That’s a very good thing — if you’re an app developer.

According to the analytics firm App Annie, which launched Amazon app store analytics in beta last month, 19,000 developers are now publishing apps to Amazon, as opposed to 180,000 using Google Play and 210,000 who are publishing apps to Apple’s iOS app store. The lower number of apps and the fewer developers focusing on Amazon make for a less crowded marketplace in which there’s a little more room to grow.

“While Amazon Appstore is the new kid on the block, we hear great things from developers about their ability to monetize from the store,” App Annie CEO Bertrand Schmitt said in a statement.

Source: App Annie

The top 10 paid apps in the Amazon app store – U.S.

App Annie unveiled its fully baked solution recently — just after Amazon announced an impending expansion of its app store to 200 countries — and today released the results of a 1,500-developer survey focused on Amazon’s app store.

The top three reasons developers release apps for Amazon start with convenience. After all, Amazon Kindle runs Android underneath that Amazon skin, and it’s easy to port apps to Amazon’s store. Second, however, is the hope of more sales, as Amazon just announced earlier this month that it is rolling out to 200 more countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, India, South Africa, and South Korea — which buys a lot of apps. And the third reason is that when it comes to Android tablets, Kindle Fire is, well, on fire.

Amazon does not disclose Kindle sales numbers, but in January Localytics said that the number of Amazon Kindle Fires grew 322 percent in the holiday quarter — quadrupling the growth of the next-leading Android tablet, a Galaxy Note II from Samsung. This means that as Android increasingly penetrates the tablet market, Amazon increasingly penetrates the Android ecosystem.

There is one down side to the Amazon app store, however: price point.

App Annie says that the top 400 apps on Amazon have an average price point almost half that of Google Play and iPad, and even less than iPhone, even though smartphone-focused apps are typically cheaper than tablet-focused apps. The average price of the top 400 paid apps on Google Play is $3.55. On iPad, that’s a slightly cheaper $3.39. But on Amazon’s app store, that’s a much lower price point: $1.73.

Which shouldn’t come as a shock, I suppose: Amazon is the U.S. Internet’s superstore, and sharp pricing has been built into its business model since the beginning.

But it is something to keep in mind.

Viewsonic debuted a new line of touchscreen display monitors at the 2013 CES today that are targeted at the next generation of PCs.

The company’s TD 40 Series displays are certified by Microsoft for use on PCs that run the new Windows 8 operating system. The displays come in three different sizes, including a 23-inch model for $599, a 27-inch model for $799, and a massive 32-inch model for $2,499 — (because why not own a TV-sized Windows 8 touch screen, even if you have no commercial application for it, amirite?).

Viewsonic said the 23-inch and 32-inch TD 40 series displays will be available for purchase in February, while the 27-inch model will hit retail shelves in April.

The new displays are a good solution for anyone who’s put a lot of time, money, and effort into their current upgraded Windows 8 PC, but still wants the touchscreen capability that the new OS is built around.

From Viewsonic’s release:

Exceptional interactivity comes standard in the TD 40 Series. With the 10-point projected capacitive touch technology, customers get the best in class touch experience with unparalleled accuracy and speed. The TD 40 family features Professional Grade IPS panels with 1920×1080 full HD resolution and 20,000,000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio for stunning picture and color performance. Market leading connectivity inputs including DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA, along with full USB HID compliance and VESA mount compatibility make this Series the best Windows 8 certified commercial display investment.

But the Windows 8 certified displays isn’t the only new line of monitors Viewsonic announced at CES today.

The hardware maker is also showing off  its new VSD240, a 24-inch version of its Android smart display (aka a big tablet you don’t carry around). The smart display has a 1920 x 1080 resolution screen, a quad-core, 1.7Ghz processer from nVIDIA, a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam with integrated microphone, integrated speakers, and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

And for those that want to use it as a PC, the new Viewsonic smart display gives you the option of connecting peripherals (mice, keyboard) via USB ports or Bluetooth. You can also connect a PC or Laptop computer and use it as a traditional display, although I’m not sure why you ever would.

The new display will retail for $499 and be available to North American consumers in April 2013.

Vizio is making a splash with tablets at this year’s CES: After announcing its first Windows 8 device yesterday, today Vizio unveiled a new 10-inch Android tablet powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 4 chip, reports the Verge.

Vizio is also developing a 7-inch tablet running pure Android (meaning it has no annoying extra software), according to the Verge.

Neither tablets have names or release dates yet, but they’re each interesting: The 10-incher is reportedly very light, and coupled with Tegra 4, it promises to be one of the fastest large Android tablets. It will ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, 32GB of storage, and a 2,560-by-1,600 display resolution.

