So the good news is that I was finally able to get my hands on an ASUS Transformer to review. It’s a nice unit that has a lot of potential. The bad news is that I’m going to have to send it back because the screen suffers from light bleed issues and also has a little bit of touchscreen responsiveness problems to boot.

I noticed the light bleeding through right when I first turned the ASUS Transformer on. Light bleeding is characterized by patches of light showing through the screen where it is supposed to be totally dark. It is very noticeable in this instance because the bottom of the screen is always black where the Honeycomb task bar is located.

Filed under: Android, Reviews, Tablets | Tags: asus transformer, honeycomb | No Comments »

I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately from people trying to decide which Nook Color alternate firmware to go with, CM7 or Honeycomb.

CM7 is based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Honeycomb is Android 3.0, the first version of Android designed for tablets instead of smartphones. Both have their pluses and minus, but one clearly outshines the other.

Filed under: Android, Nook, Tablets | Tags: honeycomb, nook color | 18 Comments »

One of the most annoying quirks with Android is that there usually isn’t an easy way to take screenshots, and the same holds true for the Motorola Xoom.

So here are two ways to take screenshots with the Motorola Xoom. The first option is rather simple and does not require any rooting or technical work. This method should work with other Android Honeycomb tablets as well. The second option does require rooting the Xoom and then installing a screenshot app.

Filed under: Android, How To, Tablets | Tags: honeycomb, motorola xoom | 2 Comments »

This past Friday Amazon released an updated version of their Kindle for Android app to add support for tablets. They added some new features as well, and some features specifically for Honeycomb tablets like the Motorola XOOM, Acer Iconia A500, and ASUS Transformer.

I went ahead and put together a video review of the Kindle 3.0 Android app in action on the Motorola XOOM, showing all the new features and new layout for the homescreen, Kindle Store, and periodicals.

Filed under: Amazon Kindle, Android, Reviews, Tablets | Tags: apps, honeycomb, motorola xoom | 5 Comments »

Today ASUS officially announced the launch of the Eee Pad Transformer tablet in North America, and it comes at the surprising low price of $399 for the 16GB model and $499 for the 32GB version.

Compare that to $599 for the 32GB Motorola Xoom and suddenly the Asus Transformer is looking pretty darn good, especially considering the specs are almost identical to the Xoom, except the Transformer has a higher-quality screen.

Filed under: Android, Tablets | Tags: asus, honeycomb, transformer | 7 Comments »

Another Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet hits the US market today called the T-Mobile G-Slate.

As you would guess by the name, the G-Slate sells exclusively from T-Mobile. It will set you back $529 big ones in you are willing to pen a two-year contract. That price includes a $100 mail-in rebate and $120 instant discount.

Filed under: Android, News, Tablets | Tags: g-slate, honeycomb | No Comments »

Yesterday Acer announced the launch of its first Android tablet, the Acer Iconia A500—and it comes at a competitve price-point, $449, given the specs are pretty much identical to the Motorola Xoom, minus 16GB of internal memory.

The Acer Iconia tablet features a 10″ 1280 x 800 resolution touchscreen, WiFi and Bluetooth, HDMI port, 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor, 1GB DDR2 memory, 16GB of internal memory, microSD card slot for cards up to 32GB, and of course it runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb.

Filed under: Android, News, Tablets | Tags: acer, acer iconia a500, honeycomb | 5 Comments »

T-Mobile outed the price for the LG G-Slate yesterday so the release date must be growing nigh. The T-Mobile G-Slate will set you back $529 with a 2 year contract of at least $20 per month, and that’s after a $100 mail in rebate—not cheap.

The G-Slate runs Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and features a 8.9-inch 3D-capable, multitouch HD display. It can record 3D video and full HD video and can connect to T-Mobile’s “4G” wireless network.

Filed under: Android, Tablets | Tags: g-slate, honeycomb | No Comments »

Remember that post from a couple of weeks ago about how someone at XDA forums got Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the latest version of Android designed for tablets, to work on the Nook Color?

It turns out the process is far simpler than I thought. There’s no hacking or rooting required. All you need is a spare 4GB or larger microSD card to get Honeycomb running on the Nook Color.

My new memory card arrived last Friday so I was able to try out the Honeycomb ROM extensively over the weekend. It works surprisingly well and is definitely worth trying out. It’s not even the full version of Honeycomb yet, just the preview version, and it’s still impressive.

I put together this Nook Color Honeycomb video review and how to page. Take a look. There’s tons of screenshots and instructions on how to get Honeycomb on your Nook Color. Even if you don’t have or want a Nook Color, this is a good sneak peek at the operating system that’s coming to some of the major Android tablets this year.

Filed under: How To, Nook, Reviews | Tags: honeycomb, nook color | 5 Comments »

Yesterday Google unveiled Android 3.0, the first version of Android designed with tablets in mind, and the Android Market Web Store, a web-based version of the Android Market that was previously only accessible from select Android phones and tablets.

Other announcements include the addition of a Twitter sharing feature for tweeting your favorite apps, Android apps can now have in-app purchasing, and new currency options have been added so that app developers can set their prices for different currencies.

Filed under: Android, Tablets | Tags: android market, honeycomb | No Comments »