Hudl - Tesco's affordable tablet

Without much fanfare, Tesco recently launched an affordable tablet called the Hudl. The compact tablet comes with a scratch and smudge resistant glass 7" 1440x900 HD screen and powered by a 1.5GHz A9 Quad-Core processor and runs on the Android OS.

It weighs only 370g and comes in a choice of 4 colours, namely, black, purple, red and blue.

Finally, it is priced at only £119.00 with free delivery on all Click & Collect. Plus it is mentioned that include over £100 worth of vouchers in the box. That's an amazing deal.

The first thing I noticed about this tablet was the price and I assumed that it would be a basic tablet. However, I was surprised when I learnt that it comes with some amazing features:

• 2 cameras - a 2MP front facing fixed focus and 3MP rear facing auto focus camera.
• Dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4GHz and 5GHz) 802.11
• Bluetooth 4.0
• GPS
• Gyroscope, Accelerometer and Compass.
• 1GB RAM and 16GB internal storage which can be expanded up to 48 GB via Micro-SD.

According to the Tesco page, it has upto 9hrs of video playback time. Check out the video clip:

Blackberry Playbook tablet review

Guest post by Sanjit Roy

When I first thought of buying a tablet, I solicited the opinion from many tech experts as I am novice on all these technology aspects. I had my eye on the  Blackberry Playbook tablet but everybody I asked did not have much nice things to say about the Playbook.  One of the things which attracted me to buy this tablet was the price (amazing value for money). There is no branded tablet in market which gives you 64GB memory at just £129.

I have been using the Playbook for around  3days now and I have quickly learnt about the joys of using a tablet - the music, videos, photos, camera (you have two in the Playbook), read pdf documents and e-books. I am more than happy with on all these aspects.

The screen is very responsive. I initially had some concerns just after I had purchased the tablet after reading a lot of negative reviews about the operating system OS1 on Playbook 1 ( I had not received the Playbook yet at that time). However, I read several good reviews about the improvements in Playbook 2 which had taken care of issues in the OS1. Trust me when I say that it is at par with the best tablets in the market. The screen is the best part, build quality, sound quality, video streaming, photo quality all excellent. I love the integrated message service where you can synchronise all your emails, FB, twitter and LinkedIn.

Yes, you will not get thousands of apps like Android Tablets and the Apple iPad but to be honest I do not use too many apps. There is some buzz that we will be able to get Android apps on Playbook but still not sure when. The apps world is getting better everyday.

This small beauty will get the new OS 10 next year which is going to give a tough competition to other tablets in the market. You will not regret this purchase. I definitely have not.

They have recently launched a 4G version of the same tab in Canada. So we can expect the same in the near future in UK and other European countries as well.

I will give 9 out of 10 to my Black Beauty.

About Sanjit:

Dr. Sanjit is a Lecturer in Marketing and Advertising at Coventry University Business School. He blogs about research and marketing on his blog: Sanjit's

An artist and the GALAXY Note 10.1

See what happened when Samsung gave artist Tristan Eaton a Galaxy Note 10.1.



Simply amazing.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

Today a friend wanted some advice on choosing a tablet. The main purpose would just be surfing the net. Her budget was around £200 which puts the iPad out of the equation. So I suggested an Android powered tablet would be ideal as there are a few in that price range. Of course the first tablet to come to my mind was the Google Nexus 7. Another option was the Galaxy Tab2 7.0 Wifi 8GB (£199.99).

While doing some research, I realised that I had not blogged about the new Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. This tablet which runs on the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, features a 10.1" crystal clear screen (compared to 9.7" on the iPad) and is powered by a 1.4GHz Exynos Quad-Core Processor. However, what makes this tablet unique is it's S Pen stylus with intuitive input. You can take notes or draw in S Note, or use Adobe® Photoshop Touch (which comes pre-installed) to touch up your images. If you a mathematician you will love the Galaxy Note 10.1. Hand written formulas will be cleaned up in an instant via Formula Match.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with 2 cameras: in the rear is a 5 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with flash and a 1.9 Megapixel camera in the front.

Another great feature is the ability to split the screen into two, so you can multitask. Browse a site on one page and take notes on the other side.

With the Easy Phone Sync you can still use iTunes to manage music, videos and podcasts, then sync to your Galaxy Note 10.1. They are also offering WIRED magazine's Note Edition allows for FREE until January 2013. For those who like playing games on their tablet, there a few games you can play with the S pen. Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is available for FREE for a limited time exclusively for all customers of this new tablet, (download from Samsung Apps).

Other specs: 2GB RAM; 16MB Flash memory. It weighs 597g (compared to the iPad which weighs 652 g/662 g).

The Galaxy Note 10.1 WiFi 16GB costs £ 399 (with free delivery) from the Samsung UK online store.

The Nexus 7

It's been about a week now since the Nexus 7, Google's tablet (built by Asus) was launched.

