Motorola Xoom Launch On February 17

Motorola Xoom, the highly anticipated Honeycomb tablet computer from Motorola could be launching as early as February 17. This information is courtesy a  leaked screenshot of the Best Buy inventory database that has recently been doing the rounds across the blogosphere. According to this document, Best Buy stores across the United States will begin to stock the tablet starting February 16th. Also, the launch date has been explicitly mentioned as February 17th.

This is interesting considering that we received details about the Xoom pricing just days back. Also, you may recall that the initial rumors pointed out to a launch date around April and May of this year. While all of this is speculation at the moment, we would like to assume each of these rumors carry a grain of truth in them. Verizon is expected to come with a Wi-Fi only model to start with followed by the launch of 3G-enabled tablets. We are also likely to see 4G LTE capable Xoom tablets sometime down the line.

If these rumored launch dates are any indication, we could be seeing a Wi-Fi only variant launch in February followed by tablets capable of carrying cellular data sometime around April of this year.

iPad 2 Rear Camera Resolution Only 1-Megapixel?

A number of next generation iPad cases were outed in the past few weeks that have indicated at the possibility of us seeing two cameras – one on the front and another on the rear side of iPad 2. Now, developers scouring through the snippets of code on the latest iOS SDK have confirmed these rumors. The code does contain references to the two cameras.

However, in what could come as a huge disappointment, Apple could be offering a minimal 1-Megapixel rear facing camera and a VGA resolution front facing camera on this upcoming device. This is unlike popular speculation that the iPad 2 could offer an iPhone 4-like 5-Megapixel camera. This is also lower than the camera specs on the first generation Samsung Galaxy Tab that came with 3-Megapixel and 1.3-Megapixel cameras.

For what it’s worth, Notion Ink Adam, the highly anticipated Android-based tablet shipping this week will come with a 3.2-megapixel swivel camera that will outdo both the Galaxy Tab and the rumored iPad 2.

Motorola Xoom Price Rumored To Be $799

Motorola Xoom – the Android 3.0 tablet with a dual core 1GHz processor, a 32GB flash storage and 10.1″ screen – is among the most anticipated tech launches this year. The tablet gained huge publicity when it was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month.

While there has not been any official communication regarding the launch date and price, we have heard from Motorola executives from South America that the tablet will launch in April and May of this year. While the price remains elusive, the Xoom could be priced at $799 if a leaked Verizon document is anything to go by. The document contains a list of  product prices and launch timelines and contains a ‘Minimum Advertised Price‘ of $799 against the Xoom. The price is set for the period between January 21 and July 21 of this year.

If true, Xoom could seem to be priced higher than the equivalent iPad. As you would know already, the 32GB 3G-enabled version of iPad costs $729 in the US market. What do you think? Are you planning to buy one at this price?

China Unicom iPad 3G To Start Selling In China

China has been one of Apple’s important markets outside North America. However, stringent government regulations had meant the company was not allowed to sell the 3G variant of the iPad in the country – until now. An Apple spokesperson has confirmed that his company has managed to seek Chinese government approval to sell iPad 3G in the country. Like with the iPhone, China Unicom will be in charge of distributing and marketing the iPad 3G in the country. Chinese customers already have access to the WLAN variant of the iPad which is simply the domestic Wi-Fi equivalent.

Although clearances have been given, Apple has not given us an exact date when the device will actually become available on the stores. We will update you about that when we get to hear more about this.

Notion Ink Adam Unboxing Pictures

If you have ordered a Notion Ink Adam, you should start seeing them in your mailbox anytime in the next couple of days. That’s because Rohan Shravan has posted his own unboxing pictures that he apparently received from the airport today. Shravan notes that Adam units were shipped from China on Wednesday to their main logistics center in Hong Kong. Shipments to the different parts of the world must happen over air from Hong Kong.

In his latest blog post, Shravan also gives us a glimpse into the unboxing. As revealed earlier, the Adam does not exactly come in a rectangular box and instead comes with props that can be used as an Adam stand.

Interestingly, customers shall be prompted for a firmware update soon after booting that is presumably to incorporate software changes made after the manufacturing process. You can check out all the unboxing images at the Notion Ink blog here.

HTC Flyer Tablet Launch In March?

