So, plenty of iPad 3 rumours are knocking about stating that the tablet will be sporting a super-high resolution Retina display, comparable to that found in the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The proposed resolution by many gadget bloggers and anaylsts would be somewhere in the region of 2048x1536.

But what would that actually look like compared to the Apple gear we already have? The iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 sit only at the 960x640 mark, while the first two iPads are 1024x768. The iPhone 1, 3G and 3GS models are a paltry 480x320.

In otherwords, a 2048x1536 resolution display (squeezed into a ten-inch screen, remember) would look IMMENSE. It dwarfs even the resolution of a Full HD Blu-ray viewing, the current consumer high-water mark.

To illustrate the point, Chris Koerner put together a handy comparison chart. If you weren't excited about the potential of the iPad 3 before, you probably should be now.

Click the image above to see a full-size comparison.

Amazon may be preparing to refresh their Kindle Fire tablet line, with a new 9-inch version of the slate and a souped-up 7-inch edition potentially landing in the middle of the year.

Pacific Crest analyst Chad Bartley has upped his initial Kindle Fire 2012 sales estimates from 12 million tablets to 14.9 miilion units due partly to the new rumours.

"We are raising our 2012 sales forecasts to 14.9 million from 12.7 million," he stated in a message to investors.

"But we believe there is an upward bias, particularly from the new 7 and 9-inch models, which we expect to launch in mid-2012."

A 9-inch tablet would put Amazon into direct competition with Apple and their own tablet, with an iPad 3 model expected to touch down in the Spring.

Amazon are the only company to have come remotely close to rocking Apple's tablet domincance, shifting some 6 million Kindle Fire tablets over the holiday period.

Via: AllThingsD

Apple may be gearing up for a big launch event in the first week of March for the iPad 3, if a new report by AllThingsD is to be believed.

According to the site's sources, they're stating that at the very least an event will be hold detailing the product, even if its actual release sits a little longer away.

No time or place was revealed by the source, but the blog hazards a guess at "presumably [...] the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts" as the venue with the tablet itself released following "the same schedule as that of the iPad 2: available for purchase a week or so after the event".

By that estimation, it'd make it pretty much a year-on-year refresh for the line since March 2010, when the first iPad was released following its unveiling in January.

As for what to expect from the iPad 3, the rumour mill has certainly been churning of late. Reports of a 2048x1536 Retina display, a quad-core A6 chip, larger battery and a more comprehensive camera offering than the iPad 2's pitiful showing have all been suggested.

Via: AllThingsD

Those looking for a tablet designed to be tinkered with should turn their attentions away from Android and iPads, and take look at the cheap-as-chips Spark Linux-based slate.

On pre-order now €200 (£165) and expected to ship in May across Europe, it's a 7-inch tablet running an open-source OS called KDE Plasma Active UX, built on Linux foundations.

It's software is designed to let users fully play with the devices coding, letting users create their own apps, and fully unlocking all of the development features straight out of the box. No Android-style rooting needed here to get creative.

In terms of specifications, the Spark rocks an 800 x 480px screen with a 1.3 megapixel camera for video calling. Under the hood, there's a 1GHz AMLogic ARM processor with a Mali-400 GPU and 500MB of RAM. 4GB of built-in storage features, with expansion possible through the SD card slot.

"This is a unique opportunity for Free software. Finally we have a device coming to market on our terms. It has been designed by and is usable by us on our terms," said KDE developer Aaron Siego.

"We are not waiting for some big company to give us what we desire, we're going out there and making it happen together. Just as important: the proceeds will be helping fuel the efforts that make this all possible."

Via: Asiego / Tech Radar

It seems the major price cuts RIM offered on their BlackBerry Playbook tablets still hasn't been enough to shift the backlog of unsold slates, as today the company revealed they will be giving some units away for free to those who develop apps for their device.

The offer was revealed in a tweet from RIM's vice president of developer relations Alec Saunders, who stated that those looking to nab a freebie must first submit an app to the BlackBerry App World.

And they'll have to do it quickly too; to claim a free Playbook, the app must be submitted in under a fortnight, before February 13th. A few more (conveniently) as-yet-unannounced stipulations apply, which may make it difficult for potential developers to meet the terms within the time frame. If they do however, they merely need send an email to developeroutreachprogram@rim.com with the details of the app they've created to claim their prize.

"The plan is to provide one free 16GB BlackBerry PlayBook to every registered BlackBerry App World vendor who converts their Android app for use on the BlackBerry PlayBook and submits it to BlackBerry App World," reads a posting on the BlackBerry developer's blog.

It's thought that move is to encourage a rush of apps onto the BlackBerry App World store in preparation for the potential launch of two new BlackBerry tablets this year.

ASUS loo set to be adding a new model to their line of shape-shifting tablets, if this latest batch of leaked images are to be believed.

