Netbooknews purchased one for the high price of 17,500NT (~$585), although specs seem to be as they were at CES. The 7-inch IPS display has a 1280×800 resolution, along with a 1.2Ghz dual-core Snapdragon S3 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, five megapixel rear camera, and 1.2 megapixel front facing camera. The battery is rated at 4,400mAh, which ASUS say should provide 8.5 hours of video playback. Currently the tablet is running Android 3.2, Honeycomb, although an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich has been promised.

In terms of benchmarks, the MeMo 171 scored 24fps on NenaMark 2, Quadrant came in at around 1800, and AnTuTu gave a score of 4377. Not exactly blistering speeds, but that’s to be expected running a last-generation Qualcomm chip. While it’s not a performance powerhouse, the MeMo does seem to work well with the included stylus, allowing you to doodle or take notes, as well as featuring handwriting recognition that converts your words to text.

Also included with the MeMo 171 is a Bluetooth handset that has a transparent OLED display, although Netbooknews didn’t get a chance to test that properly thanks to a lack of battery charge out of the box.

Hardware

This device is small enough to fit in your purse or carry-along sack, but a bit too large to fit in your pocket. The mid-range is still dominated by the original Galaxy Note, and the “full-size tablet” is still sitting at 10.1-inches – this 7.7-inch tablet is perfect for someone who doesn’t need access to the device 24 hours a day but wants to keep a slightly lower profile than they would be if they’d be whipping out the 10-inch tablet all day long.

That said, this device brings a few fantastical specifications along with it that trump even the 10.1-inch tablet, including the first Super AMOLED Plus display at 7.7-inches, this bringing you a higher resolution display than this device’s larger sibling. Have a peek in the hands-on video here to see how this device measures up literally against the 10.1-inch Tab and see the resolution difference as well.

The device is essentially the same thinness of its Tab relatives, that being just 7.89mm at its thickest point – putting the overall feel of this device in the “hero” range for tablets without a doubt. This is not a member of the low-class tablet family that’s been expanding at an undeniable rate over the past few years, it’s one of the much more high powered and well constructed group instead.

Above what you’re seeing is the Galaxy Tab 7.7 on top and the 10.1 below, both of them ringing in at thinner than you could ever ask for in a tablet device. Then if the 1.4GHz dual-core processor in the 7.7 didn’t impress you when you saw it tossing around pages and games like paper, the full aluminum construction of the tablet will. This tablet looks and feels nice, and has certainly very quickly become my favorite Samsung tablet to use (and I’ve used them all).

Software

Inside you’ll find the rapidly aging Android 3.x Honeycomb, complete with Samsung’s own TouchWiz UX on top. This is the same TouchWiz we were first introduced to back at CTIA in the Spring of 2011, and it’s looking as good as it’s ever looked here in this slightly modified version over its 10.1-inch optimized cousin.

What you’ve got here is a software experience made specifically for the tablet, not quite Ice Cream Sandwich, but just about as close as you’re going to get without getting there. Samsung has been adamant about their want to update a whole swathe of their Galaxy devices inside the Summer months, so we’re hoping this device wins out in that battle as well. Meanwhile this setup is perfectly workable for your daily tablet needs. Also of note, even though it’s not unique to this device: the Android Marketplace is now optimized fully for devices with displays much larger than a smartphone – so you’re in business here from the top of the software experience down to the base.

That said, you’ve got an experience which is actually closer to what we’ve seen this week with the Galaxy Note 10.1 than it is to any of the other Galaxy Tab devices released thus far. Samsung is aiming for a much more “Note” experience for their whole line of devices here in the first months of 2012, finding heavy success it seems with this slightly unique approach started with the Galaxy Note.

Have another peek at the Superbowl push for the Note experience to see how excited Samsung is about this world of note-taking. Keep in mind that this device does not come with an S-Pen, but that you’ll be able to work any capacitive pen you’ve got on hand to rock the drawings on the screenshots you take with the device’s built-in software screenshot button in your dock.

Just like the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, this device also includes an infrared eye as well as the Peel app to make using this strange bit of hardware easy as pie. What you’ll be able to do with this combo is control your TV, cable box, and more. As Cory Gunther of Android Community noted back with the 7.0 Plus, “I was pleasantly surprised with how simple and easy this worked.” The same is true here – it all works right out of the box.

Have a peek at a couple of benchmark tests here if you’d like to compare them with the rest of our [Tablet Review Series], and note that comparing devices in this way should be taken mostly as a bonus entertainment exercise as it’s really the total experience you should be paying attention to when you decide on picking up a tablet such as this.

Camera / Battery life

Just like the rest of the Galaxy Tab line, the battery life on this device has been nothing short of extraordinary. Tablets made by Samsung with Android have never been disappointing in the battery world, and here with an undeniably massive 5100 mAh battery, this 7.7-inch beast is able to work with high brightness and ultra-dense resolution for a full 20+ hours easy. Just so long as you’re not streaming video that whole time.

The cameras on the front and the back are OK, but certainly don’t bring the fury like the tablet-based cameras on the ASUS Transformer Prime and the HTC Jetstream do – they’re still the winners of the tablet-based camera war, if that still is a thing. Have a peek at a couple of photos and a video here to see what’s up with this 3 megapixel camera on the back of the device.

Wrap-Up

This device is, again, what I’m gonna go ahead and say is the sweetest spot for tablets at the moment. If I had to choose between this device and the Galaxy Note (original), I’d choose the Note. I’m still of the opinion that tablets are mostly bonus devices made for fun rather than utility, and the Galaxy Note takes care of everything I could possibly want a smart device to do. That said, if you’ve got a want for a tablet, this one’s a magical size.

If you’ve tried a 10-inch tablet and you find it sort of absurd, but still want a display larger than your everyday average smartphone, take a peek at this tablet at your local Verizon outlet. It’s certainly an entertaining device to play with.

These tablets have a 7-inch PLS multitouch touchscreen displays 1024 x 600 pixel resolution, Wi-fi b/g/n, and Bluetooth 3.0. The backs have a 3.2 megapixel camera capable of capturing 720p HD video, the fronts have a 2.0 megapixel camera for video chat. Each tablet comes with 16GB of built-in flash memory and have a microSD card slot with space for up to a 32GB microSD card.

Both tablets have a massive 4,000 mAh Li-Pol battery for one whole heck of a lot of up time, both weigh in at 345 grams, and both are the same size at 194 x 122 x 9.96 mm. These tablets will likely only be released in parts of Europe, starting with Germany, and will be available in pure-white or metallic-gray. The 3G version will cost 569 Euro off-contract and the Wi-fi version will ring in at 499 Euro. Sound like a deal to you?

[via The Unwired]

There’s also a microSD card slot, WiFi b/g and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, along with a rear 5-megapixel camera. GPS, stereo speakers, a headphones socket and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera round out the main specs, along with a 4,000 mAh Li-Ion battery.

On the software side, Swype comes preloaded along with various sports apps, together with the usual suite of Google software.

The ZTE Optik will go on sale this coming Sunday, February 5 2012, priced at either $99.99 with a new, two-year agreement, or $349.99 upfront. Data plans will be $19.99 for 1GB of data, $34.99 for 3GB of data, $49.99 for 6GB of data and $79.99 for 12GB of data, with tethering a $29.99 per month add-on.

