Thank You Steve Jobs

I hardly need to mention the sad news we woke up to this morning. The internet has already widely publicised the passing away of Steve Jobs. And although it is sad that such an inspirational personality has left us before their time, now is not the time to mourn Steve, but to celebrate the wonders he has brought to our world.

There’s no doubt that nearly every person living in the western world has something to thank Steve Jobs for. You may have never brought an Apple product yet still benefitted from the innovations Steve brought to the world. It was Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Apple that were the original driving force behind bringing computers from clunky devices that filled a room to the work and entertainment device we all know today. There’s no doubt others would have got there eventually, but Apple were the catalyst under the vision of Jobs.

Since then the software available on Mac’s has changed the industry with competitors such as Microsoft implementing many ideas from OS X into their own OS’s.

Several years later and Jobs and Apple revolutionised another industry, releasing the iPod in 2001. Nowadays that’s a household name with almost 300 million of the units sold since release. Despite not being the first, the iPod was certainly the best MP3 player available and made the idea popular. Combining that with the iTunes store and people were starting to buy music legally again – helping to save an industry that was struggling with piracy. The iPod also helped develop the MP3 player industry as a whole, would companies such as Microsoft and Sony have innovated the way they did if not competing with Jobs’ iPod?

In 2007 came the invention that Steve will no doubt be most remembered for. The iPhone has completely revolutionised not just the phone industry, but the entire way we view and interact with technology. Touchscreens had been done before, but this one was different, it was actually useable with your fingers without problem and therefore practical. Combine that with iOS, one of the most intuitive pieces of software ever created and you can see why the iPhone changed the world. Competitors such as Android wouldn’t be anywhere near as far down the line without Apple showing them how it was done first.

This success was sealed last year when Steve Jobs proudly revealed the iPad, the device that has alone sparked the tablet market back into life.

It could be argued that there is a team of people making these products, not just Steve and that of course would be true. But Steve’s vision has been woven into every single one, the idea of making technology more accessible and simple yet at the same time very very clever has always been his way forward – products which make the world an easier place.

And it was Steve’s enthusiasm for everything he created which set him apart from his peers. Even when he was on medical leave earlier this year, Steve made it back on stage for both the iPad 2 and iCloud reveals – he really cared about these products and wanted to be the one who revealed them to the world.

Steve was also renowned as hard task master. He was a man never satisfied with second best – always striving to excellence and motivating his staff to create the best products they possibly could. It was with this enthusiasm and dedication that he was able to take Apple to the top of the tech industry.

And it wasn’t just Apple that Steve was responsible for. Who could forget ‘Toy Story’, surely one of if not the greatest animated film of all time. It wouldn’t have happened if not for Steve Jobs. He was the man who believed in the studio, who helped to get them the deal with Disney, whose money got the film to a cinema release. All fans of Pixar films owe a debt of gratitude to Steve Jobs too.

I’ve only touched on the legacy that Steve Jobs leaves behind today. How much he will be missed is obvious from the incredible outpouring we have seen today from the like of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Bob Iger and Eric Schmidt amongst others. Several fans have created memorials outside Apple stores to Steve.

Many have said that Steve is the Henry Ford of our time and I think I’d agree with that. He was the leading light of the tech industry, always innovating, always looking for how to improve and always hugely excited about everything he did.

ThankYou Steve for all you brought to us, may you rest in peace.

Written on my Apple MacBook and iPhone

 

Will Kindle’s Fire Burn the iPad?

The hotly anticipated Kindle tablet was finally announced by Amazon yesterday. In case you missed it, Amazon announced the Kindle Fire, a 7″ tablet capable of books, pictures, movies, apps and the web. But how much of an impact can the Fire really hope to make in a market which is dominated by Apple’s ‘magical device’ the iPad?

I think quite alot. Amazon have done the smart thing and not targeted the Kindle Fire directly at the iPad. Instead the Fire has been positioned much more as a tablet for people on a budget. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles the iPad boasts about. There’s no camera here, no microphone, no 3G, less on board space and a much smaller display. But you start to ask yourself, do you really need all of that?

What the Kindle does give you is access to Amazon’s library of content (and initially this will be absolutely free for a 30 day period). That’s millions of movies, music and books all at your fingertips through the device. Amazon’s content library is more than a rival for iTunes and because all of this will be living in the cloud, your smaller space constraints won’t really be much of an issue at all.

