Expect a flurry of product launches, including the expected debut on Wednesday afternoon of a new Motorola Mobility (MMI) tablet based on a coming new version of Android called Honeycomb. (That one is already generating some buzz.) Not scheduled for formal tablet focused press events, somewhat surprisingly: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), which is working on Palm-based tablets, and Research In Motion (RIMM), which is nearing the launch of its PlayBook tablet.
This took place at the ASUS Vivo Tab RT (the device formerly known as Tablet 600) press conference held at IFA 2012 this week in Berlin.
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SmartGlass lets you watch a movie on your tablet and then press a button to transfer the film to your Xbox, which puts it on your TV right where you left off.
In fact, to unsheathe the tablet we needed to press a little button along the top edge which activates an electrical catch that connects the two parts.
Research In Motion (RIMM): They will likely be showing off the Playbook tablet in their booth, but no press events are on the agenda.
In fact, the game demos I played at the VIP hands-on following the press conference blended the traditional Wiimote controller with the new tablet.
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Analysts on Thursday may press Microsoft for more details about the response to its Surface tablet, which is supposed to showcase the appeal of Windows 8.
"While anything that Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs do in collaboration is bound to be unique, we have to be mindful of the fact that the tablet is just in its infancy stage -- it's like the early days of the printed press, " said Barry McIlheney, chief executive of the UK based Professional Publishers Association.
So this year the 5, 500 geeks and geek watchers like us in the press (400 of us, Google tells me) will have to be satisfied with maybe a tablet, possibly a phone, almost certainly some kind of new Android software, and a few new services to run on it.
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