Ahead of Google’s summer I/O developer conference this year, we’re hearing more about Google’s efforts on the hardware side surrounding its Nexus franchise. On the tablet front, we’re getting a clearer picture of the rumored Google Nexus Tablet that’s been speculated to be made by Asus.

The device has been rumored to come in at around $200 and with a 7-inch form factor to take on Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet. According to a source to TechnoBuffalo, the tablet will indeed be introduced at Google I/O in late June this year, and Google is said to be giving away a tablet to every developer in attendance.

What’s still unclear though is if the tablet will come pre-loaded with Android 5.0 Jelly Bean, but the conflicting reports on that suggest that Jelly Bean could in fact debut by the time the conference starts. In the past, Google has been speculated to sell the Nexus Tablet direct to consumers through its own web retail channel starting July.

Additionally, with NVIDIA’s Kai platform aiming to take down the quad-core tablet price to around $200, it could stand that the Tegra 3-powered Nexus Tablet by Asus will also match NVIDIA’s price projections.

Moreover, TechnoBuffalo is reporting that the fifth anniversary of Android will see Google expand its Nexus franchise to include five different smartphones, one each from five different handset manufacturer. This would also alleviate concerns that Google will play favorites with Motorola Mobility as Google had recently closed its acquisition of the smartphone-maker earlier this week.

The five Android Nexus smartphones will be launching on November 5th this year.

This appears to be a big summer for Android. Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III smartphone is also expected to land this summer in the U.S. market.

More Details of Asus Google Nexus Tablet Surface is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

After the launch of the Latitude ST tablet running Windows 7, there has been high hopes that Dell would launch a Windows 8 slate in the form of the Latitude 10. The company isn’t disappointing and in a leaked presentation slide, it appears that the company is working on one with Intel’s dual-core Atom processor inside. The tablet will also ship with 2 GB RAM and a 128 GB SSD, which is twice the solid state flash storage of Apple’s iPad at this time.

According to Neowin, the Latitude 10 will get between six to eight hours of battery life on a single charge and a larger swappable battery will yield up to twelve hours of computing life.

The tablet will have a 10.8-inch display with a 1366 X 768-pixel resolution. There will also be a biometric fingerprint scanner–great for enterprise users–and also Intel graphics on board to accompany the Atom CPU. The company also is making more powerful tablets under the Latitude XT moniker.

According to the leak, this slate will be launching in the late fall or November timeframe. At this time, pricing information has not yet been announced for the Latitude 10.

In appearance, the tablet looks very similar to the Latitude ST and the Samsung Slate 7. Rival computer-maker HP is also speculated to be working on a Windows 8 tablet. Dell also is working on Android tablets for the Chinese market under the Streak moniker after having withdrawn from the U.S. Android tablet market.

Dell Shows Off Atom-Powered Windows 8 Tablet in Leaked Slide is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

It looks like not only is Samsung updating the internal components of its 10-inch Galaxy Note tablet–a device that will join the company’s 5.3-inch Note on the market today that’s sold as a smartphone–but the company will also be making some slight hardware revisions to the tablet as well. In particular, rather than requiring users to carry around a separate stylus like HTC’s Jetstream 4G with the HTC Magic Pen, Samsung is making some changes to the design of the Galaxy Note in order for the slate to accommodate the S-Pen in the body. This stylus slot would be similar to what’s found on the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note.

The S-Pen that will ship standard with the Galaxy Note 10.1 will be slimmer than what was previously shown at Mobile World Congress so that the bundled pen would be able to fit into the body of the slate, according to Android Community. Samsung would likely make a companion pen for heavy users as well for improved ergonomics as an optional accessory, similar to how it is offering the S-Pen and S-Pen Holder for the Galaxy Note 5.3.

Internally, the Galaxy Note 10.1 will be making the jump to a quad-core Exynos CPU as well, rather than the dual-core that was shown at Mobile World Congress.

Samsung will most likely be bundling pre-installed Note-optimized apps on the Galaxy Note 10.1 similar to the premium software suite that will be available once Ice Cream Sandwich hits the Note 5.3. This will help users who make the additional investment to get the tablet with the S-Pen some added value.

