Aakash maker Datawind tops India's tablet market

Britain-based hardware manufacturer Datawind, maker of the Indian government's Rs 2,500 Aakash tablet, emerged as a market leader in India's newest tablets market during the first quarter of 2013, according to latest data from market research firm Cyber Media Research.During the January-March period, Datawind had about 15% market share in the tablet market, compared to homegrown firm Micromax that had about 12% share, according to the research firm. Datawind shipments do not include its sale of Aakash tablets to the government.

Surprisingly, sales of tablet computers fell more than 17% in the first quarter of this year, even as consumers shift from desktop and laptops to touch-based devices. About 905,000 tablets were sold during the period compared to 1,097902 units in the previous quarter.

According to Cyber Media, nearly 10,000 latest android tablet were shipped everyday during the January-March quarter and overall shipments recorded a 150% growth, compared to the same period last year. iPad maker Apple was in third place with a 12% market share.

"The continued long-term growth in shipments of tablets in the India market further points to the fact that a large proportion of first time users of computers in emerging markets like India are getting to experience computing through this highly portable, converged form factor," said Faisal Kawoosa, analyst at Cyber Media.

Kawoosa said the fall in tablet sales is "not substantial" and it could be attributed to seasonality. According to the report, only nine tablet vendors shipped in significant volumes of more than 20,000 units during the period.It features an 11.6-inch 1080p screen and a detachable keyboard, allowing the user to operate the device as a tablet or a laptop computer. It can also be plugged into an external monitor and function as a desktop PC, the company said.ds3SDdsd34

When the screen and keyboard are connected the system operates as a Windows PC, while separating the screen allows it to be used as an Android tablet.The hybrid is likely to be launched by the end of this year, the company said.Asus also unveiled a low-cost seven-inch Q88 Tablet called Asus MeMO Pad HD7, priced at $129 for an 8GB model and $149 for a 16GB version.The low-cost tablet was unveiled after Acer launched the industry’s first 8.1-inch tablet to run Microsoft’s Windows 8 software.

Many people spend their last moments before sleep reading on a tablet computer or checking messages on a smart phone. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic wondered whether the light emitted by such devices might be disrupting users' sleep patterns.

Dr. Lois Krahn, a psychiatrist at Mayo's Scottsdale, Ariz., clinic, conducted the study to determine if smartphones and tablets were interfering with melatonin, a hormone that helps control the body's sleep cycle."The question is does a tablet or mobile device emit enough light to be a problem?" Krahn said on the Daily Circuit.

Krahn's research involved measuring the light two different cheapest tablet and a smartphone emitted in a dark room. The measurements were made at various distances.

Crowdstar the latest social games publisher to switch focus to tablets

The phrase "mobile-first" continues to be en vogue for a range of media and entertainment services. But in the world of social gaming, "tablet-first" is becoming just as popular a strategy.

Publisher Crowdstar is the latest to adopt it, having raised $12m of new funding to tilt its business more towards newest tablets, and away from web games on Facebook – although the social network will continue to be a key ingredient in the company's mobile games."We've completely switched to mobile and the focus will be on tablets," chief executive Jeffrey Tseng tells TechCrunch, which reports that Crowdstar will release two new games later this year under the new approach.

The company is already active on iOS and Android with a notably female-focused range of games that include Top Girl, Top Stylist, Modern Girl and Mermaid World.Its latest funding comes from existing investors. Crowdstar has now raised nearly $47m since 2011, including investment from Intel Capital, Time Warner Investments and Chinese online gaming firm The9.

The company blazing a trail for tablet-first games is Finnish developer Supercell, which started life with a Facebook (web) game called Gunshine in 2011, before pivoting in 2012 with the iOS launch of Hay Day and Clash of Clans.In the first quarter of 2013, those two titles alone generated $179m in revenues for Supercell. It's no wonder Crowdstar and other companies that cut their teeth first on Facebook are turning towards tablets.

There are a growing number of studies and market predictions encouraging these strategic decisions. In April 2013, a GfK MRI iPanel study claimed that half of US adult tablet owners had played a game on their device in the last 30 days.fsfd3WD3x

Meanwhile, Juniper Research claims that Q88 Tablet owners are downloading more than twice as many games for their devices than smartphone owners, predicting that combined game downloads on both device types will reach 64.1bn by 2017, with 93% of those being free downloads (or rather free-to-play, making money from in-app purchases and/or advertising).

In March 2012, Juniper also predicted that the global tablet games market will be worth $3.1bn in 2014."Tablet games are growing so much because they are such an accessible way for all consumer segments to access games," said Juniper's Siân Rowlands at the time the more-recent research was published.

"In particular mid-core gamers, who previously spent a lot of money and time playing games but now have jobs, families or other commitments, are driving this trend. These people are really embracing the cheapest tablet form factor."

A month with the Microsoft Surface tablet

The Microsoft Surface got off to a shaky start. Preorder demand seemed strong for Microsoft’s (MSFT) debut newest tablets but the company made it a point to note that initial supply would be limited following the Surface’s launch. CEO Steve Ballmer then stated on multiple occasions that Surface sales have been relatively slow, likely in an effort to keep investors’ expectations in check. Microsoft’s partners have slammed the Surface time and time again, and analysts have done the same. Is Microsoft’s premiere Windows hardware offering doomed to crash and burn?

First and foremost, I still firmly believe that Microsoft has built the best tablet on the planet in terms of hardware. Seriously.

The Surface isn’t anywhere near as thin as Apple’s (AAPL) fourth-generation iPad but the thicker case is easy to forgive when you consider the various advantages the Surface offers. For one thing, it features dedicated charger, USB and HD video-out ports. The ability to charge the latest android tablet while an accessory or a flash drive is plugged in and while connected to a second monitor or TV is a welcome change from the single-port setup on the iPad. The Surface also features stereo speakers on either side of the top of the device when held in landscape — where speakers should be — along with a microSD slot and a kickstand.

