks up to a road in front of what must be an airport, she hears a language she does not understand coming over the intercom. At a tap of her glasses, she’s got instant translation into her own English. Sort of reminds you of a Babelfish, doesn’t it? From there’s it’s all displays, all the time. Each window to a car shows off everything the woman needs (or thinks she needs) to see such as an outline of a building that she’s passing by with a note about how she needs to go there tomorrow or she wont get the job she wants – she has a device in her hands that’s one big display connected to everything under the sun, including her kitchen fridge, and everything is full-screen.

Notice, if you will, the similarities between this “future device” and the current Windows Phone interface and it’s tiles. Sort of makes you think that, wow, Windows Phone is really advanced already, doesn’t it? Then there’s giant displays as large as a desk, made for touch interaction, and all sorts of 3D interaction that I’m not quite sure how to explain. Objects jump off the displays and can be moved around with a waft of the hand. Have a peek at this newest video here:

Then head back to the video from a bit earlier this month:

Microsoft Office Labs Vision 2019

And notice finally, if you will, now similar these videos are to the video from a few months ago made by Corning (the makers of Gorilla Glass and now Lotus Glass,) in A Day Made of Glass…

[via YouTube]

The Lotus Glass has a high annealing point, meaning that it’s heated to much higher temperatures and then allowed to slowly cool. This process removes internal stresses and makes for a much tougher product that can remain stable during high temperature production processes. In addition to being able to offer higher resolution image quality, the new glass is also said to increase response time and cut down battery usage.

The glass is currently in production, but the company has not revealed yet which manufacturers will be among the first to incorporate the glass. The recently launched Apple iPhone 4S and Samsung Galaxy Nexus both do not use Corning’s current Gorilla Glass, which may have something to do with display resolution requirements that the Lotus Glass will address.

[via ArsTechnica]

Corning’s Gorilla glass can be found in a bunch of the most popular smartphones and other portable devices on the market today. Gorilla Glass is much stronger than normal glass and allows devices like the iPhone and others to survive drops without damage more often than normal glass. Back at Computex 2011 Corning was showing off curved Gorilla Glass that could be used in future smartphones.

Industry sources cited by DigiTimes are now claiming that in the first half of 2012 that curved glass will be very popular with device manufactures outside of Apple. Apple likes its flat and thin designs. The sources say that makers are getting ready to release multiple devices using the curved glass in an attempt to take some of Apple’s market share. It will take more than a curved screen to beat the iPhone and Apple’s smartphone dominance.

Apple is rumored to have purchased glass-polishing hardware for suppliers in preparation for producing devices with curved cover glass. The rise of curved glass for devices will also mean that touch sensor thin film makers will benefit also as curved touch panels are required. Curved glass may be more comfortable, but may be nothing more than a fad.

[via DigiTimes]

This device totes what they’re calling the Scribe Pen. This device works much like a pen touching a touchscreen normally would, but because it’s working with Android, much more than you’ve ever had before is in store. The reason a person would purchase this device is its size, it’s ability to use the pen, and/or because they love HTC Sense. The form of the device is beautiful, based heavily on HTC’s popular line of smartphone handsets from this past year, sized up and formed into a very nice tablet form factor. You must decide if all this is worth what basically amounts to the same amount of money you’d be spending on most other Android tablets these days and just about $100 less than an iPad 2. Furthermore, the choice is yours whether you’re going to want this WiFi-only version or if you’re going to want to go 3G for constant connection. Keep all this in mind as you read the following!

Hardware

The HTC Flyer we’re looking at here is sized at 7.7 x 4.8 x 0.52 inches (195.4 x 122 x 13.2 mm) and weighs in at 420 grams (14.82oz). It has a touchscreen up front, a 1.3-megapixel camera in the top-center of the front when held landscape mode, and there’s a Scribe Pen that works specifically with the display’s special setup. On the back there’s a couple of speakers that are OK, the top panel (portrait mode) pops off to reveal a micro-SD card slot, and the camera on the back is 5-megapixels. A lovely raised HTC sits in the center. There’s a 12-pin micro-USB 2.0 jack sitting at the bottom of the device, a headphone jack at the top, and a volume dongle on the side.