[via Android Community]

This device has been tipped to be coming out on Verizon’s network with 4G LTE intact, this making it the first 7-inch LTE device on the market – just so long as it comes out before the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 this spring. The image above indicates that this tablet is refined up to a point where it can be tested and soon sent out as review units with a release soon after. Whether or not it will actually be released on Verizon is still not know, but it does appear likely given the amount of ZTE that’s been coming to big red lately.

The price is still a mystery, as is the release date, but we’re guessing that this tablet will be coming in right at or around $300. This puts it in range with the upcoming ASUS MeMO which thought it has much more powerful specs will be released for a mere $249. This device will likely be showing up next month in Barcelona where we’ll be sending you some hands-on looks at it straight from the events themselves. Seeya there!

[via Android Community]

Next, they complain that the apps drawer button isn’t in the same place on the tablets with Ice Cream Sandwich as it is on the Galaxy Nexus, a smartphone. The very last set of paragraphs is title “I’ll soon be testing on a tablet.” This comes AFTER the title of the full article which is called “Android 4.0 for Tablets Still Needs Work.” The article also says that the iPad is far superior simply because it used the same interface as the iPhone and the iPod Touch when it launched, this allowing people to use it with little to no learning curve whatsoever.

Though this is a column you’re reading here, and it should be clear that this is my own opinion, I say it again: this is my own opinion: thou shalt not judge an operating system after you’ve used it for less time than it takes to take a dump. When you do this, the article you’ve written ends up looking and smelling just like that: a dump for judgements passed with inadequate time put in to judge. So that’s what I’m doing here as well: writers, you still need work, I’ll be testing you soon.

For the rest of you out there in the gadget and tech publishing world, know this: when we get an adequate amount of time to review the tablet side of Ice Cream Sandwich, we’ll do it, and you’ll know what it’s really made of.

There’s also an 8-megapixel camera with flash on the back, capable of recording Full HD video, while a front-facing camera serves for video calls. Unlike many Android slates, there’s a memory card slot for a microSD card, allowing you to upgrade the storage.

Connectivity includes HDMI, USB and the usual bevy of WiFi, Bluetooth and sensors. You also get DLNA streaming support, and LG is talking up its interactivity features between the Optimus Pad LTE and its other hardware, such as smartphones and TVs.

Battery life from the 479g tablet is up to 10hrs, and there are various apps preloaded including a video editor to allow you to whip your 1080p footage into shape. The LG Optimus Pad LTE will go on sale in South Korea first, though we’d hardly be surprised if LG then expanded its reach to LTE networks in North America.

This device has a 7-inch PLS-LCD display at WSVGA resolution, that being 1024 x 600 pixels – that being 169.6 pixels per inch. The Galaxy Tab 7.0N weighs in at 345g, has 16GB of internal memory, and has a microSDHC slot to expand memory by up to 32GB. The battery inside this device is a massive 4000mAh, Bluetooth 3.0, and GPS, and the whole thing works with GSM and HSPA, so we’ll more than likely see this device coming in on AT&T and/or T-Mobile if it ever gets to the states.

Likely though this tablet is going to stay in Germany for the long run, this being clearly a device made for the Euro market where the tablet is still being contested by Apple as a copy of the iPad, no matter its size or shape. This version of the 7.0 is set to be released later this month for a suggested retail price of an absolutely undeniably insane price of 600 Euro. That’s so much cash it should make your head spin.

[via BestBoyz]

Despite the waifish build, the Excite X10 is flex-free and feels solid; weight actually comes in at 1.18-pounds. There’s plenty squeezed inside, too: a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4430 processor, 1GB of memory, a choice of 16GB or 32GB of storage – plus a microSD card slot to augment it – and twin cameras, with 5-megapixels on the back and 2-megapixels on the front.

Connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, along with microUSB and microHDMI, while there’s the usual bevy of sensors including GPS, a digital compass, gyroscope, accelerometer and ambient light. It’s being shown off at CES running Android 3.x Honeycomb, but all Toshiba’s press release will say is that it’ll launch with the “latest Android technology” which leaves us moderately hopeful it’ll arrive with Ice Cream Sandwich onboard. Even so, performance of the – notoriously jerky at times – Honeycomb is slick.

The Toshiba Excite X10 should arrive midway through this quarter, priced at $529.99 for the 16GB model or $599 for the 32GB version. That seems on the high side to us, especially given we’re expecting a fair few new slates at CES this week.

Measuring in at 10.2 x 6.9 x 0.48-inches and 24.6 ounces, the A200 uses its girth to squeeze in a full-sized USB port that can hook up to a keyboard or mouse, or to external drives. Other ports include microSD and microUSB, while wireless connectivity is the usual array of WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1. No word on 3G options at this stage.

Battery life is tipped at up to eight hours, and there’s a front-facing 2.megapixel webcam though no main camera so as to save money. Acer garnishes Honeycomb with its mildly-tweaked UI, including an “Acer Ring” quick-launcher and its Clear.fi DLNA streaming app.

Pricing for the Iconia Tab A200 is $329.99 for the 8GB model and $349.99 for the 16GB model.

Android’s tally is impacted because ABI Research doesn’t take into account titles intended for smartphones. The research firm also takes the time to dole out a little criticism to tablet manufacturers. “Many Android tablets in the market are still using older versions of Android,” research associate Lim Shiyang highlights, ”which disadvantages users from enjoying the better effects of apps produced from more advanced software development kits.”

That may well change when Ice Cream Sandwich hits tablets in general, it’s suggested, with yearly downloads for Android smartphones reaching 58bn by 2016, more than double predictions for iPhone.

iPad owners, meanwhile, seem to have proved more voracious downloaders than their iPhone brethren, at least in terms of speed. It took around 18 months to pass the 3bn download point, whereas iPhone took around two years.

As well as LTE support for AT&T’s fledgling network, there’s a 5-megapixel main camera capable of 1080p Full HD video recording and a 2-megapixel front camera for video calls. 16GB of internal storage shares space with a “piezo motor” haptic feedback system, though it’s unclear how much that will differ from the current buzz that Android tablets give when you tap them. There’s no word on whether it will see an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade, though we’d hope so.

AT&T is supposedly set to include the Pantech Element among its big CES reveal – the carrier is also expected to show off the first LTE Windows Phone, the Nokia Lumia 900 “Ace” - at next week’s infamous show. Pricing is tipped at $299.99 with a new, two-year data plan agreement, or $449.99 off contract.

If it turns out to be true, that pricing seems surprisingly reasonable given what, say, Verizon is doing with its own 8.2-inch XYBOARD. That Motorola-made slate is almost as much as the contract-free Pantech but in subsidized form, at $429.99 with a two-year agreement. We’ll have to wait and see quite how the Element holds up in performance and build quality, but on specs and cost alone it’s off to a solid start.

A lower sticker isn’t the only temptation Sony hopes will sway buyers its way. The company is currently running a promotion offering five free movie rentals through its Video Unlimited service, five free PlayStation Store downloads and a 180 day trial membership to Music Unlimited, to better showcase the Tablet S’ gaming and multimedia prowess.

Meanwhile, Sony confirmed last month that it planned an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade for both the Tablet S and the folding Tablet P, though declined to specify a timeline for when the updates could be expected.

