eWEEK Europe Readers Want Android Tablets

Leaving aside dull business needs, what would the average eWEEK Europe reader want for leisure time? The answer, it turns out is an Android-based tablet along the lines of the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Twenty-six percent of the people responding to eWEEK Europe’s gadget poll said they’d love an Android tablet like the Galaxy, while another 18 percent said their next personal-use gadget would be an Android phone. The operating system clearly is going from strength to strength, even despite problems with the Android 2.2 on some operators’ phones.

Apple who?

Apple did poorly in the poll, even though the short list held three Apple devices, including the massively-hyped iPad, the recently re-launched iPod and the Apple TV, which is sure to spark another Apple frenzy.

Those three devices together only just matched the Android tablet’s showing, with the iPad only desired by 14 percent of readers, surpringly given its messianic reception. Maybe 86 percent of our readers already have an iPad…?

And it seems that no-one wants an iPhone – not even in the “Other” category.

Nokia’s N8 would seem to be one of the most anticipated product launches of the year, and it makes a respectable showing: 12 percent of our readers want to use the 12 Megapixel, HD video camera that is also a phone.

But RIM would be disappointed that its biggest launch, the Blackberry Torch, got only 6.5 percent, despite our reviewers deeming it better than an iPhone.

As we predicted, the “Other” category was well represented, making up ten percent, and including such gems as a Swiss Army knife, and a hi-fi turntable.

Two readers wanted a Kindle, and two wanted an Archos Gmini 402 media player.

Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, was that two readers wanted a Windows Mobile 7 phone. It’s been an uphill struggle for Microsoft, pushing a new version of a much-hated OS, and playing catch-up with so many other attractive products, but the company should perhaps take some comfort that a fraction (albeit a tiny fraction) of eWEEK readers, is prepared to say, unprompted, that Windows Mobile 7 is the device they most want in the world.

Next: assessing the Hurd instinct

We’ve asked your opinion on gadgets and trends, and we feel this time we can trust you with a hot potato: breaking news.

One month ago, Mark Hurd was keeping his neatly-coiffed head down at HP, content to run the company renowned as the dullest in the industry, but then it all blew up. Cleared of sexual harassment, he nevertheless left his job at HP over expenses, and took up a co-presidency at Oracle, on nearly $1 million, and provoked a lawsuit from HP.

That’s left us frankly confused (no matter how hard we try to analyse it). So we’re asking you.

Why did Oracle hire Hurd? Was it for his squeaky CEO hair, his cloud expertise, or out of sympathy for a man done down by what Larry Ellison described as “cowardly corporate political correctness“? Or was it all just a media play, designed to make HP look really, really stupid, and to boost Oracle’s stock in the process.

The poll is on the left column, please give it a click. If you have a better answer, that’s what the “Other” option is for.

And remember – this is your chance to be heard (but not Hurd).