Following in the footsteps of the original Transformer with its model number being TF101, andits successor the Prime with TF201, the French site Blogeee which uncovered the shots are calling this theTF300T, suggestive of a ten-inch screen size.

But with no sense of comparative scale in the shots, the tablet could just as easily be the 7-incher ASUS CEO Jerry Shen was waving about at CES last month.

All will likely be revealed at this month's MWC event.We'll keep you posted on any updates.

Via: Engadget

Ready for some more iPad 3 rumour-goodness? Of course you are! BGR are the latest gang claiming to have been made privy to details concerning the latest Apple tablet's innards, and if they've got their facts straight it makes for some very exciting news.

Getting their info from a source that claims to have actually gotten its mitts onto a prototype iPad 3, the source claims that the next-gen slate will have LTE connectivity and a quad-core processor.

Posting screenshots from a debug tool called iBoot, the source also reveals two model numbers J1 and J2, or iPad3,1 and iPad3,2 as they've been listed elsewhere. These likely correspond to the Wi-Fi only version of the tablet and the GSM/CDMA/LTE variant too.

Some processor model number juggling also seemingly confirms the quad-core update; Apple's A4 chip is called the S5L8930X and the A5 is the S5L8940X. The protype is said to sport a S5L8945X, which is now thought to be the model number of the quad-core A6 processor.

Calling it "the fastest iOS device ever", Apple better hope the rest of the world see the iPad 3 as positively; Samsung are apparently preparing to launch some very tasty tablets of their own at this month's MWC 2012 show.

With Samsung's Galaxy S III handset almost a certain no-show at this year's MWC 2012 trade event, the Korean tech firm are now rumoured to be plugging the gap with a duo of new tablet devices instead.

Samsung are said to have applied for Wi-Fi interoperability certificates for two devices with product codes of GT-P5100 and GT-P3100, just in time for the Barcelona show.

Samsung's product naming conventions see that any device with the letter "P" in its ID will be a tablet, fuelling rumours already bandying about that Samsung are preparing to launch a whopping 11.6 inch tablet, perhaps one of the devices listed above.

It's thought the tablet will sport a Retina Display-trouncing 2560 x 1600 screen, backed by a 2GHz dual-core processor. The Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android is also thought to feature.

The rumours follow news today that the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone will not appear at MWC 2012, instead being revealed at it's own dedicated event.

Via: Android Authority

HP have set a September launch date for the open source version of their failed OS, webOS.

Open webOS was announced back in September, after a few precarious months that saw the future of the OS put in doubt when the TouchPad tablet from HP, using the OS, bombed. By issuing an open source version, HP are hoping it will live on as an alternative to Android and Windows Phone 7 for handset manufacturers.

"HP is bringing the innovation of the webOS platform to the open source community," said Bill Veghte, executive vice president and chief strategy officer of HP.

"This is a decisive step toward meeting our goal of accelerating the platform's development and ensuring that its benefits will be delivered to the entire ecosystem of web applications."

A new generation of Enyo framework (the Javascript WebKit app that allows cross-platform distribution of apps) will land first, followed quickly by Enyo 2.0 and 2.1 in April. Apps built using these standards will allow them to run not only on mobile devices, but desktop browsers too.

While it's great to see the once-promising OS live to fight another day, we can't help but feel HP's handling of the software may have turned people off of it for good. It'll be interesting to see just how many developers get onboard and start tinkering with the platform once again.

Via: Developer.Palm.com

We don't need no education.

Er... sorry Mr Floyd. I think we do actually . And it seems the recent launch of iBooks 2 is already proving it. Just 3 days after Apple's education-orientated eBook store update, Global Equities Research believe that 350,000 textbooks have already been downloaded through the platform.

The update seems to be inspiring content creation too, with AllThingsD reporting that the eBook authoring Mac app iBooks Author has already been downloaded a whopping 90,000 times too.

It's a strong start for Apple's push into digital education, and also acts to highlight just how popular and widespread iPad tablet take-up has been.

Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt are among the educational publishers using iBooks 2 to deliver media-rich textbooks to iPad owners. The three publishers represent 90% of the US textbook market for high school students.

Click here for more on iBooks 2.

Now that all the fanfare surrounding the annual CES show is beginning to die down, it's time for the iPad-refresh rumours to crash through the floodgates once more. The latest loose-lipped source "in-the-know" has been talking to Bloomberg, who believe they've got their hands on a few rough specifications for the new tablet.

Top of the list of new features is a quad-core processor, a reasonably safe-bet for inclusion with the rise of quad-core Android tablets, and the core-doubling jump that the iPad 2 made over its preprocessor. The extra processing grunt will allow videos to "begin playing almost instantly", according to Bloomberg's source.

