The holiday season is well and truly upon us, and whether you’re looking for gift ideas for yourself, your friends or your family, we have you covered here at 9to5Google. This list contains some of my favorite smartphones, tablets, Chromebooks and some awesome accessories that I’ve used and loved. Ranging from $25 to $630, these are some of this year’s great gadgets…
When it comes to high-end Android tablets, they don’t come much more unique than the Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro. The full-size tablet is equipped with a Quad HD resolution 10.1-inch screen, Intel Atom quad-core processor, a 10,200vmAh battery and has a built-in projector. Its unusual design certainly makes it stand out. But is it any good?
Amazon has announced that its popular Black Friday sale event will begin this week, and last eight days. From Friday, new deals will be added “as often as every five minutes” for eight straight days leading right up until Black Friday. What’s more, the company will offer 10 ‘Deals of the Day’ on Thanksgiving with ten more on Black Friday…
NVIDIA has just released a slightly revised edition of its powerful 2014 Shield Tablet. Very little has changed in terms of specifications, but the new $200 price point means this could be one of the tablets to buy this holiday season…
Samsung’s huge Galaxy View tablet is finally official. Sammy announced the device on its official blog today, and confirmed many of the rumors we’ve previously heard. It’s quite obvious from the announcement that Samsung views this as a versatile multimedia device, not so much a portable tablet. Think of it as a touchscreen portable TV that runs Android Lollipop.
Android tablets are something of an unusual product. No one’s quite convinced that Google’s operating system has been adequately optimized for big displays, but slowly and surely, it’s improving. One thing you can say about them is that they’re normally good value for money. Never has that been truer than with the ASUS ZenPad S 8.0. It’s a small, portable tablet that only costs $200 and has a 2K resolution screen. For the money, there isn’t too much to complain about…
Samsung’s gigantic upcoming tablet has cropped up online more than once in recent times. The most recent rumor indicated that the device, code-named ‘Tahoe’, will be released as the Samsung Galaxy View and sport whopping 18.4-inch display. An FCC filing reveals more about the as-yet-unreleased tablet from Samsung, including its dimensions, some previously unknown features and which carrier it’s likely heading to…
Back in August, a report claimed Samsung was working on a huge 18.4-inch tablet code-named ‘Tahoe’. Despite the massive size of the display, it was rumored that it would ‘only’ feature a resolution of 1080 x 1920, giving it a mediocre pixel density of under 120ppi. A rumor which is seemingly corroborated by a set of leaked benchmarks on GFXBench, and a tweet from Evan Blass with the device’s likely official name: Samsung Galaxy View…
Amazon has taken the wraps off an entire family of new Kindle Fire tablets, including a new budget-friendly $50 model alongside two Kindle Fire HD tablets and a special Kids Edition version with a unique protective case. The new Android-based devices were launched alongside a new Amazon Fire TV family and will feature a revamped user interface, dubbed Fire OS 5 ‘Bellini’…
If the only thing holding you back from buying the awesome and super-affordable Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 is the color choices (or lack thereof), you’ll be glad to know the company is releasing a more colorful range. The Idol 3C is identical to the Idol 3 in almost every way, except you can kit it out with an interchangeable rear shell in a choice of five “juicy” colors.
ASUS is showing itself to be a competent company at dealing with all the challenges facing traditional consumer tech manufacturers in the post-PC world. It’s released some great smartphones recently, and now it’s just released a fantastic laptop. The Chromebook Flip has won me over.
I’m sure you can imagine, as a tech-reviewer it’s not often I fall for a product just on first impressions alone. But as soon as I picked up the Chromebook Flip, I adored it. The all-metal build looks, and feels fantastic. Its rounded corners and the gentle taper of the back towards the diamond-cut chamfered edges are beautiful. On the bottom, all the edges and corners are rounded, giving it a really friendly look, and making it comfortable to grip.
What’s more, the speakers are hidden underneath two perfectly round grilles made of hundreds of tiny machined holes. But it’s the hinge that makes this unique. The screen rotates 360 degrees, and can be used in 4 different modes: laptop, tent, stand or tablet modes. Because the hinge is so firm, it holds strongly at virtually any angle.
