Tablet, Phablet or Smartphone?

So how much would you pay for a tablet, or would you rather have a Phablet, or just a good smartphone? Does size matter? Do you have to be been seen with a 10”, 8”, 7” or a 5.5” device?

We find ourselves constantly asking what we want and what is the best fit for us? What is clear is that the only word that matters is ‘convergence’ and tablets may be just a stepping stone and far from the answer.

We have seen the emergence of eink readers and also their decline. Yes they may still sell and yes they may be good reading devices, but you don’t find many calculators around today as the functionality is absorbed into other more functional devices. The eInk readers are long past their sell by date and although the technogy still has legs the ereaders don’t.

We have seen many try to establish a tablet position on the back of the iPad. The reality is that many have failed and for a host of reasons. What is interesting is that the likes of the Kindle Fire and Nook which were aligned to retail brands and services have fared relatively well and driven down the price for many. Samsung and the Google offers have put in a respectable delivery but many more technology driven companies have failed.

Microsoft were determined to recapture the market with the Surface but it so far has lacked that something that it should have clearly had – the same OS and functionality as the laptop. The company is now writing off $1bn after missing sales targets, but isn't giving up and is unveiling two new Surface tablets.

Enter that supermarket Tesco with its Hudl tablet. Will it like the Amazon Fire appeal to Tesco’s customer base and offer a cheap but high quality alternative, or will it die a thousand cuts and have little style or designer appeal in a designer label world? It not just about delivering the cheapest, it’s also about creating something to be seen with. You don’t go to a black tie event clutching an Aldi bag. You may not want to be seen huddling up with a Hudl in public.

Having just upgraded to a Samsung Phablet, the Note 2, we don’t want to be carrying a luggable tablet around that has the same functionality, but is merely bigger. We don’t want to trying to manipulate spreadsheets and word documents on a smartphone that demands thin and nimble fingers and thumbs. The Samsung pen is a clear bonus and is truly amazing, but it’s the fact that Microsoft have given us a free Office app with our Office 365 licence so making all documents truly accessible and editable on the move. All our contacts, social networks, outlook email, gmail accounts, Skype and many more applications are now with us at all times. We can even watch our home security CCTV cameras and be alerted to disturbance and much more.

So it’s not just about, price, size, functionality and design but about lifestyle and that’s what make it easy to see today’s winners and hard to guess tommorrw’s.

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.

When Two Tribes Go To War

We have seen the significant legal bills that publishing is now having to stomach and now more often than not are pitted against organisations with significant ‘war chests’ and deep pockets. However these pale into chump change when you look at the patent battles between the technology giants.

Samsung Galaxy family of smartphones and tablets are now a serious threat to Apple they are starting to gain a quiet momentum to dominate the market. Remember RIM (Blackberry), Nokia, Sony Ericson, HTC? They have all challenged but in the end failed to deliver that extra piece and take the market. Now Samsung is everywhere and you only have to look over your shoulder on the train, the underground to see Samsung devices and the company now expects to deliver operating profits of 8.1 trillion won ($7.3bn; £4.5bn), which is nearly double last year's figure and beating analyst expectations and sending Samsung shares 1.5% higher.

But with success comes the legal battles and costs and it is not all plain sailing for Samsung and the increasingly acrimonious patent battles with Apple continue and are escalating. Some are now starting to question the effectiveness or appropriateness on some patent laws especially in the US.

We have had the rejection of Apple claims in some countries and the notably victory on home turf in California. Samsung to be fair also has won patent cases on its home turf of South Korea. Samsung have now added Apple's latest handset to a US patent lawsuit claiming the iPhone 5 infringes eight of its technologies. These include features to synchronise photos, music and video files across several devices, and a method tocapture and send video over the internet. There are also ‘Frand patents’, which refer to technologies Samsung has an obligation to licence on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms as these are regarded as essential to data transmission standards. The other six disputed innovations are feature patents, and in theory Samsung could force Apple's products off the shelves if it does not remove the functions from the devices.

