HP Slate 7 available May 1 with £129 price tag

HP has confirmed on its website that the HP Slate 7 will be available from May 1 with the budget-tablet priced at £129.

Announced at MWC in February, the HP Slate 7 can now be pre-ordered from the HP online store. The Android tablet has a 7-inch screen and comes inbuilt with Beats Audio technology.

“Our new HP Slate 7 on Android represents a compelling entry point for consumer tablets, while our ground-breaking, business-ready HP ElitePad on Windows 8 is ideal for enterprises and governments. Both deliver the service and support people expect from HP,” said Alberto Torres, Senior Vice President of HP’s Mobility Global Business Unit.

HP Slate 7 Features

The HP Slate 7 features a 1.6GHz dual-core ARM Cortext-A9 processor with 1GB of RAM that should keep things speedy, but won’t bring the tablet to the same standard as quad-core Android tablets like the Google Nexus 7.

The 7-inch LCD display offers a 1,024 x 600p HD IPS screen resolution and the HP Slate 7 runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean rather than the latest Android 4.2 OS.

Packing a 3-megapixel rear camera and a front-facing VGA snapper for acceptable video call quality, the HP Slate 7 is a little on the heavy size, weighing in at 370g. To put that into perspective, the Google Nexus 7 weighs 30g less than HP’s 7-inch slate.

One of the more useful features of the HP Slate 7 is the fact it has a microSD card slot, supporting memory cards of up to 32GB to expand the 8GB of internal storage.

At 10.7mm thick, the HP Slate 7 also features a stainless steel edged design complete with an appealing soft-touch back panel and comes full equipped with Beats Audio technology.

The HP Slate 7 was said to come in red and silver backed varieties, but only the silver option is currently showing up on the HP Store.

Via: HP

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HTC lambasts Samsung for negative HTC One review scandal

HTC has criticised Samsung for employing underhand tactics by posting fake negative reviews of the HTC One online.

The Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer has lambasted Samsung for allegedly paying Taiwanese students to write damaging online reviews of its flagship HTC One, and vows it will take action to protect itself if necessary.

Hinting that it is considering legal action, an HTC spokesperson said the company was made aware of Samsung’s underhand libellous reviews.

“We are disappointed that a competitor would resort to misleading consumers to discredit our innovation,” said an HTC spokesperson to V3. “HTC values its product innovation and design, and we will take appropriate actions to protect the interests of the company and our customers.”

Samsung has already been made aware of the incident and is taking action to make sure the same doesn’t happen again.

“Samsung Electronics Taiwan (SET) has ceased all marketing activities that involve the posting of anonymous comments, and will ensure that all SET online marketing activities will be fully compliant with the company’s Online Communications Credo," said Samsung in a statement.

“We regret any inconvenience this incident may have caused. We will continue to reinforce education and training for our employees to prevent any future recurrence.”

The allegations were made in a local Taiwanese publication that said the South Korean company had hired student to criticise the HTC One whilst simultaneously promoting Samsung products like its upcoming flagship the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Samsung is currently being investigated by the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission over the accusations, despite the company claiming yesterday that it had not yet been informed of the enquiry.

If found guilty, Samsung could face a fine of up to Tw$25 million and incur penalties for false advertising.

The HTC One is currently viewed as the biggest competitor for the South Korean’s upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 flagship.

The HTC One is being classed as the biggest smartphone innovation currently available, due to its ground-breaking UltraPixel camera technology and photography features as well as its BlinkFeed news and social media aggregator.

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Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 details leak online

Details surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 have leaked online, revealing that the low-end handset could be in the works over at Samsung HQ.

Due to replace the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 and original Samsung Galaxy Ace, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 has appeared on GL Benchmarks with a small collection of specs.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 could ship with a 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM and is currently using the model number of GT-S7272.

Although an actual screen size is currently unknown, it should be bigger than the 3.5-inch display of the Samsung Galaxy Ace and 3.8-inch Samsung Galaxy Ace 2. The benchmarks did reveal it would have a screen resolution of 800 x 480p.

Running Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 could have a 5-megapixel camera in the rear capable of recording 720p video.

The only other feature seemingly confirmed by the benchmarks is the presence of NFC technology.

Samsung has a jam-packed mobile device launch schedule for this year, but the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 should launch at some point.

The South Korean electronics manufacturer has already launched its flagship smartphone, with the Samsung Galaxy S4 release date set for April 26.

Also recently unveiled were the huge Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 and Mega 5.8 handsets, more akin to tablets than smartphones due to their gigantic screen sizes.

Samsung has yet to comment on the Samsung Galaxy Ace 3, and the leaked benchmarks could easily be fake. However, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 was released in February last year and could do with a refresh.

The Samsung Galaxy Ace 3 was rumoured to launch at IFA 2013 earlier this month, tipped to launch with a 4-inch AMOLED display and four metallic colour variations: black, white, wine red and blue.



Via: SamMobile

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Apple involved in Chinese porn app investigation

Apple has been named in an article listing several websites and app stores being investigated in China for providing pornographic content.

The article isn’t prominent in today’s edition of the Chinese newspaper, The People’s Daily, but clearly lists Apple in amongst the other app stores accused of providing such inappropriate content.

The Cupertino company has a strict anti-porn policy for any app present within its App Store and was recently accused of homophobia after banning a comic book depicting gay porn scenes from sale.