The 7-inch tablet has the internals of Google’s Nexus 7 — a Tegra 3 processor, and 16GB of storage — but it’s much thinner, about the size of a Kindle e-reader. That’s a big plus, since the Nexus 7 is a bit thick compared to newer tablets like the iPad Mini.

The smaller tablet will also run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, a departure from Vizio’s first Android tablet. The company will focus on stock Android tablets moving forward because Android has evolved to the point where it no longer needs third-party skins, chief technology officer Matt McRae tells the Verge.

Vizio isn’t announcing pricing for the tablet yet, but given the company’s focus on agressive pricing, expect it to be cheaper than the Nexus 7′s $199 base price. The 7-inch tablet will be released in the first half of 2013.

So, you’ve got a new tablet — now what? Most app stores make it easy for you to find popular apps, but plenty of impressive tablet apps still fly under the radar.

In my experience, the best apps take full advantage of what makes tablets unique: their gorgeous touch-enabled screens. A new computing design demands an entirely new way of thinking about user interfaces.

(Still need help choosing a tablet? Check out our tablet gift guide.)

If you’re new to tablets, you’ll likely find yourself adapting to touchscreen interfaces quickly (and wishing every screen was touch-enabled). But even if you’ve been following the tablet market closely from the beginning, new apps are always appearing that push the boundaries of design, functionality, and usability.

Comics by Comixology

Tablets are a comic reader’s dream come true, and from what I’ve seen, Comixology is the best app for building and reading a digital comic collection. It includes titles from Marvel, DC, Image, and plenty of independent labels, and since it’s cloud-based, you can access your collection on your smartphone as well. Comic fans will find a lot to like (I particularly enjoy zooming into intricate artwork). But it’s also the perfect way for newcomers to check out comics and graphics novels without being judged by your local comic book guy. 

Various prices for iPad or Android

Infinity Blade II

More than a year after it first appeared, Infinity Blade II remains one of the most graphically advanced games on the iPad. Infinity Blade II builds upon its dungeon-crawling predecessor with more enemies, weapons, and console-quality graphics. (And yes, it’s optimized for the Retina Display.) 

$7 for iPad

Flipboard

Flipboard has been a mainstay recommendation for tablet news junkies since it launched. Two years later, it remains one of the best news-reading apps thanks to its slick digital magazine-like interface and its constantly improving story engine. You may find yourself actually reading more news because Flipboard makes it all look so good. 

Free for iPad or Android

Google Chrome

Yes, Google Chrome. The best desktop web browser is also the best browser on smartphones and tablets. It’s ideal for heavy browser users because it offers the best interface for juggling multiple tabs on tablets, and it can sync with other devices (so bookmarks from your desktop version of Chrome show up on your tablet, and vice versa). Android users get the most out of this app since they’ll actually get to take advantage of its fast browsing engine. On the iPad, you’ll be able to use Chrome’s interface, but you’re stuck with Apple’s slower browsing engine. 

Free for iPad or Android 4.0 and above

Google Earth

Google Earth is a kick on desktops, but on your tablet it’s like a digital globe from the future. It’s a fun and educational app for kids, but even adults will enjoy zooming into nearby and far-off places. This app literally puts the world at your fingertips.

Free for iPad or Android

Panna

A gorgeous cooking magazine for the iPad, Panna offers recipes from master chefs with simple instructions. Thanks to high-quality preparation videos, it’s like diving into your favorite Food Network show. While Panna is helpful for preparation, it’s also a fun app to browse as you’re looking for inspiration for your next party or just for something different to make for dinner. 

$5 per issue or $15 per year for iPad

Showyou

Chances are good that you’ll end up spending more time staring at your tablet than your TV, so you’ll want a simple way to explore the endless world of online video. Showyou collects the videos shared by your friends on social networks, and it also highlights other videos that may interest you. With its most recent update, ShowYou lets you easily sit back and watch online video as easily as you do TV.

Free for iPad or Kindle Fire (not other Android tablets)

StumbleUpon

It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that StumbleUpon adapts itself well to tablets. It has risen to popularity as a fun and simple way to find new content online on the desktop. By simply clicking a button, you’re instantly rewarded with a new, interesting thing to look at or read. On a tablet, where you’re entirely focused on a single app at a time, StumbleUpon’s ingenious mechanic is downright addictive.

Free for iPad or Kindle Fire (not other Android tablets)

Xbox Smartglass

If you have an Xbox 360, this app is a must-have. It works as a “second screen” experience for Microsoft’s console, allowing you to easily search for content as well as interact with media playing on the Xbox 360. And, of course, you’ll also be able to tap into Xbox Live and see what your friends are up to. It’s surprising how much a simple app can make a seven-year-old console seem fresh and new.

