Motorola XOOM 2 will be available at Carphone Warehouse for Christmas for 400 Euros

Motorola has been looking to expand its tablet portfolio with its latest Xoom products. It recently launched the Motorola XOOM Family Edition at Bestbuy for $379. Today, a leaked flyer revealed that the Motorola XOOM 2 tablet will be available at Carphone Warehouse for this holiday season for 400 euros or $545.

Specs wise, the XOOM 2 features a 8.2-inch touchscreen, Android 3.2(Honeycomb), and WiFi tethering support. It is a little disappointing that this device won't ship with Android ICS, but it will likely get a quick update. Other rumored specs include a front-facing camera, 16-32GB of internal storage, Bluetooth, and GPS.

The flyer did not give an exact date, but rather just a broad range. This device has still yet to be confirmed for the US. We will keep you updated on the status of the XOOM 2.

Karuma PlayBase tablet for your little ones

There is just this thing about the pitter patter of feet that carves a smile on your face, especially so for most first time parents. Then come the terrible twos, where their inquisitive hands will probe the environment around, and who knows the fine day when they chance upon your iPad 2 and a permanent marker pen, wondering why the “paper” they draw on does not crumple like regular paper? Well, if Junior wants his or her own tablet, why not get the PlayBase from Karuma?

This is a highly affordable and durable tablet which measures a surprisingly svelte 9.7mm in thickness – where you get a 7″ capacitive multi-touch display alongside Wi-Fi connectivity and a 1.2GHz Rockchip RK2918 Cortex A8 processor that runs proceedings from within. You will find Google's Android operating system underneath it, although it will come with a custom skin accompanied by 1GB DDR3 RAM just in case it will receive a software update to touch Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich version numbers.

Not only that, there is a shock-absorbent silicon cover to prevent the display from scratches when not in use, and said cover can even be folded back to function as a kickstand. Would you be willing to fork out £170 for this puppy?

HP replaces the Slate 500 with the Slate 2, adds Swype and cuts the starting price to $699

Until Microsoft gives Win8 the final seal of approval, the Windows tablet show must go on, right? Right. HP just refreshed its enterprise-friendly, Windows 7-flavored Slate 500 with the Slate 2, and took the opportunity to knock the starting price down a hundred bucks to $699. In terms of design, there's nothing much to see here — it's the same 8.9-inch tablet that's been on sale for the past year. Only this time, HP added Swype, refreshed the CPU with Intel's Atom Z670 and proffered a smaller 32GB SSD option to appease the IT guys who are going to heavily lock these down anyway. Speaking of security, it also packs TPM circuitry and Computrace Pro for tracking lost or stolen laptops and then deleting the data remotely. It'll be available worldwide this month — just in time for corporate to buy you a lil' somethin' somethin' for the holidays.

HP Slate 2 Windows 7 Tablet: $699 Price, Worldwide Availability Later This Month!

The HP Slate 2 features the same 8.9″ display with capacitive multi-touch support. It also support pen input and now includes a new Swype keyboard with support for finger or stylus input alike. It has an Intel Atom Z670 processor, a 3 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera for video calling.

The tablet claims faster boot times, and supports a variety of applications and also packs security and connectivity for everyday professional mobile computing. Besides all that, the tablet is now available for just $699 and also optionally supports 3G connectivity for high-speed internet access.

Other interesting features include support for a couple of USB 2.0 ports and HDMI-port via the HP Slate dock,  full-featured Windows environment, greater security, and much more. Here's a quick look at its security features:

- A TPM Embedded Security Chip protects data - from email to information on the hard drive.

- Embedded Security for HP ProtectTools provides user control and management of the TPM chip to increase secure user authentication, improved personal secure drive integrity, secure email and support protected digital certificate applications.

- BIOS support for Computrace Pro helps protect against data theft by allowing customers to remotely delete data at the file, directory or operating system level and keep confidential information more secure.

- Through a single user interface, HP Connection Manager offers easy control over wireless connections, including Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth® and optional integrated 3G Mobile Broadband for convenient internet and intranet access from more places around the world.
According to HP:

HP Slate 2 is priced at $699 and will be available all round the globe later this month.

