Microsoft erects giant Surface 2 tablet in London

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Size is one of the trickiest trade-offs in the mobile industry. You want a device with a large enough screen to comfortably work on, yet portability issues demand that the overall size of our phones and tablets remain constrained. This year in particular we’ve seen great strides in combating that issue by means of shrinking-down side bezels. Of course, you could just say “the heck with any sensible size restraints” and come up with something along the lines of Microsoft’s latest Surface promotion, ...

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Microsoft strips “RT” from first-gen Surface name, downplays desktop mode

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Windows RT continues to cause Microsoft headaches, and while some users are perfectly happy with what it offers, others have been frustrated by limited functionality and app selection when compared to tablets running full versions of Windows 8. We’ve already seen Microsoft drop the “RT” name from the Surface 2, and recently heard the company discussing user confusion stemming from the RT/Pro distinction. This week, we see some further signs of this move to distance ...

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T-Mobile hopes to attract tablet users with 200MB free data a month

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Unless you’re very lucky, if you use a mobile device to get online in the United States, you’re probably paying too much for data. Sure, there are some good deals out there, but especially when you look at just what you’re paying per gigabyte (assuming you even get that much) with the major carriers, it’s easy to feel like ...

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Nokia should have built a Windows 8 Pro tablet

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Nokia’s announcements today have come and gone, and while we didn’t end up seeing every last little product we heard rumored, the big ones sure landed. That means that the first Nokia Windows RT tablet is now official, the Lumia 2520. And what a tablet it is: 1080p display, 2GB RAM, LTE connectivity, and the stalwart Snapdragon 800 powering everything. But is it really everything it could be? Nokia says the tablet “takes everything you’ve got in your desktop or laptop and crams all that ...

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Nokia World rumor roundup: what to expect from Abu Dhabi

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Apple’s not the only one with big news coming soon, and in just a matter of hours, Nokia’s throwing a Nokia World event in Abu Dhabi. There’s a lot to cover here, so let’s dive right in to the device that feels like it’s the nexus of this announcement, the Lumia 1520. Well, it wasn’t always the 1520 – not to us anyway. We’ve been talking about the general idea of a phablet-sized Lumia for a while, and back in August, that started taking shape as a phone codenamed Bandit. Before the month was out, ...

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Google Nexus 5 render, Acer Iconia W4, Nokia “Facet” smartwatch & more – Pocketnow Daily

Posted on by Jaime Rivera

Watch today’s Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the new Acer Iconia W4 tablet, and it’s budget-friendly options for Windows 8.1. Microsoft follows with their Remote Desktop app for Android and iOS. Google is next as their quarter results prove that Motorola still needs a lot of work. We then talk about the recent leaked renders of the Google Nexus 5 fro Telus. We end today’s show talking about the Nokia Facet concept smartwatch that probably won’t see the light of day. All this and more after the break. Stories: -

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Acer Iconia W4 arrives to make budget Windows 8.1 tablet space a little more crowded

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Over the past couple weeks, we’ve been seeing a new surge of interest from manufacturers in really budget-priced tablets running full Windows 8.1 on some decent enough hardware. We had Dell and the Venue 8 Pro, then yesterday’s Lenovo Miix2. Today, we have one more name to add to the roster, as Acer shares news of its Iconia W4. Keep in mind, we only just saw

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Facebook App reaches Windows RT/8 tablets

Posted on by Jaime Rivera

As Windows 8.1 becomes public, lots of apps are expected to either surge or update within the next couple of days. One of these is a new and official Facebook App, which plans to offer you a more immersive experience with the social network, even if all the invitations to Candy Crush will do an opposite job in making you want to leave. Among the enhancements that this app brings:   Your friends are always at your side, even when you’re using other apps See what your friends are up to Get notified when friends like and comment on your posts Get updates on your Start screen Share ...

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Lenovo intros super-cheap full Windows 8.1 tablet of its own

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Forget Windows RT: the most interesting thing happening with Windows tablets lately is arguably the rise of incredibly affordable slates running full-on Windows 8.1 – no RT restrictions. We just saw Dell introduce its Venue 8 Pro, starting at a super-cheap $300 sticker price, and now it looks like Lenovo wants in on that action, too, announcing an eight-inch Windows 8.1 tablet of its ...

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What the Lumia 2520 will mean for the Surface 2

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

We’re in the home stretch now: less than one week to go until Nokia World in Abu Dhabi, when rumors claim that half a dozen or more new Nokia devices will make themselves officially known to the world for the first time. Sure, it feels like a lot of that has leaked already, but as recent development’s like yesterday’s rumor about the Nokia Guru make clear, there’s still plenty of room for surprises. One model in particular we’ve been expecting for ...

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Lumia 2520 render, news of color options leak

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

It was just a couple hours ago that we were lamenting the dearth of opportunities we’ve had to get a good look at Nokia’s rumored Lumia 2520 tablet. We had that rear shot which didn’t show much of anything at all, a newer rear shot that may or may not reveal a kickstand, though so closely cropped-in as to obscure much of the device, and that old red render of uncertain provenance. Today we get what very ...

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Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet carrier availability, pricing rumored

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

We’ve yet to get a really good look at this rumored Nokia Lumia 2520 tablet, but that hasn’t stopped the device from dominating a lot of the talk about the upcoming Nokia World announcement in two weeks. With any luck, we’ll see the tablet launch then, bringing Nokia into the world of Windows RT. A lot of details have already leaked, and today we turn our attention to specifics concerning just how the tablet will arrive, talking about when Verizon might add the 2520 ...

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Nokia shares plans to stream Oct. 22 event, but is it also hinting at what to expect?

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

In just twelve days from now, Nokia has its big announcement planned for Abu Dhabi, where we’ve heard the company could have a half a dozen or more devices to launch. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about just what those could be, and have a number of Lumia phones, as well as that 2520 tablet, as possible contenders. Today, Nokia announced plans to make the Nokia World event viewable to those of ...

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Affordable Windows 8 tablets could be just what Microsoft needs

Posted on by Adam Doud

Microsoft has an opportunity here. It may not realize it, being minus one CEO and all, but there is opportunity for advancement here. Android is a fantastically popular operating system. It’s incredible. The meteoric rise of Android from Verizon’s DROID to what it is today has been a beautiful thing to behold. But there is one place were Android has not been able to make a dent. Sure it has made nicks here and there, but no dents. And that is in the tablet space. You remember tablets, right? They’re those things that run iOS and make people vomit. It’s almost silly ...

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Microsoft encouraging additional OEMs to build dual Windows/Android models?

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Last week, we heard a very interesting rumor, suggesting that Microsoft was courting HTC to produce smartphones that would allow users to boot into either Android or Windows Phone, and was motivated enough to make this happen that it would seriously reduce WP8 licensing fees, if not just give HTC access to the platform totally for free. That’s fascinating enough on its own, but now we hear that Microsoft’s ambitions could be even grander, and might involve additional OEMs. We’re working from a ...

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