Microsoft working on '7-inch Surface tablet'

Software giant Microsoft is working with manufacturers to produce a line of small touchscreen devices powered by Windows.Peter Klein, Microsoft's chief financial officer, told investors and 7 inch tablet analysts on a conference call that the new devices will be available in coming months at competitive prices.

The new device is apparently intended to compete with 7-inch tablets like the iPad Mini and Amazon Kindle Fire, Fox News reports.According to the report, Microsoft is trying hard to extend its software into smartphones and tablets as consumers are turning away from PCs, the foundation of its empire.

The firm had earlier launched two larger tablets under the Surface brand.In October, the company took a large stake in Barnes & Noble's digital unit, which sells a line of entertainment-oriented 7-inch tablets under the Nook brand. The new cost effective 10 inch tablet from Acer will be produced by Compal Electronics. Shipments are due to start in August 2013 according to an unnamed source I spoke with this weekend in Taipei.

Compal were able to get the order from under the nose of Wistron according to our reports. Wistron have however managed to get orders for the Acer android 4.0 tablet A1 810 with shipments starting in June 2013.Amazon are also working with Compal for their new version of the Amazon 7 inch Kindle Fire. Compal Electronics are planning to ship close to 10 million tablets in 2013 which could make up around 10% of their revenues in Q1 2013.

After launching the Protab and the Protab HD back in March, Salora is back with another new tablet called the Fontab. The company’s first tablet to feature voice calling, the Fontab is available for Rs 6,899.dsdfa3DFx

Talking of specifications, the Salora Fontab sports a 7-inch HD TFT (1024×600 pixels) display and is powered by a 1.5GHz Cortex A9 processor, 400MHz Mali GPU and 1GB of RAM. The tablet also includes other features like a 2-megapixel rear camera, VGA camera at the front, 4GB of internal memory which can be expanded up to 32GB using a microSD card and comes packaged with a 3,500mAH battery.

On the connectivity front, the Fontab features a SIM card slot used to make cheap smartphones, supports EDGE via a USB dongle, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and HDMI port. The tablet runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and comes pre-loaded with apps like King Soft, IBIBO games, IBIBO browser and social networking apps.