Free for iPad, Android (not optimized for Android tablets), Windows 8 and RT

The Walking Dead: The Game

What starts out as a traditional adventure game quickly turns into the most memorable game experience of the year. I’d recommend Telltale’s The Walking Dead on any platform, but if you have an iPad, it’s an even more intimate experience. Structured like a five-episode TV series, the game offers a bit of action, but really, it’s all about the tension and forcing you to make some of the most difficult moral decisions of your gaming life. And as you face off against the hordes of the undead, just remember, it’s all for Clementine.

$5 per episode or $20 for the whole season for iPad

Hewlett-Packard unveiled a bunch of Windows 8 business and consumer PCs today, including tablets, laptops, and desktops.

These all have a consistent HP look and feel. HP today announced availability and pricing details for its new lineup of consumer and business PCs that are designed to work with Windows 8. The products come just a day after Apple drew lots of attention for its holiday lineup and a couple of days before Microsoft launches Windows 8 on Friday.

The new HP products use premium materials and a purposeful design philosophy to deliver a distinct HP look and feel.

But HP still has a long way to go toward establishing (or, rather, re-establishing) its brand in the minds of consumers. The chart at the right shows the media attention that major tech brands have received over the past 10 years. Apple continues to hold the most media attention, followed by Google and Microsoft, according to HighBeam Research. HP, on the other hand, is pretty low in the rankings.

HP’s new PCs include a hybrid PC with a detachable screen, a business tablet with HP Smart Jackets that boost its functionality, and a thin all-in-one desktop.

The laptops include the HP Envy x2, a laptop that doubles as a tablet, at $849. The HP Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook has a 15.6-inch screen and debuts at $1,399. The HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 has a 14-inch screen and starts at $799.99. The HP Pavilion Sleekbook 14 sells for $499 and a 15-inch version is $579. The HP Envy m4 is $899, and the HP Pavilion dm1 is $499.

HP’s all-in-one desktops include the HP Envy 23 ($999) and the HP Envy 20 ($799). The HP SpectreOne is $1,299. The HP Pavilion 20 is $499, and the HP Envy Phoenix h9 desktop is $899. Business computers include the HP ElitePad 900 tablet, which debuts in January. The HP EliteBook Folio 9470m Ultrabook is available Friday for $1,049.

Today Apple announced its 7.9-inch iPad mini tablet. Right on stage, the company compared it to the Nexus 7 (Google’s flagship Android tablet) to show the wealth of differences between the two. But Apple skipped a few key comparisons that you might want to be aware of.

Here’s a closer look at those differences, as well as how Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD tablet compares to both:

The iPad mini is without a doubt the thinnest tablet ever produced. It’s thinner than most smartphones today at just 7.2 millimeters thick. It’s slightly taller and wider than most competing 7-inch tablets, though not the Kindle Fire HD.

From my time with the Fire HD, I’ve found that holding it from edge to edge with one hand is possible, though not comfortable — so the iPad mini should be comparable.

The iPad mini is also the lightest tablet available, although the upcoming Barnes & Noble Nook HD tablet will weigh just seven grams more at 315 grams.

Processing power, based on the specs alone, appears fairly similar, but specs don’t tell the whole story. The A5 processor inside the iPad mini is identical to the one inside the iPad 2 — which is now one and a half years old — compared to the newer processors inside both the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD. On the other hand, the Android tablets may be faster and offer double the RAM, but Apple’s current operating system (iOS 6) is better suited for the included components, which makes it better at processing data more quickly and more efficiently. Google constantly updates its operating system to improve speed and efficiency; Amazon historically has not.

At the iPad mini’s unveiling in San Jose today, Apple’s Phil Schiller (Senior VP of Marketing) also mentioned how it feels much better than the Nexus 7, primarily because the Android tablet is made of plastic and feels cheap. I haven’t found that to be the case. The Nexus 7 is the best 7-inch tablet to hold because of a well-designed case that is easy to grip and feels warm in the hand. The Kindle Fire HD has a rubber-like back, which is also comfortable and warm. The iPad mini has a metallic back panel. I expect that it will be similar to the current iPad, which feels cold in the hand but provides good grip. I prefer the warm Nexus 7 to the iPad, though size and weight have to be considered as well.

The iPad mini is available in three capacity variations: 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. The Nexus 7 starts with just 8GB, which in my use is completely inadequate. A 16GB model is also available, and 32GB models have been found in stores across the US. The Kindle Fire HD comes in 16GB and 32GB capacities.

All of the tablets use a 1.2 megapixel (MP) front-facing camera that can record video in 720p, but the iPad mini is the only tablet here that includes a rear-facing camera. That 5MP camera is likely the same found in the latest iPod Touch and the iPhone 4. Tablet cameras have traditionally offered mediocre to poor still photography and video recording, but larger 10-inch tablets have shipped with significantly improved cameras this year.

