The chart Strategy Analytics shows it best:

RIM and Microsoft has made a slight increase as well, accounting for another 8%.  This all adds up to a real eye-opener for Apple seeing as Android is taking a large jump in sales and continue to come out with ‘bigger and better’ devices every day!

An interesting little interview mentioned over at droid life talkes about the NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang’s opinion that Android will overtake iPad eventually. He notes the use of NVDIA’s Quad-core chips and the interest in the new  Kal-el quad-core processor that he firmly believes will take Android tablets to the next level. Here is a quote from that interview:

“The Android phone took only two and a half years to achieve the momentum that we’re talking about. I would expect the same thing on Honeycomb tablets,” Huang told the Reuters Technology Summit in New York on Monday

We can see the changes / improvements / break-throughs Android makes almost daily with all the new devices coming out, open-source development and news releases seemingly hourly some days, so we know Google is making great strides. The wild card (as always it seems) is Apple…they have always been secretive and usually only releasing minor or needed tweaks/repairs until a major release blows the market away.

What do you think? It won’t be easy, nay take years and I am sure we will see a lot of broken transistors and cracked screens along the way, but does android have what it takes to overcome the iPad? I wouldn’t want to see either OS go down in flames, they both have their strong points, but it makes for a fun race that works out in our favor with competitors usually releasing better devices at lower prices…..Win-Win for us!!!

Sources: Droid-Life Sys-con TechRepublic

Many of us have been holding out for a tablet that can pretty much replace our desktop/laptop at home. Asus seems to have come up with a great product that can do just that for some of us. This powerhouse includes features such as 10.1-inch gorilla covered multitouch display, 16gb/32gb storage, 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, 1gb of ram, dual cameras, up to 16 hrs of battery life and an HDMI-out port.

Asus has not released pricing or release dates, but there have been pre-order screens at Best Buy for $399 that have been removed. Can this be the beginning of Android taking market share from the Windows desktop/laptop market?

Is this what you GEEKsters have been waiting for?
What do you think? The inquiring minds at PPCGEEKS want to know.

Check out some of these amazing Specs:

Eee Pad Transformer TF101

• NVIDIA® Tegra 2 1.0GHz dual-core CPU for excellent multitasking & 1080p video playback
• Android 3.0 Honeycomb O.S. with Adobe® Flash® 10.2 support*2
• Full QWERTY keyboard, touchpad input with Polaris® Office® for mobile productivity
• 16*1 hours long battery life for all day computing with docking station
• Brilliant IPS panel with ultra-wide 178⁰ viewing angle made from scratch resistant and super tough glass
• One year of Unlimited ASUS WebStorage, two USB ports, SD and Micro SD card readers for easy sharing & storage expendability
• 3D stereo with max bass response with SRS premium sound

More Specs and capabilities here: ASUS

Update:

It seems there was a good reason for Best Buy to take the pre-order site down. The right price is nearly $569 U.S for the 16 gig version without the keyboard. The keyboard is priced around $75 U.S.

Here is the right pre-order price in England: Amazon

Knowing how saturated the market is with netbook’s and tablet’s these days, we want to hear your suggestion’s and opinion’s. Are there too many options available that make your decision harder when deciding what to purchase? Or do you feel like you should have several choices available? Either way, the decision’s not always easy for everyone so this article will help those who are currently shopping for one and aren’t sure what to do.

When you begin your search for a cellphone or computer you have several options, we all have been used to that. What we haven’t been used to are so many options when it comes to a netbook or tablet. If you aren’t sure of the difference, let me break it down for you.

A netbook Computer works on the basis of cloud computing and is usually very small in size and light in weight. These devices run Windows or Linux operating systems. A tablet PC is much more similar to your home PC or laptop and run the iPhone or Android operating system’s. I hope this clears up any confusion.

At the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) alone there were over 100 tablets unveiled, some for the U.S and others were for International consumers. However, there are still so many devices available where would you begin to look when you’re completely new to the product line? That’s what I hope to get answers to and maybe in return help those who are in the market for a new tablet know where to look.

Currently we have access to more than one iPad tablet, more than one Android tablet, a Blackberry tablet and also HTC tablets working their way onto the shelves. Forgive me if I missed any. Do these options make you smile and happy to have them or do they confuse you and make you unsure on which one you want. I guess it’s just like buying a phone, you get the one that suits your needs and wants right?

If you were in the market to buy a new tablet and had no clue what you wanted, what would you do? Do you go for looks and style or do you research and learn the specifications first? If you have already purchased one was it a hard decision for you? Did you purchase it because of the manufacturer or did you really compare devices?

If you are looking for tablets and need help, check out this website for starters. It tells you several specifications on more than one. Maybe this will get you started as well as this article and any comments we may get below. Let us know your thoughts!

