Back in Barcelona alongside the Padfone Infinity announcement, we also learned that its predecessor, the Padfone 2, would finally be launching on UK shores. The phone/tablet combination officially launched in the UK on March 1, and now it has become available subsidized on a new 2-year contract at Carphone Warehouse. 

Best of all, the Padfone 2 can be had for free on contracts from £33 per month. All deals are being offered on the Vodafone network, but considering what you get hardware wise it's not a particularly bad deal. Despite being somewhat overshadowed by the forthcoming Padfone Infinity, the Padfone 2 is no slouch. With a Snapdragon S4 Pro, 2GB of RAM and a Super IPS+ HD display, it still packs some impressive hardware specs. And, since the tablet portion is also included, it's pretty decent value for money too. 

Source: Carphone Warehouse

Amazon is announcing both wider-scale availability of its largest Kindle Fire -- the HD 8.9-inch -- along with a price cut of both Wifi and 4G versions. Starting today the new, larger tablet will come to Europe -- UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain -- as well as Japan. That's quite a big increase in availability, as Amazon has typically struggled to push out its Kindle products to other countries which has likely been due to a lack of content deals to sell media on the devices. Along with the increased availability, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch is receiving a price cut to $269 for the Wifi model and $399 if you want a 4G data connection.

That's a drop of $30 on the Wifi model and  whole $100 on the 4G model. As for the data pricing on the 4G model, the plans are staying the same at $50 per year for 250MB of data per month through AT&T. In typical Amazon fashion the new, cheaper Kindle Fires are immediately available for purchase.

Source: Amazon; (2)

Sprint has begun the rollout of Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean) to its version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. Enhancements will include:

• Google Now
• Smooth transitions enable effortless movement
• Expandable, actionable notifications
• Widgets that resize automatically

The update is being pushed wirelessly and has just begun to rollout. If you have a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 from Sprint and haven't seen it yet, sit tight, it's coming. Great news for everyone who has been waiting patiently for the benefits of Jelly Bean on their larger screen.

If you've received the update yet or just want to see what others are saying about it, hit up out Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 Forum!

A quick heads up to anyone in the UK that might have toyed with picking up an Amazon Kindle Fire -- there's some savings to be had from the Carphone Warehouse. Previously, the RRP on the Kindle Fire has been £129 with the Kindle Fire HD beginning at £159 for the 16GB version. 

At Carphone Warehouse the price on the entry-level Kindle Fire has been slashed to just £89, and the 16GB Kindle Fire HD has been reduced down to £139. Despite not offering a traditional Android tablet experience, the Kindle Fire is still a great casual tablet and media consumption device. And, at these prices, there's even more to be said for giving them a look. 

Source: Carphone Warehouse

Google is expanding Play Store availability of its devices today by bringing the Nexus 7 to Korea directly. Sure the Nexus 7 has been out for some time now, but that doesn't mean its not still one of the best options when it comes to the 7-inch form factor. And any time that you can buy Google's products directly from them rather than a third party retailer is a bonus. Korea will have access to both 16 and 32GB versions, but there's no indication (although we're not great at reading Korean) that there's a mobile data version right at this moment.

Let's hope that Google continues this trend of bringing the Play Store -- and Nexus devices as a whole -- to more countries.

Source: @GoogleNexus (Twitter)

If you're in the market for a 10-inch Android tablet, Sony's Xperia Tablet Z is one of the more compelling non-Nexus offerings out there, as we discovered during our time with the device at Mobile World Congress. There's no fixed Western release date for the tablet just yet, but as ever Japan's getting first dibs on this new Sony device, with carrier NTT Docomo announcing Japanese availability of its 4G LTE version from Mar. 22. Pre-orders are scheduled to begin from this Saturday, Mar. 9.

Like the Wifi-only version we saw in Barcelona, the LTE-equipped Tablet Z is powered by a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU at 1.5GHz, with 2GB of RAM, a 1080p display and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean backing up Sony's Xperia UI. It's also sporting an incredibly thin chassis design, and at 6.9mm thick, Sony says its tablet is the world's thinnest.

The Sony Xperia Tablet Z with LTE will set Japanese buyers back a hefty ¥85,470 ($913) at launch. For more on the Xperia Tablet Z, check out our hands-on feature from MWC.

Source: NTT Docomo; via: XperiaBlog

News Corp. will be announcing a 10-inch Android tablet designed for K12 schools Wednesday at the SXSWedu conference in Austin, Texas according to the New York Times. Led by former chancellor of New York City schools Joel Klein, News Corp.'s Amplify division is aiming to make headway with Android into the school system, and their first offering is an ASUS built tablet, an entire curriculum, and the infrastructure to support it all.

The tablet uses what Amplify is calling a “blended learning” model that combines new technology with current teaching methods. When a student starts to drift away from the prepared lesson, they will be warned with a pop-up advising them to put their "eyes on teacher". In addition, students will be able to take their tablet home each night, and use it to play educational games.

A tablet running the special software, training, and customer care options starts at $299, with a two-year subscription for an additional $99 yearly. For students without Internet access at their homes, a premium model will be available with a 4G data plan at $349.

The pricing is reasonable, and it appears that News Corp. is serious about providing support. It's nice to see Android move into a space once dominated by Apple and Microsoft, and we wish everyone involved the best of luck.

Source: NYT

If you're looking to get your hands on the elusive official dock for the Nexus 7, it's now finally listed in Google Play for $29.99. Google has thus far set a limit of two per person.

The dock, which charges the tablet via the pogo pins as well as serves as an audio output via a 3.5mm jack, runs $29.99. You can read our complete review of it here.

Google's currently listing it with a 1- to 2-week shipping time, which generally means there's a better than average chance you'll actually get it sooner than that. (We're currently seeing an anticipated shipping date of March 17, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, being a Sunday and all.)

Thanks, Bill!

Just a quick heads up that the Verizon LTE version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 that we first told you would be landing on March 7 ... is now officially landing on March 7. It'll be available in stores and online for $599.99.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 showcases Samsung's S Pen, with a number of apps and features designed specifically for it. Samsung showed it off for Big Red back at CES in January.

See our complete Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 review from August 2012.