Canalys report states that year 2011 saw 63 million tablets shipped, while netbook sales volume stood at 29.4 million. According to these figures, netbook market shrank by almost 25 percent and tablet market grew almost three times. In contrast, PC market showed the growth rate of only 2 percent. Within the PC market, notebooks showed better potential than desktops. During the year, netbooks shipments grew 8 percent while desktop numbers increased by only e percent.

Netbooks segment was started in 2007 but the category could not sustain itself for long. While these mini notebooks did cause some splash in the beginning, but were soon overcome by tablets and cheaper laptops. Canalys had conducted similar study in 2009, when the research firm had claimed that ‘netbooks reshape the PC industry’. The segment finally peaked at 39.4 million unit shipment in 2010. However, it was not able to maintain the momentum.

Tablets Sales Continue to Grow: Netbooks Face Bleak Future is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The new rule is meant to be implemented over the period of next seven years and hence you may not be able to use this facility anytime soon. The new regulation also requires the member states to collect 4Kg of per capita e-waste every year. By 2016, the threshold limit would be raised to 45 tonnes of e-waste for every 100 tonnes of electronic gadgets issued to the market in previous three years.

Though, the new rules have largely been welcomed, but there are certain voices of dissent as well. Computer Aid International, a UK IT charity organization, has clearly expressed its disappointment. The charity organization said, “Of course Computer Aid wholeheartedly welcomes the additions to the directive, having higher recycling collection targets and tighter border controls on e-waste exports will help to reduce the amount of electronic equipment either being sent to landfill or being illegally exported to developing countries.”

European Union Draws Up New Plan for e-Waste Disposal is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The report also stated that Laptop and PC users tend to spend $102 per purchase in 2011. In contrast, tablet owners spent $123 per purchase and smartphone owners tallied $80 per purchase. Tablet owners not only spend more money, they are also prone to make more purchases. On an average, a tablet owner makes three times as many purchases as a smartphone owner makes.

Adobe Digital Marketing Insights collected the data from about 150 US retailers in 2011. The report takes into account more than 16.2 billion transactions carried out last year.

Tablet Owners Spend More on Online Purchases than Smartphone Owners is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Acer dropped a ‘one more thing moment’ at the end of their CES keynote and it came in the form of their Iconia Tab A700 their new flagship tablet, which has Ice Cream Sandwich and a whopping quad-core processor.

It hasn’t been officially unveiled, so details about its final specs remain scant, but it was on the show floor for consumers and journalists to have a quick play.

The first thing we noticed is the amazing new screen, it boasts an impressive resolution of 1925×1200, which is just a shade above 1080p. It’s bright and pin sharp, and surely means that plenty of other tablets will make the jump to retina-esque displays in 2012….ahem Apple.

Not only does this mean 1080p playback, it also gives things like text and magazines a little more zing, and makes them look more like printed paper than digital text.

The tablet isn’t going to win a beauty contests, it’s the typical glum Acer design. It’s 9.8mm and a lot lighter than many had expected considering its power capabilities. But, if it’s not inconceivable that it could get a facelift when it finally makes it to market.

The A700 comes with Ice Cream Sandwich, 1.3Ghz quad-core tegra processor, 9,800 mAh battery, 5 megapixel camera, micro USB and microHDMI – there’s no word on price, but we’d imagine it’s going to be towards the higher end of the market.

LG may have stole the show with their amazing OLED technology, but, Sony were on hand at CES to try and steal a bit of their thunder.

They announced a new prototype screen technology called Crystal LED, which they hope will prove to the new defacto screen technology. But can it really compete with OLED ?

Sony showed off a new 55-inch panel which is made up of millions of tiny LED’s that act as pixels and offers a Full HD self-emitting display.

The method they’re using ‘dramatically improved the light and efficiency’ and offers higher contrast ratios, wider colour gamut and incredibly hight refresh rates, when compared to LCD and Plasma’s

Intriguingly, Sony added this new technology was “parallel to its continued development and commercialization of OLED displays, and Sony will work conscientiously to bring the “Crystal LED Display” to market.”