Samsung so far has not announced a launch date for the tablet nor has the company given any indication on pricing.

Samsung Retooling 10-Inch Galaxy Note to Accomodate S-Pen, Quad-Core Exynos is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

While the Dell Streak was perhaps the first Android phablet on the market with its 5-inch WVGA resolution display, the Samsung Galaxy Note has brought the category mainstream with its higher resolution 720p HD display spread over a display that measures 5.3 inches. In a report on Engadget, it looks like the phablet category is expanding and will include a range of screen sizes between 4.6- to 5.5-inch according to ABI Research.

By ABI Research’s definitions, recent Android devices that are categorized by consumers as smartphones would fall into the ‘phablet’ category, such as the LG Optimus Vu, HTC One X, the HTC One XL on AT&T, the HTC EVO 4G LTE on Sprint, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and the Samung Galaxy S III.

Given that Android smartphones are trending towards larger display sizes following Google’s debut of the 4.65-inch Galaxy Nexus–the One X/EVO 4G LTE went to 4.7 and the Galaxy S III is eyeing the 4.8-inch size–API’s prediction that 208 million ‘phablets’ will ship by 2015 seems to be reasonable.

As larger screens are becoming more popular with consumers, more manufacturers will be launching devices with larger displays. Even Apple, which has historically maintained the 3.5-inch display since the inception of the original iPhone in 2007, is rumored to be moving to a display size of around 4 inches with its next-generation release come this fall.

It’s unclear why users are now preferring larger displays, but perhaps the big ones are entertainment and web browsing. With faster processors, better graphics, and blazing fast 3G and 4G networks, users are able to stream high quality content over the air. Another possibility is that these same technologies that are enabling better video streaming are also enabling improved productivity, and as the lines continue to blur between what users can do with a phone as compared to a computer, a larger phone display will certainly help with multitasking and productivity.

Definition of Phablet Broadens as Analysts Predict 208 Million Units to Ship by 2015 is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

NVIDIA has created the Kai reference platform to help tablet manufacturers bring down the price of their tablets to $199 starting this summer, which is the same price that Amazon is selling its show-stealing Amazon Kindle Fire. According to NVIDIA, this will help to drive the price of quad-core tablets down to the price of the Kindle Fire, which is a dual-core device. Kai, which is based around NVIDIA’s popular Tegra 3 ’4+1′ architecture, will allow developers to leverage some of the power of Tegra 3 without the added costs:

Our strategy on Android is simply to enable quad-core tablets running Android Ice Cream Sandwich to be developed and brought out to market at the $199 price point, and the way we do that is a platform we’ve developed called Kai. So this uses a lot of the secret sauce that’s inside Tegra 3 to allow you to develop a tablet at a much lower cost, by using a lot of innovation that we’ve developed to reduce the power that’s used by the display and use lower cost components within the tablet.

According to The Verge, NVIDIA says that Kai devices are coming soon and that “customers are using the Kai platform to build Tegra 3 tablets now.”

At this point, it’s unclear if Kai will remain as a reference platform only or if it will get commercialized. We’re already seeing low-cost tablets and hearing lots of rumors about a low cost quad-core Android tablet from Google as well. One device, which was introduced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, is the $250 Asus ME370T tablet, which is a quad-core 7-inch slate. Asus and Google are also rumored to be teaming up to build a $150-$250 Nexus Tablet.

NVIDIA’s Kai Platform to Bring Quad-Core Tablets Down to $199 is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

In the latest round of tablet rumors, it appears that publication DigiTimes is kindling rumors that Amazon will be going big with its next release in the Kindle Fire product line. While it’s been long speculated that Amazon will add a larger Kindle Fire slate to its 7-inch tablet on the market, there was continuing debate if that model will be an 8.9-inch or a 10-inch slate. However, now DigiTimes is claiming that Amazon has suspended plans for its 8.9-inch slate and is favoring the larger 10-inch tablet model in a move that would put the Kindle Fire 10-inch in direct competition with Apple’s market-leading iPad tablet.