Acer unveiled a range of ‘Predator’ branded products at its conference this morning, including a quick teaser of an incredibly powerful smartphone. While that was only teased, the company has officially announced the Predator 8, a small, but powerful 8-inch tablet running Android 5.1 Lollipop. It’ll be available in 2-3 weeks time. From first impressions, it sure seems like a lot of bang for your buck …
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In a press release early this morning, Korean tech giant LG announced that it wants to grab a bigger share of the mobile accessories market. It wants to do so with Rolly Keyboard, a wireless, portable, rollable universal keyboard. Opened, it forms a four-row keyboard with close-to full size keys. What makes the keyboard unique is the method by which it’s stowed. Unlike the traditional single fold down the middle, each row of keys has a hinge, enabling the user to roll it up in to a ‘stick’.
Rolly Keyboard is powered by a single AAA battery and uses two Bluetooth 3.0 channels to pair to two separate devices and enable easy-switching between them, similar to the Microsoft Foldable Keyboard we reviewed recently. What’s more, it also features two arms to hold smartphones or tablets upright. It’s made from polycarbonate and black ABS plastic and LG claims it “offers satisfying tactile feedback often not found on flexible silicone keyboards”. Judging from the selection of keys on the device, it seems it’s going to be compatible with multiple platforms. Instead of offering a separate row for extra function keys for tasks like media playback, volume etc. LG has opted to use an individual ‘Fn’ key which — when pressed with a labelled key — will allow users to skip tracks, play/pause, change volume, pair devices and much more. And it won’t be alone on the accessory market his year:
“LG Rolly Keyboard is just one of the many premium input devices we’ll be unveiling in the coming months as we expand our accessories offerings,” said Seo Young-jae, vice president in charge of Innovative Personal Devices at LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “The goal was to create a product that could add more value to LG smartphones and tablets at the same time offering a unique design proposition that hadn’t been explored before.”
LG will show off its Rolly Keyboard at IFA in Berlin at the beginning of next month and launch in the U.S. in September. Pricing and availability details will be shared once it’s available to consumers. Along with the keyboard, LG is expected to announce a range of new Android-powered G Pad tablets in an attempt to compete directly with Samsung.
Samsung recently announced a brand new tablet range dubbed the Galaxy Tab S2, and today, the company has announced that its new 8.0-inch and 9.7-inch tablets are going to be available to pre-order from Samsung, Amazon and Best Buy starting today. They’re expected to launch at partner retailers and carriers on September 3rd. Pricing starts at $399 for the Wi-Fi only 8-inch model with 32GB storage, with the 9.7-inch 32GB Wi-Fi only version costing $499.
T-Mobile is one of the first U.S. carriers to announce that it will be selling the LTE-equipped versions of the tablets from September for $649 full retail, or $0 down and 24 monthly payments of around $27.
As revealed previously, apart from size, the two Galaxy Tab S2 models share almost identical specifications. Both 4:3 ratio screens have a resolution of 2048 x 1536, both have 8MP rear cameras and 2.1MP front cameras. Both are also powered by the same octa-core processor, feature 32GB storage (expandable up to 218GB) and 3GB RAM, although there is a 64GB storage option for the 9.7-inch version. Both also have 802.11 Wi-Fi up to AC standard with 2.4GHz and 5GHz compatibility and have Bluetooth 4.1 radios, fingerprint scanners and a bunch of the usual motion and light sensors. Both, incredibly, are also just 5.6mm thin. The only other real difference is the battery capacity: The small version features 4,000mAh while the larger one has 5,870mAh.
So far, we’ve ben unable to locate any pre-order pages, but we’ll update the post with links to those as soon as they go live.
LG has announced a brand new tablet ready to compete at the 10-inch screen size category, and by all accounts, it looks to be a decent piece of hardware. The LG G Pad II 10.1 is going to make a full appearance at IFA in a couple of weeks. Pricing and availability details won’t be announced until then, but in the mean time, LG has given us the lowdown on all the tablet’s internal specifications.
