This morning’s big tech news came in the form of a 7-inch tablet. Yes, Samsung has finally officially unveiled the Galaxy Tab. Running Android 2.2, the Galaxy boasts a 7-inch touchscreen, 1024×600 resolution, and a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor. It also comes equipped with 16GB of onboard storage, MicroSD support up to 32GB, 1.3 megapixel, front-facing camera, and 3.0 megapixel, rear-facing camera. To round things out, it is GSM/GPRS/HSUPA/HSPDA and 802.11n capable.
According to the official press release, the device will be available in Europe, beginning in mid-September. U.S. and Asia releases are unspecified but reportedly scheduled for late 2010. Official pricing has yet to be published, but it is rumored that it could as much as 50% less than the Apple iPad. Okay, that’s the Samsung Galaxy news. So how does it measure up to the Apple iPad, or, for that matter, the similarly designed and equipped Archos 70 tablet? Will either of the new offerings be an iPad killer?
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This afternoon, Apple CEO Steve Jobs briefed the world on the highly anticipated new offerings and changes from what can only be described as one of the most closely watched tech companies in the world. A slew of big tech sites, from Gizmodo to Engadget and Ars Technica to SlashGear, provided blow-by-blow coverage to make sure technophiles around the world were in the know, nearly as quickly as the words left Jobs’ mouth.
Jobs started things off with an update on retail stores. He mentioned the fact that the Paris, London, and China Apple Stores have expanded the franchise up to 300, in ten different countries around the world. After that, he quickly dove into an update regarding iOS. Boasting 120 million iOS devices as being delivered to customers, to date, he said that up to 230,000 iOS devices are being activated daily. Jobs also added that 200 iOS apps are downloaded every second, representing a total of 6.5 billion apps downloaded to date. From there, he jumped into the highly anticipated updates and new toys that users have come to expect. You know you’re curious, so go ahead and read on!
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Update: The Apple Keynote has concluded, and GSL has posted it’s summary of the events for reader review.
It’s September 1, 2010. For many a dedicated technophile, it marks the arrival of yet another Apple Keynote. Slated to be delivered by the famous (and often infamous) Steve Jobs, this one has been dubbed a special, Apple music event. Will the announcements include $0.99 television episode rentals from iTunes, an iPod Nano Touch, a redesigned iPod Touch with a front facing camera, or a cloud-based iTunes? As usual, you can be among the millions who find out first thanks to the miracle of live blogging.
The normal suspects like Gizmodo and Tech Crunch are on the live blogging case. This time around, though, Apple is even providing a live (albeit, proprietarily limited) stream. Of course, Wednesday is also a workday for many, and let’s face it. Employers these days like to limit the http:// love with webfilters. So, as always, you’ll need a few links handy, to make sure you don’t miss a moment due to an on-the-spot site block or bandwidth over-utilization by the site covering the event.
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Yesterday, a tech news story reporting on the filing of an anti-jailbreak patent by Apple. While the headline quickly grabbed the attention of many a technophile, a little research into the actual filing reveals that it may be a case of old news that simply never went reported.
In the course of our browsing, GSL saw quite a few posts with attention-grabbing quotes such as, “…the particular activity comprises one or more of hacking the electronic device, jailbreaking the electronic device.” A closer look at both the details of the document seem to show that the intent of the patent is completely unrelated to the recent decision by the Library of Congress, which effectively made jailbreaking the iPhone legal or the unveiling of Jailbreakme.com.
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This holiday season, Microsoft will be offering the Kinect for Xbox 360. Not to be outdone, Sony also plans to debut Move for PlayStation 3. These peripherals will immerse gamers a little deeper into the game where every move and gesture of the hands and body will be the controller. The Kinect and Move will also bring augmented reality to the table as an entertainment experience. While these devices show a lot of promise and potential, somehow I don’t think this is where gaming should be for the 21st century.
Video gaming has come a long way since the days of the Atari 2600 console. Graphics are now rendered in 3D with textures, effects, and environments that, at times, seem to blur the line between watching a live action movie and computer generated images (CGI). As we have entered the 21st century, gaming has become more immersive and interactive: replacing the one-button wired joystick with wireless controllers that seemed to have more buttons than you could handle and motion-detecting wands and cameras.
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Last night, Facebook unveiled its newest tool for Facebook users. Known as Facebook Places, it’s designed to let people ‘check in’ and share their current location, along with what they’re doing there. For users of previously established services like Gowalla and Foursquare the idea is nothing new. They’ve been reporting and recording their travels for some time now. Users of the social media platform Twitter are more likely to be aware of what location-based check in services are, since they’re accustomed to reporting their own whereabouts or, in some cases, seeing others do it.