Amazon apparently plans to simplify its product lineup to focus its competition against Apple’s iPad, according to industry sources, who also added that the planned 8.9-inch model was originally to take on Samsung’s Galaxy Note tablets.

Apple, meanwhile, isn’t sitting still. While the iOS slate manufacturer has in the past dismissed smaller tablets as not being ideal to a good user experience, it saw the Kindle Fire’s inexpensive $200 price tag and 7-inch form factor to rise to the top of the Android crop and take second place in market share for tablets. Apple is now rumored to be releasing with a smaller iPad, dubbed the iPad Mini, to compete against inexpensive and smaller Android slates.

Amazon has a better chance of succeeding in the low-cost tablet space compared to other Android tablet-manufacturers as it does not need to rely on Google’s ecosystem for digital content. Amazon has storefronts for apps, music, books, magazines, movies, and TV shows. With sales of these content, Amazon can make a small percentage revenue and this allows it to sell its hardware at a loss.

Tablet Rumors: Amazon Goes Big While Apple Shoots Small is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

According to an industry insider, it appears that Microsoft’s next-generation touch-centric Windows 8 desktop operating system and the Intel hardware that will support the OS will debut in November. Windows 8 will also support ARM-based processor, a first for the OS, but according to CNET, “The first wave of Intel-based Windows 8 tablets are expected to land in retail stores in November.”

Windows 8 will be the first version of Microsoft’s OS that will be designed with touch in mind. The designs and devices running Microsoft’s system will have to compete against mobile-centric OSes, like Google’s Android and Apple’s iPad. As such, device manufacturers will be releasing a variety of form factors for Windows 8 devices:

“More than 50 percent” of the “more than a dozen” designs will be hybrids, aka convertibles, the source said. Those designs combine aspects of a traditional physical keyboard-based laptop and tablet.

Devices that will ship with Intel chipset will utilize Intel’s dual-core Atom-based CPU known as Clover Trail. Intel, like Microsoft, is attempting to make inroads in the mobile space. On the hardware side, Intel is competing against ARM-based chipset, which has a stronghold on mobile. Intel’s Clover Trail CPU is based on a similar design as the single-core Medfield CPU, which is found on newly announced Android devices like those from Lenovo and Orange. Clover Trail will be based on a 32 nm manufacturing process for power efficiency.

In addition to Clover Trail, CNET’s source also says that Intel will have a successor in the form of Bay Trail, which will move to a smaller 22 nm process. The biggest news is that Bay Trail will have cellular 3G/4G integration thanks to Intel’s acquisition of Infineon.

What will differentiate hardware running Intel and Windows 8 compared to ARM processor is that the Windows RT on ARM won’t be able to run legacy programs from earlier versions of Windows.

Intel Windows 8 Tablets, PCs to Arrive in November is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

A leaked presentation slide reveals HP’s tablet ambitions for Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system, which will be more touch-centric than prior versions of Windows. The tablet, dubbed the HP Slate 8, will be geared towards business users and will follow HP’s Slate 500, which was release with Windows 7.

In the past, HP had said that it would be releasing a tablet based on Microsoft’s Windows 8 rather than Android when the company had announced that it would ultimately keep its PC division rather than selling or spinning it off much like what IBM had done years ago. Another potential at that time would be webOS through the company’s acquisition of Palm.

The Slate 8 is said to run on the x86 architecture, which is used by Intel and AMD, rather than an ARM-based operating system. The tablet is said to weigh 1.5-pounds, which is the same weight as Apple’s first-generation iPad, and will have a battery life of between 8 to 10 hours.

The x86 architecture makes sense as this is a business slate. Though Windows on ARM will support ARM-based architecture, those systems will be more limited to HTML5 apps with the Metro UI as ARM-based releases of Windows 8 won’t be able to support legacy Windows programs. As a business machine, legacy program support will be a key selling point. The downside for consumers eyeing this release is that Intel-based systems would be a bit more expensive than ARM-based system, and that’s something that we’ve seen with the Windows 7 release of Samsung’s tablet, costing in excess of $1,000 whereas the Apple iPad starts at $400 (for the iPad 2 base model). The leak mentions that the Slate will ship with Windows 8 Pro according to Liliputing.

