Tablet and Mobile

To coincide with the launch of the iPad2, Apple’s latest IOS release is up and running – simply head off to iTunes to grab the software and update your i-device.

Upgrading the iPhone 3GS was simple – a matter of a few minutes download and off we go. Upgrading several devices at once, the upgrade went quite smoothly for me – all sorts of drivers being loaded and resets being done completely automatically in the background… I just went off for coffee and let it get on with it.

The software upgrade really doesn’t do much but fix bugs – the main upgrade was 4.3 – and of course this upgrade includes the previous one -  allowing you (at last) to play videos and imagery on Apple TV directly from the iPhone. The setup is amazing – once upgraded, all your videos, pics and tunes on your iTunes computer are immediately available on your iPad or iPhone etc… and typically Apple – it just WORKS…

Also at the 4.3 upgrade, the browser was speeded up thanks to the new “Nitro Javascript Engine” and it’s claimed that this alone doubles browser speeds –though that of course will all depends on whether your target website is making heavy use of Javascript – many do. The hated change to the mute button now allows users to select whether they want to use that button for muting or rotation control…  and apparently iPhone 4 can now serve up WIFI to other devices-  though no mention of  the 3GS – BUT this DOES APPEAR TO WORK over Bluetooth and USB on the iPhone 3GS which is interesting. No idea why you can’t do this over WIFI on the 3GS as that facility was built in from day one but Orange wanted to charge extra for it! I think a deal with the phone companies is the main reason.

Similarly iPad and iPad2 – the upgrade just works…  video quality from videos on your PC iTunes setup is amazing.  So – for free, faster iPhones and iPads – get updating!

Peter Scargill

p.s. I don’t recommend this but I didn’t go through any lengthy backup procedures and all worked well regardless. Upgrading the phone and iPad each took all of 15 minutes from start to finish with virtually no interaction required. So why are you waiting.. go get IOS 4.31 now!

Friday 25th March saw the launch of the new iPad 2 throughout the UK. If there is anyone left who’s not aware this was happening, back in April last year the iPad was launched in the USA, after several years of failed attempts to get a star-trek-style tablet on the market, Apple dared to go where others had failed.. and the gamble paid off as iPad sales went through the roof.

By Christmas 2010 everyone and their auntie were promising iPad-killers and the full might of Chinese industry went into producing various sizes and shapes of tablet armed with the promising Android operating system – but no-one could match the price/performance of the iPad.

By February the rumour-market was in full swing as  manufacturers finally woke up to the fact that the tablet is here and terms Xoom, Galaxy Tab became household names. The Tab appeared in shops all over in large numbers, sadly that’s where most of them seemed to stay because despite the quality of the tablet itself, the software simply wasn’t ready for prime-time and Google themselves were the first to admit this.

Then along came Gingerbread, the great hope for iPad alternatives – finally some real competition? Well, no. Many of us wondered if Apple would pull a rabbit out of a hat and it looks like they have. With manufacturer’s having “iPad killers” just around the corner, it really was important for Apple to get a move-on.

The iPad 2 was launched in the US a couple of weeks ago and immediately the price of the original iPad went through the floor, effectively killing off the low-budget competition, friends of ours who bought the iPad2 near the time of the launch of the new tablet were offered free upgrades by Apple who by now really HAVE gotten the knack of marketing in a way that their key competitor have never really managed – you feel you’re dealing with a company, not a bunch of nameless types somewhere in China. So now we have iPads on EBay and even being sold off as reconditioned by Apple themselves… meanwhile the suspense was building up for the UK launch – even the normally negative BBC reporters where avoiding their usual sarcasm…

I joined the queues in the MetroCentre in Newcastle at around mid-day Friday and already there were a couple of hundred people on two floors queuing for the new device. Apple wasted no time in dishing out Starbucks coffee and water to the waiting crowds and before long sent their guys along to find out what everyone would be buying and giving them reservation tickets to ensure there were no disappointments. Apparently one poor soul had been queuing since the night before and the MetroCentre security guys would not let him stop overnight so I’m guessing it was a night in the car. Rightly so he was given extra attention by the staff.

