Tag: Mobile Tech

Coffee Talk #309: What Do You Want to See in the iPad 2?

The iPad 2 is set to be announced on March 2, 2011. Today I wanted to see if any of you are interested in an iPad 2 and what features you’d like it to have. While I’m sure it’ll have…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, the Miami Heat’s inability to beat elite teams, Charlie Sheen’s insane interviews, or when Miley Cyrus will go all Britney Spears, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

The iPad 2 is set to be announced on March 2, 2011. The original was a crazy success, selling 15-million units in less than a year. Some analysts have pegged the sequel to sell twice as much. Today I wanted to see if any of you are interested in an iPad 2 and what features you’d like it to have. While I’m sure it’ll have a front-facing camera, more RAM, and a faster CPU, it looks like it won’t have the feature I really want — double the resolution.

On a side note, what’s up with Apple taking all the heat away from gaming conferences? The iPad 2 announcement will be during Game Developers Conference 2011 and the rumor is that Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (think iPhone 5 announcement) will take place during one of the same days as E3 2011.

So have at it (please)! What features do you want to see in the iPad 2?

MacBook Pro Gets Sandy Bridge, AMD GPUs, and Thunderbolt

Apple has updated its MacBook Pro line of notebooks with new Intel CPUs, new AMD GPUs, and a rebranded version of Intel’s Light Peak technology called Thunderbolt. While the prices and form factors are the same as last year’s models, the under-the-hood changes are pretty significant. Let’s break it down (the Degeneration X theme song should be playing in your head now).

Intel CPUs: MacBook Pros are now armed with Intel Sandy Bridge processors, which are the the true second-generation “Core i” CPUs. These new babies are more powerful and more efficient than their predecessors. The 15-inch and 17-inch models get some quad-core action, while the 13-inch model “only” gets a dual-core update. The new CPUs are blazing. You want one.

AMD GPUs: The 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros are now armed with AMD GPUs, in addition to integrated Intel 3000 chips. The low-end choice is a Radeon 6490M with 256MB of video RAM, while the high-end option is a Radeon 6750M with 1GB of video RAM. The 13-inch model only has integrated graphics. The GPUs are more powerful, but what really interests me is how this will impact Nvidia, as the company struggles with stiff competition on multiple fronts.

Thunderbolt: This is a new i/o port with some fantastic potential. It allows you to connect multiple devices with throughput that exceeds USB 3.0 (in some cases 2x faster). Imagine transferring gigabytes of data in seconds — that’s what Thunderbolt offers. You’ll be able to connect multiple monitors, hard drives, video cameras, etc. on one Thunderbolt connection. There aren’t any Thunderbolt products on the market at the moment, but the space should blow up in 2011. As someone that edits video, the thought of a Thunderbolt external hard drive to use as a Final Cut scratch disk is drool inducing.

Those are the three major updates to the MacBook Pro line. What do you guys and dolls think? Anyone tempted to buy one? Any of you have a rich uncle that could buy me one?!? Ha!

Coffee Talk #306: Your 2011 Dream Phone

During my weekend work trip that took me from LAX to SFO to ORD to MCO to LAX, I brought several mobile devices with me for a video feature. This caused visions of my next phone to dance in my head. As much as I love my…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Justin Bieber’s new haircut, Nonito Donaire’s brutal knockout of Fernando Montiel, or overnight trips to Orlando, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

During my weekend work trip that took me from LAX to SFO to ORD to MCO to LAX, I brought several mobile devices with me for a video feature. This caused visions of my next phone to dance in my head. As much as I love my T-Mobile G2, I’ve been dreaming about a new phone since CES 2011. Taking bits and pieces from each device, I’ve imagined my 2011 dream phone. It would be something like this.

Dual Core Processor: The power of dual core is awesome, but the real kicker is efficiency. Dual core chips offer improved performance and battery life.

Four-Inch Screen or Larger: After using an Evo 4G, Droid X, Fascinate, and Epic 4G last year, the 3.7-inch on my G2 took some getting used to. I’m fine with it now, but I miss the extra real estate from those larger screens. I want my next phone to have a screen that’s at least four inches. It can be Super LCD or Super AMOLED — there are pros and cons to both technologies. What I’d really like is the killer pixel density of the iPhone 4. The real estate of a large screen coupled with the readability of Retina Display sounds brilliant.