We’ve yet to find out the juicy information such as when we’ll see the technology in use or whether it will cost the earth, but Sony better get a wriggle on before Samsung and LG’s OLED TVs start to gain traction in the market.

Not only did Sony show off the new Xperia S which his the Arc HD in all but name, but they also had another handset on show the Xperia Ion.

It’s the first phone to come out of the new Sony buyout and on paper this handset is an impressive beast. Specs-wise it’s a great phone: a dual-core 1.5Ghz processor, 16 BG of internal storage and a 12 megapixel rear camera.

There’s a front-facing camera on the front capable of recording in 720p. In other exciting news the new phone comes with a massive 4.6-inch screen with an impressive resolution of 1280×720, which Sony is calling HD Reality – the handset also comes with Music unlimited and Video unlimited too.

The main selling point for the Ion is that it’s Playstation certified, meaning gaming on the go will have never looked so good on a mobile. The specs bragging doesn’t stop there though, they’ve also managed to cram in Sony’s Exmor camera technology which mean it will be up and running in 1.5 seconds and can go from pic to pic in two seconds.

The only downside we can see with the phone it’s the decision to release it with Android Gingerbread, which is a little old-hat when Ice Cream should be the only OS on sale for all future Android phone – when will Blackberry learn.

Onlive has made quite a splash with its cloud gaming apps and service, but their not content with that, they want to do the same for the desktop apps.

Much to many people’s surprise they were on hand at CES to show of their latest service, Onlive Desktop, for iPad, which will put the power of your desktop in the cloud.

The service allows iPad users (for the time being) to use Microsoft Office suite on their tablets with full touch screen capabilities all through the cloud without having to worry about whether your iPad can handle it or is compatible.

The way it works is simple: harness the power of Onlive’s goliath server farm to do all the heavy lifting at their end whilst you get the benefits of the full version of office on a tablet.

It might seem like a strange thing for Onlive to be doing, but, in theory it’s likely to be a smoother experience for the end-user because you won’t be playing triple-A games and merely doing spreadsheet work or presentations, where a tiny bit of lag wouldn’t ruin the experience.

In fact: it’s the next logical step. The servers and technology are already there and the tasks it will have to perform will be more than manageable.

Better still they’re are planning a premium version, if you signup to the top package with 50GB of server space, you can also surf the web and use their amazing bandwidth speeds and, better still, it also allows for full flash support on an iPad. Amazing.

In Onlive’s short history they’ve never had any downtime, so it’s more than plausible that businesses could actually rely on the service.

The Onlive desktop app works by downloading the app, signing up and boom – you’re away.

When the service is released on iOS this week, Onlive Desktop will be free. With this you get 2GB of storage and access to Microsoft Office. If you aren’t an iPad user, then an Android version of the service is coming soon.

CES Round-up: The Best of The Rest is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The details about the upcoming tablet are sparse. It is not known whether the tablet will run on Android platform or any other operating system. However, Dell has always been a big Windows supporter, so it may so happen that its new tablet comes with Windows 8. The tablet’s arrival later this year also supports the assumption.

Dell is currently facing decline in its PC shipments, owing to overall weakness in market. But the company has said that the decline in PC market is not due to tablets. It has also downplayed the threat from smartphone. But despite these statements, it seems that the company is now looking towards mobile and tablet segment for making up the decline in PC market.

Steve Felice, chief commercial officer with Dell, said, “We have been taking our time. The general failure of everyone that’s tried to introduce a tablet outside of Apple. You will see us enter this market in a bigger way toward the end of the year. So we are not really de-emphasizing it, we are really being very careful how we enter it.”

Dell Planning to Re-enter Tablet Market is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

While all the major computer manufacturers faced decline in their shipments, HP was hit worst during the quarter. Its shipment fell 16.2 percent globally and 26.1 percent in the US market.  Acer also showed 18.4 percent decline in global shipments, while its PC demand in the US fell by 11.4 percent on year over year basis. Dell and Toshiba also suffered 4.5 percent and 2.2 percent drop in US demand.

