Samsung Add Another Galaxy to the Mix

Samsung is about to throw in another tablet to the mix, the Galaxy Note 8.0.

The device is neatly positioned to start to offer Samsung users a range of devices that vary merely in their size and unlike the Apple world these in the main offer the same or similar functionality without the defined walls created by Apple. In other words you have the Galaxy phone with pen, the Note II, 7 & 8 with pen all with the same SIM size and all capable of being tethered or being a phone. Apple like to separate their media light device iPod, from their phone, Iphone from the Tablet, iPad.

The point is that all mobile devices are converging in technology and are all underpinned by a common platform but separating in how we use them. Do we want different devices to do different things or do we want all devices to inherently offer the same but vary in their form and footprint? We may want a basic phone tethered to a sophisticated larger form tablet / server. We may want this reversed so we have the smaller footprint on the go with the option to tether the tablet when required. The world is not about having devices that perform X or Y but a mobile platform that offers choices and interoperability.

It is not hard to envisage a mobile server which is ‘connected’ to slave mobile devices, each with its own specialised usage and with a common set of functionality. This year we shall see the ‘glasses’ and the wrist ‘watch’ and we already have the earpiece.

Ask yourselves what the difference really is between ASUS, Acer, HP, Dell, Samsung, laptops? Then what is the difference between these and a Mac?

Maybe it is down to Android versus IOS and for some that may be Déjà vu.

CES 2012 and Device Rumours

This time of year is not about January sales, but CES in Vagas and the new electronic gadgets and devices on show or rumours afoot. This year may not be so exciting as previously, there are some very interesting developments.

Ultrabooks

There will be more tablets this year, but the question remains as to whether they are seriously going to compete with the iPad at the high end and the Kindle at the low end, or end up as RIM, holding the baby? Are the manufacturers going to avoid the tablet and concentrate on the ultrabooks? The ultra thin 'weightless' models that are now starting to flood into the market to compete with the Macbook Air. Its just as if everyone wants to be Kate Moss! Personally we have been eying the Asus ultra model for a couple of months. With laptops now weighing in at just over 1Kg why do we need a tablet? These models are not new, but the $100 per device incentive from Intel to manufactures to build them is. As a result there are expected to be about 50 ultrabook designs on show, costing around $1,000 and as we all need to upgrade some time, why not with a device that is as light as a feather..

OLPC Tablet

We have always love the One Laptop Per Child project and it is now set to unveil its long-awaited tablet for $100. The tablet will feature an 8-inch 1024x768 screen, a Marvell Armada PXA618 chip and 512MB of RAM, running either Linux Sugar or Android OS. It will be able to be powered by hand-cranking and even has a solar panel optional extra! We love the housing and design and it shows that a $100 tablet is now a reality.

We recommend viewing Engadget’s video review of the device.

Google tablet?

Rumours are rife again on Google introducing a low end tablet early this year. This would probably follow their tie ups with Motorola and partnership with Samsung on Nexus. However do they have the media to make it attractive or will it remain an also ran like many other tablets?

Wii U Media Console?

There are the rumours that the Wii U will support a touch screen in the next generation console. The feature will have Ereader features which would allow users to download not only books, but newspapers, magazines, comics but much more. The touch screen will be used in a typical fashion to scroll of flip pages and would make the Wii U a more services orientated console and widen its appeal to be more of a entertainment and media than just a gaming device. There are even reports that Nintendo is secretly building its own Apple-like app store for the upcoming Wii U console.

Reading on Kindle via solar power?

Finally, Gizamo reports on a new leather Kindle case with an integrated reserve battery that can store solar energy to power a built-in pop-up LED reading lamp for up to 50 hours.

Kindle Fire is Blazin

When Apple first launched its iPad2 it sold 2.5 million units in its first month and set the bar very high for all that would follow.

Today a leaked sales report on the tech site Cult of Android claims that Amazon’s new Kindle Fire has currently raked up 250K of pre orders in its first week and if that level of demand is maintained it could reach 2.5 million of pre orders alone before it goes on sale on November 15^th.

Irrespective of whether the level of demand is sustained it clearly is going to be the US gift for Christmas this year and a serious Apple contender. Bezos has obviously pitched the price perfect and also has stuck to his ‘keep it simple and focused mantra’ that has enabled Kindle to become a clear contender in the emerging media player market.

It begs the question what the others will have to do to compete as Apple captures the high ticket, design icon end of the market and Amazon the low end no frills media integrated end.

It also begs the question as to how some of the other ereader players will survive not just in competing with these must have devices but also with the impact of their different but closed media and platform offers? What is perceived as an open market for ebooks could quickly change if there are two players who dominate it and this is turn may force players to look at the obvious streaming opportunities and away from downloads as we know them today.

Asus Eee Pad Transformer - Tablet or Laptop?

The first table we saw that impressed was a HP laptop whose screen could be swivelled and the reason it was impressive was it was then used to project slides to support a conference presentation and the presenter proceeded to drawn onto the tablet to highlight and project drawn images etc. However, the price was just too much and it was obvious that the device had a clear weak spot in the swivel point, but it did impress.

Now Asus have announced the first shipments of their Eee Pad Transformer. It’s called the Eee Pad Transformer because can use an optional Qwerty keyboard docking station with unique Android function keys. The scratch-resistant 10.1” Gorilla Glass touchscreen can be viewed at angles up to 178 degrees and it is claimed to provide 50% better rendition.

It follows the usual Android tablet spec in having an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, coming with Google's Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ operating system, aka "Honeycomb" and is preloaded with Polaris Office 3.0, which supports the most PC file formats on PCs, such as MS Office, XLS, XLSX, PowerPoint, Adobe PDF, and image files.

The battery life on one charge is some 9.5 hours which increase to 16 hours when docked. As with other mobile tablets it has a 5MP rear camera that can record HD video and a 1.2MP front-facing camera for videoconferencing and can support both WiFi and 3G. As with laptops it has a mini-HDMI port, a 3.5mm audio jack, two USB ports, a built-in SD card reader and also SRS Sound technology.

So is it a laptop or a tablet, a mobile device or a PC? Will the price of $500 to $700 be low enough to tempt those looking for something extra?

As Android Tablets vie for position it great to see them all trying to be different. We think that the docking station isn’t enough and we would like to see more voice recognition and intuitive interfaces than a keyboard.