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Friday, March 11, 2011

Engadget News

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Engadget News

Apple TV update reportedly causing screen flicker issues with HDMI to DVI adapters

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 10:01 AM PST

We've seen reports of strange video behavior with Apple TVs before, and it looks like a new problem has now cropped up with the most recent update. According to a growing number of reports on the Apple support forums, those using an HDMI to DVI adapter to connect the device to their TV seem to have been hit with an annoying issue that causes their screen to flicker every few seconds. That's apparently happening with a wide range of TVs, and at least some are also reporting the same thing happening even if they aren't using an adapter. A few folks have apparently been able to fix things in the interim by simply pulling their HDMI cable and plugging it back in, but most are stuck with the annoying issue -- or worse, a downgraded 480p signal. Having some similar issues? Let us know in comments.

VocaLive, iRig Mic, iPhone conspire to create vocal talent where none exists

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 09:39 AM PST

When you think about it, an iPhone-based rig that lets anyone carry a decent vocal effects rig around in their pocket sounds like a recipe for disaster. Just look at that gentleman in the promotional image above, for example: for all we know, he sounds like one of the week one American Idol rejects -- but thanks to the miracles of modern technology and around $80 in spending cash, he fancies himself the next Clay Aiken. Ah, well, no use trying to stop this train. A new $20 app called VocaLive (there's also a free version available) from IK Multimedia includes 12 real-time effects that can be chained up to three at a time, along with a recorder that can run up to four tracks for an extra fee. You can use the iPhone's built-in mic or a handsfree if you like -- but for "best" results, you can pre-order the company's $59.99 iRig Mic that was announced back in January, which plugs into the phone's headset jack and features a second connector for real-time monitoring. Either way, your friends and family are sure to quickly regret it.

Sony Xperia Play hits the UK on March 31st, thumbsticks coming never

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 08:46 AM PST

Sony Xperia Play hits the UK on March 31st, thumbsticks coming never
Readers in the British Empire get ready for Sony Ericsson's biggest UK marketing campaign ever. That's in the lead-up to the release of the Xperia Play, a phone that we've been hearing about for so long that we'd need some pretty shocking commercials to get us all excited again. You may feel differently, though, so mark your calendars for March 31st. That's the end of the month and falls in nicely with the "late March" word we'd heard for elsewhere in the world, though that is awfully late. As to where you can buy it, it's said that "all the mobile operators and retailers" will have it, so you shouldn't have to wander too far. And, with six games pre-installed, you should even be reasonably well equipped to kill the rest of that Thursday.

Symbian UI overhaul scheduled for the fall?

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 08:05 AM PST

While Symbian might be good as dead to most Engadget readers, Nokia must continue supporting the millions of S^ wearing faithful until it can fully transition to a Windows Phone smartphone shop in 2012. So we were interested to hear Marc Driessen, Nokia Benelux product manager, spill some details about a few previously unannounced Symbian updates for 2011. As you'll recall, S^4 as a product had been canned months ago, but the scheduled UI updates were still part of the Symbian roadmap. According to Driessen, Nokia is targeting a major UI overhaul in the fall, an update rumored to include a dedicated pull-down status bar up top; new iconography; new flexible widgets; a simplified navigation bar below; and better menus throughout that don't require a scuba suit to navigate. While Nokia HQ won't confirm the dates or details to us (we asked), the fall timeline does match with what we've heard elsewhere. Dutch site All About Phones is also reporting that a smaller update for N8 and E7 users might come as early as this summer. Of course, those owners are still waiting for the first real S^3 update that was promised for early 2011, so hopefully Nokia can squeeze in the split screen text input, portrait QWERTY, and improved browser before March is done.

Flash 10.2 beta hits Android Market on March 18th, supports Honeycomb, Gingerbread and Froyo (update)

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 07:47 AM PST

Contrary to reports floating about the web, the Motorola Xoom isn't getting Adobe Flash Player 10.2 today -- rather, the tablet is getting updated to support Flash, which will actually arrive in one week. Adobe now says that Flash Player 10.2 will be ready to download from the Android Market on March 18th, supporting only Honeycomb tablets (in other words, just the Xoom) to start, and will eventually be available for Android 2.2 smartphones -- again, contrary to what we'd been told, but we can't really complain on that count supporting Android 2.2 (Froyo), Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and a beta version for Android 3.0.1 (Honeycomb) at release. Froyo devices won't get the full battery-friendly Stage Video rendering pipeline and deep browser integration like their Honeycomb tablet brethren, but dual-core phones will reportedly see a performance improvement nonetheless, and there's a new tweak that'll let Flash web apps pull up a virtual keyboard if needed for full functionality. PR after the break.

