GameStop Pitches Android Tablets to Gamers

As gamers are slowly abandoning their portable consoles in favor of smartphones and tablets, it might come as no surprise that GameStop, the top U.S. games retailer, is now turning to Android tablets to boost sales. The retailer announced a variety of tablets running on Google’s mobile OS are on sale at more than 1,600 of its U.S. stores, from manufacturers such as Acer, Asus and Toshiba.

There aren’t as many games and apps for Android tablets compared to the iPad, so GameStop will pre-load a bunch of free games with each tablet sold, including Sonic CD, Riptide, a free issue of GameStop’s gaming mag, Game Informer, and the Kongregate Arcade gaming app that GameStop acquired.

GameStop’s Android tablets offer starts from $230 for a 7-inch Acer Iconia 8GB tablet, all the way up to $400 for a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 16GB and to $500 for an Asus Transformer Prime 32GB. The Toshiba Excite 10 should be available later for $450 and GameStop also stocks pre-owned iPads, starting at $300.

If you’re short on cash but have a pile of old games you’re not playing anymore, you can buy one of these tablets from GameStop with trades of games, consoles and even an old iPod, iPhone or iPad, or use the trade-ins as credit toward the purchase.

Last year, GameStop president Tony Bartel said in an interview the company is considering making its own tablet if it can’t find an Android tablet that is great for gaming. Later in 2011 the company began trialing selling a limited number of Android tablets at some 200 stores, leading up to the latest push of several models across most of its stores.

Android on a budget: Kogan launches 'cheapest tablet on the market'

Entrepreneur Ruslan Kogan claims his Agora tablet is the cheapest on the market. Picture: Kogan

• Kogan puts tablet sellers in the hotseat with budget model
• Agora tablet costs $179 and runs Ice Cream Sandwich OS
• "The Kogan Agora 10 is the cheapest, by a long shot"

AUSTRALIAN consumer electronics manufacturer Kogan has launched a budget Android tablet it says is the cheapest in its category.

The Agora 10-inch tablet  retails for $179 and runs Android's latest Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 operating system.

A 16G version is also available for $199.

"For a multi-touch screen like this with these features and Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich, the new Kogan Agora 10 is the cheapest, by a long shot," Kogan founder Ruslan Kogan said.

"There were lots of really cheap tablets on the market, (but) some don't have a capacitive touchscreen, often have really old CPUs, smaller screens, and they definitely don't have Android 4.0."

Most 8GB, 10-inch tablets sell from between $219 to $430 according to data from the Get Price comparison site .

The Agora contains a 1.2GHz processor, 1G of RAM and has two 2MP cameras on the front and back.

Mr Kogan said he was thinking of his mum when he decided to include a USB and microSD port for easy data transfer.

"My mum has an iPad and she thinks it's awesome and easy to use, but she would always ask me: 'How do I put movie on here, or take music off?'" he said

"The iPad closes you off in that regard, so the USB and microSD input make it a bit easier."

Although the operating system was open source, Mr Kogan said he and his developers didn't fiddle with it too much, and that they were purely motivated by cost.

"The main feedback we heard from our customers on tablets is that I want one, but I don't need one," he said.

Mr Kogan said he had fixed some of the problems that plagued some of his previous products.

Motorola releases official demo videos of its Android 4.0 skin

Motorola is getting ready to update some of devices to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. In preparation, they have released a series of videos showing off their latest version of their custom UI formely known as MotoBlur. The series of videos shows off the new Webtop 3.0, the new lock screen, screenshots, the browser, notifications, and much more.

Of course, if you’re one of the people running a leaked build of ICS for your Motorola device, then you’ve probably seen some of these features already.

Although Motorola has kept their custom UI in their ICS update, it looks like they’ve added some useful features and have gotten rid of some useless features. Overall, things are skinned so badly that you don’t even recognize that you’re running Android 4.0 ICS.

The new lock screen features for shortcuts that let you access messaging, the dialer, the camera, or simply unlock the screen. On the top of the lock screen, there’s a new toggle that allows you to quickly silence your device. When it comes to social networking, Motorola has gotten rid of its all-in-one social networking app and is encouraging users to download Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn apps instead.

Based on these videos, it looks like Motorola is trying to do good things with its custom UI. There’s still no word on what will happen now that it has finally been acquired by Google. Either way, things are looking good.

Those of you with upgrade-able Motorola devices, are you looking forward to the new custom UI? Let us know in the comments below.

Navigating Around Android 4.0:

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Webtop 3.0 Basics:

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Lock and Home Screen:

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Taking and Sharing Screenshots:

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Camera:

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Face Unlock:

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Notification Window:

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Buttons and Icons:

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Browser:

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Dialer and Contacts:

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Placing Shortcuts and Widgets:

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More Widgets and Shortcuts:

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Folders:

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Social Networking:

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Data Usage: