On the whole, tablets are a bit of a dying form factor, but they still have a place for many customers, and make great gifts for kids as well. There is, of course, the iPad, which is a great product. However, if you’re looking for something less expensive, or just something with Android, here are some of the best options you can buy.
Dell has never been huge in the Android tablet market, but today it admitted defeat — the company has just revealed (via PCWorld) that they will no longer be selling Android tablets. The tablets never sold very well and as its 2-in-1 Windows tablet business picks up, it only makes sense that the company put to rest the Android-powered devices that mostly played the background.
Nokia Technologies announced in a press release this morning that it has signed an agreement with HMD global to build “a new generation of Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets.” Although we don’t know exactly what flavour of Android, or how heavily skinned it will be, Nokia’s announcement states that Google’s mobile OS will be powering the new devices.
At a press event today, Acer announced several new laptops, including a new Chromebook, and a new 10-inch tablet in the Iconia Tab series. The Iconia Tab 10 is geared towards media consumption with a full HD screen, front facing speakers, and several software optimizations.
In its next major release this summer, Android will finally add a multi-window mode for both tablets and phones. Jide is beating Google to release today with a fully featured version of Remix OS 2.0 for its Ultratablet and the Nexus 9 and 10. ROMs for the two Nexus tablets are available to download now.
While last week’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge announcement will undoubtedly be the highlight of Samsung’s year, it seems the company is still showing interest in the tablet market. Evan Blass leaked a set of press renders for upcoming 2016 models of the Galaxy Tab A and Galaxy Tab E.
Like just about every Android device manufacturer this week, Lenovo is showing off its latest at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and today officially unveiled its new lineup of TAB3 tablets.
Data from App Annie suggests that the total number of smartphones and tablets on the planet will hit 6.2 billion by 2020 – up from 2.6B today. That would be 80% of the forecast population of 7.76B people.
The analytics company told Bloomberg that the strongest growth will be seen in India, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey as cheaper phones hit the market. For many of those in developing countries, the post-PC era has already arrived, a smartphone or tablet serving as their only Internet-enabled device …
Samsung has issued its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter of 2015, and things look to be heading in the right direction, albeit slowly. Samsung estimates that its profit for the quarter reached 6.1 trillion Korean Won, or roughly $5.1 billion US Dollars. That was based on estimated sales worth 53.0 trillion Korean Won ($44B USD).
While other Android smartphone makers are struggling to make any progress financially, Samsung’s Q4 estimates (if accurate) will see them beat last year’s final quarter profits by 0.8 trillion Korean Won, or approximately $666 million USD. That’s an increase of 15% year-on-year.
If anything, it shows that Samsung’s 2015 focus on creating fewer, but higher quality handsets is working. A big part of that focus was moving away from the plastic flagships of the past to make solid, glass and metal handsets with market-leading specifications.
Rather unusually, however, Samsung did see a quarter-on-quarter drop from Q3 2015, in which it made 7.4 trillion Korean Won. Holiday sales are usually stronger than any other quarter for most tech companies, so Samsung may be a little worried to see the 18% drop from Q3 even if Q4 was an improvement on the same quarter in 2014. One explanation, of course, is that Samsung released its last high-end flagship smartphone right in the middle of Q3, while many other competitors waited until October/November.
As 2016 rolls in, the competitive landscape is only going to get tougher for Samsung. Companies like Huawei and Xiaomi are expected to renew their focus on markets where Samsung is normally very strong. And, if Huawei’s 2015 performance is anything to go by, Samsung should definitely be keeping an eye over its shoulder.
Alcatel OneTouch has built something of a name for itself at the affordable end of smartphone and tablet market. This morning at CES 2016, the company announced a brand new range of ultra low-end Pixi 4 phones and tablets, all powered by Android and a dual-core or quad-core processor, but each with a different-sized screen.
