According to the tipsters, Apple is examining “graphics-oriented applications with high-definition assets.”

The iPad 3 is rumored to be carrying a higher resolution screen than the iPad 1 and iPad 2, with a 2048 X 1536-pixel resolution. An updated processor, dubbed the A6, would accompany the flagship iOS tablet as well. Unlike Android slates, which are vying for quad-core processing, Apple is rumored to be utilizing an improved dual-core chip with the A6 line and inject much improved graphics performance.

Some of these apps will be featured in Apple’s announcement on stage with the iPad 3 while others may be featured in future TV commercials and advertisements. The selection process is said to be “continuing at an increased rate as Apple looks to finalize the lineup for the iPad 3.”

Apple Screening Graphics-Intensive Games for iPad 3 Launch, TV Ads is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Amazon is still testing the concept and the location is said to be open before the holiday shopping season begins.

If successful, Amazon may try to replicate Apple’s success in the retail space by providing expertise and the space for users to get acquainted with its technology products. Microsoft, a company also in Washington state, has already entered the retail space as well with its own stores. In recent years, Amazon has begun making deals with big box retailers, like Target and Best Buy, in the U.S. to offer a physical place for users to come test drive its e-readers and now the new Kindle Fire tablet.

Direct bookseller rival Barnes & Noble already operates a retail chain of stores to sell books, e-readers, and the company’s Nook tablet.

Via: Good Reader

Amazon to Join Apple, Microsoft with Physical Retail Store to Hawk Tablets, E-Readers is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Clove says that it would need to test each unit before shipping to customers, but as inventory for Asus’ tablet is strained, the retailer cannot get additional inventory and has decided to temporarily halt sales all together.

In the meantime, Asus is denying that there is any problem(s) related to the Transformer Prime, stating that ”We refute any and all claims from third-parties regarding the quality of our products.”

In the past, the Transformer Prime was the subject of a lot of unwanted discussion due to poor GPS reception, connectivity with WiFi issues, and also a locked boot loader. Since then, Asus has de-listed GPS as a feature for the tablet.

Via: Phone Arena

UK Retailer Clove Halts Sales of Asus Transformer Prime is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

The MediaPad has iPad- and iPhone-like styling with a solid unibody aluminum construction, a very high resolution 1280 X 800-pixel IPS display, and Android 3.2 Honeycomb. The slate has a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 5-megapixel rear camera and front-facing camera. Additionally, users can use the slate with hotspot capabilities to tether other devices to AT&T’s mobile broadband network.

The MediaPad was not announced with pricing.

Via: Electronista

AT&T Launching MediaPad by Huawei on February 3 for Business Customers is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Under Hirai, Sony will hopefully change its organization structure so that organizations will begin cooperating than competing. In the past, the home theater and Walkman divisions could not launch their own digital media store fronts because those units could not get agreements from Sony’s own music and media groups.

Sony has been working to integrate its expertise as of late. Many of the company’s recent smartphones contain technologies from other groups. The flagship XPERIA S, for example, utilizes imaging sensors from Sony’s camera group and has the Bravia display engine from the company’s home entertainment division.

The Wall Street Journal article did not detail how the company came to developing the Tablet P, which is a dual-screen tablet model.

Via: Electronista

Sony Killed 3 Tablet Designs Before Arriving at Final Tablet S Model is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Additionally, there may be a separate variant of Office 15 for ARM users that will be running in a more limited mode that’s designed for efficient consumption of power.

It’s said that Microsoft had originally intended to re-do Office to make it consistent with Windows 8, but that the company made the compromise to keep the planned release date for the productivity suite. As such, the suite will be comprised of desktop apps underneath, rather than the more modern HTML5-style Metro UI apps.

