Android tablets will rule by 2015: report - msnbc.com

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Suzanne Choney via Gadgetbox

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News and reviews about the hardware you want and the software you need.

The fever's building for Friday, and it seems hard to imagine it any other way, even as newer iPads are introduced by Apple. But one research firm, IDC, says that by 2015, "the sheer number of vendors shipping low-priced, Android-based tablets means that Google's OS will overtake Apple's in terms of worldwide market share by 2015." 

Much as Android phones came to be side-by-side with Apple's iPhone in the consumer market after a few years,  Android tablets could do much the same, albeit in three to four years.

In the last quarter of 2011, worldwide, there were 28.2 million tablets shipped, an increase of 155 percent from the last quarter of 2010, according to IDC's ccording to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker.

"The market experienced stronger-than-expected growth across many regions and at many price points, leading to a full-year 2011 total of 68.7 million units," IDC said. "Based upon the markets' strong 2011 finish, and the clear demand expected in 2012, IDC has increased its 2012 forecast to 106.1 million units, up from its previous forecast of 87.7 million units."

And, "despite an impressive debut by Amazon, which shipped 4.7 million Kindle Fires into the market, Apple continued to see strong growth in the quarter, shipping 15.4 million units in 4Q11, up from 11.1 million units in 3Q11. That represents a 54.7 percent worldwide market share (down from 61.5 percent in 3Q11)."

While the Android-based Kindle Fires put Amazon in the No. 2 spot, with 16.8 percent of the worldwide market, third-place went to Android-using Samsung, which grew from 5.5 percent in the third quarter of last year to 5.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

"Amazon's widely-reported entry into the media tablet market with a $199, 7-inch product seemed to raise consumers' awareness of the category worldwide despite the fact that the Fire shipped almost exclusively in the U.S. in the fourth quarter," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Mobile Connected Devices, in an IDC press release.

Tablets of all shapes and sizes sold well, he said, from Apple's "premium-priced iPads (which start at $499) .... to Pandigital's line of Android-based, entry-level tablets (which start at $120). "

IDC said it expects Android to continue to "grow its share of the market at the expense of iOS," Apple's mobile operating system.

"As the sole vendor shipping iOS products, Apple will remain dominant in terms of worldwide vendor unit shipments," Mainelli said. "However, the sheer number of vendors shipping low-priced, Android-based tablets means that Google's OS will overtake Apple's in terms of worldwide market share by 2015. We expect iOS to remain the revenue market share leader through the end of our 2016 forecast period and beyond."

For now, Apple is seeing record pre-orders for the new iPad, said another firm, Canaccord Genuity analysts, with wait times for shipping are estimated at two to three weeks. 

Based on the huge interest, Canaccord Genuity raised its iPad sales estimate for 2012 to 65.6 million from 55.9 million, and to 90.6 million from 79.7 million for 2013.

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Hands On With the $20 Indian Android Tablet - PC Magazine

The cheapest Android tablet I've ever seen costs $20, with a $2 per month unlimited data plan, and I'm holding it right now. It might not just change the tablet market. It might change the world.

The Ubislate 7ci, also known as the Aakash2, is the latest gadget from Datawind, a Canadian company that's spent seven years trying to find the ideal market for some really neat data-optimization technology. On devices like the PocketSurfer and PocketSurfer 2, Datawind showed that it can display desktop Web pages quickly with low-cost devices on super-low-bandwidth networks like 2G GPRS. But it never gained major market traction in the Western world, especially as 3G and 4G networks have spread.

India may be the place that really needs Datawind's expertise. Datawind's enthusiastic founder, Suneet Singh Tuli, just inked a deal with the Indian government to subsidize his $40.41 tablet by half for up to 220 million Indian students. That means Indian teachers and kids will get a Web-capable device for $20 up front.

The Indian government is psyched about e-learning in part because of the very uneven quality of Indian education. Especially in rural areas, Indian teachers often aren't well-trained, and access to ebooks and video learning over the Internet could dramatically improve the quality of education and help stamp out illiteracy.