The kickstand is a huge benefit for the Surface. Machined from the same “VaporMg” magnesium as the rest of the Surface’s case, the integrated kickstand props the tablet up on a table or even on a user’s lap quite comfortably. The result is a tablet that is perfect for watching movies or TV shows in any setting. Add on Microsoft’s Touch Cover or Type Cover and you have a legitimate notebook computer that occupies a fraction of the space despite its full size keyboard.df2Dsda2

The utility of a device in a work environment will always vary dramatically depending on what the user does for a living. Some people can do their jobs just fine on the iPad, for example, while others laugh at the idea of even trying to work on Apple’s tablet. I fall into the latter category.

If you live in Microsoft Office apps like Word and Excel, it just doesn’t get any better than the Surface. This is a $499 Q88 Tablet that offers a true desktop Office experience — for free — that is so much better than similar experiences on the iPad or on Android tablets, there isn’t even a usable scale for comparison. Multitasking and switching between open apps is also a far better experience on the Surface than it is on any other tablet.

Apps are still the Surface’s biggest problem for all the reasons I covered in my initial review. Good apps are very hard to come by and many popular cheapest tablet apps simply aren’t available for Windows RT. Some will launch eventually and others might never make it to the Surface.The potential is there — I see it now as much as I saw it when I first reviewed the Surface. Whether or not Microsoft’s first tablet will ever realize its full potential remains to be seen.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z review

Sony has a history of distinctive looking tablets. From the folding Tablet P with its two screens to the wedge-shaped newest tablets S designed to resemble a book, it's now arrived at the less weird, but still distinctive Tablet Z, and it's easily Sony's best tablet yet.It may have none of the wilfully odd dimensions of its predecessors, and be closer to standard tablet form, but the Tablet Z has a blocky, slab-like appearance without the gently curving edges of many of its rivals. All of the front is covered by a sheet of toughened glass and the back is of thin, but not flexible rubberised plastic.

The sides are broken by the distinctive silvery Xperia power/sleep button and a volume rocker, with microUSB port (with MHL support so you can hook up to an HD telly via HDMI with a suitable adaptor) and 3.5mm headphone jack hidden behind plastic grommets, as are ports for microSD memory card (up to 64GB to add to the built-in 16GB) and 3G SIM card -- you can't make phone calls with it, but you can access the internet without the need for Wi-Fi. There are also stereo speakers at each side and on the bottom if you're holding it in landscape mode, four in all.

Sony says the latest android tablet Z is the thinnest tablet anywhere and it's certainly the thinnest we've seen, measuring a fraction under 7mm. It's beautifully lightweight too at 495g, noticeably more feathery than the iPad's 652g. Despite the lack of heft, Sony doesn't appear to have left much out, and it's packed with state-of-the-art tech.

Like some other recent Xperias, the Q88 Tablet claims to be both water and dust resistant and is designed to be submersible up to 90cm for half an hour.sd11C3deD

We popped it in the sink for ten minutes, which certainly didn't seem to do it any harm. Unlike virtually any other tablet, if you want to read or watch movies in the bath, this is the one you'll be reaching for.The 1.5GHz processor is backed by a hefty 2GB RAM and it's plenty fast, with apps opening spritely and web pages rendering quick smart. It handled 3D games well too, including Real Racing 3, without a hint of stuttering or delay. Our AnTuTu benchmark test placed it at 20,379, which puts it a little behind top-of-the-range quad-core mobile handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One, but ahead of any other 10-inch tablet we've seen.

Perhaps surprisingly, the cheapest tablet has launched with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, though it's apparently scheduled to get an upgrade to the latest 4.2 version soon. Sony has made its usual aesthetic tweaks to the interface and there's a bunch of bundled apps including Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited for streaming music and movies. There's no option for multiple users though, which argues against making it a general tablet for family use -- seems like a trick missed.

Android poised to overtake iOS in tablet platform share

Despite Apple's success in the tablet market in recent years, Android is poised to overtake iOS in the latest android tablet platform space, according to ABI Research.

The research firm cited China as the wildcard variable in the ongoing tablet platform race. While the region is passionate about Apple's brand and the masses' ability to afford new technology, smaller Android-based tablets are becoming increasingly popular.Enterprises appear torn between the cheap Android devices that cut down on IT budgets, but the simplicity and the security benefits that the iPad and iPad mini offer. But prosumers and SMB-minded folk are likely keeping $200 and under tablets on the table, and keeping Android relevant in both emerging and developed markets.

"It's inevitable that Android newest tablets will overtake iOS-powered slates, though we see no single vendor challenging Apple’s dominance anytime soon," said ABI Research senior practice director Jeff Orr. While Android continues to spin in China, a massive population of still mostly untapped revenue for firms like Google and Apple, iPad popularity has reached its peak as well as a saturation point.CXSDdsf44

According to recent IDC figures, Apple had just shy of half the overall tablet shipments for the first quarter. That is, not because the company doesn't have its own slimmed-down tablet. Of course, it has the iPad mini.

But Android's platform share is far higher on two fronts: it has a greater platform spread with more Android-based devices, and many of those devices are Q88 Tablet or less, just as the iPad mini is.

Apple's tablet growth is beginning to slow. Its overall market share is dipping quarter-over-quarter. Also, Apple's Mac sales are suffering as a result of the iPad explosion, leading to an eventual and potential ding for two of the company's major revenue-making divisions.