However, there may still be exceptions in the form of Lync and OneNote, which will, unlike the rest of the Office products, be built upon the WinRT Metro UI design language. As those apps are less complex than other Office products, it may be easier to port those first to Metro UI. The move is smart as well, as OneNote has been a staple of Microsoft’s Tablet PC users, offering the ability an easy way to collect, annotate, and store notes. With Metro UI, finger-friendliness meets digitizing pen may help Microsoft different its tablet products further from consumer-based Android and iOS tablets.

A beta of Office is expected to come in summer.

Office 15 for Windows 8 Rumored to Lack Metro Design UI is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

The image, however, does not reveal anything about the iPad 3 tablet, including specs, shape, or design. It does show that the internal area of the dock connector to be white, which would match the dock connector area in the white version of Apple’s iPhone 4S.

According to Apple.pro, due to the leaked image, suppliers are now suing the website. It’s unclear if the dock connector part that was leaked will make its way to the final iPad 3 or not, but the lawsuit is adding attention to the part, if not credibility to the leak.

The iPad 3 may be released as early as February, if prior speculations hold true. Apple has historically announced its new consumer slates in early Spring.

Via: Mac Rumors

Taiwanese Site Sued After Leaking iPad 3 Dock Connector is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

The move will be significant to Microsoft and the PC industry as utilizing ARM chipsets may serve to reduce the costs of devices, including tablets, and make them even more affordable to consumers. Compared to PCs, tablets, and laptops running Intel or AMD’s x86 architecture, ARM chipsets will cost less.

“The bigger implication is, with [Intel-based] ultrabooks you’re popularizing the idea that you have this thinner design that turns on faster, that lasts longer [battery life]–but then you have Windows 8 on ARM that’s built at a price point that’s much lower. And does all of those things too. This is setting up the ultrabook to head right into the teeth of their [ARM] competitor,” according to the source.

One source said that a high-profile device, that was undisclosed, shown at CES with Intel chips will cost hundreds of dollars less on ARM chipsets.

Sources say that Microsoft may also target all three chip platforms at the same time, rather than staggering the launch for devices running Intel, AMD, and ARM CPUs.

The biggest challenge, still, with ARM chipsets is that devices running on ARM may not be compatible with legacy apps, and still missing in any preview from Microsoft is compatibility with the OS-maker’s Office suite. Though Microsoft claims that Office will be compatible, no one has yet seen a preview or demo that has Office running on ARM.

For ARM, Microsoft has largely demoed HTML5-based full-screen applications based on the Metro UI language.

So far, Microsoft has said and shown little publicly about its ARM-based efforts.

Windows 8 Now Said to be Stable on ARM CPU is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Windows 8 will have motion sensors such as the 3D accelerometer and gyroscope. This will help the tablet perform features such as auto-rotate. The accelerometer will also be open to developers to build applications and games. Light sensors and digital compass will also be part of the package, and Microsoft is hoping that developers and consumers will take advantage of the new apps that will enable sensor support.

If you’re a developer and are looking to take advantage of these new capabilities on Windows 8 apps, you can head on over the Microsoft developer portal to learn more.

Via: MSDN

Microsoft Outlines Sensor Support on Windows 8 is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

The Tablet S is a single-screened gaming tablet that bears a more traditional slate form factor, especially when compared to the dual-screen Sony Tablet P, and comes with Playstation Certification for use with Sony’s Playstation store.

The Tablet S may have been an under-regarded runaway success for Sony especially when compared to the Amazon Kindle Fire, the Samsung Galaxy Tab series, and the Asus Transformer series.

Via: The Telegraph

Sony Tablet S Proves to Be a Success for Sony in UK is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

The Retina Display references found within the latest apps are not the first time that a Retina Display has been hinted at. In the past, iBooks 1.2 hinted at a higher resolution iPad display. Speculations for a higher resolution iPad have existed even before the iPad 2 was launched, and at some point it was believed that the iPad 2 would have a Retina Display when it would launch. That proved to be untrue, and now there is high speculation that the next iPad release will have a Retina Display.

