Late last month we reported on a leaked tablet, the Acer Iconia W3. At the time, the W3 was believed to be the world’s first smaller-screen Windows tablet, though little details were known. During the weekend, Amazon put up a listing for the tablet giving us a lot more details, at least until the page was taken down.

So what can we expect from the Acer Iconia W3-810, provided Amazon’s listing got things right? First, it will be powered by a dual-core Intel Atom processor, accompanied by 2GB of RAM. Next, we know it has an 8.1-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800. Some of the other specs that we are aware of include 32GB internal storage, 2MP rear cam, 8 hours battery life (average) and 1 USB 2.0 port.

The tablet runs on Windows 8 and manages to weigh just 1.1-pounds. It certainly sounds like a decent enough tablet, but what about pricing? The original listing points to a price of $379.99, which is quite a bit more expensive than the iPad Mini’s $329 price tag or the Nexus 7 32GB model’s price of $249.

Still, this is the cheapest we’ve seen from a Windows tablet so far and with an x86 processor in tow, the Acer Iconia W3-810 also has the advantage of working with a vast array of Windows legacy software. This might not matter so much to the average Joe, but for business users, it could certainly be an important difference.

Personally, I was hoping to see Microsoft and its partners aim for a $275-$350 target range for these smaller tablets. At the current range, they still could offer an important value for those that are highly invested in the Microsoft brand and ecosystem, but $380 is still a bit of a hard sell compared to Android and iOS small-screen tablet pricing.

What do you think, is Microsoft asking too much or are they priced just right?

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Scheduled for February 25 to 28, MWC could be the stage where we see a Nokia Lumia tablet of some kind. Remember that the Nokia Lumia 920 is widely touted as one of the best Windows Phone 8 devices out there, so it makes sense that Nokia would continue this partnership with the release of a Windows-powered tablet too. Since they’re using the ARM architecture, it’d be an RT tablet and not a full blown Windows 8 tablet.

Word out of China is that Microsoft, Qualcomm and Compal Electronics are continuing their development of a 10-inch Windows RT tablet for Nokia. It won’t be ready in time for CES next month, so the next major event would be MWC in Barcelona. I’m not sure this will be enough to spur on greater adoption of Windows RT, but if it’s priced right, it certainly couldn’t hurt.

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When it comes to mobile display resolutions, particularly in tablets, 2012 seems to be a year of major change. It wasn’t long ago that 1024 × 768 was a commonplace resolution and even 640×480 wasn’t that unheard of. Now we have the new iPad with its 2048×1536 Retina display, and at MWC 2012 Asus unveiled an updated version of the Transformer Prime that will feature a 1920×1200 resolution.

It is clear that the future lies with high-resolution mobile displays, something that Microsoft talked about recently in a new Building Windows 8 blog post.

In the blog post Microsoft’s David Washington detailed how Windows 8, which is on its way later this year, will handle a multitude of different equipment and display setups, including the way that Metro will scale itself with different resolutions. At the standard 1366×768, no scaling will be needed but at other resolutions this is going to change in order to make the UI look and work as best as possible. With a 1920×1080 resolution there will be 140% scaling applied and for 2560×1440 resolutions there would even be 180% scaling.

So what does this mean exactly? In laymen’s terms, you pretty much get the same amount of information onscreen regardless of the resolution you are in. This gives the Metro UI a consistent look, that hopefully translates over to an easier design optimization experience for app developers.

Washington’s blog post even included a picture that showed the most common resolutions and screen sizes, showing off that Windows 8 will indeed support higher resolutions. Will this result in as attractive or useable experience as the new iPad? That’s hard to say, but there are many who don’t think it will. One such fellow is the Windows guru, Paul Thurrott.

In his own words:

“Windows is just never going to be as simple and elegant as the iPad, and that’s particularly true in this (high-density display) area. Windows’ diversity of devices, as always, remains both a blessing (choice) and a curse (inconsistency).”

Either way it is great to see the Microsoft is forward-thinking about concepts like higher resolution displays, scaling, and how to give the most consistent and useable UI experience it can with Metro. Will any of it make a difference as Microsoft attempts to enter into the tablet space against Apple and the Android tablets? I have my own theory on that, but I’d love to hear what you have to think about it as well.

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Arguably one of the biggest weaknesses of Windows Vista was the fact that many of the PCs that used it weren’t really up to snuff, hardware wise. The truth is that Vista wasn’t that bad if you had the right hardware, unfortunately Microsoft didn’t enforce any minimums and so most of us never really saw the ‘good side’ of Vista (though Windows 7 cured many of these problems).

