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Tag: Galaxy Tab 10.1

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1 Out Now

    Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1 Out Now

    Yes, Barnes & Noble is still a part of the eBook market. Amazon may have a bunch of popular Kindles and weird Gary Busey ads, but Barnes & Noble still exists and is trying its hardest to compete in the tablet space.

    Barnes & Noble has partnered with Samsung on its tablets, which are still being branded as Nooks. The online retailer recently announced a larger version of its Nook tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 10.1.

    According to Barnes & Noble the new, larger Nook 10.1 takes Samsung’s Galaxy Tab hardware and loads it up with software that’s “optimized for reading and entertainment.” The company is now selling the tablets online and in Barnes & Noble stores for just $300 (after a $50 rebate).

    In addition to that “special introductory price,” Barnes & Noble is giving buyers hundreds of dollars worth of free content. Anyone who buys a Nook 10.1 or a Nook 7.0 will now get a “refreshed content pack” worth more than $200. The content includes four eBooks (Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None is the most notable), one episode of three different TV shows (The Newsroom, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Octonauts), and up to four 14-day magazine trial subscriptions. Buyers will also get several free apps and $5 in Nook Store credit.

    “With the launch of the new large screen Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, we have a fantastic lineup of devices for our customers to choose from as we head into the holiday gifting season,” said Michael Huseby, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Customers are telling us that they love the reading and entertainment experience on our new 7-inch Samsung Nook and we’re certain that the addition of the stunning 10-inch model, alongside our popular Nook GlowLight eReader, will ensure that there’s a perfect device for everyone in the family at Barnes & Noble this holiday season and beyond.”

    The new Nook 10.1 comes with updated Nook software. Barnes & Noble promises that the update will include a “cleaner visual design,” a “more immersive shopping experience,” and new navigational tools to switch quickly between content and the Nook Store. The software update will roll out to Galaxy Tab 4 Nook 7.0 tablets sometime in November.

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales Ban Lifted In United States

    Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales Ban Lifted In United States

    To say that Samsung had a rough August would be a massive understatement. The company lost a major patent battle against Apple to the tune of $1 billion, and now faces the possibility of a sales ban being brought against their devices. That being said, there were a few bright spots with Samsung winning patent battles in foreign courts. Another bright spot emerged just yesterday as the company won back the right to sell one of its more popular products again.

    Ars Technica reports that US District Court Judge Lucy Koh, the judge who has presided over the previous Apple vs Samsung battles, has lifted the sales ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. The sales ban was lifted because the jury in last month’s patent trial ruled that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 actually didn’t infringe on Apple’s design patents. After the ruling, Samsung motioned to have the sales ban lifted, but Judge Koh’s hands were tied as Samsung had already appealed the original sales ban decision to a higher court.

    The US Federal Court of Appeals decided to return jurisdiction to Koh on Friday. Samsung took this as a chance to have the sales ban lifted once and for all. Koh obliged, and lifted the sales ban on Monday. Of course, Apple objected to Koh’s decision to lift the sales ban. The company argued that all post-trial motions should be resolved before the court decides on anything.

    Apple may be angry over the sales ban being lifted, but the company must be livid after Koh decided to also keep the $2.6 million bond Apple posted to ban the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the first place. Samsung may now be entitled to the money if it’s found that the sales ban wrongfully harmed them in some way.

    It’s a small win for Samsung, but an important one. They need this kind of momentum as they go into the next phase of the legal battle. Samsung is now arguing jury misconduct in last month’s decision. The case could go in some very interesting directions, and we’re just getting started. We’ll keep you updated on all the latest events in the latest and biggest legal battle to hit the tech world.

  • Samsung Galaxy Tab: Apple Ordered to Place Ads Saying Tablet Is Not an iPad Rip-Off

    Samsung Galaxy Tab isn’t a direct rip-off of Apple’s iPad, according to U.K. Judge Colin Birss, which is certainly good news for Samsung. Although Apple insisted the designs were similar to an uncanny degree, the High Court felt otherwise, though Birss did state that the iPad was “cooler” than its competitor. Depending on your outlook, both manufacturers walked away a winner.