ASUS is making a big push to disrupt the Android smartphone and tablet markets with its latest lineup of devices. Everyone’s talking about the ZenFone 2, and plenty more will be talking about the ZenPad 8.0 pretty soon. Along with a bunch of cases — including the battery boosting Power Case — I was sent the low-end Z380C model which costs just $240 in the US and just £120 in the UK. Although its spec list isn’t quite as awe-inspiring as the ZenPad 8.0 Z580, it still seems great value for money.
With Samsung’s most recent device launches being surprisingly restrained, you could almost be forgiven for thinking the company didn’t care so much about the showmanship of releasing high-specced products with ridiculous features anymore. Case in point being the elegant and well-made Galaxy S6 and Note 5 phones. No longer are they smartphones packed with eye-watering feature lists, or a slew of gimmicky features no one needs. But that doesn’t mean the company is completely giving up on trying new, interesting things. At least, not if a recent rumor from SamMobile is anything to go by.
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ASUS is making its mark in the world of Android phones. With the launch of its ZenFone 2 it caught everyone’s attention with high end specs and low pricing. And now, it wants us to take notice of its Android-powered tablets. The ASUS ZenPad S 8.0 tablet offers an incredible feature list for relatively little outlay. The company’s small flagship tablet is now available to buy.
Yahoo’s News Digest app that delivers the best from Yahoo News to readers twice a day is now available for Android tablets. The app was previously only available for Android smartphones and iOS devices.
The popular app offers summaries of top stories from Yahoo News with two daily updates, once in the morning and again at night. Content is a mix of human curated stories from Yahoo’s editors and picks via its algorithms from various sources around the web:
Each story is created from multiple sources to present the essential bits and pieces of information, known as “atoms”. Atoms are key quotes, images, videos, maps, infographs, and Wikipedia excerpts among others. These atomic units provide a unique context to the news. Our stories are both algorithmically and hand curated to ensure high quality, and come with a textual summary.
The updated Yahoo News Digest app for Android with support for tabtlets is available on Google Play now.
A recent leak suggests ASUS is planning on releasing a PadFone S2 during by the first quarter of 2016. By the time it arrives, it’ll be the first PadFone in over a year and could be one of the first to feature Snapdragon‘s next-generation 820 series chip.
When it comes to innovation, or just doing things differently, ASUS caught our attention a few years ago when it first unveiled the PadFone. The company released a phone which slid in to a dock built in to a large touchscreen display, transforming it in to a tablet. It was probably the first notable attempt at a convertible smartphone/tablet, and ASUS isn’t done yet.
This morning in Seoul, Korea, Samsung announced its latest Galaxy Tab, and it’s ludicrously thin. Both models of Samsung’s metal-framed Galaxy Tab S2 measure in at just 5.6mm thin and feature either a 9.7-inch or 8.0-inch, 2084×1536 resolution Super AMOLED screen. The S2 will be available to buy across the globe from August.
Other specifications include an 8MP rear camera, 2.1MP front-facing camera and an octacore processor made up of a 1.9GHz quad-core and a 1.3GHz quad-core chip. The Tab S2 will ship with a fingerprint sensor built-in, 3GB RAM and either 32GB or 64GB inbuilt storage, expandable up to an extra 128GB. If you go with the larger 9.7-inch model, you’ll get a 5,870mAh battery while the 8-inch has a 4,000mAh cell. There will be LTE and Wi-Fi only models available at launch.
Sony this morning announced their latest entry into the tablet market with a super-slim device called the Xperia Z4 Tablet, as well as an update to the mid-range Xperia M smartphone series, the Xperia M4. The former claims to be the world’s slimmest 10-inch tablet, packs a 2K-resolution display, and has the Snapdragon 810 (the chip in many of this year’s flagship smartphones) built inside. The Xperia M4 is a “no compromises” smartphone that packs waterproofing with some decent spec bumps.
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New products & more:
According to a new report out of the usually reliable SamMobile, Samsung is working on handful of new tablets with a 4:3 aspect ratio, similar to what is found on Apple’s iPad and the Nexus 9. The company is reportedly working on four new tablets, the SM-T35x/SM-T55x and the SM-P35x/SM-P55x. The former of those pairs will have 8-inch displays, while the latter will have 9.7-inch panels.