What you’re dealing with here is a tablet that you’ll easily be able to hand on to with a single hand while your other hand is tapping the display or holding the special pen for you to be writing with, circling with, doodling with. This device can slide into an average bluejeans pocket, it’s got a gorgeous look to it, and while its neither the thinnest nor the lightest tablet device on the market, it still seems small enough to carry around with you.

The cameras are not generous, but they do take photos and videos, I assure you. See below for examples of both from both the front and the back cameras.

Scribe Pen

This device is made to work with this pen. This pen does not come standard with the Best Buy version of this tablet, instead you’ll be paying a cool $80 USD for it. You don’t NEED to have it, but not having it with this tablet would just be silly. There’s a little green button lighting up your world in the lower right hand corner of your tablet, (regardless of if you’ve got it in portrait or landscape, it comes along for the ride,) that’s just begging to work with the pen.

The pen itself is about the size of a large golf pencil or coloring crayon. It uses N-Trig’s active digitizer technology to create a smooth experience for you that relies not just on the touch of the pen to the screen, but the pressure with which you press. Once you start using the pen you’ll find that this sensitivity will come in handy, especially once you become proficient in the many varieties of brushes and pens and colors and weights.

Software

What you’ll be using here is the newest version of Android not specifically created for a tablet environment, Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread. That may turn some folks off, as Android does have a tablet-centric version by the name of Android 3.0 Honeycomb, but it certainly seems as though it won’t be much of a change for the device once it is upgraded to Honeycomb down the line as it’s run with HTC’s Sense user interface version 2.1 for Tablets. If you do not know, most manufacturers of Android devices have their own slightly unique user interface overlay for their devices. HTC’s version is called Sense and this is the first place they’ve created a version with tablets in mind.

Is it good? Is HTC Sense 2.1 for Tablets good? Sure it’s good, silly, it’s a nice little system with multiple large screens in mind, widgets that fill full homescreens and show you things like small Weather, People + Google Search, Watch (movies you can download via HTC’s Video store – a feature you can use even if you don’t want to watch full videos by selecting your video of choice and watching a full trailer – fun!), My Shelf (containing books from Kobo, run by Adobe), big Weather, Mail, and Friend Stream.

Your dock is unique as well. In it out of the box you’ll be seeing Notes, Reader, and Watch. Watch is again connected to a video store where you can purchase full-length videos to watch on your devices, Reader is connected to Kobo for e-reading of e-books, and Notes (aka HTC Notes) is the place where you’ll be using your Scribe Pen the most. In your apps drawer you’ll find 32 apps pre-installed. Most of these apps you’ll recognize as Google standard, while a few are specific to this tablet including the new Reader, the new Notes, and the new Watch. Plus there’s a child-oriented app called Zoodles which we’ll get into briefly below as well.

HTC Notes

Notes is a new application made specifically for this tablet and its many ways of collecting media, including sound, video, photos, and scribbles, notes, and drawings via the Scribe pen. You may also type via the on-screen keyboard. The greatest part about this app is that it’s connected to Evernote. This system is one that saves notes and writings of yours from any number of devices in the cloud for later reading. It’s not of the biggest names in note-taking and HTC’s been very smart to work with them on this device. Well played!

Is this note-taking system good enough to use during a lecture? Perhaps, but depending on what the lecture requires you to take down, you may well be better just using a laptop. Are you going to many locations in a day and need to take a few specific notes with additional photos for each during the day? This may well be your dream tablet, a tablet of dreams!

HTC Reader

This e-reader app is made by Adobe and works with Kobo for purchasing texts. It’s a rather simple app that allows you to simply read books you’ve purchased. The greatest element here is, again, your ability to use it in collaboration with your Scribe Pen. What you’re able to do is write in your books, underline things, draw, scribble, and highlight. Once you’ve done all this, the app saves your place in the book automatically so you don’t have to go flipping each time.

Zoodles

This sort of app should be much more prevalent than it is because its brilliant. This is Zoodles, an oddly named shining star leading us into the future of computers for humans of all ages. It’s made specifically for kids and teaches them lessons, letters, numbers, sign language, all sorts of stuff in a fun and simple to use environment. With this app your child, (or little brother or sister, or whatever kind of young person you’ve got with you,) will both be occupied with learning and fun, they’ll have a great time knowing that they’re using the big, tough, and now not-so-intimidating technology to get it done!

