Apple's grip on China tablet market loosens

Apple's grip on China's tablet market has loosened as Asian tech companies increase sales with cheaper Android tablet computers.

Dickie Chang, senior market analyst at IDC, said Thursday that Apple supplied 28 percent of tablet computers in China during the April-June quarter, down from 49 percent dominance a year earlier.

The iPad maker was still the biggest tablet supplier in China, its key growth engine, but its momentum has slowed.

Apple still going strong in China?

Chang said South Korea's Samsung Electronics, China's Lenovo, and Taiwan's ASUS and Acer benefited with a surge in their market share.

He said Samsung claimed 11 percent tablet market share, up from 6 percent.

China is a key market for consumer technology companies as growth in sales of smartphones and tablets slows in developed countries.

Associated Press

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Apple's grip on China tablet market loosens

Apple's grip on China's tablet market has loosened as Asian tech companies increase sales with cheaper Android tablet computers.

Dickie Chang, senior market analyst at IDC, said Thursday that Apple supplied 28 percent of tablet computers in China during the April-June quarter, down from 49 percent dominance a year earlier.

The iPad maker was still the biggest tablet supplier in China, its key growth engine, but its momentum has slowed.

Apple still going strong in China?

Chang said South Korea's Samsung Electronics, China's Lenovo, and Taiwan's ASUS and Acer benefited with a surge in their market share.

He said Samsung claimed 11 percent tablet market share, up from 6 percent.

China is a key market for consumer technology companies as growth in sales of smartphones and tablets slows in developed countries.

Associated Press

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Surface 2: Nvidia boss confirms Microsoft is prepping second iteration of its tablet

Chipmaker Nvidia confirmed Thursday what many have been suspecting – Microsoft is working on version two of its Surface tablet, despite having recently taken a $900 million write-down on the RT version following poor sales.

To avoid its successor suffering the same lukewarm reception, designers at Microsoft’s R&D department are likely rummaging through the drawer marked “bells and whistles”, though the box labeled “mind-blowing extras” may also need to be dipped into.

The news that the Redmond-based company is prepping the next version of the tablet comes courtesy of Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang (via Cnet), who said his company is “working really hard” with Microsoft to get the slate ready. An approximate release date isn’t mentioned

Huang, whose company provided the chip for the first version of the RT, believes he knows what’s been holding the device back – no, not the expensive price tag, poor battery life, average display or [enter your suggestion here], but the absence of Outlook at launch.

“It is the killer app for Windows,” Huang told Cnet, adding, “Now we’re going to bring it with the second-generation Surface. We’re working really hard on it, and we hope that it’s going to be a big success.” It’s hard to believe the inclusion of one piece of software is going to send Surface sales soaring, but Huang appears certain in his belief.

Launched in October last year, Microsoft’s Surface RT – together with the Pro version which followed – have failed to turn the tablet market on its head. They didn’t even turn it on its side. Mixed reviews and disappointing sales have forced the computer giant to offer discounts and promotions with the Surface in a bid to shift more units, though it’s not clear if these have had any real effect.

With PC sales falling and the tablet sector booming, Microsoft will desperately want to see the second iteration of its device grab a decent share of the market. Recent reports suggest it’s looking at launching smaller Surface tablets too, to take on, for example, the Nexus 7, iPad Mini and Amazon’s Kindle Fire offerings. Some have suggested Microsoft could dump the RT version and concentrate instead on the more powerful Pro model, though Microsoft has said nothing on the issue.

While Steve Ballmer’s company can easily handle any losses incurred by the first-generation model, another version that fails to capture the imagination of consumers would be a far more serious issue for the company as it attempts to tap a new revenue stream.

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan). As far as electronics are concerned, he's in the right place, with the East Asian country continuing to produce a plethora of gadgets and gizmos for tech addicts around the world. When not writing for Digital Trends, Trevor can be found out and about taking far too many photos, or in front of his computer trying to sort them all out.

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How to make the most out of your Nexus 10 tablet

The next Nexus 10 is coming in late 2013, but it may not be made by Samsung. Asus is rumored to be producing the upcoming tablet. We made it pretty clear in our Nexus 10 review that we like Google’s larger tablet, but there are a few issues. In this roundup of handy Nexus 10 tips we look to address pain points like the lack of a MicroSD card, how to find tablet apps, and how to save battery life. We’ve already shown you how to take a screenshot on the Nexus 10, but there is plenty more to uncover. 

You can swipe to the right from your camera app to quickly review the photo that you just took on your Nexus 10. Swipe to the left to go back to the camera.

