Tablet and Mobile

Archive for the ‘Android’ Category

It seems like new announcements appear every day now for Android alternatives to the iPad. Meanwhile there appears to be virtually nothing happening on the Windows side – at least, nothing of any consequence as what’s out there is at silly pricing.  So it looks like the market is going to be Apple and Google – Apple could kill the lot off by simply biting the bullet and putting FLASH on the iPad but until they do, everyone else is in with a fighting chance.

The problem is – most of the stuff out there seems like simple vapour-ware. Most of the offerings are just glorified phones with 7” screens – what IS the point? On the other hand there are a couple of 10” screens coming out of the woodwork – notably the Archos 101. But even that does not run Google marketplace by default – Google even now are saying their operating system is not optimised for tablets…

 

Here’s an interesting excerpt from one fellow selling a particularly nice-looking Android tablet called the APAD (yes, selling – all the rest appear to be “just around the corner”). This appears to be a tablet that was destined for the Windows CE market (i.e. toy version of Windows) and has been re-fitted with Android.

Read this frighteningly honest comment he has on his website – spelling errors are his:

This model is a new product and the firmware does not support the USB 3G or the Android market function temporarily. The firmware updating is in the process of R&D (research and development). It is planned to be finished within this month and we will provide the regular customers with the new version thereafter by sending a link for downloading to upgrade.

NOTE: Android 2.1 OS firmware on these are still in Resarch and Devlopment Stage. We are expecting firmware release almost every 10 days or so. If someone tell you thse are stable – then they are lying. I have tested these myself. They work but the Firmware need improvment, which will happen.

Note 2: People mentioning that thease have office running ( word etc ) -NOT TRUE -> you can install APK to view documents – ONLY Tablets running with WINDOWS CE will come with MS WORD EXCEL ETC.

Note 3: Running Internet Explorer (Thats Windows Specific) – NOT TRUE – > running Google Browser

Note 4: Support USB PORT FOR 3G MODULE & CAMERA – NOT TRUE -> maybe under Windows CE but not ANDORID 2.1 OS. A lot of sellers are just copying and pasting.

Note 5: Andorid Market – As you know it Not Yet SUPPORTED – Other Market to downlooad applications are installed by myself.

Even then he hasn’t stated the case strongly enough – Windows CE DOES NOT support Microsoft Word – it supports a toy subset – only Windows supports WORD. It amazes me that people can’t see this.

The 7” units can surely never be anything more than glorified phones but at 10”, there are a couple of models around the corner, including the Archos 101 which, given the apps could give Apple a run for it’s money.. BUT note I said COULD – manufacturers will rush out the hardware, dump Android on it and leave the possibilities (and responsibility) to your imagination – unlike Apple Apps where they are pretty much guaranteed to run as they were designed specifically for the one platform and only 2 hardware sets, Android, like Windows has to work on a wide range of hardware configurations. The fact that MARKETPLACE does not ship with most of these tablets says a lot about Google’s view on the currently emerging hardware.

So there you are, Apple are still on top, I’m certainly enjoying the new ability to view FLASH etc on my iPad using SPLASHTOP remote access to my PC. It’s not quite perfect YET.

Always on the lookout for the next big thing… And so it was that I  come across another article today about another of the so-called iPad-killers, the copycat products that supposedly threaten the iPad.

 

Read http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20009191-266.html to learn about the Cisco tablet PC. It is claimed in the article that “unlike the iPad” this is designed for business use. Read the article….

Ok, you’re back? First off, the claim of being designed for business use is only backed up by the fact it has a camera – and that’s a good point… also that it supports Cisco’s Telepresence.  It is worth noting that GOTOMEETING which is also Cisco is available free for the iPad.. the iPad also has SKYPE which is more than can currently be said for many Android designs.

The iPad is sub-£500 whereas the Cisco product is supposedly nearer $1000.

Also I’m looking at a 7” screen that does not look high-def- so is that going to handle BUSINESS PDFs I wonder?