Globally, Asus and Lenovo showed improvement during the last quarter of year 2011. Lenovo increased its sales volume by 23 Percent and Asus also performed well with 20.5 percent increase in its PC demand. Dell also registered 7.8 percent growth globally. Overall, HP, despite its slide, managed to retain its top position globally and in the US.

While fourth quarter also saw Ultrabooks chipping away at PC’s market share, but the newly released contraptions are not the main reason behind the decline. Ultrabooks are expected to increase their visibility in 2012.

PC Shipments Suffer Setback in Q4: Mac Grows on is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

CES is in full swing and today we’ll give you some interesting details on origami laptops, tablets, 4K camcorders and even an Apple rumour.

Right, let’s get this Apple iPad rumour out of the way first. Now, everyone knows that Apple isn’t at CES (or are they?). Well, according to iLounge they’ve seen something interesting from Apple at CES.

The iPad 3. Now before you start the obligatory trolling, let’s just give them a chance. First of all there’s no picture. Ok….. But there’s the testimony of someone who has seen it and works for a reputable publication: iLounge.

Jeremy Horwitz, has been shown what he was a told is the new iPad. What does it looks like? Well, the iPad 2. According to Horwitz, if you had them side-by-side then you’d struggle to tell them apart. The only visual difference was that it’s a tiny bit thicker: 1mm. According the whistleblowers the design changes are more akin to the changes we saw in the iPhone 4 to 4S. Basically none.

The main talking point about the rumour is the screen. Although iLounge didn’t get to see it working (we know) the new iPad has indeed got a Retina display. According to Horwitz and his manufacturing sources they reckon the new tablet will be with us within 2 months under the name iPad 2S or iPad 2HD.

It’s not the first time new tech is shown off behind closed doors, remember the time Reuters saw the iPad 2 at The Daily Launch?

We’d say file this under: just maybe.

Now, for the tech announcements that actually did happen – remember the 4K screen’s that we’ve been talking about over the last week or so. Well, we made a caveat that we’d be interested to know what content they’d show off on these new TV’s as we weren’t aware of any film footage in this mind-bogglingly high resolution.

Well, that’s not true: JVC has announced a new camcorder, called GY-HMQ10, which offers recording at 3840×2160 at 24 or 50p. Even more exciting is the fairly reasonable £4340 price tag and the promised UK release of March. This is a professional offering and is sure to future proof yourself for an expected move to 4K content in the next 18-24 months.

For the technical of you, the new camera is powered by HVC’s Falconbrid large-scale integration (LSI) chip, which has a half-inch CMOS imager with an impressive 8.3 million active pixels.

Product manager, Gustav Emrich. “We’re witnessing the birth of what is destined to become a broad market for full 4K end-to-end production. The GY-HMQ10 is a breakthrough product that opens up 4K imaging to users who previously wouldn’t have considered it.”

JVC explains that the big problem with 4K for video is processing power, but that this is now shifting.

“There just hasn’t been the ability to capture, process, display and record full 4K images in real time until now,” adds JVC.

Lenovo has been incredibly busy at this year’s CES with plenty of smart TV’s and laptops, but, the device that caught our eye is their up-and-coming IdeaPad Yoga. Admittedly it’s not the greatest name, but, just look at it.

It’s a Windows 8 laptop than can also double up as a tablet in a similar vein as Asus’ Transformer, which saw impressive reviews and sales last year.

The current trend of latops sharing design cues from tablets is something we’ll see a lot of in 2012. So expect everything to get thinner and lighter. Essentially Yoga is an Ultrabook laptop that’s as gorgeous as a MacBook Air, but also doubles as a impressive tablet.

The hybrid laptop comes with a 13.3-inch screen and has 10-finger touch capabilities. Although, we fear that it might just be to heavy to use as an every-day tablet as it weighs twice as much as an iPad 2.

Lenovo expects the IdeaPad Yoga to ship when Windows 8 is available commercially, which should be in the third or fourth quarter of this year. The company expects the device to run for less than $1,200.

