Ever since it was released in 2010, Apple’s iPad has largely dominated the tablet market. Of course, given the fact that the product essentially introduced the mass market to the slate tablet form factor added to the fact that it is emblazoned with the Apple logo, this hasn’t come as much of a surprise.

Due to the iPad’s commanding market share it’s been very hard for competitors to find success in the market. One way manufacturers have been attempting this is by creating high end devices running on Google’s Android platform. However, with high end hardware comes a high price tag with some devices going for as much as $500 even when carrier subsidies are factored in.

On the other end of the spectrum, some companies are looking to take a chunk out of the iPad’s market share by pricing their devices at rock bottom points, seeing massive success in the process. This method was essentially introduced to us by the  HP TouchPad’s demise which saw the once $500 tablet dropped to just $99. When priced at $500 the tablet sold at a snails pace but once dropped to $99 it flew off the shelves faster than consumers were able to snatch them up.

While this is a very unique scenario other companies have been taken note. Amazon, for one, came forth not too long ago with their Kindle Fire which they managed to price at just $199.99 while maintaining noteworthy specs. For those who aren’t clued in, these specs include a 7-inch display with 1024 x 600 resolution, 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a heavily modified version of Google’s Android 2.3, otherwise known as Gingerbread. Add all of this to the selling point that the Kindle Fire has access to Amazon’s expansive line up of content including television shows, movies, books and more.

Anyways, with such a low price tag coupled with decent hardware pretty much everyone expected the Kindle Fire to be a huge success. Well, based on early analysis, it seems that those who thought this were correct. Research firm IHS iSuppli has recently released a study that predicts Amazon to ship a very impressive 3.9 million tablets in Q4 of this year that will net them a massive 13.8% of the global tablet market. In comparison, Apple is expected to ship a massive 18.6 million iPads in the same quarter and a 65.6% market share but then again, they are Apple.

Furthermore, iSuppli suggests Samsung will be pushed to 3rd place in the tablet market with 1.37 million shipments/4.8% market share and Barnes & Noble to 4th with 1.32 million shipments/4.7% marketshare. Two companies known primarily for selling books ranking among Apple and Samsung in the tablet market? Imagine telling that to someone a few years ago.

Android phones are released at a very high rate from many different hardware manufacturers. While many of these devices are highly sought after by various demographics Google’s Nexus branded smartphones tend to be among the most highly hyped. Most of this hype is due to the fact that Google pays special attention to these phones which typically means Android updates long before other phones.

Now that both the Nexus One and Nexus S have been outclassed by competing smartphones all eyes are on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. This device features things such as a 4.65-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16 or 32GB of internal storage, 5 megapixel rear facing camera with 1080p video capture, front facing camera, LTE connectivity and of course the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.

As of now some markets have gotten access to the Galaxy Nexus with many different publications already going live with their reviews. However, us folks in the United States are still awaiting the release of the phone despite it being announced what seems like decades ago. Luckily, it has been said that the phone will be released sometime towards the beginning of December giving those anxiously awaiting the phone a release window to look forward to but still a more solid release date would be nice.

Today a screen shot of what is said to an internal Best Buy database has hit the web which we’ve included above courtesy of Engadget. As you can see, the Galaxy Nexus is listed as being released on December 11th. Unfortunately a price point is not included in the screen shot but previous leaks have let us know that the phone may be priced at the typical $199.99 with 2-year contract.

Make note that this leak will remain nothing more than a rumor until Samsung, Verizon, Best Buy, Google or anyone else officially involved with the matter comes forth to say more. On that note, don’t get too excited until one of the above mentioned entities makes an official announcement.

The viability of Adobe’s Flash on mobile platforms has been the topic of an ongoing debate. On one hand you have Apple who has taken a firm stance against Flash, refusing to support it with iOS and suggesting that HTML5 is the future. On the other hang you have Google who have given their full support to Adobe allowing them to produce a version of Flash for the Android mobile platform.

While several version of Flash have made their way to Android thus far the experience hasn’t exactly been stellar. Due to the changing pace of the market along with the every advancing sophistication of HTML5 Adobe finally threw in the towel saying that they would no longer be supporting platforms like Android. This brought users anxiously awaiting an Android 4.0 update at a cross roads. One route will take them to the sweet and savory Ice Cream Sandwich with no Flash while the other will bring them Flash but no Ice Cream Sandwich.

Luckily, Adobe is entering the ring one last time to support not only the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus but Android 4.0 in its entirey. In fact, the company recently went on record as saying that the Android 4.0 compatible version of Flash player will be out sometimes towards the beginning of next month. Not ony that but Adobe has also said that AIR will be making its way to Android 4.0 during the same release window giving developers who have been producing AIR powered apps the freedom to support at least one more release.

