Posts tagged Android 4.1
Meet the new Phablet; The Galaxy Note II
Aug 30th
It’s that time of year again; yes the pre-iPhone madness announcement season has kick started and it is off with a bang. On Wednesday, at the IFA 2012, Samsung unveiled a set of intriguing new products, among which was an Android-based camera and a Windows RT tablet yet the Galaxy Note II hybrid Smartphone takes the cake.
Last year, when the first Galaxy Note arrived, it was welcomed with a lot of praise and appeal, with global sales that rank up to 1 million in only two month, 5 million in 5 months and have surpassed ever since a whooping 10 million. For those of you who thought that the Galaxy Note could not get any bigger, well you were wrong. The second gen phone/mini tablet, whose specs were leaked a few hours early, has jumped from a 5.3 inch screen to a 5.5 inches.
Moving on to what concerns us most; the specs: The new Galaxy Note II is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core Exynos processor and runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Either HSPA Plus or LTE connectivity will be supported. Buyers will be able to choose between, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB of storage, with an 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera.
Samsung is proudly boasting that the Note II’s HD Super AMOLED screen, stating quite boldly that it offers a “perfect viewing experience”. While we still don’t know how valid this actually is, but once we see it we’ll believe it. The S Pen also received a redesign from the company for it is longer and thicker now.
Though Samsung has not set a fixed release date for the device yet, it has confirmed that it will launch in Europe, Asia and the Middle East in October and will arrive in the US by the end of this year.
We could not help but compare between the Galaxy S III and the second generation Galaxy note. In fact, Samsung itself did not shy away from making the comparison. Director of product marketing for Samsung
Mobile US, Ryan Bidan, told the publican in an interview:
The best way to think about the Galaxy Note II is that we took kind of that experience that we created with the Galaxy S III, both in terms of design and software experience, and brought that to the Note platform. So, you’ve kind of got the refinement and evolution of what we did with the original Galaxy Note, along with all of those great sharing features and the power of the Galaxy S III device. So thinking about it along the lines as the Galaxy S III I think is absolutely fair because it does feel and act a lot like that, but now you’ve got the further advantage of having the S Pen and the Note characteristics with that.
However, Bidan was careful to note that the Galaxy S and Note families of devices remain separate:
[Samsung] started it with the original Note, kind of creating that unique category where we took a very powerful smartphone and integrated a lot of great tablet functionality. And if you look at kind of what we did with the S Pen with the Galaxy Note 10.1, kind of extending that paradigm a little bit further to content creation and a bunch of the unique tablet functionality, and now continuing to extend that category even further with the Galaxy Note II, so absolutely look at it as being a very different device than our Galaxy S III.
While we’re curious to find out how far this screen creep will catch on, but as far as we’re concerned, if you’re already at massive, what’s another 0.2 inches. It seems these “phablets” will keep on growing.
While Tech Crunch compared the device to a Chevy Corvette; “not for everyone” and the Galaxy S II to a more practical Chevy Camaro, Engadget’s first impressions were pleased with the new simpler and more cohesive features that are less business and more pleasure. What are your thoughts? Are you sold on the new Note? Let us know.
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Google I/O; everything you need to know!
Jun 28th
We’re pretty sure you remember in April, when Google introduced its spectacular Google Glasses and every one of us had to double check it wasn’t just one of its April Fools fibs.
Yesterday, at the official Google I/O kick start, a brilliantly fantastic demonstration of the concept blew everyone’s socks away. If you haven’t already seen the video, we highly recommend you do; skydivers were tossed out of an airplane onto the roof of the conference center. All this was available live on Google’s very own social network video chat service; Hangout.
Here is an edited version of the toss and turn and hangout with some music from the “We Were Promised Jetpacks”
Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, announced that I/O attendees could pre-order a prototype Project Glass testing unit for $1,500 if they wanted to live “on the bleeding edge.” Testing units will be delivered “early next year.” No further details on a consumer launch were announced though.
Now moving on to the actual conference; we shall attempt to recap all you need to know from yesterday’s day 1 coverage.
1. Nexus 7 tablet: Tablet lovers rejoiced yesterday when Google released its very first tablet. It’s clear that the Nexus 7 targets to take down the Amazon market that is swamps with the Kindle fire; yet Google seem to have taken everything to the next level. For starters, the tablet runs on Android 4.1 with an interface resembling that of the Galaxy Nexus, yet with super large icons and new media enhanced widgets that clearly remind us of the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. The specs are quite incredible for such a 7-inch tablet; a quad core Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB of RAM and a beautiful 1280×800 pixel screen. Saving the best for last; it very well priced at just $200 for the 8 GB version and $250 for the 16GB. If you are already excited about it, you can order it now and it starts shipping in approximately mid July. (Check out our top 5 Andoid tablets for this month)
2. Google Play revamped: In attempts to amplify the content that is being sold on the Nexus 7 tablet, the Google Play store now sells magazines, TV shows, and movies as well as its already existing content of music, books and many apps. A”Google Magazines” app can now be downloaded by the Android users; an app that basically sells subscriptions to magazines and individual issues. The YouTube video app is also commercialized with its ability to sell episodes and entire seasons of your favorite TV show and movies; previously it was more of a rental shop.
3. Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean): Last December, the Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) was released but in the Tech world it’s already more than yesterday’s news. The new Jelly Bean is not mind blowing, yet it comes in with a lot of small improvements and owing to “Project Butter”, it ought to run more smoothly even on devices. Some of these enhancements include more robust notifications, an easier approach to customize home screens, enabled offline voice typing, and a a loud and clear competitor to Siri “Google Now”; we cannot wait to test drive it, but from the looks of things, Siri will be left crying with this more accurate assistant that analyzes the history of your behavior for better results.
4. Nexus Q social streaming media player: If you have an interest in peculiar gadgets then the Nexus Q will surly grab your undivided attention; designed like a ball and colored in black, it comes with an ARM processor and a multicolored light up strip around it. Let’s say it this way; it resembles a tiny Death Star with an illuminating weakness trench, hmm maybe better yet, a Thermal Detonator? Well, enough with the Star Wars references; basically this device is designed to function by connecting it to all of your other devices. With this new gadget, you will be able to connect your Android phones as well as tablets (those that run on Android 4.1) onto the Nexus Q and you will be able to enjoy their content on television screen, your computer, or better yet your surround system. The price tag is $300 and is available for orders right not with an estimated arrival date of two to three weeks.
5. Google+ Events: Facebook prepare to be struck by the G thunder cloud yet again, with the G+ Events this time. Now, we will be able to schedule times, dates and events in G+ (as well as Google Calendar). Party planning will be even cooler now with the “Party mode” feature that allows everyone attending a particular party to automatically upload their pictures to that G+ event page.
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