ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Google officially unveils Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich) at a Hong Kong Samsung event, where Samsung announces the first smartphone running on the OS-- the Galaxy Nexus.

Ice Cream Sandwich offers a gelataria of improvements on previous Android iterations-- unifying the Google platform as it merges the smartphone (Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread) and tablet (Android 3.0 aka Honeycomb) versions of the OS.

The UI gets a complete makeover, thanks to tweaks ranging from a new font ("Roboto") adorning the menus, refined animations and the elimination of physical navigation buttons via virtual buttons in the system bar.

Security gets something of an improvement-- facial recognition. Google calls the feature "Face Unlock," and... it failed to work as planned during the on-stage demo.

The OS also supports Near Field Communications (NFC) with "Android Beam," allowing content sharing between NFC-enabled handsets through tapping devices together.

As is typical (so far, at least) with new Android iterations, Samsung unveils a flagship handset-- the Galaxy Nexus, carrying a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of storage and a 4.65", 1280x720 super AMOLED Samsung touchscreen.

The Android 4.0 SDK is already available for developers, while customers will get to taste the OS once the Galaxy Nexus launches in Europe this November.

Go Android 4.0 for Users

Go Unwrapping Ice Cream Sandwich on the Galaxy Nexus

EMEA PC shipments total 26.6M units in Q3 2011 according to Gartner-- a -2.9% Y-o-Y decline, the 3rd consecutive decline for the market.

Consumer demand remains weak in, with lower sell-in to the channel.

Gartner says Q-o-Q growth provides a better picture of the market due to the current uncertain environment-- in which case the market shows 17.1% Q-o-Q growth, higher than seasonally expected and a sign of potential stability after 4 weak quarters.

The Gartner totals include desk-based and mobile PCs (including mini-notebooks) but not tablets.

Acer keeps on pulling the market average down-- “The impact on the market of Acer’s difficulties is clear,” Gartner says, as Acer continues suffering from poor performance and prolonged inventory clearance, declining by -39.3% Y-o-Y and holding 13.6% share of the Q3 2011 market.

HP beats Acer and becomes top EMEA PC vendor, with 20.1% market share and shipments totalling 5.3M with 2.9% Y-o-Y growth. Gartner remarks "HP managed the impact of separating its PC division better than we had expected."

Asus overtakes Dell to 3rd place, with shipments totalling 3.6M (with 13.3% Y-o-Y growth) thanks to increased mobile PC sales in both consumer and SMB markets. Dell follows with 7.4% market share, shipments totalling 2.4M units and declines of -2.4% Y-o-Y.

Lenovo is 5th with strong performance in both enterprise and consumer markets, growing by 22.2% Y-o-Y with shipments reaching 2M units.

Gartner concludes many PC vendors were hoping tablet shipments would boost their H2 2011 growth-- but with the collapse of non-Apple tablet market, most are going back to pushing PCs to retailers. However retailers remain cautions, shortening order lead times and passing more costs to PC vendors in a period where margins are under pressure.

Go Gartner PC Market Quarterly Statistics

Salt might cause havoc to your blood pressure, but it could also be key to boosting hard drive capacities by 6 times, according to the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

The discovery (a collaboration with the National University of singapore and the Data Storage Institute) involves "a process that can increase the data recording density of hard disks to 3.3 Terabits per square inch, six times the recording density of current models" through the addition of sodium chloride (regular table salt) to the manufacturing process.

The addition of salt to the HDD development solution causes the creation of smaller, regular bit patterns on the surface of each magnetic plattern-- boosting data storage capacities to 1.7 terabits per square inch, with the capacities of up to 3.3 terabits per square inch also possible.

In comparison the latest drive models hold up to 500 gigabits per square inch.

The researchers say the new process could be commercialised by 2016-- with the advandtage of using the same equipment and technology already in use in disk media manufacture.

Go Packing in 6 Times More Storage Density With the Help of Table Salt

Remember how HP has retail stores selling webOS-based devices? Not anymore, as HP hammers the last nail into the webOS coffin by closing down the US stores and gets rid of any remaining inventory.

Reports emerge of the stores selling Veer handsets for $50 and Pixi units for all of $25 (or $15 for 4 or more).

The news is just the last in a series relating to the HP fire sale, where TouchPad prices dropped to around $100.

We can definitely say our farewells to Palm now, then-- unless HP manages to find a willing buyer.

Go HP Closes Palm Retail Stores Forever (Mobilemag.com)

Go Arise from the Grave: The TouchPad is (sort of) Back