1. Download Dolphin HD. The standard webkit based browser is pretty good and the tweaks that Samsung have implemented to improve bookmarks in particular are excellent. However Dolphin works just a little bit better on the big screen of the Tab. Swiping left for bookmarks and right for settings feels incredibly natural and after a little bit of aclimitisation using menus to perform these tasks feels a bit backward.
2. Set Swype as your default input method. A little bit of time invested in the drawing text input method is handsomely rewarded and as a result text input into the Tab is far quicker and easier than its larger rivals.
3. Turn off power saving mode for the screen display. This does its job, at the cost of a slight yellow tinge to the screen. However you're not going to be panicking about the battery life of this thing believe me, so make the most of the really rather excellent display and turn this power saving feature off.
4. Download movies. Whether it be from the Samsung movie store (especially if you have the free vouchers) or other sources (BBC's iPlayer is another good source) movies play exceptionally well on the Tab with the added bonus that it is light enough to hold up for the duration of an entire movie, unlike some of the competition.
5. Use the Samsung apps application. Samsung seems to be feeling very generous to its Tab customers and regularly offers to give you free software through this application. Cream of the crop so far has been the unannounced arrival of Need for Speed Undercover HD as an early Xmas present from Samsung. Its regularly updated and even if some of the applications aren't to your taste there's bound to be a few that you'll enjoy.
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
First Things To Do With Your Galaxy Tab
Did Santa pop a Samsung Galaxy Tab into your Xmas stocking? If so you'll need to do some things to ensure that you make the most of your new toy... I mean tool.
Friday, 24 December 2010
Christmas Greetings
To all the people who visit this blog, comment or just lurk I'd like to wish you the very best for Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year. Thanks for taking the time to read what I have to write and I promise to improve the posting frequency in the future.
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Device Of The Year
I had my hands on an awful lot of tech over the course of 2010 so choosing the year's ultimate device will take some doing.
Most obvious candidate has to be the iPad. Yet despite launching a whole new industry the iPad was far from perfect. Its big glass screen and hefty battery make it a large, heavy device and its centre of gravity isn't ideal either. Watch someone use one for a while and you'll notice they're struggling. Add-in the absence of flash, a card slot or USB host and you can rule the iPad out of the running.
The other successful tablet of 2010 was Samsung's Galaxy Tab. This offers numerous advantages over the iPad at the cost of some screen real estate, however it Strikes me as a device waiting for Honeycomb and as a result doesn't come together as it should.
Windows Phone 7 made a splash this Autumn, the HTC HD7 was its flagship device, yet despite being very, very good at what it does their are large gaps in WP7 functionality which mean that the HD7 can't take the crown either.
Microsoft also shipped the Kinect this year and from a purely technical point of view it is absolutely astounding. Its capabilities seem to be barely scratched by the launch games and as more titles become available its going to get better and better.
Other contenders had their flaws which ruled them out - the HTC Desire was clearly phone of the year yet its pentile screen meant that its display was compromised; the iPhone 4 suffered Antennagate, the Apple had to withdraw slip cases because the glass back was failing whilst the white version never even made it to market due to design problems.
Which leaves me with a winner. A device as thin as the iPhone 4 packing a screen larger than the whole iPhone. A tablet that could fit in your pocket. A smartphone with an extra large display. When launched with Android 1.6 it was excellent, when Dell released its 2.2 update it became a world-beater.
The device that does a little bit of everything and does it well too: the Dell Streak, my device of the year. Tablet? Smartphone? It doesn't really matter. It bests everything by being the device that's always with you.
I can't wait to see what Dell does for an encore...
Most obvious candidate has to be the iPad. Yet despite launching a whole new industry the iPad was far from perfect. Its big glass screen and hefty battery make it a large, heavy device and its centre of gravity isn't ideal either. Watch someone use one for a while and you'll notice they're struggling. Add-in the absence of flash, a card slot or USB host and you can rule the iPad out of the running.
The other successful tablet of 2010 was Samsung's Galaxy Tab. This offers numerous advantages over the iPad at the cost of some screen real estate, however it Strikes me as a device waiting for Honeycomb and as a result doesn't come together as it should.
Windows Phone 7 made a splash this Autumn, the HTC HD7 was its flagship device, yet despite being very, very good at what it does their are large gaps in WP7 functionality which mean that the HD7 can't take the crown either.
Microsoft also shipped the Kinect this year and from a purely technical point of view it is absolutely astounding. Its capabilities seem to be barely scratched by the launch games and as more titles become available its going to get better and better.
Other contenders had their flaws which ruled them out - the HTC Desire was clearly phone of the year yet its pentile screen meant that its display was compromised; the iPhone 4 suffered Antennagate, the Apple had to withdraw slip cases because the glass back was failing whilst the white version never even made it to market due to design problems.