We have potential huge fines and moves to remove devices from the market on both sides of the fence and with Samsung owning some 30,000 US patents it is easy to see this is going to get very legal and costly for everyone. Judge Richard Posner who presided and subsequently threw out a case involving Motorola and Apple in June, has posted a blog calling for an overhaul of the law regarding software patents.

"Nowadays most software innovation is incremental, created by teams of software engineers at modest cost, and also ephemeral - most software innovations are quickly superseded." he wrote.

"Software innovation tends to be piecemeal - not entire devices, but components, so that a software device (a cellphone, a tablet, a laptop, etc) may have tens of thousands of separate components (bits of software code or bits of hardware), each one arguably patentable.”

He advocates that the 20-year-long patent protection that is sensible for pharmaceutical drugs do not apply to software.

Irrespective we now have a further twist in the notorious Californian $1bn patent dispute which Samsung lost on Apple’s home turf earlier this year. Samsung are now claiming that the jury foreman in the original trial did not fully declare his interests so engaging in a serious misconduct that prejudiced the verdict. It is claimed that jury foreman Velvin Hogan "failed to answer truthfully" on information about his past involvements in lawsuits, had a grievance against Seagate over a breach of contract he lost and led to his bankruptcy some six months later, (Samsung are Seagate’s largest shareholder), had a grievance against the law firm Quinn Emmanuel which s the same firm in both cases. Samsung have also raised points on interviews, given by Hogan where he admitted giving instructions to other members of the jury on matters of patent law based on his own experience – instructions that Samsung contest. It all sounds like a plot from a John Grisham novel. Judge Koh has now to rule on the various issues and motions related to the case.

‘When two tribes go to war, a point is all that you can score ‘ Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Want One - Samsung S3

Smartphones are at one end of the spectrum and PC Laptops at the other with tablets sitting in the middle. You must have a phone and you take it literally everywhere and it’s seamlessly connected 24 x 7. The PC Laptop is like a mothership and is the hub especially in business. We may be the only ones to question whether the tablet will really replace the others or whether its real threat still comes from the smartphone?

Samsung has overtaken Nokia to become the world's best-selling mobile phone maker and remains the biggest obsticle to the iPhone dominance today. Samsung have just announced their latest model the Galaxy S3.

The device will continue to be the Andriod flagsjhip with the screen increasing to an impressive 4.8 inches. When we measured that increase against the existing Galaxy 4.3 inches the 22% increase, coupled with its Super Amoled (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) display creates a definite Wow factor and just outsmarts the latest HTC One X. It leaves the 3.5 inch Apple iPhone 4S and the 4.3 inch Nokia's Lumia 900 looking somewhat small.

So is Samsung edging us towards the phone/tablet hybrid? Its first venture into that space, the Galaxy Note, has proved to be more popular than many had forecast and has given them a clear edge as they potentially converge. 

We would buy into such a convergence and probably in 2013 it will be a reality.

The Galaxy S3 will be weighed down with value added extras such as; face recognition technology, an 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.9 megapixel front camera for video, S Voice which is described as a "natural language user interface" similar to Apple’s Siri technology and the S3 can connect to Samsung TV wirelessly . The S3 also has Google's Android Beam (which can exchange data such as business card details) and is capable of sending a 1GB file between two S3 phones in three minutes, or a 10MB file in two seconds by touching them together. It comes in a 15GB or 32GB version, but Samsung are promising a 64GB model soon.

The Galxay S3 will be available in Europe at the end of May and initially in pebble blue and marble white, so watch out for them on a train near you.

Want One!

Samsung and Apple Lock Horns

We handed in our old and trusty HTC Hero Android last week which now some two years on is showing its age. We looked hard at what was on offer from operating systems, hardware and networks and choose not to wait for Ice cream sandwich and choose the Samsung Galaxy S 2 running gingerbread. It isn’t until you actually get your hands on the latest Samsung technology that you appreciate the real threat they pose to Apple today.

