Tag: android

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How much?

Reading the Metro over lunch the other day I was surprised to see that O2 were offering the Samsung Galaxy Tab for £399 which was a lot less than the £599 launch price. The Galaxy Tab was only available from the 1st November and now less than four months later we see £200 off.

Well after posting the advert to Twitter, it would appear that £399 is quite expensive for the Tab now.

HMV have been selling in their stores (and not online) the Galaxy Tab for just £249. That is a considerable saving from the original list price. I was very tempted and nearly called into HMV on the way home. I stopped (well I didn’t actually stop, I kept driving) and thought about it and asked myself two questions.

Firstly, you have an iPad, why do you need another tablet device, especially one that only runs Android 2.2 Froyo and this is not optimised for tablets. Yes I know have an interest in these kinds of devices but though I do quite like the Tab when I played with it in a shop a month or so ago, I really did think when and where was I going to use this where I wouldn’t be using my iPad? In other words no use scenarios came to mind.

Secondly, why was the price dropped by so much in such a short time. I know some will say that the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is the main reason.

The new Tab has a bigger iPad sized screen, is more powerful and will be running Android 3.0 Honeycomb which is optimised for tablet devices.

Yes that would certainly be one reason, but is it the right reason.

I have to wonder if the 7” form factor is not selling well? I have to ask is the Tab selling well, anyhow? Generally devices that don’t sell well do often end up with price cuts later. And it hasn’t been that much later has it, less than four months.

So though I was tempted, I don’t think I will be going to HMV and getting myself a Galaxy Tab. If I didn’t have an iPad, I might well have been more tempted and splashed out the cash. As it happens I am probably more likely to save up now and get that Tab 10.1 when it gets to the UK.

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Still no Gingerbread for the Nexus One

It was rumoured this week that the Google Nexus One would finally get the Gingerbread 2.3 Android update…

Alas no.

It was promised to appear in a few weeks, more than a few weeks ago, hence the impatience of many out there.

Still no update and still no firm idea when it is going to happen. Google have said it will happen, but I am starting to have my doubts.

I don’t really want to upgrade to the Nexus S, in the main as the Nexus One is still a really good phone and still does what I need it to do. The other main reason is that an unlocked Nexus S is £430 which is a lot more than the Nexus One was.

Ah well let’s get waiting again…

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Wasn’t Gingerbread…

So there was me thinking I was due an update to Android 2.3 for my Google Nexus One, otherwise known as Gingerbread…

However no it wasn’t.

It was only an update to 2.2.2

Disappointed, well not really, I can wait…

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Gingerbread for the Nexus One

Well my Google Nexus One told me today that a system update was available. I couldn’t upgrade as I was only on a GPRS connection and really you should be on wifi or a decent 3G connection, no really you should be on wifi!

I am assuming and hoping it is Gingerbread, or Android 2.3. Looking at the new features, this is no Froyo, but I am looking forward to an improved copy and paste experience.

Gingerbread 2.3 now provides support for NFC Near-field communications, however I don’t think the Nexus One hardware actually supports this.

So not many huge changes, but will be interesting to see the performance improvements.

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iPhone Portable Wifi Hotspot


One of the real benefits of running Froyo on my Google Nexus One has been the facility to use it as a portable wifi hotspot. I’m not sure how long I will be able to do this for now, as T-Mobile have recently changed their terms and conditions on using their network for internet. I do have a Web n Walk Plus extra on my (legacy) T-Mobile contract. Though if T-Mobile decide to withdraw that, I need to think about how I can connect to the internet whilst mobile. Instead of the Google Nexus One, I can always use my MiFi, with which I use a PAYG Three SIM card.

In the US, Apple have announced they are going to release a new version of the iPhone for the Verizon network. Now I am not going to use that, but in the detail, it has emerged that the Verizon iPhone will now be able to do a similar portable wifi hotspot trick that a Froyo Android device can do. Before this “tethering” with the iPhone was restricted to a single device and didn’t work with the iPad. An iPad would work with the iPhone acting as a portable wifi hotspot.

So at this time, I am thinking that if Apple (as is expected) release a new iPhone in the summer, and the UK telcos play along, I will be able to use the iPhone as a portable wifi hotspot. What would be nicer if they added it as an upgrade for the existing iPhone 4.

Update

According to MacRumors and other sites it looks like that Apple are prepping a 4.3 upgrade that will allow existing GSM iPhones to have the portable wifi hotspot feature.

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Your name’s not on the list, so you’re not allowed in….

According to PC World (Magazine) Apple recently decided to “ban” a magazine app from the iTunes Store, because it was focused on the Android operating system.

As one might guess, Android Magasinet–a brand-new, bimonthly magazine app from Danish publisher Mediaprovider–focuses on Android and the devices that run it. When Mediaprovider managing director Brian Dixen asked an executive from Apple Worldwide Developer Relations why the app was banned, he was told explicitly that it was the magazine’s Android-focused content, according to a report on Mediawatch.

“You know… your magazine…it’s just about Android…. we can’t have that in our App Store,” the Apple executive reportedly told Dixen.

Read more.

Is this really “offensive” content or is this about competition?

Fair enough Apple can decide themselves what does and what does not go into the App store and I guess there would be other (less lucrative) channels that Mediaprovider could use for the Android based magazine so that iPad owners could read it.

Bizarre behaviour from Apple, but then we have come to expect that.

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“Think Jaiku is losing to Twitter? Wait till Android Devices Start Shipping”

Excellent blog article on though Twitter is winning the battle in the numbers game, Jaiku will win the war once Android starts shipping.

What if Google where to build Jaiku into Android as the standard phone Address Book? As soon as Android devices started to ship, Jaiku (whatever form it takes in the future) would gain hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of users rapidly. This isn’t as crazy an idea as it sounds. As I’ve posted before, Jaiku was originally conceived as a location and status aware address book; many Nokia users who have the Jaiku S60 client application installed already use the service in this way.

Read the full blog entry, makes for interesting reading.

Personally I much prefer Jaiku over Twitter, the RSS and the comments allow for me a much deeper richer experience, more importantly as well it allows for interactivity much more easily than Twitter.

Of course I don’t like the 504 errors (who does) and that bird, but hopefully with a day off tomorrow (what am I going to do) Jaiku will get better and we’ll see less of them.

Follow me on Jaiku.