Kindle Fire also provides you with connectivity and compatibility that the iPad has so far failed to do. A USB port isn’t exactly an unusual port these days, yet due to Apple’s insistence that we should all be using their dock, it has yet to make it onto an iPad – Kindle Fire already has one. Apple continually have arguments, fall outs and disputes with Adobe meaning that Flash is yet to make it’s way to any iOS device – Kindle Fire has this out of the box.

Combine that with compatibility with a large variety of file types from documents to movies and music, and you can see how the Kindle Fire does actually have quite a few advantages over it’s iOS rival.

Rather than use Android’s native look or apps, Amazon have made their own which I personally love. Instead of the usual screen full of square blocks representing apps, you are presented with bookshelves full of apps that you can quickly flip through. A nice, unique and very Amazon approach to an interface.

Kindle Fire also comes with it’s own e-mail app and Amazon’s new web browser, Silk. Amazon claim that this browser cuts speed by by splitting the work between the tablet and Amazon’s servers in the cloud. Clever. It’ll also predict the sites you’ll visit next, although I’m not entirely sure how well this will work!

But back to the burning (sorry) question, is the Kindle Fire an iPad beater? Many have tried and failed, Samsung have had limited success and several legal cases, HP ended up discontinuing their short lived touch pads and Blackberry… well the less said about the Playbook the better.

This time however, I think that Apple may have a battle on their hands. Kindle Fire is basically a streamlined iPad, with some new clever thinking and a few ideas better than the iPad itself. And the real reason this will cause market disruption, is because this will only cost $199.99 (£127.00). The cheapest iPad by comparison is $499 (£399) – quite a price difference and one that I think Apple might find hard to justify.

By offering so much for such a little price, Amazon could really change the market and hurt the iPad significantly. I doubt however that Kindle Fire has the power to take the iPad down completely, it is still the best tablet on the market and has the best software available in iOS. But what it will do is force Apple to really rethink their product, the iPad 3 is going to have to tackle the Kindle Fire threat and that’s going to mean a lot of innovation from the guys in Cupertino.

The Kindle Fire will be released on November 15th in the states, there’s currently no date for the rest of the world, but I’m certain that when it does make it around the globe, it’ll be the best received Android tablet so far – but admittedly we are still a long way off the perfect tablet computer from any company…

Nintendo E3 – It’s all about yoU with WiiU

Nintendo always have a good showing at E3 and whilst Sony showcased a new handheld (and apologised continuously over PSN Gate) and Microsoft added new Kinect features (and YouTube… yep that’s new for 360 apparently), it was always going to be Nintendo that revealed something truly different. And they certainly did.

An all new console is on the way in 2012 and it’s called the WiiU. That’s right, Nintendo have just tacked the letter U on the end and claims that that refers to making the experience more about you… But luckily that’s where the laziness ends and the innovation begins.

The WiiU, like it’s predecessor, is all about the controller and I have a feeling that Nintendo have been watching the iPad quite closely. It is effectively a tablet computer with buttons on either side. I was initially very skeptical about this – I don’t want to hold a giant touchscreen when playing games – but Nintendo pressed on with their promo video and it made a little more sense.

The controller can be used in a variety of ways. You can stream your full-res games from the console straight onto the controller, giving you a truly HD handheld experience like no other. Alternatively, there  are mini games designed specifically for the controller for you to play anywhere. But the truly innovative developers will use the controller’s screen and the TV in conjunction for brand new experiences. Examples shown at the conference included swiping ninja-disc from the touch screen to the TV, playing baseball and targeting enemies (or should that me eneMii’s?!) in an FPS.

The new device was also shown as a great way of including more people in the WiiU experience. Examples were shown of people sharing things they found on the internet (no dirty minds please) from their controller, straight onto the screen.

Interestingly, the original Wii Remotes will still be compatible with the WiiU meaning you could enter games with some playing with Wii Remotes and some with the touchscreen layout. An example being shown at E3, is a game where the player with the touchscreen has to hide in a maze (which they see top down on their controller) and then the other players with Wii Remotes hunt them down with a third-person view on the TV screen. It certainly could lead to interesting and original concepts.

I should point out that the new controller does have traditional analogue sticks and control buttons. Nintendo made it quite clear that it wanted to bring the hardcore gamers back into their party (after many felt alienated with the more casual aimed Wii) and they’re doing this by bringing back something they know. It will be a welcome return to traditional controls on the Nintendo flagship console.

