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.

Toshiba's current tablet - the Thrive - may have such a low market presence that it's name is new to even Android fans, let alone its target audience. The signs are that's about to change, however, at next weeks Berlin IFA where there's word of a new model rivalling the best from Samsung, Asus and Dell about to be launched - codename "Excite". The usual pattern is for these "leaks" to become official just before the trade show commences, so if that happens we'll report back with a fuller piece on it, since, as is always the case with unnanounced kit, there's not much info right now to go on. Source: techcrunch

Samsung has "inadvertently" confirmed the Nexus Prime in a whacky legal spat. In a C&D letter Samsung sent to geek.com, it claimed they were "in posession of and intending to release or otherwise publicly disclose without Samsung's consent, firmware for the Nexus Prime." This all but confirms the speculation which has been going on for months now, so no doubt even more around its spec will begin. There's talk of an AMOLED 4.3" screened device running dual core 1.5Ghz CPU's, and it's pretty much a given it'll be running Ice Cream Sandwich and sport an NFC chip. Any more tidbits you know of? Add them in the comments...

Tablet S - previously known as the S1 - will be Sony's first Android tablet and - in the usual Sony Style - adds a twist or two to the usual black slab format. For a start, it's shape is more of a wedge, which Sony reckon is better for use over longer periods. Its 9.4" touchscreen sports a resolution of 1280x768 and is initially built with Honeycomb (Android 3.1), but full support for the next Android version, Ice Cream Sandwich, is promised when it's available. At home in both work and office environments, the Tablet S supports DLNA streaming so hooking it up to your Sony (or any other compatible) TV will be a snap. It's dual cameras, together with full WiFi and 3G connectivity will make video calls easier than ever. Nice work guys!

Ok we admit it - Verzo is a new name to us, but if their plans for the world of Android play out the way they hope it will be familiar to everyone come September, when they launch their first Android handset, the Kinzo. Since not much is known at this stage, except that it was designed by Novague, we can only (very unusually for us!) repost the Verzo press release plus a few more pics (courtesy of Engaget), after the break. At launch the Kinzo is to be sold online only, and initially to the US with Russia, China, South America and the Middle East to follow. Let's hope it doesn't go the way of another handset we all know about with a similar but shorter name...

And so it begins.

Someone at Google has decided enough is enough, and pushed the big red button in the form of the bogus patents blog post. This all has, Mr Anderson, the sound of inevitability about it. It's almost certainly no co-incidence this happened right at the time the news Android powers almost 50% of the worlds smartphones came out - that train Neo dodged is literally unstoppable. The rest have to try to use other tactics beyond the products themselves. This is business, and any weapon will do. But let's rewind a little. How did we get here? And just where is "here" anyhow? How deep does that rabbit hole go?

Dells first 10.1 inch tablet is the Android Honeycomb based Streak 10 Pro. It's going to hit the Chinese market first, and comes at a time when the second generation Android tablet market is just getting interesting - Samsungs Galaxy Tab 10.1 also hits China next month. The Streak Pro is Dells first regular tablet device but it's no stranger to them as they already cut their teeth on the Streak 7 inch model last yer. However, that was running a version of Android designed for phones and had a lukewarm reception with users. The Streak Pro sports 2 cameras, a 5MP rear facing one and a 2MP one on the front, and its screen resolution is a respectable 1280x800. One potential downer lies in the fact it's a WiFi only device - presumably you're supposed to tether to a handset or whatever when you're out on the go. In any case, this won't be too strenuous since it weighs only 1.6 pounds.