The article also refers to a “growing number of tablet PCs” but when you click on the link all the article refers to is an as-yet unreleased Asus tablet.

I found it interesting that the second article also quoted 60,000 Android phones a day making Android the highest selling Linux mobile platform – rather pales into insignificance with Apple’s 1.4million sales of one model of phone in 3 days!

So for now at least I think we can safely give that one a miss… the iPAD is ideal for business use – it handles PDF documents excellently, it’s long battery life allows a full day’s meetings with all your documents to hand… it manages both Skype and GotoMeeting no problem… and so on. 

If only the competition would stop WAFFLING and actually put a real, fully supported device out that competes….

Update:

The Android phone was fine until we brought it overseas. The long and short of it is, it simply does not work. Over in the USA we’re getting messages about the SIM not allowing a connection – and yet swapping SIMs with the iPhone produces the same result while the iPhone continues to work. Orange up to now have shown that they don’t have a clue (there’s a shocker) and so we’ve a fight on our hands now getting a refund of the sat-nav software we’ve installed and getting a refund/replacement for the phone. We’ve now been onto Orange – and of course gotten onto their famous Indian call centre where they haven’t a clue what it is they’re doing. The operator managed to turn OFF roaming which was already on… then blurted out that the Android isn’t meant for use internationally – can you imagine it – the thing was made in Taiwan for heaven’s sake!

Incidentally though American TV shows Skype on selected AT&T Android phones, the Skype situation for Android has not changed. I’m beginning to think that in looking to see real competition for Apple, we’ve all jumped in too soon. Maybe Google should have stuck with search engines! Links like this suggest that Android has some serious problems. http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=2845

I’ll stick with my iPhone 3GS while they sort out the iPhone 4 aerial mess. The upgraded iPhone now has multitasking which until Skype get their upgrade out is pretty useless but the phone otherwise remains in my opinion the best thing out there.

Original Article:

We just took possession of our first Android phone the other day, the much-vaunted HTC Desire. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that this powerhouse runs at 1Ghz or whether the Android operating system is just that much more responsive, but the phone does seem to operate more responsively than you’d expect an HTC running Windows mobile for example. The screen is BEAUTIFUL to say the least with the new AMOLED display, it really is something to behold.

And that’s where it starts to go downhill. We purchased the phone from the Orange shop and as you might expect, things didn’t go too smoothly at first, the phone continued to show no signal for around an hour, we took it back to the shop and the fellow there helpfully reset the phone, telling us that it won’t operate until it’s been reset due to the text message the phone needs to receive to activate it.  The problem with that is.. what’s wrong with a message that says “please wait for incoming message” then another that says “please reset your phone” – why does everything always have to be cryptic??!!??

That done, we took the phone for a spin. The phone sent and received calls just fine and so we took it home (where we have no signal) and hooked it into the WIFI signal at home – again no problem.

If you look on the web it’s not immediately obvious where to get APPS for the Android, looking around there seemed to be several official-looking stores with nothing but rubbish in them, however a quick look around the phone (which comes with VERY little documentation until you realise there’s an online Android manual) and we discovered the marketplace. There are TONS of apps on there.

Unlike the iPhone market where Apple control the App store with an iron rod, there seems to be no such control on the Android marketplace and so there were some pretty poor apps – but also some great ones – installation is idiot-proof. We’re still at the early learning stage and later I’ll details some of the better apps.

For now, I’m beginning to realise why Apple in their iPhone didn’t bother with multitasking. The more you use the Desire, the more it slows down – until you realise the reason why… every time you use an App and then press the home key to go find another – the app stays running in the background. GREAT for a PC, but to my mind largely silly in a phone. We ended up with something like 20 apps running.. again at first sight it is still not obvious how to finish using an App and close it!  The solution for now? We downloaded a free task handler for Android and you can simply run that and close the lot down.

I think I’d prefer the option to NOT run any program in the background unless I specifically ask (music comes to mind).

Biggest gripe so far? Would you believe it there is no SKYPE for Android yet!