Camera

This camera is really not the selling point of this device. As Chris Davies says in his review of the 3G Euro version of this device, “The Flyer’s main camera may pack 5-megapixels, but we can’t help but suspect some of them have flown the coop.” Take a look below to see the performance of both cameras on their highest settings for a good look at what you’ll be dealing with.

Performance

If you’ve never used an Android device before, you’ll be happy with how fast this one flies. If you’ve used a dual-core Android device before, you might see a slow moment here or there whilst using the Flyer. If you’re one of those people who takes two tablets and runs the same stuff on both of them and makes final judgements that lead to the ultimate demise of one or the other, you might end up burning the Flyer. However, with a 1.5Ghz processor in this Android 2.3.3 and HTC Sense 2.1 for Tablets running hand-held device right here, you’ll be happy with the real-world effectiveness of all the processes – flipping back and forth and entering and exiting and all that.

That said, don’t expect to be beating the heavy hitters out there unless you really crank up the engine behind the scenes. We’ve not done so as we’ve gotta keep this device completely non-hacked, thusly the real-world benchmarks are below:

Battery

The battery on this device is a fairly impressive 4,000 mAh non-user-replaceable battery. HTC says that this battery should be lasting up to four hours of video playback or between 820 and 1470 hours on standby. So far we’ve been using it for several days directly out of the box without having to charge it, using it a medium amount at very spread-out intervals. Real world use is giving us several days use for real. Charging overnight encouraged, but not required!

Wrap-Up

This device will be running you $499.99 at Best Buy and, if you’re lucky, you can go in your local store and ask and it might be there right now. Online at the moment I publish this they’re still stuck on pre-orders. Other prices include English gems such as £599.99 for the 32GB 3G version, and £479.99 for the 16GB WiFi-only model. The 3G version hasn’t revealed its price in the USA quite yet, but we’re guessing an extra $100 wouldn’t be out of the question.

Is it worth it? We’re getting reports in that worker groups are choosing this device over the iPad 2 because of its size and the fact that it’s got a pen that works with it. Such simple reasons are certainly points HTC were gunning for when creating such a unique set of form factors in the Flyer. Of course then there’s the new version of Sense that’s just the loveliest iteration yet, and the apps working together with the pen aren’t bad either.

When I first saw this tablet I thought it was just beautiful enough to win people over with its looks alone. Now I feel like there’s a bit more to it, but its strongest feature remains its physical form. I’d love to get this new version of Sense on older HTC handsets, but then again there’s the Sensation’s version of it, and we’re still wondering if Sense 2.1 will change with the introduction of Honeycomb to this tablet.

Have a look below and above at the close-up photos, feel the love in the hands-on videos from both yours truly and Chris Davies from his review of the 3G Euro edition. If you’ve still got any questions about this tablet, feel free to ask them below and I’ll do my best to answer them/ run some tests for you. Further coverage of this device will be happening over on Android Community for at least another week or two before we get a slightly different version, if you know what I mean.

BONUS : here’s Chris Davies’ hands-on with the 3G Euro edition:

Corning offers a compelling vision of a technological future that many of us have been dreaming of since we watched The Next Generation as children. There’s an interesting blend of concepts throughout the video. Different segments highlight all sorts of appliances with integrated multitouch displays, augmented reality, touchscreen controls for your car, as well as a wonderful vision of intercommunicating devices that create a seamless experience with the digital world.

Corning has created a lot of buzz with this video. They’ve nearly hit nine and a half million views in the month that the video has been circulating YouTube. We’re all looking forward to the explosive growth in the tablet industry over the next few years. It’s not all about Corning, however. They will be competing with companies like Asahi Glass of Japan over the next year. With the tablet market expected to veritably explode by 2015, these companies are going to have their work cut out for them.

[via Android Community]

Corning expects the number of tablets using cover glass to quadruple over the next four years. Total tablet sales are estimated to leap from 20 million units (2010) to 180 million units in 2014. An 800% increase over the next four years. Tablet PCs are already the driving force for growth in the PC industry. 7.33 million iPads sold in Q4 of 2010, and the market doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

[Via All Things D]

It’s also said to be “highly resistant to scratches” and have a clearer finish than resin panels. Dragontrail should also tick a few eco boxes, with the company claiming it’s free of environmentally-harmful additives as well.