Most 7-inch tablets feature widescreen (16:9) displays, but the iPad mini has the same 4:3 aspect ratio as the full-sized iPad. This means all HD video on the iPad mini will be letterboxed with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD both have denser displays at significantly higher 720p resolutions, which will make HD media appear clearer and without letterboxing.

All of the tablets use high-quality IPS displays, but the iPad’s lower resolution and larger screen will make pictures appear blurrier and more pixelated. It’s surprising Apple didn’t include a Retina display on the iPad mini for exactly this reason.

Apple boasts the same 10-hour battery life on the iPad mini as on the iPad, though the Kindle Fire HD promises 11 hours of continuous use. As with any manufacturer’s promised battery life, take these numbers with a big grain of salt.

The iPad mini is also the only small tablet that can access fast LTE 4G cellular data. LTE will be available on the iPad mini in the US through Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, for an extra $130 over the comparable Wi-Fi models.

The biggest difference between the iPad mini and all competing Android tablets is the price. The starting price for the iPad mini is $330, $130 more than both the starting Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HD. The iPad mini also increases the price in $100 increments for doubling the memory, compared to Amazon, which only charges $50 more for the 32GB  model.

Additionally, other tablets like the Nook HD offer expandable memory through user-purchased memory cards; the iPad mini doesn’t.

In short, the iPad mini is far more expensive than the competition at equivalent capacities, and only gets more expensive as the capacity increases. In fact, the iPad mini is expensive even compared to the latest iPod Touch, which has all of the same internal components as the iPad mini.

Will you buy an iPad mini? Tell us what you think about it in the comments section below.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Google is planning a 10-inch Nexus tablet that will have a higher pixel density than Apple’s iPad, Cnet reports.

The new Nexus tablet will have a 2,560 by 1,600-pixel display, according to Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch quoted in the story. That gives it a pixel density of 299 pixels per inch, compared with the iPad’s “Retina” display, which has 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, for a pixel density of 264 PPI.

The new Nexus tablet will also be slightly bigger, with a 10.1-inch diagonal screen compared with the iPad’s 9.7-inch diagonal screen.

Unlike the current, 7-inch Nexus 7, which is made by Asus but branded entirely as a Google tablet, the new 10-inch Nexus will be made by Samsung and will carry that manufacturer’s branding as well, Shim claimed.

The Nexus 7 is an impressive piece of hardware, especially given its $200 price. VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar called the Nexus 7 the best 7-inch tablet yet and the first Android tablet worth owning. Even Apple-loving Jennifer Van Grove liked the Nexus 7. So presumably, a 10-inch version of the tablet would present some serious competition to Apple’s market-dominating iPad.

Photo: Jennifer Van Grove/VentureBeat

Google has just laid out a slew of best practices for building Android tablet apps.

The company is anticipating a surge of Android tablet sales around the holidays, and in a blog post and a library of related documents, it revealed an exhaustive set of guidelines to help developers take advantage of holiday sales by creating the kind of best-in-class apps that the company wants to feature in Google Play.

The just-released tablet app checklist helps devs reach certain benchmarks for “compelling features and an intuitive, well-designed UI.” This checklist links to longer documents — guidelines, UI grids, you name it.

The company also released a set of case studies to give developers hands-on examples of what makes a great Android tablet app as well as behind-the-scenes info on how those apps were created and tweaked.

Overall, Google has been working with devs to put a strong emphasis on app quality. Due to longstanding frustrations with the panoply of Android hardware form factors, developers have had legitimate challenges in creating tablet apps in particular that can compete with iPad app quality.

However, with the relaunch of Google Music, Google Books, and the Android Market as the now-unified Google Play, the company is doubling down on its efforts to give end users beautiful applications — and that means giving developers better tools.

In a recent interview with Play’s team, we called the new store “a high-end shopping mall with a cornucopia of stores” and noted that it was sleeker, sexier, and more expensive-looking than its predecessors.

“We wanted to convey fun, the notion that there’s a lot to entertain here,” said Google Play engineering director Chris Yerga during a private chat at Google I/O this year. “And we wanted to convey that this is a destination for premium content.”

With any luck, today’s new guidance for devs will help bring more and much better tablet apps to Play, as well. Whether the holiday sales will bring more Android tablets into users’ hands is another matter altogether.

Top image courtesy of Chepko Danil Vitalevich, Shutterstock

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July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

They said they were going to do it. Now they’ve done it.

Samsung lawyers have added the iPhone 5 to the company’s patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, two weeks after threatening to do so. That lawsuit, one of many ongoing between the two mobile giants, concerns eight patents on data transfer, media syncing, touch screen technology, and more that Samsung says Apple violates.