In just a handful of days, iPhone users who have seen my smartphone have been taken aback and old iPhone users are clearly jealous. The thing that won it over the other Android for us was the quality and size of the AMOLED screen and its lightness and thin profile. The thing that won it over the iPhone was the growing position and offer of Android. We didn’t consider the others as serious contenders. Samsung also offers the tight integration of many apps and superb communications. It even came preloaded with the majority of apps and social services we use including BBC iPlayer which is as good as watching TV and of course for us free Sykpe, GTM app and much more.

Samsung is now locked in patent wars in some 10 countries with Apple and its isn’t the one way traffic some would have you believe. Samsung is trying to even ban sales of Apple's latest iPhone on alleged patent infringements in Australia, Japan, France and Italy. Apple has preliminary injunctions against some Samsung products in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands, and is trying block US sales of some Samsung models. Samsung has also appealed against an Australian court's decision to block the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet and a full court hearing is scheduled for later this month.

The battle is not just about phone patents but also tablet ones too as these two giants tussle for what is a huge global market. To top it all and little know to many, is the fact that even Apple buys chips and displays from the South Korean giant!

We now have the smartphone market growing by some 42% year-on-year in the third quarter and shipping some 115.2m units. Smartphones continue to not only outsell PCs, but the gap is growing. In just three years since its launch Android now powers 52.5% of handsets shipped, which is staggering, given this was just 25.3% only a year ago. Samsung claims to have shipped more smartphones in the third quarter of 2011 than any other company. The Android genie is definitely not going away and Samsung still has others such as Motorola, LG, HTC all pushing the Android envelope.

Is Apple concerned – well yes, according to the recent Steve Jobs biography. Apple’s market share has dropped from 16.6% in the third quarter of 2010 to 15% in 2011 and even though its sales rose from 13.4m to 17.3m, this fell short of Samsung’s 24m.
It’s no wonder Apple wanted to put the Australian case hearing put back till next August, but the judge has set a date on March and feels August is simply too far away.

So we come back to our decision and what we have in our hands today. When I demoed it to someone yesterday they summed it up perfectly by saying I had a true mobile that offered everything and can make calls as well! Why bother with a tablet you can’t slip into your pocket and are tablets really the answer or just a fad?

Fancy an Ice Cream Sandwich?

As Google unveils its latest edible operating system upgrade, Ice Cream Sandwich, we consider what this means to the consumer on the street?

What is clear is that the mobile battle has Apple squaring up the Andriod and it landscape will be very familiar to those who remember the early PC days when Mac squared up to Microsoft. Then the battle was really decided by the weight of manufacturers who sided with Microsoft and today one can see a similar pattern emerging.

Android handsets account for close to 50% smartphones shipped to retailers in August, compared to 19% for Apple devices and are being supplied by manufacturers such as HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. The new Amazon Fire will also work on a Android platform.

Ice Cream Sandwich or Android 4.0 was launched in partnership with Samsung and their Galaxy Nexus handset and a new Droid smartphone from their acquisition Motorola, the Droid RAZR. Meanwhile Samsung separately battle it out in the courts over copyright infringement accusations and counter-claims.

The changes we find very interesting in Android 4.0 include:
The ability for the system to recognise the owner’s and unlock the system. This obviously is far superior security than a code and unless taken by your twin makes theft a bit difficult. Mind you I you can’t have a serious haircut or apply loads of make-up girls!

The ability 4.0 users to use Android Beam feature to swap web content or links to apps by ‘kissing’ or simply touching their phones together.

Open voice input recognition which is continuously listening out for instructions. This could cause some interesting embarrassing moments and we think needs to carry a serious health warning

A cool new panoramic camera mode enables you to stitch together multiple snapshots to create a larger scene and includes a slider to help you align your multiple shots.

