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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

There's nowhere to go with tablet innovation - even Apple seems to agree

Mark Bridge writes:

“Harder, better, faster, stronger”. Okay, so it’s a lyric from Daft Punk (or Kanye West, if you prefer) but it might as well be the vague design brief for second-generation tablets.

This struck me when I was at Mobile World Congress last month. Although each tablet manufacturer had its own USP - first to market, 3D cameras, a library of media content, a pressure-sensitive pen - there was as much emphasis on the operating system as there was on the other specifications. “Look what Honeycomb can do”, they all seemed to be saying. “It’s really good on our Android tablet”.

And it seemed to be a similar situation at Apple yesterday. Steve Jobs popped back into the office to unveil the second-generation iPad, a tablet that was 33% thinner than the original but still offered the same battery life. It’s now thinner than an iPhone 4, which is pretty darned impressive.

However, the initial impression hasn’t changed. Same screen size, same resolution. There’s a new dual-core chip inside - not such a big deal any more - and a front-facing video camera. Oh, and a choice of two colours. Black or white. That might blow Henry Ford’s mind but arguably it’s hardly major progress.

Hang on a moment, though.

Yesterday’s presentation didn’t just reveal the iPad 2. There’s a ‘Smart Cover’ that holds itself in place with magnets, keeps the screen clean and saves the battery. It comes in a choice of colours and sets you back anything from $39 to $69, but that’s only money. And don’t put your wallet away yet, because there’s an HDMI adaptor that lets you put your iPad display on your HDTV.

Then there are two new iPad-specific video and music-editing apps: iMovie and GarageBand, both already well-loved by Mac owners. $4.99 each, since you ask.

Which all makes me think that Steve Jobs’s line about the iPad 2 - it “moves the bar far ahead of the competition and will likely cause them to go back to the drawing boards yet again” - isn’t particularly true.

But what Apple has done is give its customers more reasons to buy and use an iPad. It’s removed some of the barriers to purchase. And it’s provided a reason to upgrade.

The iPad 2 isn’t a new tablet. It’s an upgrade. A very attractive upgrade nonetheless. And, some would suggest, it paves the way for iPad 3 shortly before Christmas.

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Opinion Articles

Review: BeeWi BBS020 solar-powered hands-free Bluetooth car kit

Mark Bridge writes:

Persuading mobile phone users not to hold their phone when they’re driving should be a simple task. It’s dangerous, it’s against the law and the penalties include a fine plus points on your licence.

But even then, there’s often an excuse about convenience and usability. Some people don’t like wearing headsets, some don’t like wires and some simply forget to charge the batteries.

That’s why a new hands-free Bluetooth loudspeaker from French company BeeWi caught my eye.

Author: The Fonecast
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The simple case of the disguised iPhone 4

Mark Bridge writes:

I remember the launch of Carweek back in the 1990s. It was a motoring magazine produced as a weekly glossy newspaper; a novel format, although one that probably led to its demise. 'Spy shots' of prototype cars seemed then – as now – to be much sought-after, despite them often not showing much resemblance to the finished product. Indeed, I often wondered how you could possibly road-test the handling of a new car when it was covered with unflattering body parts that served to disguise its shape.

Author: The Fonecast
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Maria Sharapova and the 'geek porn' of unboxing

Mark Bridge writes:

'Unboxing' is - or was - the new geek porn. We know this because The Register told us so in 2006, when the practice of video recording the unpacking of new consumer electronics products started to become popular. Just over two years later The Independent tried to tell us that unboxing was still the new geek porn but, by then, conventional porn had probably returned to... er... pole position.

Why do I mention this?  Well, Sony Ericsson has just published its own unboxing video featuring tennis player, model, charity worker and Sony Ericsson brand ambassador Maria Sharapova.

Author: The Fonecast
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Scaremongering news stories? There's an app for that

Mark Bridge writes:

Here’s a news headline that caught my eye.

Shotgun certificate up for renewal?  There's an app for that

Or, if you prefer…

Police to allow gun users renew licences with iPhone app

Author: The Fonecast
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Mobile payments: solutions get dumber while cards get smarter?

Mark Bridge writes:

Last week I spotted a couple of mobile-related news stories that involved payment company MasterCard. One came from CPI Card Group, which had introduced a “next-generation, MasterCard-approved payment tag” (a.k.a. 'sticker') that enabled “any mobile device to be used to make payments anywhere using the worldwide contactless MasterCard PayPass standard” (by sticking it on the back).

Author: The Fonecast
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A month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

Podcast - 30th January 2015

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

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