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.

Just Give Me The Right eReader?

Technology doesn't stand still and today’s desirable device soon becomes tomorrow’s yard sale or land fill.

When the first eink readers appeared they were novel, functional and expensive. They promised much and helped kick start the ebook movement. We now take them for granted, but they were always very limited in their scope and monochrome in the offer. We often referred to them as the ‘lookie likie’ devices, which  all offered the same experience, the same technology’, all promised to be the next biggest player, but all looked the same. We soon saw the casualties, as one after another they hit the wall and their technology started to follow eight track and cassettes and became history. Forget the recent claims made by IHS iSuppli of reader decline, what remains today are, the Kindle, Nook and Kobo and are becoming less a desirable present,  but more of an  unwanted one.

The tablet changed many people’s perception of mobile computing and playing media on the move. The iPad became the must have device and although many competitors appeared, few could compete with the Apple offer. However, as with all technology the serious competitors are now muscling in on the market and starting to redefine the tablet from their own perspective and in doing so offer real alternatives. Samsung clearly offer convergence from the smartphone through the tablet, ultra book, laptop to the TV, their pen technology is a clear winner and they continue to grow across all devices.  Microsoft have thrown the hat in the ring with Windows 8 and RT plus Surface. It is questionable whether Surface, as it stands today, will attract enough with its limited offer. However, Windows 8 is the key component and if as expected and by being pre installed and performing, it starts to dominate the ultra book and laptop market, it could strongly influence the smartphone and tablet markets and become a serious third player.

They are wild cards out there and Amazon’s holistic offer and Fire is a serious contender. They may appear to be ‘cheap and cheerful’ tablet, but by locking in purchasing benefits to the devices they will remain a contender. However, it is harder to see Nook and Kobo in the same league and playing catch up may be a step to far and maybe this is where they fall out. Nook and Microsoft could re-emerge, but it is hard to see how that will happen in the short term and today is about short term plays.

The real markets to watch are at either end of the mobile platform not in the middle. The Ultra book offered so much, but was upstaged in yesterday’s beauty contest by the bikini clad iPad. The ultra books were over priced, still wedded to the laptop form and burdened with legacy operating systems. However, we are starting to see real changes here with the emergence of hybrid convertibles – an ultra book with full office and PC strength, which flips into a tablet. The Surface was a perfect form, but unfortunately limited itself to the tablet internals. Samsung and others are close to delivering the answer and when it happens and at the right price then the market will change and business not consumers will drive that change. There are enough players out there to fix the price issue and that need to create the right device to ensure their own survival.

At  the other end of the sandwich we have the smartphone, which is no longer a mobile but a computer in the pocket. The Samsung Note II is a classic forerunner for what must happen next – the convergence of the mini tablet and the smartphone. Apple must have one in prototype and finally drop this nonsensical division between two devices, where the only real difference is the ability to make phone calls! The real challenge is getting that something extra inside the box. Voice appears to be a given and Apple have the lead there, whilst Samsung’s pen is both incredible to use and they have the lead there. We see these being the two contenders today and because they play on all the device platforms, they well positioned and are the clear favourites to succeed in the short term.

However, the other emerging driver is the cloud and the opportunities to de clutter the device of everything but the basics. Those ebook readers that boasted they could store thousands of books are fast becoming dinosaurs living in a forgotten time and saying the wrong message. We are now moving to  an on demand 24 x 7 with access to everything and subscription services replace outright purchases for what is an access licence after all. These change not only how we consume media, interact, purchase services but the devices themselves.

Finally, we have the ‘Ray Hammond’ mobile server that we wrote about earlier this month. The smartglasses are almost here, the intuitive gesture detection is still in the labs, the Bluetooth and wi fi connectivity is here. It’s now more about the packaging and creating consumer demand that will be the challenge.

Sacha Baron-Cohen in accepting his Lifetime Comedy Award this week, did so as his character Ali G. He took a humorous retrospective look at the changes since he last played Ali G some ten years ago, ‘there was no iPhone, no iphone 2, no iphone 3, no iphone 4, no iphone 5 and I wonder what is next?’

Perhaps its time for a step change in 2013?      

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.