Tablet

This week, Lenovo silently added the 10.1-inch Tablet 10 convertible to its portfolio. This Windows-driven tablet is powered by a quad-core Intel Celeron N4100 processor and features a detachable keyboard and full pen input support. The US$449 model currently available for purchase sports 4 GB of memory and 64 GB of eMMC internal storage.

Although it will use the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor as the regular Mi Pad 4, the upcoming Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 Plus is expected to come with a larger display and a higher-capacity battery. Rumored to arrive in black or gold finish, this Android slate should come with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB or 128 GB internal storage.

HP seems to have accidentally revealed all the specs for Intel's Whiskey Lake-U family of mobile CPUs, as the information was taken down soon after. Nevertheless, it is now known that there will be three models - the Core i3-8145U, Core i5-8265U and Core i7-8565U, HP also revealing core count, frequencies and cache memory configurations.

A week ago, we heard that Samsung is pushing the Oreo update for the Galaxy A, J, and C handsets to December. Sadly, it can get even worse: the new Oreo roadmap says that most of those devices are scheduled to get Oreo — not Android Pie, but Oreo — in January 2019. In the end, it would not be surprising to find out that Samsung cancels the update.

Though the patch notes don't explicitly mention it, the update is likely addressing the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities on the old Microsoft 2-in-1 tablet. Owners should prepare for a small performance drop if so.

A developer has turned up yet another icon that may represent another new Apple device. This one may correspond to the putative iPhone XI Plus. It may also be larger than its nearest predecessor, and retain some of its main front-panel features.

Microsoft has been avoiding giving away the battery capacity of the new Surface Go and now we can see why. The small 26 Wh battery of the Surface Go has us wary about battery life as this is almost half the capacity of last year's Surface Pro.

The processor supplier MediaTek have posted an increase in second-quarter profits; however, its sales may have been unchanged compared to last quarter. Accordingly, the company's CEO has predicted a slight downturn in MediaTek's main market for the rest of 2018.

Samsung has introduced the Galaxy Tab S4, which is aims to satisfy those who swear by Android tablets for personal and professional use. The Galaxy Tab S4 comes with the S-Pen, Snapdragon 835 SoC, and DeX support. The asking price of US$650 gets you the S-Pen but doesn't include the Book Cover Keyboard.

Samsung's new Galaxy Tab A 10.5 may play second fiddle to the Galaxy Tab S4 on paper, but the tablet is specifically marketed at families with children who may be more budget-conscious. The tablet's specs are fairly mid-range for 2018, but the inclusion of a "Kids Mode" and multi-user support makes the tablet well-suited for families.

The VersaPro VU is a 2-in-1 Windows 10 tablet that will only be available in Japan. The 1920 x 1200 touchscreen does not come with fancy thin bezels, but NEC does provide a tactile pen. It is powered by the Gemini Lake Celeron N4100 CPU coupled with 4 GB LPDDR4, and users can choose between 64 or 128 GB of eMMC storage. Also included is the docking keyboard, which comes with more ports.

If reports are to go by, the upcoming 12.9-inch and 10.5-inch Apple iPad Pros are all set to go almost bezel-less. These iPad Pros will also be getting the Face ID feature and in all likelihood, will be ditching the 3.5mm headphone jack.

Samsung's forthcoming Galaxy Tab S4 has been leaked in a hands-on video. The short clip captures the device in the flesh and shows its new shape thanks to an upgraded 10.5-inch size, which replaces the old 9.7-inch size of the Galaxy Tab S3.

Panasonic has released two new Toughbook-branded rugged handhelds. On paper, the 5-inch phone and 7-inch tablet look underpowered. However, both devices are running Android 8.1, bear some high-rated durability certifications, and can swap batteries without turning off.

Samsung has officially revealed its latest flexible OLED panel technology. The new ‘Unbreakable Panel’ as the company is referring to it, has passed multiple US military standards for drop testing and shatter resistance.

