Mystery ASUS TF300T tablet, possibly a cheaper Transformer, surfaces

Asus seems to be on a roll with a host of tablet announcements in their kitty, this year. They already unveiled a bunch of them at CES and now we have a new mystery tab doing the rounds on the Internet. A Taiwanese site, NCCC claims to have found, what could be, the successor to the Transformer Prime. If we go purely by the codenames, then the original Transformer was the TF101, the Prime was TF201 and this one, apparently is the TF300T, which points to a possible successor.

Looks practically identical

Other than these two pictures, we don’t have any more details on the tablet. From the looks of it, it bares the spitting image of the original transformer from the front and back. We can only spot a rear camera and the 3.5mm headphone jack from this and what looks like a power button towards the far end of the tablet. If this is the successor to the Transformer Prime then you can expect it to have a quad-core processor. There is also a possibility that it could be a cheaper version of the Transformer without the dock connector and metal body. The red coloured back could be plastic instead of metal and if it is going to be a cheaper alternative, it may just have a dual-core processor, instead of a quad-core.

Not much to go on

We hope to see more of the 10.1-inch tablet at MCW, later this month. Hopefully, it will be running ICS and not Honeycomb with a promised update, later in the year.

Smartphones shipment numbers exceeded PCs, tablets in 2011

The PC market saw a slowdown, last year and if present reports are anything to go by, then the situation for the PC market is only going to worsen, this year. Canalys, a research firm published a report that revealed that smartphone shipments exceeded PCs in 2011. This is supposedly the first time such a thing as happened. A total of some 158.5 million smartphones were shipped in the last quarter of 2011, as compared to the 101.2 million smartphones in Q4 2010. In 2011, a total of some 487.7 million smartphones were shipped, as compared to 299.7 million in 2010 - that’s a massive 63 percent growth over 2010. On the other hand, desktop PCs only grew 15 percent. It must be noted that the count of PCs also includes tablets that made up for 15 percent of PC shipments.

Mobile phones - in a league of their own

Tablets by themselves, grew some 274 percent, which is a massive boost, but still, the numbers didn’t in anyway come close to the number of PCs or smartphones shipped. Canalys VP and analyst, Chris Jones said that there was a major drop in demand for netbooks and also in the notebook and desktops space, but at the same time, demand for tablets grew substantially. Smartphones have gone from being a niche product to truly a mass consumption device. Dropping prices for all of these products have also boosted numbers and popularity. Customers are also now looking at using the Internet and consuming media and using apps on their devices, much more than they ever have before. At the same time, Canalys expected to see some price hikes in 2012, as companies try to make more profits. He said that traditionally companies, such as Huawei, ZTE and LG who were focused on lower price will now focus more on the higher priced segment. 

Apple's iPhone - doing rather well 

The report goes on to say that Apple was the top vendor in Q4 of 2011. Some 37 million iPhones, 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs were sold. These kind of numbers make Apple the most successful brand, selling most number of smartphones in any quarter. The last record was held by Nokia, who sold some 28.3 million phones in Q4 2010, much lower than Apple’s 37 million.

Bold 9900 has a design flaw

BlackBerry maker, Research in Motion is having problems again. As reported by a Canadian website called Mobilesyrup, there seems to be a major design flaw with their BlackBerry Bold 9900. An image of a leaked internal  document has showcased that the holster of the phone has a big problem that lets the keypad and the keys fall off.

As reported by the Mobile Indian, according to the report, "RIM has identified a design issue with the holsters supplied with BlackBerry Bold 9900 devices manufactured before November 3, 2011. Due to a folded edge, inside the lip of the holster, keys on the keyboard can be caught and knocked off when inserting the device into the holster at an angle with excessive force."

Another problem

The only solace is that devices that have been manufactured after the 3rd of November, 2011, do not have that problem. So, you’re lucky, if you’re one of the late buyers of the phone. This definitely isn't good news for those who had purchased the phone before the said date. Research in Motion is providing an increased warranty of 18 months for the phones with the problem, which we’re not too sure, solves the problem.