Which leaves me with a winner. A device as thin as the iPhone 4 packing a screen larger than the whole iPhone. A tablet that could fit in your pocket. A smartphone with an extra large display. When launched with Android 1.6 it was excellent, when Dell released its 2.2 update it became a world-beater.
The device that does a little bit of everything and does it well too: the Dell Streak, my device of the year. Tablet? Smartphone? It doesn't really matter. It bests everything by being the device that's always with you.
I can't wait to see what Dell does for an encore...
The Year In Review
2010 was a strange year in mobile tech. Some companies could do no wrong - even when they were doing wrong - whilst others couldn't catch a break.
For Apple it was a year to remember - it finally kick started the tablet market and also released its first all new iPhone since 2008. In the process it became the biggest company in the world by market cap. This despite the inherent design flaws in the iPhone which caused signal problems, cracked the glass rear casing and killed the white iPhone due to light transmission problems.
Google had a stellar year too. Android came from nowhere to become the smartphone leader outselling iOS devices by 2:1. It managed to ship its first Chrome OS laptop as well, clearly aiming to do the same job on Windows.
Samsung rode Google's coat tails to become the biggest player in the Smartphone market, shipping 10 million Android phones and 5 million running its Bada OS.
Microsoft started the year badly by knifing Windows Mobile in the back (and causing buyers to leave the platform in droves) went downhill with the launch and then cancellation of Kin before pulling Windows Phone 7 out of the bag at the death to suggest they may still be in the game after all.
Nokia on the other hand, look like they are falling out of it. Still only one Maemo phone, no Meego and Symbian3 looking like it fell off a device from the early nineties. Its no surprise that Nokia are rumoured to be talking to Microsoft, right now only Windows Phone or Android can save Nokia.
Palm were beyond saving and HP headed a surprisingly long list of bidders when it bought the company. Palm lovers who rejoiced at their saviour would do well to note how HP have mis-handled the iPaq brand before getting too excited...
So on to 2011, when the battle moves from smartphones to tablets. iPad 2 will arrive in January, as will Blackberry's Playbook (good name!) and a host of Honeycomb powered Android tablets.
Its going to be an exciting year punctuated by many terse emails from Mr. Steve Jobs as the pressure rises for a smaller iPad - something he has been hugely dismissive of if the past.
For Apple it was a year to remember - it finally kick started the tablet market and also released its first all new iPhone since 2008. In the process it became the biggest company in the world by market cap. This despite the inherent design flaws in the iPhone which caused signal problems, cracked the glass rear casing and killed the white iPhone due to light transmission problems.
Google had a stellar year too. Android came from nowhere to become the smartphone leader outselling iOS devices by 2:1. It managed to ship its first Chrome OS laptop as well, clearly aiming to do the same job on Windows.
Samsung rode Google's coat tails to become the biggest player in the Smartphone market, shipping 10 million Android phones and 5 million running its Bada OS.
Microsoft started the year badly by knifing Windows Mobile in the back (and causing buyers to leave the platform in droves) went downhill with the launch and then cancellation of Kin before pulling Windows Phone 7 out of the bag at the death to suggest they may still be in the game after all.
Nokia on the other hand, look like they are falling out of it. Still only one Maemo phone, no Meego and Symbian3 looking like it fell off a device from the early nineties. Its no surprise that Nokia are rumoured to be talking to Microsoft, right now only Windows Phone or Android can save Nokia.
Palm were beyond saving and HP headed a surprisingly long list of bidders when it bought the company. Palm lovers who rejoiced at their saviour would do well to note how HP have mis-handled the iPaq brand before getting too excited...
So on to 2011, when the battle moves from smartphones to tablets. iPad 2 will arrive in January, as will Blackberry's Playbook (good name!) and a host of Honeycomb powered Android tablets.
Its going to be an exciting year punctuated by many terse emails from Mr. Steve Jobs as the pressure rises for a smaller iPad - something he has been hugely dismissive of if the past.
Monday, 13 December 2010
Tevez Proves A Good Test Of Football's Rulemakers
Carlos Tevez has proved to be a pretty good buy for Manchester City, however after what has been an interesting year the Argentinian is looking for a way out.
Ostensibly the reason is that he is missing his children, in Argentina with his estranged partner. There is also the suggestion that his relationship with Garry Cooke and Brian Marwood, City's management team has broken down.
What happens now is very interesting. City are well within their rights to expect to recoup all of the £25m they paid for Tevez - probably with a little profit on top. Nobody in Europe or Argentina is likely to meet that figure. Which leaves Tevez the option of retiring or being dismissed for beach of contract.
In a normal deal that would be the end of that, however City bought Tevez from his management not another club, so presumably will be in a strong position to start to recoup the lost value of his contract from the vendor.