The $20 tablet requires Wi-Fi, though, so it'll start out on university and high school campuses that already have Wi-Fi, Tuli said. Those kinds of places also have power to charge the tablets' sealed-in batteries.

The cellular version of the tablet is even more intriguing to me. Tuli made a deal with an Indian carrier, Aircel, for an unlimited-data GPRS plan at R98 ($2) per month. That experience would be pretty awful except for Datawind's special Ubisoft browser, which as I've seen before, can actually show decent Web pages with load times of about five seconds on GPRS. (That's about a tenth of the time it would take with a normal browser.) Our PocketSurfer 2 review has some hands-on details of the technology and explains how it works.

Technology breaks through when it costs less than 20 percent of average monthly income, Tuli said. The cellular version of the Ubislate costs $6 more, but using Tuli's math, this tablet is still affordable to people who make around $3,000 a year. It even works as a phone.

Tuli also said a completely free data plan could be in the cards. Once you're down to $2 per month, it's possible to subsidize that cost with advertising and sponsorship deals, he said. Datawind already pulled off that trick in the U.K., where it bundles some free Internet access with its Ubisurfer and Pocketsurfer devices.

Does It Feel Good In The Hand? 
So, what do you get for $40? Not much, but c'mon.

This isn't an off-the-shelf Chinese Android tablet, although it's indistinguishable from some of the models you'd find in a shopping mall in Shenzhen. According to Tuli, the processor is Chinese, the touch screen is made in India and the tablet is finally assembled and programmed in India.

The Ubislate 7ci is a dull slate gray, about the size of the original Amazon Kindle Fire . It has a plastic screen and a gray plastic back. Turn it on, and the low-quality 800-by-480 LCD lights up. This thing doesn't have a viewing angle as much as a viewing point, and the touch screen takes some noticeable pressure to activate.

There's a VGA camera right above the screen on the front, and a microSD card slot (labeled "TF slot" for TransFlash, an old name for MicroSD) adorns the back. The tablet has about 2.6GB of free internal memory divided into two partitions. Wi-Fi 2.4Ghz networking is on board, but no Bluetooth; the cellular model will have GPS.

The Ubislate runs stock Android 4.0.4 with the basic apps, adding Google Play, Gmail, and a proprietary media player. The Ubisoft browser didn't come on my unit, but it'll be on the models sold in India. Singh said to consider this a fully open-source tablet, hackable by any Indian who wants to develop software for it.

I ran our benchmarks on the tablet, and the good news is, the benchmarks run. The bad news is that as expected, they run slowly. The Ubislate 7ci has a 1Ghz AllWinner Cortex-A8 processor, so functions like an entry-level smartphone. Scrolling can be laggy and sometimes screen transitions are slow. The browser was also really slow, even over Wi-Fi. Most notably, though, all the usual apps run: the Web browser, email, games. In other words, if it's this or no Internet, this will get you on the Internet.

Why This Might Make a Difference
Yes, other companies are making very cheap tablets. Our comment boards get periodically spammed by partisans of a Chinese firm called Ainol, whose Novo 7 Basic we looked at earlier this year. Datawind's advantage is even lower prices and much better marketing. Companies like Ainol often don't have anyone on staff who speak fluent English, and their executive teams rarely leave China. Their non-Chinese websites are rife with grammatical and spelling errors. They're good at marketing within their large home country, but awful outside it.

Datawind, on the other hand, has Tuli, a fast-talking, wide-smiling Sikh who, with his traditional turban and beard, comes off as the charismatic guru of cheap tablets. I met him outside a ceremony supporting his tablet at the United Nations. He's a deal-maker, a glad-hander, and he spreads enthusiasm.

Will the $40 tablet come to the U.S.? Maybe, but Tuli isn't making it a priority. I agree that he shouldn't. We're doing just fine with our $199 tablets, and setting up tech support and repair channels for U.S. devices is expensive.

