Monday 13 August 2012

Amazon Kindle Fire 2 vs Google Nexus 7: Budget Tablets in Comparison


Yes, the iPad is the best tablet in the market; yes, Samsung Galaxy Tab is also a market leader. But how true is the statement that there is life beyond these two mammoth tech monoliths- pretty much.  Not everyone has the pecuniary potential to spend 30k to get him or herself a tablet, the budget tab comes into play then.

And if one is talking about the budget tablets, he can’t ignore the Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7 tablet. And today, we are going to compare these two tablets. Kindle is the undisputed ruler of the tablet world and the Nexus 7 is the competitor that will exert all its might to usurp the Kindle. So, without wasting any further time, let’s compare both the dark horses one against another.

Operating System

On one hand the Nexus 7 boasts of the latest and the best OS, the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and on the another, the Kindle sports a customized Android OS. Nexus 7 looks far ahead of the Kindle but those who have used the Kindle would definitely say that the difference is not as conspicuous as it looks on paper. Anyway, the Google Nexus 7 bags the game.

CPU and RAM

The Kindle Fire 2 comes packed with a dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor, which is well complimented by a 512MB RAM. Nexus 7 goes several steps ahead and packs a quad core ARM A9 processor, seconded by a 1GB RAM. No prizes for guessing folks, Nexus 7 all the way.

Storage

In the storage segment the Kindle Fire offers 8 GB of onboard storage capacity, this might seems small but when you get to know that Amazon gives unlimited cloud storage for all the Amazon products from films to books, the storage capacity suddenly starts to look gigantic. The other device in question, the Google Nexus 7 tablet come in two memory avatars: 8GB and 16 GB. In both the cases there is no memory expansion available. Kindle has a slight edge over the other tablet.

Display

The Nexus 7 has a 7 inch LED-backlit IPS LCD capacitive touch screen with  16M colors, the tablet has a pixel resolution of 1280x800p. In reply the Kindle Fire 2 offers you the same screen size with same display specs excluding the pixel resolution, which is 1024x600p, a little less than the Nexus 7.  I would call it tie.

Camera

The Nexus 7 has a 1.2MP camera on the front side of the body for video chat and self portrait. But the Kindle disappoints here with offering no camera for the said purposes. Google Nexus 7, what else.

Battery

Amazon Kindle Fire standard Li-Ion 4400mAh battery and the Google Nexus 7 tablet comes packed with 4325mAh battery. Advantage Kindle.

Features

In the features segment the Nexus seems to be holding the upper hand as it has Bluetooth that the Kindle doesn’t. In the sensors category the Kindle only sports Accelerometer whereas the Nexus 7 has gyro, proximity, and compass in addition. Moving on both the machines have USB and 3.5mm jack connectivity. Nexus 7 has GPS but Kindle Fire 2 once again disappoints.

Final Words

The competition was fierce, but if I have to come to a decision I would go with the Google Nexus 7. But, by no means, it employs that the Amazon Kindle Fire 2 is an inferior machine.  But yes, with features like the camera, Bluetooth, and different sensors the Nexus 7 has it. Thumbs UP.
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Friday 10 August 2012

Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 Confirmed to Hit the Market in October

It was fathomed to be coming to the market soon but the timing was not in the day light, now the Lenovo ThinkPad 2 has an official release date set in the month of October. The Chinese conglomerate has officially announced on Wednesday that the Windows 8 tablet will be floating in the market from the next month.

"Today we are excited to reveal the fruit of this collaborative co-engineering, the ThinkPad Tablet 2, a joint effort between Lenovo, Microsoft and Intel," Dilip Bhatia, vice president and general manager, ThinkPad Business Unit, said in a press release.  

One thing here needs to be emphasized that this tablet is not an RT model, it will be powered by Intel Atom chip. To make things look pretty, the weight of the machine has been kept shockingly low at 1.3 pounds and the 9.8mm thick(or thin).

Technical Specification
UK’s most popular tech site, ThechRadar revealed the pictures of the said device; the pictures are now verified by Lenovo itself.  The manufacturers say that the device will come in both the 3g and 4G versions. It will sport both front and rear facing camera. The Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 will house a 10.1 inch HD screen, HDMI port, wireless video streaming capability, and a finger print reader. There will also be a stylus pen.

Moving on, the manufacturers are saying that the tablet will hit the retail shelves just as the Windows 8 is launched; Microsoft has made it clear that the date for the Windows 8 inauguration is 26 October. The same day is going to witness the launch of the first ever Microsoft tablet, the Surface tablet. Lenovo has not exactly pin pointed the real date but one gets the sense of déjà vu.  And about the future of the Lenovo ThinkPad 2, only time will tell.
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Wednesday 8 August 2012

Nokia to Come up with Windows 8 Phone Next Month; Pics Leaked


If the rumors are deemed to be the foreshadow of the events to come-and there are solid reasons here that they are- the giant Finnish handset maker Nokia is going to announce its first Windows 8 mobile phone next month. The image of the prototype has started to float on the Internet. A number of those images are fake but some seem like real images.