It’s unclear what iPad will call its next iPad release. Chinese case manufacturers say that the next-generation tablet may adopt the iPad 2S moniker and not the iPad 3 branding.

Via: 9to5 Mac

iTunes U, iBooks 2 Apps Hint at iPad Retina Display Resolution is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

If the case manufacturers are correct about the 2S naming convention, then Apple’s iPad 3 will probably support a new hardware re-design.

According to the case manufacturers, the iPad 2S cases are actually 1 mm thicker than the case for the iPad 2. The reason being that the next-generation tablet will support a larger battery.

The larger battery will be useful in accommodating the device’s quad-core processor, higher resolution 2048 X 1536-pixel display, and 4G LTE connectivity. The device will also support better cameras. The rear camera will be improved and a FaceTime HD camera will grace the front.

Apple may potentially announce the iPad 2S in February, if prior rumors hold true.

Via: 9to5 Mac

Next iPad to be Called iPad 2S, Not iPad 3 is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Both companies are struggling with arriving with an appropriate pricing strategy as Windows 8 looms closer to release. If Microsoft and Intel lower pricing for the tablets, the conundrum is that the strategy may cut into pricing for traditional PC sales, thus lowering the profit margins for its hardware partners. As such pricing for Microsoft-Intel Windows 8 tablets may hover in the $600-$800 price point.

As for Intel and Microsoft, the sources pointed out that Intel and Microsoft are also struggling since if Microsoft drops its Windows 8 and Intel drops its Clover Trail-W prices, although the strategy could help raise Wintel-based tablet PC’s market share, it could also seriously damage pricing in the PC market and bring down their gross margin performance.

The problem here is that Microsoft isn’t relying on a separate mobile operating system for its Windows 8 tablet and is using the same Windows 8 platform for both traditional notebooks, laptops, netbooks, and PCs as it is for tablets. With iOS and Android setting the prices for consumer-grade tablets–especially Amazon Kindle Fire’s $200 price point–consumers will be expecting lower priced tablets from the Microsoft-Intel tablet camp.

High Prices May Push Consumers Away from Intel, Windows 8 Tablets is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Despite not delivering a 3G-enabled version of the Transformer Prime, 3G may be coming to other ‘high-end products in the Transformer family.’ It’s unclear what that statement means as the only two products right now in the Transformer family are the Transformer Prime and the original Eee Pad Transformer introduced at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

If Asus had offered a version of the Transformer Prime with an embedded 3G chip, users could connect to compatible cellular networks with a data plan and not have to be within connection of a WiFi signal to get on the Internet.

The Transformer Prime had recently suffered a setback, forcing Asus to change its marketing for the tablet. The unibody aluminum construction of the tablet had interfered with GPS reception for users of the tablet hoping to either use the Transformer Prime for satellite navigation or for location-based services, and Asus had subsequently removed the GPS listing from its specs sheet to avoid confusion.

The tablet is the first quad-core tablet in the world and succeeds the dual-core Transformer tablet.

Via: SlashGear

Asus: No 3G Variant of Transformer Prime Planned is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

As it stands right now, Nokia does not have a tablet or media player. The company is focusing its efforts on launching the Lumia series of Windows Phone 7.

In the past, however, Nokia has not ruled out entering the tablet market and company executives say that they are evaluating the market for opportunities. For now, though, there isn’t a tablet, at least not one that is shown publicly.

Nokia Responds to Alleged 3-Inch ‘Tablet’ Leaks is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

The latter isn’t quite too surprising given that all three major U.S. carriers that are supporting the iPhone are aggressively trying to build out their LTE footprint. Verizon Wireless has the largest footprint, but rival AT&T is slowly adding new LTE markets to the list. Additionally, Sprint is now beginning to deploy LTE in addition to the competing 4G WiMax protocol.

The benefit of LTE over prior generation 3G HSPA/HSPA+ and CDMA/EVDO networks is that LTE can provide up to ten times the download speeds of 3G and super fast upload speeds.