Alcatel OneTouch’s latest Pixi range will come with 3.5-inch, 4-inch, 6-inch and 7-inch models, with the last of those being far more like a small tablet than a smartphone.
Although they’re clearly entry-level products, the new Pixi range have been loaded with a number of features to make them attractive to first-time smartphone buyers, or those with lower budgets. The pre-installed Polaroid software lets users design their own collages from photos and add borders and text, while the front-facing flash on the 4-inch and 6-inch models means you can take selfies in the dark. What’s more, the Arkamys optimized speakers means audio shouldn’t be terrible.
You can find the full list of key specs for each model below. No specific release date or pricing has been mentioned for any of the devices.
Huawei is expected to have a large presence at CES this year. With its plans to increase its market visibility in the US, the Las Vegas-based trade show is the perfect opportunity to show off its best smartphones and tablets. According to Evan Blass, we should expect to see the MediaPad M2 10 among them.
If a leaked set of renders from SuomiMobiili is anything to go by, this is what the 10-inch tablet will look like:
With its rectangular home button on the bottom bezel, its design is similar to many of Samsung’s Galaxy-branded tablets. From the renders, it appears as though the rear panel is mostly made from metal, with a plastic panel running all the way along one side which plays home to the camera and LED flash, and presumably also acts as a window for the various antennas.
Specification-wise it’s claimed that the tablet will feature a full HD 10.1-inch display, 2GB RAM, Huawei’s Kirin 930 processor, an 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera and either 32GB or 64GB internal storage. US prices aren’t given, but SuomiMobiili expects the 32GB and 64GB models to retail at €349 and €449 respectively in Europe. Roughly converted to dollars, that’s $376 and $484 respectively, although actual pricing will almost certainly differ in the States.
The leak certainly seems official, and Evan Blass has a pretty solid track record, so we’re fairly confident this is legit, but there’s always a chance this isn’t authentic, however small.
Today at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, Acer announced its next lineup of budget-friendly Chrome OS and Android based products. It announced a brand new Chrome desktop with Intel Core processors, a small, durable Chromebook and an affordable tablet…
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Google’s engineers are already working on baked-in split-screen multitasking support for Android. This was after the Pixel C team opened an AMA on Reddit to offer potential and existing customers the opportunity to pick their brains. Unsurprisingly, the topic of split-screen came up more than once. While some OEMs, like Samsung and LG, have built the feature in to their Android skins, Google is yet to bake it in to the core Android software.
We only have about one week to go before your holiday shopping is officially too late. And although Black Friday weekend and Cyber Week have all come and gone, that doesn’t mean retailers have given up on trying to persuade you to part with your hard-earned cash…
The Pixel team took to Reddit this morning to answer questions about their new tablet following its launch yesterday. Early reviews of the device praised the hardware, but faulted Android for a lack of tablet optimization. Unsurprisingly, most of the questions asked revolved around that…
Affirming last week’s rumors, the Pixel C is now available for purchase. Android on tablets have had a varied history and unfortunately this one suffers from the same usual friction of putting what is essentially a phone OS on a large screen. However, the device is not completely without merit on the hardware side and accompanying software updates might change that in the future.
The Pixel C is now available to purchase from the Google Store. The tablet was announced in a September event with the latest Nexus devices and just meets the “in time for the holidays” deadline given at that point.
Amazon, today, launched a brand new version of its 8-inch Android-based Kindle Fire tablet. The Kindle Fire 8 Reader’s Edition comes with some software and service benefits bookworms will love, and ships with an attractive leather case. It’s available to pre-order for $249 from Amazon now…
According to a report by Dutch-language tech site, Tweakers, Google is planning to start selling the Pixel C Android tablet from December 8th on the Play Store. The site claims that it will be offering both the 32GB and 64GB variants of Pixel C in the Netherlands on that date, suggesting we’ll see a global launch next week too. If true, it’d be highly unlikely that Google would release a product in the Netherlands before major markets like the US, UK, Germany and France.