We earlier heard that HTC could be launching a new tablet computer named HTC Scribe soon. This speculation came by way of a trademark application for ‘Scribe’ filed by the company where the product was explicitly described as a “tablet computer“. Now, if the latest rumors are anything to go by, HTC could be launching another tablet before Scribe reaches the market.

According to sources, HTC Flyer – an Android 2.3-based tablet should be launching in March of this year. The sources describe this tablet as simply a larger version of HTC Desire. Also, this device is expected to upgrade to Android 3.0 by June of this year. What’s interesting is that HTC is also expected to launch two other tablets during the same period. These tablets – possibly one of them could be Scribe – will launch directly over Android 3.0.

This could mean HTC is prepping at least three tablet computers that can launch by the summer of 2011. This is definitely an interesting rumor and something we will keep a tab on.

Proximity Sensor On iPad 2 – What Does This Mean?

A new nifty piece of code discovered in the iOS 4.3 beta firmware has revealed that the next generation of iPad could come with a proximity sensor. Traditionally, proximity sensors have been employed on touchscreen phones to disable multitouch functions while making a phone call. Not surprisingly, the availability of a proximity sensor on an iPad has caused a number of speculations about possible phone-capabilities.

Apparently, the proximity sensor is going to be provided in iPad 2 for an entirely different reason – case lock. The proximity sensor could possibly help the iPad automatically lock itself when an iPad casing is closed and then unlock when opened.

Some users also speculate that such a feature could be useful in future variants of the iPad that may come without the Home button and Sleep/Wake buttons. That however, is purely speculation at this point.

What do you think of this feature? Do you see other use-case scenarios for a proximity sensor on an iPad? Tell us in the comments.

Global Apple iPad Tablet Market Share Over 80%

A new report by market research firm, IDC, has thrown some interesting numbers with respect to the worldwide tablet and eReader market. According to their latest study, the Apple iPad currently constitutes over 87.4% of all “media tablets” shipped during the third quarter of 2010. That is 4.2 million units sold out of the total 4.8 million tablets sold worldwide during this period.

IDC however points out that it has set some criteria to differentiate tablet computers from eReaders which means Windows tablets and Amazon bestsellers like Kindle were not considered “tablets” and hence were not part of the study. IDC says, only electronic devices that measured between 5-14 inches and were equipped with color displays and lightweight operating systems were included in the study.

Despite this, iPad still owns a major share of the market. IDC notes that putting the tablets and eReaders under one umbrella will still keep the iPad on top at 79.5% market share.

Although 2010 was considered the year of the tablets, it is in 2011 that we will be seeing most of the competition. With devices like Motorola Xoom and Blackberry PlayBook on the pipeline, it will be interesting to see how the iPad market share stands one year down the line.

Blackberry PlayBook 3G Version Launching In March?

A number of Blackberry Playbook variants are speculated to launch in the next few months. Firstly, a Wi-Fi only version of the Playbook tablet is expected to launch soon after RIM’s financial year ends in February this year. Besides this, 4G LTE and WiMax variants are also learned to be in the pipeline.

Now another source has claimed that Research In Motion is also gearing up to launch a 3G variant around the end of March or in April. According to this source – apparently a Blackberry administrator who is in the know about RIM’s plans – this device could launch well before the 4G LTE variant launches – presumably in April this year.

Do note that we still do not have anything official at this point in time about either the 3G or 4G variants. So, take this with guarded skepticism for the moment.

Notion Ink Adam Shipping Today – February Shipments Advanced

After weeks of anticipation, the Notion Ink Adam will finally go on sale starting today. In a fresh blog post, CEO Rohan Shravan has updated his customers that all FCC labeling related issues have been resolved and the device is cleared for launch. The units are expected to ship from the company’s manufacturing partner’s plant in China on Wednesday.

In what could be interesting news, Shravan has also noted that customers who were initially notified to be receiving their product in February will now see an advancement of the shipping date. Consequently, these customers may start receiving their Adam units in the last week of January. Shravan writes,

“We are tying to pre-pone ALL of the February shipments! So if your status read February, it should be changed to the last week of January. February was suggested to you all because we were not sure of how the FCC will work out (based on which we need to decide on the procurements), and added buffers while giving you the time lines.”

Have you pre-ordered one? Are you excited about receiving your unit soon?