Chinese telecommunications manufacturer Huawei has announced a new tablet device called MediaPad.

It has a 7-inch 'HD' screen - promising a higher pixel density than the iPad 2 - and will run the Android operating system on a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm chip.

HP's TouchPad, the first tablet to use the webOS platform, is due to hit the UK in July. It'll be released in the USA on 1st July with UK and Ireland availability to follow a few days later.

There'll be two versions: a 16GB WiFi model and a 32GB WiFi model.

A new report from IHS iSuppli says shipments of desktop computers and notebooks in the first quarter of 2011 have declined when compared to the same period in 2010. Worldwide PC shipments reached 81.3 million units in Q1 2011, down 0.3% from 81.6 million during the first quarter of 2010.

IHS iSuppli says the attention surrounding tablets contributed to weak consumer demand for PCs in the first quarter of 2011, although the extent of this cannibalisation is unclear.

Ralph Jennings of voanews.com writes:

Taiwan's massive high-tech industry has long been synonymous with building gadgets cheaply for foreign companies. But at the country's annual technology convention, locally designed tablet computers are hoping to change that image by challenging Apple's wildly popular iPad.

After decades of making PCs at a discount for more well-known foreign companies, Taiwan firms are using their manufacturing experience to design their own machines.

Microsoft has been showing off the next version of Windows at the Computex technology show in Taiwan. It's codenamed 'Windows 8' and will be designed for touch-centred devices, including tablets, as well as conventional PCs.

The new operating system will work on x86 and ARM-based processors.