Update: Adobe contacted us to clarify that Flash 10.2 is, in fact, headed to all three of the most recent versions of Android on March 18th -- the Honeycomb tablet version will simply sport a beta label, and the smartphone builds will lack full functionality as described above.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Show full PR text
Update on Flash Player 10.2 for mobile devices

Today we are happy to announce that Flash Player 10.2 will be available for download via Android Market on March 18th. Flash Player 10.2 is a production GA (General Availability) release for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and 2.3 (Gingerbread) devices which meet the Flash Player hardware system requirements. It is initially a beta release for Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) tablets which requires Google's 3.0.1 system update.

We have been working very closely with Google to ensure tight integration between Flash Player 10.2 and new OS and browser capabilities in Android 3.0. The March 18th beta release of Flash Player 10.2 in conjunction with Google's first system update to Android 3.0 (version 3.0.1) currently underway for the MOTOROLA XOOM™ will deliver the first phase of our work together. This will be followed by subsequent updates, which will complete the optimizations and result in a production GA release of Flash Player 10.2 for Android 3.0.

Some of the new capabilities of Flash Player 10.2 for Android include:

Hardware accelerated video presentation for H.264 (Android 3.0.1+ only)

Flash Player 10.2 leverages the Stage Video rendering pipeline to enable users of Android 3.0 tablets, like the MOTOROLA XOOM™, to enjoy smooth playback of high-definition Flash video content on the web. Users will experience reduced CPU usage and higher frame rates for existing H.264 video content.

Deeper integration with the Android browser rendering engine (Android 3.0.1+ only)

Deeper integration of Flash Player and the enhanced Android 3.0 browser delivers faster and better rendering of rich, interactive web content resulting in a browsing experience similar to the desktop.

Flash Player can now render content as part of the web page along with other components such as HTML, images and gif animation. As a result, users will experience:

Improved scrolling of web pages;
Uncompromised viewing of rich, immersive content in the way intended by the page designer, including support for instances where HTML and other web content is composited over Flash Player rendered content. Flash Player rendered content will continue to be placed in a separate window on top of HTML in the Android 2.2 and 2.3 browsers, as these browsers do not support the new Android 3.0 browser rendering model.
Enhanced performance for the latest smartphones and tablets

Experience performance improvements designed to take advantage of the current generation of multi-core, GPU-enabled processors to deliver Flash videos, games and other interactive Web content on the latest smartphones and tablets. For a list of upcoming Flash-enabled devices which show off the latest performance improvements, including the MOTOROLA ATRIX™ 4G, MOTOROLA XOOM™ and LG Optimus 2X, please click here.

Automatic soft keyboard support

Users of touch screen devices will enjoy a more optimized experience interacting with rich content that requires keyboard input. This feature simplifies the development of multiscreen applications that require keyboard input, making it easier for developers to optimize desktop applications for mobile devices. A new ActionScript API enables developers to automatically launch and display the soft keyboard.

In addition to its availability on Android Market, the production GA release of Flash Player 10.2 will also be available pre-installed on many upcoming tablets and smartphones or delivered as an over-the-air (OTA) update to existing devices in market.

To see which devices are certified to support Flash Player, please visit http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform/certified_devices/.

To learn more about Flash Player for mobile devices, please visit http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer.html.

Read it Later Pro hits Android, we go hands-on

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 07:24 AM PST

We've all been there, cruising through some news in a browser only to think "Man, I don't have time for this whole article." At that point you have two options: type "tl;dr" in the article's comments and smugly move on with your life, or call upon one of the many services that let you cache content for later perusal. Read it Later Pro is one of the more popular ones and, with support for a flurry of platforms, it makes it easy to start reading one thing at one place and later pick up that thing at some other place. With the release of an Android version you now have even more places at your disposal. We pulled this $.99 new addition from the Android Market and gave it a spin.
Read it Later Pro Android

The idea is quite simple, similar to Instapaper and the like. In fact, Google's own Chrome to Phone functionality has much the same concept: you're reading something in your computer's web browser, want to finish it on your phone, so you hit a button and up it pops on your handset. But, Read it Later Pro is rather more comprehensive than that. Naturally you can save links to read later, but the app will proactively download text and images so that you can read that content on a plane in the sky or a train in a tunnel.