Razer’s newly announced prototype tablet is getting a lot of coverage and when you first set your eye’s on it you can see why.

Gaming on tablets can be cumbersome and fiddly. Anyone who has played GTA3 on iPad or Android will testify to this. At the moment Apple isn’t making any plans to make a games controller for their tablet, so it’s up to companies like Razer to show them where there are going wrong.

Hydra controllers connected up to a PC gaming tablet certainly appeals to us – especially with some impressive suggested specs. They’ve included an impressive workhorse in the form of a Intel Core i7 processor, and a 1280×800 display. Now you’d look quite the wholly if you popped this out on your daily commute to work. But gaming on tablets is big business, Angry Birds is proof of this, but so far we’re yet to see a hardcore game really find a home on tablets – could this be the answer?

There are also magnetometer and accelerometers thrown in to take advantage of its mobility.

“Adapted from a full featured PC gamepad, Project Fiona’s integrated dual controllers coupled with its advanced multi-touch screen are designed to make complex game navigation ergonomic and intuitive without compromising on the portability of the tablet,” states Razer.

“You’ll be able to carry out headshots and command troops in-game with ease. This first-of-its-kind PC gaming tablet with integrated dual controllers is definitely not for playing casual games about unhappy birds or zombie-killing flora.”

It’s only a prototype, but it’s good see companies trying to marry tablets and gaming in a perfect match for each other without have to dumb down today’s complex triple-A titles.

More CES news tomorrow.

CES 2012 Round-up: iPad 3, 4K JVC Camcorder, Razer Tablet & Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

We’re back with our second installment of our top tech predictions for CES 2012. In this part we will be looking at computing, tablets and mobiles. We’ll cover everything from what Microsoft has planned for Windows 8, Intel-powered Ultrabooks and everything you should expect when it comes to mobile phones and tablets.

Home Computing 

Xbox 720 aside Microsoft is expected to the have more details on its new Windows 8 operating system at CES. Steve Ballmer is expected to give an opening keynote speech where he is expected to show off the tablet-friendly OS.

So far the tech world has only seen a developer preview of the new OS, with a beta expected to the ready for February – so it’s expected that Ballmer & Co will take to the stage for the last time and announce the exact date of the beta. So keep your eye’s peeled.

Other computer related news expected from Microsoft is their decision to start supporting ARM processors with Windows 8. We’re not whether they will support both desktops and tablet architecture with Arm. But, it could be that we’ll see some Windows tablets in the future with ARM processors and more traditional desktops and laptops sticking to tried and tested Intel power plants.

Intel

Intel Chief Paul Otellini is set to deliver one of the keynotes at CES, and is expected to show off some new Ivy Bridge hardware, which should be in the form of Ultrabooks, although Ivy Bridge, the follow-up to Sandy bridge, isn’t expected until later 2012.

Graphics cards-wise AMD is likely to be on hand at CES to show off their new Southern Island, 28nm graphics card, which are expect to hit retail stores by Q1 2012. Nvidia is also expected to show off their 28nm cards too, but it’s not know whether the Kepler architecture cards will be shown on the show floor or behind closed doors.

One of the main draws for many at CES will be: Ultrabooks. This is because Intel is throwing a lot of money at the manufacturers to make a line of laptops that will reinvigorate the ailing laptop market. Over the last 3 years we’ve seen an explosion of Netbooks, then Tablets and Intel now hopes the consumers will jump on board their ultra-thin Intel-powered laptops. They are essentially MacBook Air’s, but, running Windows. From what we’ve seen of Ultrabook they do make Windows laptops cool, but with a hefty price tag and increased competition from tablets they might be too expensive for hard-up consumers to stomach.

Mobile Technology

The Mobile industry tends to make its announcements at the MWC in Barcelona, but with such a competitive marketplace many companies are likely to steal a march and get some of their announcements out before the rest of the competition. Tablets will also be big business at CES, with many manufacturers making the switch from dual-core Tegra chipsets to the new Tegra quad-core chipsets.

