ASUS outs lower-end Transformer Pad 300 tablet with 16GB of storage and 1280 x 800 display

Remember when we said ASUS was adding another tablet to its stable? Let's bump that number to an even two. ASUS just announced the Transformer Pad 300, a lower-end match to the new Infinity Series (and also made a quick appearance earlier this month). Hilariously (if rapidly aging gadgets can ever be funny), the 300 is, for all intents and purposes, the original Transformer Prime - until the most lustworthy tablet. So far as we can tell, the only differences are that it offers different color choices (blue, white and red), a slightly downgraded display and optional LTE. Once again, it has a Tegra 3 chip, 8MP / 2MP cameras, HDMI and a 10.1-inch, 1280 x 800 IPS display. Interestingly, this guy has a regular 'ole IPS screen, not the 600-nit Super IPS+ panel used on the original Prime and the new Infinity Pad. The 300 also comes with a fixed 16GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD), whereas the original Prime packed 32GB at the lower end. Still, ASUS won't skimp on some things: it ships with ICS, like its brother, and promises up to 10 hours of battery life (that's 15 with the optional keyboard dock, which is an hour less than what the Infinity Series claims). No word yet on availability, so expect some further announcements in the coming months with pricing specific to different regions.

Huawei MediaPad 10 eyes-on

If ever there was a "One more thing moment" it came at Huawei's Mobile World Congress 2012 press conference today, where the company's chairman waited until after a Q&A session to say, oh by the way, it'll sell a 10-inch version of its MediaPad tablet. The company stopped short of providing specs, and in the hands-on area outside the event, journalists were prohibited from actually touching the device. Here's what we know, though: it has a 10-inch 1080p, IPS display and the same industrial sign as the original MediaPad (aka the T-Mobile Springboard), with what appears to be a unibody aluminum build. You'll also find that white piece of plastic on the back that brings to mind HTC devices of yore, but instead of capping either portrait end, it stretches across the top of the back, where the 8-megapixel camera is. The tablet will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich, and, as before, the skinning atop Android seems minimal - vanilla, even! Other specs: it has the same new K3V2 chip found inside the Ascend D Quad smartphone announced today. It'll go on sale in markets like China and Europe in Q2, meaning we don't know about US availability yet.

Asus announces Padfone tablet/smartphone hybrid alongside low-end Transformer Pad 300

Asus on Monday unveiled the Padfone from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The hybrid device was first announced in May last year, however a bit has changed since the Padfone's initial announcement at Computex 2011. The unique Padfone tries to capitalize on separating itself from the pack, and is comprised of a 4-3-inch Android 4.0-powered smartphone docked inside a 10-inch tablet. The handset portion of the device features a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an Adreno 225 graphics processor and an 8-megapixel rear camera. Docking the smartphone inside the tablet brings the device a 10.1-inch display, a tablet UI and a new range of functionality. Announced alongside the Padfone is the entry-level Transformer Pad 300, a new version of Asus's popular Eee Pad Transformer that features a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, a 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800-pixel display and 16GB of internal storage. The Padfone will finally begin shipping in April, 11 months after it was first announced, and pricing is not yet available. Launch details for the Transformer Pad 300 have not yet been announced

Quad-core Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD officially announced, we have even more hands-on images

Yesterday Huawei officially unveiled the Ascend D series smartphones, its highest-end offerings in that space. But it also gave us a quick glimpse at its newest Android tablet – the MediaPad 10. And today the Chinese company wasted no time and announced the tablet as well. Thankfully, it's not called MediaPad 10 Full HD as we thought yesterday – it's actually Huawei MediaPad 10 FHD. Not perfect, but it will have to do. The new MediaPad tablet has the same Huawei-made quad-core processor that's found in the Ascend D quad and D quad XL smartphones. The company boasts that it's the fastest and the smallest quad-core chip currently available for mobile devices. Today we were allowed to actually touch the tablet, so another photo shoot ensued, and here are some of the resulting images (the rest can be found at the end of this post in a dedicated gallery): The MediaPad 10 FHD has an IPS 10.1-inch 1920×1200 touchscreen (hence FHD), the aforementioned processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, 84 Mbps HSPA support, Dolby Surround sound, an 8 MP autofocus rear camera, a 1.3 MP front-facing camera, and it's 8.8 mm thin and weighs 598g. It will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. As you can see from the pictures above, it's certainly a looker. The tablet will be available during the second quarter of this year (so sometime between April and June) for an unspecified price. Which hopefully will turn out to be lower than what Huawei's competitors ask for their quad-core tablets. Claiming to have the fastest processor can only do so much to instantly make your brand a household name – if that comes with lower prices than the competition, then, and only then do you have the chance of very quickly making a name for yourself. Is Huawei going to succeed? At this point, it all depends on them really. The entire world has been anxiously waiting for Chinese companies to break out of the mainland and become competitive on a global scale in this industry, and, at least in terms of specs, Huawei seems to have pulled that off this year. As for actual success in sales, that's more complicated, so we'll have to wait and see.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 hands-on

Somehow making the original Galaxy Note look positively diminutive in size, the newly announced Galaxy Note 10.1 is a proper 10.1-inch tablet from Samsung. Sporting a 1.4Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, HSPA+, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.1, the only thing you won't be able to do with this slate is place an actual call. Then again, given how ridiculous the original Note looks held up to the side of a human head, we're not so sure this is a bad thing. In use, the Note 10.1 is snappy and responsive, and the S-pen implementation is well executed. Does the world need another 10-inch tablet? We can't answer that one way or the other, but Samsung certainly has a competent device on its hands.