The whole production was very American, with a 5pm opening slot looming, staff in their hoards started clapping and cheering even though the rest of us were far too weary through standing all afternoon to show that much enthusiasm. Their noise certainly brought in the crowds and by now they’d succeeding in breeding a distinct “event” atmosphere.

We were herded toward the shop in small groups in a very civilised fashion and as each person or family got to the store they were asked their names and assigned to a particular staff member who would not only take their money off them but give them any on-the-spot training or help they needed and all of them were friendly and knowledgeable.  I can think of a few stores who could do with such training and the whole thing was very “slick”.

Some heavy questions had to be answered.. was it to be white, or black, 16, 32 or 64 gig, with or without 3g, leather or plastic smart-cover and what colour cover?… by the sound of it there were no real favourites, everyone had their own idea of what makes the perfect iPad2.

There was a definite buzz in the brightly lit store as staff extracted countless thousands of pounds from the public in return for a hint of real magic as punters stared in admiration at their new wonder-toy.

By 7pm we were out of there, our choices being one black and one white iPad2, I went for the girly pink plastic cover, my wife went for the manly red leather. We both bought the incredibly stylish Apple Bluetooth keyboard.

So – was it all worth it?

You bet. It’s thinner, lighter and faster than the original, the glass is many times stronger. 33% thinner and it shows, much faster and that shows too, front and back cameras and a new operating system upgrade. The (and ridiculously inexpensive) new apps (Garageband and iMovie) are excellent, PhotoBooth is great fun and Facetime works a treat though I remain  Skype fan – if only they’d upgrade their App to look good on the iPad as against iPhone.  Re-installing hundreds of apps took minutes – and for an extra treat it seems you CAN share apps within a given account so my wife gets to share all my apps – no problem. Forget the rubbish you read about just being good for games – unlike Android there are lots of business Apps for the iPad, I now have PDF and WORD readers program editors, video editing, SQL editors and I’ve just found a new bunch of business apps I didn’t know existed as well as CRM tools and many more – oh, and some pretty good games.

So you don’t get Flash – but more and more sites including those I’m responsible for are moving away from Flash – you don’t get USB but it’s so easy to use Dropbox and other tools to get stuff onto the iPad. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Apple have on their hands not only a new winner in the iPad2, but an Android-killer in the now price-competitive original iPad.  Arthur C Clarke came up with the phrase “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. Well, we’re not quiet there yet, but with a 10+ hour battery life and Star-trek looks, the Apple iPad 2 is only a stones-throw away from magic”.

48 hours from now I plan to have my hands on a pair of iPad2s…  specifically the plan is to have a black one for me – and a white one for my good lady!  Why two? well, I have to say I didn’t have to convince Maureen – the Apple Keynote speech did that, within minutes she’d decided to sell the laptop – and my iPad went off to Ebay.

So, there is the original iPad and now a host of imitators including the XOOM and the Galaxy Tab to say the least – WHY would one want to upgrade?

Ok, first things first – compare the all important BROWSER of the iPAD to the Android “competition”. The iPad’s browser has been described as a “top rate, no compromises HTML5 browser”. HTML5 is the new standard to work to, enabling many new standard features in your web browsing experience and also enabling for the first time, a standard for handling VIDEO without having to resort to FLASH.  By contrast the Android browsers are described as “not ready for prime time, even for HTML4”.

So that leaves iPad against iPAD2… why spend the money to upgrade or why buy one at all. Well, for those just coming into the game, the iPad 2 is CHEAPER than it’s predecessor and feature by feature not only blows away the competition, it also blows away the original iPad. Graphics up to NINE times faster, 33% thinner, 11% lighter, front and read cameras… the list goes on. For the foreseeable future this is going to be the tablet to have.

As soon as I get my hands on these devices I’ll put more info up here. Wish me luck in the queues.

