Full FeedWebStation 7-inch Android tablet coming in December
With everyone busy speculating about Apple’s rumored tablet, it might make sense that every other company would try to get their tablets out before Apple will allegedly swoop in and take the market. With no Apple Tablet in sight, this holiday season is a great chance to get a tablet out there before consumers forget anything else exists. Camangi looks to be doing that with their new WebStation.
The Camangi WebStation is a 7-inch tablet running Android 1.6 (Donut). The glass touchscreen has a resolution of 800x480, and the device is also equipped with a 2MP camera, .3MP webcam, GPS, Wi-Fi, microSD and a USB port. With the exception of the webcam, nothing all that surprising for an Android tablet. Although it runs Android, like the Archos Internet Tablet the WebStation will require special apps to work on the 7-inch screen. It does look to have some built in apps for media playback, which makes it a decent device for watching video with the 7-inch screen.
Android tablets like the WebStation aren’t anything new, though the increase in them is promising for where that market is going. Though these tablets do use Android, the fact that apps need to be specially coded to fit their screens is a bit off-putting. Its just another example of the segmenting of the Android market, which has some developers getting very frustrated. The Android OS isn’t bad by any means, but without support from developers it won’t hold up very well against other OSes. At the very least, these products that require specially written apps might die not soon after release for the most part without any developer support.
Read [Gizmodo]
RelatedGoogle finally outlines what to expect from Chrome OS
After a few months of speculation, Google today finally decided to show us just what Chrome OS is going to be. Contrary to what some were hoping, there is no real beta to be had as of now, and Google doesn’t expect to have one for another year. What we do get today, is an outline of what Google is trying to do with the new OS, and what it would do.
First thing you need to know about Chrome OS, as Google stated before, is that as of now it is mainly focused at secondary computers like netbooks and laptops. The idea behind Chrome OS is that it will launch in seconds, bringing you straight to the Internet before most computers even boot. The entire OS is based around the Internet, including all of the apps. There will be no apps actually stored on Chrome OS, instead all of your apps will be web apps. There’s no need, according to Google to store anything on the netbook, the main focus is to use Chrome OS as a secondary computer to access web apps and the Internet.
While there is no beta as of now, it is possible to compile your own version of Chromium OS, as the source code was put up today just prior to the Chrome OS event (Chromium is the open-source, developer-focused section of Chrome). There are instructions on how to compile the OS from source. It might be a bit long and confusing for some, and it does require a Linux OS to compile it, but it looks to be a worthwhile weekend project if you happen to have a netbook with an SSD to wipe. While there are certainly arguments for and against having an OS that is only a browser if anyone can pull it off, it might be Google. Either way, I know I’ll be spending part of my weekend compiling code to try it out.
Read [Official Google Blog]
RelatedOffice 2010 beta open to the public
With Windows 7 now out in the wild for almost a month, Microsoft has time to unleash another beta product on us for testing. This beta comes in the form of Microsoft Office 2010. The Office 2010 beta will feature everything minus the online version, which is currently being tested within Microsoft.
Somewhat surprising for a public beta, the Office 2010 beta offers everything in the office suite. So it has Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Outlook and all those other programs most people don’t know how to use like OneNote, Access and Publisher. Office 2010 apps still feature the “ribbon” UI found in Office 2007, but it has been changed somewhat. In terms of entirely new features, Outlook will be able to be linked to social networking sites. First offered is Windows Live (obviously), and LinkedIn will be added sometime early next year. There is also the aforementioned online version, which will be paired with the new SkyDrive feature to give users 25 GB to store and sync their office documents.
Office 2010 is said to have improved interaction with Windows 7 and its taskbar, which makes sense. That doesn’t mean other users can’t download the beta, it’s free for anyone using Windows XP SP3 and later. With the forthcoming Starter edition which is said to be free for new computers, maybe Microsoft will be able to increase usage of the newest version of Office. Outside of a work environment, or after buying a new PC, users seem to not upgrade their office suite very often. For example, the .docx file format still hasn’t really achieved full support from users, with some just ending up confused. The new features do seem interesting, hopefully Microsoft will add them to the Mac OS X releases soon as well.
RelatedAdobe brings big updates to new Flash and AIR betas
Flash, the ubiquitous plug-in that as of now is the go-to for Internet video or audio among other uses, looks to be improved greatly in the new 10.1 beta. Adobe is pushing to bring Flash to every platform, both desktop and mobile (excluding the iPhone thanks to Apple), and is adding features to support that. With the new Flash beta, Adobe is also pushing out an AIR 2 beta that will also add a batch of new features.