It’s unclear whether a cheaper price will be sufficient to make the Tablet S a legitimate contender in the hotly-contested Android segment. Sony had made some attempt to integrate the slate into its so-called “four screen” strategy for 2012, promising interaction between phone, tablet, computer and TV, but that functionality was still relatively basic.

Meanwhile, gripes around Android 3.x Honeycomb’s usability remained, and the fact that the Tablet S is both more plasticky and bulky than the iPad 2 hasn’t exactly helped endear it. More information in the full SlashGear review.

This is the next step in the Motorola like of devices, and not just in the tablet lineup, in the dual-core and above lineup as well. Starting with the Motorola Atrix at the start of 2011, the dual-core processor-toting handset craze began, and with it Motorola started their lineup of dual-port-toting smart devices that continues to this day. The XYBOARD is the latest Motorola tablet to fit into this puzzle.

The Atrix and the Motorola XOOM were the first to have a microUSB and a microHDMI port at the bottom of them, and starting with this most recent wave of Motorola devices including the Photon, Atrix 2, Droid RAZR, Droid 3, and the XYBOARD tablets, the ports are equally spaced, allowing you to use basically any Motorola accessory with any Motorola Android device. Without getting too in-depth on that wavelength, this is a device that Motorola considers part of its own evolving family, one that does not necessarily need to compete with the rest of the Android world.

Hardware

This again is the smaller of two XYBOARD tablets, and in its international form is called the “XOOM 2 Media Edition” because it’s got an improved speaker setup and is supposedly better for listening to music and watching videos than the larger tablet. I’ve not personally found the experience to be all that different between the two in that regard – the difference, instead, in an everyday sense, is that these two tablets are different sizes physically. The DROID XYBOARD 8.2 at first seemed to me to be overpriced and under-improved when compared to the original XOOM, and I still do feel that way about the 10.1 version to a degree, but here in the 8.2 you’re going to find a rather nice package for a tablet, and one sized and shaped in a way that puts it up in the top 5 Android tablets on my list currently.

At this very moment, no tablet comes near the ASUS Transformer Prime for quality, price, or power in any way at all. What you’ve got here in the XYBOARD 8.2 is one of the three nicest tablets carried by Verizon right this moment, and the best 4G LTE tablet for what you’d find me needing one for in my line of work. I should remind you that I have no need for a tablet, and that’s the truth, but for the time that’d I like to have one around – like on an airplane ride to the next Motorola product release, for example, I’d bring this perfectly sized unit along.

For the full specifications on this tablet, head to our listing over at DEVICE.AC’s Motorola DROID XYBOARD 8.2, and note again the alternate XOOM 2 title. This tablet is extremely light, very well made, and amongst the thinnest tablets in the world.

Software

Inside you’ll find a very basic build of Android 3.2 Honeycomb, complete with Motorola-made app icons you’ll recognize from everything starting at the Droid 3 forward. The apps themselves aren’t as changed as you’ll find them on a recent Motorola smartphone – for instance the gallery for photos and video isn’t the slightly less than appealing media center you’ve got on the DROID RAZR, it’s the lovely stock Honeycomb (or something close) gallery we know and appreciate. Use this tablet on its own or connect it to your HDTV to watch some high definition movies without a skip – or even play some Sonic CD on that gigantic television with pixels large as life.

Have a peek at the HD Dock being released with this and the other XYBOARD here in a hands-on video to see how well the software works as a team with its holder. All it really does is stand the device upright and keep it plugged in to power and your HDMI port if you like, but because it’s adjustable and lets you use the tablet essentially like a control panel, it’s worth it. And it’s adjustable for use with the rest of the recent Motorola Android devices as well.

Battery and Camera

While the 4G LTE does have a bit of an effect on the battery, you’ll find that you’ve got at least a full day’s use on this tablet of basic functions like email, web browsing, and the like. If you’re doing nothing but playing high-demand games and streaming video, you’ve got closer to 6-8 hours on your hands. Very comparable to handsets not being drained by the strain of the connection speed.

The camera is so-so. No worse than the original Motorola XOOM, but certainly no better than the rest of the 2011 lineup of Android tablets what with their similar 5-megapixel cameras, the lot of them. Have a peek at some examples in both photos and video here and in the gallery below:

Wrap-Up

This tablet is nice, and if you rule out the facts that it’ll cost you an arm and a leg to first purchase it then pay each month for 4G LTE connectivity, you’ve got a nice tablet on your hands. I find myself very skeptical that there’s a real need for data-connected tablets on today’s market outside those people who’ve got specific use-cases in mind, so if you’re just an average lady or man out there thinking of picking up a tablet for fun, I still suggest you look into a wifi-only tablet instead. That said, if you do have a need for mobile data on a tablet, this is certainly one of your better choices.

I’d rate this tablet slightly higher than the Samsung choice on LTE simply because I like to have HDMI connectivity right out of the box, but lower than the iPad 2 also available on Verizon simply because the iPad 2 STILL seems like a more complete package. For those of you looking for the best Android tablet overall, go for the ASUS Transformer Prime. For those of you looking for an Android tablet specifically on the Verizon LTE network, don’t rule the XYBOARD 8.2 out.

The original Transformer is now just £299 for the 16GB model, slate-only, while the 16GB bundle with the keyboard dock is now £399. The 32GB Transformer – again, slate-only, is now £349. Promotional pricing will last until December 30.

For most, though, the lure of the Prime will be too much to ignore. The 10.1-inch tablet has a high-quality IPS+ display, WiFi a/b/g/n, quadcore NVIDIA processor, an 8-megapixel main camera with 1080p Full HD video recording, and of course that special dual-battery capability. The internal battery on the Prime is rated for 12hrs alone, but the keyboard-dock adds a further 6hrs to that.

An Ice Cream Sandwich update will be pushed out OTA shortly, ASUS says. More details on the Transformer Prime in the full SlashGear review.

The Transformer Prime currently runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb, with only the Galaxy Nexus – fresh to Verizon today - getting Google’s latest platform so far, at least officially. Android 4.0 brings with it an improved UI, better multitasking control and many other improvements; there are more details in our Ice Cream Sandwich review.

ASUS Italy also confirmed that it would only be offering a WiFi version of the Transformer Prime, rather than WiFi + 3G model, just like ASUS Germany before it. Android smartphones and other handsets are generally capable of WiFi tethering, the company suggests, and so the market for a 3G-enabled slate is minimal.

More on the ASUS Transformer Prime in the full SlashGear review.

[via Electronista]

With these second-generation tablets, Motorola has addressed some of its early criticism. The aluminum rear on both the 10.1-inch and the 8.2-inch tablets feels great and is flex-free, with a pleasing matte finish that makes it almost as easy to grip as the rubberized edges. Unfortunately Motorola didn’t listen to the almost universal criticism of its power button placement on the first-gen XOOM, and in fact opted to make it even smaller this time around.

Still, up front is a new IPS display running at 1280 x 800 on both models, and it’s a vast improvement. Viewing angles, brightness and resilience to glare are all improved, making for slates that are far more useful for watching videos, browsing the web and gaming. Unfortunately, ASUS has moved the Android tablet display market on somewhat, with its IPS+ panel being better still than either of Motorola’s screens, but as long as you don’t look at them all side-by-side you shouldn’t be too disappointed.

The 10.1-inch XYBOARD feels familiar in the hand, being a relatively standard size; the 8.2-inch version is slightly smaller, at 216 x 139.8 x 8.99 mm and 390g, and makes for a more comfortable one-handed experience. That’s particularly useful when in portrait orientation, the XYBOARD 8.2 making for a solid ereader and news reader with apps like Google Currents and Pulse.

