A year ago most serious tech pundits would have laughed at the idea of a “mini” iPad out of Apple. The late Steve Jobs made it clear that the idea of a seven inch (17.8 cm) iPad was not on as such a “tweener” between the iPhone and the larger iPad was not wanted and would be “DOA”. However the rumors never quite died out and since Jobs passing in October 2011, have taken on new life.  Now, sources as diverse as CNET, Digitimes, Boy Genus Report and Wired are all suggesting that Apple will release a smaller tablet with a smaller screen size (17.8 com), and  less memory (8 GB vs the current minimum of 16 GB) and probably Wi-Fi only.  Interestingly, all sources agree that the rumored Apple tablet would retain the Retina class display. In fact, the new iOS device would have the highest pixel density of any iPad. Pricing has been rumored as low as $200.00 USD or £125.00.  This kind of pricing would be almost break even, or even lose a little per unit for Apple.

Some are saying that this is an attempt to kill off the downmarket Android tablets, especially the Kindle Fire, which accounts for almost half of of Android tablet sales in the United States last quarter. Others are saying that its an attempt by Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook to show that he is  his own man and not tied to the decisions of the late Mr. Jobs. Another view is the unexpected success of the Samsung Note’s huge screened smartphone has caused a reevaluation of what the consumers want.  While the general public may never know what is driving Apple’s product decisions, a review of the more reliable rumor reporting on the Web and a look at recent Apple moves tend to not only confirm that the iPad mini is real, but that Steve Jobs would have not only approved, but may well have set the gears in motion prior to his passing.

Back in January, Apple announced a partnership with American textbook makers and the introduction of the iBook2 format and publishing software. As we pointed out in our analysis of the move, school boards would be stymied by the high cost of supplying iPads to students in lieu of dead tree textbooks.  Unsurprisingly, this is exactly how things have played out over the last few months. Everyone likes the idea, but the iPads cost too much. Even if schools went with the cheapest iPad on offer, its still well beyond the cost of supplying every student with a Windows 7 Basic netbook.  In order to make the idea of iTextbooks viable, Apple has to either deeply discount the lower end of the existing iPad line or come up with a new solution.

Steve Jobs was a major advocate of education. Apple has historically provided deep discounts to academics, students and schools for its hardware and software. Apple has also quietly funded grants to put iPads into the classrooms, often at smaller, rural school districts in the US. Further, Jobs is famous for changing his sails while decrying the very direction he is planning to go. For example, in the early 2000s Jobs publicly stated that Apple was not interested in a smartphone. Jobs also had a real desire to put Apple into every aspect of a consumer’s life, and schools were no exception. When Amazon Kindles proved the world was ready to read off a smaller, hand held form factor, Apple engineers may well have gotten their marching orders to come up with a low cost tablet.

So why was an iPad mini not announced at the January meeting? The best reason is that the new iPad was about to be released and Apple did not want anything to cut into its sales. The fact that the third generation iPad was not called the “iPad 3″ could be a tell that Apple is going to introduce a new, different tablet line.  Further supporting that the iPad mini is squarely aimed at the education market is that the screen will be a retina display. The dense display makes it far easier on the eyes for reading. Because the expectation would be that students would not be downloading The Avengers movies, or an over abundance of apps, the smaller memory is not a problem either. In any case, with all the cloud based solutions, a lot of on board memory is not the need it once was.

If the rumors come to pass, then expect an announcement of the iPad mini as soon as the Apple World Wide Developers Conference in June, with a sale date in late July or early August. Pricing is likely to be sub $200.00 USD for schools and $250.00 USD for consumers. While the consumer price is still higher than the Kindle Fire, when you factor in the greater usability of the iPad line it’ s worth the extra quid. Unless you are seeking a pure media consumption device, which is how Amazon views the Fire and why the UK release appears to be mired in content carriage issues, anyone on the tablet fence is likely to jump to iOS. Apple also neatly avoids any anti-competitive entanglements because this is a school device after all. Any popularity in the general consumer market? Well competition happens.