Motorola Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition get official

Not exactly one for the shocking column here, but Motorola has officially revealed the Xoom 2 and Xoom 2 Media Edition today. The Xoom 2 rocks a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, Android 3.2, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 10.1-inch display. It also offers up front and rear-facing cameras at 1.3 megapixel and five megapixel, respectively, plus Motorola's new Splash-guard protection. The Xoom 2 Media Edition features similar specs, save for its 8.2-inch display size, which, like the standard Xoom 2, has Gorilla Glass protection. It also promises a 20-percent improvement over the original Xoom in the graphics department, which, along with a 178 degree viewing angle make the tablet optimized for media consumption, as the name implies. Thus far, availability for the similarly named tablets has only been announced in the UK and Ireland, where the WiFi versions hit around the middle of this month through retailers like Carphone Warehouse.

Motorola announces XOOM 2, XOOM 2 Media Edition tablets

Motorola on Thursday announced its new XOOM 2 and XOOM 2 Media Edition tablets. The XOOM 2 runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb and is equipped with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a 10.1-inch display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 5-megapixel camera and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat. Motorola said the display, which has a special “splashguard” for added protection, is brighter and more vibrant than the screen used on the original XOOM. Motorola also pre-loaded the XOOM 2 with several enterprise apps in hopes of attracting the corporate market. The XOOM 2 Media Edition also runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb but is thinner, lighter, has a smaller 8.2-inch display. It also lacks the enterprise focus of the XOOM 2. Motorola said the tablets will be available in various retail outlets throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom in November but did not provide any details on a U.S. launch date. The company's full press release follows after the break.

Motorola Mobility Launches Two New Tablets in the UK and Ireland

Motorola XOOM 2™ and Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition™ are powerful, portable and ready to take on the world

LONDON - November 3, 2011 - Building on the success of Motorola XOOM™, Motorola Mobility is rocking the tablet world yet again with two additions that bring enhanced experiences to the European market. Wi-Fi variants of the Motorola XOOM 2™ and Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition™ – boasting powerful productivity, rich entertainment and customizable experiences — are now available: the answer to consumers looking for a tablet that can keep up with their lifestyle. Both tablets will be available at Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Ireland, as well as Best Buy, PC World, Dixons and Currys in the UK.

"Tablets are quickly becoming a must-have tool for staying connected, getting work done and having fun at home and on the road," said Victoria McManus, marketing director UK & Ireland, Motorola Mobility. "We are very excited about these two new additions to our tablet portfolio that build on the success of the original Motorola XOOM to now deliver more powerful tablet experiences to the European market."

The new Motorola XOOM 2 and Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition both feature Android 3.2, a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, brilliant displays with Corning® Gorilla® Glass and a splashguard coating for a go anywhere, do everything attitude. In addition, both tablets include the new MotoCast™ app that lets you stream all your music, photos, videos and documents between your PC or Mac and tablet without any media tools, apps, or cords.

Motorola XOOM 2: Lighter and Brighter
Motorola XOOM 2 with Wi-Fi sports a 10.1-inch widescreen HD display and Android 3.2 Honeycomb like its predecessor, but the similarities end there. The display is brighter and more vibrant than before with colour enhancement, and the edges have been strategically designed to make the tablet more comfortable to hold — this tablet is easy on the eyes, and easy on the hands. It is compatible with the optional Motorola Stylus that is great for note-taking, hand-writing emails and sketching. Motorola XOOM 2 is loaded with Business Ready features like VPN support and data encryption.

Motorola XOOM 2 with Wi-Fi features MOTOPRINT integrated into key apps so you can print wirelessly from your tablet. It is approximately 100 grams lighter than the original Motorola XOOM to make it even easier to take on the road, and can withstand poolside use, spilled drinks or dashes out to the car in the rain thanks to its new splash-guard coating. A battery delivering more than 10 hours of video playback means it can go with you wherever you need to be.

Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition: Beat your Boredom
Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition with Wi-Fi is easy to hold with one hand thanks to its 8.2-inch display, and easy to take with you wherever you go, weighing less than the best-selling paperback you've been carrying around. Optimised for entertainment, it has a wide, 178 degree viewing angle. Hold it up to someone across the room, or share it with someone sitting next to you, and everyone gets a brilliant view.

Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition has a 20 percent improvement in graphics performance over the original Motorola XOOM for smoother gaming, features adaptive virtual surround sound with booming bass that'll delight your ears, and stands out from the crowd with the fastest multi-tasking in its class. It can even be a universal remote control for home AV equipment with the personalized, custom remote control app pre-loaded on the tablet. Lastly, a splash-guard coating provides extra protection against the spills that are bound to happen when you're having fun.

Accessories to connect to your life easier, from anywhere

With the Work and Play kit, plug your tablet into the HD Multimedia Station to connect to your HDTV, speakers and other peripherals for large-screen entertainment. Get more done, faster with the included keyboard and mouse with Bluetooth technology. Now, when your tablet is docked, the Smart Controller lets you MC the show from the comfort of your couch. For Motorola XOOM 2, no accessory discussion is complete without mentioning the Motorola Stylus with Precision tip – your tablet's best friend.
Availability Motorola XOOM 2 and Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition, Wi-Fi variants will be available in the UK and Ireland in mid-November. Carphone Warehouse customers in the UK can pre-register here

Motorola Xoom2: Thinner, Lighter, Faster

Motorola has kicked the Xoom2 out of the Android tablet nest and it looks like a big improvement on v1. There are two models, the Xoom2 and the Xoom2 Media Edition.

The original Xoom was a piece of junk. Lightweight (in a bad way), plasticky and cheap-feeling, it had nothing on the then-current iPad 1. Until we get a hands-on, we won't if the new one feels any better, but it is certainly thinner, faster and lighter.

The main difference between the regular Xoom2 and the Media Edition is size, with 10.1-inch and 8.2-inch displays respectively. Both are 0.35-inches thick (the original was a shade over half an inch), and the new ten-incher weighs 1.32 pounds against the original's 1.5 pounds.

Both new Xooms run on a dual-core 1.2GHz processor (up from 1GHz), include 1GB RAM and run Android 3.2 Honeycomb.

But despite these improvements, Motorola is clearly building down to a price. The storage has been halved from 32GB to 16GB, the front-facing camera is now down from 2MP to 1.3MP. The front camera remains at 5MP, but has hopefully been improved since the awful first version.

Both tablets will launch later in November in Great Britain, with no U.S or Canada dates yet announced.

Xoom2 product page [Motorola]

Xoom2 Media Edition [Motorola]

Motorola Xoom 2 hands-on

Motorola has just unveiled two new tablets in Europe, and we've managed to get our grubby mitts on them. This one is the Xoom 2, the (almost) same-size successor to Moto's first Android tablet. Matching its older sister's 10.1-inch Gorilla Glass screen, there's now an all-over splash resistant coating (inside and out), with those intriguing cut-off corners we've seen already there to aid the ergonomics of handling the slab. Add to that, Motorola's created something it's calling intelligent grip suppression, which means you can hold the screen and navigate with your other hand without hindrance. It runs Honeycomb 3.2, and gains an improved 1.2GHz dual-core processor inside, with a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera, and a five megapixel shooter on the back. Comparing the tablet to its predecessor, you won't believe how much thinner it is - it's Galaxy Tab 10.1-scale skinniness. Motorola also boast that it's now 100g lighter than the original Xoom, but we still get an HDMI port, microUSB connectivity and 16GB of storage. There's also a stylus sold separately, and behaving quite like the HTC Flyer's, though we haven't been given a price just yet, though the Xoom 2 has now been priced up at £379.99.

Energy Sistem Unveils Three Cheap Android Tablets

Energy Sistem, known for its low-cost PMPs and e-book readers, unveils three new Android-powered tablets. The new slates run on Android 2.3, but its launcher interface is similar to Android Honeycomb.