That's particularly impressive considering these videos are expected to be full-HD, running on an iPad 3 screen that is said to offer a higher pixel density than some HDTVs. Again, it's a decent claim; we'd expected the iPhone's Retina display to hit the iPad 2, and would likely rile many Apple fans were it not to feature this time around.

Lastly, Bloomberg's source claims the iPad will be LTE-ready for super-fast mobile download speeds. It's apparently hitting the iPad ahead of the iPhone due to the tablet's more substantial battery. Again, it's a decent rumour-shout, but with LTE still not widely available in the UK and much of Europe, it puts this feature into question. Apple don't like to fragment their device ecosystem, and offering a feature in one territory and not another seems a very un-Apple-like thing to do.

All pretty rudimentary then as far as rumours go. We'll expect to hear plenty more like this in the coming weeks and months, right up to a Spring launch, should the current Apple release schedule be anything to go by.

Samsung look set to unleash all-white versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab line, following leaked shots of a pair of new-look devices hit the web over the weekend.

Shot in Vietnam, the pictures show a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, each with an all-white chassis. While Samsung have previously released Galaxy Tab's with a white back plate, this is the first time they've gone the whole hog and made the front bezel white too.

However, it's only a minor cosmetic change to the tablets, as under the hood all specifications remain unchanged.

So, for the 10.1, you're still getting a 1GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor with 1GB of RAM and a 1280x800 WXGA LCD screen, while the 7.0 packs a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM nestled under a 1024x600 display.

Enough to get you to swap your penny saving tin for a Galaxy Tab rather than an iPad? Let us know in the comments section below.

Via: GSM Arena

Lenovo are really pushing device flexibility at CES 2012. First, we had the transforming, screen-swivelling IdeaPad YOGA, and now we've been treated to a demo of the IdeaTab S2110.

Part tablet, part notebook, it docks with a detachable keyboard to double its battery life, running a re-skinned version of Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

Hit the video above to see it in action.

For more news from CES 2012, click here.

Dell have revealed they are to re-enter the tablet wars this year, despite previously being burned with their initial Dell Streak attempts.

"You will see us enter this market in a bigger way toward the end of the year. So we are not really deemphasizing it, we are really being very careful how we enter it," Chief Commercial Officer Steve Felice told Reuters.

"We like Windows 8 but we continue to develop with Android as well. We are still going to be more choice-driven, based on the feedback we get from customers."

Felice's comments make it hard to judge whether or not Dell will opt for Windows or try once more with Android, as they did with the Streak (pictured).

There's no denying it's an even more competitive market than when they last tried to enter it, with the Streak, nestled somewhere between a smartphone and tablet, proving a buggy, ill-received mess.

Beyond Samsung, Asus and Motorola's niche carving of a corner of the market, practically all other tablet manufacturers have fallen foul of Apple's dominance. Even Dell's fellow PC stalwarts failed miserably with their TouchPad device, and once mighty mobile giant RIM saw their PlayBook become a total disaster.

Dell teased new tablet products last year with the Streak 10 and Streak Pro, but even the too would need major innovative overhauls to catch the attention of consumers. Only time will tell if Dell will deliver the tablet goods.

For more news from CES 2012, click here.

Where's the madness, CES 2012? So far, this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas has been a pretty staid affair, with the usual array of incrementally better tablets, smartphones, TVs and audio devices.

Thank the tech gods for Razer then, who at least are trying something a little wacky. They've introduced a new gaming tablet concept called Project Fiona at the show, which is designed to put the power of a dedicated gaming PC into a tablet form factor.

With a twist! A pair of handles sit either side of the screen, each packing an array of gaming buttons, triggers and housing a pair of analog sticks, allowing for a genuine portable gaming PC experience with gamepad controls. Multitouch controls, as you'd expect from a tablet, also feature.

"This first-of-its-kind PC gaming tablet with integrated dual controllers is definitely not for playing casual games about unhappy birds or zombie-killing flora," stresses Razer, taking a little swipe at the rise of casual touchscreen gaming.

As it's just a concept design for the time being, precise details are a little thin on the ground at the moment, but the specs revealed so far read as follows:

- Intel Core i7
- 10.1" 1280x800 display
- Multi-touch screen
- 3-axis gryo
- Magnetometer
- Accelerometer
- Force feedback
- Dolby 7.1 surround sound
- Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n; and Bluetooth 3.0.

Hit the video below for a trailer for the madcap concept device:

For more news from CES 2012, click here.

Remember the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga hybrid ultrabook/tablet device we showed you yesterday? Well we've now seen it in person, and it's just as impressive as it seemed.

Running Windows 8, the 13.3 inch screen can be swivelled 360-degrees to position it in a laptop format with keyboard, flat slate like shape, a stand for watching video and, er, a tent as Lenovo themselves like to describe it.

