Mobility & Email Blog » e-book

The Top 5 Failed Gifts to Return after Christmas

Tim Attwood — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0000

In addition to returning your collectible Justin Bieber wig and your Kim Kardashian wedding photo album, don’t hesitate to return technological gadgets that provide insufficient quality for your buck. Sure, your family meant well when they gave you that cheap Android tablet, but you especially know that you can do better. By returning some of the lowest quality gifts of the season, you will have the chance to obtain better gadgets that will make your life easier.

1. Android Tablets

Return: Low Quality Android Tablets — Lousy Android tablets like the PanDigital 72-70FW 7-inch tablets will be buggy and slow. In addition, they will run a version of Android that may never be updated. Better to put the money toward an Android tablet that you will actually be using five years from now.

Buy Instead: Exchange now for the Samsung Galaxy Tab, or wait just a little while for the ASUS Transformer Prime to come out. If you’re getting the Samsung, then go with the Galaxy 10.1 or 8.9. If you’re waiting for the ASUS, then just be aware that the Wi-Fi was having issues right before shipment. Some ASUS models were delayed until after Christmas so that the Wi-Fi issue could be ironed out.

2. LCD eBook Readers

Return: LCD eBook Readers — LCD eBook readers combine the functionality of an eBook reader with the advantages of a tablet. Unfortunately, the eBook tablet is a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Buy Instead: If you want an eBook reader, then choose an e-ink display like the Nook Simple Touch reader or the ever popular Kindle. If you want a tablet, then choose an Apple iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab or wait for the ASUS Transformer Prime.

3. Digital Photo Frame

Return: Digital Photo Frame — These gadgets looked neat on Star Trek 20 years ago, but digital photo frames have become obsolete.

Buy Instead: Replace your digital photo frame with a tablet on your kitchen table or a slide show on your television provided by a media center or a game console.

4. Point-and-Shoot Digital Camera

Return: Low-End Digital Camera — Digital cameras that function on their own can easily be exchanged for a smartphone that already has a camera included. You’ll carry one less piece of equipment while enjoying the multiple advantages of a smart phone.

Buy Instead: The Samsung Galaxy S2 is one of the best Android smart phones on the market today. In addition to superior camera and video shooting technology, you’ll get an intuitive user interface and the best that the Android Market has to offer. The Apple iPhone 4S also touts an impressive camera which can put any low-end point and shoot unitasker to shame.

5. Apple iPod Touch

Return: iPod Touch — The iPod Touch is a great device, but a newer and better design is just around the corner.

Buy Instead: Wait for the next version of the iPod Touch or for the iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 promises NFC technology, which will help to transport you into the future of convenient payments and the latest in user-focused content. Also, expect an even better camera and a cleaner design.

The Kindle Fire: Amazon’s new eReader and Android Tablet

Tim Attwood — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:47:07 +0000

Announced on September 28, 2011, the much-anticipated Kindle Fire tablet from Amazon showed consumers a great deal to love and a number of things to be concerned about when the device drops in November. Speculation about the device has been rampant over the last year with Amazon as a perfect contender for the tablet market. While it doesn’t appear that the Fire will have the heat necessary to burn down the Apple tree, it has a lot to like.

What’s In a Fire?

First off, a lower price. Amazon is aiming to bring digital content to a wider array of users by pricing its 7” Kindle Fire at $200 US, a significant amount less than the $500 or more Apple charges for various versions of the iPad2. This will place the Fire well ahead of other devices in its price range, most of which are eReaders like the Nook. The catch? That the Fire will not have 3G access. At all. Instead, all versions of the Fire will be Wi-Fi enabled. While this is a small issue for those who will use the device at home or in their local, free Wi-Fi coffee-shop, it does make the utility of the Fire somewhat limited.

In addition, the Kindle Fire won’t come with a camera of any kind, front or back, and most users speculate that this is in an effort to keep costs down. A clever move for pricing, but a camera is pretty much standard fare for any tablet by now.

What’s Keeps the Fire Blazing?

Under the hood, the Kindle Fire will be running a heavily-modified Android 2.3.5. How heavily? Enough that it doesn’t look anything like Android when the tablet boots up, with many familiar icons not where they should be and looking nothing like they used to. While the tablet will still support native Android features like Android Email and calendars, the only App Store that users will have access to is the Amazon App store – any access to the Android App Store will be gone.

