They are calling it the “tablet for the cooking enthusiast”. The Archos ChefPad is an Android 4.1 running tablet that is meant to be used in the kitchen, although no one is going to stop from using it in the garden or elsewhere.

The slate is coming with Chef Apps Zone which will filter through the Play Store to bring you cooking apps. The device features a 1.6GHz dual-core CPU and 1GB of RAM, which should be enough for your selection of apps to work fine, and a 9.7 inch 1024×768 screen.

With the 8GB of storage, you can add a lot of cooking related stuff including cooking lessons which will guide you through your cooking experiments via a pair of speakers. You can even save your own speeches about that special soup all thanks to the built-in mic and take snaps of your spicy salmon with the device’s 2MP cam, and maybe send your works to Gordon Ramsay.

And coming with the tablet is a waterproof silicone case and an adjustable stand which will be very useful while you are video chatting while cooking. The device will be available next month with a price tag of $210. Are you interested?

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Google Wallet has already been available on a few smartphones and tablets, and now the search giant has announced more phones onto the list. From now on, users of Sprint’s HTC One, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S4 and US Cellular’s Note II will be able to use Google Wallet to purchase in store via NFC-based contactless payments.

You can download the app for free by heading to Google Play here.

Meanwhile, Google has also announced a way to make sending payments simple, which will be as easy as sending an email. They are integrating Google Wallet with Gmail, and sometime in the coming months US users over 18 years old will be able to send money through Gmail via a $ icon in the attachment options. “It’s free to send money if your bank account is linked to Google Wallet or using your Google Wallet Balance”, but you will be charged a flat fee of 2.9% per transaction for payments using your linked credit or debit card. Receiving money will always be free.

Check out the video below to know more about the upcoming service.

[Source]

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HP hasn’t had tons of luck in the mobile devices market. The HP TouchPad was an interesting product, but ultimately fell short. Same thing happened with their smartphone endeavors. Luckily, HP isn’t one to give up. They’ve recently pushed hard into the Windows 8 tablet territory, and even released a budget Android tablet, the Slate 7.

So what’s next for HP in the tablet space? The company has now announced the HP Slatebook X2, a 10.1-inch Android slate that works a lot like the Asus Transformer series – combining an Android tablet with a convertible laptop base.

The Slatebook X2 looks very similar to HP’s convertible Windows tablets, with the big difference here being that this impressive looking tablet runs on the power of a Tegra 4 processor, has a 1920 x 1200 resolution display, and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Other specs include a 2MP rear cam, an HD capable front cam, internal storage up to 64GB, microSD, HDMI, USB 2.0, DTS+ sound and a full-sized keyboard dock.

So how much will this little “netbook meets tablet” beauty cost you? The HP Slatebook X2 is expected to arrive in August with a price point of $480. It is currently unclear whether that price includes the keyboard dock, but if it does – that’s a hell of dell for a device that effectively is both a true tablet and a great netbook replacement.

What do you think of the Slatebook X2, did HP finally get it right in the mobile department?

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Large-screened E Ink devices have been tried by many companies in the past but none managed to gain ground on the academic market. Sony is also not a new player, but they are still trying their luck. Their latest product is a 13.3-inch flexible E Ink prototype device which is targeted at students and offices.

The device is coming with the new Mobius e-paper display technology with lightweight, shatterproof or rugged characteristics. With this new tech, Sony can make bigger display sizes without making the reader too heavy.

The slate measures in at 233 x 310 x 6.8 mm and weighs just 358 g, and it’s coming with 4GB of on-board storage (with a microSD slot) and a 1200 x 1600 resolution screen that’s an electromagnetic induction touchscreen, which allows you to do page swipes and menu selection. It also supports stylus input for making notes. And there’s WiFi for sharing notes, and its rechargeable battery is said to last for three weeks (with the wireless tech turned off), but the device currently supports only the PDF file format.

The device will be trialed at three Japanese universities, after which the final product will be available on the market but that might take a year or more.

But the question is whether this device will be appealing since there are many tablets out there with fast processors and high-resolution screens, as well as third-party apps. Sony’s own Tablet Z is one of the many options currently available. But if the price is not too much (the Sony Reader PRS-T2 costs $129.99), this new e-reader could be useful for many.

[Source]

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Although Matias Duarte earlier said that Facebook Home is impressive, even he would agree that there’s more work to be done on the app which still has only managed just 2.2 average rating at Google Play. But Facebook seems to have big plans for Home for the future, according to Vice President of Mobile Engineering Cory Ondrejka and Director of Product Adam Mosseri.

There is good news for those who are worried about the disappearance of Docks and Folders in Home. A future update will bring those features into Home’s application launcher. Mosseri says, “We want to ease the transition from your old launcher to the new launcher“. But support for widgets will take more time to arrive. Home users will also get to play with a new Buddy List feature which will allow Chat Head conversations to be started directly from Cover Feed.

Furthermore, they will also introduce the so called “Blues Clues” which will guide users through the application via directions and clues, not unlike the pop ups received by Facebook’s web users.

Other developments for the future include support for Home on more devices including tablets, although they are currently just focussed on improving the app than introducing it on more hardware. And as for an iOS version, Ondrejka says, “If there are hooks available, we’ll take advantage of them—I don’t think we see a way to do something like Cover Feed just yet“.

And you can also look forward to seeing advertisements, after the app is improved a great deal. But they are promising that the ads will go well with the Cover Feed.

So far, Facebook Home has been downloaded almost a million times. They have just released an update that will fix a few bugs, but no hints regarding when the above said features will arrive.