LTE: You’ll see some numbers in my upcoming 4G shootout video feature, but for now I’ll tell you that I was floored by the performance of Verizon’s LTE network. Sure, I expect those numbers to go down as more LTE phones become available, but even slightly decreased numbers beat the crap out of the test results I got on Sprint’s WiMax and T-Mobile’s HSPA+ networks.

Heavy Metal: I want my next phone to have a body that’s primarily metal and glass. I hate plastic. The plastic Samsung Fascinate felt flimsy compared to the mostly metal Droid X and G2. Compared to the beautifully constructed iPhone 4, it felt like a toy. I wish more phone manufacturers did a better job at ripping off the industrial design of the iPhone or Nokia’s high-end phones.

Dockable: Motorola’s Atrix 4G is one of the most unique phones on the market due to its laptop docking option. It’s just smart and clever. I’d love to see more phones do this. I don’t see that happening, but it’s my stupid dream so I’ll throw out any feature I want.

Operating System…Undecided: I love Google Android from a productivity standpoint. The Gmail and Google Voice integration are close to perfect. Those apps are so important for my work that Android is the best mobile operating system for me, in terms of getting stuff done. The gaming and entertainment options are still a frickin’  joke compared to what iOS offers. I’m getting tired of waiting and Google has improved its iOS products a great deal…though not quite enough. If iOS 5 is more interesting than the next major release of Android then there’s a good chance that I’ll switch to an iPhone as my primary device.

WebOS and Windows Phone 7 have some great features, but I don’t see developers flocking to either platform. A Windows Phone 7 on Nokia hardware with Nokia’s (terribly underrated, terribly explained, and terribly named) Ovi Internet services is potentially awesome, but I’m not yet convinced that these two companies will bring out the best in each other. Right now I’d say there’s a 45 percent chance of me sticking with Android, a 40 percent chance of me going with iOS, and a 15 percent chance that a NokiSoft 7 device will win me over. Then again, I’m still pissed at Google for canceling my AdSense account and, more recently, a PR snub. Maybe I’ll switch to iOS out of spite (unfortunately, I’d still use all of Google’s apps).

Anyway, those are some of the ingredients to my 2011 dream phone. Now tell me about yours (please)! If you could buy a new phone in 2011, what features would it have?

The #1 Mobile PC Manufacturer is…Apple?

Would you have guessed that the leading seller of mobile PCs in Q4 2010 was Apple? Sounds crazy, hey? Microsoft Windows is still the dominant operating system worldwide, but when you combine MacBook and iPad sales, Apple sold more mobile computers in the last three months of 2010 than anyone else. That’s the story according to the analysts at DisplaySearch.

MacBook sales were solid throughout 2010, but the refreshed MacBook Air really kicked things up a notch. The iPad was one of the most popular holiday gifts. When you add all of that up, it’s no wonder that Apple killed it in Q4.

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Sony Ericsson PlayStation Tablet (Android) in the Works

Engadget has a hot scoop on an upcoming Sony Ericsson tablet that runs Google Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) and Sony PlayStation Suite. The rumor follows the official announcement of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play, which offers Google Android and PlayStation Suite in a mobile phone. Here are more details on the Sony Ericsson Google Android PlayStation tablet (you must use all six words):

Although the tablet looks like a hollow 9.4-inch capacitive touch panel sporting a 1,280 x 800 pixel resolution from the distance, the space between the the front and back wrapped panels is actually stuffed with a battery and circuitry including a Tegra 2 processor. As such, you won’t be hanging it from the towel rack. It also features both front- and rear-facing cameras as well as a USB-A port that plays host to USB thumb drives or media devices. The only physical buttons — volume and on / off — are located on the edge of each indented side. There’s also the possibility that the S1 will feature a “Q” (for Qriocity) button but that decision has not been finalized, according to one of our sources. Oh, and there’s an IR port built-in allowing you to control devices other than your Bravia TV. The front face is finished in a high-gloss black that sits flush with the display and continues in one unobstructed sweep to the back of the tablet where a subtle dot matrix texture is applied to enhance the grip. The underside is a matte-silver color creating a nice contrast. All materials, we’re told, feel very premium though it’s unclear if we’re talking plastic, aluminum, or something else.