HP’s Windows 8 Slate Leaked is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Huawei is now making the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available to owners of the MediaPad 7-inch tablet. According to reports, the software update is not available as an over-the-air update at this time and users must download the update first to their computers in order to upgrade the MediaPad from its Honeycomb OS. In the U.S., the MediaPad originally launched with 4G HSPA+ on T-Mobile USA’s network as the T-Mobile Springboard 4G tablet by Huawei, and the Chinese manufacturer had subsequently launched the MediaPad on AT&T through more limited channels on that carrier’s 4G HSPA+ network as the AT&T MediaPad.

To download the update, users can visit Huawei’s website.

The MediaPad became the first tablet with Android 3.2 Honeycomb when it debuted and brought Google’s Honeycomb operating system, which originally was only available for slates with 10-inch screens, down to a 7-inch form factor. The tablet is well constructed with a unibody aluminum shell and has a high 1280 X 800-pixel display resolution. As a more premium offering with dual-core Snapdragon processing, 1 GB RAM, and an elegant design, the MediaPad was very affordably priced on T-Mobile USA’s network and marks Huawei’s transition from a low-cost budget manufacturer of device to one that is entering the premium tier. The MediaPad effectively competes with the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus on T-Mobile’s network.

At this time, it’s unclear when and if T-Mobile USA and AT&T will be rolling out the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to their branded-MediaPad offerings.

More recently at Mobile World Congress in late February, Huawei announced that it would be expanding its MediaPad franchise to include a quad-core 10-inch tablet.

Huawei Now Releasing Android 4.0 Upgrade to 7-Inch MediaPad Tablets is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

There are a gazillion posts today reporting the news from comScore that Amazon’s Kindle Fire has 54.4% of the Android Tablet market. You can check out the news of that here in Shawn’s post. While we all need to take any news like this with some skepticism, sadly for Google and Android Tablet fans, this news was as predictable as Apple analysts missing on their predictions on Apple’s financial results. Why was it predictable? Well, there are several reasons.

First, Amazon didn’t do what every other Android Tablet maker does. It didn’t try to compete with Apple’s iPad. Instead Amazon launched a device that was targeted for folks who don’t want Tablets, computers, smartphones, or anything else with any hint of complexity. There’s no hint of the Android operating system, unless you want to look for it. The device does what it does and does it well and users can do what they need to do without worrying about how the device works.

Second, Amazon played the price game smartly. You can call it limited functionality for a lower price, or you can more accurately, in my opinion, call it smart marketing. Note that we’re hearing about other cheap Android Tablets coming lately.

Third, Amazon, like Apple, launched after it had its ecosystem and customer loyalty already built. It’s not trying to build around the device from scratch (or from the ashes of previous failed efforts).

And finally, Amazon realized, again, like Apple, that folks (other than geeks) want simplicity above all else when they use these devices. Amazon delivered on that expectation with the Kindle Fire. Other Android Tablet makers still don’t get it. I’m afraid we’re headed there as well with Microsoft’s Windows 8 Tablets, regardless of the flavor (RT or regular).

Both Amazon and Apple have figured out this game. The rest are still struggling to get a clue as they try to make this market work like the markets of old. (Hint, those days are gone.) Don’t get me wrong, I still hope we’ll see successes in the future. I just don’t think the business models that Google and Microsoft, and those who are using their respective operating systems provide an opportunity for success. But then, Google’s model let to the Kindle Fire’s success, so what do I know.

Thoughts on the Kindle Fire Being Half of the Android Tablet Market is a post by Warner Crocker from Gotta Be Mobile.