But in my mind, India is more than a good enough market for this inexpensive tech. The world's biggest democracy has shown great promise, but it's been held back by education and infrastructure problems. If Tuli can help unlock the potential of Indian kids, it'll be good for the whole world.

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Hot Gift Is a Tablet, but Which to Buy? - New York Times

The other day, I joined NPR for a segment about high-tech holiday gifts. I was ready for the calls from listeners. I’d brushed up on cameras, phones, laptops, music players and game consoles. I was prepared to talk about limiting screen time, digital addiction, cyberbullying. I knew where to get the best deals.

But all six callers had the same question: “What tablet should I get?”

There were variations, of course. “â€" for my kid?” “â€" for my elderly father?” “â€" just for reading?” “â€" for not much money?” But in general, it was clear: the gadget most likely to be found under the tree this year is thin, battery-powered and flat.

No wonder people are confused. The marketplace has gone tablet-crazy. There’s practically a different model for every man, woman and child.

There’s the venerable iPad, of course. And now the iPad Mini. There are new tablets from Google, also in small and large. There are Samsung’s Note tablets in a variety of sizes, with styluses. There are $200 touch-screen color e-book/video players. There’s a new crop of black-and-white e-book readers. There are stunningly cheap plastic models you’ve never heard of. There are tablets for children (and I don’t mean baby aspirin).

So how are you, the confused consumer, supposed to keep tabs on all these tablets? By taking this handy tour through the jungle of tablets 2012. Keep hands and feet inside the tram at all times.

DIRT-CHEAP KNOCKOFFS You can find no-name tablets for $100 or even less. You can also find mystery-brand Chinese tablets in toy stores, marketed to children.

Don’t buy them. They don’t have the apps, the features, the polish or the pleasure of the nicer ones. The junk drawer is already calling their names.

E-BOOK READERS The smallest, lightest, least expensive, easiest to read tablets are the black-and-white e-book readers. If the goal is simply reading â€" and not, say, watching movies or playing games â€" these babies are pure joy.

Don’t bother with the lesser brands; if you’re going to get locked into one company’s proprietary, copy-protected book format, you’ll reduce your chances of library obsolescence if you stick with Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Each company offers a whole bunch of models. But on the latest models, the page background lights up softly, so that you can read in the dark without a flashlight. (These black-and-white models also look fantastic in direct sun â€" now you get the best of both lighting conditions.)

The one you want is the Kindle PaperWhite ($120), whose illumination is more even and pleasant than the equivalent Nook’s.

Of course, plain, no-touch, no-light Kindles, with ads on the screen saver, start as low as $70. But the light and the touch-screen are really worth having.

COLOR E-READERS/PLAYERS Amazon and B.& N. each sell a seven-inch tablet that, functionally, lands somewhere between an e-book reader and an iPad. They have beautiful, high-definition touch-screens. They play music, TV shows, movies and e-books. They can surf the Web. They even run a few handpicked Android apps like Netflix and Angry Birds.

They’re nowhere near as capable as full-blown, computerlike tablets of the iPad/Nexus ilk, mainly because there are so few apps, accessories and add-ons. But they cost $200; you’re paying only a fraction of the price.

The big two here are, once again, Amazon and B.& N. If you’re not already locked in to one of those companies’ books and videos because you owned a previous model, the Nook HD is the one to get. It’s much smaller and lighter than the Kindle Fire HD. It has a much sharper screen. And the $200 price includes a wall charger (the Fire doesn’t) and no ads (the Fire does). Or get the classy Google Nexus 7, also $200. Although its book/music/movie catalog is far smaller, its Android app catalog is far larger (but see “iPad versus Android,” below).

BIG COLOR READERS/PLAYERS This year, both Amazon and B.& N. have introduced jumbo-screen (9-inch) versions of their HD tablets. Here again, B.& N. offers a better value than its 9-inch Kindle Fire HD rival. For $270, the Nook HD+ offers a sharper screen, lighter weight, no ads, a memory-card slot and a wall charger.

