Lenovo have announced that they plan to follow up their new LePad tablet with the LePad 2 by October 2011. The LePad has not even been released in the UK yet.

The company have described the follow up as a lighter and thinner second generation version of the LePad.

The announcement was made at the inaugural banquet for the 2011 China IT Leadership Summit. Lenovo’s CEO, Yang Yuanqing said that the company had experienced a positive response following the 12-day presales of the LePad, and that its successor, the LePad 2, would require a further nine months of development before it can be released.

Yang also revealed that the device was being developed by a separate team to the one that worked on the original LePad, before outlining the benefits of the LePad compared to the iPad in the Chinese market. Firstly, the homegrown Lenovo brand is far stronger in China than Apple, and secondly the LePad is substantially cheaper.

This week the Chinese company announced that, despite concerns over the supply of components following the tragic events in Japan, the LePad would be available in the UK in June.

At this early stage, there is no information about a possible release of the LePad 2 in the UK. However, if it follows the same release schedule as its forerunner, we can expect it to land in the UK by early 2012.

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Viewonic have announced that their new tablet, the ViewPad 7, will be available as part of a ‘try for free’ deal.

Customers will still need to hand over the money up front, but ViewSsonic have pledged to refund the cost in full if returned for any reason within 30 days.

The company have even promised to foot the bill for return postage, an approach presumably designed to entice potential consumers who have been put off by the device’s Google Android 2.2 operating system.

Viewsonic’s will hope that their tactics succeed in increasing consumer confidence in the tablet by making the transition towards a tablet device as undaunting as possible.

“There are many people that have heard about the new tablet trend but for various reasons have not yet dived in,” said James Coulston, Viewsonic’s European marketing manager. “We want people to have a good first tablet experience, risk free.”

Viewsonic will be demonstrating the 7-inch tablet at the Gadget Show held in Birmingham next month, which gives any consumers still wavering after the 30-day trial offer further chance to take a look at the item.

The ViewPad 7 will boast a capacitive touchscreen, 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, 512MB of RAM and 512MB of onboard storage. The device also supports up to 32GB of storage via microSD cards.

The device weighs 375g and is 11.5mm thick, so slightly smaller and lighter than the original iPad. It will also feature front and rear facing cameras.

The ViewPad 7 retails at £300.

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Chip manufacturers, AMD are preparing to launch their new graphics card – the HD 6790 – on April 5th.

The 6790 was originally scheduled for release on March 31st, but AMD postponed the launch until April 5th.

The new card is based on a stripped down version of the Barts GPU – known as the Barts LE – and boasts a GPU frequency of 840 MHz, with a performance level of 1.34 TLFOPs.

It is not designed as a replacement to any of the cards in the existing 6800 range, instead acting as an intermediary unit between the HD 5770 and the HD 6850. The 6790 will retain the same basic VLIW5 architecture but with 10 SM units, rather than the 12 and 14 on the HD 6850 and 6870 cards.

Filling this gap in AMD’s range puts the new graphics card in direct competition with rival company, Nvidia’s own GTX 550 Ti card, as both companies jostle for dominance in the chip market.

Nvidia released the GTX 550 Ti last Tuesday, giving them a light jump on their competition. However, AMD’s respectable branding and prompt response is likely to see them making up ground in no time.

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A parliamentary committee has recommended the use of tablet devices and smartphones during debates in the Commons, according to a report published yesterday.

MP’s will also be allowed to access Twitter from the chamber using the devices, although this usage is dependant on individuals “using their good sense and behaving with courtesy”.

However, the use of laptop PCs would remain prohibited under Commons rules.

Report recognises no difference between “allowing a member to consult his or her speaking notes or necessary documents either in hard copy or on an electronic device.” It also acknowledges that such devices are “ubiquitous now in a way that even four years ago was not the case.”

“Banning them from the chamber might make the House appear out of touch with modern life,” the report continues. “And would mean that those in the chamber would be the last to know of breaking news widely available on the internet”.

The committee’s recommendation would allow members to use electronic handheld devices – read: tablets and smartphones – for “any purpose” whilst the member is not speaking, obviously within the bounds of etiquette. Many believe that this will enhance the role that online information facilities like Twitter play in the world of politics and current affairs.

The news of the committee’s report follows an announcement that the House of Lords would be trialling the use of electronic devices in their chambers for the period of one year.

Several other institutions are also trialling the use of Twitter within their proceedings, after journalists were allowed to post to the site directly from the extradition hearing of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.

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Acer have announced a UK release date for the company’s first Android running tablet, the Iconia Tab A500.