The devices come in 7-inch and 8-inch screens with 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios respectively. The three tablets feature A8 ARM architecture, 512MB DDR3 RAM, USB-OTG function, WiFi, microSD card slots, front cameras, and a full HD HDMI output. All devices also come with a 3.7-volt battery with 4,000mAh, which offers up to six hours of video playback, seven hours of WiFi browsing, and 30 hours of music playback.

The Energy Tablet i724 Dark Iron is a compact and lightweight device. It comes with a 7-inch screen and 4GB of internal memory. Meanwhile, the Energy Tablet i824 Dark Iron has an 8-inch multitouch capacitive touchscreen.

Finally, the Energy Tablet i828 Black HD has the features of two previous slates, with an additional camera and 8GB of internal memory.

Prices are expected to range between $185 and $270.

16 GB Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus now in stock at Amazon, yours for $399.99

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus was announced in September as the successor to the original Galaxy Tab, one of the first true Android tablets (even if it was hampered by an operating system designed for phones). Things have changed since the original launched, and Android Honeycomb has been created for tablet use specifically. The Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus runs Honeycomb, and will probably be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich too in the future.

For now though, it's Honeycomb all the way. The Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus was supposed to arrive in the US on November 13, but it's already available. Amazon has the 16 GB version in stock for $399.99 (which is the recommended sales price in the US, so unfortunately Amazon hasn't yet cut the price like it usually does with smartphones).

As you can see, shipping is free. The Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus with 32 GB of built-in storage is sadly not available yet, but it probably will be out soon too.

This is a nice surprise – in a mobile world quite used to delays, it's certainly great to see a product ship well before its intended release date.

NOOK Tablet specs leak ahead of launch

Well we all know that the upcoming NOOK tablet from Barnes & Noble has been given a November 7th announcement date, but it looks like somebody has decided to ruin the surprise by leaking its details ahead of time. Somebody managed to get their hands on a bunch of slides containing details about the new tablet from B&N and has posted them online for the world to see.

According to the leaked slides, here are the details of the new tablet: it is going to be named the NOOK Tablet, and will be thinner and lighter than the NOOK Color. In terms of appearances, it's going to look similar to its predecessor, but it's what's on the inside that counts. The NOOK Tablet will pack a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP processor, a 7″ VividView IPS (1024 x 600) display, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot.

Battery life is rated at 4 hours of video playback with WiFi on, and 8 hours of video playback with WiFi off. No mention of the operating system but it should be a B&N customized version of Android 2.X. The NOOK Tablet will have a price tag of $249 and should be in stores November 16th.

To go along with the introduction of the new tablet, the NOOK Color will have its price slashed from $249 to $199, while the price of the NOOK Simple Touch will drop from $139 to $99. The NOOK Color will also have a major software update that brings support for Hulu, Rhapsody, MOG, Grooveshark, more digital magazines and apps to choose from.

Anybody excited yet? Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted when the 7th rolls around.

HP updates the Slate 500 and names it Slate 2

HP has just released an update for their Windows 7 based slate tablet.  The newer Slate 2 has a faster Atom processor at 1.5 GHz, Swype input support and 32GB SSD to start.  They also changed the backing of their Slate 2 to be flat instead of the diamond style they had in the previous model.  Still no integrated stylus slot and you're still stuck with a disappointing 3 MP rear facing camera.  On the upside, HP has lowered the starting price to $699.

Nokia CEO hints at possible Windows 8 tablet

While discussing his intentions to expand Nokia's presence in the United States, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop recently made comments that suggest his company could have a Windows 8 tablet in the pipeline. “There's a new tablet opportunity coming,” Elop told Bloomberg in a recent interview. “We see the opportunity. Unquestionably, that will change the dynamics .” Elop described Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system as a “supercharged” version of its Windows Phone operating system, implying a hint of interest in using the OS on a tablet. The two operating systems share a user interface called “Metro UI.” Nokia recently announced its first two Windows Phone devices, the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800, during its Nokia World conference. Elop confirmed the existence of a Nokia tablet in April, although early reports suggested it might exclude Microsoft from its tablet plans. Microsoft has already demoed a number of devices running Windows 8 and the first are expected to hit the market toward the end of 2012.