While we can’t vouch for the site’s information, it certainly fits in with Google’s plans to launch it by the end of the year. Pricing will purportedly be €499 and €599 respectively for the 32GB and 64GB models, while the keyboard will allegedly cost €169 in Europe. In the US, prices will be $499, $599 and $149 for the two tablets and keyboard.
The Pixel C is Google’s first attempt at making its own tablet hardware and, in many ways, replaces the Nexus tablet range. While we may yet see another Nexus tablet, Google has seen a need to make its own powerful, pure Android tablet with a detachable keyboard to compete with the likes of Apple and Microsoft. Google’s all-metal Pixel C features a 10.2-inch screen boasting a resolution of 2560×1800 pixels and a quad-core processor made by NVIDIA. There’s also 3GB RAM, full USB Type-C support and it runs Android Marshmallow.
The keyboard has its own built-in battery and connects to the tablet via Bluetooth, and will come in two different finishes: Leather and Aluminum.
Market intelligence company IDC predicts that the worldwide tablet market will continue to decline, with the category as a whole falling 8.1% over the course of this year – and Android seeing the greatest drop in share over the next few years. Android will, however, remain the market leader through 2019.
The greatest growth, it suggests, will come in the so-called ‘detachables’ segment – tablets with detachable keyboards – where Windows is predicted to see substantial growth …
A patent recently published by the USPTO and unearthed by Patently Mobile reveals Samsung could have plans to design and build foldable, bendable and scrollable devices with various designs. Of course, the technology underpinning this entire exploration is a flexible display, which made it in to mainstream smartphones a couple of years ago with the Galaxy Round and LG G Curve. More recently, Samsung used it in the Galaxy S6 Edge, but if these designs eventually make it to market, they’ll make the S6 Edge look dull…
Black Friday may have come and gone, but tech companies and retailers are keen to keep the discounts running through this week with their annual Cyber Monday deals. Whether you’re looking to get yourself a new smartphone or tablet, or buy one for a friend/family member, there are plenty of good discounts to be had this week…
Update: B&H also has the Nexus 5X at $80 off across the board.
Update: Looks like Amazon is upping the competition. The online retailer has price-matched the Google Store, and you can now pick up the 16GB Nexus 5X for $299 in black or white. Sadly, the 32GB version is back-ordered, but the price is still listed at $349, the same as Google’s discounted price.
While you could pick up last year’s Nexus 6 64GB at a ridiculously low price ($260) on Amazon earlier today, Google’s official online store has some discounts of its own to offer for Black Friday. Perhaps most attractive is the $80 price cut on one of this year’s newest Nexus phones.
You can now buy the 32GB Nexus 5X for just $349 (down from $429), while the 16GB version is $299. At time of writing, all color options are in stock, but the discount only applies while inventory is there. While it’s not the biggest discount we’ve ever seen, it’s still very generous given how new the Nexus 5X is. Google only announced the product last month, and it’s one of the only available phones to support Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.
While stocks last, you can also snag the Nexus 9 at a discount. The tablet is down to just $199 for the 16GB version and $279 for the 32GB model, cutting the price down by a hefty $200. As things stand (at least until the Pixel C is available), the Nexus 9 is currently one of the only tablets available offering a pure Android experience. Multiple manufacturers have Android tablets on the market, but most come with a boat-load of bloatware. For $199 I’d argue you can’t get a better Android tablet if you value performance and software purity.
If you’re curious to see what other deals are out there today, be sure to bookmark 9to5Toys’ Black Friday page and 9to5Mac’s Black Friday Gameplan.
Along with all of its usual wide-ranging discounts, Amazon has slashed the prices of its own hardware for Black Friday. Despite the fact that its newest Android-based tablets were already crazily good value for money, you can now pick them up even cheaper. Prices now start as low as $35 for a Kindle Fire tablet, while the special Kids Edition and HD 6 have seen generous discounts too…
