We’ve seen countless Steve Jobs impersonators peddling a number of other products before, but this… well it certainly takes the cake for its total lack of class. Not because of the fact that they’re using Jobs’ “likeness” to peddle a different tablet, but it’s because it looks like they’re trying to cash in on his death for… comedy? In the ad, a Taiwanese Steve – complete with black turtleneck, blue jeans and glasses – is running a demo for the Action Pad, an Android-based tablet by relatively unknown Action Electronics. The wasn’t what threw us off though. It was the fact that they showed Jobs also wearing a halo and angel wings, ending with him saying “Thank God I finally get to play with other tablets.” Check out the video after the break.

It surely won’t get respect from Apple fans, but they’re certainly due for some attention… if not from the tech industry, then from Apple’s lawyers. If they went after the company who tried to create a Steve Jobs action figure – one that looked pretty decent in our opinion – then they certainly won’t like how his likeness was used on this clip.

From an advertising point of view, it certainly worked. Thanks to this stunt, people know about the Action Pad now. We don’t see anyone being moved to buy it because of the ad though. From what we can see, it looks pretty crappy. Certainly something real Steve Jobs would have dismissed as a “shit” product. The Action Pad is a 7-inch tablet that runs on Android 2.3.3, priced to go for 6990 yuan (US$236). Besides the controversial ad, it’s pretty forgettable.

A spokesperson for Action Electronics said that the ad wasn’t meant to “use his death” or make fun of Jobs”, but the angel wings and halo kind of contradicts the statement. Hey Action, you better recognize.

Asus could already be working on a follow-up to the Eee Pad Transformer Prime. Taiwan site NCCC has spotted an unreleased tablet labeled as the TF300T, coming with a certification from QuieTek that provides wireless testing. It doesn’t come with an official name yet, but judging by the model number, it could be a follow-up to the company’s latest flagship tablet, the Transformer Prime TF101.

Specifics weren’t revealed, but it has been described to come with a 10.1-inch screen and a design that’s similar to the Transformer Prime, except for the red back, of course. On the other hand, it could just be a test device or prototype that might never see a release. If it’s the real deal, we could get more info during the Mobile World Congress.

[via Electronista]

AT&T will start rolling out Huawei’s Android-based MediaPad tablet tomorrow, February 3. Exciting news for you if you were waiting for this baby to ship (on AT&T, specifically), but unless you have a business account, you’re going to be left out on this one. AT&T will only be offering the MediaPad to enterprise users, with pricing depending on the business account.

In case you missed the official introduction, the MediaPad is a 7-inch tablet that features a 1280 x 800 display up front and a 5MP auto-focus cam at the back. It runs on a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor that’s capable of 1080p video playback via HDMI output, and ships with Android 3.2.

AT&T didn’t mention a consumer version, but if you’re looking for one, T-Mobile will also be serving up the MediaPad as the “SpringBoard“.

While we certainly thought that the Razer Blade was an awesome gaming notebook, we never thought demand for a $2,800 notebook would be this high. So high, in fact, that Razer has run out of their initial stock within 30 minutes of putting it on sale.

If you weren’t aware of it before and you’re into high-end gaming systems, well you’re in for a treat. The 17-inch Razer runs on a 2.8GHz Core i7 processor, GeForce GT 555M graphics and 8GB RAM, but is made unique by a row of ten special gaming buttons and a touchscreen LCD to the right of the keyboard.

The extra buttons can be set to perform different in-game functions, while the secondary screen can show other gaming-related screens, such as character stats, inventory or a mini-map.

Interested? Well you’re going to have to wait a bit. According to a post on their Facebook page, Razer has explained that they’re currently working to put out another batch by mid-February, and will be sending out updates to those who signed up for notifications. If you haven’t yet, you can sign up for alerts here.

In case you didn’t catch the news last year – or you simply forgot about it because it seems like it took them forever to introduce it – the Asus Padfone is basically a two-in-one device, consisting of a smartphone that can dock into a 10-inch tablet.