The latest Bluetooth vulnerability may affect many more devices than last year's BlueBorne, because it can affect smartphones as well as laptops that integrate Apple, Google, Intel, Broadcom or Qualcomm hardware. Due to insufficient encryption validation during the pairing process. Microsoft claims that Windows 10 is not affected, but all the other companies are releasing fixes as soon as possible.

Although the Acer Chromebook Tab 10 — one of the few Chrome OS-driven tablets unveiled so far — arrived back in March, it took a while for it to finally become widely available. Now, those interested can acquire this 9.7-inch slate with a Rockchip RK3399 processor inside for a starting price of US$330.

The Surface Go created a bit of a splash when Microsoft announced it two weeks ago. The ultracompact 10-inch 2-in-1 is the spiritual successor to the non-Pro Surface 3, but with the advantage of using a higher spec'd x86 processor for smoother performance. CostCo is now advertising a new configuration that wasn't announced at launch, including the Type Cover at no additional cost.

Intel announced the Amber Lake-Y CPUs back at Computex in June, but core count or frequency details were not provided. This week, Dell and NextLab501 revealed names and specs for three Amber Lake-Y CPUs, and it looks like the new ULV chips should come with increased frequencies, but the core configuration and the iGPU remain the same.

The first foldable phone from Samsung will most likely be named Galaxy X, and Wall Street Journal informs that it is supposed to be launched in early 2019 with a flexible 7-inch display that can be folded like a wallet. It can either hide the display completely or split the main display into two smaller screens.

The latest financial report coming from TSMC reveals that the Taiwanese company experienced some revenue problems in the first half of 2018 due to the crypto market depreciation, but the foundries are expecting substantial profits in the second half over great demand for next gen GPUs and mobile chips.

Kensington has announced the availability of the SD7000 dock for the Surface Pro. The SD7000 dock connects to the Surface Pro using the Surface Connector and provides USB ports, Ethernet, USB-C, HDMI, and a DisplayPort converting the tablet into a mini Surface Studio of sorts.

The new LPDDR5 memory modules will be featured in next year's handhelds like the Galaxy S10, which will also bring support for 5G connections and improved AI applications. Samsung claims that the new chips are 50% faster and need 30% less power compared to current LPDDR4 chips. Mass production for LPDDR5 chips should begin at some point in Q3 this year.

The upcoming Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 is expected to launch with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 or a Snapdragon 430 processor, next to 2 or 3 GB of memory and 32 GB or 64 GB of internal storage. The slate will most likely run Android 8.1 Oreo with Samsung Experience 9.0 on top and it might arrive soon since it has just been spotted at FCC.

Evan Blass has tweeted out an official render of the Galaxy Tab S4 with matching keyboard cover. Although difficult to confirm from the image, the Samsung logo and Home button appear to be absent from the front of the device confirming earlier rumors to that effect.

Microsoft has launched the Surface Go, a US$399 Windows 10 tablet targeted at the students, schools and the entry-level tablet market dominated by the Apple iPad. As rumored, the device is powered by an Intel Pentium Gold chip instead of an ARM-based chip as could have been the case for this type of device.

The affordable Microsoft tablet — most likely the one known as Lex and supposed to arrive this fall — will apparently land in stores this Friday. According to insiders familiar with the matter, this 10-inch Windows slate will start at US$399 for education customers and will go up to US$829 (without accessories).

The two 10.1-inch Huawei slates MediaPad M5 Lite 10 and MediaPad T5 10 run Android Oreo and use the same HiSilicon Kirin 659 octa-core processor, although there are some differences easily noticeable in the battery and camera departments. In Italy, their prices start around the equivalent of US$235.

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab Advanced2 and the Galaxy Tab Advanced2 XL are expected to hit the market soon with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box, thinner bezels than their predecessors, as well as without a physical Home button. Both are very likely to arrive at the end of August, just in time for IFA 2018.

The successor of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 tablet surfaced a few times so far but still has to be confirmed by the company's officials. The new renders of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 show slimmer bezels than the previous ones, also revealing a few sensors and the lack of a physical Home button.