Now, that’s definitely a new low for cell phone giant, Research in Motion. Something as serious as a design flaw on an existing device directly impacts three crucial things – existing users, potential users and the internal design team of the company. Besides the internal blame game, it’s the existing users who will be seething with anger, because, despite shelling out big bucks for a device, what they have in hand is seemingly not worth.

This also doesn’t sound that great for those still wanting to place their trust in BlackBerry as a smartphone. What do you guys think - Does a design flaw by Research in Motion, followed by a scattered acknowledgement do any good to their floundering profits and sales? Or, do you think that now that they’ve hit the rock bottom, the only way ahead for BlackBerry is up. Let us know in the comments section below.

Apple iTV may not come this year after all

Rumours of a Siri-enabled Apple HDTV have been riding the Internet waves for a while now and the last we reported about it was that it was expected to be launched by as early as April or May, this year. However, as per a report by Digitimes, industry sources have informed them that chances of Apple launching the iTV, by this year are slim, as Sharp who is believed to be manufacturing the panels for the TV is not ready to ship.

The wait for the iTV continues (Image mock-up)

The report states, “Apple reportedly has sought to source IGZO panels from Sharp for the production of iTVs as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, which unveiled their 55-inch Super OLED and AMOLED TV models, respectively, at CES, both have regarded OLED TVs are their killer products for 2012, and therefore the two Korea-based companies are unlikely to share OLED panel production capacities with Apple.” The report by Digitimes goes on to state that though Sharp are able to produce in 32, 46, and even 55-inch sizes, sources have indicated that the panel manufacturer is unready to start shipping these IGZO panels that are needed for Apple’s production of their iTVs. The report ends by stating, “Yield rates of Sharp's IGZO panels are also a major concern.”

While there is no actual information on this rumoured HDTV, a high ranking source with a major electronics retailer has shared some light on what the television will feature. The source claims to have seen the TV set in person and he said that they employ OLED panels at various sizes ranging up to 42 inches. The source states, “Controls for the television set would be unconventional and unique, according to the retail exec. The TV will follow the Apple tradition of going into power-saving sleep mode more often than actually turning off.”

This television is believed to be controlled using one’s voice as well as having the option of controlling it with an iOS device that can be used as a remote control. Apple executives describe this rumoured television as a ‘hub’ for one’s life and they claim it will replace the PC as the most used device in a consumer’s home.

AMD Trinity reference Ultrathins are a sight for sore eyes

If you thought Intel’s Ultrabooks were ubercool, then wait till you get a hold of AMD’s reference design for their Ultrathin notebooks. Engadget managed to get some good alone time with Compal’s reference design of AMD’s upcoming Trinity-based notebooks, that’s sure to give Ultrabooks a run for its money. For those who aren’t aware, Compal is the second largest ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) for notebooks in the world and basically, they come up with a bunch of reference designs for their clients and then pass it over to OEMs (like Dell, Acer, Toshiba, HP, etc) to manufacture. The one on the images was one of several designs to show manufacturers what AMD and Compal have planned for 2012.This anorexic reference design is nothing short of stunning from every angle. It appears to be sporting a 14-inch screen, Chiclet keyboard and a generous trackpad. On the sides, we have a couple of USB 3.0 connectors, HDMI, mini-DisplayPort and a LAN jack. Notice the cool, lattice shaped exhaust vents. What’s really interesting is the new Trinity APU powering the notebook. This new APU is built on the same 32nm fabrication, but will feature four Piledriver cores, which is an enhanced and tweaked version of Bulldozer. The notebook will feature one of the low voltage Trinity APUs and a Radeon HD 7000M graphics chip. We still don’t have any model name or specifications of these chips right now, but we should know more in the coming months. The icing on the cake, however is the pricing. Unlike Intel’s elite Ultrabooks, which are mostly in the $1000 and above price range, AMD’s Ultrathins are targeted between $500 - $600, which make them more affordable and feature rich at the same time. Clearly, where these notebooks have cut cost is in the chassis, which from the reference design seems to be made out of plastic, instead of aluminium (which most Ultrabooks use). This is not necessarily a bad thing, though, as long as the plastics used are of good quality, I don’t see a problem with that.

Intel may have had a head start in this new segment that they created, but it seems AMD once again has the upper hand in the segment, where Intel just can’t seem to compete, and that’s value for money.