The rumor isn’t surprising considering how hot the tablet market will be in 2011. It’s nice to see Sony wisely expanding the reach of the PlayStation brand through its Sony Ericsson branch. It’s about time those folks started playing nice together.

Any of you interested in a Sony Ericsson Google Android PlayStation tablet (isn’t it fun to say?)? Would you get one over an iPad, BlackBerry Playbook, or HP WebOS tablet?

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Mike Capps Talks Epic, Bulletstorm, Infinity Blade, and More

Here’s a really fun and informative interview with Epic Games president Dr. Michael Capps. Not only is he an incredibly sharp man, but he’s also a super fun guy to hang out with. I’ve always been impressed with how nimbly Epic has evolved from PC to consoles to mobile. Capps addresses that issue, as well how Infinity Blade caused Apple execs to curse in excitement, Bulletstorm, his mother’s reaction to his shower scene in the “Bulletpoints” marketing campaign, Kotaku’s Brian Crescente looking like that guy from Deuce Bigalow/The Scorpion King, me punching Cliff Bleszinski in the face, and more!

Special thanks to RPadholic smartguy for his question about Bulletpoints!

School Falsifies Documents For Children to Build iPhones

Apple’s annual report revealed that 137 people in China were poisoned making its products, while 91 children worked in factories making Apple goods. The latter figure is particularly disturbing. This isn’t a knock on Apple at all, but a total knock on China. Perhaps I’m being naive, but I have a serious problem with a country where it’s common for a school to falsify documents for children so that they can build iPhones.

Here are more details from The Guardian:

The report says Apple found 91 children working at 10 facilities. The previous year it found 11 at three workplaces.

It ordered most to pay the children’s education costs but fired one contractor which was using 42 minors and had “chosen to overlook the issue”, the company said. It also reported the vocational school that had arranged the employment to the authorities for falsifying student IDs and threatening retaliation against pupils who revealed their ages.

Apple said it had strengthened its checks on age because of concerns about the falsification of ages by such schools and labour agencies. It also audited 127 facilities last year, mostly for the first time, compared with 102 in 2009.

Due to multiple Foxconn employees committing suicide, Apple has been paying close attention to its manufacturing partners in China. I’m happy that the company appears to be taking an active role at preventing child labor and improving conditions for employees. Still, there’s only so much a foreign company can do. This whole thing just makes me sad and wish that I could live without goods that were made in China.

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HTC Flyer Tablet is Awesome…Mostly

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC unveiled the HTC Flyer tablet running Google Android. The Flyer combines sleek design, strong specs, and numerous HTC software customizations, including OnLive gaming. On paper and in photos, this looks like an amazing Android tablet, save for one feature. Here’s a chunk of press release action for you:

Encased in a sleek aluminum unibody, the HTC Flyer tablet exudes the iconic style and build quality HTC is known for. It is also ultra-light, weighing as little as a paperback book, and compact enough to fit in a jacket pocket only. With a seven-inch display, lightning fast 1.5Ghz processor and high-speed HSPA+ wireless capabilities, the HTC Flyer tablet is perfect for those who have been waiting for a tablet that is both compact and powerful.

Touch interaction lights up the HTC Flyer tablet experience, but it also offers a groundbreaking pen experience. With the new HTC Scribe Technology on the HTC Flyer tablet, people can rediscover the natural act of writing. HTC Scribe Technology introduces a wave of integrated digital ink innovations that make it easy and natural to take notes, sign contracts, draw pictures, or even write on a web page or photo.

The HTC Flyer tablet premieres HTC Watch, HTC’s new video download service. The HTC Watch service enables low-cost on-demand progressive downloading of hundreds of High-Definition movies from major studios. The intuitive, natural design of the HTC Watch service makes it easy to find the latest movie and video content, while advanced technology on the back-end enables instant playback over the HTC Flyer tablet’s high-speed wireless connection.