For Flash, possibly the biggest improvement lies in the new multitouch support. The update will make it work well with mobile devices such as WebOS and Android, but for now, with the beta being limited to desktop OSes, it is only usable by those with Windows 7 touchscreen PCs. Also important is GPU acceleration for H.264 video so video won’t tax the processor as much as it does now. However, graphics acceleration is limited to the Windows release as of now, which is depressing for Mac and Linux users, especially those who use Linux or Hackintosh netbooks.
The updates for AIR will allow AIR apps to act more similar to regular applications. AIR apps will be able to access OS-specific APIs, such as being able to deliver Mac OS X’s Spotlight results. Apps will also be able to be distributed in OS-specific file types, rather than .air files which can be confusing to some users. AIR apps will also be capable of accessing USB drives, drag-and-drop of files in addition to a faster WebKit browser.
Read [Webmonkey]
RelatedSimple Mobile launches, offers cheap voice on any GSM phone
New MVNO (mobile virtual network operators) are rare these days. There was a time when there were many MVNOs, but not any more, let alone new ones launching. Even rarer among those MVNOs are GSM networks. Most use CDMA like Verizon and Sprint, with the exception of the newest one, Simple Mobile.
Simple Mobile launched today with a promise to use just about any GSM phone you have and want to use. There are six phones available from Simple Mobile, including the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, and the network has been tested with 140 other phones including a myriad other BlackBerries, Nokia, HTC, Samsung and Motorola phones among others. Coverage extends to most major US cities and surrounding areas. The coverage map looks vaguely similar to T-Mobile’s (minus roaming areas), though that could be coincidence.
With plans starting at $40 for unlimited voice, Simple Mobile looks to be a reasonable choice for some. Adding SMS brings the monthly payment to $45. Data can only be bought with 20MB or 40MB caps, making it essentially pointless at $50 and $55, respectively. Other than the data issues, there’s little reason to choose Simple Mobile over any other MVNO if you live in an area with coverage. There’s no payment for a phone if you happen to have a GSM phone lying around, or can find a cheap one, and unless you need data it has everything you need for $45 or less. The plans come out to roughly the same as MetroPCS which requires the purchase of a new CDMA phone. If nothing else, Simple Mobile is a great option for students who need cheap phone plans with voice and SMS.
Read [Electronista]
RelatedVerizon phones may be designed to incite accidental data usage
We all know that Verizon Wireless, and all other cellular carriers mainly exist to make a profit. They are all companies with many, many customers, after all. It might be, however, that at least some of their revenue is coming from accidental data usage from customers with no data plans. Not only that, but it seems as if the phones are designed to facilitate those charges.
David Pogue of the New York Times has received a message from a Verizon Wireless employee who is tired of the charges. The charges come from customers accidentally hitting a button for services like Mobile Web or Get It Now. By opening the apps and trying to connect, kilobytes are transferred. So much as a single kilobyte will get counted as 1 MB by Verizon (and presumably other companies), resulting in an additional $1.99 added to their bill. That even applies to customers who have data blocks, as some data is transferred in showing the message that they cannot use data. Combine this easy mistake with the fact that Verizon alone has 87 million customers, and there is a potential for huge revenue.
What Verizon, AT&T, and presumably the other carriers are doing isn’t illegal, though it can leave customers feeling cheated. $2 is a lot to pay for a single mistake that the customers probably attempted to rectify almost immediately. I know I’ve hit those buttons on occasion, and thought I’d fixed it by hitting END or closing the phone immediately, though apparently not. What’s worse is the fact that some phones can’t even be programmed such that those buttons do launch other apps. Even if they are reprogrammable, the option to do so is usually buried deep within the menu system so most average users might not be able to find it.
Read [NY Times]
RelatedDell finally brings out Mac Mini competitor
With the release of Windows 7 and programs such as Boxee, having a computer as part of a home-theater set-up is becoming more and more reasonable. The issue has been that outside of nettops and the Mac mini, there haven’t been many options for what that computer should be. Sure, anything would work, but it’s always much preferred if the device looks nice up there next to an HDTV. Finally Dell has come through with a computer that can fit that need.
The new computer is called the Dell Zino HD. The Zino HD actually looks a bit like a Mac mini, if only a bit bigger, measuring 8 inches on each side, all black aside from the top which comes in Dell’s typical myriad colors. It can come with a variety of AMD Athlon processors (both Dual Core and single core), up to 8 GB of RAM, up to 1 TB of storage, and either a DVD or Blu-ray drive. It runs on Windows Vista, 7 or Ubuntu for those who want the options, and can output to an HDTV via the HDMI port (something the Mac mini is sorely lacking). The Zino HD starts at $229, much lower than the Mac mini’s $599, and tops out at $808, also cheaper than the top Mac mini with an HDD that’s half the size with no HDMI.
