Technology

iPad

Apple’s recent announcement of the iPad was easily the most anticipated tech news of the year.

The iPad certainly had the majority of news-seekers “wowed” while many others were disgruntled … Imagine that.

But the history of Apple's iPad goes back a long way. When you start to look for the roots of iPad information, you find that the the birth of a so-called tablet computer actually began with Apple's Newton MessagePad 100, which was initially introduced back in 1993.

The mechanics of the Newton were based on the ARM6 processor core with Acorn Computers. During the same time frame Apple also made a prototype PowerBook Duo-based tablet computer which was called the PenLite.

Apple help off selling it to avoid impacting the sales of it's own MessagePad. Apple also released several more Newton-based PDAs, and discontinued the final product of it's type in 1998, that was the MessagePad 2100.

The evolution of what would become the iPad pushed forward. More iPad information: the iPad built upon the elements of the iPhone operating system, the iPhone and also the iPod Touch.

As of later in 2009, the iPad's public release was thought to possibly be named such things as iTablet and iSlate. Finally the iPad was revealed January 27, 2010, at a typically ultra orchestrated Apple press conference in San Francisco.

Less than a week later at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, one of the presenters, Stephen Colbert, actually made use of an iPad to announce nominees.

Galaxy Tab 10.1

We have some good news for those of you who are patiently waiting on updates for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2. Samsung has just confirmed the device at a pre-MWC 2011 event, but it will actually be called the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The final name may surprise a lot of you, since it was generally thought that the device would be named the Galaxy Tab 2, not only because it’s the second generation Tab, but also to coincide with the release of the Samsung Galaxy S II which has just been confirmed also.

However, let’s get down to the real details here. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will feature some pretty hardcore specs, and they include a 1Ghz dual-core processor, a 8 megapixel rear camera, 2mp front camera, 1080p recording and playback and a choice of either 16GB or 32GB of storage.

It will come with both 3G and WiFi support, and you’ll be pleased to know that the Tab 10.1 will also come equipped with Android 3.0 Honeycomb. As for release and carrier information, it will first be available in Asia and Europe sometime next month, with Vodafone looking to be the first carrier to release, according to Engadget.

LG Optimus Pad

We've just gotten back from playing around with LG's 8.9-inch, 3D-friendly Optimus Pad (known as theG-Slate in the US). This Android Honeycomb tablets sports a dual-core CPU inside and a dual-camera array outside, giving you both the optical and processing capabilities to produce 3D video. Its screen cannot actually play back glasses-free 3D, but if you really have to have that third dimension on the move, you'll be able to buy a set of glasses to recreate the effect. The Optimus Pad is slim, though we couldn't get a great feel for its ergonomics with all the wiring attached to it, has nicely curved corners, a matte black back cover that's pleasant to the touch and seemingly durable, and an extremely glossy screen up front.

We likend the Pad to the Optimus 2X in an earlier post and it carries over a lot of industrial design elements from its smartphone sibling, including the metallic strip down the middle of its rear branded with a "with Google" logo. That's actually meaningful this time -- the Optimus 2X wasn't a stock Android installation, it was subjected to LG's, however the Pad looks to be a straight Google Experience Device, in much the same vein as the Motorola Xoom and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, its nearest and most direct competitors. That being said, the code on the device we handled still wasn't up to scratch on the software front, as evidenced by us managing to crash both the browser and Google Maps within a few minutes of putting down our first fingerprints on the tablet. The 3D camcorder also seems like a memory hog, we weren't able to get it started up initially because of the number of apps that were already open (which at the time was no more than four). Let's remain optimistic, though, this wasn't exactly a slate we snatched off a retail shelf and LG has time to optimize and spruce things up before shipping this thing out. We've got pictures for you below and a press release after the break. Video is incoming at the very fastest speed our wireless connection can carry it.