Google have also changed how you browse your contacts with a new People app, which combines high-resolution photos and updates from Google+ and other social services. This tighter integration between the device and O/S could make for some very interesting developments.

There are other more predicable features in Android 4.0:
• Devices have no physical buttons but equivalent on-screen icons.
• Apps and shortcuts can be grouped by dragging icons onto each other.
• Redesigned of the multi-tasking screen.
• Support of nested email subfolders

So what will the next upgrade be called? We have had Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo and Gingerbread so why not Jammy Dogger?

Samsung’s Galaxy Note: a Smartphone, or a Tablet

Korean giant, Samsung has many supporters of its leading edge technology and its smartphones today are second only to Apple in terms of sales. Samsung's net profit last year was over five times the combined earnings of Japanese rivals Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba, Hitachi and Sony. Its total sales in 2010 of $136.6bn (£83.5bn) made it the world's biggest technology company by sales, but its market capitalisation is but a third of Apple.

Samsung are still one to watch and therefore their new Galaxy Note is worth some attention.

On 17 November Samsung’s Galaxy Note hybrid will hit the UK’s streets but the question is whether it’s a smartphone or a mini tablet or just something to be admired? It has a 5.3in HD Super AMOLED display with 800x1280 resolution, which makes it the smallest tablet and the largest smartphone. It has a 1.4GHz dual-core processor, runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread and also has an 8MP camera, a 2MP front facing webcam and even a 'Smart Pen' stylus for control and on-screen scribbling. The basic 16GB of storage can be expanded via the microSD card slot and it weighs in at 178g and is 9.65mm thick.

For Android lovers this may be the new leader of the pack.

Meanwhile Samsung’s still lacks that Apple 'X Factor' image and Apple continue to claim in the courts that they have copied its iPhone and iPad designs. Samsung has even offered to remove some features from its Galaxy Tab 10.1 in an attempt to overturn a court-imposed sales ban in Australia brought by Apple. It is rumoured that
Samsung has also made an offer to settle the dispute between the two firms which has reduced from the original 13 separate patents to only three.

Samsung and Apple currently face each other in courts in the US, Germany and the Netherlands.

iPad2 and the Tablet Contenders

Apple has launched its second generation iPad tablet computer. The new model has a faster processor, front and rear cameras, improved graphics and it is a full one-third thinner than the current iPad and some 15% lighter at 1.3 pounds vs. 1.5 pounds.

In 2010 Apple was the only tablet show in town. According to research firm Strategy Analytics up until September Apple had some 95% of tablet computer sales selling some 15 million units in the year. However by the end of the year the figure had fallen to 75%. The Android tablets made that slide and now are joined by other platforms such as Microsoft's Windows 7 and HP's WebOS. Some 82 new tablets were launched at the CES show in January. However despite the new platform entrants it is hard to see anything but a two horse race between Apple and Google.

iPad 2 will go on sale in the US on 11th March, followed on the 25th by 26 other countries, including the UK and pricing will remain as with the current iPad.
But what about these new contenders?

Motorola Xoom

The Motorola Xoom tablet is probably the prime contender today to compete with the iPad and is planned to be released in the UK at the beginning of April and will ship with Google's Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system, Nvidia's Tegra 2, dual core processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM and 32GB of storage. Other features include a 10.12 HD widescreen display, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, support for 1080p HD video and video calling over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G, a 1,280 x 800 display weighs in at 730g.

There are many good points but it will be very interesting to see if the UK Xoom will ship with Flash support, as this will give it many supporters day one.
It will priced alongside the iPad at £499

Samsung Galaxy Tab

Samsung plan to introduce "more surprises" at their 22nd March event. It is strongly rumoured that they will introduce an 8.9” model its Galaxy Tab range which includes its 7” model and a 10.1” model they announced at Mobile World Congress last month.

They may have been the first contender against Apple but they somehow still lack some sizzle and the 7” doesn’t excite even before you use it.