AGC reckons it could well take a $360m global market share supplying cover glass for smartphones, tablets, TVs and other gadgets, though we can’t imagine Corning will take that challenge lying down. No word on what products we can expect to see AGC protecting first.

Press Release:

AGC Unveils Damage-Resistant Dragontrail™ Glass for Smartphone, Tablet PC, TV Makers Worldwide

Tokyo, January 20, 2011 – AGC announced today it will launch worldwide sales of Dragontrail™, a glass material that is highly receptive to chemical strengthening, to respond to surging global demands for high-quality cover glass used for screens on electronic devices. By 2012, AGC expects to achieve sales of over 30 billion yen (about 360 million USD) in the global market for chemically strengthened cover glass used in smartphones, tablet PCs, TVs and similar devices.

Chemically strengthened Dragontrail is six times stronger than conventional soda-lime glass, highly resistant to scratches and features a beautiful, pristine finish compared with resin. Dragontrail, developed from market-proven raw glass for chemical strengthening, is free of environmentally harmful materials

AGC uses a highly efficient float process to manufacture Dragontrail by utilizing the company’s extensive technical expertise in producing specialized glass for electronics acquired through manufacturing TFT glass substrates. The superior production efficiency of this manufacturing process ensures stable supply of cover glass for the growing global mobile device market. AGC will also proactively respond to growing demand for cover glass used in televisions.

“Dragontrail is a a strategic product that will build new foundations for growth under Grow Beyond, our management policy,” said Yoshiaki Tamura, Deputy President of AGC’s Electronics Company unit. “We will continue to explore new applications for this versatile product as we expand its global market.”

The demand for cover material is growing in parallel with the rapid proliferation of smartphones, tablet PCs and other devices, many of which feature designs where touchscreen panels cover the majority of their surfaces. These mobile devices require protection against shocks and grazing resulting from touch operation, accidental drops and scraping inside a pocket or bag. AGC’s Dragontrail offers a superior substitute to conventional cover material, such as soda-lime glass, which lacks strength, and resin, which is prone to scratches and limited by poor texture quality

I must remind you here again that this is a conceptual design, and is thusly not entirely built with the current state of technology in mind. Take a peek at the video below “What is being creative?” Starring we believe Kristian Larsen herself, taking this phone PAST the production stage and releasing it as a real product via a lovely two minute ad.

The screens are covered with Gorilla Glass, each of the screens is a flexible Super AMOLED (somehow both of these things are possible,) there’s steel mesh holding each screen to the next, LED colored lines run along several sides, and the rest is made of aluminum. Oh, and it’s an Android.

[Via Yanko Design]

First, we get to see a prototype hand-sized piece of Gorilla Glass where a there’s a bend in the glass.

Next, another piece with more of a dish shape (meaning there’s a dip in the middle) sizing in at around 4-inches.

Finally, another dish shaped piece with a hole cut in it I’d assume for a speaker.

Then the fun began. Vince gets to use sort of a metal stylus (looks like the handle of an Exacto Knife to me) to press down on several pieces of lower-grade glass, of course breaking them each in turn.

Finally, they reach the Gorilla Glass, a 1.1-mm thickness just like each of the pieces of glass before it. The man presenting the Glass does admit that some people at PEPCOM had been able to break the glass upon HEAVY pushing, so Vince does attempt to do so as well “for our readers” – like a boss. But alas, the glass does not give way. But I guess that’s also good news!

The representative for Gorilla Glass then goes into the technology behind the glass in a bit of detail. What Gorilla Glass is is an Alkalide Lumina Silicone glass – which essentially means it has sodium in it. The way the glass is made strong is that they put in a hot salt bath, which leaches out the sodium, which they then replace with Potassium. Potassium, being a bigger molecule than sodium, sets up a compressive layer on the surface when the glass cools. That compressive layer is what makes the glass damage resistant.*

*SCHOOLED: Take a look at this extended explanation of how Gorilla Glass works, courtesy of intrepid commenter Santosh:

