This year at Google’s developer conference, SlashGear will be in attendance at what’s guaranteed to be a celebration of convergence. What we’ve seen from the previews, leaks, and rumors of the contents of this conference point towards Android, Chrome, and Google TV devices moving in towards one another, keeping more than just their software in mind.
The original Google Nexus 7 tablet (as manufactured by ASUS) has been tipped to be getting a refresh with new hardware and a launch time around June or July. This updated piece of equipment would, if this set of predictions turns true, have the tablet ready to be re-introduced at Google I/O 2013, the company’s developer conference. This conference begins next week, starting on Wednesday the 15th of May, ending Friday.
Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet is set to get its missing pressure sensitivity for the digital stylus in apps like Photoshop, with a Wacom driver update incoming to address the glitch. The Windows 8 tablet, launched back in February, shipped without full support for recognizing how hard stylus-users pressed with the pen in apps like Adobe's Creative Suite. Now, according to Microsoft's Panos Panay, the end is in sight.
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A larger version of Sony's VAIO Duo 11 convertible hybrid notebook has been spotted, apparently boasting a 13-inch Full HD touchscreen and the same sliding hinge design turning the slate into a laptop. The unannounced notebook, spotted in a YouTube video (which you can see after the cut), reportedly has a Triluminos touchscreen that works with both finger and stylus contact.
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Most Android tablets are pretty much the same nowadays, traditionally. However, one company is looking to shake things up with an Android tablet that's meant for the outdoors person in all of us. The Earl, as it's called, is solar powered and comes with a thick robust outer shell to protect from the outdoor elements.
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Though you’re not going to be able to work with it yourself until later this month (at the earliest), the next big upgrade to Google’s mobile operating system is out there in the wild right this minute. As Google I/O 2013 approaches, so too have suggestions that Google will reveal a collection of feature upgrades for their most basic mobile operating system software. At the moment the signs of life for Android 4.3 are small, but they’re there – having appeared for the first time here on SlashGear earlier this week!
LG is mulling a return to the tablet market, Korean sources claim, with a new model tipped for release sometime in the second half of 2013, and potentially as early as Q3. Details of the speculated slate are in short supply, and according to Munhwa it's uncertain whether LG will opt for Windows or Android to power its renewed attempt on the big-screen mobility ecosystem.
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While fans of the HTC One were pushing for a tablet version of their new Android smartphone, the company appears to have been busy creating not one, but two new devices. Android is not on the docket this time around, it's been tipped - instead HTC seems to have been swayed by Microsoft to the tune of Windows RT. And not just any Windows RT: the new and improved Windows RT Blue.
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Asus has big plans to roll out Windows 8 tablet computers with small screens this year. The tip comes from Asus CEO Jerry Shen who predicts that these smaller screen Windows 8 tablets will sell at prices below $300. Many see price as one of the big drawbacks to Windows 8 tablets at this time.
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It would appear that the analysts at NPD DisplaySearch have run the numbers and decided that the iPad mini with full retina-quality display is well on its way. They've made it clear in their most recent report that the iPad mini's first big update will be appearing in the third quarter of 2013, if all goes well, with another update soon after. The second update, says NPD, will include not only a higher-definition display than the first edition - it'll have a boosted mobile processor under the hood, as well.
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A rise in convertible and slider touchscreen form-factors will offset the "post-PC era" slide of notebooks, but will be unable to fend off the full might of tablets, new research suggests. Tablet shipments will rise to 579.4m units by 2017, NPD DisplaySearch projections indicate, while traditional notebooks will drop to 183.3m units by the same point. However, a new breed of touch-enabled notebooks will step in to help arrest some of the slump.
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As the computer market continues to struggle, some continue to point to Microsoft and its lackluster Windows 8 and Windows RT operating systems as a major reason for the struggles. While there are several tablet makers who have launched devices running Windows RT, the tablets have proven to be relatively unpopular. Acer is one of Microsoft's software partners and the company has a number of tablets and notebooks running software from Microsoft.
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