Motorola, Samsung Sharp reveal iPad challenge

THREE electronics giants revealed tablets that could outshine the market-leading Apple iPad yesterday, including tablet computers with slide-out keyboards, powerful processors and cameras front and back. 
 
Motorola, Samsung and Sharp all jumped on board the tablet bandwagon at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas yesterday, just one day after ASUS showed off four models to go on sale later this year.
Even more tablet computers are expected to be revealed today, including offerings from Dell and BlackBerry, in the wake of the Consumer Electronics Association prediction that consumers would spend “close to $30 million” on the technology in 2011.
Motorola’s newly unveiled 10.1-inch tablet, called XOOM, is the most powerful tablet to date, featuring a dual core processor more commonly seen in full-size laptops.
It will also be the first to feature Google’s Android Honeycomb software designed for tablets, rather than phones, and it will come with two cameras and a high-definition screen.

Motorola spokesman Barry Smyth said the company planned to bring the XOOM and the newly announced Atrix smartphone to Australia later this year.
Samsung also showed off an upcoming tablet with something extra: a full-sized keyboard that slides from beneath its 10.1-inch screen.
Despite the addition, the Sliding PC 7 is less than 2cm thick and weighs less than 1kg, making it more portable than many netbooks.

Samsung enterprise business vice-president Doug Albregts said the Windows 7 tablet was designed for “everyone from students to mobile workers”.

Sharp also announced plans to ship its Galapagos E-Media Tablet outside Japan.
3D televisions and cameras were also a big talking point at CES. Samsung revealed it would launch more 3D TVs in 2011, even though consumers bought just 1 million 3D TVs last year.
Samsung US president Tim Baxter said he expected the “3D market to grow six-fold in 2011” and make up 66 per cent of the company’s TV sales.

But rival Korean TV maker LG announced a different approach, ditching battery-powered 3D glasses in favour of cheaper, passive 3D more commonly seen in movie theatres.
The company’s Cinema 3D TVs will come with glasses that do not require batteries and cost “less than $20,” LG new product development director Tim Alessi said.
The passive 3D TV delivery system is less advanced but Mr Alessi said viewers would not notice “a reduction in screen quality”.


http://www.news.com.au/technology/motorola-samsung-sharp-reveal-ipad-challenge/story-e6frfro0-1225983163569