Light and small enough to hold on one hand, a powerful quad-core Quad-core Tegra 3 processor, scratch-resistant Corning glass display, a battery that literally lasts the whole day, running the latest Android OS - Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and best of all - a tablet we can afford (£159 for the 8GB and £199 for the 16GB model).

What's there not to like about the Nexus 7?

On the downside, I just wish it had a back facing camera, higher resolution camera as well. I guess, that's how they kept the price down.

Anyway, apart from some jealous iPad owners, everyone seems to be singing it's praises:

The Nexus 7 will drastically change the way I buy mobile phones

Google Nexus 7: a device that finally raises awareness of the 7 inch form factor

CNet UK's Google Nexus 7 review

PC Advisor's Google Nexus 7 review

Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy Note

My wife's mobile phone contract with 3 ended a couple of weeks back and we had been scanning the net for good deals. She initially had her eye on the Apple iPhone but one of our friends helped change her mind an she decided to go for the Samsung Galaxy Note.

Anyway to cut a long story short, we finally found some great deals on Phones4u.co.uk . She signed up for a 24 months contract with Orange for only £20.50 per month. She had to go for slightly lower network minutes and 500MB data allowance. Initially we thought that the data allowance would be enough but looking at the way she is using it right now, it looks like she might have to upgrade.

The phone is simply fantastic with a big 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreeen display. The Note is one of those, "either you hate it or love it" products. It's something between a mobile phone and a tablet and can't seem to make up it's mind.

Opening and using the various applications are really fast, thanks to the 1.4GHz dual core processor. Best of all is the 8 MP auto focus camera with 1080p HD video recording. She loves the fact that she can now Skype with video (using the front facing camera).

The phone initially came with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) but we have upgraded it to Android 4.0 (Ice cream Sandwich) and even though I cannot explain it, there was a clear difference - a definite improvement in the feel of the interface.

We are still playing around with the note and hope to have another full review later.

The new Apple iPad 3

Updated 10 March 2011: A friend pointed out that the new iPod is not called the iPod 3 - it is simply the "new" iPod.

The "New" iPad 3 is finally here with an amazing display: 2048x1536 resolution, 44 per cent greater colour saturation and 3.1 million pixels — in the same 9.7-inch space.

It also has a 5MP camera with ƒ/2.4 aperture and a five-element lens allows you to take clear photographs and 1080p HD video.

Prices start from £399. Now are you kicking yourself for buying the iPad 2.


Launch of the iPad 3


Official video

The amazing iPad 3 concept

Not sure whether this is a true Apple concept as we all know how secretive they are with their product launches.

Found this video on YouTube of a concept featuring border to border display.

Motorola Xoom released and gets taken apart

The Motorola Xoom was released this week without much fun fare and apart from a handful of technophiles, I didn't see the level of excitement we got when the iPad was released. As far as I know there were no queues in the stores selling the Xoom.

So far the reviews have been quite positive. What makes the Xoom  unique is the fact that it is equipped to handle the next generation 4G mobile broadband - something that the iPad or even the iPhone has.

Anyway, the Xoom has been hacked into and taken apart a few hours after it was released.

The real question is whether the Xoom can be a credible challenge to the iPad and even though it has a lot going for it technically, the answer seems to be a big "No!" One of the biggest issues I have against it is the price - $600 with a two-year Verizon contract and almost $800 without contract. I expect the prices to be higher when it is released in the UK. BTW, it was recently announced that the Xoom will be sold by The Carphone Warehouse, Best Buy and Dixons Retail Plc. (Currys and PC World) in the UK.

I am not sure how many people would be willing to spend that kind of money for a tablet considering the brand image of it's biggest competitor - the iPad and the soon to be released, iPad 2.

Motorola Xoom tablet

One of the hottest gadgets to be launched at this year's CES has got to be the new tablet Motorola XOOM™. It is the first device running Google’s new Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system designed from the ground up for tablets.

The Motorola XOOM boasts a dual core processor with each core running at 1 GHz, delivering up to two GHz of processing power, and 10.1-inch widescreen HD display and is 4G LTE upgradeable.

It supports 1080p HD video and HDMI output to display content on larger HD screens, and plays video and other rich web content seamlessly with Adobe® Flash® Player. The Motorola XOOM also features a front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chats over Wi-Fi or 3G/4G LTE, as well as a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera that captures video in 720p HD. It delivers console-like gaming performance on its 1280x800 display. Other fantastic features include a built-in gyroscope, barometer, e-compass, accelerometer and adaptive lighting for new types of applications.

The tablet comes with Google Maps 5.0 with 3D interaction and also access to over 3 million Google eBooks and thousands of apps from Android Market™.

The Motorola XOOM will launch in the US with Verizon Wireless as a 3G/Wi-Fi-enabled device in Q1 2011 with an upgrade to 4G LTE in Q2. Starting in Q2 2011 the Motorola XOOM will be a 4G LTE/Wi-Fi- enabled device.

No news regarding when the device will be available to consumers in the UK but I definitely want one.