The A500 will be available from Friday 8th April, the same launch day as the Windows based W500.

The new tablet will be a 10.1-inch affair and will run Google’s Android Honeycomb operating system. The company also showed samples of a 7-inch Android tablet, the A100, the release of which is expected at the end of April.

Specifications include a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution touchscreen display, 1GHz dual-core processor and an nVidia GeForce graphics processor, which promises to offer ultra-low power consumption.

Acer did not share what sort of touchscreen would be gracing the Iconia A500, but it appears to be a lower grade panel to that of the iPad 2.

The device will be WiFi only on release, with an optional 3G modem becoming available in May. The battery life of the A500 is apparently the same as that of the iPad2, offering 10 hours of continuous usage.

Further comparison with the iPad 2 does not reflect well on A500; at over 13mm in width, the Acer device half again as thick as the new Apple tablet and weighs 100 grams more.

Pricewise, the device will retail at £449 in its initial, WiFi only incarnation; £50 more than the iPad 2.

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Asus will release their first Android Honeycomb tablet in the UK on April 6th, a fortnight behind the iPad 2.

Presales have already begun for the Asus Eee Pad Transformer, which costs £380; £19 less than Apple’s latest tablet.

The Transformer boasts a 10.1 inch touch screen, making it larger than the iPad 2 but also giving it substantially more screen space. The device runs a ‘clean’ version of Honeycomb, meaning that Asus have not added any of their own software to Google’s tablet-orientated operating system, however the company have said that they plan to pre-install additional apps to improve features like wireless streaming.

A look under the head reveals a dual core Nvidia Tegra processor in the engine room, while Asus claim that one charge of the onboard battery provides enough juice for eight-hours of usage.

Asus also plan to release a lightweight keyboard alongside the Transformer device; this is a portable keyboard with a hollow bezel, into which the Transformer fits, ‘transforming’ it into a netbook as and when is required. This peripheral will also feature an additional battery, essentially doubling the battery life of the product.

The Transformer will also come pre-loaded with Polaris Office, which features word processing and spreadsheet applications. The device is available on presale from Amazon and eBuyer. It is currently available as a WiFi only version, but a 3G supporting version is planned to follow within a month.

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Canadian firm, RIM spent $1.35 billion on research and development in 2011 alone, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

These figures equate to a tripling of research and development expenditure by RIM since 2008. In that same three-year period, sales of RIM’s BlackBerry units did rise, although this has been blamed upon a general increase in interest across the smartphone market.

In fact, BlackBerry’s smartphone market share dropped 3.4% in 2010, from 19.7% to 16.3%; a reflection of the high-levels of choice now offered to smartphone consumers.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Martin Peers suggests that RIM should have a long hard look at their allocation of resources if they are to regain the initiative in the smartphone market and excel in the tablet market:

“Here’s a radical solution to help Research in Motion [RIM] recapture momentum: a cutback in research-and-development spending,” Peers writes. “After all, there’s little apparent connection between R&D expenditures and successful product launches. Apple, for instance, has come up with new products like the iPhone and the iPad despite spending less on R&D over the entire past decade than Microsoft did in fiscal 2010 alone”.

Peers further questioned the sense in spending such astronomical figures on research and development, by asking where the money was going to. RIM’s new PlayBook tablet does run a new operating system but, as Peers points out, this came about through an acquisition rather than an internal development.

The PlayBook is launched in the US and Canada on April 19th. A successful launch is vital to the future of RIM, who may be forced to make some serious internal changes if the release turns sour.

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Rumours suggest that ASUS’ Eee Pad Transformer hybrid device will be available in the UK on March 30th.

The tablet-cum-netbook device was released in the company’s native Taiwan today, but sites such as Phandroid have hinted that the device may be hitting the UK as early as next week.

The basic 16GB version is currently retailing for $500US in Taiwan, with the 32GB version fetching $600US, although these prices are expected to change as the device becomes available worldwide.

The Transformer consists of a 10.1-inch tablet device running Google’s Android Honeycomb operating system, coupled with – and this is the major selling point – a lightweight physical keyboard for those users who are still not entirely comfortable with touchscreen typing. This keyboard is completely detachable, allowing the tablet device to be used independently as and when is required.

The unit will come complete with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution touchscreen panel, a dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor and 1GB of RAM. Other features include a 1.2 megapixel camera on the front for video calls, as well as a 5 megapixel camera on the back for other camera usage, a HDMI output, SD card reader and two USB 2.0 ports.