Will Android 4.0 really mark the end of Flash on mobile devices? All indicators point towards yes but the tech market has been known to take drastically different routes at a very fast pace. On that note, keep an eye on Adobe and their Flash player towards the end of Android 4.0′s life cycle to see what decision they ultimately end up making.

If we were to list out every Android powered phone from Samsung you would be reading for quite some time. That, of course, is being Samsung has been one of Android’s premiere hardware partners ever since the platform was released. In fact, Google seems to like Samsung so much that they’ve contracted them with not one, but two Nexus phones: the Nexus S and more recently, the Galaxy Nexus.

While Samsung’s Galaxy line up has largely made them waht they are today (at least in the mobile world) they do have other noteworthy phones on the market such as the DROID Charge. Currently available from Verizon Wireless for $149.99 wtih 2-year contract the DROID Charge features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 800 x 480 resolution, 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 2GB of internal storage with included 32GB microSD card, 8 megapixel rear facing camera with 720p video capture, front facing camera and a 1600mAh battery. Not exactly the highest end phone but definitely one that will suti some consumers especially thanks to the built-in 4G LTE connectivity.

The DROID Charge’s hardware may put it at a slight disadvantage when compared to devices like the Galaxy Nexus or Galaxy S II but where it really lacks is in its software department. At the time of this posting, the Samsung DROID Charge is till running Android 2.2 while many other devices are already preparing for an Android 4.0 update.

Luckily, Tuesday may be the day that the device receives the Android 2.3 update if recent reports are to be believed. These reports say that Verizon Wireless is preparing to roll out the update to DROID Charge owners all day long. Unfortunately this has yet to be confirmed but if it pans out expect an official announcement quite soon.

Google’s Android has grown immensely over the years not only in terms of marketshare but in its feature set as well. The most recent release of Android is none other than version 4.0 – commonly referred to as Ice Cream Sandwich. This release is set to merge both Honeycomb with Gingerbread and make a single platform that can be used on both tablets and smartphones – much like Apple does with iOS.

As of now there is no official way to get your hands on Android 4.0 but if you’re willing to port it to your device of choice then you’re welcome to do so seeing how Google recently released the update’s source code. If you’re one is against doing such things and would rather wait for an official way to grab Android 4.0 then your best chance is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which will serve as Android 4.0′s debut device.

Falling into Google’s Nexus smartphone line up alongside the Nexus One and Nexus S, the Galaxy Nexus will feature a 4.65-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, 5 megapixel rear facing camera with full HD video capture, 1.2 megapixel front facing camera, 1850mAh battery and connectivity for Verizon’s 4G LTE network. Of course, while the Galaxy Nexus’ specs are noteworthy its the Android 4.0 software that everyone is after.

But, while we’ve known all of this we still haven’t been able to pinpoint an official price tag for the Galaxy Nexus. Luckily, a leaked Verizon ad has appeared today and suggests that the Galaxy Nexus will go for $199.99 with 2-year contract. This goes against previous reports that said the Galaxy Nexus will be priced at the loftier $299.99 which had some consumers up in arms.

Whatever the case may be the Galaxy Nexus is expected to hit store shelves sometime towards the beginning of December meaning we won’t have long to wait. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted.

This was proven to us by the HP TouchPad which, when normally priced, had very few sales. However, once HP decided to cut the price tag down to $99 the TouchPad quickly became one of the most highly sought after devices on the market. While this is a bit of an extreme case companies like Amazon have taken note and worked it into their plans.

As you’re sure to know, Amazon’s Kindle Fire costs just $199.99 and packs a dual-core processor and 7-inch display among other things. It’s too early to tell just how well (or poor) the Kindle Fire will do against the iPad but analysts do have high hopes. In fact, some analysts have recently gone on record as saying they feel the Amazon Kindle Fire can reach sales of up to 12 million in 2012.

These numbers come from Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney who believes Amazon is capable of sales this high despite stark competition. If successful, Amazon could potentially be able to grab a noteworthy 15% of the tablet market but that remains to be seen. However, with all of the hype surrounding the device along with the extensive library of content it features things do look very promising.

Stay tuned as the story unfolds.

Google’s Android has been one of the most loved platforms on the market ever since it was released back in 2008. While the platform itself features many awesome things built right in the real magic is under the hood as Android is, for the most part, open source. This means every time a new release hits the market Google soon after will give the community full access to the source code. From this the hacking community has been known to port new releases to devices long before the official updates get pushed out. Additionally, they’ve been known to tweak the source code and re release them as custom ROMs – as is the case with CyanogenMod but we’ll get to that in another story.

Recently Google came forth to announce Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich along with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. At the time of the announcement we had assumed it would be quite some time before Google got around to releasing the source code but this wasn’t the case as not long after the announcement the soruce code was out for all to see. From this we’ve seen many different Ice Cream Sandwich ports on devices such as the Galaxy S II.