    Unfortunately for Apple, the problems don’t necessarily end with the ruling. In order to make good for publicly declaring the Galaxy Tab to be a blatant rip-off of the iPad, the company will be forced to place a series of ads which state Samsung did nothing wrote when they designed their tablet. In addition to posting the information on a website for six months, Apple must also place ads in two U.K. magazines and three U.K. newspapers.

    According to Bloomberg, Apple fully intends to appeal the decision. However, until that happens, they’ll have to comply with the court’s orders, which includes telling the world at-large that Samsung didn’t steal their ideas. That’s got to sting a little, but I suppose that’s what happens when you make such a bold declaration before the ruling takes place.

    “Should Apple continue to make excessive legal claims based on such generic designs, innovation in the industry could be harmed and consumer choice unduly limited,” Samsung said in a statement. Well, of course they feel this way. I’m sure they wouldn’t be issuing such a release if the shoe was on the other foot, so to speak.

    Unfortunately for Samsung, they aren’t out of the proverbial woods just yet. Along with losing a bid to stop a sales ban of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the United States, the device has been banned in Germany until the company can produce a modified version.

    The tablet wars, it would seem, are far from over.

  • New iPad Gets About As Hot As Android Tablets

    Last week we brought you news of a budding controversy over the new iPad’s tendency to generate more heat than its predecessor, the iPad 2. While initial reports showed the new iPad running about ten degrees hotter (around 92º F), later tests found that the new iPad could actually get as much as 13 degrees hotter in certain situations – e.g., charging while playing certain kinds of games – and could even get as hot as 116º F. Apple responded fairly quickly to these reports, reminding everyone of all the feature they packed into the new tablet and insisting that the new iPad does all the wonderful stuff it does “all while operating well within our thermal specifications.”

    Now it looks like the heat of the new iPad – which is apparently caused by an overabundance of LEDs – might not be all that unusual, despite the amount of attention it’s drawn. Following all the hype about “heatgate” (because putting “-gate” at the end is how we mark a scandal, apparently), PCWorld decided to see how the new iPad measured up to its Android-based competitors in terms of heat. What they found might be a little surprising. It turns out that excess heat is a tablet issue, not just an iPad issue.

    For comparison, they tested the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, two of the iPad’s biggest competitors. They started by testing the new iPad and the iPad 2, and found that while the new iPad does run hotter, they “could not replicate the disturbingly high temperatures that some sources have reported.” On top of that, they found that despite a much higher battery capacity, the new iPad “was not dramatically warmer” than the other two tablets tested. The results are compiled in a chart below:

    New iPad vs. Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs. Eee Pad Transformer Prime

    As you can see, when plugged in and after playing a graphics-intensive game for an hour, the iPad hit a temperature of 100 degrees, only six degrees higher than the iPad 2, five degrees higher than the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, and only two degrees above the Galaxy Tab. When unplugged the differences remain roughly the same, except that the Galaxy Tab got just as hot as it had when plugged in, meaning that the new iPad actually ran one degree cooler when unplugged than the Galaxy Tab. Those results are fairly consistent across the board: though the new iPad consistently ran warmer than the other tablets tested, it was only by a few degrees.

    All in all, then, it looks like the heat generated by the new iPad isn’t actually as big a deal as some are arguing. Tablet designs lack any sort of cooling apparatus like those found in desktop and laptop computers (which, by the way, can have a tendency to get pretty hot themselves). Difficulties with heat dissipation are a natural and predictable consequence of that. Though the new iPad is admittedly worse about it, problems with heat are a problem with the design of tablets in general, not just the new iPad in particular.

    What do you think? Is “heatgate” much ado about nothing? Do you have problems with your Android tablet getting hot? Let us know in the comments.