The Transformer could be an interesting addition to the tablet battle when it hits UK shores. If the rumours are to be believed, we might not have to wait too long.

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HP have provided developers with a development kit for their new operating system – webOS 3.0.

The OS will not feature on a tablet until the new TouchPad device is released in the summer, but HP hope that by giving developers a head start they can provide TouchPad users with a range of useful and unique applications.

HP Palm development blogger, Sean Lindo believes that the features of webOS 3.0 give developers a great opportunity to create some mindblowing apps for the new device:

“When we introduced the HP TouchPad on February 9th, you could really feel the excitement,” Lindo writes. “People everywhere wanted to know what the buzz was all about. Well, that day not only marked the introduction of the first webOS tablet – it marked the beginning of a new vision for webOS and an unprecedented opportunity for developers.”

The software development kit – or SDK – for webOS 3.0 provides access to Enyo – the new framework for webOS – as well as allowing developers “helpful guidance on app structuring, design and navigation” within the operating system.

No concrete date has yet been set down for the release of the HP TouchPad, but it expected to ship in the summer. It boasts a 9.7 inch display with a 1024 x 768 pixel resolution and comes with either 16GB or 32GB of storage.

Not only will this be HP’s first competitor to iPad 2, the release of the TouchPad also signals HP’s foray in to the OS battle currently raging between Google Android and Apple iOS.

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Lenovo are the latest player to wade into the already crowded tablet market with the release of their LePad device.

Unfortunately, phase one of the LePad’s launch covers only China, with the device scheduled to reach UK shelves by June.

At the CES event in January, Lenovo announced that the LePad would be launched alongside a companion piece – the IdeaPad U1 – a device with a physical keyboard which would dock with the LePad and allow the device to double boot Windows 7 as well as Android. The current release has left observers puzzled as to when the U1 will become available.

Lenova have delayed the release of the U1 before; in January 2010 Lenovo announced that the IdeaPad U1 would be released in June of that year, now it appears that the tablet component will be first onto the shelves.

The LePad weighs around 2 pounds and features a 10.1-inch touchscreen display. Other features include a Qualcomm 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, WiFi connectivity with 3G as an option, and 16GB of memory. A 32GB version is available with both WiFi or 3G and WiFi.

There was some speculation that Lenovo might upgrade the device run to Google’s latest Android platform, Honeycomb, before the release of the product, but it appears that this is not the case. The LePad runs Android 2.2, or ‘Froyo’, instead of the v.3.0, which is specifically optimised for tablet computers.

UK consumers can get their hands on the device from June.

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Google are reportedly preparing a self-produced tablet running Android Honeycomb.

The device – carrying the Nexus brand name – will be the result of a collaboration between Google and the Korean tech-firm, LG.

Releasing a self-produced tablet would allow Google to demonstrate the ‘clean’ version of Honeycomb, as manufacturers frequently add an extra layer of software on top of the Android platform.

Google have done this previously – also under the Nexus brand – with  smartphones; Google collaborated with HTC on the Nexus One, before partnering Samsung on the Nexus S device. Both smartphones ran the purer version of the Android OS.

Tech journos are already reading in to the shift away from Samsung, stating that the move towards LG indicates that the new tablet will take full advantage of the cutting edge 3D technology for which LG is becoming renowned.

No specifications are currently available for the Google Nexus, which remains a theoretical device at the moment, although tech-writer Eldar Murtazin, writing for Mobile Review, has stated that he believes the item will begin shipping early in the third quarter of 2011.

Meanwhile, LG are preparing their own Android offering, the 8.9-inch G-Slate, which is due for release in the U.S. in April, with a UK launch expected to follow shortly after.

The G-Slate will pack double rear-facing cameras for capturing the 3D content rumoured to feature on the Nexus tablet. This is supported by a hard-working 1GHz dual-core processor under the hood.

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Native apps for Google’s Android Honeycomb are still scarce as one of Honeycomb’s big hitters – the Motorola Xoom – prepares for a UK launch.

Tech blogger, Justin Williams has identified just 20 applications specifically and exclusively designed for Honeycomb tablets available on the Android Marketplace, with the remainder being simply “upconverted” Android v2.0 apps.

Williams’ criteria for what constitutes a Honeycomb app is as follows; the application must require Android 3.0 or must have had its user interfaced designed solely for use with tablet devices. The app must not be an existing Android app or game that has been expanded for the larger screen resolution.

This app shortfall does not reflect well on Android as a realistic competitor to Apple and the iPad; Williams talks about the unveiling event for the iPad 2 tablet, at which Steve Jobs compared the Apple device’s app count of 65,000 to that of Android.

