A quick look at Toshiba's 5.1-inch, 7.7-inch and 13.3-inch tablets

Sitting off to the side at Toshiba’s booth at CES 2012 was four glass boxes. One of them contained the newly announced Excite X10 tablet that we went hands-on with yesterday, while the other boxes contained three different, no-named mystery tablets. 

Each one of these enigmas features different sizes. The smallest was a 5.1-inch tablet with an aspect ratio of 21:9. Outside of that and the images that we took, there really isn’t anything else to be said. No name, no specs, or even a little bit of a hint as to what Toshiba has planned. 

The same can be said for the 7.7-inch tablet that was on display. While it had no name and no info regarding specs, the placard showed that it does in fact have an AMOLED screen. Even though it was sitting inside of a locked box, the images displayed on the screen were brilliant. Colors were bright and vibrant and blacks were deep. It looked very thin, but not quite as thin as the Excite X10, although it was hard to tell. 

The last of the three tablets packs a massive 13.3-inch display. We know the least about this one out of the three because not only is there no information available but it wasn’t even turned on to show us the HD display that the placard was touting. But hey, it looked nice, albeit a bit on the large side. 

So there you have it, three no-named mystery tablets courtesy of Toshiba. We know very little about them, but in the event that we do get some info we’ll make sure to tell all of you right away. Until then, take a peek at the photos and tell us what you think.  

Huawei MediaPad now ships with Ice Cream Sandwich

Back in June, the Huawei MediaPad was the first 7 inch Android tablet to ship with Android 3.2. Now, half a year later, the tablet will be one of the few in the world to come with Android 4.0 pre-installed. The Ice Cream Sandwich flavored Huawei MediaPad will be available in selected markets sometime during the current quarter.

At the same time, the manufacturer is introducing its new MediaPad color series with tablets available in shadow black, classic brown, and passion pink. These colorful devices run on Android 3.2 which prompted Huawei Chairman Richard Yu to exclaim, "In a tablet market defined by staid black and white tablets, the new colorful MediaPad offers a personalized look without the need for an external case. With a hardware package that includes a high-quality screen, a powerful dual-core processor, and long battery life, these colorful MediaPad embodies a rare combination of style and performance."

Both versions of the Huawei MediaPad (ICS and new color series models) come with 7 inch screens offering resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels which works out to 217ppi. They are powered by a Qualcomm dual-core 1.2GHz processor. Video playback at 1080p is supported. A 5MP camera is on back while a 1.3MP shooter faces front.

As with the ICS version of the Huawei MediaPad, the MediaPad color series will be available in selected markets during the first quarter. For those who already own a Huawei MediaPad, you can expect your update to Android 4.0 sometime during this quarter.

Acer brings Iconia Tab A510 with Tegra 3

We’ve previously heard about the existence of the Acer Iconia Tab A510, but it wasn’t confirmed up until CES. The tablet was on display here and it looks like a lesser-specced version of the Iconia Tab A700.

The Iconia Tab A510 comes with the same Tegra 3 quad-core chip with the processor clocked at 1.3GHz and it’s running on the latest of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. The screen has the same size as the one on the Tab A700 - 10.1 inches but the resolution is 1280 x 800 pixels, less than the amazing 1920 x 1200 pixels on the A700. That’s still a pretty good resolution, though, and if it brings the price down many should find it a decent trade.

In the photographic department, the A510 features a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2MP front shooter, a welcome addition for video conferencing. The standard connectivity package is there - Wi-Fi, optional 3G and an extension microSD card slot.

Designwise, the Tab A510 has the metallic looks of its A500 sibling, which is not a bad thing, and additionally the new tablet is slimmer and lighter. There’s still a cloud of mystery around the tablet - its price and release date are yet unknown, so we’ll be looking to learn more about them soon.

Polaroid Spectrum lineup revealed – a trio of modest Ice Cream Sandwich tablets.

In case you haven't yet been overwhelmed by the multitude of Android tablets that were presented at CES 2012, here is another bunch of them, this time bearing the Polaroid brand name. Introducing the Spectrum 7, 8, and 9– a trio of modest Ice Cream Sandwich slates all powered by a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, which is accompanied by a gig of RAM.

What we know about the Polaroid Spectrum 7 is that its 7-inch display has a resolution of 1024 by 600 pixels. The Spectrum 8 and 9 have an 8- and a 9.7-inch displays respectively, the latter being with a resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. All of them come with a pair of cameras – a 2-megapixel in front and a 5-megapixel in the back, while their storage capacity varies between 4 and 16 gigabytes.

We don't really know how much the Polaroid Spectrum tablets will retail for, but we doubt that any of them will break the $250 barrier. Expect finding these in a store near you later this year.

source: Engadget