It’s funny how you come to rely on stuff..  Last April I took possession of an iPad and I’ve used it every day since, be it reading the papers in the morning, checking the BBC site during the day or using it to read documents in the endless meetings I seem to inhabit these days, or watching the iPlayer at night.. it’s always there. The one thing that I’ve always found marginally annoying was lack of front-facing camera – especially after Skype brought out a version of Skype to handle that on the iPhone.  So, this week the iPad went… and I have to say it was the ONLY computer I’ve ever owned that has NEVER gone wrong – or even faltered…

It’s 2 weeks now until the UK launch of iPad2 and already they’re saying it is blowing away the likes of the new Xoom in benchmarks – the problem is – I don’t have one! Maureen and I are both sold on the idea so I’ve checked with the Apple store who were “fairly” convinced that each purchaser can buy TWO units – so on the launch day I plan to be there – one black, one white (the black one is for me).. and no I don’t think the 3G is worth having but I’ll be looking at the 32gig model as that extra storage will come in handy for movies on the plane when travelling as will the reported extra hour of battery life.

In the meantime, I’m glad I have my little iPhone, minuscule as it may be, it saves me getting severe withdrawal symptoms

Somewhat earlier than expected, Apple’s latest IOS release is up and running – simply head off to iTunes to grab the software and update your i-device.

Upgrading the iPhone 3GS was simple – a matter of a few minutes download and off we go. Despite some issues with a cheap Chinese cable I bought, the upgrade went quite smoothly – all sorts of drivers being loaded and resets being done completely automatically in the background… I just went off for coffee and let it get on with it.

The software upgrade allows you (at last) to play videos and imagery on Apple TV directly from the iPhone. The setup is amazing – once upgraded, all your videos, pics and tunes on your iTunes computer are immediately available on your iPad or iPhone etc… and typically Apple – it just WORKS…

The browser has been speeded up thanks to the new “Nitro Javascript Engine” and it’s claimed that this along doubles browser speeds –though that of course will all depends on whether your target website is making heavy use of Javascript – many do. The hated change to the mute button now allows users to select whether they want to use that button for muting or rotation control…  and apparently iPhone 4 can now serve up WIFI to other devices-  though no mention of  the 3GS – BUT this DOES APPEAR TO WORK over Bluetooth and USB on the iPhone 3GS which is interesting. No idea why you can’t do this over WIFI on the 3GS as that facility was built in from day one but Orange wanted to charge extra for it!

Similarly iPad – the upgrade just works…  video quality from videos on your PC iTunes setup is amazing.  So – for free, faster iPhones and iPads – can’t be bad!

Peter Scargill

p.s. I don’t recommend this but I didn’t go through any lengthy backup procedures and all worked well regardless. Upgrading the phone and iPad each took all of 15 minutes from start to finish with virtually no interaction required. So why are you waiting.. go get IOS 4.3 now!

I take it all back… the iPad 2 looks amazing. Released today and apparently available in the shops in the US on the 11th of March, the iPad 2 is over 30% thinner than the iPad, it’s lighter, it’s graphics are claimed to be up to 9 times faster, no doubt due to the new A5 processor, it has front AND rear cameras and it’s the same price as the original iPad.

How depressing is that (unless of course you waited and are planning on buying the new model).

Seems to me that this should just about push Android over to one side for lots and lots of potential buyers – AND it transpires that Adobe and Apple are now speaking so we could even see Flash coming to the iPad in the future.

Looking forward to seeing reviews of the new version of the operating system and more importantly looking forward to retrofitting my now ancient iPad to give it at least some of the features of the new device.

Peter Scargill

By the time you read this, no doubt Apple will have had it’s launch and we’ll see the iPad 2 emerge perhaps even with an upgrade of the operating system. The amount of rumour and gossip out there is unbelievable for a device that only months ago was considered to be a novelty.  Back in April when it was released in the USA and I had mine ordered I told you it was going to be a game-changer… and it was.