Problem is, Motorola and Verizon have rushed to get the two XYBOARD models on the market before the all-important holiday sales period, and that means they fall in-between another big milestone: the arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). Currently officially available on only the Galaxy Nexus, ICS promises to polish away Honeycomb’s rough edges, streamline its judders and generally bring it further up to compete with Apple’s iPad.

A competitive price would challenge that, but Verizon seems determined to squeeze as much in data fees as possible from its tablet customers. Both XYBOARD models support 4G LTE for high-speed mobile data, but you’ll pay considerably over the length of a two-year agreement for it. Factor in at least $429.99 upfront, too.

Still, there’s the possibility that the tablets themselves could prove sufficiently engaging that we’d opt to buy now and wait for ICS later. We’ll be putting them both through their paces in time for the full SlashGear review, but until then enjoy our hands-on image gallery (video coming soon)!

By that time we expect Toshiba to once again be in the same boat – with a tablet that on its own is certainly worth the cash that a person dropped on it, but compared to the rest of the current Android tablet lineup just does not compete. Even though this tablet will still be 7.7mm thin, will have a 5 megapixel camera on the back, a 2 megapixel camera on the front, and will of course have a 16GB and a 32GB option, will certainly be shut out by such masterpieces as the Asus Transformer Prime. A brighter screen, twice as powerful a processor, and two color choices to boot? I think so, yes.

That said, the OMAP4 is certainly nothing to scoff at, and this unit does look quite enticing to the eye with its stark aluminum silvery back and its microSD card slot, not to mention its miniHDMI-out port. Like the original Toshiba Android tablet, we’ll certainly have a few options for connections. With a market of consumers looking to get the tablet that suits them perfectly, it’ll be the people who trust the name TOSHIBA that pick this bad boy up — other than that, those who love things that are SHINY.

[via Toshiba]

There’s also an infrared port, which – along with the Dijit app that comes preloaded – allows the two XYBOARD tablets to work as universal remote controls. Other connectivity includes HDMI, with an optional HD dock with an HDMI-through connection, and an HD station with connections for speakers and an external display.

The LTE connection can be shared out between up to eight WiFi-tethered clients using the hotspot feature, and each slate uses a 1.2GHz dual-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM. Android 3.2 Honeycomb comes loaded on both, and the 10.1-inch model also gets a stylus.

Both of the Verizon DROID XYBOARD tablets are expected to go on sale before the end of the year. The DROID XYBOARD 10.1 will be available at 16GB for $529.99, 32GB for $629.99 and 64GB for $729.99, while the DROID XYBOARD 8.2 will be available in in 16GB format for $429.99 and 32GB for $529.99. Each will demand a new, two-year data plan, priced from $30 per month.

First let’s have a look at the browser benchmarks. While we’ve used SunSpider in the past and you’ll be able to find previous marks of ours on other devices by heading to our SunSpider search portal, BrowserMark is one we’re just starting to work with recently. That said, lower is better in SunSpider, while higher is better in BrowserMark.

You’ll also notice here that we’re also testing the original ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. While both that device and this newer Prime model both have the “Eee Pad” name in them, the Transformer Prime is being promoted without the extra syllables. You’ll also notice that these three devices line up pretty nicely from oldest to newest in each of the tests here – this is a bit different when it comes to testing the GPU cores in the final test.

What we have here last is GLBenchmark 2.1 which above all else tests the GPU cores in the processors on each of these devices. The Apple iPad 2 uses Apple’s own A5 dual-core chip while the Transformer has NVIDIA’s original Tegra 2 dual-core processor and the Prime uses the newest NVIDIA quad-core processor Tegra 3. Note here that not only has NVIDIA upgraded their chip to hold 2 (actually 3) more CPU cores, their GPU cores have been clocked higher as well.

What you’ll find here is that the two tests we’ve got running here, the Prime outdoes the original Transformer by quite a bit, but the iPad 2 still leaves both of the Android tablets in the dust. Remember also that these tests, while they’re an OK indicator of performance, are by no means perfect, especially when they’re conducted on completely different machines. We’ll be continuing our hands-on series here on SlashGear into and through our full review of the Transformer Prime, stick around for the full show!

BONUS here’s #2 in a series of hands-on videos we’ve got going for the Transformer Prime. Look at those lovely features!

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!

Pricing for the Transformer Prime had already been confirmed, back when ASUS initially announced the quadcore tablet. The 32GB version is $499 in the US, while the 64GB model is $599; the clever battery/keyboard dock, which adds full QWERTY input, extra ports and greater runtime to the slate section, is $149.

UPDATE: First, we’ve got official confirmation from ASUS on the much more accurate date of 12/19 for the delivery of these tablets to outlets as well as pre-order customers. Also while we’re here, feel free to have a peek at our first in a series of hands-on reviews of the Transformer Prime. Let us know what you want to know and we’ll let you know!

The tablet went up for preorder a few days ago, though without a date for its actual delivery, with ASUS offering both gray and champagne color variants. It will run Android 3.2 Honeycomb at launch, though ASUS has promised an Ice Cream Sandwich update in the new year. Full hardware details on the Eee Pad Transformer Prime here.

We’ve had a pretty decent introduction to this device (and its dock) just this past month at NVIDIA and Asus combined forces for a double-down on launching. This is the first place that NVIDIA will be delivering its quad-core mobile processor that up until recently was code-named Project Kal-El (aka Superman). What we’ve got here now is the Tegra 3 quad-core processor which you can learn all about in the post about how it’s actually got a fifth core, not just four, and the other article all about Variable SMP, the brain of quad-core mobile computing. Both of these posts should sufficiently break down the ins and outs of the processor for you to have an awesome time full of understanding while you rock the Glowball.

Those of you that plan on purchasing this tablet should know that it’s the next generation of Asus’ look at Android, the first coming in the form of the Asus Eee Pad Transformer (without the Prime), a device that plays host to the current dual-core processor NVIDIA has in many Androids: the Tegra 2. You can take a look at our review of the original Eee Pad Transformer tablet from earlier this year. Asus will continue to promote both tablets, but will market the Prime as a premium device while the original will be more of an every-person device with a bit lower cost than this newest addition to the family.

[via Best Buy]

The update that was sent out last week hit several snags and didn’t take long for many users to start reporting issues. For some the update wasn’t completing while for others the WiFi connection kept dropping regardless of whether the update completed. There were also reports of Bluetooth and auto rotate problems after users attempted to update.

The problems should be fixed with this second 3.2 update, which will also be sent OTA starting shortly. But, users can also manually update on a computer via Samsung Kies. This method will come in handy for those that have lost WiFi connectivity from the first update. For details on the process, check out this post at Android Community.

German site NewGadgets wasted no time in picking up the workaround tablet and highlighting the differences in a video review (which you can see below). The big difference is the bezel: Apple claimed that part of the iPad’s distinctive appearance was the edge-to-edge glass and minimal metal seen around it. Samsung has thickened the metal section on two of the edges, as well as pivot the stereo speakers around to face more forward than sideways.

The end result is arguably more attractive than the original, and probably sounds better too. Samsung also took the opportunity to slot Bluetooth 3.0 inside, too, though how much of a difference that will make to most users remains to be seen, and moved its own logo front-and-center underneath the touchscreen. Apple is yet to comment on the redesign.