But I do foresee a bit of a problem with this whole system though. I have a couple of Wiimotes, two Wii wheels, a Wii Zapper, two Wii Motion Plus, a classic controller, a Wavebird controller and two nunchucks which I use with my Wii console and I consider that to be too many controllers. With this new controller joining the family, it’s only going to cause yet more clutter in my controller collection. And with a touch screen, that thing isn’t going to come cheap!

You may have noticed I mentioned HD earlier, because at last Nintendo will be bringing HD graphics with the WiiU. But this was pretty much all we learnt about the new console. It’s likely to be quite unchanged from the Wii in that department, with all the emphasis on the controller, but if it drives costs down, that’s probably a good thing.

There isn’t much in the way of games being announced. Some exciting third party titles were announced such as Assassins Creed, Tekken and… wait for it ‘Lego City!’. Lots of third party developers seemed hyped about it, most notably EA who traditionally don’t gel so well with Nintendo. There was also talk of a Smash Bros game for WiiU and 3DS which is enough for me to buy a console as it is, but the main titles will come at a later date, maybe November time this year…

And that brings me nicely onto the 3DS. Despite being a lifelong Nintendo fan, I still don’t have one of these because I don’t see the point. I love the 3D, I love the online, but there just aren’t enough games on it yet. Reggie Fils-Aime proudly stood in font of the E3 crown and revealed 5 new games that look like they could turn this around.

MarioKart is great on any console, it is one game that is always done brilliantly and so I think this could be the game to convince me to get the 3DS. Not much looked new in it although there do seems to be new gliding abilities and the option to customise your Kart (that should please plenty).

StarFox returns with a new focus on online and real-time video which looks cool whereas Kid Icarus should finally get released this year with a rather nice looking storyline. An interesting move was the return of Luigi’s Mansion. The oft-forgotten Gamecube platformer will return on 3DS for a sequel.

Most anticipated will be Super Mario 3D, the first ever 3D Mario to be built from the ground up for a handheld console. The plumber in red has never let us down before  and I would expect this to be no exception.

I’m still not quite convinced to part with my cash for a 3DS, but I’m getting closer. The games are slowly coming for it and with more free downloadable content announced, this could be a must-have in a few months time.

I feel similarly towards the WiiU. It’s new, fresh and innovative as you would expect from Nintendo, but I’m unconvinced as to it’s overall benefits as yet. They’ve got a year before this goes on sale, I’m pretty certain by then we’ll all be wanting one and then wondering how we coped without a massive tablet device to control our games before… oh Apple, what have you done!

For more coverage visit Nintendo’s E3 hub

Apple’s WWDC 2011 – The Lion, The iOS and The iCloud

Apple make it quite obvious that their WorldWide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) held every year is the place to find out their latest and greatest plans and despite no new iPhone release, this year was just as amazing as ever.

Steve Jobs took to the stage just over three hours ago to welcome the world to three new products from Apple: Mac OSX Lion, iOS5 and iCloud. All new pieces of software (there was unfortunately no new hardware this year) which Mr Jobs thought we would all like. So let’s have a look at what we learnt.

Mac OSX Lion

I’ve been a Mac fan since OS 9, but as most Mac users will tell you, OSX changed everything as far as Apple computers were concerned. Now in it’s eighth incarnation, Lion boasts over 200 new features.

Sadly what we were shown today was nothing that new. The features look pretty cool and will integrate into OSX well, but we knew about nearly all of them since November last year. Still it was nice to finally see some of them in action.

Apple’s main plan with OSX seems to be to reinvent the whole ‘windows’ system that every computer operating system runs on. They plan to do this with a combination of full screen app, fusing Mac with iOS and a nifty new feature called Mission Control. This feature gives you an overview of everything you have running on your Mac, a bit like Expose does on the current OSX. But Mission Control goes that little bit further, adding in your full screen apps and spaces you may use, creating one big overview of your machine, helping to keep things in order.

By adding in trackpad gestures, Apple have made this whole process easier. You can swipe between apps in a similar fashion to the iPhone/iPad which looks very easy and intuitive. You can even use this swipe feature to go back or forward on an internet webpage. Going further, Apple have added zoom and scrolling features for web pages, eliminating the side scroll basr (although they return when needed we’re told!). I do like gestures, I think it’s a good step forward, but I do wonder how easy they’ll be to perform with a desktop Mac.