Where will FIFA and UEFA stand on this I wonder? Given the slavery comments made about Cristiano Ronaldo not so long ago I suspect that the big guns will fall down on the side of the player and an opportunity to kick City's big money owners won't be missed.
As if it were needed, but a clear demonstration that all is not well in the land of the billionaire clubs and multi-millionaire players. Time for a re-think about the way the game is run...
Ostensibly the reason is that he is missing his children, in Argentina with his estranged partner. There is also the suggestion that his relationship with Garry Cooke and Brian Marwood, City's management team has broken down.
What happens now is very interesting. City are well within their rights to expect to recoup all of the £25m they paid for Tevez - probably with a little profit on top. Nobody in Europe or Argentina is likely to meet that figure. Which leaves Tevez the option of retiring or being dismissed for beach of contract.
In a normal deal that would be the end of that, however City bought Tevez from his management not another club, so presumably will be in a strong position to start to recoup the lost value of his contract from the vendor.
Where will FIFA and UEFA stand on this I wonder? Given the slavery comments made about Cristiano Ronaldo not so long ago I suspect that the big guns will fall down on the side of the player and an opportunity to kick City's big money owners won't be missed.
As if it were needed, but a clear demonstration that all is not well in the land of the billionaire clubs and multi-millionaire players. Time for a re-think about the way the game is run...
Tablets Aren't Quite There Yet
Well I've had less than a week with the Galaxy Tab and its been enough to convince me that despite the hype and frenzied buying, tablets aren't really ready for the market yet.
I pondered long and hard before choosing the Tab over the iPad. The Apple tablet clearly has more support from software developers and third party hardware developers too. However I believe its just too big and heavy for comfortable use in any environment. Watch iPad users and they soon adopt an unnatural posture as they seek to offset the weight of their chosen browsing tool.
The Tab doesn't suffer from this problem being significantly lighter and smaller than the iPad. Its as comfortable to hold as a paperback book and weighs about the same.
The payback is a much smaller screen - only 2" smaller when measured across the diagonal but this means half the viewing area of the iPad. However that is somewhat offset by the much better pixel density of the Samsung's screen.
Samsung have done a good job of updating the standard Android apps to run on the larger screen with the email, messaging and calendar apps being particularly well done. There's a nice ebook reader too which can handle your own books if you have them in epub format. The provision of Zinio magazine reader and a newspaper app are well merited too.
Yet I can't help feeling there's something missing with the Tab. I feel like its utility would be greatly enhanced if I could whip out a stylus and take notes on it during a meeting. Worse still, I can't see myself carrying it around with me because of its size... And this is where I think the tablet concept hours off the rails. How much use is it if you don't have it with you?
For the Dell Streak, with its 5" screen, the argument is that its too close to a smartphone. With the Tab and even more so the iPad I think the problem is that they're too far away.
The key to a device's utility is ubiquity. We're not there yet.
The Tab makes a reasonable fist of things though...
I pondered long and hard before choosing the Tab over the iPad. The Apple tablet clearly has more support from software developers and third party hardware developers too. However I believe its just too big and heavy for comfortable use in any environment. Watch iPad users and they soon adopt an unnatural posture as they seek to offset the weight of their chosen browsing tool.
The Tab doesn't suffer from this problem being significantly lighter and smaller than the iPad. Its as comfortable to hold as a paperback book and weighs about the same.
The payback is a much smaller screen - only 2" smaller when measured across the diagonal but this means half the viewing area of the iPad. However that is somewhat offset by the much better pixel density of the Samsung's screen.
Samsung have done a good job of updating the standard Android apps to run on the larger screen with the email, messaging and calendar apps being particularly well done. There's a nice ebook reader too which can handle your own books if you have them in epub format. The provision of Zinio magazine reader and a newspaper app are well merited too.
Yet I can't help feeling there's something missing with the Tab. I feel like its utility would be greatly enhanced if I could whip out a stylus and take notes on it during a meeting. Worse still, I can't see myself carrying it around with me because of its size... And this is where I think the tablet concept hours off the rails. How much use is it if you don't have it with you?
For the Dell Streak, with its 5" screen, the argument is that its too close to a smartphone. With the Tab and even more so the iPad I think the problem is that they're too far away.
The key to a device's utility is ubiquity. We're not there yet.
The Tab makes a reasonable fist of things though...
Friday, 10 December 2010
Keep Taking The Tablets
If you live in the world of television you'd think that the iPad was completely ubiquitous, witness the latest BT broadband advert that draws heavily on the Apple tablet to support its tagline about BT broadband and wireless options making you feel at home anywhere.
Its a clever ad which says something about the usage of tablets generally, and the iPad specifically, without even realising it. Tablets get used almost exclusively in the home our office. Of the seven million iPads sold this far I'm guessing most never go on any kind of journey. Which is fine if that's how you want your tablet to be used, but recent news suggests that this isn't the case for most people.