“Alkalide lumina silicone” glass??? Please change that to Alkaline Alumino-Silicate glass. Just a brief note on alkali (or alkaline) ions – they consist of Lithium (Li), Sodium (Na), potassium (K), rubidium (Rb) and cesium (Cs), first group in periodic table. Alumino-silicate represent aluminum oxide (Al2O3) plus silicon dioxide or silica (SiO2) AND NOT “silicone”. Silicone is a separate class of materials which are silicon (Si) containing polymers. So, the short version is that the glass is (alkali alumino-silicate) Na2O-Al2O3-SiO2. The sodium (Na+) ion from the surface of the glass is “ion exchanged” with larger potassium ion (NOT potassium molecule – as suggested by Corning Glass expert – in fact, there is no such thing as “potassium molecule”). I hope this will help clarify the real chemistry (typically taught at any entry level materials science class). When you stuff the larger ion, the outer layer tries to expand, but the bulk of the glass does not, which exerts compressive stress on the surface. So when you try to put the tensile or biaxial stress on the surface, the compressive stress compensates/neutralizes the tensile or biaxial stress thus preventing crack formation. I hope this will make it a complete explanation.

All that make sense to you? Thank you Santosh for taking the time to go in-depth on this subject, we appreciate it to no end! It’s commenters like you that make this community great!

The Gorilla Glass rep then displays a very thin layer of Gorilla Glass employed on a giant television, noting how awesome it looks and how it’ll differentiate it from any other television with how thin and strong it is.

Finally, he shows off a panel of Gorilla Glass with a design behind it which he notes would be optimal for a laptop cover (either custom or straight out of the box) that could, again, differentiate whichever brand plans on using it.

Take a look at the video below and see the awesome strength of the gorilla.

Not only that, the 7-inch tablet seems functionally unharmed after its impromptu firing range session, with reportedly no issues with the touchscreen doing what it should. Of course, we don’t advocate shooting at your tablet with any sort of weapon – Gorilla Glass equipped or otherwise – but it’s good to know that the odd drop won’t scupper the slippery Samsung slate.

[via Android Community]

SlashTABLETWAR You know there’s a barrage of bad tablets coming out now as if the biggest tabs were falling down a mountain, knocking the smaller ones free as they topple. Here’s something that, when you watch the Queen-laden introduction video below, might be excellent enough to take flight and knock free a few pebbles of it’s own. This is the “Kno,” the “text book of the future,” founded by semiconductor physics PhD holder Babur Habib and serial entrepreneur Osman Rashid. This video is traveling fast across these internets, and I kinda sorta wish I had one of these “Kno” devices when I was in school, for sure. Find more information at the Kno homepage and/or watch the uplifting video below.

R3 Media Network

SlashPhone
Opera Mobile 10.1 beta Available on Android Market [RELEASE]
HTC HD7 For T-Mobile Now Available [RELEASE]

Android Community
Adobe Flash Updated, Now Gingerbread ready as well [UPDATE]
HTC T-Mobile G1 Receives myTouch 3G Android 2.2 ROM [HAX]
Dell’s Stage User Interface Now Available for Devices with Android 2.2 [RELEASE]
O2′s Galaxy S being treated to Froyo November 15th [RELEASE]
Skype 1.0.1 Update for Android Added Today [RELEASE]
Permanent Root for G2 [HAX]
Galaxy Tab Shot with CO2 Powered Pistol to Test Gorilla Glass [BLAST TESTING]
Angry Birds gets 45 level update, QVGA support, more [ADDICTION SUSTAINED]
Android 2.1 for Motorola CLIQ finally released [RELEASE]
White Samsung Galaxy S arrives in UK care of Carphone Warehouse [RELEASE]
Motorola DROID 2 Global and DROID PRO arrive on Verizon [RELEASE]
HTC EVO 4G records video of “UFO Sighting” in Virginia [OUTER SPACE]