[Source]

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Barnes and Noble recently introduced price cutting on its tablet line, alongside the introduction of support for Google Play. Many feel the reason that this move was made was to be more competitive against other tablets including the Kindle Fire line, others say it is a way to push remaining stock before bowing out of the tablet game.

Now it looks like an internal document has surfaced suggesting that Nook is ending its involvement in creating Android-based tablets by 2014, instead looking to have partners create devices designed around Nook’s software and store. Additionally, the reports claim Microsoft is looking to take its investment in the Nook one step further, buying it out.

It’s really hard to say whether this is true or not, and if it is, what Microsoft plans to do with the Nook line. They could strongly integrate Nook services into their Windows 8 tablets, and they could also spin-off their own Nook-centric tablets.
If this happened, the tablets would probably run on some form of Windows 8 or Windows Embedded as opposed to Android, of course.

What do you think, if the rumor is true, should Microsoft buy Nook? Or should Nook continue to ride out its new strategy of aggressive pricing and Google Play support and see where that takes the company first? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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When modern tablets first started surfacing, they were generally of the 10-inch variety and a demanded a pretty substantial price to take em’ home. Things change quickly, don’t they? Nowadays, 7-inch tablets like the Google Nexus 7 can be yours for as little as $200.

But what if you want more screen real-estate, without paying more of your hard earned cash? That’s where the Cube U35GT could come in.

We’ll be upfront here and say that the Cube is a Chinese branded tablet, and that means you probably won’t get the same build quality as you might expect from more commonplace brands. It is also aesthetically a clone of Apple’s iPad Mini.

What the tablet lacks in originality of design, it somewhat makes up for with its 7.9-inch display with a resolution of 1024×768. Areas where the U35GT ones-up devices like the Nexus are the addition of microSD, a 2MP rear cam, and VGA front cam. The tablet is powered by an ARM Cortex-A9 quad-core processor. Other specs include 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, WiFi, mini-HDMI, stereo speakers and a battery that gets about six hours of usage. The tablet also features Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

Unfortunately, the U35GT also has some very big weaknesses like a lack of Bluetooth and GPS support. Still, at $187.82, it could be a perfect device for those that need a bigger display budget tablet that still packs a fair amount of punch for gaming, entertainment and other apps.

For those that want and need GPS, Bluetooth, the latest OS updates, and a more reliable brand – you are probably better off with the Nexus or perhaps Apple’s iPad Mini. What do you think of the Cube U35GT, would you consider it or not?

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It has been talked about for a while that HTC is working on Windows tablets to be released sometime this year. According to a new rumor, the Taiwanese manufacturer is planning to release two tablets running Windows RT Blue in October.

First up is the smaller of the two, the HTC R7, which could be the first of a wave of small screen Windows tablets expected to be available in the coming months. The R7 apparently boasts a 7-inch full HD screen, a 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM, a 13 MP cam, 16GB of storage (and microSD slot), and it will be available as a Wi-Fi only version and as a model with LTE/HSPA+ support.

The R7’s bigger screened brother, the HTC R12, will reportedly feature a 12-inch display with a resolution of 2048×1536 (similar to the iPad’s Retina Display). It will come equipped with the same internal specs as the R7, though the R12 will add NFC and HDMI.

The rumor suggests that the devices will be launched on October 13^th. There’s currently no info regarding possible price tags, though we believe that they won’t come cheap looking at the specs. If the R7 is coming with the reported features, it is less likely to hit the market as a budget tablet to go against tablets like the Nexus 7. For that segment, “Clover Trail” tablets are expected to arrive sometime in the future.

[Source]

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Windows 8 has certainly received mixed reception up until this point, but Microsoft is hoping to change all of that with Windows Blue, aka Windows 8.1. Microsoft hopes to win folks over to Windows Blue, and has officially confirmed that they will be releasing a preview version just in time for its Build conference this June.

So what’s new in Windows Blue? Essentially, Blue is all about making the learning curve of Windows 8 less harsh. That means making customization and other aspects better in the new Start Screen. While not 100%-confirmed, there is also strong reason to believe that Microsoft is actively considering returning the start button in Windows Blue.

Keep in mind that the Start Button’s return doesn’t mean the Windows 7-style start menu will return, it will still use the full-screen Start menu from Windows 8.

After Windows Blue debuts, Microsoft is also looking to get into the small-screen tablet market with 7 and 8-inch devices.

Can Windows Blue help address some of the concerns surrounding Windows 8? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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We have been seeing a lot of good deals from Barnes and Noble recently, and now an even better one. They are currently offering both the Nook HD and the HD+ at discount rates through Mother’s Day on May 12.

You can now get the 8GB Nook HD for $149 and the 16GB version costs $179 (a $50 discount). The 9-inch 16GB HD+ will be yours for $179 (down from $269) and the 32GB model for $209 (drop from $299). The devices are available online at Barnes & Noble bookstores and on Nook.com, and at retailers including Best Buy.

The Nook tablets have suddenly become more appealing with this price drop, and also the slates now support Google Play (so access to more than 700,000 apps and games. That’s a big advantage over the Amazon Kindle Fire devices. At Amazon, the entry-level Kindle Fire has a price tag of $159, the 16GB Fire HD costs $199 and the 32GB 8.9-inch Fire HD tablet is available for $299.

As for other rivals, the Google Nexus 7 starts at $199 and Nexus 10 retails from $399. The Mac maker’s iPad mini starts at $329. Bottom-line, for the hardware, the Nook HD and HD+ are nothing less than a steal at their reduced pricing. What do you think, are you interested?

[Source]

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