the tablet war is heating up

[Fast Learner]

Apple bought 5.7 billion worth of product from Samsung in 2010. I doubt that Samsung will stop selling to apple. It also depends on how long the contracts are for. Every time you turn around these companies sue each other.

Exactly. It would hurt Samsung far too much. IP lawsuits happen between cooperating companies all the time; they rarely let them affect their bottom lines.

 

[Relique du Madde]

RIM issues recall on nearly 1,000 faulty BlackBerry PlayBooks
By: Adam Rosenberg
May 15, 2011

Research In Motion issues a recall order on a Staples stock of 935 BlackBerry PlayBook serial numbers due to unspecified faulty hardware concerns.

Here’s a public service announcement for owners of a recently purchased BlackBerry PlayBook. If your new toy came from Staples, you’re going to want to follow this link to a list of serial numbers compiled by Engadget. Why? It seems that a faulty batch of those lovely PlayBooks escaped into the wild and landed at the office supply chain.

The news comes from an internal Staples document stating that “approximately 900 units of the BlackBerry PlayBook have been determined to be faulty. The vendor has provided the serial numbers so that we can pull these off the floor and return immediately.” The sheet also says that leaving these items on store shelves “may result in a customer purchasing a unit that will not operate.” No further information is provided, though since some of these models have presumably been purchased — the PlayBook launched in April and has been doing quite well so far — it’s something we can expect to see Research In Motion comment publicly on soon.

Engadget’s list contains 935 serial numbers alleged to be affected by whatever the hardware fault is. Though if you bought yours at Staples and it doesn’t work, or suddenly stopped working, or became self-aware and tried to kill you, it’s probably a safe bet to just bring it back to the store and ask for a replacement. Unless it is currently in the process of trying to kill you, in which case you’ve likely got a whole other set of problems to worry about right now.

Kidding aside: Staples shoppers who bought a PlayBook recently, go and check that list out, whether or not your tablet is actually working.

RIM is recalling 1000 of their BlackBerry Playbooks... Definitely not good news.


On a side note, I received my Xoom's 3.1 Update on Friday. It seems faster (especially transitions), the browser's quick interface is better, and I also like the re-sizable widgets (thought I wish more of the widgets could be re-sized, like the clock, but oh well). Sadly, there still is no official SD card support and since I own a wifi-only device, I get no movie rental love.

Interestingly enough, I read some speculation that Samsung will announce that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 *WILL* receive the 2560x1600 display at the SID Display Week 2011 conference.


EDIT: I just noticed that the Encryption Bug that caused the time to reset on powerup was fixed with the update!

 

[falcarrion]

RIM is recalling 1000 of their BlackBerry Playbooks... Definitely not good news.


On a side note, I received my Xoom's 3.1 Update on Friday. It seems faster (especially transitions), the browser's quick interface is better, and I also like the re-sizable widgets (thought I wish more of the widgets could be re-sized, like the clock, but oh well). Sadly, there still is no official SD card support and since I own a wifi-only device, I get no movie rental love.

Interestingly enough, I read some speculation that Samsung will announce that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 *WILL* receive the 2560x1600 display at the SID Display Week 2011 conference.

good to know. thanks for sharing.

 

[Banshee16]

RIM is recalling 1000 of their BlackBerry Playbooks... Definitely not good news.


On a side note, I received my Xoom's 3.1 Update on Friday. It seems faster (especially transitions), the browser's quick interface is better, and I also like the re-sizable widgets (thought I wish more of the widgets could be re-sized, like the clock, but oh well). Sadly, there still is no official SD card support and since I own a wifi-only device, I get no movie rental love.

Interestingly enough, I read some speculation that Samsung will announce that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 *WILL* receive the 2560x1600 display at the SID Display Week 2011 conference.


EDIT: I just noticed that the Encryption Bug that caused the time to reset on powerup was fixed with the update!

I read an article explaining that the Playbooks that were recalled were due to a bad batch of units that had an issue with software. They were only ones sent to Staples in Canada, from what I understand....and, in particular, none of them actually made it into the hands of customers.