Google notes through mister Jean-Baptiste Queru that at the Android Open-Source Project git servers you can now freely download the source code for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. To access the build, head to source.android.com and follow the given instructions. What you’ll have to be aware of here that at least in the first few minutes and hours of this announcement being sent down, there’s going to be a massive demand for the files and you’ll likely not have a chance to grab anything until later tonight.

Google also says the following:

However since this is a large push, please be aware that it will take some time to complete. If you sync before it’s done, you’ll get an incomplete copy that you won’t be able to use, so please wait for us to give the all-clear before you sync. This is actually the source code for version 4.0.1 of Android, which is the specific version that will ship on the Galaxy Nexus, the first Android 4.0 device. In the source tree, you will find a device build target named “full_maguro” that you can use to build a system image for Galaxy Nexus. Build configurations for other devices will come
later.

There’s also a bit of info on the Gerrit code review servers in that they’re not currently back online as of yet, but Google says they’re working on it. Another interesting bit of info here is that this release includes the source code for the Honeycomb releases as well – joy! Google does want you to focus on Ice Cream Sandwich though, so chill out or freak out, whatever you like. Now get to developing!

Also inside this tablet is 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot able to utilize up to a 32GB card. This device has a microUSB port, a microHDMI port, and of course is able to be dunked. You’ll see a video of this happening below, but until then, note that this tablet is thus far only set for Japan. What you’ll see for a USA release instead of a video like this is BRIGHT LIGHTS and flashing WORDS and all kinds of FIRE. Trust me on that one. Have a peek at this hands-on video:

The processor on this device is the same dual-core 1Ghz NVIDIA Tegra 2, a mightily well working chip in and of itself. Note that essentially every dual-core tablet with Android that came out inside 2011 had this same processor, including the hero device for Google’s Honeycomb platform, the Motorola XOOM. AGAIN UPDATE: this tablet has the Texas Instruments OMAP4430 dual-core processor, not NVIDIA’s Tegra 2. This information comes straight from Texas Instruments, while the incorrect information can be seen in the video below.

This of course doesn’t begin to add up against the other tablet we’ve seen this week, the Panasonic Toughpad A1 which appears very much to be impervious to most anything, not just H2O.

[via NotebookItalia]

Google had previously been ignoring Taiwanese brands, the sources allege, giving little assistance in upgrading Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablets to the new 4.0 release of the platform. However, with Windows 8 tablets on the ASUS roadmap – among others – for the second half of 2012, it seems the search giant is looking to ways it can cement loyalty.

That loyalty is much needed, given Honeycomb tablet sales have been relatively underwhelming so far in comparison to, say, Apple’s iPad. Android lead Andy Rubin confirmed last month that there are approximately 6m Honeycomb tablets in the wild, higher than previous estimates but still not enough to satisfy the Google exec. “Six million is pretty healthy but it is not 30 million” Rubin conceded, suggesting that “obviously we need to get there.”

The ASUS Transformer Prime was initially expected to launch on November 9, according to a leaked roadmap from the company, and has already been spotted clearing the FCC complete with NVIDIA’s new Tegra 3 chipset. Now, the sources maintain, it will drop in early December, running Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box rather than Honeycomb. That delay – if true – is disappointing, but we imagine most people would prefer to have ICS even if it demands a little extra patience.

On the back there’s a 3-megapixel camera good for 720p HD video recording, while a 2-megapixel front camera is for video calls. There’s 16GB of onboard storage, plus a microSD card slot to add up to 32GB to that, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

The T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus will go on sale November 16, priced at $249.99 with a new, two-year agreement and following a $50 mail-in rebate. You’ll need a data plan, obviously, priced from $29.99 per month, though if you’re already a voice subscriber with the carrier you’ll get a $10 monthly discount on the tablet’s plan.

To get started we have a short and sweet hands-on unboxing video of the Springboard for everyone to experience so you have an understanding of this new tab. Then we’ll get into the hardware, software, and that pretty 7″ HD display all wrapped in aluminum.

T-Mobile Springboard hands-on video

Hardware

The actual hardware was a big surprise for me with the Springboard given the low priced nature of this tablet, that and Huawei has been a more budget friendly device company thus far. The Springboard is highly impressive with both the looks, and the overall feel. It’s almost as if they took some clues from the iPhone 4 and the HTC Flyer tablet and rolled them into one, but I really like it. One thing worth noting is the display is extremely sharp and clear. The 1280 x 800 HD resolution on the smaller tablet really looks great, although the colors weren’t as good as I’ve come to expect from what we’ve seen lately with Samsung and others.

Now lets break down the hardware. The Springboard is one of the first 7″ tablets to offer the full 1280 x 800 HD resolution of larger devices. All recent smaller tablets have been offered with a 1024 x 600 resolution. What that gives us is a small and portable tablet with an exceptional viewing experience. So, we have that 7″ HD display — powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor, 768MB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage and a pair of cameras. 5 megapixels around back and 1.3 on the front — all pushed by T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ network.

One benefit is we have a removable back with micro-SD support for an option 32GB of expanded storage, the T-Mobile 4G SIM card, and a 4,100 mAh battery. The battery is not actually assessable or removable but the large size makes battery life quite great.

Now for that iPhone 4 comment I made above. The entire device is housed in a lightweight and extremely durable brushed aluminum and the top has a nice squared design but it looks a bit too similar to the iPhone if you ask me, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The top, or left side when holding in landscape mode features the 3.5mm headphone jack and two stereo speaker grills.

The Springboard feels excellent in the hands and during usage. It is small, thin, and lightweight coming in at .41″ thin and weighing only 14 oz. The entire design is very, very sturdy and like I said above I was really impressed. The Springboard tablet has a nice and premium feel in the hands, something not all lower priced tablets can offer.

Around to the side we have the power button and the volume up/down rocker. Then neatly on bottom is the micro-USB port for syncing, micro-HDMI for outputting video and pictures, and the power charging port.

Software

Powered by Android 3.2 Honeycomb the experience is very familiar and everyone should know plenty about Honeycomb already. Sadly we don’t have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but I expect that will come at some point in this tablets bright future. We do have a decent set of bundled applications and a few noteworthy ones are BlockBuster and Netflix, I think T-Mobile expects us to be streaming plenty of content over this bad boy, so enjoy it.

Shown in the gallery below are a few of the pre-installed applications, plus how Blockbuster looks on the awesome 7″ display. The Netflix experience still needs work, but that is their fault and not the Springboards. Out of the box we have Accuweather for tablets, Blio e-reader, Blockbuster, File Manager, Lets Golf 2, NOVA 2 HD, Netflix, Lookout Mobile Security, Qello and a few other media viewers and then the usual suite of T-Mobile apps like Qik and TmoTV. One missing feature and app was Google Movies. It’s not an option on the market and was no where to be found. Whether this was removed in favor of BlockBuster or Netflix remains to be seen but we’ve reached out to T-Mobile and will update when we hear anything. For now you wont be renting any movies from the Android Market.

Android 3.2 Honeycomb has all the recent improvements Google has made to the tablet OS and so far I’ve had a pretty smooth and fluid experience with the Springboard. Although adding widgets to homescreens had some lag I’ve not seen in other tablets, that is the only issue I’ve encountered — that and some apps don’t seem to work quite right with the 7″ display, including the pre-installed app Qello.