Source: Apple

iPhone 5

The pre-emptive announcement had seemed suspiciously timed to interrupt the news cycle ramping up to the iPhone 5 launch, which broke records by pre-selling two million units in the first day.

Adding the iPhone 5 to the infringement lawsuit was completely expected — the iPhone 5, after all, shares much with the iPhone 4 in terms of operating system and user interface — but hugely significant. Initial estimates peg potential iPhone 5 sales at 50 million for the U.S. alone in just the first three months of its release.

That’s a lot of units, a lot of dollars, and a lot of infringement — if the courts agree.

In other news from yet another related Samsung v. Apple case, the temporary Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban has been lifted. According to FOSS Patents, that’s simply due to the fact that in the landmark billion-dollar Apple win in August, the jury did not find any infringement in the Tab.

That was, of course, the famous D899 “rounded corners” patent.

The courtroom soap opera continues …

photo credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video via photopin cc

Big Fish Games announced today that its cloud gaming service will now be available on Android tablets. The company’s Big Fish Unlimited service debuted a month ago on web-connected PCs as a casual gaming service with more than 100 games from Big Fish’s library.

As Big Fish adds new platforms for its service, it will eventually work its way toward creating a universal cloud gaming service where customers can pay a subscription fee and access their games on just about any device as they move from location to location throughout the day.

With Big Fish Unlimited, users don’t have to download games to their devices or PCs. The games run in a web-connected data center and video is sent over broadband connections to user’s devices, which merely display the images. The service seems very similar to OnLive, which crashed in a big way on Aug. 17 and is now attempting a rebirth, but Big Fish chief executive Paul Thelen said in an interview with GamesBeat a few weeks ago that his service doesn’t require nearly as much infrastructure since Big Fish’s games are mostly low-tech, 2D games. OnLive was trying to stream high-end 3D games, and the infrastructure costs for custom graphics servers eventually brought down that company.

Thelen hasn’t revealed what service or infrastructure his company is using, but they only needs one data center on the west coast and another on the east coast to support demand in the U.S. His company can also get about 22 to 30 users on a single commodity server, making it a lot easier to recoup server costs through subscription fees. Big Fish is charging $7.99 a month for all-access subscriptions to more than 100 games, and eventually 1,000 games will be available. Users who don’t want to pay can enjoy games from a rotating catalog as long as they view ads.

Will O’Brien, general manager of the service, also said in an interview with GamesBeat that Big Fish owns exclusive streaming rights to all of the games (60 percent to 70 percent are owned outright) that are on its service, another distinction compared to OnLive, which had to acquire rights from publishers — and some of those didn’t want to give their games over to someone else. Users will be able to access games on more devices in the future, including web-connected TVs later this year through a partnership with Roku.

“With the addition of support for Android devices, Big Fish Unlimited is now a truly multiplatform streaming service and live on two screens: PC and mobile,” O’Brien said. “We are very excited to support the recently launched, exceptional Nexus 7 tablet from Google. Instant cloud gaming is a perfect fit for this fast-performing device.”

In its first week after its launch in July, Big Fish Unlimited got customers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Big Fish is adding new games every week. One new feature is My Playlist, which allows users to manage games that they will play later. Big Fish Games has 550 employees and was founded in 2002. It has a network of more than 500 developers who have contributed games, as well as its own game studio.

Thelen said that the company used technology from iSwifter, now known as Agawi, as well as its own technology.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

All tablets are not created equal. A fact not lost on this reporter, who, at the age of three, learned to love Apple by using the very first Macintosh. Reared on the Apple doctrine, I now demand excellence in hardware, sleekness in design, and that indescribable feeling of pure joy when touching a device.

For the first time in my life, a company other than Apple has given me all that and more.

Unveiled Wednesday during the keynote address at Google’s I/O developer conference, the $199/$249 Nexus 7 outshines the existing class of Android-powered tablets, the Kindle Fire included, for one simple reason: This is the only non-Apple device I would ever buy.

An iPad-owner and lover since day one, I’ve come to view my tablet, which mind you I never actually refer to as a tablet because I’ve always believed the iPad to be superior to any other, as my most pleasurable device. My iPhone and my MacBook Air are utilitarian. I love them dearly, but I think of those devices as necessities, and I primarily associate them with work. The iPad, however, is my play device. It’s my feel-good, sit-back-and-relax toy.

The Nexus 7, which falls into the same category of device for me, has in less than 48 hours carved out a special place for itself in my heart. I find myself reaching for the 7, as I lovingly call it, over the iPad because, well, it’s just so darn cute. I love the size, the feel of the 7 in my hands, the leather-like quality of the back panel, and the overall style of the device.

Holding the Nexus 7 feels right, browsing is fantastic (thank you, Chrome tab sync) and fun, and because it’s running the new Jelly Bean software, the Nexus feels smart, intuitive, capable, and pretty darn slick. Thanks to Project Butter, the 7 feels nearly as smooth as the iPad. No major kinks, blips, or bumps to speak of — at least so far.