“You remember the slides,” Williams writes. “Jobs talked about the 65,000 apps that are designed to improve the iPad experience. He then put up a slide with the Android Honeycomb logo and the number 100. Even at that time, many considered the 100 app count to be a generous round number.”

Recent consumer analysis has revealed that a third of British tablet consumers feel that content and applications are the most important factor when purchasing a new tablet device. With this in mind, developers for the latest Google Android platform have their work cut out to make up the lost ground.

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PC giants, Acer today reported that they expect a 10% reduction in sales, quarter-on-quarter, by the end of Q1.

The Taiwanese company blamed a weak demand for netbooks and PC products in key zones such as Western Europe and the U.S., as interest shifts towards tablet devices.

This news follows hot on the heels of an announcement that Acer will be joining battle in the tablet market with their own devices; the Windows supporting W500 and the Google Android Honeycomb running A500 and A100. UK release dates for the former two have been recently confirmed as April 8th 2011.

Unfortunately, the release of this trio is not expected to be enough to boost Acer’s fortunes with immediate effect; today’s report predicted sales figures would remain flat throughout Q2 of this year.

The balance sheets do not look rosy for Acer, who also experienced an enormous 35% dip in revenue for the first three months of 2011, in comparison with the same period of last year.

The ailing netbook market will have a knock on effect for Microsoft also, whose Windows 7 OS dominates this part of the tech market, but has not yet been able to tap in to the lucrative tablet sector with any sort of effectiveness.

Acer’s lack of confidence makes them reluctant to grant Microsoft exclusivity on their tablets, as they wisely attempt to hedge their bets in their tablet market gamble. This decision could cost Microsoft, who have once again failed to instil confidence into tablet manufacturers that their OS can cut it in the tablet world.

However, a strong showing from Acer’s Windows 7 based W500 Iconia tablet could prove to be a lifesaver for both companies.

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Canadian firm, Research in Motion – or RIM – have reported yet another quarter of negative growth as their smartphone market share dips below a quarter.

Now commanding only 22% of the smartphone market, RIM are reliant on a successful launch for their PlayBook tablet to boost the company’s fortunes.

The device is scheduled for release in the US and Canada on April 19th, making the next three weeks a nervous time for CEO Jim Balsillie and his colleagues at RIM.

The PlayBook will be available in a 16GB, 32GB or 64GB version, priced at $499, $599 and $699 respectively. A 1GHz dual-core processor will power the 7-inch device and a WSVGA capacitive touch panel will grace the front of the tablet.

Video recording capabilities of 1080p HD footage actually place the PlayBook ahead of the iPad 2 in terms of imaging.

A successful launch of the PlayBook will be key, not only in determining the future of RIM as a tablet manufacturer, but the future of RIM full stop. Some industry analysts are describing BlackBerry as a broken brand, while PaidContent.org predicted a dramatic brand shift from RIM, should the PlayBook not provide the impetus required.

RIM’s executives and investors will be keeping everything crossed as we approach the launch date for PlayBook, a UK launch is expected to follow in June.

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Thousands of shoppers queued outside stores to get their hands on the latest Apple tablet, which was released today at 5pm.

The massive interest in the iPad 2 has already led to speculation that the number of tablets sold in this quarter alone will be more than in the whole of 2010.

Tech insurers, Protectyourbubble reported that the queue outside Apple’s flagship Regent Street store in London numbered 632 people, 181 more than the amount who queued up for the first iPad release last may.

This was dwarfed however by the queues at Birmingham’s Bull Ring shopping centre, which the Guardian estimated to be in excess of 1,000 people.

The overwhelming interest – although surely anticipated by everyone – has reportedly caused some third-party retailers to find themselves woefully understocked. Phones4U are rumoured to have only one unit in stock per store, while other retailers were rumoured to be only stocking the lower spec version for the time being.

In the background of this immense consumer interest in the new iPad, other uses for tablet technology are being developed which could prove to be a further boost for the burgeoning tablet market:

Peter O’Donoghue, of consultancy firm, Deloitte, recognised the transferability of tablet devices, predicting that “millions of units will be shipped to retail, hospital, military and the banking market”.

O’Donoghue estimates that this sector will make up a quarter of the tablet market in 2011, rising to 40% by 2014, adding that “the virtues of tablets – easy to use, virus-resistant and portable – are enormously appealing to businesses”.

All this will make for happy reading for tablet manufacturers and shareholders alike, as the tablet market prepares to experience yet more growth.

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