Samsung announces Galaxy Note 10.1 with Android 4.0, dual-core chipset and S Pen

Samsung on Monday took the wraps off another new addition to its Android tablet lineup, the Galaxy Note 10.1. Like the supersized “phablet” it joins in the Galaxy Note family, the Note 10.1 includes Samsung's S Pen stylus for drawing, note-taking, highlighting and much more. Sadly, this still isn't the high-definition slate we've been waiting for so it looks like Samsung is shooting to launch its Retina-like tablet later this year. The 10-inch Galaxy Note runs Samsung's TouchWiz UI atop Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and includes a 1.4GHz dual-core processor along with the same cameras found in the original Galaxy Tab 10.1. In fact, the Note 10.1 essentially seems like a redesigned Galaxy Tab 10.1 with an S Pen and a new processor, which is peculiar since the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1) is pretty much a Galaxy Tab 10.1 as well. Announced alongside the Galaxy Note 10.1 is the Galaxy S WiFi 4.2, a Wi-Fi-only device aimed at gaming. Samsung's press releases follow below. Boost your Creativity and Productivity with GALAXY Note 10.1 A new device category, GALAXY Note 10.1 comes with an immersive 10.1'' screen and S Pen versatility to unlock your creativity and productivity Barcelona, February 27, 2012 - At Mobile World Congress, Samsung announced the launch of GALAXY Note 10.1, which expands the GALAXY Note experience in creativity, productivity, and learning. With its large display, GALAXY Note 10.1 provides multi-screen functionality to maximize efficiency in learning, work and creative endeavors. Its multi-screen functionality enables you to do a true multi-tasking, by viewing Internet pages, videos or other applications side by side while writing or sketching your ideas. GALAXY Note 10.1 features S Note, a unique and efficient tool that lets you combine notes or sketches together with web content, images and other digital media into your own personalized storyboards. It gives you a new way to create stories as S Note provides various ready-to-use templates such as meeting minutes, recipe, cards, diary, magazine and more. Also, hand-drawn geometric shapes can be perfectly digitized by using the Shape Match function, which helps users to create more organized idea sketches and storyboards. Moreover, by using the S Note's integrated knowledge search engines, users can quickly search, obtain information, and easily drag & drop the cropped images and content onto S Notes without having to switch between screens. GALAXY Note 10.1 enables an extraordinary learning experience. Students can watch a lecture live-streamed on video while writing down comments on S Note; research a college essay on the web while taking notes; or even read a full e-textbook while annotating it. Similar to the Shape Match, Formula Match function helps to correct and digitize formulas hand-drawn with S Pen, making the device a more powerful education tool. Users can fully enjoy PC-like premium photo editing and drawing experiences with Adobe® Photoshop® Touch and Adobe Ideas. Photoshop Touch lets users transform images with core Photoshop features and combine multiple photos into layered images, make popular edits, apply professional effects, and more. Adobe Ideas is an easy-to-master drawing tool that allows users to sketch ideas, choose amazing color themes and import images. Both are specially optimized for S pen and are exclusively pre-loaded on Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1. "GALAXY Note 10.1 takes productivity on a Note to a whole new level. With a larger, fully utilizable screen and superior performance, it combines the intuitiveness of handwriting with all the versatility of digital content to let users be more productive across all of life's demanding tasks - whether working, learning, or simply creating their own stories," said JK Shin, President of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. "With GALAXY Note 10.1 we are demonstrating Samsung's commitment to extend the mobile category and are working with key partners like Adobe to provide extraordinary experiences for users that enable them to be more productive, express themselves creatively and add a touch of fulfillment to their lives." Ensuring intuitive multitasking and web browsing, GALAXY Note 10.1 runs on AndroidTM 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and features a 1.4GHz dual-core processor and HSPA+ connectivity. Its real-time video streaming and Full HD video playback add to the device's content versatility. GALAXY Note 10.1's innovative S Pen, the most advanced pen input solution on the market, is completely integrated into the device's original applications. It provides enhanced pressure sensitivity, superior accuracy and control when editing or writing, providing an analog pen writing experience on a digital device. The GALAXY Note 10.1 is exhibited at Samsung stand (Hall 8), Mobile World Congress 2012. For multimedia content and more detailed information, please visit www.samsungmobilepress.com. Note to Editors: Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 Product Specifications 3.5mm Ear Jack Value-addedFeatures & Services Samsung TouchWiz / Samsung L!ve Panel S Pen Experience (S Note, S Planner) Samsung Apps Samsung Hub- Readers Hub/ Music Hub/ Game Hub/ Video Hub Samsung S Suggest (App recommendation service) Samsung ChatON mobile communication service Samsung AllShare Play* Samsung Kies/ Samsung Kies air GoogleTM Mobile Services- Android Market™, Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Maps™,Syncing with Google Calendar™, Google Search, Google + Adobe Apps- Photoshop Touch, Adobe Ideas Polaris document editor A-GPS(3G version)S-GPS(WiFi version)Glonass EnterpriseSolutions Exchange ActiveSyncOn-Device EncryptionCisco VPN(Virtual Private Network) Juniper Junos Pulse VPN Connectivity Bluetooth technology v 3.0 (Apt-X Codec support)USB 2.0 HostWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi Channel Bonding Sensor Accelerometer, Digital compass, Light, Gyroscope Memory 16x32x64GB User memory + 1GB (RAM)microSD (up to 32GB) Dimension 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.9 mm, 583g Battery  Standard battery, Li-ion 7,000mAh * Availability and launching time of the services may differ by region. * All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation. Game On With Samsung GALAXY S WiFi 4.2 Samsung introduces GALAXY S WiFi 4.2, the best of Android experiences with powerful gaming on the go. This experience is further enhanced with the device's superior SoundAlive audio system, offering great sound either through a front stereo speaker or headphones. A gyroscope sensor enables the user to control the device by moving it, providing truly engaging and intuitive gaming. The GALAXY S WiFi 4.2 is exhibited at Samsung stand (Hall 8), Mobile World Congress 2012. For multimedia content and more detailed information, please visit www.samsungmobilepress.com. Samsung GALAXY S WiFi 4.2 Product Specifications 3.5mm Ear Jack Value-addedFeatures & Services Premium EA Games preloaded- Need For Speed Hot Pursuit Samsung Apps Samsung Hub- Social Hub- Readers Hub*/ Music Hub*/ Game Hub* (Downloadable via Samsung Apps) Samsung ChatON mobile communication service Samsung Kies / Samsung Kies air Samsung AllShare Samsung SmartView: Smart TV remote control application GoogleTM Mobile Services- Android Market™, Gmail™, YouTube™, Google Maps™,Syncing with Google Calendar™, Google Search, Google + Bluetooth Handsfree Connectivity Bluetooth technology v 3.0USB 2.0Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n Sensor Gyroscope , Accelerometer, Digital compass Memory 8x16GB User memory + 512MB (RAM)microSD (up to 32GB) Dimension 124.1 x66.1 x 8.9 mm, 118g Battery  Standard battery, Li-ion 1,500mAh * Availability and launching time of the services may differ by region. * All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.

