It looks like Samsung has just taken the wraps off its latest tablet offerings, with the Galaxy Tab 2 (7.0) -- an ICS-laced follow-up to the company's original seven-incher. Available in both 3G and WiFi varieties, this redux doesn't mark a huge departure from its predecessor, packing a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and a 1024 x 600 LCD.

The big changes, however, come in the software department, with the Galaxy Tab 2 shipping with Android 4.0 straight out of the box. Other than that, you'll find a three-megapixel rear-facing camera, a VGA shooter up front, Bluetooth capabilities, and HSPA+ connectivity.

No word yet on pricing or availability, but it's worth noting that we first saw this announcement hit Samsung's RSS feed earlier this morning, and it appears to have been pulled since then. It all looks awfully official to us, but when it becomes officially official, we'll be sure to update this post accordingly. Until then, be sure to head past the break for a shot of its backside.

Finnish mobile giant Nokia has finally announced the white Nokia Lumia 800 for the European market. The stylish handset should hit retail by the end of the month, while other markets will get it a bit later.

The specs remain unchanged: 3.7-inch screen, 1.4GHz processor, 16GB of storage and Windows Phone Mango. The launch coincides with the worst cold snap seen in Europe in decades, but even after a few hours of shoveling snow, the white Lumia 800 still looks great.

With the ever-shrinking laptops of today, space constrains mean that each component on the logic board has lesser board space, as is the case with audio. The cylindrical capacitors and FETs on PC motherboards are reduced to weaker surface-mount ones to conserve board space, on laptop logic boards. Audio quality takes a beating. Hence there's a sizable market for USB audio devices that provide better audio for laptops. Enermax' entry into it is the DreamBass AP001, a 2-channel USB audio device. It is designed to look like a vacuum tube that gives it a classy analog amp look.

In reality, it is completely digital. At the heart of it is a VIA VT1620A USB 2.0 2-channel HD audio CODEC, which provides stereo output with 24-bit resolution and 96 kHz sample-rate. It has a signal-noise ratio of 80~90 dBA, which is not much of a departure from most laptops' HDA CODECs, if it isn't for the MOSFET-based amplifier circuit packed into the DreamBass AP001, that's capable of 80Hz/+6dB Bass.

The device features a 3.5 mm stereo jack and mic input. Enermax also has a variant called the AP001E, which includes earphones that have 10 mm drivers, 95 dBA SNR, and 32 ohm impedance. The DreamBass AP001 is priced at 3,280 JPY (US $43); the AP001E goes for 3,980 ($52.2). It could be a good investment if you think your laptop's audio sounds like a greeting card.

Lenovo has refreshed its IdeaPad Y470 series with a new model, boasting new AMD discrete graphics and a beefy processor. The new Y470p retains the same 1366x768 14-inch screen, but under the bonnet it packs a 2.2GHz Core i7-2670QM quad-core, Radeon HD 7690M graphics with a 1GB frame buffer and 8GB of RAM. A 750GB hard drive is on board, along with a DVD burner.

This is a pretty impressive spec for a 14-inch all-rounder, but there’s more. The list price is $1,499, but the web price is $1,249. However, the model is up for preorder for just $799, which makes it our deal of the day.

You can check out the product page here.

Google’s Android Market is apparently slowly transforming into the Typhoid Mary of the mobile world. In an effort to speed up development Google adopted a somewhat more liberal attitude to app vetting. Of course, after the fun part, the uglier side of promiscuity tends to rear its ugly face. According to Symantec, between 1 and 5 million users may be at risk. The insecurity outfit found that 13 apps on the market contain a free serving of Android Counterclank, a nasty Trojan designed to collect confidential information from Android devices.

The apps are no longer listed on the market, but the damage has already been done. The whole point of dropping restrictions on developers is to encourage small players to enter the market. However, if vetting is so weak as to allow such incidents, many users will simply start to shy away from anything offered by small developers, which sort of defeats the whole point.

You can find the list of affected apps at Symantec.

Initially set for a December 20th roll-out, the student-friendly ThinkPad X130e 11.6-inch laptop has now found its way to Lenovo's online shop and where it's awaiting orders (actual shipments start on February 9).

The X130e features a durable construction (rubber bumper around top cover, extra-tough bezel, hinges, keyboard and ports), it runs Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, and packs an Intel or AMD processor, an LED-backlit (1366 x 768) display, integrated graphics, up to 8 GB of RAM, up to a 500 GB hard drive (or a 128 GB SSD), Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, optional Bluetooth and mobile broadband, and a 6-cell battery allowing for up to 8 hours of operation.

Currently Lenovo is offering two base configurations for this machine, one priced at $429, with an AMD E-300 (1.3 GHz) APU, 4 GB of RAM and a 250 GB HDD, and one costing $549 that boasts an Intel Core i3-2367M (1.4 GHz) CPU, 4 GB of RAM and a 250 GB HDD. Both are available here.

Nokia still won't talk Windows Phone but it's willing to remind us that Symbian isn't technically dead yet so it went ahead to announced the Nokia 603 smartphone which runs Symbian Belle.

Coming in black and white (but users will have colorful rear covers to spice it up), this new phone measures 113.5 x 57.1 x 12.7 mm, it weights 109.6 grams and has a 3.5-inch (640 x 360) scratch-resistant ClearBlack touchscreen, a 1GHz processor, 2GB of storage space, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera (can record 720p video), NFC, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS, FM radio, and a micro USB port.

The Nokia 603 will ship later this quarter and cost about €200 before taxes or operator subsidies.

An updated version 2.5 of Skype for Android has now been made available and it comes with support for 14 more Android devices (smartphones and tablets), with video enhancements, but also with ads (these won't show for people with Skype Credit, a Calling or Skype Premium subscription).

Skype 2.5 allows for both portrait and landscape video calls, it brings improved support for Bluetooth headsets, it allows users to edit and delete IM messages, and, as mentioned, it expands device support to include Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, HTC Nexus One, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V, LG Optimus Black, Motorola Droid 3, Motorola Xoom, Acer Iconia Tab A500 and more.

The Linux Foundation and the LiMo (Linux Mobile) Foundation have announced a partnership that is suppose to result in the development of a new Linux-based, cross-architecture (both x86 and ARM-supporting) software platform called Tizen. It is supposed to have a "state-of-the-art reference user interface" and will feature application programming interfaces based on HTML5 and WAC. The upcoming platform will target everything from smartphones and tablets to smart TVs, netbooks and in-vehicle infotainment systems.

This new project signals the demise of MeeGo, but the team behind it is promising to work hard on ensuring that users and developers can transition to Tizen as smooth as possible. Spearheaded, at least development-wise, by Intel and Samsung, Tizen is planned to debut in Q1 2012, with the first devices powered by it being expected around mid-2012.

iPad has regained its 80% tablet market share in the North American region as of July 30th, despite falling to around 74 percent earlier this year. During the quarter of April to July, iPads accounted for 6 million of the 7.5 million tablets shipped in the U.S. and Canada. The figures come from research group Strategy Analytics, who calls Apple a "formidable market leader".

One analyst said that Apple remains a long way ahead of its main rivals such as Motorola, Samsung, RIM, Asus and HTC. However, according to the firm, Amazon will become a strong challenger when it announces its much-hyped tablet/e-reader.