The LG Optimus

Unveiled at Mobile World Congress last month the tablet features a 8.9” display and LG are good at making the design work but will we still be looking at a prototype or a contender?

Dell Streak

Dell are building a family from 5” phone to 10” screen with the 7” halfway house. Dell has a good solid reputation and ability to deliver cool looking devices built on a solid brand. Probably, a good ‘safe’ contender.

HP TouchPad

This is certainly the great unknown having chosen to run on the yet to be released dual-core Snapdragon APQ8060 1.2GHz CPU and also their Palm webOS 3.0. The touchpad appears to be one of the most powerful tablets but will its independent approach to CPU and OS work in its favour or as we suspect against it. Probably appeal to the safe corporate buyer but who is going to write those apps to feed the demand?

HTC Flyer

The 7”Flyer should benefit from the strong performance of HTC on the Android smartphone platform. However it chose Gingerbread instead of Honeycomb and is built on single core processor which may appear dated very quickly and more apps search for power.

BlackBerry Playbook

Another 7” expected out in the second quarter. It will certainly appeal to all crackberries but will it appeal to those who have survived without the Blackberry? The other challenge the RIM has is whether it will cannibalise existing Blackberry business as it will do more than the corporate brother and could certainly appeal to those businesses who have a crackberry habit. However it other big challenge is the lack of apps and that could well become its Achilles Heel.

Tablets are devices to be seen with and therefore must first past the ‘cool’ test. They then need to be full of fun and that means media and apps and only Apple and Android tick those boxes today. They must also be different to the PC and smartphone and offer the appropriate experience that others can’t and today that is the big challenge as we need more content and designed content. Finally, they must make economic sense to all and Apple’s Tax Booth has certainly set some thinking back a few months and opened the devices to being super browser and cloud players.

Tablet Divisions

A lot of the debate between the Galaxy Android tablet is to do with whether you are a Apple fan, or sceptic looking for options and alternative deals. Steve Jobs has a knack of creating iconic devices, but at the same time an equally annoying knack of alienating many with his moral high ground approach. Some sits on the other side of the fence to Apple and suggest that Jobs lacks the ability to compromise, but then others love him for the same reason.

The Galaxy Tab is smaller and lighter than the iPad, has two cameras, runs Flash, offers multitasking and is cheaper. Apple are likely to address the camera issue in their next model and what new benefits the Galaxy has today may be short lived. Apple are expected to enable multitasking under iOS 4.2 and are dismissive, in the way they only can, of the smaller screen form and of course of Flash.However, there's a lot of Flash content out there today and anyone who thinks differently, should browse the Web with an iPad and see just how much there is!

Some believe that apps are the clear difference between Apple and the Android offers. However all the major apps are available in multiple platforms and one has to question just how many of the more niche ones actually matter. It is also interesting that iPad buyers don't appear to buy many apps as opposed to the number they buy on the iPhone. There is new rumour that Apple now are about to change their app policy again and restrict applications that are mere content ‘wrappers’. This could be an issue for publishers who have started to create single title apps. The issue maybe that there may be a danger of there being just too many apps! The question if this were to happen is how apps for 'enriched' titles will be treated. Those who believe that it would not impact them should note Apple's latest stand on moving music unilaterally to 90 second samples on iTunes, irrespective of what anyone said.

So as we await the next new tablet the world looks to be polarising and reminds us of those early PC versus Mac, OS2 versus Windows days when you either liked the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.

What Mobile Heavyweight Suits You?

So you have to buy a new PC but the old one has still got life in it and could be retire to the office if you had the flexibility to work on the go without needing glasses or extra large thumbs. What do you choose and why?

The solution will almost certainly viewed differently by everyone.



Today the UK’s largest supermarket placed the Samsung Galaxy Tablet on pre-order at £529. It is just 99p cheaper than the offer from Carphone Warehouse and Amazon. Will that turn your eye as it clearly is the best equipped tablet out today with that 7” form, Flash support and Androd 2.2 all of which Mr Jobs doesn’t like. It has twin cameras and phone capabilities and will start to make an impact on Monday, November 1st. If you want a tablet with legs look no further.