The smartphone acts as the brains for the whole kit. The spec hasn’t been announced yet, but an early report described it to come running on NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 chipset and possibly arrive with Android 4.0. The tablet part basically acts as a dock that offers a larger screen and battery, with a door at the back for slotting in the smartphone.

Asus didn’t give out any clues regarding pricing and availability, but we should know more at MWC. In the meantime, here are a couple of promo videos to show you what this thing’s all about.

ZTE’s seven-inch V66 has already been detailed when it was spotted going through the FCC back in December, but if you were curious about its design, that report only had the device’s outlines. Well it just popped up again, this time in an actual colored photo in its Bluetooth SIG file.

The V66 was first unveiled in China during the PT/Expo Comm in Beijing back in September as the “T98,” but apparently got a name change to V66 once it hit the FCC (the V could mean that this one’s headed for Verizon in the US. Whatever the name, it should be pretty powerful once it gets released. The V66 is known to be one of the first few tablets to come running NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 quad-core processor for performance.

The rest of its spec includes a1280 x 800 display and 16GB of built-in storage. It’s expected to arrive running on Android 3.2, but it’s certainly set up to run on Android 4 (which it could come with depending on when ZTE plans to launch this device). The FCC drawings also included a 4G LTE logo at the back, which means it’s ready for Verizon’s network.

Samsung might not introduce the Galaxy S III at the Mobile World Congress, but it looks like they have something “big” to replace it. According to a rumor, Samsung will be announcing an update to their Galaxy Tab line that’s going to be powered by Samsung’s dual-core 2GHz Exynos 5250 processor and Android 4, and fronted by a WXQGA (2560 x 1600) screen that’s larger than 10 inches.

A prototype was first spotted during CES running on the Exynos 5250 chip and Android 4.0, but Samsung didn’t mention a launch date at the time. The rumor has been corroborated by two other reports though: BGR has detailed a similar device back in December, while German site TabTech.de has reported that  Samsung will indeed introduce the Galaxy Tab 11.6 at MWC. The image posted up top is a mockup they did of the device, according to the description.

[via Android and Me]

Not much guessing to be done here since the internal sheet prints everything out from the specs and features to the price and release date, so here’s what’s what: the ZTE Optik will rock a 7-inch display, a 1.2GHz processor, 16GB of built-in storage, and dual cameras (5MP rear, 2MP front). It’s going to arrive running on Android 3.2, will be powered by a 4,000mAh battery, and will feature 4G and Wi-fi connectivity. It can also share a connection, acting as a mobile hotspot for up to 5 devices.

Certainly not top of the line or anything to get excited about if you’re looking for the next big thing, but for a hundred bucks, it’s something you might want to look into if you’re looking for a bargain.

The ZTE Optik will be available online on February 5, and will be available in stores on March 11. Click on the image below for the full sheet. [via Android Central]

Details for Alienware’s notebook lineup for 2012 has been posted on Dell-Lab, spilling the goods on what’s in store for later this year. It’s not a complete spec list, but the leak at least confirms that Alienware will be releasing updates for their M18x, M17x, and M14x models.

According to the posted details, the 17-inch M17x R4 will feature GPU options that includes an AMD Radeon 7970M and NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 660M/ 675M, while the 14-inch M14x R2 will come with an unknown integrated GPU with 1GB and 2GB memory options and red or black body colors. The 18-inch M18x R2 was also mentioned with red or black exterior colors, but the rest of the details are still unknown.

It’s not much to go on at this point, but at least you know which models are getting a refresh this year. Dell hasn’t confirmed any of the mentioned 2012 models yet.

The upcoming Optimus Pad LTE will also rock a single 8MP camera at the back, which is a shift from the original’s dual 5MP cameras for recording 3D content (we guess the mobile 3D thing didn’t catch on, then). It does keep the 2MP webcam up front though, as well as an HDMI out port at the side for porting video to an HD screen.

The Optimus Pad LTE also ships with Android 3.2, and a larger 6,800mAh battery to keep it running longer with a live LTE connection.

LG didn’t announce pricing and availability, but they plan to ship it to Korea first.

[via Electronista]