An unplanned trip to Manhattan today. Stopped in some stores and pawed at or just looked at a few things. All photos have been resized any resampled to VGA; click any to enlarge.
Staples:
That’s the new Acer eight-inch full Windows 8 tablet. I don’t think that’s going to sell big. At eight inches, a 4:3 screen would be better. And the screen itself is a bit hinky, with colors going all weird when not viewed head-on. The one shot of the screen I have I can’t run because my mug is prominently reflected in it.
The Staples tablet selection is crap:
No Archos Titanium or Platinum, no Acer A1-810.
But at least now I know I don’t have to go to frikkin Target for any Google Play gift cards:
Microsoft Surface gets an endcap (note the prior signage):
And there was Kindle software installed on them. Kindle. Not Nook. No Nook despite Microsoft sinking so much money into Nook Media! Microsoft can’t find its own ass these days. Jeff Bezos beats them on their own devices!
The Kindle Touch that I complained about last time:
Amazon seems to have swapped it out for one that works. But it still seemed to me to lack any snap.
The whole Kindle display:
J&R:
That new Sony Xperia ten-inch tablet:
I’d been looking forward to pawing at it.
It’s as thin and as light as the reports:
But it seemed to me to lack snap.
The screen is nice:
But I hate the way Sony has molested Android:
People want vanilla Android, Sony. Add your apps, OK fine, but leave the damned UI alone.
I don’t see how Android tablets can get much thinner without giving up all standard ports. That will be a nightmare for everyone.
Best Buy:
The only Acer tablet was this, the seven-inch one:
I really wanted to fondle the Acer A1-810 — and they didn’t have it. It was supposed to be widely in stores in June. Hello, Acer?
Thickness:
If the A1-810 is just like that, I could live with it. I’m not fond of the trick many tablets use of narrowing the edges and then fattening out from there. Most tablets are just as thick as that Acer, but it’s been camouflaged by design. At least Acer is being honest.
P.C. Richard:
The same crap tablets everyone else has.
But I got to see this:
That’s a 4K TV from Sony.
That’s what HDTV should have been all along. I have no idea why people drool over the stupid large pixels of a 1920 x 1080 big screen TV. At 4K, the pixels are just about invisible at viewing distance. Note that I was standing close to it and I wasn’t bothered by the pixels. Fat chance we’ll ever get 4K cable TV — and if we do, it’ll be because the cable companies wipe out many channels to use that bandwidth to deliver 4K. What a shame.
On the street:
I don’t understand this:
Why would anyone with a smartphone want to use that touchscreen? And would people who don’t have smartphones even think to look for it? No.
Finally, this:
I have absolutely no idea what the hell that iPad ad means or is trying to say. Does even Apple know?
Brick and mortar stores are becoming a waste of time. J&R, Staples, Best Buy, P.C. Richard all had the same selection of tablets. (J&R had some craptabs, but who the hell counts those?) Want an Acer A1-810? You can’t get it. Want an Archos 80 Titanium? No. Why the hell should I ever bother stepping into anything other than an Apple Store?
As stores carry fewer and fewer choices, people are going to wise up and just call up Amazon to buy. All of these stores are cutting their own throats. The hell with them all.
Previously here:
Mike Cane’s xBlog 
Your comments on the 4K TV were interesting. I remember you were skeptical, but now that you’ve seen it, your reaction is consistent with everything else I’ve heard. I have yet to see one.
It makes me eager to see 8K TV. That should be like looking out a window.