For the average Facebook users, though, the idea may be totally new. Basically, users of the iPhone Facebook app, as well as other smartphone users whose devices support Facebook’s mobile interface and geotagging (or geolocation, as it’s also known), will be able to check in at their current location, say what they’re doing, and who they’re with. While it may sound benign enough, Facebook’s past privacy gaffs lead many to wonder if this is just another marketing opportunity for Facebook, at the expense of the unwitting user. Of course, this is definitely the ‘Jason Bourne’ way of looking at it. Is Facebook Places as evil as privacy groups would lead us to believe or is it a useful tool that, if properly configured, can be used to our benefit?
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This afternoon, I came across an interesting post over at Crackberry by Mike Hepples. It breaks the news regarding the release of a beta version of dragonRAD. The PC-based software is described by Hepples as a tool that “…aims to take application development and make it much more accessible.” The best part is that it’s a tool to develop BlackBerry apps (hence the Crackberry post).
Anyone who has used both an Apple iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry will tell you that one of the most frustrating things is the lack of readily available apps on the BlackBerry side of the fence. If, as advertised, dragonRAD makes the development process less technically cumbersome and more user friendly, more, quality BlackBerry apps can be churned out and perhaps provide some competition to the behemoth known as the iTunes App Store. For now, we’ll just have to wait patiently, while developers download the beta and get to work. Let’s cross our fingers, though, and hope that Angry Birds and Words with Friends for BlackBerry are right around the corner.
Read ‘New development software dragonRAD looking for beta testers – Head’s up for established and aspiring devs!‘ and get the download link over at Crackberry.
This morning, T-Mobile updated its website to include a teaser for the forthcoming T-Mobile G2 with Google. It is advertised as the next generation version of the T-Mobile G1, which you may remember (but probably not) was the first phone released with the Android OS. The details are scarce, which could be an effort to avoid premature tech reviews that compare it to the iPhone (see yesterday’s GSL Op-Ed).
What they do say is that the device includes integrated Google Services (hence the ‘with Google’ moniker). They also say it is 4G capable and designed to take advantage of T-Mobile’s new, HSPA+ network. It is nice to see that the oft-overlooked T-Mobile customer might actually get something decent that will help curb the feelings of Android-inferiority caused by other carriers, like Sprint and Verizon Wireless, who seem to have a new Android device every few months. T-Mobile customers, as well as the curious, tech onlooker, can sign up for email updates on the G2, via the device’s official T-Mobile page.
As soon actual details become available regarding technical specifications, pricing, and preordering, we’ll be sure to pass them along.
Last Friday, GSL posted a review of the BlackBerry Torch 9800. It was generally a positive review, based on what we saw as improvements over previous BlackBerry devices. Such was not necessarily the case across the web. A review published on Gizmodo included comments like, “The software is a mess and fixes none of the major problems with BlackBerry.” At least in Gizmodo’s case, they didn’t use the words ‘Apple’ or ‘iPhone’ in their write-up. Other sites posted reviews that were little more than comparisons of the device against Apple’s infamous iPhone 4. Less than a week later, we hear respected sources like PC World report that, based on disappointing sales, RIM has decided to drop the contract price from $199 to $99.
First and foremost, it’s sad that RIM has such little faith in their own product. A decision to drop the price only gives the perception that they subscribe to the negative reviews that have been published. Secondly, it’s seems like a reality check might be in order for tech reviewers, in general. The Torch or, for that matter any other BlackBerry, is not an iPhone. It doesn’t look like an iPhone. It doesn’t act like an iPhone. The only question that remains: Why do tech reviewers insist on determining the success or failure of the Torch (or any other device) by comparing its features, performance or sales figures to those of the iPhone?
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Over the past months (okay, years), we’ve heard of the fabled Verizon iPhone. Will it ever happen? Well, the rumors continue to swirl regarding a potential loss of exclusivity by AT&T and a CDMA version of the world’s most popular smartphone. If the results of a recent Morpace survey reflect reality, the debut of a Verizon-branded iPhone 4 could shift the balance of the entire wireless industry.
According to the survey’s results, 29% of the 1,000 respondents are somewhat or very likely to buy a Verizon iPhone, if it were to become available. More significant is the fact that 65% of the ’somewhat to very likely group’ are currently AT&T, Sprint or T-Mobile customers. Another interesting statistic reveals that 34% of AT&T iPhone 3GS owners haven’t upgraded, based on the potential for a Verizon iPhone 4 to be released. Though it’s not specifically mentioned, one also has to wonder what percentage of those surveyed are current Android and BlackBerry device users. If the general reaction to a Verizon iPhone is in keeping with the results of this survey, a market shift toward Apple’s flagship product could be more significant than a carrier shift and directly affect future earnings relating to the sale of Google and RIM-powered smartphones.
Source: Morpace - The iPhone and Verizon
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