Clearly thinking with their iOS hat on again, OSX brings you a much more app based experience. You can see all your apps (remember when they were called programs?!) in one place called Launchpad. This reminds me a bit of the Windows 8 preview we saw last week, except Apple still make the desktop the main focus of the computer – the apps an added attraction, which I feel is the correct way to do it.

The biggest revelation about Lion was it’s price, just $30 for a complete operating system. It will also be a download as opposed to the CD we are used to for OS upgrades – a nice idea, but I do wonder if it’s a bit of a risk should you lose your computer setting/internet connection. How exactly do you reboot?

OSX Lion will be with us in July.

iOS 5

This is the section I enjoyed the most. Apple have been teasing us that this was the biggest update of their mobile operating system so far and I think they’re probably right.

The new camera functionality looks brilliant. Instead of waiting up to 10 seconds for it to launch, it’s now instant. You don’t have to launch it from your home screen, you can now tap the lock screen twice to activate camera mode. There are new ways to focus the show so you can get exactly what you want, as well as gridlines to help you straighten your shot. You can even edit your photo’s iPhoto style all in the same app. And the best part? You can finally use the volume button to take a pic. That got the biggest round of applause of the day!

The iPhone notifications system has been completely revamped, giving it a bit of an Android feel. Instead of a disruptive and annoying pop up box filling your whole view, you’ll now get a simple box at the top of the screen. Drag the box down and you’ll enter Notifications Manager where you can see all your alerts. This is obviously a lot easier and more convenient, the notifications show up in a similar fashion on the lock screen also. A much needed overhaul.

The biggest iOS5 upgrade has to be the PC free aspect of it. You no longer have to tether your iOS device to a computer via wire every few hours to update it. This can all now been synced through wi-fi straight to your device. It can do this automatically whenever it finds your iTunes open. This is a big leap forward, particularly for the iPad which always seemed cumbersome to link up to a PC.

Other new features include complete Twitter integration on the whole device (YES!!), improved versions of Safari and Mail and iMessage which is… well BBM. Yep, Apple have finally brought us that one thing Blackberry’s had over the iPhone. You can now message any iPhone, iPad or iPod for free with text and pics instantly. Not new, but nice all the same.

iOS 5 looks incredible and will be arriving in the rather vague date of Fall 2011. It’s compatible with all iPads, iPhone 3GS and 4 and iPod touch 3 and 4. And no doubt the yet to be announced, iPhone 5.

iCloud

And so, we come to the big one, the one Apple has been pushing the most, the iCloud.

Apple have tried and failed in the past to utilise the cloud with their rather average MobileMe service. This allowed users to store their calendars, contacts and e-mail in the cloud for easy use, but at a price of around $99 per year. But as of today, Jobs claimed that MobileMe is dead and is to be replaced with iCloud. And whats more, that’s all now free, that must have annoyed some loyal subscribers.

As well as the MobileMe features, iCloud also brings you iBooks, your documents and your photo’s all in the cloud. Well, sort of. Instead of being a full cloud drive, Apple sees iCloud more as a way to sync your devices instantly. So when you take a photo on your iPhone, that’s uploaded to the cloud and then pushed to your Mac/PC, iPad and iPod all without you doing anything. Apple will store those photo’s for 30 days before deleting them. Documents will stay there for longer and you can even back up in the cloud, Apple will give you 5GB of storage up there (not much in this day and age, but not bad for free!).

The big part is obviously iTunes in the cloud. With both Amazon and Google releasing their own ‘music lockers’, many were looking for Apple to compete with this. iTunes in the cloud works by instantly downloading any of your iTunes purchases to all your devices. This part is free and a handy service. But what about the majority of your non-iTunes-purchased library. Well for a small price of $25 per year, Apple will let you use their ‘match’ service which will match all songs in your library with Apple ‘upgraded’ versions in the cloud, meaning no upload required to enjoy your music everywhere (and of course an easy way for Apple to profit out of stuff they haven’t sold).

I do wonder how useful the match service will be, after all we can all just wirelessly sync our iPhones now so whats the point exactly, but if it makes enough money for Apple to keep the rest of iCloud free, then I’m happy.

It seems to me that iCloud isn’t revolutionary at all, but it unites several syncing services all under one umbrella, making things quicker and easier to use, so it is a great convenience and you know Apple, this’ll end up being a phenomenon. iCloud will be available later this year, although the iTunes part is said to be live very very soon!