The average selling price has been moving down-market since Android tablets began to undercut the iPad — not just in price but physical size. (Remember, the iPad mini was in reaction to smaller Android cheapest tablet, rather than the other way around.)

In line with IDC's latest research, published on Tuesday, that claims smaller tablet screens would ultimately end up dominating the market — with 8-inch or less displays taking around 57 percent of the market by 2017 — ABI Research agrees."Expect iPad minis to become the predominant iPad model after the June quarter," Orr added.

MediaTek launches quad-core tablet chip

Taiwan's MediaTek has launched a new quad-core ARM processor for tablets that is slated to be used in an upcoming IdeaTab device from Lenovo.Lenovo will use the new chip in an Android tablet called the IdeaTab S6000, according to MediaTek.The Taiwanese semiconductor company is best known as a chip maker for handsets circulating in Asia, but the company is also hoping to break into the tablet sector, a major market for growth, said Roger Sheng, an analyst with research firm Gartner.

The iPad, which is powered by ARM chips designed by Apple, is currently dominating the world's newest tablets market. But new processors from MediaTek could help pave the way for more rival devices running Google's Android OS, Sheng said.

To market its chips, MediaTek can rely on its strong business relationships in both Taiwan and mainland China, which PC vendors including Acer, Asus and Lenovo are based. "I think the major advantage for MediaTek is their experience in the Chinese market," he added. "Almost all the Android tablets are made in Taiwan and China, except for Samsung in Korea."

PC vendors are also looking for new growth opportunities. Both Acer and Asus have already signaled they plan to release more latest android tablet in a time when the PC market continues to struggle.fdEWgd34s

"The timing is good for MediaTek," Sheng said. "7-inch, Q88 Tablet have also grown in popularity."Importantly, because Firefox OS (like all of Mozilla’s products) is open source, there’s really nothing stopping a company like Foxconn from flashing the code onto a 7- or 10-inch tablet and seeing how consumers react.Tablets are a substantial slice of the mobile browsing pie chart, and their share continues to increase. Would shoppers be interested in an inexpensive, browser-powered tablet from Foxconn? At the right price, absolutely.

The disadvantage with Windows 8 is that you need fairly powerful hardware to run it, and the prices for these tablets tend to start at around £500 compared to £400 for the latest iPad, £270 for the iPad mini, and as little as £99 for some of the cheap and cheerful Android tablets. More expensive models, such as HP's HP Envy x2 with its detachable keyboard/battery can set you back £800 or more.

In some ways that's a good thing, as ditching some of the decades-old baggage of traditional Windows means that Windows RT is a lot more streamlined than Windows 8. It runs well on less expensive hardware and we've seen cheapest tablet such as the neat little Dell XPS 10 Tablet selling for just £199.

IDC sees tablet shipments eclipsing notebooks this year

The latest projections, published on Tuesday by IDC, call for newest tablets shipments to reach 229.3 million units this year, up from 144.5 million a year ago. That will likely be enough to push tablets ahead of notebook computers.And by 2015, IDC predicts that tablets will out-ship all PC units, including desktops. The prediction comes as tablet sales continue to rise, and the PC market remains in a slump.

Those struggles were predicted by late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2010, when he said the debut of the iPad signaled the beginning of a market-wide transition to a post-PC era. At the time Jobs believed that traditional PCs would remain, but their presence would be diminished over time as fewer users would need their specific abilities.

"The transformation of the PC to new form factors like the latest android tablet is going to make some people uneasy because the PC has taken us a long ways," Jobs said at the AllThingsD conference. "The PC is brilliant… and we like to talk about the post-PC era, but it's uncomfortable."To date, Apple's iPad has been the dominant device in the tablet market. But current growth is being driven largely by low-cost Android devices, IDC said.

The firm believes that the average selling price for tablets will drop 10.8 percent to $381 this year. That's still above the $329 entry price of the iPad mini, but well below the $499 starting price of the full-size iPad.

"Apple's success in the education market has proven that Q88 Tablet can be used as more than just a content consumption or gaming device," said Jitesh Ubrani, research analyst for IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. "These devices are learning companions, and as tablet prices continue to drop, the dream of having a PC for every child gets replaced with the reality that we can actually provide a tablet for every child."GFaf4cgfg

Reflecting Apple's success with the iPad mini, and the popularity of low-cost Android tablets, IDC believes that tablets with screen sizes of 8 inches or less will account for 55 percent of shipments this year. That's expected to increase to 57 percent by 2017.

And while cheapest tablet sized between 8 and 11 inches were 73 percent of the market in 2011 before the introduction of the iPad mini, that market segment is expected to shrink to 37 percent by 2017.

IDC's market-wide forecast comes on the heels of a projection by noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, who said last week that he believes iPad shipments could see their first-ever year-over-year decline in the second quarter of calendar 2013. To date, Apple has managed to grow iPad shipments every quarter since the launch of the first model in 2010.

Smartphones, tablets 'threatening' video game industry

Serious people discuss whether these new consoles, facing competition from cellphones and newest tablets, might be endangered. Untethered from a television, mobile devices - which draw hundreds of millions of people to distraction with "Angry Birds," "Clash of Clans" and "Temple Run" - make gaming more convenient. The home console's appeal is dependent on the notion that gaming on a television still matters.

As a part of this Facebook contest, participants will have to click on an app on HCL ME Tablet Qatar Facebook page. Participants need to answer three questions, one related to each product and the major USP, and one question related to brand campaign: “Change Begins with ME”. This contest aims to engage participants and encourage them to share and like the post on their personal Facebook page. The selection procedure of the contest would be based on the quality of answers shared by the individual participant.