Amazon’s 9-incher is no slouch, either, although it costs $30 more (or $50 more to get rid of the ads). It has twice the storage but no card slot, and it has a front-facing camera for Skype video; Nook HD models have no cameras.

IPAD VERSUS ANDROID Google is coming after Apple hard. The company now sells two tablets, the Nexus 7 (7-inch screen) and the fast, loaded Nexus 10 (10-inch screen), manufactured under Google’s supervision by Asus and Samsung.

The 10-inch model has a gorgeous screen. Technically, it packs in even more dots per inch than the iPad’s Retina display, although you can’t really see a difference.

Google’s tablets also have more hardware features than the iPads, like a video-output jack and stereo speakers â€" and they cost less. The Nexus 10 costs $400, which is $100 less than the equivalent iPad (16 gigabytes of storage).

Samsung is also flinging Android tablets into the ring. Its Galaxy Note tablets come with a stylus and a handful of stylus-oriented apps that let you draw or take notes, for example.

But Android tablets’ plastic backs feel cheaper than the iPad’s metal. Their cameras aren’t as good as the iPad’s. Their batteries generally don’t last as long.

Above all, the Android-tablet app catalog is still very disappointing. The apps that exist are often hastily rejiggered versions of Android phone apps, rather than apps thoughtfully designed for the bigger screen. For example, the Android apps for Twitter, Yelp, Pandora, Vimeo, eBay, Spotify, Rdio, Dropbox, LinkedIn, and TripAdvisor are scaled-up Android phone apps â€" basically, they’re just lists. On the iPad, the screen is filled with useful visual information about whatever is selected.

No matter how much progress Android tablets make in hardware and price, those 275,000 tablet-designed apps can’t help making the iPad more attractive. (Google won’t say how many apps there are for Android tablets, and there’s no tablet area of the Android app store.)

IPAD VERSUS IPAD MINI The iPad Mini runs all the same apps as the big iPad, unmodified. It shows the same content on the screen, just smaller.

The big iPad’s screen is much sharper. I’m betting the Retina resolution won’t come to the Mini until next year’s model. But otherwise, the Mini makes so much sense. You can slip it into a purse or overcoat pocket. You can hold it for far longer without finger fatigue (it’s very light and thin). And you can pay $330 instead of $500.

You know the old photographer’s adage, “The best camera is the one you have with you?” You could say the same thing about your tablet.

Now, listen: If you don’t find one of the tablets recommended here under your own tree, don’t cry in your nog. These days, the competition is fierce and the quality is high. There aren’t any certified turkeys among the name-brand tablets.

But if you do unwrap the Kindle PaperWhite, the Nook HD or the iPad Mini â€" or wrap one up for someone else â€" you’ll get that extra glow of satisfaction. You’ll know that, at least in this moment of marketing time, you or your loved one wound up with the best that money can buy, in the most desired gift category in the land.

Next year, the hot gift might be a camera, phone, laptop, music player or game console. But this year, the marketplace has spoken: at least in technology, the world is flat.

E-mail: pogue@nytimes.com

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Safely Division of Location Labs Launches Android Phone Controls for Families - msnbc.com

EMERYVILLE, CA â€" Safely, a division of Location Labs, today announced the launch of Safely Phone Controls on Android, the newest product in its suite of mobile family security software. The digital parenting service is first being distributed in partnership with Sprint (NYSE: S) and is now available on Google Play under the name "Sprint Mobile Controls."

According to Safely user data, 63% of teens text in class and 65% send texts late at night. Safely Phone Controls gives parents unprecedented, personalized awareness of how kids use their mobile devices -- and the ability to regulate that use. For instance, parents can block texting or games during school or after bedtime, or receive alerts when an unknown person contacts their child. To date, more than 80% of subscribers have set up recurring alerts or blocks, and Safely Phone Controls has sent parents over 3.5 million notifications. (See infographic for more Phone Controls factoids.)