I also quite like the arrangement of media on the device. As an iOS user, I was a little disoriented at first, but I quickly became acclimated to the idea of apps on one page, books and magazines on another, movies in their own place, and music on its own screen. This configuration makes it all the more easy to appreciate the content and media recommendations Google serves up in each category, which really do seem to get better with time.

But beyond pleasure, what’s truly remarkable is just how practical the 7 is. Here’s why: When it comes to my web activities, I’ve gone Google. I’m yoked to Gmail, dependent on Google Calendar, tied to Google Docs (and now Drive), leashed to Chrome, and the list goes in. I can’t tell you how convenient it is to have Google as a seamless, interconnected part of the experience. Sure, this isn’t something that’s unique to the Nexus 7, but it’s lovely nonetheless.

Don’t just take it from me though. I talked to plenty of folks at the Google I/O conference who were impressed by this little sucker.

“I really like it. I used the hotel Wi-Fi and started watching Transformers. It looked really good,” developer and This Week in Google host Gina Trapani told me yesterday. “It’s small and light. It’s definitely a better Kindle Fire.”

Trapani, much more of a-know-it-all than I am when it comes to the Android software side of things, was also impressed with the subtleties that Project Butter and Jelly Bean have brought to the Nexus 7 experience. “My main complaint with the Android experience is that it’s slow and choppy, and not responsive,” she said.

But the Nexus 7, running Jelly Bean, provided a much better experience for Trapani. “It’s very smooth, and very fast,” she said. “I can see giving this to my sister-in-law. She’s in the market for a tablet … I’m going to tell her to get this.”

VentureBeat’s gadget guru Devindra Hardawar is also pretty impressed by the Nexus 7, as are gadget bloggers the web round, some of whom went deep into review mode.

Yes, it’s disheartening and a bit defeating that some of my favorite applications aren’t available for the Nexus 7. HBO Go, where are you? I do have a strong feeling, however, that by releasing a stellar device, Google has just given top iOS developers the nudge they’ve needed to build for Android too.

Let’s get to the meat of the matter. Should you buy the Nexus 7? If you’re in the market for an extremely portable tablet and don’t mind the smaller screen size, than absolutely. This isn’t some second-rate device that you should feel ashamed about toting around. No, hold your head high.

Bonus: What you save in price, you can spend on shoes. Okay, that’s just me. But seriously, I’d purchase the Nexus 7 as my primary tablet in a heartbeat. I’d also recommend it to my friends and family members. In fact, this is the very first non-Apple device that I’ve ever said that about — and that’s saying something.

Photo credits: Jennifer Van Grove and Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Design is determining the winners in everything mobile. The most successful players are focusing on one thing: How to make products, services, and devices as compelling and delightful as possible – visually, and experientially. MobileBeat 2012, July 10-11 in San Francisco , is assembling the most elite minds to debate how UI/UX is transforming every aspect of the mobile economy, and where the opportunities lie. Register here.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Google’s heavily rumored Nexus 7 tablet will include a 1.3-GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, and will start at $200, according to a detailed report by Gizmodo Australia.

With Google’s I/O conference starting Wednesday, chatter about the upcoming tablet was sure to get louder. Just as Google is selling the unlocked Galaxy Nexus Android phone, rumor has it that Google will sell its own tablet running the Android OS. Asus will build the tablet but Google will brand and sell it.

The report from Gizmodo seems to confirm much of what we’ve already been hearing, making it a near certainty Google will introduce a tablet with these specs this week. The Nexus 7 tablet will have a 7-inch IPS display with 1280 x 800 resolution, 1.3-GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera. Battery life should run around 9 hours on a charge. The device will run Android 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean, even though Google will likely introduce Android 5.0 at I/O.

On the pricing front, Google will offer a model with 8GB of local storage for $200, and a 16GB model will run $250. While the cost significantly undercuts the price of the $400 iPad 2, that won’t be the primary competition. Because of its cost structure and similar apps, the tablet will become a powerful competitor to the Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet, and other less expensive Android-based tablets.

Photo: Gizmodo Australia

Design is determining the winners in everything mobile. The most successful players are focusing on one thing: How to make products, services, and devices as compelling and delightful as possible – visually, and experientially. MobileBeat 2012, July 10-11 in San Francisco , is assembling the most elite minds to debate how UI/UX is transforming every aspect of the mobile economy, and where the opportunities lie. Register here.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Consumers the world round have fallen so hard for the charms of tablets that sales are expected to balloon by 98 percent this year.

Research firm Gartner forecasts that tablet sales will reach 118.9 million units this year, up from 60 million units in 2011. The firm also pegs tablet sales at 182.4 million units in 2013 and 369.2 million units in 2016.