Still, there are a number of points in favor of the Fire’s hardware and software, including the Amazon Silk Web browser. By farming out much of the page-loading duties a Web browser has to manage on its own to the EC2 cloud, Silk provides pages that load lightning-fast, and thanks to the robust nature of the EC2 cloud farm, the speed should only improve. Amazon is also offering free backup of tablet content on their cloud, making the 6GB of storage space offered by the Fire not seem so meager. In addition, WhisperSync for movies and TV will let any television program or movie be synced from the Fire to a computer or Internet-connected TV, all without the need for cables, something Apple hasn’t done yet.

The Fire looks set to burn up the competition at its price point, but how it will fare against the iPad2 remains to be seen.

Android OS Broadens the Market: Not Only for SmartPhones & Tablets

Tim Attwood — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 13:00:59 +0000

Most technology users know the Android OS as the backbone of a wide variety of smartphones and tablets, and there is even a project in the works to create a version of the now-defunct HP tablet that runs using Android. Purchased by Google in 2005, most of the Android code has now been released under the Apache License. The heart of the Android OS is based on the Linux kernel, and the Android Open Source Project is dedicated to ensuring that the OS is both maintained and developed over time. Most new devices using Android are running version 3.2, also known as Honeycomb, and in the latter part of 2011, users can expect to see the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, which is said to combine Honeycomb (3.2) and Gingerbread (2.3) into a unified whole. While the bulk of the devices which use Android still lie in the tablet and smartphone space, there are now a variety of products on the market and set for release that will also use this OS.

The Expanding World of Android Devices

One of the most popular devices that currently uses the Android OS is the Barnes and Noble “Nook”, an eReader that features an E-ink display with a touch interface and a Wi-Fi connection. The Nook runs version 2.1 of Android in both its “Color” LCD version and “Simple Touch” version.

Other devices on the market using the OS include the Phillips GoGear Connect, an MP4 player using version 2.1, and the HardKernal Odroid-S, a handheld gaming system that is currently available only in Korea. There are also a variety of products that are slated for future release and will run with the Android OS under the hood, including the Mobinnova Beam smartbook, which will feature a Tegra-2 chip and an 8.9” screen, and the Envisions EVO2 Gamebox, a video game console planned for a Q4 2011 release. Televisions are also getting the Android treatment, with Sony and TV maker NCPG set to release Internet televisions which will be both big-screen and HD.

Perhaps one of the most interesting uses that the OS is being put to is as a combination stereo/GPS in the form of the Parrot Asteroid car receiver, which is due to hit store shelves in October of 2011 for a retail price of approximately $349. The Asteroid will feature music through USB, SD cards, MP3 players and FM/AM radio in addition to maps, a speedcam warning app, Internet radio and voice-enabled emails and text messaging.

Another interesting use for the OS is in a set of ski goggles being developed by Recon Instruments. The MOD Live glasses will come with the world’s smallest Android device and provide a micro LCD display with a live GPS map for resort skiing.

While Android’s main market remains as tablets and smartphones, the ease with which it can be modified is leading to a crop of new devices as well.

R.I.P. Paper Books, Long Live the eBook

Chinonye — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:00:39 +0000

A digital revolution is taking place, heralded by a new form of printed word consumption: the eBook.

Several years ago, Amazon’s Kindle debuted to much fanfare. The small, hand-held device featured “e-ink”, which allowed the device to mimic the display of text on a page, as well as its reflective properties. This gave readers the chance to experience books almost as they would in paper form, but with the advantage of being able to store hundreds or thousands.

Initially, concerns about refresh rates and ghost images dogged the spread of eBooks and eReaders, but the development of the ePub format and the wider availability of titles has helped to spur greater interest. The ePub format is a free and open standard designed by the International Digital Publishing Forum, and is meant to be used on devices that can handle reflowable content, such as eReaders, as this form allows them to be resized and shaped as necessary for display.

In many regards, the ePub format can be seen as analogous to the mp3 format for music. While other file types (mp2, as an example) existed before mp3 became the standard, it was only with the advent of mp3 that music became not only accessible digitally, but the most common practice. EPub allows books of any type to be converted into a form that can be used by eReaders of different brands, in the same way an mp3 will play on virtually any digital audio device. The ability of the format to covert to the native display properties of the device, along with its accessibility, have given eReaders a much needed boost in the market.