"Three out of four teenagers have a cell phone, and with over 20 free smartphones now offered by US carriers, more teens are using these powerful devices," said Tasso Roumeliotis, CEO of Location Labs. "Parents give kids phones to keep them safe and connected, but worry that constant access will interfere with school or sleep. Safely Phone Controls gives parents an easy way to manage these concerns."

Safely Phone Controls allows parents to:

• Regulate use by automatically disabling certain features during pre-set times, like school hours or late at night
• Stay informed by getting alerts when kids are contacted by a stranger or add a contact, and getting regular summaries of how, when and with whom kids are using their phones
• Enhance family time by instantly locking phones from the Android app or computer

Safely Phone Controls on Sprint is built on Location Labs' mobile platform, which uses patent-pending technology pre-installed on millions of Sprint phones. This makes sign-up and usage seamless for parents, as there is no software to download to a kid's phone and no way for kids to disable the service.

Sprint Mobile Controls represents the first partner launch of Safely Phone Controls and is now available for $4.99 per month, per phone. Users can register for a 30-day free trial by visiting www.sprint.com/mobilecontrols or downloading the Android app on Google Play at www.bit.ly/SMCandroid.

Supporting Resources

About Safely and Location Labs
Established in 2011, Safely is a division of Location Labs and provides services that enhance the personal safety and security of millions of families. Nearly a dozen Tier 1 wireless carrier services are powered by Safely, helping family members to protect and keep tabs on each other through mobile alerts and online activity reports.

Safely digital parenting technologies include: Family Locator, a mobile location service available as AT&T FamilyMap, Sprint Family Locator and T-Mobile FamilyWhere; Drive Safe, the only carrier-grade, patent-pending safe-driving service on the market, available as Sprint DriveFirst and T-Mobile DriveSmart Plus; Phone Controls, the most advanced consumer mobile device management service, available as Sprint Mobile Controls; and Safely Social Monitor, an online service that helps parents stay informed about kids' social network activities.

Location Labs has raised $26MM in venture financing from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, BlueRun Ventures (formerly Nokia Venture Partners), QUALCOMM Ventures, Intel Capital, and Mitsui Ventures and was named to Inc.'s 500/5000 list of America's Fastest Growing Private Companies in both 2010 and 2011. The company is headquartered in Emeryville, California and operates globally in the US, Europe, and India. For more information: http://www.Safely.com and http://www.LocationLabs.com.

© Marketwire 2012

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ASUS Transformer Prime revisited: Still best Android tablet - ZDNet (blog)

I am a sucker for tablets, that I confess. At any time I own at least three or four of all different flavors, and it is not unusual to see me with one in my hands. I probably spend at least three hours every single day using a tablet, often more than that.

Out of all the tablets I own, the Transformer Prime is still one of the best. It is the best one running Android I have tried so far.

The recent announcement of the upcoming Windows RT version of the Transformer is good reason to revisit the Transformer Prime running Android. While the Windows version will be equally useful at home and the workplace, the Android version is so good it already gives the Windows RT version a run for the money. This is evident even months before Windows 8/RT will appear in the real world.

What impressed me when I first got the Transformer Prime is still true today. The tablet is as thin and light as anything around, making it comfortable to use in either portrait or landscape. Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, has evolved to be a stable platform for the genre.

While the Google Play store is not overflowing with tablet apps, it is gradually getting some very good ones that first appeared on the iPad. Specialty apps like Zite and Flipboard are now available on Android, and even though not optimized yet for tablets work just fine on the Transformer. Most importantly for me, Google Chrome beta for Android has been updated regularly and is now easily the best mobile browser on any platform.

What sets the Transformer apart from the crowd is the wonderful laptop dock. While not all tablet users want or need a keyboard, it is important to me for getting serious work done. The Transformer when docked is no different than a real laptop, although one that happens to run Android. It is a no compromise solution for those wanting the best of both worlds, that of the tablet and the cheap laptop.

