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Galaxy Tab Vs iPad
Nov 24th
With the Samsung Galaxy Tab having just been released, more than 6 months after the iPad you would expect it to be better than the iPad in almost every way. So, is it?
Storage
The Galaxy starts with 16GB of storage just like the iPad but it has the addition of a MicroSD slot which means that simply by carrying a couple of tiny cards with you it can be expanded infinitely. This is one of the biggest gripes with Apples iPad (and iPhone for that matter) and it makes the Galaxy a winner on the storage front.
Build
In contrast to some of Samsungs recent mobile phones the Galaxy Tab actually feels really well built, it’s contrasting black front and white back looks good and although slippery on fabric surfaces it sticks nicely in your hand and feels solid enough to not worry about knocking it off the table, that doesn’t mean you can go chucking it about though.
Screen
The Galaxy has a beautiful LCD screen, it’s bright and vibrant and looks fantastic, although the resolution is lower than that of the iPad because of the smaller screen that means that the ppi is actually higher and you can tell. The Samsungs screen looks clearer and definitely more crisp and watching video on this device is a delight.
The problem however is that the 7″ screen is simply not the right size for a tablet. When browsing the web you still have to zoom and scroll as you would on a smart phone, don’t get me wrong, it’s better than a smart phone but a 10″ screen shows so much more of the page that this just feels like a compromise.
Price
This is where the Galaxy really fails, Samsung don’t have the desirability of Apple so the Galaxy needs to offer something more than the iPad as the price is roughly the same as the iPad 3G. It does have dual cameras, can display flash websites and can make calls however it also has a smaller screen, the software lags at times and it simply can’t compete on the app front, the built in apps are so similar to the iPad as to feel like a cheap knock off and some of the current Android apps don’t seem to scale particularly well to the larger screen. In contrast the iPad already has a vibrant app store of native apps and is only going to get better.
Software
A tough one, I think iOS is a bit limited on the iPad, still no multi tasking and no flash but iOS does work smoothly and is definitely easy to use. The built in apps are good and the ones available on the app store range from awful to awesome and everywhere in between. As Android isn’t built to work on devices with a 7″ screen it doesn’t seem to be at its best, some of the apps seem stretched but as more 7″ Android devices come and developers start building apps specifically for the Galaxy I can see the apps catching up with the iPad in the not too distant future.
Conclusion
It seems a confused device to me, is it meant to be carried everywhere in place of your phone or is it meant to be like a netbook to be carried around when needed as an addition to the phone? The 7″ screen is obviously easier to use than a smartphone and can have much better apps due to having more screen real estate but currently those apps simply aren’t there and the Galaxy suffers because of it.
Whether or not you buy this over an iPad is going to largely depend on your use of the device. If you plan to carry the device everywhere and maybe even replace your phone with it then obviously it has to be the Galaxy Tab but if you plan to sit on the couch surfing the web, keeping in contact via facebook or take it on the road as and when needed then I think the iPad is still the one to have.
iPad 2 rumors
Nov 10th
We’ve been hearing a lot of talk about the second iPad so we thought it might be a good idea to chuck all the rumors that we’ve heard into one page and see what you guys think.
1) 7 inch version.
It’s not going to happen, Steve Jobs has already come out and said that Apple did extensive testing on the screen size and 9.7 inches is the size, apparently 7 inches is just too darn small.
2) dual dock connectors
We really hope this one is true, it’s a pain if you need to dock the thing and then use it in horizontal orientation whilst docked, below is the Apple patent application with the dual dock clearly visible. Unfortunately this was registered before the release of the original iPad leading many people to speculate that it’s simply something that Apple decided not to run with, fingers crossed that they simply decided to leave it out to announce it as “one more thing” in the new model as Mr Jobs is fond of doing.
3) Cameras
We can’t believe that the new iPad will be missing a front facing camera for face time, the question for us is whether or not it has dual cameras and if so what MP will they be. My guess would be similar to the current iPhone 4 cameras with a VGA front facing camera for face time and a 5MP rear camera for HD recording, they could easily leave this out though.
4) More power
A no-brainer, of course it’s going to be beefed up a bit, most likely it will be placed just ahead of the current iPhone but should at least be in line with the current iPhone 4 specs of 512MB RAM and the 750MHz A4 processor.
5) More Storage
This ones a bit more tricky to asses, It makes sense to upgrade the top model to have 128GB of storage but then do you ditch the 16GB model and start at 32GB or do you make 4 different models?
We’re not sure what the percentage of sales is per model but we’re pretty sure that the 16GB one is the most popular so unless they plan on bringing the price of the 32GB one down to that of the 16GB now then we could find it staying at 64GB for now.
6) Retina Display
Many people think that the Retina Display on the iPhone is going to find it’s way into the iPad, We can’t see the iPad getting >300ppi as the resolution would need to be huge to make that work and the CPU/GPU might not be able to cope, let alone the increased drain on the battery. We’re reasonable sure that the iPad will get a bump of some sort though.
7) Pre Christmas release
Can’t see this one either! Apple likes to have a yearly refresh on it’s devices so why break the habit of a lifetime? It’s not like the other tablets that are out are far in advance of the iPad technology wise or feature wise, the current iPad still has the best apps and still has the Apple desirability so expect the second generation iPad to be announced in January and released in April / May as with the original.
That’s it for the rumor mill for today but if you hear of any rumors then please do not hesitate to leave a comment and let us all know about them, we’ll give our opinions on anything you mention.
New iPod Nano
Sep 1st
Apple has announced the new iPod Nano and surprise surprise it uses the same multi touch technology as the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. I know a lot of people had seen the images of the technology behind this screen and speculated that it may be some sort of iWatch but as cool as that would have been sadly not.