There are a number of other benefits to eReaders that Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Sony are championing, including the fact that internal memory can hold multiple books, wireless connections can download new ones, and no trees need to be cut down in order to create paper for the eInk to be displayed on.

Recent numbers show Amazon’s Kindle sales on track to hit $6 billion in the coming year, making sales of the device 10% of the company’s revenue. Several authors have passed the million-sold mark writing only eBooks, and the market for these devices continues to diversify.

The paper book is not dead – many still prefer the feel of pages in their hands, but eBooks are rapidly closing in on the paper-and-print crown.

The QOOQ: a recipe tablet for modern kitchens

Meaghan Ringwelski — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:15:58 +0000

I can cook. Actually I’m an extraordinary cook; people keep saying that my fingers are magical. But I’m aware that lots of people even have trouble boiling an egg. The QOOQ is a kitchen computer, which will replace recipe cards and old cook books. It has 10.2’’ tablet with glass touch screen, on-screen keyboard, Ethernet connection, USB and SD ports and built-in Wi-Fi. However it’s not a netbook, it contains no web browser or such. It has access to online recipe sites and contains a number of built-in recipes, can gather weather information and access to internet radio stations. Plus it’s a very cute digital photo frame. A QOOQ will cost you €349 for the unit with 500 recipes installed and then €12.95 a month for recipe updates. Unfortunately, it’s only available in France, but I’m sure that it will be available internationally soon.

LG Solar Cell e-Book Reader

Meaghan Ringwelski — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:30:18 +0000

LG is going to hit the market with its futuristic e-book reader. It has solar panels, which provides an extra 4-5 hours after the sun. The panels are 0.7mm thick and weighing around 20 grams. It has 6 inch TFT LCD display screen.

Mr. Ki Yong Kim, head of the Solar Cell Office at LG Display says…

eBbooks are attracting a lot of attention because they offer the advantage of storing thousands of books’ worth of contents in an easy-to-carry device. The idea of e-book combined with solar cell will offer users the added benefit of longer usage. We will continue to provide users with enhanced convenience and value to solidify our lead in next-generation, environmentally friendly products.

LG is working towards increasing its solar cell energy conversion efficiency rate to 12% by 2010 and up to 14% by 2012. LG Solar Cell e- book’s release date and price is not clear but we are sure that we will be hearing about it soon.

Microsoft Courier Tablet

GadgetManiac — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:55:33 +0000

Gizmodo has the scoop on the design of a new tablet PC from Microsoft, dubbed Courier. The Courier has two 7 inch displays, folds like a book along a hinge and supports multi-touch and stylus input…not unlike the Asus Eee Book we previewed a while back. More deets/pics/video at the Giz.

In view of the redesigned Zune HD and this nice Courier Tablet, one might be tempted to assume that software companies can do hardware after all.

Courier: First Details of Microsoft’s Secret Tablet – Gizmodo, Sept 22 2009

Asus Eee Book

GadgetManiac — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:26:39 +0000

The Times informs us of the forthcoming Asus Eee Book reader. It’s a dual panel color touch screen ebook with a hinged spine that also does double duty as a PC running Win7 with a virtual keyboard. With estimated selling price of $163 for the low-end model, it will be about 1/2 the price of the Kindle.

The lack of color is the number one complaint heard from eBook users, followed by slow response during page turns.

For the smarter kind of bookworm – The Times, September 6 2009

Amazon Kindle 2

GadgetManiac — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:24:00 +0000

BoyGenius presents what is probably the new Kindle e-book reader. The Kindle 2 is apparently longer and wider than the original, but thinner. It has better buttons, a joystick, recharge by miniUSB and downloads via EV-DO.

…seemingly unsullied by professional product designers.

Amazon Kindle 2 e-books its way to BGR – BGR, Oct 3 2008

Sony PRS-700 e-Book Reader

GadgetManiac — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:56:48 +0000

Sony announces their latest e-book reader, model PRS-700.

As compared to the preceding PRS-505, Sony’s made the PRS-700 a touch screen, thus eliminating the column of 10 buttons along the right side of the screen. Price goes up to about $400, making the PRS-700 $100 more expensive than the 505, but then you get touch-based page turns, text annotation via on-screen keyboard, search, highlighting and an LED light for dim conditions. Capacity doubles to about 350 digital books.

…still no wireless connectivity or web browsing à la Kindle.

Sony’s Third Generation Reader Digital Book Gives Readers a “feel” For Literature – Sony press release, Oct. 2 2008