Personally I thought Apple’s WWDC performance was excellent. It wasn’t so much revolutionary as evolutionary, but there are some great new ideas there and almost all niggles with the iPhone/iPad appear to have been solved. It looks like a great Summer and Fall for Apple… once again!

Apple declares 2011 the year of the iPad 2

We all knew what was coming, but Apple still managed to offer up a few surprises as they launched the iPad 2 (original name) just a few minutes ago.

The first surprise was the host. Steve Jobs, the company’s famous CEO who has been away on medical leave. He insisted that even though he’s currently away, he had to be here today for this special announcement.

So what did Apple show us?

Well first of all, Jobs claimed that the iPad 2 has been completely redesigned since the original iPad a year ago. It’s certainly a lot thinner now, only 8.8 mm (that’s 0.2 mm thinner than an iPhone 4).

It’s also a lot faster. Apple unveiled the brand new A5 processor (the successor to iPhone 4’s A4). This processor is dual-core and should give you 2x as much CPU power and 9x faster graphics than the A4. Clearly Apple are moving firmly into HD video and high quality gaming. And Apple claim that despite the higher processing power, you’ll still easily get 10 hours of usage from a charge of the battery… nice.

And guess what, this one will come in two colours, black and white, right from the launch. Maybe Apple are changing their ways!

The iPad 2 will also be running a new version of iOS, 4.3 . This and all it’s features are still a bit hush hush, but it’ll be arriving with the iPad 2 and available for download on all other current iOS devices from 11th March.

Perhaps the worst kept secret of the announcement was the dual cameras that are now built in. It was perhaps the biggest complaint anyone had about the original iPad and now Apple have fixed it and fixed it well. The iPad 2 has a rear-facing camera that can shoot 720p HD video at 30 frames per second. Add to that a front facing VGA camera also with 30 fps recording and I think we can safely say the camera issue has been resolved. No flash though…

And with a camera comes some camera apps. FaceTime is here as expected allowing video calls between iPad, iPhone, iPod and Mac. There’s also photo booth, the Mac’s instant photo software allowing you to make yourself and your mates look like fools. Great fun!

But the best addition has to be iMovie. The iPad seems like the perfect device to use iMovie on. You’ll now be able to shoot high definition video and edit it straight on your device. The same app on iPhone was disappointing due to the small screen and the lack of processing power when it comes to HD video. But the iPad can easily handle this easily and with a larger screen brings more of an OS X feel to the editing process than the fiddly portable app look.  Having the ability to shoot and edit video quickly on the move on a small device is a fantastic tool to have, especially for an aspiring journalist.

Another OS X app was ported to iPad and shown in the conference, garage band. Now I’m no musician, but I’m sure having a portable version will be great. And after playing a ‘drum’ app on my iPhone, I can vouch that playing virtual instruments on a touch screen can be great fun!

One of the things which annoyed Apple (apparently) was the fact that everyone brought themselves an iPad and then covered them with cases to protect them. To solve this, Apple has launched the smart cover at a pricey $39. It is pretty clever though. Using magnets the smart cover will cover your screen just by unfolding it and placing it on the screen. It’ll also turn your iPad on and off by placing it on and off the pad. And if that wasn’t enough, it can also double up as a stand for it. Clever stuff!

Of course in true Apple tradition, the iPad 2 will be available soon, within the next 9 days in America! The rest of the world will have to wait until 25th March, but it’s hardly a long wait. The price of the iPad will also be staying exactly as it is for the iPad 2 with prices starting at $499 (although you can expect UK prices to be bumped up a bit 😦 ).

But was it the announcement Apple needed and has it convinced me to buy one.

The answer is, not yet. I’ve been unsure about whether to buy one for a while now and I thought the iPad 2 would convince me. The fact is, there’s not quite enough to make me want to run out and buy one at launch.

For example, connectivity is still poor, being reliant on Apple’s dock system. There needs to be USB support on a tablet device and preferably a firewire too.

Also, that brilliantly large screen deserves a fantastic display, so why no retina as we saw with the iPhone 4?

I also deny the comment that this iPad has been completely redesigned. It’s a bit different, but it’s very much the same iPad but thinner, with cameras and some lovely new features under the hood. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s not what I was hoping for.