On the app you're presented with options for whether text and images or only text should be downloaded, or indeed anything at all if you have complete and total faith in your data connection. You can also choose whether the integrated browser identifies itself as mobile or desktop -- handy for those who like scrolling. Sadly we couldn't get videos and other Flash content to show up within the app, but that's not much of a surprise given the app is called Read it Later, not Watch it Later.

There are plug-ins and smart bookmarks that can be added to just about every desktop browser in existence, making it just a click or two for you to add content to your list. On Android, Read it Later is added to the Share menu, meaning you can quickly add content from your mobile browser or a bunch of other apps. Once added we found it takes around five to 10 seconds for a new link to show up in the app itself, and perhaps that long again to download the content depending on the article size. You can also apply tags to entries for filtering purposes, and naturally mark them as read to clear them out.

Ultimately it's a handy app. The default "article view" does a good job of simplifying content for readability on smaller screens, and that you can send as many things as you like and read them whenever you like is certainly nice. Ground-breaking revolution in mobile reading? Nah. Worth .99? Sure -- if you like reading things.

Kinect hacked for home automation, does your mood lighting for you (video)

Posted: 11 Mar 2011 07:04 AM PST

Microsoft's Kinect has become quite the hacking hotbed -- the fields of medicine, music, and even shadow puppeteering have all benefitted from the peripheral's incredible versatility. And now, to the delight of home automation nerds everywhere, an enterprising young hacker has rigged a Kinect to automate the lighting in his home. By positioning the camera bar in a corner to track his movements, connecting it to the automation controller, and coding on / off commands, he's able to control the lights throughout his geektastic domicile. The automation logic then turns on the lights when entering the room, localizes them according to location, and turns them off upon leaving. One less thing to worry about -- here's hoping a method for spotting our perpetually misplaced keys is in version 2.0. Vid's after the break.



Hardware

At a glance, you'd be hard pressed to tell the front of the Galaxy S 4G apart from the Vibrant. The only difference is the return of the front-facing VGA camera also present on the original Galaxy S, Epic 4G, and Nexus S. It features the same gorgeous (dare we say vibrant?) 4-inch WVGA glass capacitive Super AMOLED touchscreen, complete with faux-chrome surround. The T-Mobile logo is in the same top center location, below the earpiece and next to the proximity and light sensors, while the Samsung logo is positioned bottom center, above the standard row of backlit capacitive buttons. And yes, the LEDs behind the capacitive buttons still turn off too soon and still shine too bright. In back, the Galaxy S 4G is almost identical to the Vibrant, with the same metal-rimmed 5 megapixel camera, speaker grill, and Galaxy S logo -- even the signature bump in the battery cover carries over. But instead of being finished in shiny black with a faint silver dot pattern, the back is painted a satin bronze finish that changes color slightly depending on the viewing angle, just like a lenticular print. It's a very polarizing design: while some people really like it, we think it looks cheap and tacky, especially on what is arguably T-Mobile's flagship phone. Everything remains the same around the edge of the device, with a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack and microUSB connector (behind a clever sliding door) on top, a battery cover removal slit and microphone on the bottom, a lanyard hole and volume rocker on the left, and the power / lock key on the right. The Galaxy S 4G feels just as light as the Vibrant, and no less plasticky, which is a shame.

Spec-wise the Galaxy S 4G further mirrors the Vibrant, but cranks things up a notch with the addition of HSPA+ for network speeds up to 21Mbps (what T-Mobile calls "4G"). Inside you'll find the same 1GHz Hummingbird CPU with PowerVR SGX 540 graphics, 512MB RAM, WiFi b / g / n, Bluetooh 3.0, AGPS, a compass, a gyroscope / accelerometer, and a light sensor. Despite being already six months old, this combination of hardware still delivers solid performance, especially when paired with Android 2.2. In addition to the aforementioned HSPA+ radio (with AWS / 1700MHz and 2100MHz support), there's also a legacy quadband radio for EDGE duty. Lifting the battery cover reveals a microSD card slot along with the obligatory SIM slot. A 16GB card is supplied along with an SD adapter -- it contains the movie Inception as a DRM encrypted file. Strangely, the 16GB of internal flash storage present in the Vibrant is gone from the Galaxy S 4G, leaving the microSD card slot as the sole option for storing media and other content. In our tests, calls sounded clear and reception was equally good. Battery life, however, was only average, with the 1650mAh battery lasting about 24 hours on a charge with moderate use (taking pictures, listening to music, surfing the web, and messaging). While this is in line with most other high-end Android phones, we think there's room for improvement.

