This week the center piece is…you guessed it, the unveiling of the iPad 2. Though it’s always hard to beat out Cupertino for exciting news items, there were a couple of other interesting pieces that came out this week as well.
Here we are a little less than a year after Apple changed the face of the computing world with the iPad release and people clamoring to unload their iPad 1 for the new and improved iPad 2.
Apple's second-generation iPad features a 1 GHZ A5 dual-core processor, front- and rear-facing cameras, 1080p HDMI video support, a 9.7-inch screen, 10 hours of battery life, an accelerometer and a three-axis gyroscope for all those cool motion controlled gaming apps everybody loves.
Steve Jobs himself was present to make the big announcement, and reports indicate that after his appearance, Apple shares rose 2 percent in midday trading. The iPad2 will be available on March 11th, but there will be no preorders.
This Saturday, Nintendo’s newest gaming platform the 3DS was released in Japan to plenty of Fanfare, the portable gaming system boasts a 3D screen that works without glasses and is capable of graphics markedly better than the original Nintendo DS handheld. It also has 2 cameras on the lid that let it take 3D pictures that you can then share with friends.
The unit is slated for release on the March 28 in the United States and will retail for just under $300.
Also in the news this week RIM’s playbook has been pegged with a rumored release date from sources at Boygenius.com. The team there claims the device will be available on shelves as of April 10.
The Playbook is RIMs first foray into the tablet world and is the option for those that want an iPad alternative. It is being touted as the world’s first professional grade with a 1GHZ dual-core processor, 1 GB RAM, Symmetric multi-processing and an application ecosystem modeled after Blackberry’s traditionally corporate focused one.
RIM has said that the PlayBook will come in four flavors, connectivity-wise WiFi and LTE , WiFi + HSPA, straight WiFi, and WiFi + WiMax. But the LTE and HSPA won’t be available starting second half of 2011 instead.
More from the rumor is that the Samsung’s Galaxy II tablet will ship with an Nvidia Tegra graphics card. The addition of a GPU in thee tablets allows for devices capable of running games which were unavailable up until this point. The rumored stats on this refresh to would allow the Galaxy to run current Generation shooters like Modern Warfare.
Last on the weeks agenda is something a bit discouraging for those who have adopted the android platform as the end-all be-all of mobile operating systems. Hackers managed to steal around 21 popular and legitimate Android apps and inject them with malware capable of granting remote access to a device, installing more malicious code and opening backdoors to a smartphone.Google quickly removed the malicious apps from the store, but this incident shows that smarthpones are a growing target for malware.
Chris DiMarco is a Web Editor for TechZone360. He holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University. Prior to joining TMC Chris worked with e-commerce provider Suresource as a contact center representative and development analyst. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Chris DiMarco