Microsoft isn’t repeating any of these mistakes with its Windows 8 tablets, and has already set some specific hardware requirements that all Win8 tablets will have to meet.

For those that haven’t followed Windows 8 as it develops, it is a big step forward for mobile and touch users everywhere with a new start menu replacement UI called METRO, which is optimized for touch technology and mobile app use. Another huge change is that Windows 8 will support both traditional x86 processors and ARM technology (which is used the wide majority of smartphones and tablets).

So what are the requirements? Windows tablets must have a 5-point digitizer for input, NFC “touch marks”, five hardware buttons (Power, Rotation Lock, Windows Key, Volume Key (up/down), a button combo for the CTRL+ALT+DEL command, 2 second resume (for Intel chips), and no reboot driver upgrades.

We can also expect at least 10GB free space, UEFI, Wlan and Bluetooth 4.0 +LE, 1366×768 minimum resolution, 720p camera, ambient light sensor, magnetometer, accelerometer (3 axes), gyroscope, USB 2.0, and speakers.

As for Windows laptop/desktop requirements? Beyond just recommended specs, there will be no enforcements but on vendors here and Microsoft guarantees that any machine that runs Windows 7 will have no problem with Windows 8. Since Windows 7 has more minimalistic requirements than Vista, it stands to reason that any machine made for Vista or above will upgrade without any major hitches.

Things are really spicing up with Windows 8, and it looks to be one of the most epic versions yet.

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The ASUS Eee Slate EP121 is not your usual tablet with all those low-powered and low-performance ARM chips inside. Eee Slate has a mighty Intel i5 CPU inside, plus an Intel HD graphics chip to drive a beautiful and roomy 12.1″ screen that is not only capacitive, but also has a pressure-sensitive Wacom layer that takes precise input from a Wacom digitizer pen. Running Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit with 2 GB of RAM,  it’s every bit a Windows machine than that one sitting on your desk. Check below for overdone marketing videos by Asus on their newly unveiled Windows tablet.

1. Stay connected to the wider world with the ASUS Eee Slate:

For regular visiting and browsing flea markets, the ASUS Eee Slate is definitely better than bulky, full-sized laptops.

2. Get creative with the ASUS Eee Slate

Artists can really gain in their creativity and productivity when using Eee Slate. What’s not to love in full Photoshop?

3. Make your business more mobile with the ASUS Eee Slate

Being mobile when running a restaurant is important. This particular restaurant also boasts a mobile kitchen on top of that, so being mobile with Eee Slate is twice important. Just don’t spill your sauces on the Slate grill.

4. My powerful work and play companion

One thing is looking for a perfect pair of shoes at the local flea market, another thing is using a tablet PC in serious business environment. ASUS Eee Pad EP121 can do both.

The post ASUS Eee Slate EP121: Where And How To Use It? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

With the touch-optimized Windows 8 soon on its way, you would think that every hardware maker out there would have a big “On Hold” sign over any possible plans for Windows tablets until late-2012.

Of course you’d be wrong, as Viewsonic announced at CES that it is releasing the new ViewPad 10i.

The 10i runs on the latest Intel Oak Trail Atom Z670 processor, and uses Windows 7 Professional as its OS of choice.

The ViewPad 10i manages to wiegh only 1.77 pounds, features a super high-res IPS display (1280×800), has 64GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, dual cameras, 4 hours of battery life, and pre-loaded customized apps and software with touch in mind.

So why is Viewsonic releasing a Windows 7 tablet now when 8 is coming in late 2012? I suppose part of the reason could be to try and attract users that what to test Windows 8 beta out on the latest tablet hardware around.

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t expect the 10i to fly off store shelves anytime soon. As for Viewsonic’s new $170 ICS tablet, that’s another story.

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Let’s say that you want a tablet and you’re pretty sure that Android is for you, but you also want to do the Windows thing on the same tablet when you need to run a certain application. If that’s the case, ViewSonic is gearing up its ViewPad 10pro tablet for someone just like you. That’s right, this device is a dual-booter.

It may look like any other tablet, but the ViewPad 10pro runs both Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Windows 7. It’s a shame they didn’t get Honeycomb under the hood of this 10.1-inch slate, but at least you have Google and Microsoft working together under the same framework. To make things more interesting, this is one of the first tablets to be powered by an Intel Atom processor.