So does HSPA+ really make much of a difference? We compared the Galaxy S 4G to our HSPA-only Nexus S on T-Mobile by using the speedtest.net app in various San Francisco locales (within the carrier's HSPA+ footprint) and most of the time the results were similar on both devices. Of course the topography of San Francisco is notoriously hard on signal quality, and we expect the performance gap between HSPA and HSPA+ to widen over time as T-Mobile tweaks its network, but for now HSPA+ does not appear to offer significant speed gains. Your mileage may vary.

Camera

Samsung knows how to make a nice cameraphone, and the Galaxy S 4G is no exception. It shares its 5 megapixel sensor and autofocus optics with the Vibrant, and takes excellent pictures. In fact, the results are better than most other 5 megapixel cameraphones. This is a camera with few equals amongst Android devices. It gathers a ton of information, with accurate color balance and exposure. There's no flash, but low light performance is top notch. Noise is kept well under control, and loss of detail is minimal. The Galaxy S 4G does a decent job of recording 720p video at a smooth 30 fps. While there's no autofocus before or during video capture, Samsung wisely chose AAC (instead of the default AMR) to encode audio, resulting in better sound quality. User experience can make or break a cameraphone. Thankfully, the camera interface on the Galaxy S 4G is one of the best we've seen on Android, no doubt thanks to the company's experience making dedicated point-and-shoot cameras. It's reasonably intuitive, and all the important controls are easily accessible, with less common settings nestled within menus. There's no dedicated two-stage shutter key, but you'll find touch-to-focus, smile / blink detection, and a panorama mode, amongst other features. Overall, we're very impressed with the camera on the Galaxy S 4G. It strikes a good balance between image quality and usability, without making too many compromises.
Samsung Galaxy S 4G sample shots





Software

Let's put things in perspective. The Vibrant shipped with Android 2.1 (Eclair) mid-July and just received its Android 2.2 (Froyo) update in January. Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) was launched mid-December with the Nexus S. The Galaxy S 4G is running Android 2.2, and while Froyo still offers great performance and useful features such as built-in WiFi hotspot functionality, it's somewhat disappointing to see a flagship phone arrive on the market one full OS version behind the state-of-the-art. Of course, this is the price we all pay for manufacturers and carriers customizing Android in a flawed attempt to differentiate themselves. Thankfully, the TouchWiz 3.0 UI used by Samsung on the Vibrant carries over to the Galaxy S 4G mostly unchanged. It remains lightweight and relatively unobtrusive, unlike Motorola's Blur. We're still not sold on the ultra-saturated cartoon-like color scheme (made stronger by the high-contrast Super AMOLED display), but Froyo on the Galaxy S 4G certainly feels snappier than Eclair did on the Vibrant. Quadrant scores routinely hover around the 1000 mark, and while it's no speed demon, the Galaxy S 4G consistently delivers the level of performance we've come to expect from a high-end device. As a point of reference, our Nexus S with Gingerbread easily reaches 1500+ on the Quadrant benchmark. TouchWiz 3.0 provides some nice, well... touches, like a task manager, a file browser, a much improved music player, and a row of toggles in the notification area for WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, silent mode, and auto-rotation. The sideways-scrolling app tray is a bit disorienting at first, but is easy to adjust to.