According to Bloomberg, the iPad 3 will have a faster processor as well.

As a company, Apple has been heavily promoting the high-resolution, pixel-packed Retina Display on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. A Retina Display would seem like a natural fit for a tablet given that Apple’s rivals are reaching HD resolution screens. High-end Android tablets either come with a 1280 X 800 display and new models launched may increase that to a 1080p resolution.

The iPad 3 will be launching at a changing point for Apple, which so far has dominated the tablet market. Since the company launched its debut tablet over two years ago, it is facing aggressive competition from low-cost tablets with respectable specs, such as the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet. Moreover, various Android devices also boast LTE connectivity.

iPad 3 Launching in March with High-Res Display, 4G LTE Connectivity is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

And then it appears things got sticky. The App didn’t make it in 2011 and and just yesterday on the company’s Facebook page they announced that it was rejected by Apple. No mention of it on the Tumbler site though. Of course they are going to be appeal and look at other options.

You can check out a video of Taposé below and more at this link. Of course speculation is rampant that maybe Apple is cooking up something like this. The review process of the App did seem to take a long time (I guess that never bodes well). But who knows what’s really at play here. It’s just a shame we didn’t get to check out what Taposé has to offer.

Courier Like iOS App Taposé Rejected by Apple is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

What K.T shows off in this video is a reference design manufactured by Compal and being trumpeted by Intel. For those that don’t know, a reference design is something that some company hopes and OEM will pick up and bring to market some day.

This hybrid uses the Ultrabook sleek and slim design and specs for the keyboard part of the form factor and the detachable slate is well, it’s a slate Tablet that contains the guts of the device. This particular reference design the Compal QAU20 is running Windows 8 on a Core i5 processor, so in the scope of how Microsoft is pushing its next OS, this kind of hybrid form factor does indeed make a lot of sense.

Keep in mind we’re seeing other convertible or hybrid form factors at CES 2012. For instance the Lenovo Yoga.

But maybe I’m just yearning for the good old days.

Intel Convertible Tablet Ultrabook Concept (Video) is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

Regardless, RIM finally announced version 2.0 of its Playbook OS. Guess what? It comes with native email, calendar, and contact apps. Of course those are Apps that RIM took some shots for not having ready with the Playbook’s big launch last year, especially given the bones RIM had made with that kind of App functionality on its Blackberry phones. Talk about a miscalculation. RIM was criticized then, and is destined to be dinged up again now that they are finally releasing that functionality.

I’m picking this info up from The Verge who says that v2.0 is the most polished version yet with some home screen enhancements, drag and drop icon placement and folders. In addition the Messages App doesn’t just do email it also integrates LinkedIn and Twitter to some degree. For Twitter you can send and receive direct messages in the Messages App, but you need a Twitter App to just send a Tweet.

I may be wrong here but I don’t think any of the GBM Team has a Playbook, and even if they did, with priorities being at CES 2012 at the moment I doubt we’ll see any immediate testing here of the new OS. So, head over to the Verge to see what’s what for the moment.

Too Little, Too Late? RIM Finally Adds Native Email Service to Playbook is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

Heck, it might even make Android on Tablets a viable option some say. But then there’s that gooey and sticky Honeycomb mess that gives some pause.

Well, as of tonight at CES, NVIDIA’s Jen-Hsun Huang tells us that the Transformer Prime has chased away the Honeycomb and is now shipping with Ice Cream Sandwich. This is a few days earlier than we had heard that ICS would be available for the Transformer Prime.

This is being played as the first Android 4.0 Tablet and it might be, although there has been an announcement by Anoil Novio 7 Tablet previously that is scheduled to hit the market for $99. The Asus Eee Transformer Prime can be preordered here in the US at prices from $630 and up, but keep in mind this is being rolled out as a premium Tablet experience and isn’t aiming for the budget market.

Via Engadget

Ice Cream Sandwich for Transformer Prime Coming Today is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.