Real or fake, one thing is for sure that Nokia is going to be the first manufacturer to come up with the first Windows 8 mobile handset. Microsoft has already indicated that most of the Windows 7.5 existing handsets in the market won’t be getting the Windows 8 update, though in order to placate its customers Microsoft has made it clear that the Windows 7.5 Mango users can upgrade their devices to Windows 7.8. But, this looks more like a market strategy than a way to give the customers the best services.

The leaked images of the prototype indicate a strong resemblance to Nokia Lumia 900. The said prototype does not have a name at the present moment but we can safely assume that it is proto.nokia.com, the marking that the company has given to it.

Right now we don’t have info about the hardware specification of the handset, but you never know, like the pics the specs might just also be found on the net soon.    

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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Tech Specs and First Impressions

  

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Tech Specs and First Impressions


As a phone, Samsung Galaxy Note might have met the expectations of many for a bigger of screen. Then you have a bigger note coming to your way this month; the device would be called Galaxy Note II. But I’m sure; there may be many who implore for the luxury of a much bigger screen that can give better viewing experience and better utility space than a Note or Note II. The answer is Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, which is the tablet version of former Galaxy Note.



                                        

So let’s find out what the device has on offer for us.
The Hardware Specification
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 boasts of a 1.4GHz quad core processor which sits pretty on the Exynos chipset. For a graphics enthusiast the Note has Mali 400MP GPU. That is not all folks, the CPU is seconded by a 2GB of RAM.  
In the camera segment the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 comes equipped with a 5MP autofocus camera with LED flash. And to spice up the matter the device houses a 1.9 MP camera on the front side of the body. The humongous 7000 mAh battery of the tablet is also an eye catching specification. Though, the non-removable aspect of the battery can be fathomed as something disappointing.

Now display, it is conspicuous from the name itself that the Note is going to hit the retail shelves with a screen size of 10.1 inches. The SuperPLS screen of the Note has a thundering pixel resolution of 1280x800p. The TouchWiz user interface adds gliter to glory.
In the storage capacity segment the Note 10.1 comes in three avatars: 16, 32, 64GB; and to make it even better there is 64GB memory enhancement capacity endowed to the device. In the connectivity arena there is MicroUSB, Bluetooth, 3G, and Wi-Fi connectivity. There are plans to upgrade the device with 4G capability towards the end of the year.
S Pen Functionality
There is no need to clarify that the Stylus in the Note series is called S Pen. The S Pen makes the experience of using text and graphic together amazing. The demo in the video speaks a lot about that. The Samsung Galaxy 10.1 will be appearing preloaded with lots of Adobe Photoshop apps which are customized specially for the S Pen.

Features
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 comes with ICS 4.0, which by all means is a state of art OS but the fact that the Tablet does not come with the latest Jelly Bean is a little irritating to the eye. The tablet is full of different sensors like Ambient Light, Gyroscope, Compass / Magnetometer, Accelerometer. Then there is document viewer/ editor on board. You have voice memo, predictive text input, Java, SMS, MMS, Email, IM, Adobe Flash Browser. Then there are different kinds of format support for audio and video support.
The Final Words
In all my sincerity, I deem this device as something that will redefine the phrase technical prowess and at the same time it will not be compromising with the user friendliness. Thumbs up, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. Virtuoso.


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Bigger, Better, and More Powerful Samsung Galaxy Note Set for August 15 Launch


Finally, the time has come for the rumors to take a corporal form, till now the GalaxyNote 2 was merely a rumor, a very hard proposition even to believe; but the Note 2, according to some very reliable sources, is now official.

All the specifications of the phablet have not come to light but the Note 2 seems to be few steps ahead (if not many) of the existing Galaxy Note. Let us have a quick look at the most perceptible changes in the newer note.

As expected the Note 2 will be bigger in size than the Galaxy Note (whether it was necessary or not remains to be a point of argument). The size will be 5.5 inches this time 0.2 inches more than the Note. Then it is also conjectured that this time the RAM is going to be 1.5GB, which was 1GB in the Note.

Unlike the existing Note, the Galaxy Note 2 will not be a region specific 4G LTE handset; but in a country like India where 3G is region specific the feature seems to be a little redundant. Then if you are a credulous person you might believe that the Note 2 will be coming to light with an Exynos 5250 CPU built on ARM Cortex-A15 processor architecture.

The camera of the handset is still in the dark, some say that it will be the same 8MP camera whereas some pundits surmise that it will be somewhere between 10 to 13MP. But one thing is clear as daylight that it will house a front facing camera like its elder brother.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 will come preloaded with Android ICS 4.0, no Gingerbread to start with like in the existing Note. Indian Independence Day will come as a judgment day for the Note 2. 

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