There's a number of pre-installed apps from Samsung and T-Mobile on the Galaxy S 4G, such as Amazon MP3, doubleTwist with AirSync, Facebook (but not Twitter), Kindle, Layar, Media Hub, Qik Video Chat, Slacker, T-Mobile TV, TeleNav, and ThinkFree office. Like with the Optimus T, T-Mobile bundles the Swype keyboard, WiFi calling (aka UMA), and visual voicemail with the phone, along with DriveSmart, an app that minimizes driving distractions by silencing notifications, routing calls to voicemail or a Bluetooth headset, and optionally auto-responding to calls and texts. We were particularly excited to see doubleTwist with AirSync pre-loaded on the Galaxy S 4G, but we're no sure why TeleNav is included considering Android provides awesome free built-in navigation. T-Mobile TV dishes out live and on-demand TV programming. Pricing varies with the content and is billed directly to your T-Mobile account. While there's a 30-day free trial, we're not quite sure that paying to watch television on a 4-inch screen is a particularly attractive proposition, but we're not really the target market for this. To make matters even more confusing, Media Hub also allows you to rent or purchase video content and charge it to your T-Mobile account. There's definitely something to be said about Apple's unified iTunes Store approach here. As mentioned above, The movie Inception lives on the supplied microSD card and comes with its own shortcut. Just be aware that formatting the microSD card will delete the film. The rest of the Galaxy S 4G software is all standard issue Android. Sadly there's no photo or video editor available like on some other Samsung devices.

A few apps take advantage of the front facing camera right out of the box, like the camera and video recorder, as well as Qik Video Chat, a T-Mobile branded version of the popular video streaming service. We also installed Tango on the Galaxy S 4G and made several video calls over T-Mobile's network to an iPhone 4 on AT&T. Image quality is pretty much what you'd expect from a VGA camera -- acceptable in normal light and grainy in the dark -- but it gets the job done.

Wrap-up

It's an exciting time to be a T-Mobile customer. There's never been a better selection of high-end AWS-compatible Android devices before. The Galaxy S 4G, Nexus S, myTouch 4G, and G2 each bring a unique flavor of Android to the table. We think "pure" Android 2.3 trumps HSPA+, so the Nexus S is our first choice. But if you absolutely require HSPA+, we highly recommend the Galaxy S 4G. It beats the myTouch 4G with a larger, higher quality display, a less pervasive skin, and a lower price (after mail-in rebate). It also improves upon the Vibrant with HSPA+ and a front-facing camera, at the expense of that 16GB of internal flash storage. Cosmetically, we prefer the Vibrant to the Galaxy S 4G, but that's a matter of taste. If you already have a Vibrant, we suggest you wait until something more compelling comes along, unless HSPA+ and the front-facing camera really matter to you. We enjoyed our time with the Galaxy S 4G. It's a feature rich Android phone with a slightly customized UI that packs an impressive camera and delivers solid performance across the board. Battery life could be better, and it could be a little cheaper ($200 with a two-year contract, after $50 mail-in rebate). Let's just hope Samsung drops that Gingerbread update in less than six months this time around.

IDC: 18 million tablets, 12 million e-readers shipped in 2010

Posted: 10 Mar 2011 11:39 AM PST

We've already seen Apple boast that it's sold 15 million iPads in 2010 and commanded more than a 90 percent market share, but IDC has now come in and provided a broader picture of the tablet market as a whole -- and e-readers, too. Not surprisingly, it too found that the tablet industry is basically all about Apple at the moment, although its market share did dip from a whopping 93 percent in the third quarter to 73 percent in Q4, which averages out to 83 percent for the year -- all told, there were 18 million tablets sold in 2010. Things are a bit more competitive in the e-reader market -- where there were 12 million devices sold -- although Amazon is still head and shoulders above everyone else with a 48 percent share. Interestingly, it's followed not by Barnes & Noble as you might expect but by Pandigital, which just eeked into the number two spot for Q4 (though B&N is slightly ahead for the full year). Hanvon came in fourth based largely on strong sales in China, and Sony rounded out the top five with sales of 800,000 units in 2010. Check out the press release after the break for some additional details
Show full PR text
Nearly 18 Million Media Tablets Shipped in 2010 with Apple Capturing 83% Share; eReader Shipments Quadrupled to More Than 12 Million, According to IDC

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., March 10, 2011 - According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker, 10.1 million media tablets were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2010 (4Q10) - more than double the 4.5 million shipped in the third quarter. Apple's share came down from 93% in 3Q10 to 73% in 4Q10, but still reflected Apple's strong leadership position. Samsung's Galaxy Tab was the primary competitor in the holiday season, beating other players to market and capturing more than 17% share, while a number of smaller regional players also participated.