The title says it all. If you don’t already know, Honeycomb has been ported for use on the HTC Droid Incredible, HTC Evo 4G and the HTC Desire HD. This isn’t the official update that everyone’s been talking about or hoping for but it’s definitely a start in the right direction. Keep in mind, there are a few bugs to be worked out but hey, it’s available.

Take a look at the videos below of Honeycomb running on the Incredible and the Evo. You will notice a bit of a lag but also you’ll see how the new version of Android fits the phones very nicely.

You can find the download links here and keep in mind if you use this, it’s at your own risk!

via ZoKnowsGaming & Androinica

The title and image says it all. Google will be giving you an in-depth look at Honeycomb, demo devices and Android’s ecosystem February 2, 2011 at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.

Last week we gave you a review on Honeycomb for tablets found here. Since then, reports of the operating system have gone haywire. There’s so much confusion going on it’s hard to believe what’s right. Maybe this event is going to clear all that confusion up, I sure hope so anyway.

For now we can speculate what we think will be announced? Go on and let us hear your thoughts. We can’t wait for February 2nd, can you?

Source: Engadget

UPDATE:

It appears there’s been a misunderstanding over the current situation of who really is #1! After speaking with PR Reps from Verizon Wireless, there is a difference between the number of actual subscribers, and machine to machine users on the carrier’s respective networks. It appears, according to Verizon’s statistics, that they are indeed on top!

Here’s quick listing of stats provided by Verizon and noted in a recent article by ComputerWorld

— Customers excluding connections:  94M for Verizon vs. 86M for AT&T

— Customers including connections: 102.2M for Verizon vs. 95.5M AT&T

We have yet to hear from AT&T regarding this.

To read more about it, click here for the ComputerWorld Article!

For months now users of AT&T have asked why aren’t there more high end Android devices available? Most of us imagine it’s because of the iPhone popularity, which is probably going to change soon. With AT&T no longer having the iPhone all to themselves, they are finally putting more focus on Android devices.

At CES, AT&T announced several top-of-the-line Android devices. Shortly following CES, during a conference call, CEO Randall Stephenson stated that “AT&T is going to be a heavy participant in the Android market this year.” He also stated that AT&T would have more focus on not only Android phones but tablets as well.

Do you currently have AT&T? Were you one of the customers waiting for a higher end device? If so, let us know what you think in the comments box below.

Source: BGR

Details have emerged giving you specific new features of Google’s Android 3.0 and they sound mighty fancy. We all know that Android 3.0 (aka Honeycomb) is the next major release of the Android platform and is optimized for tablet devices. There have been rumors that Honeycomb may be available for smartphones but there is no discussion of that in these details.

Version 3.0 has received a load of enhancements for users and developers. Take a look at the introduction video and the features below.

New User Features

• A new virtual and “holographic” UI optimized for larger screens
• Refined multitasking, rich notifications, home screen customization & more widgets
• System Bar, for global status and notifications
• Action Bar for application control
• Five customizable Home screens
• Recent Apps for easy visual multitasking
• Redesigned keyboard (reshaped, repositioned and new keys have been added)
• Improved text selection (copy and paste)
• New connectivity options (Built-in support for Media/Photo Transfer Protocol)
• Updated set of standard apps (browser, camera, contacts and email)

New Developer Features

• New UI Framework for creating great tablet apps
• Redesigned UI widgets
• Persistent Action Bar
• Richer notifications, multi-select, clipboard, and drag-and-drop
• High-performance 2D and 3D graphics
• Support for multi-core processor architectures
• Rich multimedia and connectivity (HTTP Live streaming, Pluggable DRM framework, Digital media file transfer and More types of connectivity)
• Fully compatible with existing apps for earlier versions of Android

What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comment boxes below.

Source: Androinica & AD

At CES 2011 Engadget had a chance to sit down with Matias Duarte, the man behind webOS, the Sidekick and the Helio. He’s also now heading up Google’s user experience for Android. Matias is currently in charge of the interface and design for Android 3.0 (AKA Honeycomb). This is the first video interview Matias has done since leaving Palm so were excited that Engadget has gotten this chance as well as shared it with everyone!

In the video below Matias talks about his history with webOS, why he left and what his goal is for the smartphone industry. He’s always wanted PC’s to be better and that’s what he aims for. He discusses why Android is unique to him; because of the fundamental vision behind Droid. It’s so much different and better than his previous experiences. See the video to get details!

Source: Engadget

You all may already know that The International CES is the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow. This year it took place starting January 6th and runs until January 9th. Several websites are there and reporting what they have found to be interesting. We aren’t there this year but have already made plans for next year so don’t you worry!

Take a look at what some other sites are sharing as they tour the International CES tradeshow!