The Zino HD looks like it could be the computer of choice for any home theater setup for easy access to all those videos on your computer. Pair it with Boxee, Hulu, Netflix and iTunes, and you have almost everything you could want viewable on your HDTV. Sure, there is the upcoming Boxee box, but that doesn’t mean having an actual PC hooked up to your TV isn’t a good idea. There are other uses, of course, like a cheap, easily portable PC for say a college student who doesn’t do a whole lot of PC gaming. Or, it could be useful for using the Internet on your TV without having to use the clunky Wii or PS3 interfaces.
Read [Dell]
RelatedGoogle adds more online storage for less money
If there’s one rule when it comes to computer storage, it’s that eventually everything gets a lot cheaper. A 1 TB HDD can be bought for about $80, while a few years ago it was simply unheard of to even have 1 TB on one drive. It stands to reason, then, that eventually online storage costs would decrease as well. For a while that was simply not true, until Google stepped in today.
Google has announced that it will now start selling online storage for Gmail and Picasa at $5 a year for 20 GB. The move puts twice as much storage for a quarter of what Google was offering previously. The $20 a year plan now gives users 80 GB rather than 10 GB (users who previously purchased 10 GB should now have 80 GB). The plans don’t stop at 80 GB. Google is also offering 200 GB for $50 a year, and up to 16 TB for $4096 a year.
Keep in mind that for now this storage applies only to Gmail and Picasa. Google has yet to announce the fabled “GDrive” that would act like Dropbox or Ubuntu One, though now at a much lower cost (Dropbox charges $240 a year for 100 GB, while Ubuntu One charges $120 for 50 GB). There is the possibility, as Webmonkey points out that this could somehow impact Chrome OS by offering online storage to offset the relatively small amount of storage available on netbooks. If Google could somehow get the storage to work with both Chrome OS and Android, it would be even better. Sure, it’s probably a longshot, but being able to store music on Google’s servers and have it available to an Android phone, or to a Chrome OS netbook would be a great feature. It could lead to even more people claiming Google is evil and wants to control all your data, but at least the data will be secure at Google.
Read [Webmonkey]
RelatedViewSonic introduces MovieBook
You know the holiday shopping season is coming up when devices from strange companies start showing up. Not strange in terms of questionable, but strange as in companies not usually associated with the device in question. Usually it means a large number of personal media players or other small gadgets like e-book readers. The latest of these devices comes from none other than ViewSonic.
ViewSonic, a company not usually known for personal devices, today has announced it’s new personal media player, the MovieBook. ViewSonic claims the devcie will be perfect for music, HD video (up to 720p), photos, voice memos and “reading digital books.” It sports a 4.3 inch 800x480 screen, and a battery that will provide 12 hours of audio playback and six hours of video. It also includes a remote and can easily plug into a PC or TV for easy viewing of video of photos.
The MovieBook does support a wide range of formats, including lesser used ones such as MKV, RM/RMVB (for video) and FLAC (for audio), which is always welcome. With a price of $129.99 for 8GB of storage (more with microSD), it might be good enough to sway a few people from buying an iPod this holiday. However, the fact that it isn’t an iPod would be a big detriment to ViewSonic in selling much of the MovieBook. It might do well among those who just want to watch video while traveling, but for normal usage, it doesn’t sound too great compared to an iPod touch, just cheaper. There’s also the Archos 5 Internet Tablet, the iPod touch for the Android population.
Read [Lewis Wire]
RelatedDulin’s Books announces two new e-book readers
Another day, and yet another e-book reader or two. The newest announcement comes from a company that doesn’t actually manufacture anything, but rather is rebranding other devices. Today we have two new readers from Dulin’s Books.
The devices are the PocketBook 301 and PocketBook 360. Both come equipped with 400 MHz Samsung processors, 512MB flash storage (expandable via microSD), support for six languages and a myriad games selection including Sudoku, chess and solitaire. The 360 features a 5-inch display, an accelerometer for changing orientation of the page, and an included cover. The 301 has a 6-inch screen, and has MP3 support with a built-in speaker. The each support EPUB, PDF, DOC and TXT files among others, so compatibility won’t be too much of an issue with most stores.
Having a large selection of e-book readers is certainly a great idea. However, with the 301 and 360 coming in at $275 and $240, respectively, there doesn’t seem any reason to get these over say, a Nook. There will always be those who want lesser-known products and not be stuck with one particular store (or any store for those pirates out there), but we’re seeing the Nook experiencing delays in the second round of pre-orders. There’s no sign that the juggernauts, Amazon and Barnes & Noble (and arguably Sony) are slowing down, so it’ll be tough for these smaller companies to get noticed. Plus, who really wants to be the person stuck with a rebranded device that you need to side-load books onto when everyone else is busy playing with their 3G-enabled Nooks and Kindles?
Read [Electronista]
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