Microsoft to offer smaller and cheaper tablet!

Microsoft is planning to release a 7.5 inch tablet in the near future.  This move from the tech giant comes with the hat hitting competition in the tablet market.

Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, told CNET Thursday that, “From the supply chain side, we’re seeing the panel specifications, the touch module, the mass production schedule being made.”

The tablet is expected to be released with a 1,400×1,050 resolution 7.5 inch screen, according to Shim.  This tablet will also come with a pixel desity of 233 pixels per inch, which is better that the Nexus 7 and Apple’s iPad Mini.

Shim has also said that, “Mass production is Q1 [first quarter] 2014.  Apparently, pretty significant volume.  Multiple millions.”  He also added that production could start sooner than that at a lower level and pick up the pace to mass production by the first quarter.

A rumor Coming out of Asia on Wednesday claimed that second generation surface tablets will have displays between 7 to 9 inches.  That same report said that Microsoft will probably announce something tat their Build Conference in June.

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BlackBerry’s Q10 price confirmed! Are they shooting a little high?

 

It has now been confirmed that BlackBerry‘s Q10 will run at $249 on a two-year contract in the U.S.  BlackBerry must believe it can get away with charging a 25% premium over the Apple iPhone 5, the Samsung Galaxy S4, and many other flagship Google Android devices since their BlackBerry targets more business customers, who can spare the expense.

This is a really risky move by BlackBerry, considering the fact that BlackBerry lacks the pricing power and market share.  Android and Apple control over 90% of the smartphone market, leaving little to no room for BlackBerry.  Apple experienced a 77% activation rate among enterprises in the first quarter, and area where BlackBerry remains highly committed.   So unless you are an enterprise customer or a loyal BlackBerry user, there really isn’t any economic incentive to “trade up” to the Q10.

BlackBerry’s most valuable customer base is the consumers they already have.  Last quarter, Blackberry had 76 million subscribers worldwide.  This number is no where near Android’s 750 million devices and Apple’s 5010 million devices sold.   Their 76 million subscribers will give BlackBerry a solid foundation of loyal users who are more than likely to upgrade.  The question is, “How fast will their users transition?”

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Best Buy to pull out of deal with Carphone Warehouse!

Best Buy is now selling its 50 percent joint venture stake back to the mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse for $775 million.

It is a huge loss for Best Buy, who bought 50 percent of Carphone Warehouse’s retail operations for $2.1 billion back in 2008, during the time when the global financial crisis was kicking the European market below the belt.

Best Buy said, in a public statement on Tuesday, that is has entered a definitive agreement to sell its half of the business back to Carphone Warehouse.  The totaling figures include 420 million pounds and around 80 million pounds in Carphone Warehouse’s stock.

The deal still needs to be approved by Carphone Warehouse’s shareholders; however, it will not be subject to any financial closing conditions.

This transaction is expected to close somewhere around the end of June 2013.

Best Buy president and chief executive Hubert Joly stated, “Each international market is different and the slae of our European operations should not suggest any similar action in our other international businesses.”

Best Buy joined up with Carphone Warehouse in 2008 in hopes to expand to the European Market.  The idea was to have around 200 stores open under the Best Buy brand across Europe over the next few years.  Unfortunately , that doesn’t appear to be the case.

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Samsung has announced the release of their newest tablet, the Galaxy Tab 3!

This Morning, Samsung has revealed the Galaxy Tab 3, a new 7-inch tablet which may be able to directly compete with the smaller tablet ranges offered by their rivals Amazon, Google, and their biggest rival Apple.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 offers a 1024×600 pixel screen, and is to support full 1080p HD playback.  The Galaxy Tab 3 is powered by a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor, and will be available with either 8GB or 16GB of storage and 1GB of RAM.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 with also feature a microSD slot to add up to 64GB of additional storage.

The Galaxy Tab 3 will use the latest Android operating system, 4.1 Jelly Bean.  It also sports a 3 megapixel rear camera and a 1.3 megapixel front camera.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 will be released in a Wi-Fi and 3G version.  Where as the Wi-Fi enabled Galaxy Tab 3 will be available worldwide next month; The Wi-Fi/3G version will be on the shelves in June.

Samsung has yet to release the pricing for theier Galaxy Tab 3.

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$200 notebooks are on their way; however, which operating system will they feature?

Are computer and tablet prices a little too high for you?  Don’t worry, Notebooks prices should soon be down to $200, but the majority of these devices will be powered with Google‘s Android Operating System and not Microsoft‘s Windows 8, according to one Intel executive.

Paul Otellini, Intel CEO,  last week stated that touchscreen PCs could debut at prices as low as $200 in the coming months.  When this statement was made, he didn’t mention which operating system these devices would run.

Intel executive vice president and chief product officer, Dadi Perlmutter, said to CNET on Wednesday that notebooks priced at around $200 will predominantly be Android products running on Intel’s Atom mobile processor.  Whether or not Windows 8 PCs hit that price is really up to Microsoft.

Perlmutter said, “We have a good technology that enables a very cost-effective price point,” and “[The price of Windows 8 laptops] depends on how Microsoft prices Windows 8.  It may be a slightly higher price point.”

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Some Experts say that Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is not the game-changer that it was predicted to be!

As most of us know, Samsung has been on fire.  With their wide variety of smartphone and their gigantic marketing campaigns, Samsung is the leading manufacturer of devices running on Google‘s Android operating system and the Major rival to Apple in the Smartphone market.

Samsung is about to release its newest flagship phone in the United States.  The Samsung Galaxy S4 is set to release over the next week at AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.  It is also likely to be released sometime in May for Verizon Wireless.