The winners would be given latest android tablet as gifts. There will be total three winners among which first prize winner will be given a HCL G1 and 2nd and 3rd prize winners will receive an HCL ME Y3 and a HCL U2 respectively.

According to the study, some 52% of travel booked in the first quarter of this year was made using a Q88 Tablet device. The study suggests that consumers favor their tablet devices when it comes to mobile payments and travel. Smartphones and laptops were also used for travel booking, but tablets were praised for providing a more enjoyable and convenient experience over other platforms. This is similar to a trend that exists in the retail industry, where tablet consumers have been showing more interest in mobile payments than those using smartphones.

Distributor D&H Canada is reporting growth of 16 per cent in its fiscal 2013, thanks to strong sales of tablets, notebooks and networking products.According to the company, its tablet sales have doubled year-over-year, thanks largely to 7” and 10” Android models in the seven- and 10-inch formats, and it expects this overall growth to continue into its fiscal 2014.ddQW53D

Back to the 2013 results, D&H said it’s starting to see strong sales for 10” tablets running Windows 8 Pro that are well-suited to corporate use, such as the Lenovo cheapest tablet 2 and the Atom-powered HP ElitePad 900. It’s predicting aggressive sales of forthcoming 7-inch Windows 8 Pro models, and added a strong accessories market is beginning to grow around these tablets, offering a strong bundling opportunity for resellers.

Walmart starts selling Hisense Sero 7-inch Android tablets from $99

While there have been lower-tier latest android tablet available on the cheap for some time, Walmart's decision to promote Hisense's Sero 7 version for $99 starting this weekend marks an important next step in the tablet pricing wars.

You might see other 7-inch Android slates at drugstores and the like for similar prices or lower, but they aren't given the Walmart seal of approval through website banners like the one above from Walmart.com. The $99 Sero 7 isn't going to be confused with a high-end model, as it includes specs like a 1.6GHz dual-core processor from an unnamed manufacturer, standard 1,024x600 resolution, Android Jelly Bean 4.1, and a mere 4GB of storage (though it does include a microSD card slot for additional capacity). Then again, it is breaking the $100 price barrier.

If you are looking for a better-equipped model newest tablets for less, the Sero 7 Pro still will only set you back $149, but you get a quad-core Tegra 3 chip, double the storage, the newer Android Jelly Bean 4.2, and a higher-res screen (1,280x800). That compares well with the Google Nexus 7 if you don't want 16GB of storage for $50 more.

Of course, there may be reluctance on the part of some buyers to purchase a tablet from a vendor like Hisense that's not well-known in the United States. Others may find the deal too good to pass up, however. Enough of such buyers may put more pressure on other Android tablet makers to drop their prices. Could $99 could be the next price point new budget tablets will be sold around?

Are you one of those who thinks the new Sero Q88 Tablet are a good deal? Are you planning to buy one? Let us know in the Talkback section below. If you're a 10-inch Android tablet user, we've got some lovely news for you in time for the weekend. The BBC has updated its iPlayer video streaming application and it's finally added support for 10-inch tablets.ds3SC3FC

The BBC says version 1.7.0.112 adds support for 10-inch slates and also features a tweaked design for 7-inch tablet users as well as smartphone users. Next on the agenda for the broadcaster and its app is further optimization for larger screens as well as continuing work on video downloads.

While users will no doubt be happy about the support for larger tablets, it's a no-brainer for the BBC, which just last month saw more tablets than phones accessing its iPlayer service. Tablets were a whopping 200,000 requests ahead of mobile devices in April. These cheapest tablet requests were apparently driven primarily by TV viewing as opposed to catching up with radio shows.

Launched on December 25, 2009, the BBC's iPlayer allows people to catch up on the last seven days of their favorite BBC TV and radio shows for free. The current Android app is available for Android 2.2 to Android 4.2 and is currently rated three out of five stars on Google Play.

Three U.S. cities try out $40 tablets in schools

Three U.S. cities are taking part in a pilot plan to roll out cheap newest tablets to schools.DataWind's Aakash tablets are being given to children in Silicon Valley and Atlanta, with Las Vegas beginning its trial soon.The cheapest tablet, called the Aakash 2 tablet costs just $40.41 and features many aspects either better, or comparable to the original iPad.

There's a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, a 7-inch 800x480 pixel screen and VGA camera.For an extra $5, you can purchase the 3G and Wi-Fi model.Following hugely successful trials in India, where the vast majority of children drop out of school before they hit eighth grade, the tablets will be used as an education tool.ds2wfdD2

When DataWind opened up its order page in India, it expected to get around 50,000 orders in a year. In fact, it found demand was so high for such a low cost device (around 25 percent of a typical Indian's monthly salary), it was getting 100,000 orders per day.With a 4 million worldwide backlog, the company has now shipped 100,000 devices to the government for distribution in schools and 500,000 to consumers.

The Indian government now plans to hand out the latest android tablet to 220 million school children as an educational aid. Thailand, Turkey, Nigeria, Honduras, Brazil, Panama and Nicaragua have all announced they too will be considering to roll out tablets as part of their education policy.

Although the tablets may not prove as popular in the U.S. as they have been in less developed territories, 20 percent of children in this country don't have internet at home. DataWind thinks introducing devices like the Aakash 2 will enable those without access to internet to finally access the web.DataWind previously launched the PocketSurfer, an enlarged smartphone that was designed purely to access the web with an annual subsidised data connection.

Citing a leaked roadmap which apparently details Dell’s Q88 Tablet tablet plans, Hungarian website Tech2.hu reports that the XPS 10 successor will have a 10.8-inch Full HD display and will come to market in Q4. It is not known if the model will run Windows RT, as with the original model, or the Intel-powered Windows 8.