Benchmarks and Speedtest

What review would be complete without a few benchmarks and speedtests. The 4G HSPA+ from T-Mobile performs pretty decent in this budget tablet and I’m averaging around 4-6 Mbps download speeds and 1 Mbps uploads. Not LTE fast, but fast enough to blaze through app updates.

Benchmarks weren’t extremely impressive and with Quadrant we score a decent 1950. The 7″ Acer Iconia A100 with the slower clocked Tegra 2 scores well over 2000 compared to the faster 1.2 GHz chip in this Springboard, but the lower 768MB of RAM could also play a role here too.

Benchmarks are only a small part of the overall user experience and day to day usage I had zero slowdowns and felt everything was snappy, quick, and performed great. Gaming was also perfect on the HD display and the dual-core processor keeps things sharp. Football Kicks (seen in screenshots) is my new favorite game and works beautifully on the Springboard.

Camera

We have a 5 megapixel camera around back with no LED flash, and 1.3 front for video chat. The camera was average at best compared to similarly spec’d smartphones but overall the quality was about what you’d expect on a budget tablet. Enough for that quick photo if needed, but I’d rather use Android smartphone if I had the option. Here are a few camera samples.

Battery Life

I’ve been enjoying this tablet for a little while now and while testing the battery over both 4G and Wi-Fi I used the tablet off and on for almost 3 days on the 4,100 mAh battery. Obviously continuous usage will be much lower but the occasional game on the couch, web browsing and quick email it lasted almost 3 days and died overnight before I could capture a screenshot. I’ll be sure to update shortly with a screenshot so you’ll have a better idea what to expect.

Wrap-Up

I’ve had plenty of time to toy around with this tablet and so far I’m pretty confident that most users will appreciate what it has to offer. If a larger 10″ tablet isn’t ideal or portable enough for you, but you need the 4G data connectivity — consider the T-Mobile Springboard. With a small and portable 7″ form factor that also manages to pack plenty of punch with a dual-core processor you wont be disappointed. Compared to other 7″ tablets on the market this is by far one of the best choices. At least until the Kindle Fire or Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus arrives. We’ll be reviewing both of those in the next few weeks and will be sure to compare them so you can all get a better idea of what to expect. I’m not sure who came up with the name Springboard, and the fact that it is launching now it’s almost winter instead of in the spring seems a little funny if you ask me.

The T-Mobile Springboard Tablet will be available at T-Mobile.com starting November 16th for a $179 (after $50 mail in rebate) down payment, a 2-year service agreement, and apparently some monthly payments. Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section below and I’ll try my best to answer them. In the mean time enjoy this one last picture (a real springboard), then the full gallery below.

The reason the two tablets being announced today are called Toughpad, or at least the reason why the A1 is called a Toughpad, is that it’s got a 4-foot MIL-STD-810G drop rating, operating temperatures between 14 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit, and resistance to dust and water ingress. We’ll see about that! In addition, the A1 tablet is a massive 2.13 pounds heavy, has a stylus pen, and has front and rear-facing cameras of unnamed size. There’s a “serviceable” battery inside, and you’ve got the option of getting the tablet with access to LTE or WiMAX connectivity.

Take a peek at every other Android tablet getting smashed while the Toughpad takes all the beating a good hardcore tablet aught to:

This device (the A1) also has software encryption, custom deployment and device management that they say is not found in any other consumer tablet, dual-factor authentication, and more business-oriented safeguards that’ll keep your boss satisfied with the amount of safe their information is in the guts. Panasonic’s A1 tablet will be working with a cloud-based storefront by the name of Business AppPortal and will have a handful of vertical market apps as well as virtualization and security solutions.

There’s also the Panasonic Toughpad B1, the 7-inch version of what’s been listed here in the A1, no additional specifications about which have been listed as of yet. We can expect similar specifications, including another Marvell processor.

BONUS: Since it’s so rare we get to speak about Marvell, have a peek at an old video of a device platform made by Marvell that may well have been a lost end, but we’d be glad to see it pop up again – Kinoma. What this project consisted of was Symbian running Windows Phone, and the potential of running Android apps, vice versa, and all the way back again. Have a peek at this Mobile World Congress 2011 clip here:

Maybe we’ll see it at Mobile World Congress 2012.

The XOOM 2 is splash-resistant, and Motorola is billing the squared-off edges as ergonomic improvements on how easy the tablet is to hold. It measures in at 253.9 mm x 173.6 mm x 8.8 mm and 599g, and has 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. As for the XOOM 2 Media Edition, that also has a splash-resilient coating and boasts 178-degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles, along with the same RAM and storage. It’s 139 mm x 216 mm x 8.99 mm and 386g.

There’ll be a Work and Play kit, with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse along with a desk dock, as well as a Motorola Stylus. Motorola throw plenty of business-centric apps onto the larger of the two tablets too.

WiFi-only variants will hit the UK in mid-November, with a pre-order page tipped to turn up here eventually. No word on pricing or US availability at this stage.

Other specifications include WiFi tethering support, but beyond that the text in the image is just slightly too small to make out. Still, we’re expecting the usual mixture of a front camera for video calls, Bluetooth, GPS and likely 16GB+ of internal storage with a microSD card slot to augment it.

Motorola’s use of Honeycomb comes as something of a disappointment, given we’ve already seen that Ice Cream Sandwich is intended for both smartphones and tablets, so hopefully the company will have an Android 4.0 update in the pipeline for shortly after the XOOM 2′s release. We’re also expecting to see a new 10-inch XOOM to replace the original model from the start of the year.

Though the Motorola XOOMho, the original Honeycomb tablet that is, will now be tossed down into a pile of bones by your average Android super hater, it remains a powerful customer in our still-new-to-dual-core mobile landscape. By the end of the year though we’ll have quad (and penta) core devices thanks to NVIDIA and their Tegra 3 (Kal-El) project. What will Motorola do then? They need more tablets! Here’s a tablet right here, look like a more than 2-core processor toting possibility?

Again, we cannot say, but here it is nonetheless. Meanwhile since we’re speaking about Motorola and updates, note that Motorola today tweeted that they’d be “releasing devices for ICS [Ice Cream Sandwich] 6 weeks after Google releases the final version of it.” What does this mean? It means that they’ve been in communication with Google on the release date, they know it, and they’re keeping it all for themselves! I can’t believe the nerve! In all actuality though, this is good news, as generally it’s taken much longer for devices to be released with a new Android version after release in the past. They still release devices with Froyo, for goodness sake!

Ice Cream Sandwich penta-core tablet around the corner!

[via Twitter]

First before we get into looking at the new mobile OS and the device that’ll carry it first, check out the info on where you’ll be able to get both here in the USA first: Galaxy Nexus confirmed for Verizon 4G LTE, plus some UK and Japan (and perhaps more carriers a bit later) – guaranteed for some miraculously high sales, just like the last Google hero device, the Nexus S running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. There’s the Motorola XOOM running Android 3.0 Honeycomb in this equation too, but since the tablet-based Android hasn’t quite sold at the same level as handsets (not nearly as well, when it comes down to it,) your humble narrator would certainly make a sort of divergent timeline for that. What we’ve got with Ice Cream Sandwich, that is Android 4.0, which combines the great bits of both Gingerbread and Honeycomb, creating a “sandwich” of a system for the greater advancement of Android.

