Amazon Smartphone With 3D Display Coming This Fall, Report Says

Amazon's hardware efforts will soon extend into the smartphone space, with the ecommerce giant debuting a new handset this fall, according to a report.

Following years of rumors, supposed leaks and analyst speculation, The Wall Street Journal on Friday claimed that Amazon is planning to announce its own handset in June.

Citing people familiar with the details, the WSJ said Amazon has been demonstrating the smartphone for developers in Seattle and San Francisco in recent weeks. The developers were reportedly required to visit hotel suites with heavy security in place in order to view the demonstrations.

Slated to begin shipping toward the end of September,the phone will reportedly feature four front-facing cameras or sensors to track the user's gaze, and offer a glasses-free 3D-viewing experience.

Previous rumors of an Amazon phone have generally focused on its mobile ecommerce possibilities, but this report includes tantalizingly specific details. Sources said Amazon's first order of handsets will be for 600,000 units, with Japan Display serving as at least one of the device's component manufacturers.

Although some say Amazon may be playing too far outside of its core competency by offering its own hardware, the Kindle has turned out to be popular device. According to a January report by ad firm Chitika Insights, which tracked post-Christmas share changes for tablet usage in 2013, the Kindle Fire fared the best in terms of eating away at the iPad's dominance in North America.

Now, nearly seven years after the Kindle's debut, it appears Amazon is ready to take on the far more challenging task of duplicating its tablet's success in a crowded smartphone space.

The WSJ report added that production of the device is expected to begin at the end of April.

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Samsung Unveils Galaxy Tab4 Mid-Range Tablets

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Tab4 series, its latest mid-range tablets, on Tuesday.

The Galaxy Tab4 is expected to go on sale in the second quarter, and will come in three sizes: 7-inch, 8-inch and 10.1-inch. The Tab4 will be available in black and white, as well as in Wi-Fi and LTE varieties.

In terms of specs, these tablets won't be able to compete with what Samsung is offering on its Galaxy NotePro and TabPro, but are solidly middle-of-the-road.

The Galaxy Tab4 tablets feature:

> Quad-core 1.2Ghz processor

> WXGA screen (1280x800 resolution)

> Android 4.4 KitKat

> 3 megapixel rear camera and 1.3MP front camera

> 802.11n Wi-Fi

> Bluetooth 4.0

We're a little bit confused as to why Samsung is offering both a 7-inch and 8-inch Tab4, given the similarity in specs. The 7-inch model will also be available in 3G, presumably for emerging markets without LTE, but it still seems odd to have two tablets that are virtually the same size and have the same internal hardware.

If Samsung can price these tablets firmly under the $350 range, it could offer some competition to Apple, Amazon and Google's tablet offerings.

Image: SAMSUNG

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Microsoft Finally Adds 4G LTE to Surface 2

Dropping the other shoe on one of tech's worst-kept secrets, Microsoft has officially unveiled the cellular broadband-ready Surface tablet, officially called the Surface 2 (AT&T 4G LTE) .

The update comes more than a year after Microsoft first launched the Surface tablet (originally called Surface RT), a few months after Microsoft's own Surface lead Panos Panay promised the mobile broadband option, and potentially puts it on more equal footing with Apple's iPad, which has had mobile broadband support since its launch in 2010 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX 4G.

Little else is changed in the Surface 2. At 10.81 inches x 6.79 inches x 0.35 inches, its dimensions are virtually unchanged, though Microsoft said the addition of a cellular radio makes it a couple of grams heavier. I held both the original Surface 2 and the 4G model and could not feel the weight difference. The Surface 2 4G ships with Windows RT 8.1, Office and Outlook 2013 RT and comes with 200GB of OneDrive cloud storage (free for 2 years).

For now, Microsoft isn’t talking about Surface Pro 4G availability. The Pro model runs an Intel mobile CPU and offers the full-blown version of Windows 8.1. Some business users prefer this model because it can run standard x86 software.

Even though Microsoft selected AT&T as its 4G launch partner, the Surface 2 is actually unlocked and is capable of accepting any micro-SIM on 2G GSM, 3G UMTS and 4G LTE networks. Microsoft claims the new broadband radio does not impact battery life, which was previously rated at 10 hours of video playback.