HTC takes mobile gaming to an entirely new level by being the first mobile device in the world to integrate OnLive Inc.’s revolutionary cloud-based gaming service. OnLive is leading in the home gaming market by letting people play top video games on their televisions and computers without the need to buy expensive gaming hardware or software. When integrated fully, the OnLive service will enable customers to pipe the OnLive service through the HTC Flyer tablet’s broadband wireless to their television sets, or let them play directly on the tablet. When integrated on the HTC Flyer tablet, people can play a variety of games, including hits like Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, NBA 2K11 and Lego Harry Potter.

I adore the aluminum unibody construction. I love that this thing packs OnLive for gaming. I’m intrigued by the stylus software. Unfortunately, there are two things that prevent the HTC Flyer from being a must-have product (for me, anyway). The 1.5GHz processor should provide ample power, but going with a dual-core chip would have aided the Flyer’s battery life. While HTC Sense will add a lot of differentiation, the base code is still Android 2.4 — a version of the OS that was never meant to run on tablets. I understand that HTC hasn’t had enough time to apply Sense to Android 3.0, but I prefer Android tablets that use an OS version that was specifically designed for the tablet form factor. Call me crazy.

Anyway, let me know what you think of this baby when you have a chance.

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Quad-Core Snapdragon Chipsets Coming in 2012

Qualcomm has announced its next generation Snapdragon products at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The most interesting product is the high-end APQ8064, which features four cores that can run as fast as 2.5GHz each. Here are some tantalizing details from the press release:

The new processor micro-architecture, code-named Krait, in the next-generation Snapdragon will redefine performance for the industry, offering speeds of up to 2.5GHz per core and delivering 150 percent higher overall performance, as well as 65 percent lower power than currently available ARM-based CPU cores.

The quad-core APQ8064 will be designed to meet the performance requirements of the next generation of computing and entertainment devices while minimizing power consumption. As with the Snapdragon dual-core, the APQ8064 will include four asynchronous CPU cores which can be independently controlled for maximum efficiency. The Adreno 320 quad-core GPU debuts in the APQ8064 processor where it enables console-quality gaming and renders rich user interfaces.

The APQ8064 will also include a variety of features that make it a compelling processing solution for use in mobile entertainment and computing devices, including support for both PC and LP DDR memory, serial and PCIe interfaces, and multiple USB ports. The APQ8064 will also seamlessly integrate with Qualcomm 3G and LTE MDM modems and modules, giving OEMs a flexible and cost-efficient platform that can meet all of their design configuration needs and help reduce time to market.

Man, these CPU/GPU combos sound ridiculous. I can’t wait to see what these chips — especially the Adreno 320 on the graphics — can do! At CES 2011, I was drooling over all the dual-core phones on display. The prospect of quad-core processing in the palm of my hand sounds…brilliant. Now please excuse as I glare at my T-Mobile G2 for having a single-core chip running at 800MHz.

iPhone Nano (Mini?) on the Way?

It looks like the iPhone will be getting a diminutive sibling in the near future — perhaps the iPhone Nano or iPhone Mini? That’s the word according to The Wall Street Journal. The rumored model would be small and cheaper than the mainline iPhone. Here are the details:

One of the people, who saw a prototype of the phone late last year, said it is intended for sale alongside Apple’s existing line. The new device would be about half the size of the iPhone 4, which is the current model.

The new phone — one of its code names is N97 — would be available to carriers at about half the price of the main iPhones. That would allow carriers to subsidize most or all of the retail price, putting the iPhone in the same mass-market price range as rival smartphones, the person said. Apple currently sells iPhones to carriers for $625 each on average. With carrier subsidies, consumers can buy iPhones for as little as $199 with a two-year contract.

Although Apple competes in the mid-range market with older iPhone models, it stands to do even better with a new model that costs $49 to $99 (on contract). That part of the rumor makes sense.

What doesn’t make sense is the whole “half the size” thing. The iPhone 4 is pretty damn small as it is. Even if the iPhone Nano does use an edge-to-edge screen, something half the size of the iPhone 4 sounds tough to use. I’m having visions of Derek Zoolander’s phone.

What do you think of the iPhone Nano rumor? Do you expect to hear about it at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June? What features do you expect to have (and lack)?

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