The new iPod Nano comes in the same 8GB or 16GB instalments as previous Nanos but at 1.48 inches by 1.61 inches and just 0.35 inches deep it is also the smallest Nano ever as well as having that nice touch screen that we have all grown to love.
Other features
The new iPod Nano also has a built in FM tuner as the previous model did and also incorporates the new fitness and genius apps that are on the iPod touch and iPhone.
Funky Colours
As you can see from the image above the Nano comes in a bunch of funky colours as the previous ones did but the fact that the entire front of the thing is a screen and the back will be clipped to your clothing kind of makes you think “what’s the point?” but I guess it’ll look nice on the table when not in use.
Cost
The Nano is going to set you back $149 for an 8GB or $179 for a 16GB which sits it nicely just below the iPod touch at $229.
Conclusion
Once again Apple have proved that they know exactly what they are doing, creating a good looking product with just enough functionality to be desirable to those that don’t have an iPod Touch or iPhone and just the right price to be a little bit exclusive, especially when you can get an MP3 player for less than $20 but I’m guessing these puppies will fly off the shelves this Christmas.
Will you be getting one, do you like the new design? Let us know in the comments below.
Apple Introduces iTunes 10 with Ping
Sep 1st
iTunes 10 features Ping, a new social network for music that lets you follow your favorite artists and friends to discover what music they’re talking about, listening to, and downloading. With Ping you can post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, and the music you’ve downloaded from iTunes — plus view concert listings and tell your friends which concerts you plan to attend.
Apple sells nearly 12M iPhones and iPads in Q3 2010
Jul 21st
Reporting its third quarter 2010 financial results today, Apple said it sold 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter, up 61% from the year-ago quarter, and 3.27 million iPads, the latter alone contributing $2.166 billion in revenue during its first quarter of supply-constrained availability. The company posted overall revenue of $15.7 billion and a net quarterly profit of $3.25 billion, or $3.51 per diluted share, compared with revenue of $9.73 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.83 billion, or $2.01 per diluted share in Q3 2009. “It was a phenomenal quarter that exceeded our expectations all around, including the most successful product launch in Apple’s history with iPhone 4,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPad is off to a terrific start, more people are buying Macs than ever before, and we have amazing new products still to come this year.” “We’re really pleased to have generated over $4 billion of cash during the quarter,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the fourth fiscal quarter of 2010, we expect revenue of about $18 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share of about $3.44”
Apple iPad iOS 3.2.1 adds Bing and fixes bugs
Jul 19th
As operating system upgrades go, Apple’s iOS 3.2.1 patch for the iPad may not break new ground, but it does fix a few nagging problems, most notably a Wi-Fi connectivity issue reported by many iPad users.
The update also adds Microsoft’s Bing as an option for Safari’s search field, although Google Search remains the default choice. According to the Apple Support site, iOS 3.2.1 also fixes:
· A glitch that could prevent a copy/paste of single-page PDF attachments in Mail
· A bug that could cause video playback to freeze
· Reliability of video-out when using the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter
The star (if there is one) of iPad OS update is the wireless patch. Apple’s iOS 3.2.1 announcement simply says the update delivers “Improved Wi-Fi connectivity,” but doesn’t go into any detail.
Soon after the first iPads shipped, many users began griping about weak Wi-Fi signals, slow downloads, and dropped connections.
The Bing announcement is yet another sign of Apple’s troubled relationship with Google, although the extra search tool is certainly good news for iPad users. (Even if you’re not a regular Bing user, another Web-query choice can’t hurt.) Apple in June announced that Bing would be a secondary search option on the iPhone, so the Bing-iPad marriage is not unexpected.
The iPad iOS 3.2.1 update is available via iTunes. Apple has additional details here.
Apple to issue free iPhone 4 bumper cases
Jul 17th
Within hours of the phone’s launch last month reports began to circulate that holding it in a certain way affected the strength of the signal.
Pressure has built on Apple to find an answer to the problem and its chief executive officer Steve Jobs has now attempted to alleviate any customer dissatisfaction by offering a free bumper case to all iPhone 4 owners.
The cases, which are designed to prevent owners using the so-called ‘death grip’ to hold their handsets, will be available from July 22nd.
At a press conference to announce the offer, Mr Jobs admitted Apple is “not perfect”, but insisted the extent of the issue had been “overblown” by the media.
He showed a succession of YouTube clips which demonstrated that other handsets had suffered from similar antenna problems and revealed that relatively few customers had complained.
According to Mr Jobs, only 0.55 per cent of the three million people who have purchased an iPhone 4 have raised the issue of signal strength and the return rate for the handset has been much lower than for the iPhone 3GS.
Anyone who is still unhappy with their iPhone 4 after using the bumper case will be able to claim a full refund.
iPhone 4.0.1 to be released today?
Jul 15th
Apple may release a minor update to iOS 4 in advance of a press conference tomorrow, according to iPhoneHellas. The 4.0.1 update would presumably be to fix the signal bar issue. The site expects Apple to release iOS 4.1 around September after a few more beta versions.
Apple iPhone 4 unlocked
Jul 13th
Planetbeing has just revealed that the iPhone 4 has been successfully unlocked.
Looks like I now have an unlocked iPhone 4. 
My soft-unlocked iPhone 4 (in Canada). I’ll have video in a couple of hours once I can top-up the SIM.
Congratulations to the iPhone Dev-Team for accomplishing this in such short time. Hopefully, the unlock will be publicly available shortly after comex releases his jailbreak for iOS 4.
This comes only one day after MuscleNerd announced that the Dev-Team had a final step to complete after they achieved full i4 bars with custom “steve” background task spitting out “One more thing”.
