More IFA excitement - Lenovo have launched the A1 IdeaPad 7" tablet running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). The screen size is 1024x600, it's internal storage capacity is 8GB and it sports a 3Meg rear camera with a smaller resolution one at the front for video calls. It's CPU is a TI OMAP3621 model,  the same one as the Nook Color uses and it has full GPS and a MicroSD card slot, all powered by a 3,700 mAh battery. This looks a cracking little tablet for a cracking little price - under $200, with a look and feel which gives the impression it's way above that price point. Available in black, white blue and ... pink. Nice touch, Lenovo!

Cool! "Note", the new Samsung 5.3" Tab, has been launched at IFA and is the second we've reported on today to sport a stylus. This is a brave form factor - too big for a smartphone, yet too small for a tablet, but it looks like Samsung have that covered with the stong emphasis on it being all note based - hench the name. The idea is for it to be a direct replacement for pen and paper, and features a pressure-sensitive "S Pen". The note taking concept goes much deeper than rival efforts such as the HTC Flyer since Samsung plan to ship an SDK with it opening up the note API to all manner of cool apps (a shared whiteboard is one of the examples). So, as long as no-one objects to the shape of its corners we can look out for it in the not-too-distant future ;-)

HTC's "Puccini" tablet will be known as the "Jetstream" when it hits the States, supposedly within 2011, but will also be known as the "Skyrocket" in Europe. It sports a new UI - an evolution from HTC's sense for smartphones - and is expected to be running Android 3.2, or even whatever Ice Cream Sandwich will be based on (probably Android 4.0) from the start. A few details are available such as its dual core 1.5Ghz CPU, so unlike the 7" Flyer it won't be criticised as being underpowered, an 8-megapixel camera, and its USP - the "Scribe" stylus which will let you annotate pages in a natural way, complementing the native touchscreen support Android provides. With this, and the new tablets from the other serious players, it really does look like the pattern seen with smartphones and Android is repeating itself again. Hooray!

The one that started it all is back! Sony's iconic Walkman brand is undergoing a fantastic metamorphosis and could be totally Android based. Currently only a prototype, this would go head-to-head with Apples iPod - a smart move, given the rapidly closing gap between the quantity and quality of available apps in both Androids and Apples app stores. Designed to seamlessly hook up to Sonys Cloud music service, "Music Unlimited", this will also play killer games and streaming video. Pricing is everything, but can't even be guessed at for such an early stage concept. We'll just have to wait and see ... and make.believe ;-)

Market research shows many more Android handsets are bought by men than women. HTC wants to change that, so it's launching the HTC Bliss in September: the first female-friendly Android handset. It's different in both the hardware and software - the hardware is a stylish pearl green colour with ultra-rounded corners (careful!) and the 3.7" form factor is better suited to the female hand than the current trend for megasize units. The software differs in a new version of HTC Sense, the UI layer HTC adds to the standard Android look and feel. Its also expected to give social networking features a boost, but wether the market research they have been conducting with women regarding calorie ciounting and shopping will actually make their way into onboard apps remains to be seen.