Gadget World

Get, Slate, Go - I

This is a sort of second coming that ageing film-stars and out-of-work models would long for. The tablet was an all-but-dead product category, one that never really got off the ground sales-wise, despite the big push from Microsoft way back in 2002. But with the iPad, Apple's wiped the slate clean, opening up the flood gates for a slew of contenders that promise to revitalize an almost obsolete form factor, or to say, completely change the way we interact with our computers. Here's a small peek at what on the cards in 2010.

HP Slate :

Squint a little, and you could easily confuse the HP Slate with the Apple iPad. With a similar sleek profile and a large 8.9 inch capacitive display, it almost is. But it runs on the touch-enabled Windows 7 platform. Along with the netbook specs, it supports Flash and has got multi-tasking capabilities which the iPad lacks. It also packs in 2 built-in cameras (front and back) along with video recording. Looks like HP has all he iPad's bases covered, and then some more.

Notion Ink Adam :

Here's one from my country, India. Notion Ink, a small Indian start-up is talking big with the Adam. This Android based slate not only boasts of a sleek design, but also of the 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 chip that acts both as a chip and a graphics card, allowing you to playback videos at 1080p on the 10 onch display. The real genius is he Pixel Qi screen which can switch from backlit LCD mode for web browsing to a low-power electrophoretic reflective mode for power saving (16 hours) and becomes easier on the eyes.

Fusion Garage JooJoo :
This is from the Singapore-based Fusion garage. Other than iPad, JooJoo is the only other slate that is commercially available at the moment. With a 12 inch screen this Intel Atom/Nvidia ion powered tablet promises full Flash HD and a decent interface over the custom Linux platform. But it misses out in many things - No Apps, no multi-tasking, no e-books and a 5 hour battery life.

More models to come in the next post.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

android, blackberry, mobile OS, symbian

Know Your Mobile OS - Part II

9:37 PM

After giving a little description on the three OS namely Apple, Windows and Linux in the previous part, I am going to give some information on three more OS in this part.

SYMBIAN

This one is possibly the most popular operating system for mobile phones, running over on 100 million smartphones. It is still not a complete open source, although parts of the source code are provided to manufactures. Most Symbian smartphones run on S60, a leading smartphone platform.
The fifth edition of the S60 supports high-resolution touchscreen functions. An important feature of the S60 phones is that they allow new applications to be installed after purchase. Among other features, the latest Symbian release offers native support for mobile digital television broadcast.
Previously, thinking about Symbian meant thinking about Nokia, but things are changing. The latest handsets from Samsung and Sony Ericsson run on S60 platform too.

BLACKBERRY

Blackberry almost always refers to the handheld devices that come with a trackball, QWERTY keypad, push e-mail, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services.
The Blackberry OS is a proprietary software platform for these devices. The important feature is the synchronization with Microsoft Exchange Server and Lotus Domino e-mail servers. The new version of the OS allows wireless activation and synchronization with the Exchange’s e-mail, calendar, tasks, notes, contacts as well as support for Novell Group=Wise and Lotus Notes. The latest Blackberry Storm also supports touchscreen features.

ANDROID

Technically, Android is a Linux OS, but thanks to Google’s interest and the creation of the Open Handset Alliance, it has taken on a life of its own.
The latest Android version allows users to record and watch videos on the camcorder mode, upload videos to YouTube and pictures to Picasa directly from the phone, auto-connect with a Bluetooth headset within a certain distance, new widgets and folders, animations between screens, and the copy-paste option.
However, not many phones run on Android; HTC was the first to come out with what is popularly referred to as the Google Phone.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

apple, cellphone, linux, mobile OS, windows

Know Your Mobile OS - Part I

2:54 AM

APPLE

This is Apple’s proprietary operating system for the iPhone. For users, this means direct manipulation using multi-touch gestures such as swiping, tapping, pinching and reverse pinching. The internal accelerometers alter the screen orientation if the device is rotated.

The iPhone OS 3.0 includes a seach option, copy-paste facility, MMS, e-mail and text messages in the landscape mode. The App store offers value-added applications. The software development kit allows geeks to create and sell their own apps, though Apple has a controversial fee-sharing agreement in place.

WINDOWS

This is the operating system that runs most of our computers, but can also run on our mobile phones. Windows Mobile has been through the usual ups and downs as witnessed by the regular Windows OS, but the latest versions such as Windows 6.1 are widely seen as stable.

Features include Office Mobile support, remote desktop access, voice over internet, Windows Live, out-of-office replies with Microsoft Exchange 2007 and support for Office 2007 document formats. The much waited Windows 6.5 is expected to offer even more.

LINUX

Linux provides a compelling alternative to commercial operating systems such as Symbian or Windows Mobile as it’s cheaper and not controlled by a bigger company. It offers a stable kernel, a support base not restricted to a single software firm and the ability to modify and redistribute the source code.

New versions of Linux Mobile even offer gesture recognition technology. Linux seems to be most popular in China and Japan where it is used by Motorola and DoCoMo. Panasonic, Samsung, Vodafone, NEC, and NTT DoCoMo are also working on a Linux-based platform.