It’s no secret that Apple’s iPad is the dominant tablet on the market, and Gartner predicts that Apple will maintain its hold for several years to come. The firm projects that iOS will account for 61.4 percent of worldwide tablet sales this year, and 54 percent of sales in 2013. By 2016, according to Gartner’s calculations, Apple will be responsible for 169.6 million tablet sales at close to 46 percent share.

“Despite PC vendors and phone manufacturers wanting a piece of the pie and launching themselves into the media tablet market, so far, we have seen very limited success outside of Apple with its iPad,” Gartner Research President Carolina Milanesi said. “The situation has not improved in early 2012, when the arrival of the new iPad has reset the benchmark for the product to beat.”

But don’t ignore Android — the battle for share has Android eating away at Apple’s empire in the years ahead. Google’s operating system will account for 31.9 percent of tablet sales this year, 34 percent next year, and 37 percent in 2016, according to Gartner.

Here’s another trend to watch: enterprise tablets will account for 35 percent of worldwide sales in 2015, Gartner believes, though tablets will be purchased by consumers through company buy/bring your own device (BYOD) programs. “This poses a big threat to vendors that thought about focusing on the enterprise market,” Milanesi said.

Photo credit: Shutterstock

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Research in Motion appears to be celebrating the new year with an extraordinary price drop on its struggling BlackBerry PlayBook tablets, with all models now ringing in at $299.

RIM had already cut the price of its 16GB PlayBook model to $199 during the holiday season, but now it is taking the cost cutting further by making its more-expensive 32GB and 64GB models $299. The 16GB model is also listed at $299, but with all model prices the same, there’s no reason not to get the 64GB model. The 64GB model originally retailed at $699 and the 32GB version was $599.

The sale lasts through Feb. 4 and appears to apply to PlayBooks purchased directly from RIM’s online store. Best Buy, which lowered prices on the PlayBook during the holiday, still lists the tablet’s three models at their original prices.

The PlayBook has had an especially difficult time competing with Apple’s iPad, new e-reader tablets from Amazon and Barnes & Noble and various Android tablets made by Samsung, HTC and Motorola. In early December, RIM said it had to write off $485 million and lower its guidance for the year because it couldn’t move PlayBook units.

RIM had a dismal 2011, with its stock price losing more than three-quarters of its value after various blunders, including a disastrous worldwide outage and a long delay on a much-needed PlayBook software update. Hopefully, the major PlayBook sale will mark the beginning of a better 2012.

Are you interested in a $299 PlayBook or is it still too much?

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Google chairman Eric Schmidt announced in an interview today that the company was looking to launch its own tablet within the next six months.

In a conversation with Italian publication Carriere Della Sera, Schmidt spoke briefly about the iPad and revealed, “In the next six months, we plan to market a tablet of the highest quality.”

While Apple has vigorously prosecuted manufacturers such as Samsung for its allegedy copycat tablet design — and while Steve Jobs spoke strongly before his death about how he considered Android a work of theft — Schmidt chalked it all up to business and competition.

“In mobile communications, the smartphone market, you will see brutal competition between Apple and Google Android. It is capitalism,” he said.

We’re waiting for official confirmation from Google about the meaning of Schmidt’s words. Google might be rolling out a new type of tablet with a manufacturer partner as part of its familiar lead-device strategy for new Android operating systems. Or, the company might actually be bringing a Nexus-like tablet to market itself under the Google brand name.

One thing is certain, however: Whatever product Schmidt is talking about will be running Android 4.0, a.k.a. Ice Cream Sandwich and will likely show off the most impressive features of that operating system. Currently, few Ice Cream Sandwich tablets are available, even for pre-order.

For now, Android tablets in general make up an exciting but still small portion of the tablet market, where they face stiff competition from the likes of Apple’s iPad. As of August 2011, Android tablets had wrested 20 percent of the tablet market share away from Apple.

However, all that was before the onslaught of color touchscreen tablet/ereader hybrids such as the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. These slightly downmarket competitors might not pack the graphics processing power of the iPad and Android tablets, but they weigh in at a slender $200 to $250, which means in this economy, they’re priced to sell like hotcakes. In fact, Amazon said it’s selling more than a million Kindles each week.

Image courtesy of Jolie O’Dell.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Chinese mobile manufacturer Huawei on Tuesday announced its 7-inch Springboard for T-Mobile, a new Android tablet that will compete with other 7-inch tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 and the red-hot Amazon Kindle Fire.

Android tablets have failed to make substantial headway against Apple’s iPad, but cheaper Android-based tablets could start to eat into the iPad’s market share since the least-expensive iPad 2 costs a hefty $499. Enter Huawei, which already offers low-priced Android phones in the U.S.

