Tablets

Dell has captured the imagination of a tablet-crazed public with a handful of recent photos and details about a new convertible tablet called the Inspiron Duo. A prerelease sample has turned up in the CNET Labs for a hands-on test drive, and we're generally impressed with the design and concept, if less so with the performance.

Unlike traditional convertible tablets, which have screens that rotate 180 degrees horizontally, the Inspiron Duo screen flips 180 degrees vertically--hinged in the middle of the lid. When the screen is flipped over and the lid closed, the system launches a touch-friendly interface for interacting with photos, videos, and music (and returns to the basic Windows desktop when the transformation is reversed).

The flipping motion worked well on our demo unit, although the hinge felt a little loose. You have to take care to turn the screen only in the correct direction, essentially pushing the top of the screen back through the lid. Also, the screen occasionally collided with the keyboard with an audible thunk if we weren't careful about opening the laptop body wide enough for proper clearance. … Read more

This week: Facebook adds e-mail, but does anyone care? Apple's got some new iTunes plans; and we grab a Samsung Galaxy Tab for a head-to-head shootout with the iPad, which quickly turns contentious.

Also, tragedy strikes, as Dan's 42-inch plasma drops dead, leading to an epic quest to find a replacement.

Don't forget: You can download the show's theme song as a free MP3 here for a limited time!

… Read more

The world's largest mobile phone network operators today revealed an effort to expand the GSM wireless communications technology to navigation devices, cameras, handheld gaming systems, music players, and more starting in 2012.

The GSM Association, the consortium overseeing the widely used mobile phone network technology, said a task force of members including AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, China Mobile, and Deutsche Telekom has begun working on adapting SIM cards so they can be embedded in many more devices than phones. SIM cards are small, removable chips that provide phones an identity on GSM wireless networks, but the embedded SIM will be more an intrinsic part of devices and will be able to be activated remotely, the GSMA said.

GSM technology began its life as a technology for phone calls, but with today's 3G and just-arriving LTE incarnations, it's used for data transfer as well. The embedded SIM effort signals a further growth of the GSM lineage beyond just voice needs.

So far, SIM cards haven't made it far beyond mobile phones, though some tablets such as the iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab and some laptops include them. But it's easy to see why mobile phone network operators would be interested: mobile connectivity is ever more important, Wi-Fi networks are an incomplete patchwork, WiMax at least thus far hasn't lived up to its promise of bathing large areas with network access, and there's abundant subscription money to be made in connecting new devices to the Net.

"As our industry moves from connecting phones to connecting a wide range of devices, it is apparent that the embedded SIM could deliver even greater flexibility," GSMA Chief Executive Rob Conway said in a statement.

One trick will be to get new devices onto wireless networks without overtaxing the networks even more.… Read more

We're not saying Research In Motion's PlayBook tablet has a better browser than Apple's iPad (after all, it hasn't come out yet). We're just saying that RIM is saying its tablet has a better, or at least faster, browser. Surprised? We're not.

In a video posted Monday on RIM's official BlackBerry YouTube channel, the PlayBook and the iPad are placed side-by-side. Then Matthew, a member of the browser group at RIM, takes the tablets to the same sites on the same connection at the same time. The PlayBook appears to load the first … Read more

U.S. Cellular today announced its fourth Android-based smartphone, the LG Apex, for a November 19 release. After last month's Samsung Mesmerize, the Apex uses Android 2.1 and carries a price tag of $79.99 after an $80 mail-in rebate.

Unlike the Galaxy S Mesmermize, however, the hardware details for the LG Apex indicate an entry-level device with a 3.2-inch touch screen, sliding QWERTY keyboard, and 3-megapixel camera. The smartphone should pair well with the new Primary Plus Plan.

As handset makers continue to push the envelope with cutting-edge technology and high-end hardware, phones like the Apex … Read more

Mega-famous Gorillaz front man and songwriter Damon Albarn has revealed that he has been recording the next Gorillaz album on his iPad. Remember how the iPad is just a device for consumption?

Reported in music magazine NME on November 13, Albarn says, "I've made it on an iPad--I hope I'll be making the first record on an iPad."

The album, according to NME, could be released before Christmas this year.

Albarn continued, saying, "I fell in love with my iPad as soon as I got it, so I've made a completely different kind of … Read more

The Samsung Galaxy Tab Android tablet will make its way to AT&T November 21, priced at $649.

If you've been following the Tab's prolonged multicarrier roll-out this month, you're probably wondering why AT&T has priced the Tab at a $50 premium over its competitors Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

One answer is that AT&T is using the same flexible, pay-as-you-go data plans pioneered on the iPad, priced at $14.99 (250MB/month) and $25 (2GB/month). If you plan on mostly leaning on the Tab's Wi-Fi capabilities, having the option of … Read more

Consumers still looking to buy one of Hewlett-Packard's new Slate 500 devices will have to wait awhile.

Only three weeks since its debut, HP's new tablet is on back order, according to a notice on the unit's order page. The notice says the tablet is scheduled to ship in another six weeks, and a person in HP's sales department confirmed that it would be shipping on December 27. This means that people who place new orders for a Slate 500 won't be able to get one in time for the holidays.

HP has attributed the … Read more

Forgive us for missing this blog the last few weeks, but we're back to report on the mobile happenings at the Federal Communications Commission. Outside of the appearance of the Samsung GT-i9020, aka what could be the Nexus S, it was a tablet week at the FCC's certification labs. We spied the upcoming Sharp Galapagos and the AT&T and international version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab . Meanwhile, a couple of Kyocera handsets, Tracfone's simple Samsung SGH-T340G, and the Android-powered ZTE 003Z Libero, which is destined only for the Japanese market, represented the phone camp.

Because … Read more