Apple is beginning to more aggressively target its consumer-centric tablets at children with the iPad at the children’s table at its retail stores. The space on the children’s area at Apple stores was previously occupied by the company’s iMac home desktop computer, which highlighted the versatility of the computer in handling educational software, games, and other digital content in a compact, all-in-one design. Now, according to recent changes at a number of Apple retail stores, the children’s table is now occupied by four Apple iPad tablets according to a report on iMore.

The move is unsurprising as Apple makes greater in-roads into the educational segment. The company highlighted with the lower $399 starting price point for the iPad 2 this year following the debut of the third generation tablet as helping to spur sales in the education market. With that news at its recent earnings call, Apple said that the company now sells twice as many iPad tablets to K-12 schools than it does Mac sales even though sales of the company’s MacBook line continues to grow.

In Steve Jobs’ post-PC era, it seems that the iPad tablet and children are a natural fit together as the tablet has been highlighted with educational titles, books, videos, and apps that help foster learn and growth in a fun and engaging way that traditional computers may not be able to deliver. With a lower starting price than traditional computers, the iPad can be a useful tool for families who may not otherwise be able to afford a regular PC. The post-PC era is here and Apple is targeting them younger to hopefully convince them to be life-long customers.

Apple Stores Begin Targeting iPad at Children is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

With Samsung’s success of the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note, a device that straddles the smartphone and tablet form factor and has been lovingly dubbed the ‘phablet,’ it seems other manufacturers have taken note of the Note. South Korean rival LG had debuted the LG Vu, which has a similarly large display in a smartphone at Mobile World Congress in late February and now emerging Chinese smartphone-maker ZTE is hoping to enter the market and get a piece of the action with two new phablets to launch by the end of the year.

According to a report from Reuters, ZTE is hoping to further expand outside of China and increase profitability. As the company cannot reduce its costs for raw materials any further, the other route that ZTE could take as it tries to increase its market share in the consumer market is to increase the average selling price of its devices, which means moving from the low-cost entry-level market to a market that’s dominated by big name rivals such as Apple, Samsung, LG, Motorola, HTC, Sony, and others.

Though the larger 5-inch size of the Galaxy Note has been met with polarizing reviews–there are those who love the device’s portability when viewed as a tablet while others see the device as a smartphone that is over-sized–Samsung has announced the relative success of the device with about 1 million units shipped per month since inception. Though Samsung had popularized this form factor, it was Dell with its original 5-inch Streak that introduced the phablet concept.

The Galaxy Note, along with the LG Vu, also boasts another technology besides the larger, yet portable, form factor. That technology is in the form of an electro-magnetic digitizer pen, which brings additional capabilities to the device and increases its utility.

ZTE to Launch Two Phablets This Year to Compete Against Samsung Galaxy Note is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

It appears that the long-rumored ZTE-made V66 Android tablet will land on Verizon Wireless as the Turbine and will be among the cheapest Android slates with 4G LTE connectivity on board. The device will join Verizon’s Android tablet lineup with devices from Samsung and Motorola.

News of the final naming for the V66 as the Turbine comes from pocketnow, which says that an accessory-maker had tipped it on what the final naming will be.

The device is said to be similar to the Sprint Optik tablet, which features a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1280 X 800, dual-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon processor, and low entry price point. The tablet will also have front- and rear-facing cameras. Unlike the 3G Sprint model, Verizon’s model will offer 4G LTE connectivity, which promises Internet speeds up to ten times faster than the 3G technology. Sprint’s model sans 4G, for comparison, launched for just $100 with a service agreement.

It’s still unclear when the Turbine will launch as neither Verizon nor ZTE has made any mention of the slate. Earlier rumors suggest that the tablet would run on Google’s Android Honeycomb platform, but given the late release, it may launch out of the box with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

From a  design perspective, the chrome borders and rounded corners of the ZTE Turbine reminds me a lot of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab designs.

Hopefully, we’ll know soon enough about the device. With the CTIA trade show coming up, Verizon could potentially debut the slate at that venue.

