Samsung Unveil rival to Apple's iPad

Samsung is launching its strongest challenge yet to Apple’s iPad, releasing new tablet devices that it claims contain the sharpest screens on the market.

The Korean company is pinning its hopes on the machines, which feature displays containing four million pixels, making them among the most powerful and clearest screens to be built within a tablet.


In contrast, the iPad Air, Apple’s latest tablet, has a screen that contains about 3.1 million pixels in a “retina display”, which it claims has the maximum number the human eye can perceive when held at arm’s length.
Samsung’s new devices, the Galaxy Note Pro and Galaxy Tab Pro, also feature a number of software upgrades and a suite of original “productivity apps”, such as word processors, that it believes will appeal to business users.

The tablets are among a number of devices the Korean manufacturer is expected to release at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, the world’s leading gadgets show, which is taking place this week.

The annual event is a showcase for new gadgets and technology, with companies such as Sony, Panasonic, Huawei, LG, Intel and many others set to release new products in the coming days. But the focus for many of these companies will be to attract millions of customers with small upgrades to devices that are already bestsellers, such as smartphones, high-definition televisions and tablets.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note Pro comes with a 12.2 inch screen and an “S-Pen” – a stylus for handwriting notes on the screen. With its letterbox-shaped display, the company hopes it will be a hit with consumers who use their tablets to watch television and movies.

During a demonstration with the device, pictures and video were noticeably sharper on the tablets than on rival devices. However, it weighs about 750g, making it more than a third heavier than the iPad Air, which will make them harder to hold for long periods of time.

The Galaxy Tab Pro will also be available with 8.4 inch and 10.1 inch screens. Pricing has not been announced, but is expected to start at £400 – about the same as an iPad. All of the devices are expected to go on sale in Britain by the end of March.

Although companies like Samsung, Google and Amazon have launched popular cheap and small tablets with seven-inch screens, few have been able to compete with sales of Apple’s expensive and larger iPad. But in recent years, Samsung has become the Californian company’s greatest challenger, overtaking Apple to become the world’s largest seller of smartphones.

Yesterday, LG showed off a suite of home appliances, such as refrigerators and washing machines, that can be controlled by sending text messages to the machines using a mobile phone.

Dave Van Der Waal, a senior LG excecutive, said the “Homechat” system would allow people to text their vacuum cleaner to tell it to begin cleaning their home, or receive messages from their fridge telling them what items they needed to buy from the supermarket.

Culled from Jimi Disu