HP have just announced more on its long awaited Slate tablet which to the surprise of many is to run on Windows 7 not Palm’s WebOS. Its only a surprise given the ticket HP paid this year for Palm and begs the questions why and where is it going? The price on the tin is $799and will weigh in at 700 grams, with a 8.9” 1024x600 screen and with not only no 3G connectivity but the unproven Windows 7 fanfare. However it does have some impressive feature such as an intuitive Wacom digitiser. If you want a high end netbook with touch screen and tablet form look no further.

So what about the new updated 13.3” Mac Air or or its new 11.6” brother? Both come with no hard drives but instead use flash storage built into the motherboard. Both models are thinner being only some 0.68” max and tapering to just 0.11” some 0.10” less than previously. The same applies to weight with the 11.6” model weighing in at 2.3 pounds and the 13” one at 3 pounds. The Macbook Air has a full size keyboard and trackpad. The real difference is the flash storage which reduces weight, is more rebust gives more space for a bigger battery. The result is the claim from Apple that the 13” model can give some 7 hours and the 11.6” some 5 hours of battery life on a single charge. The flash storage also gives a near instant switch on and its claimed that you can leave the machines in standby mode for up to 30 days!

The MacBook Air certainly is packed with many new and improved features and if you are a Mac man looking for that portable solution it will be hard to beat. The price of the 11.6” is £849 rising to £999 for the 128GB model, whilst 1.86 GHz 13” with 2GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage starts at £1,099.00 rising to £1349 for the 256GB model.

Another interesting consideration is that of operating systems with mobile battles raging whilst the rest mainly divide between Mac and Windows. However Apple has now previewed its next major OS version called Mac OS X Lion and positioned it to arrive in summer 2011. Jobs claims that Lion is about "Mac OS X meets the iPad." Lion will deliver a Mac App Store , similar to the App Store for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. This will enable users to purchase and download apps as they do today with a one-click download and automatic updates. Apple now plans to open a Mac App store this year for use on Snow Leopard.

So would you buy an iPad, a Galaxy, a slate or a new MacBook Air or something else?

Samsung: A Sweet and Easy Tablet to Swallow

When we look at Tablets we have to consider connectivity charges, functionality, portability and of course price. There will be probably two camps aligned as they are today to the mobile world one Apple the other Google and of the others, with the potential exception of Microsoft, they will capture some traffic but are unlikely to make it to the end of the race.
So we all know the limitations of the iPad and await its subsequent later models but what about the Android pack and is there a real contender that stands out today or is it to be a case of the numbers in the pack as with mobiles?



Samsung’s new Galaxy Tablet is worthy of a serious look. It has a 7” display, runs on Android 2.2 but has two significant pluses that Steve Jobs will have difficulty matching. One it can support both HTLM5 and Flash so no one is left out. Secondly it also operates as a phone which potential could reduce on-going charges and offer, albeit a bit big, a one stop device. The Galaxy weighs only 380g and offers portability for making phone calls, video calls, browsing the web, sending emails, watching TV, listening to music, reading ebooks and much more. It already has been shipping with Kobo ereading application and as a Android is perfectly capable of supporting Amazon and other Android enabled apps.

The price is still to be announced but is expected to be significantly less that the iPad and will be determined by the various operators who could offer attractive subsidies and especially those who are bright enough to offer a second SIM card option which would enable the user to use the same account to flip between their mobile and the tablet. Again something Apple appear determined not to allow through the SIM design.

So the Galaxy Tab may not be as big and ‘sexy’ as Apple’s iPad but to us it looks like a safer and better bet than Apples constant upgrade program and today’s woefully lacking iPad.

Toshiba have also announced its own tablet, the Folio 100, which also runs on Android 2.2 and is somewhat larger with a 10” display but looks to be a more expensive option to Samsung.