HTC

HTC has yet to give a UK release for their Jetstream tablet – so we’re not expecting that tablet but something entirely new – known as the HTC Quattro. It’s the usual 10-inch tablet that we’ve seen so many times over the last 12 months. For us, it’s not the hardware that is keeping Google from competing with Apple, but the fragmentation of the Android OS – especially the app marketplace – which is way off the quality and reliability of Apple’s own app store.

HTC will no doubt have several mobiles on the show floor at CES, but, they tend to make their products for different markets – so many of the new handset may well be US-only for the time being. But you should expect details on the HTC Edge, HTC Ville and possibly some quad-core phones too.

Acer

Acer is expected  to show off a new tablet, which will hopefully be a bit more exciting than the rather drab Iconica A500. This time around they’re hoping that the A700 might grab some positive headlines – especially as it’s thought to come with a 1080p resolution screen.

Samsung

Samsung is expected to show off the follow-up to the Galaxy S2, it’s been the at the centre of plenty rumour-mongering – so it’s highly likely that they could unveil it at CES and once again grab a decent head start over Apple and the iPhone. It’s expected to be dramatically different from the previous version as Samsung wants to move it away from the iPhone and avoid any further legal action.

LG 

LG is expected to show off a new Android 4.0 mobile called the Optimus U1, which could be worth keep an eye out for, especially if they managed to get it out to retailers with Ice Cream Sandwich in toe before the competition.

Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson might use CES to the finally officially unveil the Xperia Arc HD, which has been the subject of many leaks recently. It’s expected to come with a 4.3-inch LCD display, with an impressive 1280×720 resolution, a matte finish and for the first time the Arc will have the power to match its looks. The current Arc only has a single core, which by todays standards is like a pocket calculator.

Sony will want to make a splash at CES, they are in the process of buying the mobile company outright, so a good showing at the show would allay any fears from nervous shareholders and investors.

Nokia

Nokia is expected to unveil its next Windows Phone at a Window Phone-themed press conference, there’s no word on whether the reported Lumia 900 will make it to the UK, but the phone is expected to come with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen, better battery life and their fantastic Carl Zeiss 8 megapixel camera.

We’ll be reporting all the latest news from CES – so stay tuned from the 9-13 of January.

CES 2012: Gaj-it’s Top Tech Predictions Part 2 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Acer and Lenovo are planning to use Windows 8 for their upcoming tablets. These top notch companies will also use Intel’s Clover Trail platform. However, since Windows 8 is still in the development mode, you will have to wait for some time before you get to lay your hands on these devices.

Intel is also setting its eyes on mobile phone and tablet processor market. The company is looking to unveil its Medfield processor in the first half of this year. The processor is specifically designed for tablets and smartphones. However, Acer and Lenovo said to be waiting for Clover Trail processors, which are likely to hit the market in the second half of the year. Given these constraints, it looks like Acer and Lenovo would be able to release their Wintel tablets in late 2012 only.

Acer Plans to Launch Windows Tablet in 2012: Lenovo Joins In is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Digitimes has reported that Intel is collaborating with PC makers for spreading the use of Thunderbolt technology. It is likely that by April 2012, several top-notch PC makers would be releasing their products with Thunderbolt port.

If true, then this new practice would mark a major departure from current PC industry market practice, which uses USB standard. The PC industry is currently promoting USB 3.0 standard. But it looks like PC industry is now following Apple’s lead and instead of USB 3.0, it is opting for Thunderbolt for faster transfer of data.

There are a few roadblocks. The peripheral products used for Thunderbolt technology have higher costs and thus PC makers have so far avoided adopting the technology. Now, it is expected that prices for these peripherals will fall during next year, leading to widespread use of Thunderbolt.

The report also suggests that Asus and Sony are expected to be the first PC makers to incorporate the technology. Major companies like ASRock and Gigabyte are likely to produce Thunderbolt compliant motherboards by April, 2012, leading the path for Thunderbolt equipped PCs later in the same year.

PCs May Get Thunderbolt Treatment in 2012 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com