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After relatively slow early sales, Asus, Motorola, and Samsung have reduced their Android tablet manufacturing plans by about 10 percent, according to a JP Morgan analyst. Meanwhile, the rumored Amazon.com Android tablet could sell 2.4 million units in 2012 without significantly cannibalizing the company's Kindle e-reader sales, according to a Piper Jaffray analyst.
Texas Instruments (TI) has goosed the clock speed and graphics of its ARM Cortex-A9 SoCs (systems on chip), offering dual CPU cores running at up to 1.8GHz. The OMAP4470 DirectX 9-capable Powervr SGX544 graphics, can run three displays at up to 2048 x 1546 pixel resolution, and supports Android, Linux, and the newly announced Windows 8, the company says.
Android represented 36 percent of U.S. smartphone share through April, 10 points higher than Apple iOS, but down a point from March, says Nielsen. The research firm also says Android users download more data than iPhone users, while Distimo reports that Android Market has significantly fewer paid apps than Apple's AppStore — and that it's earning less money for developers.
Google has removed 26 apps from Android Market that contain malware called DroidDream Light, capable of stealing a significant amount of personal data. Meanwhile, Google has caught flak over its quiet removal of several game emulators from Android Market, with some observers saying the emulators are legal while other suggest Google may be caving to pressure from game console companies.
As expected, AMD used a morning press conference in Taipei to announce its tablet-specific Z-Series processors — the first of which is the dual-core Z-01, with a 5.9-Watt TDP. The chipmaker also reviewed branding plans for its A-Series “Llano” processor for notebooks, shipping this month, and previewed downsized APUs (accelerated processing units) it plans to release later this year.
A new Embedded Vision Alliance (EVA) industry group announced its founding members and launched its website devoted to promoting embedded vision technology in applications ranging from digital signage to automotive vision systems. Founded by BDTI, along with Xilinx and IMS Research, the 16-member group includes semiconductor manufacturers Freescale, Nvidia, and Texas Instruments.
Atmel Corp. announced that its popular ARM9-based SAM9G45 and SAM9M10 system on chips (SoCs) are now compatible with Android 2.1. Atmel also announced the availability of an Android board support package (BSP) for Atmel's SAM9M10-G45-EK boards, and Mentor Graphics is helping to provide optional vertically focused GUIs for the BSP.
Linaro announced an open-platform $199 “Origen” development board made by InSignal that incorporates Samsung's dual-core Cortex-A9 Exynos 4210 processor, a Mali400 GPU, and Linaro open source Linux and Android BSPs. At Computex this week, Linaro is demonstrating its first Linaro Evaluation Builds for Android and Ubuntu, and announced a Linaro Partner Program, with founding members including Canonical and Mentor Graphics.
Though it came late to the growing tablet space, AMD is apparently about to announce a set of Z-Series (“Desna”) chips for this market. The announcement, expected at a June 1 press conference, follows the May 27 leak of a company slide show on the Android Community website.
Linus Torvalds announced a new RC1 preliminary release of the next Linux kernel, but instead of calling it Linux 2.6.40, as had been expected, he's dubbing it Linux 3.0. The final Linux 3.0 will coincide with the 20th anniversary of Linux in August, but will offer no great breakthroughs, concedes Torvalds.
Undeterred by slumping netbook sales, Asus announced three such devices, one of which — the Eee PC X101 — will be offered with the Linux-based MeeGo operating system for just $200. The EeePC X101 comes with a new 1.33GHz Atom N435 processor, while the Windows-only EeePC 1025C and 1025CE will include the “Cedar Trail” Atom N2600 and N2800, according to multiple reports.
At the Computex show, Intel executives spoke of a new notebook segment called “ultrabooks,” thin portable computers that will employ future power-sipping Core processors. The 22nm “Ivy Bridge” Cores are “on track” for delivery in the first half of 2012, and 2013 “Haswell” versions will save even more power, officials added.
At this week's Computex conference in Taipei, Asus unveiled an Android-based hybrid tablet/smartphone device called the Padfone, embedding a removable smartphone in a 10.1-inch tablet. The company also announced a more conventional seven-inch tablet called the Eee Pad Memo 3D, with Android 3.x, a stylus, and glasses-free 3D video playback.
ARM officials told attendees at a Computex press conference they aim to have more than half the mobile PC market by 2015. However, they tempered expectations for the server space, where only a subset of customers is critically interested in saving power.
Advantech announced a pair of panel PCs for HMI (human machine applications), touting enhanced display technology and lower pricing. The 12.1-inch PPC-L128T (R81) features an “anti-corrosion” display with LED backlighting and a 600-nit brightness rating, while the 6.5-inch PPC-L61T (R71) has a 700-nit brightness rating and an expanded 22 to 185 deg. F operating range, the company says.