The Apple iPad is set to launch worldwide in late March 2010 starting with the WiFi version which will be followed by the 3G + WiFi version in April. As with the iPhone 3G launch and the iPhone 3GS after it, the Apple iPad will be sold in New Zealand first before the rest of the world. From other similarly priced devices, the iPad should be starting at about NZ$799 which is a really good price. That places it smack in the middle of Netbook-ville. I wouldn’t wait for the 3G version which is considerably more expensive since I’m either at home or at university 90% of the time, breathing WiFi. Besides, NZ 3G plans are really bad, not at all practical for the ordinary human being. Continue reading Apple iPad Launching in New Zealand first
So the Apple iPad has just been announced and I couldn’t help but notice a few bad points. It looks awesome and promising and it will probably do well but there are some short comings, as expected. Continue reading Apple iPad: The bad
The Samsung i8910 was announced at the Mobile Wold Congress2009 and officially launched around the world some time in May 2009. At the time it was announced, it was not short of innovation. Being the first mobile phone to boast a 3.7″ AMOLED display, first Symbian phone with a capacitive screen, first mobile phone to support OpenGL ES 2.0 and the first mobile phone with HD video recording. Add to that an ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz processor with a Hardware Graphics Accelerator, 256MB RAM, an 8 Mega pixel camera and a compass just to mention a few of the highlights. Some of these features are the same as, if not better than the features seen in mobile phones that have been launched lately. Continue reading Can’t Samsung Re-Launch the i8910 Omnia HD?
I recently read this article, on the MOTO labs website, for a DIY touch screen test for capacitive touch screen phones. So, I decided to put the i8910 to the test to see how it compares to the others and this was the result, click on the image for a better view:
DIY touch screen test with the i8910 factored in
The test on the i8910 showed there’s waviness and stair-stepping, an indication of low touch screen sensitivity. The outer edges show low sensitivity as well but this is probably deliberate because of the screen’s close proximity to edges and also because there are no contours around the screen. Continue reading Screen test and simple concept for a torch app for the Samsung i8910
I’ve prepared a video to give you a preview of the upcoming update. The firmware is not final, it still has a few issues to be ironed out but it does give you an idea of what’s to be expected. I’ve also included a few apps from Samsung Mobile Innovator and Imagination Technologies PowerVR SDK. All these are freely available for download. So far, these demos are as close as we can get to the full power of the i8910, and that’s a lot of power. I’ve also added an extra video with a preview of Symbian^4 running on the i8910 courtesy of AAS from The Symbian Exchange and Exposition SEE 2009.
Short demo of upcoming update and a bit more
Links
(Updated) You can download qt demos from qt demo website. To get Qt to run on the i8910 you need to install the following files:
Some of these apps take a while to install because they consist of several applications. You will need to accept a bunch of things many times when installing…maybe 20 prompts, I lost count 🙂
Check out some Symbian^4 action on the i8910. As this runs right on top of Symbian, since Qt is a UI framework, we may see it coming later on. The demonstration starts around 40 seconds into the video. Courtesy of AAS.
I had a meeting with Samsung Technical Manager Chris. The meeting lasted a total of 4 hours – that’s right 4 hours and we discussed everything in the report, point by point.
Update 1: I’ve made a few changes as suggested by Samsung to clarify some of the points.
First off I have to say I was thoroughly impressed. The meeting left me with a whole different perspective on things. I’ll go point by point discussing each of the points mentioned in the report and Samsung’s response, so here goes! Continue reading My meeting with Samsung, report back on the i8910
Thing about tablets is that they’ve never been great. The reason for this being that virtually all of these tablets are built on desktop/laptop software or mobile phone software. Microsoft has made moves to include programs that try to make the UI more suitable for tablet PCs, that’s not enough. A lot of manufactures also loaded their tablets with mobile phone operating systems ranging from Windows CE to Android. This is where they all failed and continue to fail. Desktops and laptops are built around the premise that there is a keyboard and mouse. In order to make a tablet that works, the OS has to be built from the ground up with tablets in mind. Everything about the UI for a tablet computer has to be for a tablet computer for it to work. There should be a radical difference between how people use a tablet, a laptop and a mobile phone.(update: It’s Official) Continue reading The iSlate (…or whatever it will be called) just might work