I was able to get hands on time with the new Springboard on the floor of the CTIA Enterprise 2011 show in San Diego. It’s light at 14 ounces and relatively small at 7.48-by-5.08-by-0.41 inches. It felt nice in my hands and the aluminum body felt surprisingly premium compared to Huawei’s cheap-feeling plastic phones. The tablet’s 7-inch screen has 1280-by-800 resolution and pictures and text looked good on it. There’s a 5-megapixel camera on back and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for taking pictures or videochatting.

As far as performance, the device felt slightly sluggish compared to my iPad 2, but it was still fast enough to scroll through and open apps to hardly notice the sluggishness. In runs the Android 3.2 mobile operating system, which is optimized for running Honeycomb on 7-inch tablets. Inside, the machine has a 1.2-GHz dual-core processor and HSPA 14.4 data capabilities that allow for fast processing and speedy T-Mobile “4G” data.

Unfortunately, Huawei and T-Mobile have not yet announced pricing and availability for tablet. That said, Hauwei is known for value pricing, and if it wants the tablet to compete with the $199 Amazon Kindle Fire, it would be smart to keep it under $200 with a 2-year contract. A Huawei spokesperson on the CTIA show floor said it should be available “before the holidays.”

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Online real estate finder Trulia is launching a big play on Android this morning with two new apps: an Android tablet app, and an app made specifically for renters.

Both apps show the increasing importance of mobile for Trulia, which the company says accounts for 25 percent of its overall traffic. It’s also a sign that companies are finally beginning to take Android tablets seriously, after they failed to get much traction last year.

Trulia touts its tablet app as the first of its kind for Android. The app includes all of the features you’d expect. You can search for properties to buy or rent, view large photos of properties, and contact a real estate agent from within the app. In my brief hands-on test, it appears to be well-designed and, most importantly, fast. The tablet app requires Google’s tablet-optimized Android 3.0.

The Trulia “For Rent” app is, not surprisingly, built specifically for rental hunters. In addition to helping you find rental properties, it’s packed with features to make your search easier. You can organize and customize rental searches and keep track of your notes and photos about a rental property from within the app. You can also easily share your notes and photos with family members, roommates, or friends.

The company tells us it’s also excited about Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet, which was unveiled yesterday. It’s currently working on an app for the Fire’s marketplace, and Trulia expects it to be available when the Kindle ships on November 15.

Trulia is based in San Francisco and has raised $33 million so far from Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Google announced today that it’s bringing its 3D mapping tool Google Earth to Android tablets.

The product was demonstrated at the Social-Loco conference during the presentation from Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of location and local services. I’m not a heavy user of Google Earth myself, either on my laptop or on smartphones, but I was impressed by today’s demo, where the demonstrator searched for different locations like the Taj Mahal and San Francisco’s Mission Bay Conference Center (where Social-Loco is being held), zoomed in using the touchscreen, and explored 3D models of each spot. It looked like a fast, immersive experience.

The demonstrator also highlighted how Google Earth can be timely and integrate with Google’s social features. Users can browse photos of different locations that were uploaded by other users. And people are submitting new 3D models all the time, in a way that helps give context around the news — for example, following the announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death, they uploaded a 3D model of the compound where he had been hiding, so people can visualize the compound and also see where it’s located in relation to the rest of Pakistan. (We’ve already written about how Google Earth imagery revealed the extent of the earthquake damage in Japan.)

In addition to demonstrating the new version of Google Earth, Mayer announced a new product called Google Business Photos.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

As a company most famous for its monitors, ViewSonic probably isn’t the first company that you’d expect to release an Android tablet. The company’s European arm today announced the ViewPad 7, a 7-inch tablet running Android 2.2, the version also known as Froyo.

Then again, with its recent stabs at all-in-one computers and digital photo frames, perhaps a ViewSonic tablet isn’t that out of the ordinary.

The ViewPad is also equipped with front and rear cameras (at VGA and 3-megapixel resolutions respectively) for video conferencing, and 3G capabilities with space for a SIM card.

The device is actually a rebranded version of a tablet called the “OlivePad,” Engadget notes. It made news months ago as “India’s first 3.5G Pad”, and was notable for its lackluster hardware — which included a 600 megahertz processor and an 800-by-480 resolution display (the same as Android phones with smaller 4-inch screens).

Simply put, the ViewPad 7 isn’t going to be an iPad killer, but it will help ViewSonic find a role in the tablet market. It’s not a wholly original stab at the Android tablet market like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, but if priced low enough, it could find a few fans.

There’s no word on worldwide or North American availability of the ViewPad 7 yet. Viewsonic Europe says that it will be priced “no more than £350″ ($543) in the UK, and it expects review units to be available in October.

via Engadget