The same roadmap also seems to indicate that Dell could unveil a newer Latitude 10 tablet, also with a 10.8-inch display, in the first quarter of next year, news which would come as some surprise given the Texas firm has already launched two Latitude 10 tablets in seven months.

It has been suggested that Dell might be preparing a newer version of the XPS 10 because the original model failed to attract significant sales, something which may have also influenced the company's decision to discount the XPS 10 to just $299 earlier this month.The prospect of new cheapest tablet in the near future doesn't seem so far off. After all, a senior Dell executive recently hinted at an incoming Windows RT tablet and Kindle Fire rival.

Tablets for kids - not just an expensive toy

There aren't many things you can be sure of in IT, where predictions are rarely worth the pixels they're printed on. But it's hard to argue with the explosive growth of newest tablets computer sales and their enormous popularity with consumers.

All of the major analysts – Gartner, IDG, NPD and so on – reckon that tablet sales will outstrip laptops within the next four years. Microsoft is even more ambitious in its projections: it thinks the smooth transition to tablets provided by Windows 8 will see touchscreen slates and convertibles outselling traditional clamshell laptops by the end of the year.d1dDfdrd

If you aren't selling tablets yet, you're missing out, and you're going to find it a tough latest android tablet = market to move into the longer you hold out. When – not if – you do add tablets to your portfolio, remember that the market is a lot more complex than it might at first seem.We're all familiar with high-end tablets from the likes of Apple, Samsung and ASUS. With their ability to read up-to-date reports and access cloud services for mail they're the ultimate business devices – or at least, that's what we tell ourselves while we're reading digital newspapers, watching movies and playing the latest Angry Birds game.

“Top end tablets are fantastic, but there's a lot of competition,” says Tarsus Technologies Voigh Maconochie, product manager for Onyx, “There are huge opportunities for creative resellers at the other end of the spectrum. Cost-effective Android tablets have massive potential in an educational environment or as a single purpose device.”

So long as the tablet in question has access to Google's Play Store for apps, says Maconochie, it doesn't matter how expensive or highly specified it is. There are hundreds of Q88 Tablet to help children with their schoolwork, from maths quizzes to tracing letters to learn letter shapes. And for older kids, there's unfettered access to the web via a WiFi network to help them with their homework too. Add a Bluetooth keyboard, and an Android tablet is faster and more responsive than a more expensive netbook. Plus, the battery life is much better too.

Another opportunity for tablet sales is to replace single purpose devices. Android tablets excel as e-readers, of course, but when a low end in-car GPS system with a 3.5-inch screen costs the same as a 7-inch Onyx tablet with turn-by-turn directions built in, it's hard to justify the former over the latter.

How can you be sure betting on affordable cheapest tablet is the right thing to do? If the rumours are true, a certain company is looking to capitalise on exactly this market with the recent release of a smaller and lower specified version of a very successful current tablet – and where they lead, you'd be wise to follow.

Can Windows 8 thrive on small tablets?

Folks looking for a Windows 8 companion can find it in Acer’s Iconia W3, an 8.1-inch newest tablets running Microsoft’s operating system. The Iconia W3, spotted on Acer’s Finland site by SlashGear, doesn’t appear to have a confirmed price tag or availability just yet.

Iconia W3 landscapeWhile Microsoft Windows 8 tablets have generally been sized at 10.1-inches or larger, the company is rumored to be working on a smaller Surface tablet. That would mean it relaxed the hardware requirements an allow for a device such as the W3, which will offer an optional keyboard to help with text input. Will the market support these smaller slates?

Folks looking for a Windows 8 companion can find it in Acer’s Iconia W3, an 8.1-inch latest android tablet running Microsoft’s operating system. The Iconia W3, spotted on Acer’s Finland site by SlashGear, doesn’t appear to have a confirmed price tag or availability just yet.

Iconia W3 landscapeWhile Microsoft Windows 8 tablets have generally been sized at 10.1-inches or larger, the company is rumored to be working on a smaller Surface tablet. That would mean it relaxed the hardware requirements an allow for a device such as the W3, which will offer an optional keyboard to help with text input. Will the market support these smaller slates?ds11SW44S

I’m sure to hear contrary opinions on this, but what Q88 Tablet would make the W3 more appealing would be for the tablet to run only the Metro interface and apps. (Ironically, none of the W3 product images even show the desktop, which I think is telling.) Of course, Microsoft doesn’t offer a Windows 8 license with just that part of the platform. I wish it did and did so at a reduced price since one would give up access to legacy Windows apps. In that case, and at the right price, I’d be far more interested in the W3.

Sure, one could buy the device and simply ignore the desktop completely. But you’re paying for it in the product price, which includes the cost of a Windows 8 Pro license. If Microsoft wants to allow partners to make small tablets, a better strategy would be to go Metro only at a lower license cost and truly embrace the touchscreen tablet market.

In an annual survey at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., 73% of students reported using a smartphone in 2012 as compared with 27% in 2009. About 30% of the university's students reported owning a cheapest tablet.Michael Hanley, director of Ball State's Institute of Mobile Media Research, believes that student tablet ownership will rise to somewhere from 40% to 50% by next year.

Samsung’s Newest Tablet Offers Thinner Bezel, Rear and Front Camera

The release of the company’s latest tablet device follows the much-hyped launch of another product in the Galaxy family, the Galaxy S 4 smartphone. The handset features a larger, richer display than the Galaxy S III — 5 inches and a resolution of 1,080 by 1920 — as well as an eight-core processor and a 13-megapixel camera.

The household penetration rate of newest tablets is up 17 percent year over year, according to the research study “A Tale of Two Techs — Smartphone and Tablet Adoption and Usage,” conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association. Among tablet owners, 92 percent browse the Web and 83 percent use their tablets to check email, the report found.

