Samsung have finally unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Tab, their first tablet device and the first major competitior to the iPad.
Appearance wise, the Galaxy Tab is like a big Galaxy S Phone, coming in at 7inches and 380g – smaller and lighter than iPad. The device is powered by Android 2.2 and can even make phonecalls – can not wait to see someone hold this beast up to their ear.
As it is powered by Android 2.2 it can play flash videos and visit flash websites as well as being compatible with the Android Marketplace and the thousands of apps already available.
Samsung have built an eBook reader and media player for the device and video wise it can playback files encoded in DivX, XviD, MPEG4, H.263, and H.264.
There are two cameras, the front facing one is 3 MP and has a flash while the front facing 1.3 MP camera can support video calls over 3G.
Looks like a nice piece of kit, but is it just an oversized android phone? Would you carry two devices or just stick to the phone?
Another September, another iPod refresh from Apple who showed some nifty looking devices last night. The company seemed to cut an old iPod Nano in half to form a new versions of the Nano and Shuffle. The tiny Nano now has a multitouch screen, though hard to see how useful it will be as it is so incredibly small. The iPod Touch is now even thinner, and has inherited many features from the iPhone including two cameras, HD video recording and Facetime.Despite Steve Jobs announcing new models for the whole iPod range there was no update for the iPod Classic, perhaps singling the end is nigh for the device.iTunes also gets an overhaul with added social network functions called ‘Ping’ and a new logo that removes the CD icon!
The iPhone and iPad will be getting some software updates to fix bugs and the iPhone gains the ability to take HDR photos whilst the iPad gets multitasking.
The show concluded with the new dinky Apple TV that comes with no storage and allows users to rent videos or stream from a computer. In America it will also include access to Netflix, making it an attractive proposition. Hopefully in the future there will be some form of iPlayer on the device in the UK.
So, anyone else hitting eBay to grab a watchstrap for the new Nano?
Tonight looks like a big night for music gadgets and gizmos with Sony and Apple hosting press conferences ushering in new services and devices. Sony are in Germany for the IFA in Berlin, Europes biggest technology show. The Financial Times reports that Sony will be debuting a music subscription service, which will also offer up films and tv shows that is accessed with PlayStation Network accounts- a Spotify style service that covers everything?
Apple are expected to show off new iPod Nano’s complete with touchscreens and we may even finally find out if the company will finally get round to offer a cloud based music streaming service. Aplle should also be showing off their revamped Apple TV, though Amazon have tried to steal their thunder by announcing their own online TV service in the same week that has saw a tremendous first week for their new Kindle device.
Good to see competition between the big companies as this can only lead to bigger and better services for us lot – the consumers. Sony does face an uphill struggle due to having terrible software in the past for music management, but their revamped PlayStation Store went down well with gamers so hopefully lessons have been learned. Apple will be streaming their conference live tonight with a big catch – it is only available to view on Apple devices. Not making this up!
Amazon have finally launched the Kindle in the UK, and although it is officially out today you will be lucky to get your mitts on it as phenomenal demand has seen the device sell out till mid September. The postie dropped off one yesterday, so read one to find out what the first 24 hours of Kindle life is like.
Did you know there is a DJ Expo going on in Atlantic City? Well it is sure news to me though the only place I seem to get DJ news is from the ticker on DJ Hero. However the chaps at Denon knew there was an expo, and a good thing too as they have three shiny new products for the computer DJ to salivate over. Read on for all the mixing goodness, very complicated specifications and lots of knobs.