The iPhone 5 maker isn’t emphasised or singled out in The People’s Daily article, but it does put the company in more trouble with the Chinese government.

Earlier this month, Apple also appeared in the government-owned newspaper for an entirely different matter. The company was apologising to Chinese consumers following accusations of offering shorter warranties and only refurbished parts for repairs rather than giving brand new replacement handsets.

The Chinese government is well known for its campaigns to keep pornography off the internet, launching various schemes to block illicit material online and closing blogs and websites. Internet executives have also been dragged into industry-wide meetings calling for higher levels of vigilance, and occasionally porn is used as an excuse to ban politically sensitive articles and websites.

In March, the Chinese government called for another campaign against pornographic material and cited Apple’s App Store as a source of such “obscene pornographic” content, ordered it to remove said material and submit a report about the violations. The iPad 4 manufacturer was also asked to take measures to prevent any future violations.

Today’s newspaper article has sparked online debate that the Chinese government is determined to remove Apple and its various products from the country. Seeing as China is Apple’s second largest market, such opposition could be devastating for Apple.

Via: WSJ

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Alcatel One Touch smartphones official Iron Man 3 partner

Alcatel One Touch has partnered with Marvel as the exclusive smartphone dealer for the Iron Man 3 movie in cinemas from April 25.

The French smartphone manufacturer has confirmed it will be the official smartphone supplier for the third film in the franchise, which stars Rober Downey Jr., Gwynth Paltrow, Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley.

“Being part of the Iron Man phenomena is a great thrill for us all at Alcatel One Touch,” said Dan Dery, Alcatel One Touch’s CMO. “We are big fans of the franchise and are honoured to be involved. The One Touch Idol is one of our most stylish handsets and now a genuine film star.”

Currently claiming to the be seventh largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, Alcatel One Touch launched a new family of thirteen smartphones at CES and MWC. The Alcatel One Touch Idol will be the smartphone of choice in the Iron Man 3 movie.

First seen at CES 2013, the Alcatel One Touch Idol is a 4.7-inch Android smartphone similar to the Alcatel One Touch X, but packing a 1GHz dual-core processor and 8-megapixel rear-facing camera. With a brushed aluminium finish, the smartphone has a 4.7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with a screen resolution of 540 x 960p.

Running Android 4.1 Helly Bean, the smartphone is powered by an 1800mAh Li-Ion battery and offers 4GB of internal memory, expandable using microSD cards of up to 32GB.

Connectivity wise, the Alcatel One Touch Idol provides Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0, but doesn’t support 4G LTE signals.

It isn’t known how much we’ll actually see the Alcatel One Touch Idol in the Iron Man 3 movie, but the film will be in cinemas from April 25, so we’ll have to see if we can catch a glimpse of it in between all those special effects.

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Google Glass: Best videos roundup

Google Glass devices have started shipping to developers, the first time the augmented reality device has been used by people outside the company.

The search engine giant has released a guide that instructs developers on how to write software for Google Glass, but also informing them that showing advertising to wearers is banned.

Google revealed a list of Google Glass specs on the Google support pages, which feature a small high resolution transparent panel in the top right hand corner of the wearer’s field of vision “equivalent of a 25-inch high definition screen from eight feet away”.

The augmented reality glasses have a 5-megapixel camera capable of shooting HD 720p video inbuilt into the solid portion behind the screen and come equipped with 16GB of flash storage, although only 12GB is available to the user.

On one battery charge Google advises that Google Glass will provide “one full day of typical use”, but also warns that some features are more battery intensive than others.

As the first developers receive their Google Glass headsets, user videos are beginning to appear on YouTube and other video sources showing what the augmented reality tech can really do.

We’re going to be collating the best Google Glass videos right here for you, including any official Google releases.

If you’ve found any good ones, don’t hesitate to post the link in the comments below and we’ll add it to the list.

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Ricoh GR affordable compact APS-C camera unveiled

Ricoh has taken the wraps off the Ricoh GR, a new compact APS-C camera with an extremely attractive price tag.

The Ricoh GR is the follow-up to 2011's Ricoh GR IV, but it looks to be a far more capable camera for a similar price.

This spec bump starts with a 16.2-megapixel APS-C image sensor, which is a massive leap over the GR IV's 10-megapixel 1/1.7-inch unit.

It keeps that relatively compact body, though, and this is aided by a brand new fixed 18.3mm f/2.8 zoom lens, which has been optimised to work well with the large APS-C sensor. Pentax Ricoh also boasts of a "nine-blade aperture diaphragm produces a rounded bokeh effect across a wide range of apertures."

Ricoh has also implemented a high speed autofocus system that can focus on a subject in a snappy 0.2 of a second. That's rather fast.

There's Full HD 1080p video recording on board with continuous autofocus, as you'd expect from a modern high-end compact.

Ricoh GR Pricing and Availability

But the truly remarkable part of the Ricoh GR is its price. Available from May, it'll cost just $799.95 in US and £599 here in the UK.

Now consider that the Nikon Coolpix A, which was announced just last month, comes with a very similar spec and form factor, but at a cost of £999. We're talking about a major bargain here, provided the Ricoh GR's performance lives up to the spec sheet.

Are you tempted to make the Ricoh GR your next camera purchase? Let us know in the comments section below.

Via: TechRadar

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