Global tablet shipments reached 40.6 million units in the first quarter of 2013, with Google’s Android platform securing an impressive 43 percent global share, while Apple iOS devices, including the iPad and the iPad Mini, maintained their strong market leadership, accounting for nearly half (48 percent) of latest android tablet shipped, according to the latest report from IT research firm Strategy Analytics…

That's where the Strategy Analytics data enters the equation. The firm found that 3 million Windows 8 tablets were sold in the first three months of 2013, and that the OS commanded 7.5% of the tablet market. This number is by no means a home run; Apple sold 19.5 million iPads during the same period, and Android is poised to surpass Apple for the industry's overall lead. But based on separate estimates released in March by market watchers Net Applications and StatCounter, Win8's 7.5% share of the tablet space is around double its overall market penetration.dfD2FSS

Windows 8 defenders have argued that the Q88 Tablet is best enjoyed on touch-enabled devices. With PC sales down, however, many Win8 licenses have been installed, to lackluster effect, on previous-generation hardware. That the OS's tablet momentum evidently outpaces its overall growth by such a wide margin reasserts this notion. As a Windows 7 replacement, in other words, Microsoft's newest offering hasn't performed well. But as a foray into the tablet space, Windows 8 has actually fared decently.

There are many reasons to expect this growth will continue. One is Windows 8.1, a forthcoming update, previously code named Windows Blue, that is expected to improve many of the UI's most divisive elements, including potentially reinstating the Start button and more smoothly integrating its traditional desktop environment with its tactile-themed Live Tiles UI.

Small tablets are another avenue for sustained growth. Win8's current tablet share has been amassed without an entrant in the industry's fastest-growing race: the market for small, cheapest tablet, currently dominated by the iPad Mini, Nexus 7 and similar models. But Microsoft has acknowledged, after months of rumors, that 8-inch Windows 8 tablets are coming. Outgoing Intel CEO Paul Otellini suggested these new products will be priced aggressively. Between Windows Blue and a slew of new devices, the platform should only expand its reach into the mobile arena. The question is, by how much?

Nokia execs express interest in tablets

BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY) CEO Thorsten Heins and a senior Nokia (NYSE:NOK) executive expressed varying degrees of support for newest tablets. The comments are notable considering some research firms predict that tablet connections will generate billions of dollars in revenue for wireless carriers--but currently most tablet users in the United States continue to rely on Wi-Fi connections, according to the NPD Group.

Speaking Tuesday at a session with reporters at a BlackBerry conference in Orlando, Fla., Heins said the company is exploring the future of tablets and is investing R&D dollars into those projects. His comments seemed to contradict statements he made in an interview last month, in which he said, "In five years I don't think there'll be a reason to have a tablet anymore."

In an interview with CNET, Heins sought to clarify his stance. "The industry got stuck on the term latest android tablet," Heins said, adding that, despite his earlier comments, he does see a role for larger-screen devices. "We want to create something that's easier to use."

Echoing what he said in April, Heins said that perhaps a smartphone running BlackBerry 10 could power a larger screen, and that while the company is looking into such a project, he did not seem to indicate the firm will come out with a new tablet anytime soon. "The pure hardware play isn't making a lot of sense today," he said.dsSDfdd3

The company's BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, built on software that predated BB10, has not sold well, especially compared to Apple's industry-leading iPad (NASDAQ:AAPL). BlackBerry sold around 370,000 PlayBook tablets in its most recent quarter, compared to more than 500,000 BlackBerry PlayBook sales in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, Jo Harlow, Nokia's head of smart devices, said at an event to unveil the Lumia 925 that, "We're very interested in tablets and that's an area we're looking at." However, she said she didn't have any more news to share on future products. Nokia has remained on the sidelines in the Q88 Tablet market, and CEO Stephen Elop has said Nokia will only produce a tablet if it can do something unique with it. There has been speculation that Nokia will produce a tablet running partner Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 8 platform.

While tablets continue to be very hot products in some respects--Apple sold 17 million iPads in its most recent quarter, for example--they continue to rely mainly on Wi-Fi networks rather than cellular networks. According to NPD Connected Intelligence's Q1 2013 Connected Home report, fully 80 percent of the 60.8 million tablets in the United States can only connect to Wi-Fi networks. Among the 20 percent of 3G/4G-enabled tablets in market, just over half (11 percent) have an active 3G/4G data plan. Further, NPD found, 83 percent of tablet owners mostly view video on their tablets at home, so usage is happening where Wi-Fi networks are prevalent and already available.

Cellular-capable cheapest tablet will generate a total of $20 billion for wireless operators in 2017, according to a recent report from research firm Strategy Analytics, due in large part to operators' efforts to encourage subscribers to activate LTE connections on tablets through shared data plans.

Archos 80 Xenon tablet features 3G

Another day, another Archos newest tablets announcement. Recently, the company unveiled its gift to chefs and foodies, the ChefPad. Not the cleverest of names, but it does include an interesting app-filtering feature. OK, where was I? Oh, yes, a new Archos tablet, the 80 Xenon, is coming in June for $199.

The 80 Xenon features an 8-inch IPS screen with an iPad Mini-matching -- but still unimpressive -- 1,024x768-pixel resolution. A 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 acts as the brains, with an Adreno 203 chip running all things graphical.dsDF34fcd

With specs like that, don't expect much in the way of impressive gaming performance, but it may offer up decently impressive visuals.The second design, which was discovered in Samsung’s “latest android tablet” patent, describes a tablet with a seam that would allow users to bend a portion of the display. The images indicate that this could ideally be used to create a miniature stand or a virtual keyboard for the slate.

