The iRiver Story HD is touted as the very first e-reader to have Google eBookstore integration. The original iRiver Story has been called an Amazon Kindle clone, but this new model affixed with “HD” to its name now sports a higher XGA (1024×768) resolution display and some unusual design tweaks. Priced to compete with the Kindle at $139, the iRiver Story HD is hitting stores July 17, but should you plan to pick one up? Continue after the cut for the full review.
BeBook is a company better known for its ereaders, but the lure of the tablet has proved too great. The BeBook Live is a low-cost Android slate, still proclaiming its ereader heritage but also hoping to earn itself a place as your browsing, multimedia and gaming gadget of choice. With a price significantly lower than that of rival tablets, can the BeBook Live really replace both your iPad and your Kindle in one fell swoop? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
We’ve been demanding a tablet running webOS for years now, and it’s taken HP’s new stewardship of the software to guide just that onto store shelves. Palm’s mobile platform always seemed to good to be left solely to smartphones, and the HP TouchPad is the inevitable result. Problem is, the iPad has already made its presence well and truly known, dominating the consumer tablet market, and Android’s Honeycomb drive gains OEM support by the week. Can the multitasking charms of webOS 3.0 promise the TouchPad a bright future, or is it simply a case of too late to the party? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Welcome to a review of a tablet we essentially had a pretty good look at already, but have come to understand in a slightly better way now that it’s got a new handsome color set on its outer bits. Head back to the review of the HTC Flyer EURO then see the review of the HTC Flyer WiFi for a full understanding of what we’re about to deal with here, then behold the greatest color scheme of them all: black and red. The difference between those models and this one is the internet connection capabilities. While that, the difference in the colors of metal and plastic, and some app additions and subtractions may be the only changes between here and there, an epiphany of usefulness has come over your humble reviewer – have a look below to see how this is your note-taking champion and the bigger version of the EVO you’ve always wanted.
Let’s take a look for a bit at the United States’ first look at HTC’s Flyer tablet. As you may well know by now, there’s another version of this device out there by the name of EVO View 4G – have a look at our hands-on with that version of the device from back at CTIA 2011. The device we’re looking at here and now is the Best Buy-sold version of the device being here a WiFi-only piece of hardware. This device has a nice silver metal and white plastic chassis, Gorilla Glass front over a 7-inch 1024 x 700 pixel resolution capacitive touchscreen working with a 1GHz single-core processor and Android 2.3.3 with HTC Sense 2.1 for Tablets. And it’s got a pen. Is this the writer for you?
Samsung helped lead the Android tablet charge last year, with the original Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch slate which even Google admitted may have been released before the OS was ready. Now, with Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets like the XOOM, G-Slate and Eee Pad Transformer on the market, Samsung is back with its second attempt, the larger Galaxy Tab 10.1. Heavily reworked – even after its first official appearance – in order to better compete with the iPad 2, Samsung has high hopes that this is the slender slate to knock Apple off its pedestal. SlashGear brought back the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Limited Edition white version from Google I/O 2011 this week; check out the full review after the cut.
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen an HTC tablet: the HTC Shift, in fact, all the way back in 2008. Even then the company didn’t play by the normal rules, pairing Windows Vista and Windows Mobile on a single device. Now, it’s the turn of the HTC Flyer to shake things up once more, and the talking point today is whether a slate with a stylus can compete when fingers are in fashion. 7-inch star or ‘droid dud? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
ASUS has been plugging away at tablets for years now, experimenting with convertible netbooks and trying to coax some semblance of finger-friendliness out of Windows. It’s taken Android 3.0 Honeycomb and the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101 to actually deliver, however: an eye-catching hybrid offering the touch-usability of a slate and the content creation flexibility of a Keyboard Dock. Has Eee Pad outclassed iPad 2 or do the ASUS Transformer’s two halves not quite add up to a whole? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Welcome to the newest Android tablet on the block, Acer’s Iconia Tab A500. This is an Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet, that being a version of the Google mobile operating system made specifically for tablets, and it’s got a big fat 10.1-inch screen. In the front there’s a 2-megapixel camera for video chat and photos, on the back there’s a 5-megapixel camera for video recording and photos as well. This is a device that will go in direct competition with the Motorola XOOM and the Apple iPad, with a bit of competition from the LG G-Slate, mostly because their dual-core processors come from the same parent: NVIDIA. Will this slice of aluminum carve its way into your Android loving heart?
Until today, the consumer tablet market has been defined by the battle between iPad and Android. Apple’s best-selling slate has set expectations for mobile utility and usability, managing to persuade users that – despite years of Microsoft Tablet PC promotion – the company pretty much invented the tablet segment. Google’s Honeycomb (review) has launched its offensive against the iPad titan, and now it’s the turn of RIM and the BlackBerry PlayBook. Initially billed as the enterprise-focused slate a BlackBerry phone toting business person would covet, the PlayBook’s scope has gradually grown to encompass the consumer market too. Has that spreading focus left RIM with the jack of all trades or the master of none? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
2011 may be the year of the tablet, but so far only one Android 3.0 Honeycomb (review) example has managed to reach the market. Motorola’s XOOM was criticized for launching perhaps before Honeycomb was quite ready; now the T-Mobile G-Slate by LG is making its own play, with the dual hope that 3D photography and an 8.9-inch screen will be enough to carve a niche against the iPad 2. Is Honeycomb’s second hurrah the cry of victory or a dying gasp? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut to find out.
The iPad shaped the consumer tablet market. Now, just as Android 3.0 Honeycomb slates are rising to the challenge, the iPad 2 is here to move Apple’s game on even further. Squeezing a faster processor, boosted graphics and twin cameras into a 33-percent thinner design, yet keeping the same 10hr battery and – perhaps most importantly – the same price, the iPad 2 promises to refine what rivals were still struggling to beat. Is the Apple iPad 2 the best tablet today? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