While the Galaxy S4 is an evolution from its predecessor, It does not appear to be a game-changer like everyone has predicted.  Where Samsung seem to be lacking is they are weak in the software they add to the basic Android operating system.

The new Samsung Galaxy S4 offers a 5-inch screen, but its mostly plastic body is thinner and lighter that the Galaxy S3.  Still, when compared to the iPhone 5, the Galaxy S4 is 30% larger and 17% heavier.  The Galaxy S4 comes with a 13 megapixel camera, compared to the iPhone 5’s 8 megapixel camera.

Most Android phones come with two email apps; however, the Galaxy S4 comes with two online video and music stores, two music and video players, two calendars, and two web browsers.

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Microsoft has lowered prices on their laptops in the Microsoft Store!

Recently at the Microsoft store, prices are being cut on their touch ultrabooks, making the higher-end models a little more affordable.

Laptops featuring touch-screens are generally more expensive to produce than laptops without the touch screen feature.  This would explain why the consumer see higher retail prices on these models.

The well-rated Acer Aspire S7 has been given one of the biggest discounts, dropping from $1,648 to as low as $1,299.  The S7 a 256GB solid-state drive, a 13.3 inch 1,920×1,080 resolution display, and a 13.9GHz Intel Core i7-3517U processor.

The Microsoft store is also offering Sony’s Vaio T Series 13  for $999, down from its original price tag of $1,299.  This 13.3 inch model features a 256GB solid-state drive, 8GB of memory, and a 2 GHz Core i7-3537U processor.

There is a lower end Vaio T Series (SVT13136CYS) model that is now down to $799, from is previous price of $899.

Hewlett Packard’s Pavilion TouchSmart Sleekbook (15-b154nr) has been dropped from $699 to $599.

Hewlett Packard’s Spectre XT TouchSmart (15-4011nr) has also seen a a price cut to $1,249 from $1,399.   This laptop features a 1,920×1,080 resolution 15.6 inch display, 8GB of memory, and a 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U chip.

The Microsoft store has also been reducing prices on Tablets.

Personally, I feel that this is Microsoft’s way of encourage the public to move forward into the newer technology and user interface of Windows 8.  A good portion on the general public are hesitant to upgrade to Windows 8 due to the changes made to how the operating system looks and feels.  So here are my questions for you.  Have you used Windows 8?  Which operating system do you use?  and should Microsoft have made the major interface changes that they made to Windows?

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Verizon to release Nokia’s Lumia 928!

In an attempt to win over users from Apple and Samsung, Finish mobile phone maker, Nokia, has struck a deal with Verizon Wireless to sell its new smartphone.

Verizon, the largest wireless carrier in the United States, is set to reveal a plan in May to offer Nokia’s Lumia 928, according to inside sources.   The phone has wireless charging, an 8-megapixel camera, 4.5-inch touch screen and a metal body.  It will run on Microsoft‘s Windows software, just like the other Lumias.

This will be the first time a high-end Lumia will be sold by New Jersey based Verizon Wireless, Basking Ridge, which has an estimated 100 million customers.  Based out of Espoo, Finland, Nokia has struggled to rebound in the  smartphone market share in the United States since their peak in 2001.

Nokia shares have gained as much as 2 percent, which erases earlier losses, and changed at 2.39 euros at 2:08 pm  in Helsinki.  Heading for their sixth straight annual drop, Nokia has tumbled 19 percent this year.

Both Nokia’s spokesperson, James Etheridge, and Verizon Wireless Spokesperson, Brenda Raney, declined to comment.

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Excited for the Samsung Galaxy S4? Just remember April is not over yet!

Announced Yesterday morning, Samsung will be releasing the Galaxy S4 on seven carriers in the Untied States including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, U.S. Cellular, Cricket and C Spire.  Even though the actual release dates and prices are up to the carrier, Samsung did say that the public can expect to see the Galaxy S4 in stores by the end of the month.

Everyone is still anticipating the announcements from AT&T and Verizon.  What we do have is the Galaxy S4 information from T-Mobile and Sprint.  They have both shared their release date for the Galaxy S4 to their consumers on their networks.

A 16GB Galaxy S4 from Sprint will cost $250 with a two year contract, or $149 for new customers, and will be available on April 27th.  Sprint will offer unlimited data with the Galaxy s4, possibly giving themselves an advantage over AT&T and Verizon.

T-Mobile has announced that Samsung’s Galaxy S4 will be available at $150 plus monthly device payments.  With T-mobile, you will not be locked into a contract, and you will receive unlimited text messages, voice minutes, and data.

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Samsung has announced which processor it will be using for the Galaxy S4 in the United States!

The news is out.  The upcoming Galaxy S4 from Samsung will feature a quad-core processor here in the United States, instead of the rumored octa-core processor  that may be featured in other countries.

Samsung has kept the tech world in the dark wondering which regions would feature a 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 series processor in their Galaxy S4’s and which areas would receive Samsung’s own 1.6GHz eight-core Exynos 5 Octa silicon processor.

Other than these huge processor’s, making the new Galaxy S4’s the muscle cars of smartphones, the latest generation Samsung’s will feature a 5-inch full-HD Super AMOLED display, the Android 4.3.3 Jelly Bean OS, and a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera.

While anticipation continues to build, Samsung is blanketing the United States with the Galaxy S4.  The phone will be carried by AT&T, Cricket, C Spire, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and will be sold through Walmart, Target, Staples, Sam’s Club, RadioShack, Costco, and Best Buy stores in the coming weeks.

The pricing for the Galaxy S4, which Samsung will make in 16Gb, 32GB, and 64GB capacities, will be different for each store and carrier; however, you you can expect an on-contract price starting around $200 for the 16GB version and about $250 for the 32 GB Galaxy S4.

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