Razer unveils another potentially interesting concept design  at CES 2012-- "Project Fiona," a 10.1" multitouch tablet with a pair of gamepad-style handles attached to the sides, aiming directly at the gaming market.

The prototype carries an Intel Core i7 processor, together with a 3-axis gyroscope, magnetometer, accelerometer and built-in force feedback. Connectivity comes through wifi and Bluetooth (Razer gives no mention of USB or HDMI ports), while Dolby Theatre v4 enchances audio.

No details are available on battery life, either.

Being a Windows machine it will feature a hybrid UI allowing for immediate access to games, accessible via Windows 8 app. The company says most games should be playable on the device without additional modification, but developers will be able to add Fiona-specific control schemes to take advantage of the touch screen and accelerometer.

Some of you might be reminded of other fascinating Razer concepts that never got to see life beyond prototype stage (so far), the Switchblade and Blade gaming laptops. Will Project Fiona break the pattern? Razer hopes the device will be available sometime around Q3 or Q4 2012, once Windows 8 is out on the market.

Go Project Fiona

Toshiba launches the Excite X10 tablet at CES 2012-- the thinnest tablet from the company yet, with a 7.7mm profile and a 10.1" 1280x800 Gorilla Glass display.

Powering the device is a dual-core OMAP 4430 1.2GHz CPU from Texas Instruments, while Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11b/g/n wifi provide connectivity. Ports come in micro varieties of HDMI, USB 2.0 and SD card slot.

It also has built-in speakers supporting Toshiba SRS sound enchancement technology, a 2MP front-facing camera a 5MP back camera with an LED backlight. Android 4.0 acts as OS.

Models will be available with either 16 or 32GB of storage from "mid first quarter" 2012.

Go Toshiba CES 2012 Plans

Analysts might describe 2011 as year of the tablet, with forecasts predicting further growth for a device category most vendors dismissed before 2010. But one can also say 2011 was a very hard year for all tablets that weren't iPads...

Apple launched the iPad 2 on March-- and while the device was more of an lighter and thinner evolution than an outright revolution, it still sold an estimated 500000 on its first weekend in the US.

In the meantime, other vendors scrambled to launch the competition. Google optimised Android for tablet use with Honeycomb, which found use in the Motorola Xoom (the first tablet to run the OS), the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (more about that later) and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, the first tablet using Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 3 processor.

If DigiTimes sources are correct, Apple will reveal two new iPads at iWorld 2012-- a high-end version and mid-range model, both featuring 9.7" displays with QXGA (1536x2048) resolutions.

The iPad 2 will remain on the market as the low-end option competing directly (price-wise) with the Kindle Fire and its ilk. Previous rumours insisted Apple was to make a smaller, 7" device.

The high-end iPad will apparently carry a quad-core A6 processor, 14000mAh battery (nearly twice in capacity of the iPad 2's) and an 8MP camera, while the mid-range iPad will have a 5MP camera. The two devices will also have screens lit by dual-LED bars.

The unusually detailed report says Samsung is taking care of processor and CMOS image sensor manufacture, while Sharp is supplying backlight units and display panels.

Are these latest DigiTimes rumours solid fact or simply hot air? We'll know soon enough-- iWorld (formely "Macworld") will take place in less than a month's time, on January 26 2012.

Go Apple to Unvel 2 Versions of Next-Gen iPad (DigiTimes)