So, the situation could have been worse. A batch going to one chain of stores, and the problem discovered before they were sold to customers is better than the alternative.

I've been reading that the sales of the Playbook have significantly beyond the sales numbers for Android Honeycomb devices.

I've still been considering the Xoom. But I was also taking a look at the Acer Iconia A500. I've heard negative things about the Acer brand quality, so I'm not sure what to think. But the device that I looked at in the store seemed pretty polished.

Honestly, considering how much hatred and ridicule Android devices (particularly the Xoom) seem to get online from people supporting the iPad, the Iconia seemed pretty nice to me. Clean, played video well, snappy, a more powerful and more desktop like interface/UI than the iPad, and all those ports....HDMI, USB mini, USB, a working SD card slot....

Why does the Xoom's SD card slot not work, anyways? It can't be because of Honeycomb, because, as with the Iconia, there are other Honeycomb devices in which the SD card slot is actually working.

That's one of the things holding me back....that, and wondering about the screen......when I look in the store, it seems fairly dark. I don't know if that's a characteristic of the Xoom screen, or if it's because the iPad is artifiicially set to super bright levels.

Speaking as someone who has the Xoom, does it generally seem stable? I read online from people trashing it, saying it crashes all the time when they "see their friends using it"...but then people who have it say their devices rarely crash, and, worst case scenario, they might have to power off an app.

How long does your battery last? I would *think* that the WiFi version should last longer in browsing than the 3G one...I know my iPhone battery lasts much longer if I browse the internet using WiFi instead of 3G.

And what about playing videos? I understand it can play 720p video? Do you have to do any special formatting? I've heard mixed reviews there.....some people saying they have problems with video, and then others saying they're only have problems, because they're trying to use videos downloaded from Torrents in particular formats incompatible with the device.

The vitriol spewed in the community over these devices makes it really difficult to make an informed decision.

I've thought of waiting for the Samsung 10.1...particularly if it has this new, better screen.....but I've heard it'll be constructed of plastic.....and I've had issues with Samsung in the past. I went through 4 of their monitors to get one that actually works well, and I find their screens have a significant red cast that throws the image off......and on my current Samsung monitor, I've had it for a year and a half, and they still haven't updated the darn firmware to fix known issues with text fonts being fuzzy, and with the monitor not turning back on when a computer comes out of sleep mode. On top of that, their SmartTouch software still doesn't support any of the mainstream nVidia and ATI video cards I have on *any* of my 4 PCs. Given the lack of desire or capability to provide simple software updates, I'm a little hesitant to go with their tablet.....particularly since it'll have the Touch Wiz Samsung interface added to Honeycomb.....so, post-release of new Honeycomb versions, there'll be a delay until Samsung makes adjustments for their own device.

Banshee

 

[Fast Learner]

I read an article explaining that the Playbooks that were recalled were due to a bad batch of units that had an issue with software. They were only ones sent to Staples in Canada, from what I understand....and, in particular, none of them actually made it into the hands of customers.

According to RIM, some did make it into customer hands, but not many, and all-in-all it was no big deal.

RIM determined that approximately one thousand BlackBerry PlayBook tablets (16 GB) were shipped with an OS build that may result in the devices being unable to properly load software upon initial set-up.

The majority of the affected devices are still in the distribution channel and haven't reached customers. RIM is working to replace the affected devices.

In the small number of cases where a customer received a PlayBook that is unable to properly load software upon initial set-up, they can contact RIM for assistance.

Because the market is so hot such a tiny problem gets a lot of press. A shame, really.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Why does the Xoom's SD card slot not work, anyways? It can't be because of Honeycomb, because, as with the Iconia, there are other Honeycomb devices in which the SD card slot is actually working.
[/sblock]
Because unlike everyone else Motorola seems to be waiting for Google to release the official Honeycomb SD card code instead of doing what many of the others honeycomb tablet manufacturers did which was make their own.