The Nexus 10 has a colored LED that can notify you about different things. This LED can also be customized with the right app. You can find the option to turn the LED off under Settings > Display > Pulse notification light. Try out Light Flow Lite to set custom notifications and, if you like it, the full version is $2.50. It allows you to set specific notifications for email, Twitter, texts, and a lot of other things.

Android has been criticized in the past for not having enough tablet optimized apps, but that’s changing. There is more choice now for Nexus 10 owners than there has ever been, and it’s easier to find good apps, but you might still be interested in a couple of extra sources. We have our own best Android tablet apps roundup to start you off, but we also recommend Tablified Market and Apps & Updates for Nexus 10, two free apps worth downloading and using to find the best apps for the Nexus 10.

The Nexus 10 comes in 16GB or 32GB varieties and that storage can fill up surprisingly fast. The lack of a MicroSD card slot means there’s no room for expansion, but there are a couple of fairly easy ways to get extra space.

The cloud is your first obvious option. Use Google Play Music to store up to 20,000 songs for free and stream them to your Nexus 10. You can also use Google Drive, Dropbox, SkyDrive, or choose from a host of other services like Box and Bitcasa. They all have Android apps and they all offer a certain amount of free storage space when you sign up.

You can also consider using a Flash drive, SD card, or an external hard drive. You’ll need an USB OTG (On-The-Go) cable, which you can pick up very cheaply. You’ll also need your external hard drive with USB, your USB Flash drive, or a USB card reader and your SD card. The final piece of the puzzle is an app called Nexus Media Importer which costs $4. If you have a rooted Nexus 10, then you can use an app like StickMount instead.

The Nexus 10 doesn’t have the best battery life in the world, and that’s unavoidable when you have a big screen with a resolution like this. You can always check in Settings > Battery to see what is drinking most of your battery juice. Try to turn syncing for apps off, or reduce its frequency, turn features like Wi-Fi and GPS off when you aren’t using them, and turn the screen brightness down.

You could also turn haptic feedback and unnecessary keyboard sounds off. Go to Settings > Sound and uncheck Vibrate on touch. Them go to Settings > Language & input and choose the Settings for the Android keyboard and uncheck both Sound on keypress and Vibrate on keypress.

If you have to share your Nexus 10 with others then you should set up individual profiles. You’ll find the Users option underneath Device in the Settings. This means you can have different apps, wallpapers, and files set up for each user – especially handy if you let your kids play on your Nexus 10. Any users you add will appear on the lock screen. If you want more control over what your kids can and can’t access then try out an app like Kid Mode, which enables you to block click-through ads and in-app purchases, and restrict content and features.

It may be on the way out, but Flash is still being used by a number of websites and so you might want to have it on your Nexus 10. You’ll need to find an APK file to download; you can get one from this XDA Developers thread. You’ll have to allow Unknown sources under Settings > Security and then you need to get the APK file onto your Nexus 10. (You could email the APK file or transfer it via Dropbox.) Tap on the APK file to install it. Remember that it won’t work with the Chrome browser, so the final requirement is to install a browser like Dolphin, Firefox, or Boat.

You can get a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable for your Nexus 10 and then use it to hook up the tablet to your HDTV. This is an easy way to mirror your screen on the big TV, but it does mean wires.

You can do it wirelessly, as the Nexus 10 is compatible with Wi-Fi Certified Miracast devices. You can also use a DLNA app like Skifta to stream content to your TV or your PS3 via Wi-Fi.

Another option is to buy a Chromecast device for $35 and plug it into any HDMI port on your TV. Grab the Chromecast app for your Nexus 10 and you can use the tablet as a remote to choose Netflix or YouTube content. The real beauty of this solution is that the content doesn’t have to play on the Nexus 10, so you can do other things while it plays via Chromecast on the TV.

The obvious choice is Skype, but you can use various VoIP apps to make calls from your Nexus 10. If you’ve set up Google Voice then GrooVe IP Lite is a good free option. Bear in mind that the sound through the built-in microphones might not be great, it would be wise to get a Bluetooth headset with a microphone if you intend to use your Nexus 10 for calls.

If you invest $3 in an app like Tablet Talk you can actually link your tablet to your existing Android smartphone and have text messages and calls going through your phone to your tablet.

That’s all the Nexus 10 tips we have for now, but you can find more information in the official Nexus 10 Guidebook from Google.

Simon is an experienced freelance writer and editor covering technology and entertainment with a focus on mobile and video games. He spent several years working in the games industry and lives in Edinburgh with his wife and two kids.

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