Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.1 coming in 2014

There's a who gush of new devices appearing in the early release tip mill this week, the largest of which is in the Galaxy Note category. This is the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.1, the largest Samsung Galaxy Note to see the light of day, made with the power to take on tasks that previous iterations of the Note series simply could not. It'll be interesting above all else to compare to power of this device to whatever "Tab" the company releases soon after.

This release is part of a set of reveals that have come up today courtesy of SamMobile. There they've spoken with an inside who suggests the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.1 will be released near the same time as three new Galaxy Tab units. There's the Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4, the Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1, and the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite.

The Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.1 is pictured above courtesy of an early viewer from Seeko in Korea. This image shows what may at first appear to be the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014, but given the amount of space between the left-facing speaker and the headphone jack, as well as the length of said speaker, we're looking at a tablet that's significantly larger. In other words: this machine will very closely replicate the look and feel of the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition.

This device has not been given a list of specifications, nor has it been detailed at length. The folks at SamMobile have suggested the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 will work with 32GB of internal storage, but that's just about all we can wager to guess - beyond the normal Galaxy Note improvements, of course.

You can expect to see these devices at CES 2014 and MWC 2014 as well - stick around!

SOURCE: Slashgear

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B&N NOOK hardware U-turn: new CEO teases “at least” one launch in 2013

Barnes & Noble has backtracked on plans to axe internal development of new NOOK tablets, promising continued R&D into both black & white and color models, with at least one new NOOK for the holiday 2013 season. The about-face, announced during B&N’s dreary quarterly results, comes after the company said back in June that it intended to focus on e-paper models itself and license out the NOOK HD brand for tablet-style versions to third party manufacturers instead. Now, B&N’s new CEO Michael Huseby claims, that strategy was “interpreted incorrectly.”

That means no longer leaving it up to external hardware partners to direct NOOK tablet development, but continue to make the devices itself. “The company intends to continue to design and develop cutting-edge NOOK black and white and color devices” Huseby said in a statement. “We will continue to offer our award-winning line of NOOK products including NOOK Simple Touch, NOOK Simple Touch with Glow Light, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ at the best values in the marketplace.”

Speaking during the investor relations call, Huseby alluded to the decision as having been B&N’s intention all along, with any other conclusion being an error on the part of the media. “Unfortunately, many people interpreted these comments incorrectly and determined that we were getting out of the device business” he insisted.

“At least one new NOOK device will be released for the coming holiday season and further products are in development” Huseby promised. “All NOOK devices will continue to be backed by world-class pre- and post-sales support in Barnes & Noble stores, as well as ongoing software upgrades and improvements to the digital bookstore service.”

Huseby took over from former NOOK CEO William Lynch in July, taking charge of the ereader division. Mitchell Klipper is CEO of B&N’s retail division.

As for the suggestion that B&N’s drastic price cuts on the entire NOOK range – which most recently saw the NOOK Simple Touch with Glow Light cut to under $100 – Huseby said that it was an inventory issue, not the company floundering, GigaOm reports. “We overestimated demand for the products that we put out” he argued. “As a result of that, we had to discount those products and we’re selling them now.”

The goal for the better-unified NOOK ecosystem, Huseby says, is to put content first and lower the cost of entry to ways to consume that content. “Eventually we’ll move to a business of lower priced [NOOK] at higher volume” he explained, as well as confirming that plans to sell off the NOOK division – which Microsoft was tipped to be interested in buying at one point – had been put on ice for the moment, while the segment recovers.

Overall, B&N’s consolidated revenues for fiscal Q1 2014 were down 8.5-percent year-on-year to $1.3bn, while the NOOK business – incorporating devices, content, and accessories – declined 20.2-percent year-on-year, with revenues of $153m.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Student Edition arrives on heels of Tab 3

Though the full Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 line has only just arrived, Samsung is pushing the Galaxy Tab 2 Student Edition, complete with keyboard and dock accessories to boot. This combo works with Samsung’s aim for this season’s collection of students from sea to sea, pushing this “Student Edition” to the United States through brick-and-mortar stores like Office Max and Best Buy.