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Why we may see an iPad Mini in the UK before we see a Kindle Fire

Ok, our society is always bigger, stronger, faster. Mates compare the size of their respective flat screen televisions like their significant others compare the size of …other things.  The more we demand out of our smart phones, the more features the handset makers cram into the devices. In fact, most leading edge smart phones are more powerful and capable than our desktop computers of not too many years ago.  Once one makes the decision to buy either a Android, Apple, Blackberry or Windows Phone from there features are the only way for one handset carrier to distinguish itself from another. Even Apple and RIM, the maker of the Blackberry, differentiate their respective offerings based on price and capabilities.

There is a price for all of this power in our hands. That price is of course paid by the battery.  The more we demand of smart phones, be it bigger screens faster processors, LTE data (someday Ofcom willing), or better streaming media all extract increasing demands on the battery of a mobile phone. Alas, Moore’s Law has not made it to battery size and power, so the  demand is always outstripping the supply as it were.

The result is either frequent charging, battery swapping; or bigger batteries.  Smartphone makers, and users, on the whole usually dabble in all three. However, with the increasing demands on a smartphone to replace a computer, many carriers are moving to kill two birds with one store and make bigger screens that in turn allow for bigger batteries. Even Apple, whose iconic co-founder the late  Steve Jobs derided over sized smart phones as undersized tablets, is credibly rumored to be coming out with a larger screen with the iPhone 5.

The question remains:how big is too big for a smart phone? Many say that anything over four inches is too big. Much larger than that and the phone no longer easily fit in a shirt or jacket pocket or purse. Not only size but weight is also a factor, past a certain point going over email on a heavy phone is less like being connected and more like working out. That is what people have said about devices  with screens up to 4.7 inches. Then you have the Galaxy Tab, a monster at 5.2 inches and widely held out as the current size champ.

When the Galaxy Note came out, I for one was convinced that it would fail miserably in the market. The specs are pretty good and the screen is first rate abet at the cost of poor battery life. But the size. How many of us want to ride a train or walk down a street looking like we are talking to a copy of National Geographic?  However, if sales numbers are to be believed, talking to copies of National Geographic is an up and coming fad. Samsung reports excellent sell through on the device and the American carrier AT&T is particularly pleased.

iPad, Galaxy Note and Blackberry

Something I found interesting was a post from American Internet curmudgeon Mike Cane. (Note: @mikecane is well worth following on Twitter. He has a take no prisoners attitude in his posts and blog that is more than a bit refreshing) Mr. Cane lives in New York City and in his meanderings about the city notices that the Note was being embraced by the  every man rather than the tech elite and suits. This set me to wondering if people were buying into the Galaxy Note (and by implication other oversized) phones instead of buying a smartphone and a tablet. If that indeed is the case, then the rumored “mini-tablets” may find getting traction in the market to be a hard slog indeed. Why buy a mini tablet when you can buy a slightly smaller Galaxy Note or its like?

Tells us what you think is too big in a smartphone. Or do you want your smartphone super sized?

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Can a smartphone be too big?

Google released Android 4.0 , also known as Ice Cream Sandwich or ICS  in mid November to the world at large. Assuming that was the earliest date that carriers, mobile makers and developers got their respective hands on it (which is not likely as at least handset OEMs were probably getting release candidate  builds at least) then why has over four months gone by and ICS is at best dripping onto new phones? Just in the last few days are seeing Samsung releasing the Android 4.0 update on the Galaxy S2  on O2, and there are some  Nexus S devices out there reportedly getting the update. Galaxy S users are however high and dry for which you can apparently thank Touch Wiz. While the Nexus S and Galaxy S are essentially identical under the bonnet, the presence of Samsung’s Touch Wiz features means there is not enough memory for Ice Cream Sandwich. HTC is claiming several of its phones will be getting the Android update, only the HTC Sensation on Vodaphone is actually seeing an update at present.

And  it is not just phones. Supposedly the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 was to release in the UK in March, but the release was pushed back to April because of problems with adapting TouchWiz. Motorola rolled out  OTA for ICS for the Xoom tablets starting in late January. Some would say that tablets can release updates far faster because the maker does not have to get the blessings of the respective wireless carriers. First, since many tablets come with wireless data options, that is not really true. Second, as owners of unlocked Galaxy S2s can tell you, not being tied to carrier approval apparently means nothing as they will be the very last group of  phones to get a taste of ICS.

