Amazon have a good deal on the ASUS Eee 1005HA netbook running Windows 7 Starter. The processor running in this particular Eee 1005HA is the slightly older Intel Atom N270 that was super-ceded about a month ago by the Intel Atom N450 processor, but for doing web browsing and checking emails and such the N270 works very well. If you want an Intel Atom N450 processor then a comparison can be found over here.

The ASUS Eee 1005HA has an 8.5 hour battery capacity which almost provides a day of work under less strenuous usage. The screen measures 10.1 inches and the keyboard measures a decent size compared to a full sized keyboard (usually 92% – 95% on the ASUS models. [Read more…]

T3 managed to speak to Microsoft [MSFT] about the possibility of releasing Microsoft Office for iPad. Although Microsoft didn’t confirm if this was the case, what they did say is that they are looking in to creating an application allowing Office to be used on the Apple [AAPL] device.

The conversation was held at a private preview of the Office for Mac 2011 suite…

“Yeah, it’s something that we’re looking at,” said Microsoft Senior Product manager Mike Tedesco. “Obviously the announcement (of the iPad) is really fresh and there’s nothing to announce or nothing that I can talk to you about today.

[Read more…]

iSuppli have provided estimates of how much profit each model of the iPad will rake in for Apple [AAPL].

The report shows that the screen is the most expensive component on the device, which is no surprise really, and accounts for about 29% of the cost dropping slightly as prices rise on the upper end models. The screen it’s self is estimated to cost $80 on each device with the battery, wireless, CPU, casing and other of the same features between the devices holding the same costs. What raises the price between models is the amount of storage each has (either 16GB, 32GB or 64GB) and whether or not it has 3G and GPS built in. [Read more…]

Panasonic have announced a new rugged tablet called the Toughbook H1 Field. The press release describes the H1 as being the most rugged handheld tablet in the world. The H1 tablet is certified to reach both IP65 and MIL-STD-810G standards which allows it to handle drops of up to six feet.

Several options are being made available for the Toughbook H1 Field Tablet that include SmartCard, RFID and Barcode readers as well as optional camera, GPS and mobile broadband that is provided on a Qualcomm chip.

Powering the Toughbook H1 is an Intel Atom 1.86GHz processor and the battery will keep the tablet running for up to six hours on a single charge. [Read more…]

This week the Symbian Foundation announced that the sourcecode for Symbian devices was now completely open source. To achieve this about 20% of the 200 or so 3rd party developers had requested their code be stripped out due to now wanting to open-source their code.

The information on this was revealed in an interview with Symbian Foundations chief where the future of Symbian was discussed. One of the more interesting points in the interview was where the question was asked about the possibility of Symbian-based tablets and netbooks to which the answer came…

“It’s very likely that, in the next year or two, you would see such a product hit the marketplace. A lot of companies are experimenting with PDA-tablet-style form factors, also for stereo systems, and internet-connected devices running low power on primarily ARM architecture ” we do get occasional interest for a few of those.” [Read more…]

X2 Computing are launching the iTablet. The iTablet comes in two flavours which include a 10.2 inch or 12.1 inch screen version. Each version has multitouch capabilities and runs either the Linux operating system or Windows 7.

Powering the iTablet is a 1.6GHz processor and for storage the device has 250GB. For connectivity there is wifi and Bluetooth built in and X2 also provide an optional 3G/GSM module for connecting over mobile networks. Ports on the device include 3 x USB (2.0?) along with a HDMI output. A 1.3 megapixel webcam is also included in the device. [Read more…]

CultofMac have posted some interesting information on the Apple [AAPL] iPad and the user interface that it uses. Although a number of people have complained across the web about how it’s just a large iPod Touch, it makes you wonder if it does need to be different.

What Apple have said about the iPad is that it “improved the experience of doing every day computing tasks” ie, email, browsing and photo slideshows. This is where the iPad excels due to the larger screen. Although I can currently send emails from my T-Mobile G1, Dell Mini 9 netbook or regular laptop while on the move, that doesn’t mean it’s a streamlined process. Take the netbook for example, it’s small and takes several minutes to boot and finally load up web based outlook…. but the iPad aims to change that by providing a decent interface with quick connectivity. [Read more…]

A patent was published today that shows Apple [AAPL] describing an intelligent bezel on what looks to be a tablet based device. The intelligent bezel has sensors in it that can detect touch allowing functions such as changing the volume to be done with a swipe down the side of the screen.

Although the current Apple iPad makes no mention of this technology, we could be seeing a second generation iPad using the intelligent bezel. As well as being able to control volume, the bezel could also allow menu functions to be accessed. As the bezel surrounds the screen there could be different areas highlighted that take you to the home page and allow you to scroll through menus. [Read more…]

We thought that with the official announcement of the Apple iPad last week that it would put an end to all rumours about the iPad. However, we are still hearing several things such as the possibility of the device actually having a webcam built in. This particular rumour started because of an image captured at 9 minutes 9 seconds in to the Apple [AAPL] keynote speech last week where something was spotted in the top bezel of the iPad just above the screen. This small object could be just an ambient light sensor though although interestingly enough, MissionRepair received some iPad spare parts this week which an internal frame has a cut out that just happens to fit a MacBook webcam inside. Perhaps version two of the iPad isn’t far away.

The rumours don’t stop there though as the iPhone OS 3.2 also shows some reference for the iPad camera. A camera is not listed on the official specs although some are saying that the lack of a camera now could be due to a shortage of stock. It will be interesting to see if a webcam is in the line-up when the iPad is launched in a few weeks, but for now we believe it’s just a light sensor in that gap. [Read more…]

Google have created some concept drawings of Chome OS running on a Tablet style device. The video is more focussed on what the operating system could look like rather than the functions of the tablet it’s self.

The video shows a number of multi-touch features where windows are dragged around as objects and resized according to the needs of the program running. As well as showing various browser windows being dragged around it also shows how the Chrome OS will be able to multi-task where two windows are on display at the same time with data moving between each window. [Read more…]

Apple [AAPL] have updated their site to show that the iPad will be made available in the UK in March for the wireless version and in April for the wireless/3G model.

Official UK pricing has not been revealed just yet, unlike the US counterpart which starts at $499 for the lowest 16GB wifi option. Don’t get too excited that Apple will follow the exchange rate though and sell it for £312 here in the UK… as with most electronic products we will more than likely see them priced a little higher and more like £399 for the base model. [Read more…]

When the Apple [AAPL] iPad promotional video launched it showed the iPad tablet browsing the New York Times webpage along with Adobe Flash content integrated. This caused some interest around the web as people started to believe that the iPad would support flash content which would then lead to the iPhone and iPod Touch also including it as they will run from the same OS soon.

However, it seems like Apple’s marketing department actually added the flash content in manually to the final cut of the video as the more accurate result is that you should see a blue brick asking you to install flash. [Read more…]