See the reviews in the iPad keyboard case series:

Yes, there are a lot of keyboards available for the iPad, I own a few of those too. While those work just fine, the Transformer dock brings one thing to the tablet that those iPad keyboards are missing. That is a second battery in the Transformer dock that augments the already good tablet battery â€" up to 20 hours. That is simply game-changing for those of us who use these things so heavily. You could literally take the Transformer and dock on a short business trip and leave the charger at home if you wanted to push the envelope.

With Google i/O on the horizon it is sure that Android news will be flowing hot and heavy. That should include word on the next version of Android, aka Jellybean, and who knows what else? No doubt there will be exciting news about new tablets, and how Android should go up against the upcoming Windows 8 onslaught.

While it is exciting to think of all of these Windows RT/8 tablets that are going to show up later this year, the Transformer Prime on Android shows how difficult a row Microsoft has to hoe with Windows. The competition has been evolving for a few years now, and playing catch-up is not the easiest thing to do.

Related posts:

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Is Android too hard for the average user to figure out? - ZDNet

Yesterday, Asymco analyst Horace Dediu posted some charts based on data gathered by IBM’s Digital Analytics Benchmark for U.S. Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales.

However, there's one chart that stands out above the rest, and it's this one that shows the data broken down into individual platforms.

The part I am interested in specifically is the breakdown between Android and iOS devices, and it raises an interesting question.

It's clear that Android devices outsell iOS by a significant factor. According to IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, Google's mobile operating system accounts for 75 percent of the international smartphone market share.

In just three years, Android has crushed the smartphone competition.

If Android is dominant with respect to market share, why did Apple's iOS-powered devices wipe the floor with Android when it came to Thanksgiving and Black Friday online shopping?

It might be easy to try to pin this discrepancy down on the users themselves, perhaps by suggesting that iOS users are more flush and have more cash to spare, or that they are more conditioned to spend money on their smartphone or tablet because there are fewer free apps in the Apple App Store than in the Google Play store.

To be honest, I don't believe that the difference is down to the customer, and even Dediu dismisses this suggestion.

"I'm not satisfied with the explanation that Android users are demographically different," writes Dediu, "because the Android user pool is now so vast and because the most popular devices are not exactly cheap."

So if it's not the users, what is it? Dediu's not sure, but that doesn't stop him pointing fingers at where he thinks the problem lies.

"There is something else at play. It might be explained by design considerations or by user experience flaws or integration but something is different."

I think Dediu onto something here, but I think he's over-thinking the problem. I think it comes down to one rather simple but key difference between the two platforms.

iOS is easier to use than Android. Or, flipping that around, Android is too hard for the average user to figure out.

Let's face it, from the outside there's little to separate one black rectangle from another other than screen size. What separates them from each other is not how they look, but how they work, and if more people are buying Android devices than iOS devices, but more iOS users are using them to do real stuff like shopping, that's down to the software -- both the operating system itself, and maybe the apps.

But this data gives us an even deeper insight into the differences between Android and iOS usage. Online shopping is a task primarily carried out through the browser, and once you get as far as firing up the relevant browser on an Android or iOS device, the experience is, on the whole, not that dissimilar.

This would tend to suggest that the core difference between iOS and Android is that owners are more inclined to look at an iOS device -- whether it be an iPhone or an iPad -- as a tool to get things done. Android users aren't getting as far as clicking on the browser, because if they did, the experience from that point onwards is not that different to the iOS experience.

This would suggest that Google is facing a problem. People are buying Android-powered smartphones and tablets, but there are barriers or obstacles that gets in the way of engagement that aren't present in Apple's iOS platform.

Part of this is undoubtedly down to user education. Apple has spent a lot of time and money creating commercials that show its products being used to solve real-world problems. As short and as simple as these ads may be, they give owners -- and potential owners -- an idea of what the iPhone or iPad can do. That might seem extremely basic, but it gets people to explore the potential of their iDevice.

Compare this to ads I've seen for Android hardware, which seem to focus on the device itself rather that what it can do for the owner.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Image source: Asymco.

