Editors’ note: This story was originally published on July 30, 2013 1:39 PM PDT. It has been updated to include confirmation from HP. HP SlateBook x2. HP is branding the SlateBook as an Android ‘PC.’ Hewlett-Packard The SlateBook x2, Hewlett-Packard’s foray into the Android convertible market, is now available on the company’s sales site. The …

Now playing: Watch this: New Nexus 7 brings on HD 1:46 Google has beat Apple at its own Retina-display-thumping game. Meet the Nexus 7, the eye-popping 323-pixels-per-inch wonder. It is, in a way, the (rumored) iPad Mini Retina wrapped in Android 4.3. Here’s the deal: If you can find most of the apps you need on Google’s Play Store and …

iFixit said the the 2013 Nexus 7 is pretty easy to repair. And inside it found a rarity in tablets: an inductive charging coil. The new 7-inch Google tablet received a “Repairability Score” of 7 out of 10 (10 being the easiest to repair), according to iFixit’s teardown. “The rear case is very easy to open, and requires minimal prying …

Hewlett-Packard unintentionally pioneered the ultra-cheap tablet when it fire-sold the TouchPad for $99 back in the summer of 2011. HP may be ready to do it again. HP will launch a $99 tablet in cooperation with Wal-Mart in time for the back-to-school shopping, Digitimes reported Wednesday, citing Asia-based suppliers. Here’s what the Taipei-based publication said. The US$99 tablet is manufactured …

The new Nexus 7 may offer a sneak preview of the Retina display on a rumored update to the iPad Mini. Google’s 7-inch tablet’s 1,920×1,200 display is not unlike what is expected to appear on the iPad Mini Retina, Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch told CNET. In short, the Nexus 7 boasts a pixel density of 323 pixels …

What do the iPhone 6 and Samsung have in common? Not much, according to a report. Samsung will not be making processors for Apple’s iPhone 6, so says the Korea Economic Daily in a report dated Wednesday. To counter the “damage caused” by “Apple shunning Samsung” for the iPhone 6 processor, the Korean company is developing a processor with an …

Shipments of Chromebooks based on Google’s Chrome operating system will surge in the second half of this year, according to an Asia-based report. Shipments could be “double or even triple” the number in the first half of the year, according to a report Monday in Digitimes that cites unnamed electronics component suppliers. The report attributes the expected surge partly to …

Apple lost market share to Android in Western Europe, according to market researcher IDC. Market trends in Western Europe are not looking good for Apple’s iPhone. “Apple’s iOS continues to lose ground as market share declined to 20% from 25% in 1Q12 [first quarter 2012],” IDC said Tuesday. Android, meanwhile, is gaining operating system market share, up 14 percent year-to-year …

HTC, Sony, and Huawei are leading the charge into large, full high-definition phone displays, said DisplayMate Technologies. It’s a market Apple has yet to enter. “With the iPhone 4 Retina display, Apple pioneered the previous generation of smartphone displays in 2010,” wrote Raymond Soneira in DisplayMate Technologies’ Full HD Flagship Smartphone Display Technology Shoot-Out released on Tuesday. “This time the …

Android tablets have largely been a 7- or 10-inch affair to date, but 8 inches could be the new sweet spot, according to NPD DisplaySearch. Dell and Lenovo are among the tablet makers preparing 8-inch Android tablets, according to a blog post Tuesday from NPD DisplaySearch. Supply chain indications point to production of Android-based tablet PCs with 8-inch, 1,280×800 displays …