Although the Microsoft Andromeda project — expected to hit the market as the Surface Phone — has been in the rumor mill for quite a long time, everything should be clarified this fall. In the meantime, we bumped into a new set of unofficial renders that is based on the latest Microsoft patent showing this device.

Dual-screen support is reportedly coming to Samsung DeX with the release of the Galaxy Tab S4 later this year. DeX has previously allowed the phone's screen to be used as a touchpad for controlling the mouse, but displaying content on the tablet as well as the monitor would improve productivity experiences.

Samsung is among the latest Windows-on ARM supporters, intending to launch refreshed Galaxy Book models this year. Two upcoming models have already been certified for mass production by the Russian ECC authorities, and these should be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 700/800 SoC. The Always-Connected feature should also allow for the integration of a 4G LTE modem.

The improved SD Express cards will feature transfer speeds up to 985 MB/s via the PCIe/NVMe interface and 128 TB storage capacities. These improvements target 4K/8K video processing, VR and augmented reality applications, AI-driven vehicles and IoT ramifications. First to get the latest specs will be the SDHC/XC/UC cards scheduled to arrive in 2019.

Panasonic's latest rugged Android Handheld, the Toughbook FZ-T1, is a low-specced Android handheld priced higher than most premium smartphones. However, the $1,500 device is aimed squarely at enterprises in need of a tough-as-nails handheld that can weather almost anything thrown at it.

Xiaomi has announced the launch of its new Mi Pad 4 tablet. The device comes with a base price tag of US$170, which makes it the cheapest device powered by a Snapdragon 660.

Most Windows laptops prioritize battery life at the cost of a dimmer display. If you frequently find yourself squinting at washed out content when using your glossy laptop or Windows tablet outdoors, then disabling this automatic feature can make things a little easier.

Adobe announced a new cross-platform video editing app codenamed Project Rush. Project Rush brings the best features of industry leading software such as Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Audition along with access to Adobe Stock into one seamless interface.

The KNote5 is probably the most affordable tablet powered by the Celeron N4100 CPU on the market right now. It also comes with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, plus the integrated UHD Graphics 600 GPU.What really makes this a great deal is the all-in-one keyboard offered together with the tablet, while the 4,000 mAh battery provides enough juice for 10 hours of use.

Judging by the latest leaks, Samsung is most likely preparing major overhauls for next year's Galaxy S10 / Note 10 high-end devices. Apparently, Samsung is planning to begin production on the LPDDR5 and UFS 3.0 chips later this summer and this could significantly boost the overall performance for the 2019 models. Moreover, it looks like the Galaxy S10 could finally get 4K video recording.

The upcoming Galaxy Tab S4 is supposed to compete with Apple's new iPad Pro model. According to the latest Chinese leaks, the Tab S4 will get a larger 10.5-inch screen with 16:10 ratio and thin bezels, plus an iris scanner and extended DeX support that can turn the tablet into a desktop computer together with a new Book Cover Keyboard.

Huawei has officially launched its new MediaPad M5 tablets for the US market. The devices come in three variants and bring some much-needed life back to a dying tablet scene. Prices begin at just over US$300.

The Microsoft Surface Lex, also known as the Surface L, is rumored to arrive with type covers currently codenamed "Gibs" while its list of specs and features apparently includes USB Type-C and LTE connectivity. Compared to the Surface slates currently available and the type covers for them, the Surface Lex and its keyboard attachment will both be more affordable.

30% more performance, 20% longer battery life and 20% faster Gigabit LTE speeds are the main features compared to the existing Snapdragon 835 SoC.

There were recent rumors that Sony had been working on new Android-powered tablets that were known as the Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5C. However, apparently the Japanese tech giant has now decided to shelve the idea of releasing new tablets onto the market because of the lackluster sales for premium products such as the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact.

Google silently removed the Tablets heading on the Android website, indicating that the tech behemoth may no longer push development for tablet features. This could be another sign that Google is planning on merging ChromeOS and Android, eliminating the need for tablets altogether.