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E FUN debuts $129 Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP with Google Play access - AndroidGuys

For all the appeal that comes with a $100-$150 Android tablet, experienced users are often quick to point out the omissions and holes. One particular detail that often comes up is the lack of Google Play and the growing library of apps. E FUN is no stranger to this as they have announced a number of devices over time, all of which are inexpensive options that don’t have Google Play. That is not the case with the new 7-inch model, the Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP.

E FUN today announced a new $129.99 tablet for December which features specs that are surprisingly decent for the money. Details include a 7-inch 800×480 display, a 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, HDMI-output, USB host, microSD expansion, and front-facing camera. Powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP connects via Wi-Fi but also allows for 3G connectivity  via dongle.

Look for the 7-inch tablet to arrive some time in December, hopefully before Christmas.

E FUN Announces 7-Inch Nextbook Premium Android Tablet with Google Play for the Holidays

Tablet Features Google Playâ„¢, Android Ice Cream Sandwich and Other Enhanced Features

WEST COVINA, CA â€" November 27, 2012 â€" E FUN, a consumer electronics designer and manufacturer of fun, easy-to-use lifestyle products, announced today its newest Nextbook Android tablet featuring full access to Google Playâ„¢, the Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP. The 7” tablet includes improved features such as a 1GHz processor, 1GB DDR3 RAM, HDMI-out port, USB host port with 3G Dongle support, microSD slot and access to a full suite of Google apps. The Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP will be available in early December for the holiday season.

“We are thrilled to introduce the first Nextbook with Google Play™, the Premium 7SE-GP,” remarked Jason Liszewski, managing director and vice president of sales for E FUN. “This tablet combines high performance hardware, user-friendly software and best-of-class content without compromising affordability. The Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP is the perfect holiday gift for yourself or a loved one.”

Optimized for Google Playâ„¢, the Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP gives users numerous benefits including:

• Access to more than 600,000 apps and games, millions of songs and books, and thousands of movies in the Google Play store.
• Capability to read, listen and watch content not just on the Nextbook but on any device including a desktop, laptop or mobile phone with Google Play’s cloud feature.
• Access to Android apps from Google including Gmailâ„¢, Google Talkâ„¢, Google+â„¢, Google Mapsâ„¢, YouTubeâ„¢ and much more.
• 5GB of free cloud storage with Google Driveâ„¢.

The Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP features a 7” five-finger multi-touch capacitive color screen and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with a fast Amlogic A9 1GHz processor and 1GB DDR3 RAM. Additionally, it features a front-facing camera and a high-definition video player that can send a 1080p HD video to an HDTV or computer via the HDMI-out port.

Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP users can now watch YouTube videos, listen to Internet music, receive and send e-mails, or simply browse the Internet from anywhere with both the built-in Wi-Fi connectivity or using a 3G dongle via the USB port with 3G dongle support.

To keep all of a user’s files safely stored, the Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP includes 4GB of built-in flash memory, expandable both via the microSD slot (supporting SDHC cards up to 32GB) or via a USB flash drive in its full-sized USB host port. It has an 800×480 screen with 16:9 ratio and a G-sensor auto-rotate orientation feature for landscape or portrait viewing, as well as over-the-air (OTA) firmware update capabilities.

The Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP is preloaded with a wide selection of applications including Net Nanny parental controls and CloudLink’s “Productivity Toolbox,” which includes numerous free applications such as 5GB of free cloud storage, free mobile security, wireless printing, and credit card processing.

The new Nextbook Premium 7SE-GP will be available starting in December 2012 for $129.99 (MSRP).

About E FUN
As its name implies, E FUN is a designer and marketer of fun, lifestyle e-products that are easily accessible. While appreciated by techies, E FUN products are primarily designed for consumers who desire the latest technological products, but are more concerned with what they do, not how they do it.  E FUN’s ongoing product innovation focuses on making electronics and computing more fun! Initial products offerings from E FUN include the APEN digital pen and Nextbook Android tablets. E FUN is headquartered in West Covina, California.

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