More specifically, you get the Atom Z670 clocked in at 1.5GHz. Other core specs include the 1024×600 screen resolution, WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI out, 1.3MP front camera, microSD expansion, and up to 8 hours of battery life. I applaud ViewSonic in trying to be versatile, but I have a feeling this only fits a very niche market. It also doesn’t help that pricing starts at $599 for the 16GB model (Win7 Home Premium) and goes up to $699 for the 32GB model (Win7 Professional).

Look for them both later this month.

The post ViewSonic ViewPad 10pro tablet lets you run both Android and Win7 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Yesterday Microsoft unveiled Windows 8 at D9, much like Google’s Android tablet optimized Honeycomb, Windows 8 has been built around the use of touch devices, but they assure us it will work equally as well with a mouse and keyboard.

Our approach means no compromises — you get to use whatever kind of device you prefer, with peripherals you choose, to run the apps you love. This is sure to inspire a new generation of hardware and software development, improving the experience for PC users around the world.

This allows companies to develop apps for one platform and easily carry it across from your desktop or Windows 8 tablet, from small low-res screens to super high-res billboards, all utilizing “fluid interaction” traits and “seamless connectivity.”

For now we are given some demo videos on Windows 8, it will give you a good idea of how the OS will appear. HTML5 and Javascript will be much more apparent. Multi-tasking with snapping apps to different areas of the screen is planned as well as touch inputs and gesture s.

Some interface traits shown in the videos:

• Fast launching of apps from a tile-based Start screen, which replaces the Windows Start menu with a customizable, scalable full-screen view of apps.
• Live tiles with notifications, showing always up-to-date information from your apps.
• Fluid, natural switching between running apps.
• Convenient ability to snap and resize an app to the side of the screen, so you can really multitask using the capabilities of Windows.
• Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.
• Fully touch-optimized browsing, with all the power of hardware-accelerated Internet Explorer 10.

Windows 8 running on a Qualcomm tablet:

Live demonstration of Windows 8:

Windows 8 on an NVIDIA Kal-El/Tegra 3 notebook:

Windows 8 running on a Quanta TI-OMAP tablet:

The post Video: Windows 8 Optimized for Touch appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Everyone is getting entrenched in the tablet game for 2011, hoping to knock the iPad out of the top spot (or at least carving out a sizable slice of the pie). What’s Dell doing? Well, we’ve got the leaked roadmap for at least three new devices.

Dell already has the five-inch Streak out there, but a larger 10-inch (1280×800) Dell Streak Pro is slated for launch in June of this year. That’s still some ways out, but we’re hearing it’ll rock Honeycomb, Stage 1.5 UI, and a Tegra 2 processor. This pretty much puts it on par with some of the offerings from LG, Samsung, Motorola, and others.

I’m not sure if this is still the brightest move at this point, but Dell is also planning a 10-inch Windows-powered tablet called the Dell Latitude ST. I suppose this will cater more to the enterprise market with its active pen support. Other highlights include the 1.5GHz Intel Atom Z670 Oak Trail processor, 1366×768 resolution, up to 128GB SSD, dual cameras, 1080p output, and Windows 7. Expect that in October.

The Inspiron Duo might be doing the flipping thing for consumers, but business folks may be more inclined to consider the 13-inch Latitude XT-3 convertible tablet. They’re using Intel Huron River Core i3/i5/i7 processors, 4GB RAM, active pen support, smart card reader, fingerprint reader, and an encrypted HDD. That drops in July.

The post Leaked: Dell’s Android Tablet Plans for 2011 appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

I’m not at all convinced that I would want a notebook computer that doesn’t have a physical keyboard, but I almost said the same thing about touchscreen-only smartphones not that long ago. Pushing this trend along is the dual screen-wielding Acer Iconia, which is now being put up for pre-order.

With pricing starting at $1,199.99, this is anything but the cheapest tablet on the block. That said, it’s really the only one that has two 14-inch touchscreen displays. That’s saying something. The pre-orders are starting now, but you won’t actually have one arrive at your doorstep until some time in April.

As a quick refresher, you get Gorilla Glass, Windows 7 Premium 64-bit, Acer Ring Control, Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, USB 3.0, HDMI out, 1.3MP webcam, WiFi, and gigabit Ethernet. Yeah, it’s much more of a notebook than it is a tablet… which kind of makes you wonder: who would actually want this thing? I’d rather have a (smaller) tablet and a regular notebook than to have this Frankenstein’d creation.

That said, if Acer wants to send me one to try out, I’m not exactly opposed to giving it a shot. Maybe this is the future of notebook-ing, more so than say the Inspiron Duo from Dell.

[Ubergizmo via Acer]

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