ZTE V66 to Launch as Verizon Turbine 4G LTE Android Slate? is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Huawei has proven itself to be an emerging smartphone powerhouse in the Android camp with powerful, well designed models like the slim and sleek Ascend P1 and the quad-core Ascend D quad, but the company isn’t sitting still. Like HTC, Samsung, and LG before it, Huawei is looking to diversify its portfolio by offering multiple phones running multiple operating systems, and it looks like the company is eyeing Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform and Windows 8 OS to drive further growth.

Given Nokia’s commitment to Windows Phone and the recent increase in mind share behind Microsoft’s OS, which is struggling in the shadows of Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems in the mobile space, it comes as little surprise that the increased consumer awareness of Windows Phone is leading other manufacturers to try and capitalize on Windows Phone. According to Chinese site WPDang, Huawei has around 70 engineers and designers employed to release a Windows Phone 8 device by the end of this year.

Windows Phone 8, also known by its codename of Apollo, will help the platform remain more competitive against rivals, at least on paper. Though Windows Phone 7 performs smoothly with its single-core CPU restrictions, the platform seems dated when compared to multi-core Android phones and HD displays–Windows Phone 8 will help manufacturers catch up on specs so that their devices look competitive on paper.

WP Sauce is also reporting that there are also rumors that Microsoft’s desktop-class Windows 8 platform will also be used by Huawei on an upcoming slate. The company has released a number of Android tablets in the past, and the addition of Windows 8 will help it grow its offerings. It’s unclear if the slate will be a Windows on ARM tablet or if it will utilize Intel’s or AMD’s CPU. 4G LTE connectivity will be part of Windows 8.

Huawei Working on Windows 8 Phones, Windows 8 4G LTE Tablets is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Responding to questions about why Apple has not released a more advanced version of the iPad slate running the company’s desktop-class OS X platform rather than the mobile-centric iOS platform, Apple CEO responded that such an idea of convergence leads to too many compromises. Compared to Apple rival Microsoft, which is standardizing its Windows 8 OS experience from notebooks to tablets to desktops, Apple’s strategy is more segregated and Tim Cook says that the company has no plans at this time to offer a tablet product with a full-scale Mac OS X operating system on-board.

According to AppleInsider, when Richard Gardner of Citigroup had inquired with Cook on “why you don’t believe the PC and the Ultrabook and tablet markets will converge,” the Apple CEO quickly responded with an analogy.

“You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but you know, those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user,” Cook says.

Before the iPad had launched, many had believed that Apple would adopt Microsoft’s Tablet PC concept by bringing the desktop OS to the tablet, but that proved to be quite the opposite of what Apple had done. By utilizing a mobile architecture, Apple was able to deliver a low-cost experience to end-users and provide an unparalleled app store. More recently, it is Apple’s desktop OS that has borrowed ideas from its mobile iOS counterparts, with notifications, messages, launch pad, and more.

Cook noted that the ecosystem is getting bigger and better, and that the iPad is now not just a consumer tablet, but one that’s being used in the education and enterprise markets. The company noted that Apple sells twice as many iPad tablets to K-12 schools in the education market than it does computers, though MacBook sales continue to climb.

With Windows 8, Microsoft is trying to take on the iPad, but with a different strategy. Rather than asking consumers who want both a notebook/desktop and a tablet, Microsoft is saying you can have one device that does it all without compromise. The convergence model of Windows 8 will allow users to interact with the OS through traditional mouse and keyboard inputs as well as touch. Additionally, Apple is relying more on its iCloud cloud storage and synchronization system to position its iPad and iPhone products as being a tether-free experience where users do not need to have an additional PC as everything from activations to transferring photos can be done through the cloud.

However, Cook disagrees with that strategy and positioning that its rival is taking, noting, “You wouldn’t want to put these things together because you end up compromising in both and not pleasing either user. Some people will prefer to own both, and that’s great too. But to make the compromise of convergence, we’re not going to that party. Others might, from a defensive point of view particularly”

In addition to high-end Intel-powered Windows slates, Android tablets are also on the climb, but have so far not kept pace with Apple It wasn’t until the introduction of the low-cost $200 Kindle Fire tablet that Android was able to make any meaningful dent into Apple’s market-leading iPad’s market share.