The new mobile-broadband-ready Surface is available now on Microsoft's website and Best Buy in one configuration: a 64GB model listing for $679. When asked about the limited SKU options, a Microsoft spokesperson wrote back in an email: "Our customers have told us that 64GB is the ideal configuration for a mobile broadband-enabled device and our goal was to tailor Surface 2 (AT&T 4G LTE) to our customers’ wants and needs."

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Samsung's Humongous Galaxy Pro Tablets Get a Release Date

If big screens make you swoon, you may find a new true love just in time for Valentine's Day: Samsung's extra-large Android tablets, the Galaxy Note Pro and Tab Pro, will be available Feb. 13.

The official announcement comes just hours after the retail availability of the Galaxy Note Pro leaked on Office Depot, reported by Android Police, listing Feb. 13 as the release date. The price of the 12.2-inch tablet with 64GB of storage is $849.99, and the 32GB version is $749.99, making them some of the most expensive Android tablets you can buy.

The Galaxy Tab Pro has the same large-size screen but lacks the accompanying S Pen stylus. It also comes in multiple screen sizes: The 12.2-inch is $649.99 for 32GB, the 10.1-inch is $499.99 for 16GB, and the 8.4-inch is $399.99 for 16GB. You can pre-order both the Note Pro and Tab Pro now, although the Tab Pro won't ship until March. They'll both come in black or white.

Samsung unveiled the new "Pro" versions of its Note and Tab tablets at CES in January.

Besides big screens, the Pro tablets also boast more pixels (with 2,560 x 1,600 displays), 3GB of RAM, support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Android 4.4 "KitKat." They also include a Remote PC app that lets users access and control their home or office Windows PC from the tablet.

Samsung positions its Galaxy Tab line as a "consumption" device, with extras like an infrared port and special software so owners can use it as a TV remote control. The Galaxy Note tablets include all the features of the Tab but also include the S Pen along with several apps that support it, such as S Note. Both tablets can run multiple apps simultaneously, each in a different window on the screen.

Both tablets will also be available in Wi-Fi + LTE versions. Samsung didn't specify exactly when those would be available, but it did say that Verizon would be the first carrier to offer them, and it would be sometime in the winter. Typically, carrier partners announce the availability of devices with a cellular connection.

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Best New Android Tablet Apps to Make Life Simpler: Better contact management, financial tools, and free magazines

Contacts+

Contact management is often a mess, especially with the multiple accounts that people often have to juggle. Contacts+ is a good solution for cleaning things up and linking those in your contact list to social and communication networks.

The Contacts+ app syncs the contacts' profile data and contact information so you can send a message through one of many platforms. There are greater customization options than what is found in the stock contacts Android app, with great-looking profile photo options and methods for tweaking the overall Contacts+ scheme.

Talon for Twitter

Talon is a well-designed Twitter app that is geared towards power users looking for more than just what the company-created app contains. Talon for Twitter offers viewing images and web links in-line, and multiple layout choices.

True geeks like myself also get to see which client each tweet is coming from. Another smart move is separating the discussion and conversation panels from a specific tweet so you can see if the sender interacted with others.

Just like the developer's other excellent Android app, Sliding Messaging Pro, Talon gets frequent bug fix and optimization updates along with new features.

Level Money

Level Money is a great, new tool that links to bank accounts for rapid access to financial information. It calculates total income, savings and recurring bills in order to determine spendable cash. This amount is designed to show you how much can be spent on a specific month, day or week.

Level Money also provides several widgets so you can get this information at a glance right from the home screen without the need to open the app.

ISSUU

Issuu hopes to democratize publishing with a low point-of-entry and monthly cost for creating magazines. The company boasts of over 30 million magazines and catalogues in its Android app.

The result is an interesting mix of content, which has much of the community-enthusiast feel of Flipboard. It is worth exploring for the variety of content; time will tell if this becomes a disruptive element to magazine publishing.

This article originally published at TabTimes

Image: Android

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Samsung Announces Lighter, Low-End Addition to Galaxy Tab 3 Line

Samsung announced Thursday the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite, a low-end, lightweight addition to its Galaxy Tab 3 line of products.

The 7-inch tablet runs Android 4.2 and comes with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a 2-megapixel rear camera, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage memory (expandable via MicroSD cards).

Compared to its predecessor, the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3, the Lite actually fares quite well: The screen, processor and memory size are the same, but the Lite lacks a front camera and has a slightly weaker battery (3,600mAh vs 4,000mAh).

The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite will be available globally in white and black, but the exact price and time of availability have not been announced.

Image: Samsung

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