Lots of drips and drabs in the world of tablets this week.
You may have noticed there was no WebOS Wednesday. That’s because despite claims from HP that this week was going to be a “hard launch“, all we’ve seen is a beta Kindle App, a Movie Store, and some additional realtors. That’s two things everyone was expecting to be present at launch and a few business deals. HP Play is in beta, and with Spotify available on every mobile platform now, it seems kind of redundant. I’m still holding out for the rumored 7″ Opal.
Seriously HP, get on it.
In seven-inch news, RIM’s Playbook got an update on Tuesday that was quickly pulled due to issues. It went back up but none of the fixes – portrait support for pictures, pinch to zoom in videos, better attachment support – fix the overall “dealkiller” of the Playbook that you need a Blackberry to use mail and calendar functionality. RIM keeps saying we’ll see it eventually (which may mean making changes to their Exchange Server software and how it handles devices), but I advise against banking on it.
I'm disappointed in the crippling of what should be the best 7" tablet out there.
This is a bad week for Toshiba so far as they admit that yes, it’s entirely possible their Thrive Tablet has a pretty big bug. Reviewers are also hitting them hard, and most of them choose to focus on the fact that the Thrive may be the thickest and heaviest Major Name Tablet out there. What most of those reviewers ignore is that the Thrive’s insane array of ports and end-user replaceable battery actually positions it against Netbooks, not the iPad2 or Galaxy Tab. We’re still working on a review, but in the meantime ArsTechnica breaks it down pretty well.
I like my tablets like Robert Crumb liked his women.
While we’ve got the iPad on the brain, Apple COO Tim Cook stated during Apple’s Third Quarter Earnings call that they actually sold more iPads than they did Macs this last Quarter. A lot of people theorize that that’s cannibalizing Mac sales, but I suggest looking at it as Apple getting a whole new market segment that wouldn’t have necessarily bought a desktop. Because while there’s some overlap, it’s not the same group. What’s sick is, as much money as Apple made selling tablets so far, there’s so much more to be made out there.
And Apple will do their darndest to make sure that money ends up buying one of these.
Which brings us to the big news of the week, as Chinese Laptop giant Lenovo has decided to formally unveil their tablet line and try to drink Apple’s milkshake. That’s right, I said line. Not content to release just one simple tablet like most vendors, Lenovo has brought three distinct tablet devices stateside.
Sadly, this is not one of them.
Their “firstborn” is the IdeaPad K1. Similar to Lenovo’s China-only LePad (seen above, and not in any way related to LeCar). While I doubt we’ll get that sweet hybrid system for it down the line, the K1 sounds like a strong Honeycomb tablet. The K1 ships with Netflix working out of the box, a first for a tablet and maybe why Netflix is keeping mum about the latest update working on other Honeycomb tablets. Lenovo tweaked the UI, but did it in a way that you can actually turn off the custom skin (please take note HTC and Toshiba). More interesting is pricing, with a 32 GB model priced the same as a comparable 16 GB iPad2 at $499, making it a pretty viable option price-wise and making me have to fight typing “potential iPad killer”. If they put the marketing dollars behind it, the K1 has the potential to at least erode sales on other Android Tablets.
What's that? I can't hear you over the sound of the cries of my enemies.
Next up from Lenovo we have the IdeaPad P2. This is not an Android tablet, but Windows 7. Yes, that’s right, full desktop Windows 7. If you’re willing to put up with an OS that was very much not made for touching, you get a 1.5 Ghz Intel chip (a tablet without NVIDEA? How odd), a pretty 1280×800 screen, the usual range of connectivity, MicroSD, a docking port, and a full-fledged USB 2.0 slot. You also get a good two hours less battery life than you would with the K1 (just going by their own ratings, mind you). I’m struggling to think of a reason why you’d want this — with the possible exceptions of being a field tech who needs a machine they can easily carry and run all their tech on or someone who absolutely must have a tablet that comes in “Clementine”. Yes, you can also get gray-silver, but why would you?
It's like a creamsicle. I just wanna lick it.
Last from Lenovo this go around, we have what may be my new favorite thing: the Lenovo Thinkpad tablet. This simple name shows anyone who knows the history of laptops exactly where they’re targeting it – business users.
Doesn't it look like it should have a wee little tie?
Including the same actual full-sized USB 2.0 port as the P2, this device has two big, big deals – an optional digital pen and a unique Folio Case. Adding the Folio Case makes the Thinkpad Tablet more of a traditional tablet, including the traditional TrackPoint mouse (aka “eraser mouse”, “Stick mouse” or “hey now, this is a family site mouse”. The 16 GB model is cheaper than the iPad2, just like the K1, and even adding a digitizer pen only brings the price ten dollars above the iPad2. The Folio Case runs you just shy of a hundred, but that’s actually not terrible for such a device. You can see a video of it on Engadget.
Lenovo announced a bunch of tweaks to Android with the devices, including better syncing support with Windows 7, a Social Touch App for managing multiple social networks, and a file-sharing solution of some sort. They’ve also announced their own Android Market, which is a bit amusing. At this rate, everyone is going to have an Android App market of their very own.
And they'll all have Angry Birds.
We’re eager to get our hands on these and let you know what we think.
Oh but wait, there’s more! Those sneaky Engadgeters have found evidence of a seven-inch tablet coming from Lenovo. File it under rumor, but that’s a pretty cool one. Most big vendors seem to have been downplaying the seven-inch market to compete with Apple so far.
That’s the future. What about now? Say you want a tablet today. Well, you could pay full price, I suppose. However, if you want any tablet other than the HP Touchpad, Amazon Kindle (which is not technically a tablet, I know), or Barnes and Noble NOOK, you’re going to want to hit Staples.
Click for the full-sized savings.
That’s right, a hundred Washingtons off of a tablet. With the decent selection of tablets at Staples, that’s not a bad deal at all.
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