HP Announces the SlateBook x2 PC Running on Android

Android PCs aren’t exactly a new idea, by far, but not many of the bigger manufacturers are actually using it on their computers. HP, however, has dared enough to take up the challenge and has announced the SlateBook x2.

The SlateBook x2 is a convertible with a detachable keyboard and runs on Android Jelly Bean.

The Specs

The display of the tablet is of 10.1 inches and also boasts a Full HD resolution. The LED display is also multi-touch.

The SlateBook x2 runs on the latest Nvidia Tegra 4 processor clocked at 1.8Ghz and Intel HD 4000 graphics. It features 2 GB RAM and 16 GB SATA SSD. The Android 4.2-running PC uses Wifi, DLNA, Bluetooth and microSD card slot for connectivity.

The screen/tablet part of the PC can also connect with a keyboard through a magnetic mechanism. The keyboard houses the battery as well so connecting the keyboard will partly improve your battery life too. It also increases the no. of ports by adding a USB 2.0 port, another micro SD card slot and HDMI.

There are also 2 cameras at the front and back of the tablet for occasional snapping and video-calls.

The tablet will be launched this August for $479 without the keyboard, and $649 with one. That will put it in the Windows 8 laptop range, lots of whom can be found cheaper and that is far from an ideal situation to be. The thing is, that it wouldn’t matter much to you if all you want is a decent Android-running tablet, along with a processor. The real question, though, is that how many people want that?

Toshiba Announces New Mid-Range Laptops

Toshiba is one of those Windows manufacturers which have faded away a bit in the past few months, after announcing PCs which didn’t sell all that well and failed to give some tough fight to the competition (one laptop is an Amazon bestseller though).

So here they are, giving the idea another go by announcing new mid-range Windows 8 laptops. The new laptops have taken design inspiration from the higher-end laptops of this series and come in multiple configurations.

They are powered by both AMD and Intel processors. Unfortunately though, they all come with the very basic 1366 x 768 resolution.

Toshiba Satellite E55

The first among the new laptops of the popular Satellite series is the E55D which comes with a 15 inch display. It comes with an AMD A6 CPU & 750 GB HDD and is priced at $579. The E55Dt version with AMD CPU, 1 TB HDD and touchscreen costs $679.

The most higher-end offering with the 4th generation Intel Haswell processor and a touchscreen costs $899. They all come with the new 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard for connectivity and the number pad.

Toshiba Satellite E45t

The other laptop announced by Toshiba was the Satellite E45t which comes with in a single specifications list. It comes with a 14 inch display with touchscreen and Intel Core i5 processor. For storage it will have a 500 GB HDD.

The laptop will be priced at $818. It also supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi for connections.

While all these laptops come with striking designs for a relatively affordable price tag, the display is a bit of a disappointment, especially for the higher-end models.

The Satellite E55 will be available this September while the E45t will be brought to customers only next month.

Samsung and Apple Slide Down in Smartphone Marketshare, Lenovo Emerges

According to the new report by International Data Corporation (IDC), Samsung and Apple are currently the top manufacturers in the smartphone hierarchy right now, as before, but their lead has slid down notably in the last quarter.

Compared to same quarter of 2012, where both the manufacturers sold 32.2% and 16.6% of the smartphones worldwide, they topped out at only 30.4% and 13.1% this time around.

Sales increased though, obviously, topping out at 72.4 and 31.2 million units respectively, compared to 50.3 and 26 million of the year before.

HTC and Huawei dropped out from the top 5 manufacturers’ list altogether while Lenovo was a surprise entry in the list. The Chinese company sold 11.3 million units and attained a marketshare of 4.7%, unbelievably close to LG, which holds a marketshare of 5.1%.

Apple’s dropping sales were not unexpected, especially since a new leak of the so-called “budget iPhone” comes out almost everyday but in Samsung’s case, it does look awkward, curiously coming after the launch of the numerous versions of its Galaxy S4 flagship.

The overall smartphones sales were 237.9 million units. The case for Nokia shouldn’t be dissimilar from Apple, since this was the time period when it launched its Lumia 1020 flagship.

Top Five Smartphone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2013 Q2 (Units in Millions) 

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	Year-over-year Change
Samsung	72.4	30.4%	50.3	32.2%	43.9%
Apple	31.2	13.1%	26.0	16.6%	20.0%
LG	12.1	5.1%	5.8	3.7%	108.6%
Lenovo	11.3	4.7%	4.9	3.1%	130.6%
ZTE	10.1	4.2%	6.4	4.1%	57.8%
Others	100.8	42.4%	62.8	40.2%	60.5%
Total	237.9	100.0%	156.2	100.0%	52.3%

Top Five Total (Feature+Smartphone) Mobile Phone Vendors, Shipments, and Market Share, 2013 Q2 (Units in Millions) 

Vendor	2Q13 Unit Shipments	2Q13 Market Share	2Q12 Unit Shipments	2Q12 Market Share	Year-over-year Change
Samsung	113.4	26.2%	97.5	23.9%	16.3%
Nokia	61.1	14.1%	83.7	20.5%	-27.0%
Apple	31.2	7.2%	26.0	6.4%	20.0%
LG	16.2	3.7%	13.1	3.2%	23.7%
ZTE	15.0	3.5%	15.2	3.7%	-1.1%
Others	195.2	45.2%	172.2	42.2%	13.4%
Total	432.1	100.0%	407.7	100.0%	6.0%