According to recent surveys, less than five percent of Android users are currently running Ice Cream Sandwich  and the vast majority are running Gingerbread or lower. True, if you want the latest and greatest you can root your phone, but not everyone is a power user who fearlessly voids warranties. Further, one must consider the cost of incurring the wrath of the IT gods. Hacking your company issued device is risky at best and may be impossible in any case. Even if you bring your own phone or tablet to work, many corporate systems will not allow access to e-mail and the like with rooted devices by either technical means or threat of being sacked if discovered. So the vast majority is at the mercy of the phone and tablet makers for “official” upgrades. Those upgrades seem to come about as often as Henry VIII paid alimony.

What do you think?

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It’s Spring: where is my Ice Cream Sandwich?

Samsung is again expanding its Galaxy Range with two new smartphones. A budget low spec one the Galaxy Apollo and the business style Galaxy Pro so now there’s a Galaxy mobile phone for all markets.

Galaxy Apollo :

• 3.14” 400×240 Capacitive Touchscreen
• 3MP Camera
• 600MHz processor
• Android 2.2 Froyo w/ Samsung TouchWiz interface
• microSD slot
• N-Standard Wifi, Bluetooth 2.1, AGPS

Galaxy Pro

• 2.8” 320×240 Capacitive Touchscreen
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• 800 MHz processor
• 3MP Camera
• Android 2.2 Froyo
• microSD slot
• N-Standard Wifi, Bluetooth 2.1, AGPS

Available in April both phones are said to be coming to Three although there’s no information about prices or tariffs on their site. Expansys has them both listed as pre-order with no date for release as of yet.

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Samsung Galaxy Pro and Apollo

With the meteoric rise of the smartphone, especially the iPhone and the BlackBerry it took a special phone from their competitors to match them. Samsung and Android did just that with the Galaxy S. A super fast, super bright smartphone  that did pretty much everything an iPhone can do and more yet still keep a lower price and certainly better longevity before Samsung decide to take it to the next level. Well now we have it’s sequel on its way, the Galaxy S II.

So what’s it got?

• 1GHz Dual-Core processor
• 4.3” Super AMOLED screen
• 8MP Rear Facing Camera
• Full 1080pHD recording
• 2MP Front Facing Camera
• Super sleek design (8.49mm thick and weighs just 116g)
• 16GB or 32GB models
• HDMI out
• 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, AGPS
• DLNA

So the specs look pretty decent and we all know that Samsung have got better and better at their smartphones and Android is now the most popular OS so when can we get the next generation of Galaxy phone? There’s several conflicting sources about on the internet at the moment. Expansys had just a price of £649.99 where as online retailer Clove had it down at £612 with a March release. Then Play.com came along and is allowing people to pre-order it at £599.99 with a May 6th shipping date. Who’s right?? Personally I’d go with play.com but certainly if you’re interested keep checking.

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Samsung Galaxy S II

Samsung has unveiled two brand new compact snappers the ST30 “party camera” a simple every day pull out and shoot compact and a slightly more upmarket snapper in the ST6500. Everyone loves cameras let’s face it and social networking has made the digital photo all that more while. Obviously mobile phones these days pack decent enough cameras but they’re still not quite as good as the real thing.

The ST30 is quite a basic affair. It’s not super special by any means, but that’s not what it’s going for. This is an everyday use compact, designed to fit into a pocket or bag (it’s only a measly 16.9mm in size), to be pulled out whenever the need takes you to take simple photographs whether at parties, out on the tiles or on holiday. It has a 10megapixel sensor and a decent 3x optical zoom. There’s also image stabilization to stop you getting blurred shots from an unsteady hand. Also whats great about this camera is it retails for around £89 so it wont break the bank.

The ST6500 however is a more upmarket model. The major draw to this model is the design which Samsung has said it’s a better fit in the users hand down to its 7 degree angled body, making it easy to just pull out and shoot…… Specs wise it has a massive 16MP sensor, 5x optical zoom, 720p video capture and has a built in editing feature. For all these extra goodies though you’ll have to dig a little bit deeper in your wallet and fork out around £199.99

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Samsung Compacts : ST30 “party camera” & ST6500

The ZX310 was teased to us at CES but we’ve got the full lowdown on this new MacBook Air like super slim laptop. Where you’d think the Apple version of this style of laptop would be the dearer one(much like all Apple’s products. This new Samsung one actually costs more. Now obviously there’s a reason behind that so lets take a look inside and see what this one has to offer over its rival.