So what’s going to be in the new iPad?  That’s anyone’s guess and when you think about the manufacturing involving many companies, Apple have done a cracking job of keeping everyone guessing.

The real question will be – what about the millions of iPad 1 owners – will we get the operating system upgrades? Is our old iPad now defunct?

Well, for me – I’m quite happy – sure I’d love a front-facing camera for Skype (and not that horrible Facetime thing).. but you know… iPad developers just keep making the products better-  I’ve a fantastic PDF reader in GOODREADER, some marvellous games, SUGARSYNC works a TREAT, I have video and audio streaming software on my PC that lets me watch my videos anywhere, Apple TV works a treat with the iPad… I could go on but regardless of what happens today I have an excellent product that has been utterly reliable over the past 10 months or so…  if they gold-plate the new one – I’m still not complaining. As for the so-called iPad killers – other manufacturers have had plenty of time to bring out their own superior products – erm… no, Apple still has the lead in this particular market.

Come back soon – I’m sure there’ll be much more to talk about in 24 hours from now!

One of the things that worries me most about the 21st century is that as the technology gets more complex, it becomes easier to baffle the public into submission.

Take 3d as an example… with glasses – using a stereo image, it’s easy to get a 3d effect. I say “effect” – because it’s not really 3d – it’s just part of 3d.

Let me explain. Take 2 pictures of a person against a backdrop. The images will be taken a few inches apart – and the system will one way or another display the imagery – left image for your left eye, right image for your right eye. Because of the slight overlap of images, you “see” 3D. But no matter what you do, you’re only going to see it from one perspective. You are NEVER going to be able to move around and see what was BEHIND that person’s back – even though it FEELS that way.

3d then with glasses – from a stereoscopic original image – “works”. A prime example being AVATAR. Of course with glasses you can move around freely – but you’ll only get the same imagery no matter where you move.

Without glasses things get worse. The “lenticular” system as it’s known, or as I call it the crappy last-century-3d-postcard system, takes vertical stripes of the two images – and alternates them. Using a flat lens system the two alternative images are redirected to each eye… BUT NOW you can’t even move around freely – the system works only in fixed locations as the lens has no way to tell where you are.

Another new gimmick that’s coming along that CLAIMS to be 3d but isn’t – uses the camera on your tablet or other devices to monitor your head movement… and adjust the imagery accordingly. As long as you are moving, your brain will be fooled into thinking the images is 3d – and this is actively being marketed as a future for 3d – mainly because it’s cheap – the problem is – it ISN’T 3d. Stop moving and you will get a static image in 2 dimensions.

None of this stops sharks from claiming they can get 3d out of even simple 2d images – think about it – it’s impossible – the information simple isn’t there in a 2d image. In a movie you could conceivably compute some of this information from adjacent images – but if for example the person is moving horizontally against a backdrop, then you can ONLY glean horizontal information.

Yet over at the BBC iPlayer you’ll see how the marketing magic is already taking over from fact…listen to the claims around 5 minutes into the video…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00yc6ss/Click_29_01_2011/

Is it really possible that Google have finally gotten their act together with Android? Certainly the preview video below would make you think it’s possible…   if someone comes out with a widescreen, 10” tablet running this – and if it’s not a con… and if it handles Skype video… and the battery lasts 10 hours…   and runs cold…  and is thin…  then my next purchase… dare I say it.. could possibly NOT be an iPad 2…

Only time will tell… MS may as well give up at this point.

Don’t ever let it be said I’m in Apple’s pocket – you might find this interesting… the Blackberry Playbook!

According to the blurb, Included in the video above is a brief demo of email pairing with your BlackBerry® smartphone via BlackBerry Bridge, multi-tasking, viewing Microsoft® Office® documents, and secure access to business applications such as Flash®-enabled dashboards from SAP® BusinessObjects Explorer.

Meanwhile of course we’re waiting to hear official confirmation of the iPad 2… nothing yet.

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