1) The iPhone may definitely be going to Verizon

AT&T announced three new android powered phones from the smartphone world: Motorola Atrix, HTC Inspire and the Samsung Infuse. They also announced that there will be a total of 12 Android phones coming this year, plus HSPA+ and LTE tablets coming later in the year.  Some consider this to be another ‘hint’ that the iPhone is coming, we will see!

2) Google demonstrated Android Honeycomb on the Motorola Xoom Tablet

As rumored, there are no physical controls around the Xoom’s bezel; instead, everything is handled by on-screen buttons in Honeycomb. They have a really cool widgets gallery with more detailed previews before you actually place them onto your screen and much more. Take a look at the video below for a demonstration!

3) Verizon announced the first LTE device: Droid Bionic

The release date set for the Droid Bionic is currently said to be in Q2 which seems to be the general launch frame for the first LTE devices. See below the specifications of this device:

• 1 Ghz dual-core processor (likely Tegra 2, but not stated)
• 512 MB RAM (possibly 1 GB RAM, depending on if the presser or site page is correct.)
• 4.3″ qHD Display (960×540)
• 1080p HDMI output
• 8 mega-pixel rear-facing camera
• VGA front-facing camera
• Android 2.2
• Mirror Mode – allows streaming of video to the TV or the device

4) T-Mobile announced the Cliq2 and a tester for the G-Slate tablet by LG

The device features some nice hardware improvements based on the features in the original Motorola CLIQ. These would include features such as a 1GHz processor, a 3.7-inch FWVGA (854×480) touchscreen, Wi-Fi calling and a hot spot for up to 5 devices. The CLIQ 2 also features profiles that allow you to easily switch between home and work setups. See the video below for a quick review from TMobile.

Here is a quick look at the G-Slate tablet by LG. This tablet is said to be the “First 4G tablet w/ Android 3.0 Honeycomb.” Would you agree or disagree? I guess we will see who gets which ones first! The G-Slate will run on T-Mobile’s high-speed, 4G-like HSPA+ network. Pricing and additional product details will announced at a later date, T-Mobile says.

5) Sprint announced the EVO Shift 4G

The EVO Shift is a little different from your EVO. They have let the front facing camera go, dropped in screen size and switched to a smaller 800Mhz processor. See the actual specifications below.

• 3.6″ screen
• 800Mhz processor
• 512MB RAM
• 4G connectivity (obviously)
• 5 mega-pixel camera (capable of 720p video)
• 1500 mAH battery
• Android 2.2

6)Velocity Micro announced 3 new Cruz Tablets running andriod

Those three tablets include the 7″ Cruz Tablet L37 (1024×600 capacitive touch screen), the 8″ Cruz Tablet P38 (1024×768 screen) and the 10.1″ Cruz Tablet L510 (1366×768 capacitive touch screen and runs on the NVIDIA Tegra 250 Chipset with a 1GHz dual-core CPU.)

Some specs for all the tablets include:

• front and rear facing cameras
• 3G data options
• Bluetooth 2.1
• GPS and eCompass functionality
• HDMI out and
• eReader
• Kindle app comes pre-installed
• Andriod OS

For now these seem to be the hottest topics at CES! We will update you tomorrow when we get our hands on more information. For now, let us know what you think!

Source: Androinica, AndroidCommunity & Android Police

We know that the upcoming Android Gingerbread won’t have minimum hardware requirements, but that may be a different story for Honeycomb, Google’s tablet-optimized version of Android.

WIth Rumors that NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core CPU will be the design reference for Honeycomb, it may end up actually being a requirement. There’s also rumors that the next version of the OS [aka Honeycomb] may even require a display with a resolution of 1280×720…but hey believe it with a grain of salt ok?!?

Bobby Cha, managaing director of Korean consumer electronics firm Enspert, confirmed the CPU requirements for Honeycomb, and also said that it won’t require a 10 inch display…and that Honeycomb can run on a smaller 7 inch screen. Cha also confirmed that Motorola would be the first tablet to ship with the upcoming Android OS, which here at PPCGeeks we have always believed that.

Now some people might be wondering with these requirementsts in place, then that Galazy Tab won’t be getting the update…Well you are so right, sucks huh? Well to put your mind at ease just think that with all the trouble Samsung is having with getting Froyo out to their fancy Galaxy S line that we could wait that long if not longer for Honeycomb to hit a tablet…But then again who knows maybe these requirements aren’t as hard as the seem, and we’ll only know until Honeycomb is officially released.

Now my prediction is though if Honeycomb does have such requirments that Android OS will become even further “fragmented” which can be frustrating to both the user and the handset makers. I am hoping that we will hear more about these “requirements” in due time, but for now we’ll just drool at the upcoming tablets at CES…

What are your thought PPCGeek Android fans? I mean will this hurt cell phones by not having a “Honeycomb” or is it just best to wait till a bigger better OS is out for you all to move too? Let us know in the comments below!

Via: intomobile