Other specs include 3G (WCDMA 2100), 2G (GSM 850/900/1800/1900), and Wi-Fi capabilities. The tablet also houses a paltry 4GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, a 2-megapixel back camera, GPS, Bluetooth, and a microSD card slot that takes cards of up to 64GB.

Cheap 8-inch tablets with lower-resolution-than-usual 8-inch screens are becoming kind of a trend of late. The Acer A1-810 features the same screen specs, but offers more initial storage and a better back camera for $169. Thirty bucks less than the 80 Xenon. Still, until I've some hands-on experience with both, I can't make any judgment calls on their relative quality.

The 80 Xenon (is it just me or does the name sound like some kind of space currency?) ships with Q88 Tablet and will be available in June for $199.Electrical giant Dixons has revealed “stonking” results fuelled by a craze for computer tablets – and cupcakes.The Currys and PC World owner said UK sales jumped an impressive 13% in the three months to the end of April.About half that was a direct result of rival Comet going to the wall at the end of last year, with the collapse of Jessops and HMV’s ­problems also boosting trade.

TV hit The Great British Bake Off helped it shift enough cookers in the last quarter to bake two million cupcakes.And shoppers continued to snap up computer cheapest tablet such as Apple’s iPad – with sales rocketing by 350% in the last year.Jubilant boss Sebastian James said: “Less than a third of households have a tablet, so we think there is a lot more juice in this particular orange.”

any tablet it does launch will almost certainly run Windows 8 or Windows RT

A Bloomberg report, citing sources who declined to be named, said Microsoft has sold in the ballpark of 1.5 million Surface tablets. Broken down, that's just over 1 million Surface RT newest tablets and 400,000 Surface Pro tablets.Given the relationship between Microsoft and Nokia, it's almost certain that the phone-turning-tablet maker would adopt Windows 8 or Windows RT as its software. Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop, a former Microsoft executive, said that at least for its smartphone range, it's Windows Phone or bust, and there was no "plan B."

Given Nokia's existing allegiance with Microsoft, any tablet it does launch will almost certainly run Windows 8 or Windows RT. Microsoft can't force Nokia to do anything. There may be a strong implication to go a certain way, but Nokia isn't Microsoft's underdog. It has its own shareholders, after all. The phone maker could simply be waiting it out to see how well latest android tablet endeavor is going before jumping in head first as the rescuer in reverse, just as Elop told Australian media in February.

If Nokia does embrace the tablet market, it will likely have to be more beneficial to Microsoft than a hindrance. It all depends on whether it does, in fact, embrace Windows for its tablets.xcTFR5DS

Nokia could embrace Android if it wants to take a stab at gaining initial tablet market share, but it runs the risk of damaging its existing relationship with Microsoft. But also, the Android-based tablet market is already saturated, and Nokia would not be able to differentiate its own Q88 Tablet from the existing low-margin hardware pool.The answer is probably not. Like the smartphone market, the tablet space has replicated the duopoly at the top of the rankings, likely for the same reason: Both Apple's iOS and Google's Android were popular on smartphones first.

The latest IDC figures show that Apple holds the top spot in tablet manufacturing, with just shy of 40 percent of the market share, while Samsung holds nearly 18 percent. Microsoft has just 1.8 percent with 900,000 tablet shipments in Q1 2013 — which comes roughly in line with estimates reported by Bloomberg.But software remains the most important and prominent differentiator between tablets. IDC said that in respect to total tablet platform share, Android and iOS hold 96 percent. There is almost no room for manoeuvre, with Windows (including Windows RT) holding just 1.8 percent of the share, with 300,000 shipments.

Again, there's little space for any competitor to gain meaningful traction in the cheapest tablet space, although Microsoft does have the third-place spot lined up, even if it is a tiny fraction of the overall share. Smaller tablets — devices between 4 inches and 7 inches — may prove more lucrative if Nokia decides to aim a punch in the still developing mid-sized tablet space.

The Financial Times (paywall) reported that Nokia is planning to build a "phablet" — a mid-sized tablet between the typical size of a smartphone and a tablet — with a ship date of mid-2013. Microsoft has already confirmed that mid-sized Windows 8-powered tablets will be arriving "in the coming months" — suggesting a mid-2013 release. It could be that considering the relationship between the two companies, Nokia may be given the first stab at the Windows 8 "phablet" line-up.

Samsung and Apple's Next 'Court' Battle: Tablets in the NBA

Gillespie pulled out his Samsung Galaxy newest tablets and called up a video clip from the first quarter. He was able to immediately show his players what their opponents were doing so they could make quicker adjustments during the game.As smartphones and tablets change the way companies do business, sports teams are also increasingly tapping mobile devices to get a technological leg-up on the competition. The Suns became the first NBA team this season to outfit both players and coaches with tablet computers for use on and off the court.

The Suns coaches use an app that lets them draw plays, see them in action, review playbooks and pull up game videos. This replaces whiteboards, reams of paper, bulky laptops and "a rack of DirecTV boxes recording other teams, and having a guy making DVDs all night long," said John Brandstetter, president of Flying Tiger Entertainment, whose company developed the software.dsdD23DCS

Players and coaches said the latest android tablet have had the biggest impact during travel. Kendall Marshall, the 21-year-old point guard who the Suns drafted last year, said he reviews video from his plane seat en route to the next game. Gillespie thinks up plays and inputs them into the tablet by swiping his finger along the screen.

"If I'm going on a road trip, instead of having six three-ring binders, I have all of that information on the tablet," said Gillespie, who recalls using VCRs to look at game footage when he entered the NBA 11 years ago. "As technology has changed, the NBA is trying to change."