The Tracker showed that the eReader market also picked up significantly in the fourth quarter. Strong sales of Amazon's Kindle, which was refreshed in August and priced more aggressively, as well as significant gains from competitors such as Pandigital, Barnes & Noble, Hanvon, and Sony among others, contributed to market growth.

In 4Q10, the eReader market more than doubled volume from the previous quarter, with more than 6 million units shipped for the quarter, bringing the full-year total to 12.8 million units shipped. eReader shipments were also up more than 325% from 2009 when roughly 3 million units shipped. The strong growth reflects a more competitive offering as well as widening interest in the category, including a boost from media tablet press and much lower pricing.

"Strong holiday sales of media tablets were in line with IDC projections and strong consumer interest in the category while device vendors scrambled to offer products competitive with Apple's iPad and now iPad 2," said Loren Loverde, vice president, Consumer Device Trackers. "Media Tablets are on pace to reach shipments of roughly 50 million units in 2011."

According to IDC, media tablets are tablet form factor devices with color displays larger than 5 in. and smaller than 14 in. running lightweight operating systems (such as Apple's iOS and Google's Android OS) and can be based on either x86 or ARM processors. By contrast, tablet PCs run full PC operating systems and are based on x86 processors. Media tablets support multiple connectivity technologies and a broad range of applications, which differentiates them from single purpose–focused devices such as eReaders. Media tablet market evolution will be driven not only by product introductions from PC, consumer electronics, and mobile phone vendors, but also by expanded distribution channels (with mobile operators playing a key role) and commercial adoption by businesses.

According to IDC, the United States, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) regions accounted for 89% of all media tablet shipments in 4Q10. Although the United States remained the largest country market, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) grew almost twice as fast from 3Q10 to 4Q10 and Western Europe saw a slightly larger jump in shipments in 4Q10.

In 4Q10, retailers were the channel with the highest share of shipments, followed by direct and telco sales. A new channel for media tablets, the telco operators, accounted for nearly 14% of all shipments of media tablets in 4Q10 following just over 1% share in the third quarter.

Vendor Highlights: Media Tablets

Apple is building on its strong 2010 first-generation iPad launch with the iPad 2, which will ship this month, before most competitors come to market with first generation media tablets. Although more competing devices will be launched this year, IDC expects Apple to maintain a 70-80% share of the market.

Samsung started shipping its 7 in. Galaxy Tab media tablet in 4Q10. Although its shipments into the channel were fairly aggressive, a lack of competitive pricing and ongoing competition from Apple stifled consumer demand. Samsung is expected to follow with a 10.1 in. Galaxy Tab with Android 3.0 Honeycomb later this year, but the refresh will have a tough time maintaining share as more competitors enter the market.

The recently launched Motorola Xoom is a worthy competitor in function, although the relatively high price is expected to be a barrier to gaining significant share.

Other vendors and designs are expected to hit the market in earnest in the second half of 2011. Many of these products will be more competitive in function, like the Xoom, but we expect only those from large vendors with significant marketing and channel structure in addition to a few technologically and price competitive devices to capture significant share. One differentiation path that some vendors are likely to take is to focus on specific market segments, such as commercial. While benefitting from unique product positioning, they are likely to address a smaller overall market and will need to be competitive with devices from Apple and others.
Vendor Highlights: eReaders

Amazon continued to lead the eReader market holding just over 48% share in 4Q10 and 2010 overall. Amazon's share recovered in 4Q10 with shipments of the refreshed Kindle (3) after dipping under 40% in 3Q10.

Barnes and Noble began shipping the NOOKcolor color LCD-based ereader in 4Q10 to support children's books, periodicals, and other graphically rich content. The NOOKcolor is more expensive than epaper-based ereaders and offers a lower priced, less feature-rich alternative to a full-fledged media tablet.

Pandigital edged out Barnes and Noble for the number 2 spot in 4Q10, although the latter came in slightly ahead on an annual basis.

Hanvon of China came in as the number 4 eReader vendor with a sequential gain in volume. Half of Hanvon shipments were in China, where it leads the market, but where eReader growth remained modest. International shipments faced greater competition, pushing share down overall.

Worldwide Sony Reader shipments grew 80.7% during 4Q10 and exceeded 800,000 units for 2010.

The Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker includes quarterly shipment and forecast analysis for over 30 countries including market size and vendor share along with detailed market segmentation and product attributes such as operating system, connectivity, and storage capacity among others.
at 11:42 AM

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