The Digital Age»

The Tablet Race

The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
With Microsoft as its partner, Barnes & Noble may make a run at Amazon's Kindle Fire by upgrading its Nook to a Windows 8 operating system.

Microsoft's deal with Barnes & Noble: Is a Windows Nook coming?

The two former rivals are teaming up, and a slide-tiled, sub-$200 tablet might just be on the horizon

 
The Tablet Race : Instant Guide
A new glass created by MIT scientists could change the way we use a number of products from glasses to iPads.

The self-cleaning, glare-free glass that doesn't fog up

A new wonder material would keep eyeglasses from fogging up, create self-cleaning windows, and make tablets readable outdoors

 
The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
Intel's "Letexo" prototype combines the touchscreen functionality of a tablet with the keyboard capabilities of a PC.

Are tablet-PC hybrids doomed?

Apple CEO Tim Cook fires a not-so-subtle shot at rival Microsoft, saying that converging touchscreens and laptops is like combining "a toaster and a refrigerator"

 
The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 may be $50 more than the Kindle Fire, but it features the superior Android Ice Cream Sandwich OS and 50GB of Dropbox space for one year.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 2: The best cheap Android tablet yet?

The Korean manufacturer's affordable new 7-inch device will have to compete with proven winners like Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet

 
The Tablet Race : Analysis
Intel's new "Letexo" Ultrabook will fold out into a laptop mode with a full keyboard or slide together for a touchscreen experience.

Intel's brilliant laptop-tablet hybrid: Did Apple miss the next best thing?

Cupertino may have met its match in Intel's new Letexo Ultrabook, which operates as both a super-thin notebook computer and a touch-screen tablet

 
The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
On Tuesday, Toshiba unveiled three new Excite tablets, but the giant 13.3-inch version is hogging all the attention.

Toshiba's 13-inch tablet: A colossal mistake?

The Android-powered Excite 13 dwarfs the competition with an extra-large touchscreen — but in the tablet market, bigger might not be better

 
The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
Goodbye, Notes: Microsoft Office is reportedly coming to the iPad, which could give Apple's device a distinct advantage over Android tablets.

Are Microsoft and Apple teaming up to 'destroy' Android?

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are reportedly coming to the iPad — but not to Google's tablets

 
The Tablet Race : Burning Question
The Kindle Fire (right) next to the iPad: Sales of Amazon's cheaper, smaller tablet are gaining on the iPad's.

Should Apple make a mini iPad?

With the Kindle Fire making major inroads in the tablet market, some think Apple would be wise to take on Amazon with a cheaper 7-inch iPad

 
The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
Barnes & Noble has captured one-quarter of the e-reader market with its Nook, but associated costs have left the company in the red.

Should Barnes & Noble spin-off the Nook?

With its promising but costly e-reader business dragging down its bottom line, the bookstore chain is considering a separation

 
The Tablet Race : The List
With the TouchPad, HP proved the conventional wisdom that it's become almost impossible to challenge giants Apple and Google.

H.P.'s 'dismal' TouchPad failure: 3 lessons

The tech giant's attempt to enter the tablet market was one of 2011's biggest gadget flops. How did it go so wrong?

 
The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
RIM is unloading its 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB Playbooks all for the same reduced price, which critics say could boost sales but not profits.

RIM's PlayBook 'fire sale'

The Canadian company is dramatically slashing prices for every model of its "beleaguered" tablet. Will it help?

 
The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
The new Nook Tablet debuts at a New York Barnes & Noble store: The look of the Nook may not have changed drastically, but its innards resemble the iPad's, critics say.

Barnes & Noble's new Nook Tablet: 'Better' than the Kindle Fire?

The tablet race is heating up as B&N drops a 7-incher that's reportedly as fast as the iPad 2

 
The Tablet Race : Forecast
Students display Aakash, the $35 tablet that developers hope will help India's poor and middle class cross the digital divide.

Can a $35 tablet help India's poor?

The world's largest democracy is hoping that the world's cheapest tablet will help bridge the digital divide in a nation with a massive wealth gap

 
The Tablet Race : Opinion Brief
For the average consumer, the cheaper Kindle Fire may be a better deal than the pricey iPad, which could mean serious sales competition for Apple.

Will the Kindle Fire dethrone the iPad?

Amazon's eagerly awaited new tablet boasts a color touchscreen and costs less than half as much as the cheapest Apple offering

 
The Tablet Race : Controversy
The HP TouchPad: A recent fire sale of the iPad-rival tablet was such a success that HP is resurrecting it for one last bite at the Apple.

Should HP resurrect the TouchPad?

HP shocked the tech world when it discontinued its struggling tablet, but now the computing giant says the TouchPad isn't quite dead yet

 
The Tablet Race : Fact Sheet
In this Kindle commercial, a woman enjoys her e-reader by the pool, while a man uses his iPad. In real life, the gender divide is much the same.

E-readers vs. tablets: The gender divide

Women prefer e-readers, men prefer tablets, and everyone loves the iPhone (duh)

 

Facebook

Twitter

Stumble

Tumblr

RSS

Newsletter

See our bad opinions

Can you guess what's really going on in these bizarre photos?

Lauren Odes

A lingerie store fires a staffer for being too buxom — and more in our collection of strange revelations about the nation

Get The Week iPad app
Get The Week iPad app