Meanwhile, other professional sports leagues have been experimenting with tablets. Verizon Wireless, which helped bring Samsung's Android-based tablet to the Suns, arranged a similar deal with the Denver Broncos for use in the National Football League, said Tom Gainor, the wireless company's associate director of marketing and sales operations.

When successful, such innovations can find their way to college, high-school and even little-league sports. Mobile apps such as GameChanger lets coaches and parents track every play of a game so they can monitor the progress of their kids over the season. If Samsung's Q88 Tablet or Apple's iPad passes muster in the NBA, the next generation of athletes could be prepping for after-school sports on their devices in between games of "Angry Birds."

"It doesn't seem natural for an assistant coach to all of a sudden pull out a tablet and watch a video," he said. Time is better spent monitoring the game and coaching players rather than reviewing tape.

Of course, there is the cheapest tablet occasional instance when it's useful to have a tablet handy -- like during the game against the Warriors, who are now in the playoffs. After studying the pick-and-roll footage, Phoenix outscored Golden State in the second half. Still, the Suns lost by 2 points.

Report: White-Box Tablet Market Thriving

The cheapest tablet market may be young, but white-box tablets have already grown into a substantial part of the market.

According to a recent report from NPD DisplaySearch, white-box tablets now account for one-third of the global tablet market. The research firm, which forecasts 2013 tablet shipments to increase 67 percent year-over-year to reach 256.5 million units, said custom tablets will maintain that one-third market share level for the next several years.

But there's a catch -- much of that white-box tablet growth is coming from overseas, NPD said.

"The rapid rise and establishment of white-box tablet PCs (tablets made by small local brands, mainly in China) is putting pressure on traditional notebook PCs," said Richard Shim, senior analyst with NPD DisplaySearch, in a press statement. "These low-cost 8 inch tablet are reaching further into emerging regions where notebook PC penetration rates have remained low, resulting in cannibalization by tablet PCs."

[Related: Android Tablets Gain Ground On Apple iPad In 1Q]

While white-box tablet growth has spiked in China and emerging markets in Latin America, it hasn't yet blossomed in North America. Jeff Davis, senior vice president of sales at D&H Distributing, said that while the distributor's tablet sales tripled in its last fiscal year, thanks to strong Android device sales, D&H hasn't seen tablet components for white-box devices take off yet.dfsWF2FR

Android has also become popular in the white-box market. In a recent report on first-quarter tablet shipments, Strategy Analytics reported that Android owned 43.4 percent of the global branded tablet market, second to Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)'s iOS. But when the firm included shipments of un-branded white-box tablets, Android's share jumped to 52 percent while iOS fell to 41 percent.

For some North American system builders, the custom tablet market spells opportunity. In a recent interview with CRN, Steve Dallman, Intel (NSDQ:INTC) channel chief, said he believes custom tablets can grow around vertically oriented tablets and application-specific devices. Dallman also said tablet components are already available to North American system builders and that the options will continue to grow.

Other system builders, however, are leery of competing against the likes of Apple, Samsung and Microsoft in the tablet market space. Marty Lantz, chief technical officer of MapleTronics, a system builder based in Minnetonka, Minn., said he doesn't view the custom discount cell phones space as a desirable market. "We don't want to survive on something that only has 3 or 4 margins points to make," he said. "We're looking at reselling tablets instead."

Along with low margins, pricing pressure could be a factor for system builders as the prices of tablets have fallen as the market has become more crowded. Davis said the smaller Android tablet market in particular has become tight, highlighting HP (NYSE:HPQ)'s new Slate 7, which is currently sold at $169.99, as an example of the trend.

"The pricing is very competitive," Davis said. "We're going to see some very unnatural price points for the 7-inch tablets as we get close to the holidays."

Tablets and Touch Adoption Expected to Drive Mobile PC Shipments Through 2017

The mobile PC market is expected to increase from 367.6 million units shipped in 2012 to 762.7 million globally by 2017, driven by touch-enabled form-factors, according to the NPD DisplaySearch. The majority of this shift will come as cheapest tablet PCs begin to replace notebook PCs this year as the dominant mobile form-factor, and touch becomes a key feature in mobile PC adoption.

“The mobile PC industry is undergoing significant change this year. The rapid rise and establishment of white box tablet PCs (tablets made by small local brands, mainly in China) is putting pressure on traditional notebook PCs. These low-cost tablets are reaching further into emerging regions where notebook PC penetration rates have remained low, resulting in cannibalization by tablet PCs,” said Richard Shim, senior analyst with NPD DisplaySearch.

Tablet PC shipments are forecast to increase 67% year-over-year to 256.5 million in 2013, and reach 579.4 million by 2017. White box tablet PCs accounted for one-third of 8 inch tablet PC shipments in 2012 and will maintain at that level for the next several years.sfdD3Ssjh

Notebook PC shipments are expected to decline 10% over the next four years, from 203.3 million in 2013 to 183.3 million in 2017, but there will be pockets of growth. Shipments of notebooks with touch capabilities are expected to grow 48% year-over-year in 2014.

In the notebook category, touch will be used mainly in ultra-slim PCs, which includes Intel-specified ultrabooks, the MacBook Air, and other slim form factor notebooks. Ultra-slims, which are at the premium end of the notebook market, are forecast to account for two-thirds of touch-enabled notebooks in 2013. By 2017, they will be 80%. Intel’s recent mandate that third-generation ultrabooks (using the company’s next generation Haswell processors) must include touch will also help adoption.

Tablets and notebooks will merge. In the future only very few tablets will not have an official keyboard/cover, and only few notebooks will not have touch screen.Touch screens on traditional notebooks and AIO desktops are a joke, the only reason they are being produced is to satisfy W8...........which no one wants/likes unless used with in discount cell phones form.