Tim Cook: No iPad ‘Pro’ Model; Windows 8′s Idea of Convergence is Flawed is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

This latest one-of-a-kind Apple iPad case shows the perfect marriage of old world craftsmanship with new world technology. It appears that the case is crafted with old leather bookmaking techniques and can securely hold an iPad 2 or iPad 3. What really sets this case apart from other finely made cases is that it’s handcrafted and its leather is etched with a design that was created by Apple’s third co-founder Ronald Wayne.

This case was commissioned by Reddit user 44oz using a design that highlights Sir Isaac Newtorn sitting under an apple tree. Apple Computer Co. is also etched onto the leather. The case was featured on 9to5 Mac. 

The leather is said to be black kangaroo leather and the case was handmade in Australia by Attila Acs.

If you want to re-create this masterpiece, you can go to High on Glue to learn the handicraft process of working with leather.

As this case is a one-of-a-kind creation, there is no price on this piece. It’s unclear if anyone will commercialize this project in the future so those who aren’t crafty can get a custom case like this one.

The end result is beautiful and reminds me of old Italian leather-bound books and journals.

Old World Bookmaking Leather Meets New World iPad in Latest One of a Kind Case is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

According to the latest reports, it looks like Samsung may have stopped production of its dual-core Galaxy Note 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Android Ice Cream Sandwich slates in an effort to release more improved models supporting quad-core processors. At this time, though, it’s unclear if Samsung is looking to use its own quad-core Exynos CPUs with a 32 nm architecture or if the company will turn to NVIDIA for the Tegra 3 CPU. In the past with its first dual-core Galaxy Tab 10.1 slate, Samsung had utilized a Tegra 2 chipset from rival NVIDIA.

The rumor that Samsung is stopping production on its second-generation Tab 10.1 is not entirely surprising. After having announced the first 10-inch Galaxy Tab at a CTIA trade show, the South Korean Android manufacturer had canned the design o that model before it was release. Citing that it had studied what Apple was doing with the iPad 2, Samsung had released a sleeker and slimmer Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the incarnation that we see today. With the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and Galaxy Note 10.1, Samsung’s moves may be to be better competitive with other Android slates, such as quad-core Transformer Prime and Transformer Pad offerings from rival Asus.

It’s unclear when these new upgraded devices will launch. Given that the Spring CTIA trade show is weeks away, perhaps Samsung may shed some light on the quad-core Galaxy Tab there. According to Netbook News, it’s unclear if these speculated plans will have any impact on the U.S. launch of these tablets from Samsung.

As the Galaxy Tab 2 7 model with a 7-inch screen is already released, that model will be retaining its dual-core CPU. In the future, perhaps Samsung may add a ‘plus’ model like they did with the Galaxy Tab 7 Plus to bring better specs to that device.

Samsung Rumored to Halt Galaxy Note, Tab 2 10.1 Production to Add Quad-Core CPU is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

Microsoft has been known–and mocked–in the past for its numerous and often times confusing variants and versions of its Windows release, encompassing students, home users, professionals, corporate users, and enterprises. With Windows 8, the company is simplifying its releases, taking its Windows 8 release down to just three variants to address various users. For the x86 platform used by systems with Intel and AMD chipsets, users can choose Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro, and users who opt for tablets and computers with ARM-based processors will need Windows RT to get started.

The company also confirmed that the official product name for the x86 platform will be Windows 8–the ARM platform will be going with the Windows RT brand without the ’8′ moniker in it.

Microsoft says that most users can choose Windows 8 for the x86 architecture. Enthusiasts and enterprise customers may want the Pro, which adds a few more features on top, such as: encryption, virtualization, PC management and domain connectivity. Windows Media Center will be available as an optional paid add-on for Windows 8 Pro.

Windows RT will be geared at devices–including laptops, desktops, and tablets–that run on ARM processors. Windows RT will also include touch-optimized versions of Microsoft’s Office suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

You can read more about Microsoft’s efforts with Windows 8 and Windows on ARM on the Windows Team Blog.