But one thing is for sure. Apple have stamped their authority all over the tablet computer again and smashed the ball back over to Android to react. This does look like the best tablet around and who knows, as I learn more and see others around me purchase them I’m almost certain I will end up buying one!

 

A date for your iPad diaries!

Just a quick note to say that Apple have officially announced a press conference next week, to reveal their hotly anticipated ‘iPad 2’.

The conference will take place next Wednesday (March 2nd) at 10am PST (6pm GMT) and has the slogan ‘Come see what 2011 will be the year of’.

It will be very interesting to see what Apple have come up with this time. Last year, tablets were few and far between when Apple showed off the first version of the iPad. One year on and the market is saturated with them, particularly a growing amount of Android ones which can really rival the iPad. Apple will have to innovate and improve massively to stay in the game.

It will also be interesting to see how many of the rumours sprawled about the internet are true. Will it have USB and SD card support this time? How about front and rear facing cameras? Maybe the resolution will be at least 2x the originals, and perhaps it will be the slimmest piece of tech available.

We’re also likely to be treated to some more news from Apple (aside from their boring sales figures) such as a new version of iOS and some more news on what Mac OS X Lion will look like.

Perhaps the biggest question is who will host this conference seeing as CEO Steve Jobs is currently on leave from the company due to ill health.

If all goes to plan, I’ll be tweeting live throughout the conference so follow @chrisbheath for updates next Wednesday.

CES 2011: Everyone’s taking the tablets!

What has happened in the past year? At the start of 2010, only big tech fans who thought they were getting a glimpse of the future used Tablet computers. Most of the general public thought tablets were just those things that the doctor prescribed.

Then Apple unveiled the iPad and our world was transformed once again. It seems people were unable to move for tablets at this years Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Every tech company and their mother is releasing them and in a variety of different types and sizes.

Sadly I wasn’t there, but from looking at the offering at CES, it seems Apple’s biggest rival in this field is Android. That’s right, Apple’s biggest mobile rival is their biggest Tablet one also. And that’s because the idea of smartphones lends itself to tablets so well. That being said, there do have to be differences. The iPad makes great use of the 9.7 inch screen it has, Android tablets seem not to yet.

But that’s all set to change. Android is upgrading to a new OS in the near future, one that’s more tablet-proof. And with over 80 different models already using Android (and Samsung claiming their tablet – the Galaxy tab – has sold over 1.5 million since it went on sale), the iPad could be up for quite a big fight quite soon.

One of the most successful Android tablets, the Galaxy Tab.

There is of course another contender. In the second half of last year, RIM revealed the terribly named Blackberry Playbook. Blackberry have done well in the mobile market (although their share is dropping), but their tablet isn’t scoring well with the critics. The Playbook is being criticised for being less user-friendly than the iPad and not bringing anything new to the party. Pricing will make a difference, but with Android being the tech of the minute and Apple being Apple, I think RIM could have a real uphill battle here.

One company that seems to be staying out of the fight is Microsoft. Although their not saying it, the Windows giants seem to have decided this market isn’t for them just yet. In the past Microsoft have often dabbled with Tablets to little success. The main reason seems to be that they insist o running the PC version of Windows 7 on a tablet.

This simply doesn’t work. Imagine your windows PC screen, shrunk down to 8 inches. Then try touching all the tiny icons on your screen or even double clicking. It’s just not happening. Unlike iOS and Android, which use big ions and have been designed with touch in mind, Windows just doesn’t lend itself to the technology. Perhaps this is why all the Windows tablets I have seen so far can also be converted into a laptop.

That’s not to say Windows wont go down the tablet route. In fact their big keynote announcement was that Windows will be running on smaller processor chips manufactured by ARM in the future. If this isn’t a hint that their going more mobile and thus

Dell's answer to the Windows Tablet

tablet at some point, then I don’t know what is.

But at the end of the day, how long will the tablet craze last. I have both a Macbook and an iPhone and together they offer me all that I need. My Macbook gives me high end computing power and ease of use for the more home and work based projects, whereas my iPhone gives me everything I need on the go and has great location services (not to mention addictive games!). So where could an iPad or other tablet fit in for me? If you think of it this way, the tablet shouldn’t even last past the end of this year.

But I suppose it’s not about practability, it’s more about whats cool and being able to browse the internet on a 10 inch touchscreen on the go whenever you want, covered in Apple’s chic design, is what people want and what they will part with their cash to buy.

Put it this way. I want an iPad.