Firstly it has the same size 13” screen as the MacBook Air and a similar brushed metal look of the MacBook Pro. Powered inside by Intel Core i5 1.4GHz processor it also has 4GB of RAM. Operating system wise it’s Windows 7 and you have the option of the on board SSD at 128GB or 256GB. Well looking at that it’s still as good as a MacBook Air, not better.

Available in the states in February they will retail at $1599 (£1050 ish to you and me) However this isn’t the first time Samsung has slapped a heavier price tag on its product that is obviously in direct competition with an Apple product. The Galaxy Tab was priced higher than an iPad on it’s release. Are Samsung nailing the market? Are they the true rival to Apple? Only time will tell.

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Samsung ZX310 Superslim laptop

CES 2011 kicks off tomorrow so expect lots of super cool gadgets to come out of it. One we know for definite will be getting a showing, and we have all the details for already is the Samsung Galaxy Player. Samsung have done their best to keep their product line as good, if not better than Apple’s. Take the Galaxy Tab for instance, many reviews rate it above the iPad and you certainly get more for your money with one. Looking at the specs of what it can do and the fact this is to the Galaxy S what the iPod Touch is to the iPhone 4 equal in every way with the fact the Sammy is slightly better specced. you can bet your bottom dollar that this will certainly be one to think about if you’re looking for a cheaper PMP that still does pretty much everything including apps.

So lets break it down.

• Runs Android 2.2 Froyo
• 2 cameras (Front-facing VGA, rear-facing 3.2MP camera)
• 1GHz processor with HD video support
• 3.2” Super Clear WVGA (800×480) LCD touchscreen
• T-DMB and SoundAlive audio enhancing technology
• WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and DNLA connectivity
• 8GB, 16GB and 32GB storage with microSD expansion
• Ogg Vorbis, Flac, XviD and DivX
• Changeable Battery

So as you can see from those it certainly offers more than your standard iPod Touch does and whats better is the price. Amazon have put them up for pre-order on their site (despite the fact the player hasn’t officially be announced yet but rumour has it down for a 7th January release after it gets shown off at CES) with the 8GB player at £150 and the 16GB at £180 so basically its cheaper than an ipod touch too. Roll on CES, can’t wait!!

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Samsung Galaxy Player : Watch out iPod Touch

Those wonderful chaps at Google’s next edition of Android is due soon and has been titled “Gingerbread”. Full details of whats new are still a bit scarce but what we’ve found out is that Samsung are planning a yet to be named mobile to run the new OS and the speccage looks pretty decent. All looks good on the mobile OS front for both Google and Samsung!!

Engadget got the information on this new “Gingerbread” device and kindly shared it with us. So this is what they found out.

• 4.3” or 4.5”  “sAMOLED2” screen (new screen technology???)
• FULL 1080p HD video capture
• 8MP Camera
• 14.4Mbps HSDPA
• n-standard WiFi
• 1.2GHz processor
• 16GB on board storage

Apparently the information was leaked by someone on the inside of Samsung and have also gone on to say that this phone should become official next year, February 2011 to be precise, just in tiome for Mobile World Congress!! It’s also been said that it will be launched as Samsung’s Flagship phone for the first half of next year.

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Samsung ???? :Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” inbound

Samsung are getting it so right at the moment, the success of the Galaxy S phone and now the Galaxy Tab the Koreans are going from strength to strength in the competition for top mobile device manufacturer so what’s next? Well they have come out with the next instalment in the Galaxy mobile series with the Samsung Continuum. Leaked last week by US mobile operator Verizon, it was made official at a New York Media event by Sammy themselves.

A two touchscreen phone, yes two. The top screen a 3.4” Super AMOLED affair as the main screen, with a 1.8” display underneath for all your notification needs acting like a tickertape display. The ticker will show your incoming calls and your text messages as well as RSS alerts, music playback control and weather updates.

Other Specs known

• 1GHz Hummingbird Processor
• 5MP Camera
• 720p Video capture
• up to 32GB of storage
• Android 2.1

Now at the moment it’s only been confirmed for a US release so fingers crossed it’ll get a UK release.

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Samsung Continuum : Galaxy Series Continued