Sony on Monday announced its new flagship tablet, the 10.1-inch Xperia Tablet Z , which features an impressive thickness of 6.9mm and is set to arrive in Japan this spring.
The Xperia Tablet Z is powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz processor and Android 4.1, and it comes with an 8.1mp camera. It features LTE connectivity, presumably for the NTT DoCoMo network , and NFC for one-touch transfers with other Xperia devices.
The new tablet, which is waterproof and dustproof, is scheduled to arrive this spring, though it’s not clear whether it will launch beyond Japan.
Earlier this month at CES, Sony unveiled its flagship Xperia Z smartphone to round out its Xperia series. Between its high-end smartphone and tablet announcements, Sony has come out swinging in 2013.
The company released the Xperia Tablet S last year, but it had an embarrassing recall due to a manufacturing issue flaw that compromised its splashproof design.
Sony has been in the midst of a massive restructuring led by new CEO Kazuo Hirai It has announced plans to sell its billion-dollar New York headquarters and rent them back. The company is also said to be looking into a similar maneuver for one of its offices in Tokyo.
Hirai said at CES that he has made a commitment to “revitalize Sony’s electronics business.” With the tablet and smartphone versions of the Xperia Z, he’s off to an attractive start.
(hat tip Engadget )
Canonical adds new price points for its Ubuntu Edge smartphone as it approaches $4m in crowdfunding
Canonical has raised just shy of $4 million for its high-end Ubuntu Edge smartphone, but the firm is looking to accelerate its crowdfunding campaign by adding three extra funding tiers that will guarantee a pre-ordered device.
Consumers can now reserve a handset by pledging either $625, $675 or $725 on the firm’s Indiegogo campaign – the lowest amounts currently available given that Canonical has already blasted through the 5,000 spaces allocated for its early bird $600 price point.
It’s undoubtedly a ploy to try to maintain the initial momentum and hype surrounding the campaign; Canonical needs a further $28 million in 29 days to finance the project.
Without the new price points, Ubuntu fans would’ve needed to shell out at least $830 to grab a limited-run Ubuntu Edge. The new funding tiers have just 1,250 slots each, although Canonical plans to offer some further sub-$830 options in the coming days with considerably more spaces.
The Ubuntu Edge is a halo device, boasting a 4.5-inch display, 4GB of RAM and a whopping 128GB of storage. Alongside dual-LTE receivers, it will likely be the very best way to experience the Ubuntu OS on a mobile device.
The company plans to launch a number of other mid and high-end Ubuntu OS smartphones at launch, but the 40,000 Ubuntu Edge handsets will be somewhat of a collector’s item.
All of this rides on the presumption that Canonical will hit its original $32 million funding target. It’s a lofty goal and one that would break a whole host of crowdfunding records if successful.
ASUS opens pre-orders for the Fonepad in Taiwan, its 7-inch Android tablet that doubles as a phone
ASUS has reportedly started taking pre-orders in Taiwan for the Fonepad, a 7-inch, full HD Android tablet that was unveiled at Mobile World Congress last month.
Running on Android 4.1, the device is notable because it also has 3G connectivity and full telephony support, just like on a smartphone.
Focus Taiwan has reported that the Fonepad will be available to purchase in-store by the end of March, starting at NT $8,900 ($302 USD) for the 16GB model. That’s considerably higher than the €219 ($283.47 USD) announced in Barcelona , however.
The device will be available from the following retailers: Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co, E-Life Mall Corp and Sunfair Computer Co, as well as the Yahoo and PChome online stores.
Focus Taiwan also says that the Fonepad will be sold through Chunghwa Telecom , one of the largest telecom operators in the country, to accelerate the device’s adoption and public awareness. As is common with smartphones, Chunghwa Telecom will be subsidizing the Fonepad so that it’s free to consumers, provided they sign up to a two-year contract priced at NT $1,343 ($45.07 USD) per month.
The Fonepad is expected to launch in Europe, meanwhile, by the end of April. There’s no word yet on a wider international release, however.
The Fonepad continues ASUS’ strategy of offering impressive hardware at an affordable price. Under the hood is an Intel Atom Z2420 processor, as well as a 1280×800 display with a 178-degree viewing angle and 10-point multi-touch.
Every tablet comes with a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera, although a 3 megapixel version on the back, capable of shooting 720p video, is an optional extra. It will be competing with the iPad Mini, Nexus 7 and Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, as well as a whole host of budget Android tablets that have adopted the slightly smaller form factor.
The Fonepad, while interesting in itself, was overshadowed at Mobile World Congress by another hybrid device launched by ASUS, called the PadFone Infinity . The two share a similar name, but they’re markedly different in their approach, concept and hardware design.
The PadFone Inifnity starts with a 5-inch smartphone, sporting a full HD 1920×1080 display at 441 PPI, as well as a 10.1-inch tablet dock that can be used to control and access the content previously on the phone.
During its unveiling, ASUS said the Padfone Infinity will launch in April for €999 ($1292.41 USD), which while considerably more than the Fonepad, is understandable given that it’s really a bundle price for two separate devices.