Blackberry Playbook – The Professional tablet??

It’s been one of the most anticipated technology announcements of the year. As soon as Apple reinvigorated the Tablet computer market, it was obvious that others would jump in and who better to challenge juggernaut of Apple than the only one beating it in the smartphone market, Blackberry.

A few months ago the idea of ‘Blackpad’ was put out there and instantly started trending on sites like Twitter. Today we learnt more, and thank heavens it’s not called the ‘Blackpad’, but the new name is almost as bad. For a device which is marketing itself as ‘The rofessional tablet computer’, is ‘Playbook’ really the best name? I seriously thought Blackberry had announced a new kids version of their device when I first heard the name this morning. But no, this is the actual tablet’s name.

I know name is not everything and we must take each product on it;s actual merits rather than something so insignificant. But be honest, as a business person, would you rather claim to own a Playbook or an iPad… hmmm.

But as I said, name isn’t everything, and it seems RIM (the makers of Blackberry) have been looking very closely at Apple’s iPad and more importantly what they left out. For example, the iPad has no camera’s whereas Playbook has two, allowing you to video conference in a similar way to iPhone 4’s Facetime.

When it comes to multimedia ports, the Playbook boasts both a micro USB jack and an HDMI port so you can watch yourvideos on the TV. The iPad will give you neither of these instead only providing Apple’s own media dock port. The size is quite different also, with the iPad having a bulky 9.7″ screen whilst the Playbook has a more convenient but also limited 7″ screen.

The Playbook is also running a brand new OS from RIM designed specifically for the new device which claims can do multitasking like no other device. From videos posted around the internet, the multitasking aspect does indeed look very good and simpler than Apple’s solution, but with no-one actually having tested the device, we’re going to have to wait to find out if it’s as it looks.

One thing which may hurt the Playbook’s launch is it’s lack of 3G meaning you are limited to utilising Wi-Fi networks for the internet. You can tether the Playbook to an existing Blackberry smartphone’s 3G, but that does kind of scream what’s the point to me… just use the phone!

I also have to say the whole business marketing plan confuses me slightly. I know Blackberry have always been seen as the professional option, but at the same time, I see nothing (except video conferencing) which the Playbook can bring to business that the iPad can’t. I also think the name will seriously go against them here.

Blackberry will release the Playbook early next year and look to become the first manufacturer to truly rival Apple in the Tablet market. But with other tech companies like Google, Samsung and Microsoft all planning Tablets and Apple’s revision of the iPad expected early next year, it could be an uphill struggle for the Playbook.

See the advert for the PlayBook below:

Apple iPad – Is This The Next Generation?

Despite losing out to Microsoft in the home computer market, Apple has always been at the forefront of innovative computing. Be it mp3 players, download stores or even mobile phones, whenever Apple enter the market, they seem to be on to a winner.

So you can imagine the excitement today when Apple were set to launch an all new product. And here it is, announced at exactly 6.00PM GMT, the Apple iPad.

Steve Jobs (nice to see him again!) proudly showcases the iPad

The iPad is Apple’s first venture into the world of tablet computers. The device itself is the size of an A4 piece of paper and is entirely a giant touchscreen. It is in effect a giant iPhone, but with more powerful features.

As you can imagine, Apple have done it all properly, with linkage to iTunes and apps from the iPhone store all working seamlessly with the new device. There’s also an accelerometer inside, allowing you to tilt the pad and the display changing automatically.

The iPad will allow you to go online through wifi and 3G networks.

Perhaps the newest feature is the ability to download books from (you guessed it) the iBook application. This will make the iPad a worthy challenger to Sony and Amazon’s book reading devices that are already on the market.

The iPad comes in 16GB-64GB varieties

In fact the iPad really does look like another fantastic piece of technology from Apple, but there is one question still unanswered, what is the purpose of the iPad?

Maybe there’s a reason why previous tablet computers have failed to catch the public imagination. We have laptops and we have smartphones, do we need something in between the two. It’s too big to beat the portability of an iPhone, but not as substantial as a MacBook.

I’m not denying that it will be cool to surf the web with your fingertips on a screen of that size and watching video/pictures on it will be a breeze. But typing looks a little ‘forced’ and the size really does seem too big to be a truly portable device.

Time will tell if Apple have succeeded again where others have failed, but for now I’m not entirely sold on the iPad. the device will start at $499 (£308) and will ship internationally within 60 days!