Today similar information has broke that says the Motorola Triumph offered by Virgin Mobile USA has gotten an Ice Cream Sandwich port. The deed was done by an AndroidForums user by the name of isaacj87 but unfortunately hasn’t released any information about how to go about doing this yourself. This most likely isn’t a bad thing considering infant ports like this have been known to be buggy or otherwise downright unfunctional.

On that note we’ll keep you posted and let you know when you’ll be able to port the latest and great version of Android to your own devices.

It’s no secret at all that Facebook has become the largest social network in the world. Not only do they have nearly a billion active users but a major motion picture dubbed The Social Network was created based on its founding only to go on and become a smash hit. However, Facebook is still largely in its infancy when compared to other big tech companies including Google, Microsoft and more. Due to this they currently only exist as the web based social network that can be accessed several different ways. While the social network itself has many different features including picture uploads, games and the same, Facebook has yet to make its way into the physical world.

If you’ve been paying attention you may remember that there were rumors of an official Facebook phone running a heavily modified version of Google’s Android. This only panned out to be slightly true as HTC came forth with devices such as the Status which feature a built-in Facebook button and heavy integration of the social network but it is not an official “Facebook phone”, persay.

These rumors were thought to have largely been squashed once the HTC Status made its way out but it seems that today they have resurfaced. Apparently, Facebook and HTC are working together closely to push out an official Facebook phone. As of now this is far from confirmed but it is said that Facebook will be putting a heavy emphasis on HTML5 as they have done with both Android and iOS potentially in hopes of breaking into the app market. OS wise they will be using Android but it is said to be a very heavily modified version.

Unfortunately we have no way to confirm or deny this but Facebook is definitely out for blood an with even Amazon recently entering the tablet market things are sure to heat up quite soon.

Microsoft has long been known as one of the biggest software developers in the world. This point is largely due to the success of their Windows desktop platform which still has over 85% of the desktop OS market. However, while the company has seen much success on the desktop platform things have been quite different in the mobile sector.

While their Windows Mobile platform did see varying levels of success its marketshare diminished considerably when platforms like iOS and Android rolled around. Flash forward to today and Android and iOS have largely been considered the two most popular mobile platforms in the world.

But while Microsoft may be lagging behind they aren’t down for the count as they showed us with their critically acclaimed Windows Phone 7 platform. As of now the platform controls a very small of the market when compared to iOS or Android but it only just made its debut towards the end of 2010 which means there is still much room to grow. Add to that the massive piles of money Microsoft has laying around for marketing, Windows Phone 7′s future seems quite bright.

One of Microsoft’s biggest WP7 hardware partners is HTC who also produce highly sought after Android phones. One of the latest outfit’s smartphones dubbed the HTC Titan has just been made available today from AT&T and stands as one of the platform’s most powerful. Running the latest Windows Phone 7 build dubbed Mango (otherwise known as version 7.5), the HTC Titan comes equipped with a 4.7-inch Super LCD display with 800 x 480 resolution, 1.5GHz single-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, 8 megapixel rear facing camera with 720p video capture and the normal array of sensors and connectivity options you would expect out of such a smartphone.

In terms of price AT&T is asking consumers to pay $199.99 with 2-year contract for the HTC Titan. Anyone interested?

Ever since opening their first book store in 1917 Barnes & Noble has been known as just that: a book retailer. However, much like Amazon, the company has dabbled in the electronics market first with their Nook eBook reader and later the Android powered Nook Color.

Originally destined to be not much more than a full color eBook reader the Nook Color has gone on to be one of the hacking community’s favorite tablets due to its low price tag. Due to the hacking attention given to the Nook Color we’ve seen everything from the Android Market to Android 3.2 Honeycomb get ported to the device.

With the recent announcement of the Kindle Fire from Amazon, Barnes & Noble fought back with the announcement of the Nook Tablet. Priced at $249.99 this device features a 7-inch display, 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, WiFi and a skinned version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Due to this last point it’s virtually a given that the Nook Tablet will eventually get the same hacking attention as its predecessor; the Nook Color.

In fact, just just 3 days after the Nook Tablet’s release comes a root method for the device. If you’re not familiar with rooting it is essentially Android’s version of jailbreaking which allows consumers to tweak the platform to their hearts desire. This is also the first step that would be needed to, say, port Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich to the tablet.

Unfortunately, hackers are still working on cracking the tablet’s boot loader which would ultimately lead to such ports. In the mean time, the root alone will allow you to do things like install the Android Market and other third party applications. This will come as a relief to those who would rather not go through the Barnes & Noble endorsed route of acquiring software.

If you’re willing to get your hands dirty in the root and want instructions head here.