The Asus Transformer Pad TF300 will become the first non-Nexus device to be upgraded to Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Asus has announced that the update is rolling out over-the-air to users in the United States today, while those in other regions should start receiving it by the end of the month.
Speaking in front of an audience at TED today, Google co-founder Sergey Brin made a bizarre pitch for buying his company’s wearable Google Glass headset, essentially by arguing that product utilizing one of his company’s biggest projects — Android — were effeminate and made for wussies.
BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS — Have you ever wanted to make a phone call on your tablet? No, me neither, but clearly someone at Asus has. Here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Taiwanese company is showing off its new FonePad, a 7-inch tablet that makes phone calls just like a smartphone.
The device costs just $249, and it has mid-range specifications that will allow it to compete with devices like the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. But is its special feature worth the extra cash?
It has been reported that Google is working on its own retail stores, but recent comments from the head of Android fly in the face of such a claim. Google’s Andy Rubin talked about the possibility of a Google Store at Mobile World Congress today in Barcelona.
According to Rubin, Google “has no plans” to do any kind of retail store in the near future. That doesn’t mean things won’t change, but Google has thrown cold water on the store rumor for now.
BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS — HP famously bowed out of the tablet game when it gave up on the TouchPad and its webOS operating system, but here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company has jumped right back into it. Its new tablet, the Slate 7, is an entry-level device that’s powered by Android, and it costs just $169. We went hands-on to find out whether it’s worth it.