The Three New Flavors of Windows 8: Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows RT is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

In his company’s quarterly earnings call, Google CEO Larry Page made mention that Google will be focusing on the low-cost tablet market to help improve Android’s market share in the tablet space against competitors like iOS and the Amazon Kindle Fire. Page believes that Google will achieve most of its result in the low-cost category and that Google will be ‘quite focused’ on that space. Though Page did not officially mention the company’s Nexus Tablet, Google had not been shy about mentioning that it hopes to extend what it had done for smartphones with the Nexus line to tablets in the past.

In revealing Google’s focus on the low-cost tablet market, Electronista reported that Page also mention a rival product from online retailer Amazon.com known as the Kindle Fire, a 7-inch tablet that relies on Google’s Android 2.3 operating system but shuns Google out of the hardware in both the experience and in the ecosystem. Though The Kindle Fire utilizes Google’s underlying OS, it is heavily and deeply skinned as to leave very little visible traces of the Android user experience to consumers, and Amazon’s rich digital market ecosystem blocks out the Google Play Store in favor of the Amazon Appstore for Android, Amazon MP3 for music, Kindle store for books and magazines, and the Amazon Video store for on-demand and Amazon Prime videos. Even the browser uses Amazon’s proprietary technology to speed up browsing. In leaving out Google, Amazon is creating an experience that is wholly different than Android and is enjoying revenues through the sales of digital content, revenue that would have otherwise gone to Google.

But what makes the Kindle Fire attractive to users is a solid build quality, high specs for hardware, and a low price point of $199, a price that Amazon is selling the device at a loss for in order to recover costs later through digital content sales. The low price made the Kindle Fire popular and propelled this Amazon Android device into second place for market share after Apple’s popular and market leading iPad.

It is Amazon’s quick rise to glory that Google is eyeing, and though Google may appear to have conceded the high-end market to Apple following lackluster sales from its hardware partners and Android licensees, it does not want to do the same at the low end of the spectrum to Amazon. Whereas partners like Samsung, LG, Motorola, and HTC are not brazen enough to go solo with their own digital stores for content, Amazon is, and this is where the war will heat up.

Google CEO Alludes to Low-Cost Android Nexus Tablet is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.

A new leaked document suggests that Samsung is working on a new line of tablets in addition to its flagship Galaxy Tab line and its pen-enabled Galaxy Note line that makes use of the company’s S-Pen. The new tablet line, branded under the Expresso name, will have two tablets–a 7-inch and a 10-inch slate–that are expected to debut by this summer. Details about the tablets are not yet available at this time, and it’s unclear how Samsung will be differentiating the Expresso tabs from its Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Note lineup.

The document comes from a leak from Samsung’s Smart TV group, and given that the Expresso slates are linked to Smart TVs, these devices may be more heavily integrated into Samsung’s TV products than previous tablets. Starting with the Galaxy Tab 7 Plus, and now the latest releases of the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Samsung had been working on better tablet integration with consumer’s living room by featuring a consumer-grade infrared port and remote control software allowing users to control their home entertainment centers. The Expresso can potentially extend Samsung’s existing integration and may come with smarter software allowing users more control of their homes and living room, though that has not yet been confirmed. Samsung is working on a Smart View Android application that will help these slates connect to a Samsung TV.

According to Unwired View, a June launch date would make these tablets launch alongside the Galaxy Note 10.1 with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on board. There’s speculations that these new tablets will be high-end, multimedia centric slates with quad-core Exynos CPU and a high resolution 1080p HD display to rival Apple’s latest iPad. The 10-inch Expresso may have a display resolution of 1920 X 1200 pixels over a 10-inch screen.

This positioning would make the Galaxy Tab a more mainstream, easily accessible tablet. The Galaxy Tab 2 debuted at significantly lower price points making them even more affordable to consumers. The Galaxy Note lineup will be a niche product geared at business and creative professionals with the device’s active digitizer and the Expresso will be geared at high-end content consumption with headlining processors and HD displays.

Samsung to Launch New Line of Expresso Tablets? is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Gotta Be Mobile.