What news is this? Its Samsung reporting that they have already sold a million Galaxy Tabs and expect to sell half a million more by the end of the year. That's a faster sales achievement than the iPad - which had serious pent up demand thanks to Apple's hugely talented marketing machine. Even more impressive had been the way its been achieved - not by undercutting the iPad on price but by being better designed for its purpose and meeting a target demographic that Apple seem happy to ignore.
Apple are likely to have a response when the new iPad arrives in the new year however I suspect that by the time that actually starts shipping Apple may have lost more than just market share. Fortunately Apple doesn't seem to have a problem with making an outrageous statement one day and then making a complete 180° reversal when it suits and this is what I think will happen to the 7" iPad.
In the meantime Samsung and a host of other OEMs will have the opportunity to flood the market with Android tablets at all price points, form factors and capabilities, whilst Google will be using that time to further bolster Android's support for the tablet form factor. And given how good the Tab manages to make plain old Froyo look on the tablet form factor that's got to be a worry for Mr Jobs and his Cupertino cronies...
Its a clever ad which says something about the usage of tablets generally, and the iPad specifically, without even realising it. Tablets get used almost exclusively in the home our office. Of the seven million iPads sold this far I'm guessing most never go on any kind of journey. Which is fine if that's how you want your tablet to be used, but recent news suggests that this isn't the case for most people.
What news is this? Its Samsung reporting that they have already sold a million Galaxy Tabs and expect to sell half a million more by the end of the year. That's a faster sales achievement than the iPad - which had serious pent up demand thanks to Apple's hugely talented marketing machine. Even more impressive had been the way its been achieved - not by undercutting the iPad on price but by being better designed for its purpose and meeting a target demographic that Apple seem happy to ignore.
Apple are likely to have a response when the new iPad arrives in the new year however I suspect that by the time that actually starts shipping Apple may have lost more than just market share. Fortunately Apple doesn't seem to have a problem with making an outrageous statement one day and then making a complete 180° reversal when it suits and this is what I think will happen to the 7" iPad.
In the meantime Samsung and a host of other OEMs will have the opportunity to flood the market with Android tablets at all price points, form factors and capabilities, whilst Google will be using that time to further bolster Android's support for the tablet form factor. And given how good the Tab manages to make plain old Froyo look on the tablet form factor that's got to be a worry for Mr Jobs and his Cupertino cronies...
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Why Google And Apple Need To Beware Of Zune
Since getting onto the Windows Phone 7 band wagon a couple of months ago I've been mostly impressed with the platform. Its still far from ready to take on the strengths of Android or Apple; and its lacking features that Symbian packs (although you'd be extremely foolish to choose the latter over WP7).
In terms of pretty much every important functional requirement my HD7 lags behind the Dell Streak. Data entry, multi tasking, screen size, route navigation, copy and paste, etc., etc.
So I'm more than a little surprised to report that that HD7 is the phone I most often grab on the way out of the door. Or even if I know that I need the functions of the Streak I'll find room to carry the HD7 too.
Part of the reason for that is the integration of Zune and my Zune pass. My HD7 is loaded with the music I want to listen to now. But if I want to listen to something whilst out I can get it without trouble our cost. Last night the children were asking for Christmas songs and I was without any suitable CDs for them. Two minutes of searching and downloading on Zune soon sorted that out.
Apple have traded on convenience with the iPhone, but this is definitely an area where Microsoft has them beat all ends up!
In terms of pretty much every important functional requirement my HD7 lags behind the Dell Streak. Data entry, multi tasking, screen size, route navigation, copy and paste, etc., etc.
So I'm more than a little surprised to report that that HD7 is the phone I most often grab on the way out of the door. Or even if I know that I need the functions of the Streak I'll find room to carry the HD7 too.
Part of the reason for that is the integration of Zune and my Zune pass. My HD7 is loaded with the music I want to listen to now. But if I want to listen to something whilst out I can get it without trouble our cost. Last night the children were asking for Christmas songs and I was without any suitable CDs for them. Two minutes of searching and downloading on Zune soon sorted that out.
Apple have traded on convenience with the iPhone, but this is definitely an area where Microsoft has them beat all ends up!
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Where Have I Been?
If it seems like a long time since I've posted anything here then you're very perceptive. Over the last couple of weeks I've been the victim of a viral infection which has had a major assault on my throat, stomach and latterly my kidneys. As a result I've been less than fit to comment on the things going on in the tech and sporting worlds... some would say that's no different to normal I suppose...
Anyway I should be back to fighting fitness in the next few days so expect normal service to be resumed shortly.
Anyway I should be back to fighting fitness in the next few days so expect normal service to be resumed shortly.
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