Above you’ll see our first real look at Android 4.0 as it exists on the Galaxy Nexus. This hands-on will show an assortment of features in the system, but more than that, it shows how speedy and efficient the system is on the hardware Google intended it to look best on. This operating system is meant to be able to work on any sized display, regardless of if it’s a tablet, a smartphone, or anything above or below. For the full rundown of everything Ice Cream Sandwich offers, head to the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich complete guide as written by yours truly. Then there’s the device we’re looking at this with — the Galaxy Nexus.

Above you’ll get a look at the Galaxy Nexus, a Samsung device, as it existed on the 19th of October, 2011, in Hong Kong. The final build for this device (and Android 4.0) will certainly be almost identical to what we’re seeing here, but it’s always important to point out that these aren’t final just incase any bugs are found. Thus far no bugs have been found, none in the least. In fact, both Ice Cream Sandwich and this Galaxy Nexus device appear very much to be a fairly ideal combination of smartphone and Android operating system.

The first place one might look in any operating system for a mobile device these days, especially on a device like the Galaxy Nexus that’s supposed to be the ideal formation of device and system, is at the camera. In Ice Cream Sandwich there is a massive update to both Gallery and Camera, and that this is meant to work well on the Galaxy Nexus, and since we also know the recently announced Apple iPhone 4S (sporting the new iOS 5 mobile OS) to have an updated camera as well, Vince filmed a quick test of how quick the cameras appear to be able to take photos in comparison to one another. Have a peek at that test here:

Then there’s the bigger comparison of the two, the hero for Apple and the hero for Google (and Samsung) in the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus. While the update in Apple keeps the majority of the hardware of its last hero, the iPhone 4, one must note that the much larger update comes between the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus. First of all the display is both physically larger and contains many more pixels, then behold a wholly new chassis, where before there was a curved hard-plastic backing, now there’s soft-touch plastics and metal. This is easily one of the nicest full builds on an Android device to date. Have a look below at a video of the iPhone 4S and the Galaxy Nexus being compared in hand, again in Hong Kong on the 18th of October, 2011.

Samsung presents this device as the next step in the evolution of the ideal smartphone, but continues still to lead their pack of Android devices with the Galaxy S II. The original Samsung Galaxy S II appears both in the image below this paragraph and in the gallery below photographed next to the Galaxy Nexus in a variety of ways. The Galaxy S II still runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but certainly won’t be far from an update once Ice Cream Sandwich is released into the wild in late 2011/early 2012. As for the innards, both devices run a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, the GSII running an Exynos (Samsung) processor while the Galaxy Nexus runs an OMAP4 (Texas Instrument) processor. The display size on the Galaxy Nexus is 4.65-inches at 1280 x 720 pixels and is what Samsung calls a Super AMOLED HD, while the Galaxy S II has a 4.27-inch display at 400 x 800 pixels and is a Super AMOLED PLUS. You’ll have to decide for yourself which seems the most well suiting.

You should also note that these numbers are only counting the original international version of the Galaxy S II as reviewed by Chris Davies and doesn’t take into account the several different iterations of this device in the USA and the expanding portfolio around the earth – GSII from AT&T, Epic 4G Touch, and GSII from T-Mobile each have their own unique set of specifications. That said, they’re all relatively similar to the original. That said, the original and the Galaxy Nexus compare in size as well, though the curve in the Galaxy Nexus makes a big difference. The Galaxy Nexus is 5.33 x 2.67 x .35 inches and weighs in at 135 grams. The Galaxy S II original is 4.93 x 2.6 x .33 inches and weighs in at 116 grams.

After that it’s all details, details, and more details from the Hong Kong event. The same day as the event we found out that the name Nexus Prime was made up by the team at CyanogenMod 7, and the Galaxy Nexus was revealed officially right at the starting bell. The same was true of the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich final build, and the launch date for the Google Nexus as well as a slew of details were shown in kind. We found out about the new Android 4.0 core apps, and the new Ice Cream Sandwich UI was revealed for the first time. We found that the Android 4.0 SDK was available immediately, and that the Galaxy Nexus homepage was alive and kicking.

There was a rumor of the Galaxy Nexus being designed to avoid Apple that was almost immediately denied by Samsung’s Won-Pyo Hong. Then take note that there was another hero device announced this week – Motorola’s DROID RAZR – one that we got hands-on time with and one that’s been all but guaranteed to get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012. But what about tablets? The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer 2 is likely to be the first tablet with Ice Cream Sandwich.

Stick with us here on SlashGear for everything Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Samsung Galaxy Nexus as we cover them both in-depth throughout their entire life-span – 2011, 2012, and beyond.

Google TV hasn’t fared very well so far, but that may change soon with this new update, which will unify the development platform for Google TV and Android tablets by using Android 3.1 Honeycomb. This way developers can create apps that work on both tablets and TVs as well as apps specific to Google TV. Users will have access to these apps through an integrated Android Market.

A developer preview SDK for the new Google TV was released back in August with the final add-on SDK released two weeks ago. The screenshots look promising, but it’s still not clear when the update will be rolled out or what caused the delay. Perhaps Google was too focused on releasing Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich? And since we’re on the topic, you ought to check out our complete guide on ICS.

[via ZatzNotFunny]

This tablet, for those of you unfamiliar, is a 7-inch display having Android 3.2 Honeycomb-toting device that weighs in at 345g and is just 9.96mm thin. Inside you’ll find a lovely 1.2GHz dual-core processor and to compliment the Peel application they’re promoting the device with, this tablet has built-in infrared capabilities so that you’ll instantly be able to control your home theater setup. Peel is not a brand-new application but the integration with this Galaxy Tab means a new wireless option also available in the normal download from the Android Market starting today.

Just two days ago we saw what must have been an early listing on the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus on Amazon without a shipment date. Now we’re thinking that this is much more valid. Will you flip over to this new and improved design after having used the original Galaxy Tab since the beginning? It was way back in October of 2010 that the first version came out. Can you just NOT WAIT for a comparison?

Hardware

Accommodating a sliding mechanism means the Eee Pad Slider isn’t going to be as compact as some slate-only tablets we’ve seen. The ASUS measures in at 10.7 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches and 2.1 pounds (when closed), making it larger and heavier than most rivals. In contrast, the Eee Pad Transformer is thinner and lighter when slate-only, but bigger than the Eee Pad Slider when the battery-toting keyboard dock is attached. Of course, in doing so you also get a boost to runtime.

In comparison to a more traditional slate, however, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the ASUS is positively porky. Samsung’s 9.7 x 6.7 x 0.3 inch tablet is less than half as thick and almost half the weight, and far easier to hold single-handed. ASUS’ plastic chassis is sturdy and the matte finish does a good job of disguising fingerprints, though the same can’t be said for the gloss finish touchscreen and sizable black bezel. Still, the 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 IPS LCD panel is bright and color-rich, as with the Transformer, and has great viewing angles. We did prefer the Galaxy Tab 10.1 screen, however, for its saturation.

ASUS Eee Pad Slider demo:

Inside, things are par for the course for a Honeycomb tablet. NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core chipset takes center stage, paired with 1GB of RAM, 16GB of flash storage (with 32GB an option), WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and GPS. There’s no 3G in our review unit, though ASUS will offer it as an option. Up front is a 1.3-megapixel camera, while a 5-megapixel camera is on the back.