SlashGear
Tron Legacy Trailer #3 [VIDEO] [TRON]
SlingPlayer Mobile Available for Windows Phone 7 [RELEASE]
Rosemary’s Baby: iPhone 3G and Android 2.2 Froyo Combine to Form Adobe Flash for iPhone [UNHOLY MATRIMONY]
Microsoft Suing Motorola Due to Excessive Royalties on Network Technology in Xbox 360 [LAW]
BlackBerry Storm 3 Now Called the Monaco, Not Dead After All [NAME CHANGE]
The Swiftness of Internet Justice [COLUMN]
OmniVision 8MP CMOS Sensor Rumored to be Heading to the iPhone [RUMOR]
Huawei S7 Preview [REVIEW]
Microsoft relents, moves Xbox Live Indie Games back into limelight [POWER TO THE developer PEOPLE]
iPhone 4 “Glassgate” sees Mophie & other slider-cases ousted from Apple Stores? [GLASSGATE]
Samsung Display demo 4.5-inch flexible AMOLED [BENDY]
Lenovo IdeaPad U260 leaks: Core i3/i5 12.5-inch ultraportable [LEAKY]
Snails, nails, and puppy dog tails, that’s what the iPhone is made of [CONCEPTUAL DESIGN]
Alienware M17x R3 coming soon with Radeon HD 6970/6870 GPU [RELEASE]
Trendnet TPL-304E powerline network adapters now shipping [RELEASE]
Hasbro my3D brings 3D gaming, movies and AR to iPhone [WEIRD]
E Ink debut Triton color e-paper [ELICIOUS]
Kno price educational tablet: $599 for single screen, $899 for two [EDUTASTIC]
T-Mobile HTC HD7 sells out amid “strong interest”? [SOLD OUT!]
Kindle magazine & newspaper publishers get new 70% revenue share deal [STOCK UP!]

To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash]

We’ve obviously seen Gorilla Glass used before on mobile devices, and in fact Samsung’s own Galaxy S smartphone has a 4-inch sheet of the stuff protecting its Super AMOLED panel.  The substance is actually a specially treated thin layer of alkali-aluminosilicate, and as well as being more resilient to breaking it’s scratch-resistent too.

[via DigiTimes]

Press Release:

Corning Supplies Gorilla® Glass for Samsung’s New GALAXY Tab Smart Media Device

State-of-the-art Glass Technology Completes the Best of Display Products

CORNING, N.Y., October 04, 2010 – Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) announced today that Corning® Gorilla® glass has been designed into the Samsung Electronics GALAXY Tab, a newly released smart media device.

The Samsung GALAXY Tab was announced on Sept. 2 at the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA), consumer electronics show held in Berlin, Germany. The Galaxy Tab features a seven-inch portable screen, video calling, full-web browsing functions, and is powered by Android 2.2. The durable, thin display and sleek design of the GALAXY Tab is enabled in part by using Corning Gorilla glass as a cover glass. Continuing a tradition of more than 150 years of innovation in materials science and technology, Corning Gorilla glass is an environmentally friendly alkali-aluminosilicate thin-sheet glass designed specifically to function as a cover glass for high-end display devices such as notebook PCs, televisions, and mobile phones.

B.J. Kang, senior manager of Product Planning of Samsung Electronics said, “The GALAXY Tab maximizes the joy of e-reading, web browsing, watching videos and movies, and listening to music while on the move. It has innovative functions and advanced characteristics in display, and Corning’s Gorilla glass has enabled GALAXY Tab to combine best-in-class technologies in mobility and toughness.”

“We are pleased that consumers recognize the benefits of Corning’s Gorilla glass in their IT products,” said Haeng Hee Lee, president of Corning Korea Company Ltd. “Consumers are enjoying IT display products with more durability through the application of Corning’s Gorilla glass. We strive to deliver new technologies that help our customers gain a competitive edge in the global market place.”

Corning Gorilla glass is currently designed into more than 225 mobile devices, and is an appealing solution for the emerging smart media device environment due to its scratch and damage resistance. Studies show that the portable computer market is projected to reach annual unit sales of more than 354 million by 2014. Emerging form factors such as slates, mobile internet devices and other smart media devices are projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 40 percent over the same period and newer form factors will comprise up to 30 percent of the market’s overall volume. Most importantly, studies estimate that more than 90 percent of newer form factors will utilize a touch interface.

If you have wondered how durable that nice big screen on the Galaxy S is, Corning has announced something you will like to hear. Corning has announced that it is providing its rugged Gorilla Glass for the Galaxy S smartphone. The same glass is being used on the iPhone 4 as well and while it’s not shatterproof, it is much stronger glass than your average phone gets.

The Gorilla Glass covers the big 4-inch AMOLED screen of all Galaxy S models. In case you aren’t familiar with Gorilla Glass, it is an alkali-aluminosilicate thin sheet glass that is scratch resistant and durable. The glass is starting to make significant headway into the mobile device market thanks to its durability.