Click here for more info, or hit the video above for a short video demo of the device.

For more news from CES 2012, click here.

Mobile network operators Orange are to deliver their own branded Android tablet in the form of the Orange Tahiti.

Basically a re-branded Huawei MediaPad, it's a 7 inch Honeycomb device running off a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8260 dual-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz and 512MB of RAM.

The Tahiti measures up at 124 x 190 x 10.5mm with a weight of 390g, and also includes 3G+ connectivity, Wi-Fi, AGPS, Bluetooth, a 5MP cmera, micro HDMI out, 8GB of internal storage and the ability to expand up by up to 32GB with microSD cards.

Heavily subsidised, it'll hit the UK at a cost of just £69.99, but with a £25 a month, 24 month data plan attached for a grand total of £699.99. That data plan offers 1GB of anytime data, and an extra gigabyte of late-night data between the hours of midnight and 4am.

Alternatively, the tablet will be available as part of a "connected" plan that adds a smartphone into the mix. For instance, you can throw in an Orange San Francisco handset into the deal detailed above for £41 a month (for a grand total of £984 across the two-year period), which also bags you 2GB of anytime data and unlimited Wi-Fi hotspot access. If the San Francisco isn't your cup of tea, other handset alternatives include the Nokia C3-01 or HTC Wildfire S for a little extra dough.

Lenovo are brinigng a little added flexibility to their latest batch of ultrabooks with the IdeaPad Yoga, a hybrid tablet/ultrabook machine running Windows 8.

Powered by an Intel Core processor backed by up to 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD, the IdeaPad Yoga is engineered around a four-point viewing mode principle.

In other words, the 360-degree twisting 1600x900, 13.3 inch touch screen can be positioned to work like a standard laptop with keyboard, folded flat like a tablet with the screen facing outwards, stood up like an open book, or hinged like a tent in the picture above.

It's also the thinnest convertible ultrabook yet (of which there are admittedly few), measuring just 16.9mm deep and weighing 1.47kg.

"It is clear to us that consumers want their four screens: mobile devices, tablets, notebooks and smart TVs and they want them to work together seamlessly, anytime, anywhere," said Yang Yuanqing, Chairman and CEO for Lenovo.

"The IdeaPad YOGA multi-mode notebook redefines the convergence and convertible user experience by bringing together the best of traditional PCs, with the best of tablets."

Expect to see the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga starting at $1199 (around £775) when it lands sometime in the second half of the year. No word yet on a UK launch.

For more news from CES 2012, click here.

It's been on the cards for quite some time now, but it seems the BlackBerry PlayBook firesale is now looming. Retailers across the land are cutting the price of the under-performing tablet quite drastically, giving tablet bargain hunters plenty of reasons to start smashing their piggy banks.

Head over to the Carphone Warehouse today and you can pick up a BlackBerry PlayBook at 16GB for £169, 32GB for £199 and 64GB for £329. That's down from £399, £479 and £559 respectively.

Amazon are making similar cuts, dropping the 16GB model under the £200 mark.

RIM in the US take the price-cutting biscuit however dropping every model (including the 64GB version!) to just $299 (£191) before tax.

Despite lukewarm reviews and sales to match the general lack of interest in the device, at these prices the BlackBerry PlayBook actually looks quite a good deal, in much the same way the £99 HP Touchpad firesale did.

However, RIM may be shooting their future prospects in the foot with the move. With the PlayBook's QNX OS built on the same foundations as the forthcoming BlackBerry Ten mobile OS (due in just under a year), such desperate measures may be seen by some as an admission of the platform's failure. With much of the upcoming BlackBerry portfolio resting on BlackBerry Ten, that would be a very foolish move.

Amazon have given a rare insight into just how units many off their super-popular Kindle product line they're managing to shift in the run up to Christmas.

The company have revealed that more than a million products bearing the Kindle name (from all generations of their eReaders and newly-formed tablet line) are being sold each week.

Even more startling, given the wealth of items available through Amazon, is that their Android-based Kindle Fire tablet is the most popular product Amazon have EVER SOLD.

"Kindle Fire is the most successful product we've ever launched - it's the bestselling product across all of Amazon for 11 straight weeks, we've already sold millions of units, and we're building millions more to meet the high demand," explained Dave Limp, vice president of Amazon Kindle.

"In fact, demand is accelerating - Kindle Fire sales increased week over week for each of the past three weeks. People are buying Kindle Fire because it's a simple, fully-integrated service that makes it easy to do the things they love - watch movies, read books and magazines, listen to music, download apps, play games, and surf the web."

Until now, Amazon had remained silent as to just how well their products were doing, beyond vague "very well" responses. It's hardly surprising though; the Kindle brand name has caught on in a big way, and the Fire tablet will make a perfect, affordable step up for those currently in love with their Kindle eReaders.