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Best Buy — a popular consumer electronics retailer in the US — has started pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9. Two versions are available, a 16GB WiFi version for US$469.99 and a 32GB WiFi version that will be selling for US$569.99. The pre-order page however didn’t yet include a launch date for the device.

We have been told that the Galaxy Tab 8.9 will be making it to Malaysia in about a month’s time after the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1. We’re nearing the one month mark since the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was launch but we haven’t seen any indication that Samsung Malaysia is planning another launch soon. It’s either that they really nothing planned at the moment or they are keeping a very tight lid on things.

Either way, with the US pricing of the Galaxy Tab 8.9 now a known quantity, it gives us some indication of how much the device might retail for when it comes to Malaysia.

In this instance we’re pegging the Galaxy Tab 8.9 (16GB WiFi) to retail in the range of RM1,600 to RM1,500. We’re using the US retail price of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and its difference with the Malaysia selling price as a marker, which means our estimate, at the moment, is an educated at best. Even so, it looks some may see the Galaxy Tab 8.9 as expensive.

But for those who are waiting for the Galaxy Tab 8.9, don’t you worry. We’ll keep a close eye on things. When we get the latest details, you’ll know it.

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Toshiba is putting its tablet on a serious diet with its latest AT200 tablet having a thickness of only 7.7mm. That’s 0.9mm thinner than Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (8.6mm) and 0.16mm thinner than the latest Galaxy Tab 7.7 (7.86mm). It is also lighter too at 558g which is just 7g lighter than the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Despite having paperweight dimensions, the Toshiba AT200 is no slouch. The previous model, the Toshiba Thrive AT100 boast having a full range of ports possible – full sized USB, mini USB port, standard size HDMI port and even a full SD Card slot. Unfortunately the AT100 was a monster in size at 16mm thickness with 725g of weight. For this new version, it still offers a variety of ports – micro USB, micro SD card slot and a micro HDMI port. Powering it is a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor, 1GB of RAM and it also runs on the latest Android 3.2 honeycomb OS. There’s a 5MP camera at the back and a 2MP camera at the front.

Design wise it looks pretty sleek especially with its brushed metal back. The front looks awfully similar to a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 minus the obvious front facing camera at the top. As usual, no details of availability and we are not sure if Toshiba will be bringing this at all to Malaysia.

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For Angry Bird fans, here’s a another Season update. This time around Rovio has added a Chinese Moon Cake festival theme which is now available for download on both iOS and Android platform.

Get it from iTunes or download via Android market.

Hot on the heels of the Evo 3D’s Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread update, HTC Sensation 4G owners now have something to get excited about. Seems HTC is on top of it today and is issuing an update for the Sensation as well, that will bring the device up to Android 2.3.4 just like its Evo 3D cousin. You will find a slew of bug fixes and improvements and here are a few them as listed by T-Mobile today:

New Features
* Software stability
* Improved battery life

Improvements
* Improvements to Trace dictionary
* Improvements to screen responsiveness
* Improvements to video playback
* Improvements regarding device reboot / power off
* Improvements to icon pixilation
* Improvements to Wi-Fi connection
* Improvements to screen/photo resolution

Manually Check For Software Update
You may check your phone settings to see if it has received the software update. To check for updates, follow these steps:

1. From the Home screen, press the Menu key.
2. Touch About phone.
3. Touch HTC software updates.
4. Touch Check.
5. Follow the on-screen prompts.
6. Wait as your phone restarts and updates to Android 2.3.4 / software version 1.45.531.1.

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Time for another string of Android malware, this time using the popularity of Google+ to fool unsuspecting Android users. The malicious code dubbed “Nickispy.C” was discovered by Trend Micro today and although it uses many of the same services as its previous versions, it learned a few new tricks this time around. Now, Nickispy.C goes incognito my calling itself Google++ using the same icon as the legit Google+ app for all of its services.

If given free reign over your phone, the app steals the usual text messages, GPS positions, call logs, and even goes as far as answering your calls allowing for the malware’s creator to listen in or record your most intimate conversations. Still unknown is if this malware made it into users’ devices through the Android Market or 3rd party app store or via the word wide web.

The good news? Well, the malware only effects Android 2.2 users thanks to the exploit being patched up in 2.3 that allows for an app to change the phone state without a user’s consent. The bad news? Android 2.2 is still found on around 74% of all Android devices. Damn. Even more reason to look forward to Android 2.3, right?

[Via Electronista]