This machine is being delivered with several firsts here in the USA – starting with a white casing. Though we’ve seen this color on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 in the USA before, here we’re seeing it on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as only seen internationally in the past.

You’ll find this Student Edition working with the Samsung Desktop Dock and Bluetooth Keyboard both, both of them included in a package that’s ringing in at $349.99 USD. That’s a rather hearty bit of value when you consider the price of the tablet on its own – anywhere between $349.99 and $399.99 depending on where you shop. The dock and the keyboard then come essentially free where together they’d cost more than $60 USD – again, depending on where you shop.

Have a peek at our reviews of both the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 as well as the newer Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 to see the differences between the two. Spoiler: they’re very, very similar, and if you don’t plan on connecting one Samsung tablet to another, the Galaxy Tab 2′s speakers (front-facing as they are) trump the newer system. Displays notwithstanding, of course.

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Samsung Developers Conference aims to join big guns as cross-platform yearly event

In what’s fairly clear to be the spirit of such developer events as Apple’s WWDC and Google I/O, Samsung has this week announced the creation of their own Developers Conference. Starting October 27th and lasting two days, ending on the 29th, this event takes place right in the heart of San Francisco, aiming to bring in both developers and industry leaders to a software-centric series of events living in the Samsung universe.

At the moment, Samsung has only suggested that registration and full details for the event will be going live later this summer. Here in the early summer of 2013, Samsung’s full plans for their own attempt at joining the likes of Microsoft’s BUILD – aka their own yearly developer-centered conference – stay simple.

    “Engage with industry leaders. Collaborate with fellow developers. Learn about new Samsung tools and SDKs. Create what’s next.” – Samsung Dev Con

Over at SamsungDevCon’s initial web presence, the company brings a similarly scant set of details. It is known at this early stage that this event will include more than just mobile products. It’s not just going to be about Samsung smartphones and tablets. This will be, according to Samsung, a “major, Samsung-side, cross-product (multi-screen) developer event.”

Sound like a good time to you? Have a peek at our Google I/O tag portal for one direction this multi-day event series might take, and our WWDC tag portal for another.

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Huawei MediaPad 7 Youth tablet revealed with Q3 launch

Huawei has announced a new 7-inch tablet that will be rolling out later this year, the MediaPad 7 Youth. The slate is a modest offering, with Huawei detailing the general specifications around a marketing push that targets the younger generation. There’s no specific launch date for the device yet, with the maker only specifying “Q3 2013.”

The MediaPad 7 Youth, as its name suggests, features a 7-inch display with support for 10-point touch. Unfortunately, Huawei didn’t break out more details about the display, such as what kind of resolution we can expect, nor what kind of panel is used. They do, however, say that it allows for “vivid” 1080p full HD video playback.


Inside, the MediaPad 7 Youth has a 28nm dual-core 1.6GHz processor and a “powerful GPU,” neither of which were detailed further. Connectivity includes HSPA+ 21Mbps and 802.11 wifi. The Li-Polymer battery has a capacity of 4100 mAh that is said to provide a standby time of nearly two weeks. The software is Android 4.1.

As far as the slate itself goes, Huawei says it measures in at 9mm thick, and weighs 350 grams, with a body being constructed of unibody aluminum. The tablet’s price is still unknown, but it’ll be launched in Asia Pacific, Russia, China, Europe, and the Middle East in the next couple months.

Said Huawei’s Vice President of its Home Connected Device Product Line Wang Yinfeng, “The MediaPad 7 Youth is a versatile tablet that provides an unsurpassed experience across hardware and software. Ideal for young people who are always on the move, the MediaPad 7 Youth delivers on Huawei’s promise to make extraordinary technology experiences accessible for all.”

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