MWC 2012: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet now official, we go hands-on

Despite not having a big bad press event like last year, Samsung is very present at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona these days. And we mean very present. The Korean company has even unveiled a new product for this occasion – the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. This has been rumored to come, but it didn't feel like it had its place in Samsung's portfolio, especially with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 also announced just yesterday. Yet here it is. As its name implies, the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet basically takes the S Pen technology found in the Samsung Galaxy Note phone and couples it with a 10.1-inch tablet. The result is all about that stylus. The design of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is very similar to the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, which isn't really all that bad. It's thin, it feels good in the hand (with the exception of the glossy back cover unfortunately), and it will come with all kinds of S Pen features built into the software. For example, it has “multi-screen functionality” which allows you to have Internet pages, videos or other apps side by side while sketching your ideas. You get some ready-made templates for the S Pen, such as meeting minutes, recipe, cards, diary, and magazine. The Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with Adobe Photoshop Touch and Adobe Ideas preinstalled, and Samsung claims that the tablet version of Photoshop is much more usable with the stylus. Here are some hands-on pictures with the Galaxy Note 10.1 shot at Samsung's booth here in Barcelona: For more pictures, just scroll to the end of this post – a full gallery awaits. If you're interested in the pure tech specs, you won't be disappointed either. There's a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor in there, a 3 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP front-facing camera, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 1 GB of RAM and 16, 32 or 64 GB of integrated storage space further expandable via microSD cards, a 7,000 mAh battery, and 21 Mbps HSPA+ support. It runs Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich and its dimensions are 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.9 mm. It weighs 583 g. Here's a quick hands-on video with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1: Judging from its press release, Samsung is aiming this at the education market, at least in part (there's even built-in math formula recognition). It remains to be seen whether the S Pen tech will help tablets really ‘invade' classrooms worldwide, and just how happy children and youngsters will be once they find out they can sketch over anything. As for the general public, the Galaxy Note 10.1 like the ‘original' Galaxy Note before it has a pretty bumpy road ahead. After all, it took a few years until people got off styluses – and some may still associate a stylus with a bad touchscreen experience, despite the fact that the S Pen is a capacitive stylus. So whether or not it will be successful, the Galaxy Note 10.1 remains an interesting niche offering, and it may get favored by certain professionals who do most of their work on the road (aside from students, of course). Only time will tell.