ASUS has used the extra heft to accommodate a fair array of ports, which are a welcome addition. There’s a full-sized USB port for external peripherals, such as a mouse or hard-drive, along with a microSD card slot, plus a mini-HDMI port and headphones socket. The standard volume rocker and power button are joined by a dedicated reset button, recessed so as not to be triggered accidentally. Finally, there’s a proprietary docking connector – on the top edge, not the bottom, since that would put it under your wrist when the keyboard is extended – for use with the bundled USB charger or when hooking the Eee Pad up to a computer.

Keyboard

Reach behind the Eee Pad’s webcam and tuck your finger into the dimple; pull up, and the whole screen section pivots back and up, slotting into place at a 45-degree angle. A chrome-finish slab of metal keeps the touchscreen elevated, and the whole thing feels sturdier than you might expect. Unfortunately, there’s no way to adjust the angle – if you want the keyboard, you’re stuck with 45-degrees.

In use, the four grippy rubber feet on the base keep things from sliding around, and the experience is wobble-free. Sadly the keys themselves underwhelm: the buttons are plasticky and cheap feeling, the key bed wobbles and the whole ‘board lacks travel and is spongy.

It’s a shame, because the keys on the Eee Pad Transformer’s keyboard proved surprisingly usable, certainly in line with a netbook. The Slider, in contrast, is definitely sub-netbook in quality, and the limited space for the ‘board – broad, but not particularly deep – means typing can’t reach the sort of speeds you’d expect for a physical layout.

Overall, then, it’s better than an on-screen keyboard, but falls short of ASUS’ own Transformer. The absence of a trackpad was also notable, plus there’s no palm-rest. ASUS has added dedicated Home and Search keys, and there are shortcuts for WiFi, Bluetooth and screen brightness, but no media control shortcuts. You can use cut/copy/paste shortcuts, but the shift+arrow combination to highlight doesn’t work in the preloaded Polaris Office suite (that supports documents, spreadsheets and presentations).

Software and Performance

Android 3.2 Honeycomb is, by now, a familiar face. Google’s tablet-centric OS has had a few tweaks at ASUS’ hands, as well as a fair selection of apps and tools thrown at it, though underneath it’s the same platform we’ve been using for most of the year now. We’re not entirely sure why ASUS bothered redesigning the back, home and app-switcher buttons, but the company’s active desktop widgets – showing the latest email count from the Mail app (but not Gmail) and weather for your current location – are neat.

Preloaded apps include the ASUS WebStore, Movie Studio, MyCloud, MyLibrary, MyNet, Polaris Office, Press Reader, TegraZone and the Zinio Reader. Usefulness varies depending on what you intend to do with your tablet: most of the apps focus on accessing cloud storage (ASUS bundles a year’s worth of unlimited cloud drive storage with the Eee Pad) or streaming media, plus you can remotely access your home computer – albeit only across the same network – using the MyDesktop app.

Of course, with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich freshly unveiled, the question is when – or if – it might appear as an upgrade on the Eee Pad Slider. ASUS has confirmed that the Transformer will get Android 4.0 “soon” and we’re assuming that means the Slider shouldn’t be far behind, but so far there’s no official announcement.

Performance was par for the course given the specifications, with no real surprises. For multitasking with Polaris Office, the browser and background audio playback, the Eee Pad Slider had no problems keeping up with our typing. HD playback was solid, and jitter free via the HDMI port (though you’ll need to supply your own cable, since ASUS doesn’t).

Camera

Just as the extra chassis bulk allowed ASUS to accommodate more ports than the Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Eee Pad Slider also gets a higher resolution main camera: 5-megapixels instead of 3-megapixels. Unfortunately, even with those extra pixels, the Slider does a poor job with stills.

Colors are accurate but edges are soft, detail generally lost and low-light performance – not helped with the absence of an LED flash – is practically non-existent. Video can be recorded at up to 720p HD, and fares a little better, with more sharpness and detail. Still, we can’t imagine many people opting to use the Eee Pad Slider for photography, both for usability and quality reasons.

Battery

ASUS estimates up to 8hrs runtime from a full charge of the Eee Pad Slider SL101′s battery, depending on use. In practice, with a mixture of typing, emailing, browsing over WiFi, streaming music and video playback, we managed 6-6.5hrs. That’s with reasonably heavy use: in more typical circumstances we’d expect you to certainly last a day of occasional use.

Unfortunately, here again the Eee Pad Slider is shown up by its Transformer cousin. Slap on the other Eee Pad’s removable keyboard, and we found the integrated battery adds another 6-7hrs to the Transformer’s runtime. That puts it more in the region of 12-15hrs, something the Slider can only dream of.

Wrap-Up

On paper, the ASUS Eee Pad Slider makes sense. All the instant-on flexibility of a tablet, with the convenience of a keyboard. Problem is, the biggest competition comes from under ASUS’ own roof, in the shape of the Eee Pad Transformer. That has a better keyboard, the choice over whether or not to use it, and considerably more battery life.

Yes, the Slider is slightly more portable than the Transformer with its keyboard docked, but ASUS has already begun teasing its imminent Transformer 2, borrowing styling – and most importantly scale – from the UX ultrabook range. That probably means a thinner Transformer 2 than the Slider, despite offering extra battery life and more flexibility. Finally there’s price: in the US the Slider is $479, versus $505 for the Transformer and its keyboard, but in the UK the Slider is £429.99 while the Transformer has dipped to £429.89 with keyboard.

If ASUS had managed to get the Eee Pad Slider to market back in May, alongside the Transformer, we could see it having stolen some netbook sales. Now, with a new Transformer on the way, Ice Cream Sandwich in the pipeline and faster quadcore Tegra 3 processors promising both improvements in performance and power frugality, the Slider feels like it has missed its window.

This device will be $399 for the 16GB model and $499 for the 32GB model right out of the gate, both of the devices having the same specifications other than the internal storage difference. This tablet has a 7-inch display with a relatively moderate 1024 x 600 pixel resolution, all of this running on a lovely 1.2GHz dual-core processor. This device will be released with Android 3.2 Honeycomb and has two cameras, one 2 megapixel camera on the front and one 3 megapixel camera on the back. This device is thus far only going to be available as a Wi-fi unit — though a T-Mobile 4G HSPA+ version is said to be around the corner.

We recently saw this device mistakenly listed by J&R for pre-order for the same prices as are listed above. This device was announced back on September 30th, 2011 and is set to replace the original Samsung Galaxy Tab which was one of the very first Android “tablet” sized devices on the market when it was released. This Galaxy Tab Plus is set to get a gradual global roll-out that includes Southeast and Southwest Asia, US, Europe, CIS, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Japan and China. Exciting!

Last week, back-of-envelope calculations suggested that around 3.4m Android Honeycomb tablets were in the wild, based on Google’s own Android activation figures and the company’s platform version stats. However, it’s unclear whether Rubin’s 6m number counts solely Honeycomb slates or includes tablets that offer Google services but run smartphone versions of Android rather than Honeycomb, such as the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab.

“Six million is pretty healthy but it is not 30 million” Rubin conceded, suggesting that “obviously we need to get there.” First step of the renewed Android tablet offensive will be 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the new build of the platform officially announced just hours ago, and pulling together both smartphone and tablet strands into a single, harmonized build.