That's one of the things holding me back....that, and wondering about the screen......when I look in the store, it seems fairly dark. I don't know if that's a characteristic of the Xoom screen, or if it's because the iPad is artifiicially set to super bright levels.

It's the Xoom's screen (doesn't help that Motorola has a tendency to pick cheap screens on most products). When you turn the brightness up things gets really faded.

Speaking as someone who has the Xoom, does it generally seem stable? I read online from people trashing it, saying it crashes all the time when they "see their friends using it"...but then people who have it say their devices rarely crash, and, worst case scenario, they might have to power off an app.

For the most part it seems to depend on an app.. which is often the case with android.

Only like once or twice did I have it crash while using the browser (flash was playing on the site). Though every so often it would lag (maybe a site's javascript is at play... but not sure).

The only other times it "crashes" or has strange bugs or lags usually was when I'm logging on or awaking from the xoom sleeping. The error is a result of the device being encrypted and it hick-upping after I typed in my password. It's a minor annoyance since once you close the error message it allows me to reboot.

I've yet to have my Xoom lock up to the point of having to turn the power off and restart (which occasionally happens on my droid 2).

How long does your battery last? I would *think* that the WiFi version should last longer in browsing than the 3G one...I know my iPhone battery lasts much longer if I browse the internet using WiFi instead of 3G.

I've been seeing between 8 - 12 hours average with moderate to heavy use with the wifi turned on all the time. I've heard running movies sucks the life out of the batteries. HOWEVER it should be noted that the Xoom recharged very fast. Only problem is that it doesn't power by usb...

And what about playing videos? I understand it can play 720p video? Do you have to do any special formatting? I've heard mixed reviews there.....some people saying they have problems with video, and then others saying they're only have problems, because they're trying to use videos downloaded from Torrents in particular formats incompatible with the device.

The problem with formats is that you have to have the proper codexs installed or supported on the device to view them. I'm not certain which ones are supported beyond: MPEG4, H.263, H.264.

Given the lack of desire or capability to provide simple software updates, I'm a little hesitant to go with their tablet.....particularly since it'll have the Touch Wiz Samsung interface added to Honeycomb.....so, post-release of new Honeycomb versions, there'll be a delay until Samsung makes adjustments for their own device.

Right now it's hard to tell how the Galaxy 10.1 will be handled update wise. Ever since they received the class action lawsuit, Samsung has done their damnedest to turn around the negative image they received for not updating androids to the point where alot of their phones and the Galexy Tab 1 will run 2.3 in a few weeks. Unfortunately, who knows how long this change will last beyond the mandatory 18 months per product if upgradable benchmark.

 

[John Crichton]

I've determined that since I use my iPad so much that I owe it to myself to buy the first really good Andriod offering. I adore the OS and would love Flash support and other feature people have been clamoring for.

That hopefully means another purchase during the holiday season. I may even consider a 3G version if my usage stays at this level!

 

[falcarrion]

There are some intresting stuff going on this week.

First we have the rumor of the Amazon tablets with code names "coyote" and "hollywood".

Second we have the Seagate Goflex Satellite . A wifi external hard drive , 500gb. It will work on the Ipad.

Third is what is going on at the apple stores this weekend.
Apple retail stores will be shrouded in black during the overnight hours from Saturday May 21st into early Sunday May 22nd. Why?
Could it be the new ipod nano with a camera?
Could it be the anouncment of there Icloud service?
Could it be a new size tablet?
With it being there 10th retail Anniversary who knows?

 

[falcarrion]

I just read Barns and Noble has big anouncment on the 24. could they be coming out with a new nook tablet?
Wouldn't be intresting if apples event and Barns and Noble where related?

 

[Relique du Madde]

Third is what is going on at the apple stores this weekend.
Apple retail stores will be shrouded in black during the overnight hours from Saturday May 21st into early Sunday May 22nd.

That sounds more like some product is going to die then be announced. Ironically the crazies believe the rapture is happening on the 21st.