Mobile Gadgets

Galaxy Tab 10.1 Still Banned in Australia

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 00:02:34 +0000

The Federal Court of Australia found in favour of Apple in the recent developments in the case against Samsung in relation to the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Apple claim that Samsung infringed iPad patents pertaining to the touchscreen and the gestures that control the touchscreen. In a statement that Apple re-released it was said that:

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

This means that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will not be available in retail stores in Australia before Christmas. It could actually mean that the Tab 10.1 will be scrapped altogether if Samsung decide that the delay is too long in the fast moving marketplace.
It is however possible to buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 online in Australia. Mobicity, for example, import from overseas and offer an Australian warranty. The 16GB 3G version is currently $699. The imported Galaxy Tab 10.1 devices work fine on all Australian networks.

The iPad is the clear market leader in the tablet marketplace anyway but Android tablets are considered to be more flexible than the iPad. The Galaxy 10.1 is also thinner and lighter than the iPad with a bigger display. It also runs the popular TouchWiz interface customised for the tablet.

Sony Tablet S Now in Australia

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:09:53 +0000

The 10” Sony Tablet S running Android Honeycomb is now available in Australia. It’s the first PlayStation certified tablet and provides an out-of-the-box gaming experience with pre-loaded PlayStation games such as “Crash Bandicoot” and “Pinball Heroes”

There are some unique features which differentiate the Sony Tablet S from other tablet offerings. It’s a great device to use at home, in spite of tablets appeal being in their portability. Sony has provided universal remote capability with the Sony Tablet S so you can control TVs, Stereos, Bluray players, DVD players and more from the tablet.

It feels great to hold and use with a unique ergonomic design. The wedge shape shifts the tablet’s weight to the palm of your hand away from your fingertips which makes it more comfortable to hold the tablet in one hand for longer periods of time.

You can access Sony Reader eBooks, music and movies with the tablet.

You can get WiFi versions of the Sony Tablet S from Mobicity for $749 and $849 for the 16GB and 32GB versions respectively. 3G versions are coming soon.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus in Australia End Of October

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:51:25 +0000

We might miss out on the Amazon Kindle Fire this year, but Australians will be able to get their hands on an upgraded version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab at the end of October.

The Galaxy Tab 7 Plus is slimmer, lighter and faster than the original model launched in November 2010. It runs Android Honeycomb 3.2 and features a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and more embedded memory. Wi-Fi capability is better and there is an upgraded front facing camera. The user interface has also been upgraded to TouchWiz, Samsungs UI for mobile devices.

There are no price details as yet but the word is that Telstra, Optus and Vodafone will all carry the Galaxy Tab 7 Plus.

Kindle Fire Orders Off To A Great Start

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:21:30 +0000

Sales of Amazon’s new tablet, the Kindle Fire got off to a great start. According to eDataSource who track consumer sales, the pre-orders for the Kindle Fire reached 95,000 in the first 24 hours. This figure is quite a bit lower than the equivalent iPad sales figure. The iPad sales were 300,000 in the first 24 hours. However, Apple has had such a dominant position in the tablet market that it’s encouraging to see another tablet making such a strong debut. It looks like the iPad will have some rivals after all.

Amazon’s strategy in the tablet domain is an interesting one. According to analysts, they will likely lose money on the tablet itself. It will cost more to produce the hardware than they will recoup from the sale price. However, Amazon has always maintained that consumers will pay for high quality digital content and they have been proved right. They now have over 1 million e-books in their catalogue, 17 million songs and 100,000 movies and TV shows. More e-books are purchased than printed versions. It doesn’t matter if Amazon make no money from the tablet hardware. The sale of the content will determine the overall success. We’ve seen that price is a key factor in the tablet market. Consumers will buy tablets other than the iPad but not at the same price point. The HP TouchPad story demonstrated this point.

The Kindle Fire will go on sale at about half the price of an iPad. Unfortunately, Australians will not be able to purchase the Kindle Fire directly from Amazon when it launches in November.

BlackBerry PlayBook Discounted Prices

admin — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:20:28 +0000

The BlackBerry Playbook is suffering from the price war that is affecting the sale of tablets globally. After a disappointing debut RIM knocked $200 off the launch price in an attempt to revitalise sales. This follows the move from HP who slashed the price of the TouchPad when the launch flopped at the full price.

There are plenty of rumours hinting at the complete demise of the BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM has laid off factory workers focused on producing the PlayBook and has halted production of the tablet for the time being. However, a spokesperson from RIM denies that the PlayBook will be killed off completely and states their commitment to the tablet market.

RIM intend to launch a major software upgrade to the PlayBook alongside an increase in the availability of content. The new Android app player will add to the available content pool however there are current limitations with the compatibility of Android and the PlayBook.

The 16GB, 32GB and 64GB PlayBooks are available online in Australia for $499, $599, and $699 respectively.

Kindle Fire Tablet Not Available For Australians At Launch

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:01:42 +0000

Amazon has just announced a series of new Kindle devices. Details of the much anticipated Kindle Tablet, named the Kindle Fire were released. There is a new entry level Kindle reader which is similar to the existing Kindle at a cheaper price. There’s also a touchscreen version of the e-reader called the Kindle Touch.

It’s unlikely that Australians will be able to buy the new Kindle products directly from amazon this year. The launch is a US one only so the only immediate options are getting one shipped privately or seeing whether third party suppliers in Australia choose to offer the new Kindle devices. The Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch are available from November 15th for US customers.

The Kindle Fire is a 7” tablet which runs on a modified version of Android. All the existing Android apps are compatible with the Kindle Fire. It’s a touchscreen tablet for web browsing, multimedia and e-reading. Amazon have introduced a new web browser “Silk” which is purported to enable super fast web browsing.

The entry level Kindle is similar to the existing Kindle with no touchscreen and it is 30% lighter and with page turning 30% faster. The price is a low US$79 but that is for a wi-fi only version and one that runs ads. It’s unlikely that this model will be available outside the US. An ad free model is US$109 and that is available for Australians to order directly from Amazon.

The new Kindle Touch is an e-reader with a touchscreen and integration with sites like Wikipedia and Amazon’s Shelfari.

Last Batch of TouchPads On Sale Online

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 23:41:13 +0000

Back in April 2010, HP purchased Palm and with that purchase acquired the operating system WebOS. In August 2011 HP launched the companies first WebOS tablet the TouchPad. The launch was so disappointing for HP that they made the momentous decision to slash the price of the TouchPad by a massive amount before the scheduled Australia launch. The so called TouchPad firesale saw prices reduced to $99 which was an absolute bargain for a quality product and there was a huge amount of interest.

This rush by consumers to get hold of a TouchPad suggests that the demand for the product was there but not at the original price which was too close to that of the iPad, the market leader by a long way.

The latest development is that HP are making one last batch of TouchPads to clear out the remaining inventory of parts. It’s believed that demand will run high for this batch, due around the end of September.

The downside for consumers purchasing the TouchPad now is that there will be no new models released, no enhancements or support and significantly no apps other than the existing ones. However, developers are already working on porting Android to the TouchPad with some success it seems.

Android is the icing on the cake but even without it the TouchPad is still a great basic tablet for use as a web browser, email manager, music player, movie player and ebook reader.

You can order a TouchPad from Mobicity.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 May Launch in Australia End of September

admin — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 02:39:46 +0000

Following the delayed launch date of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 due to the patent battle with Apple, the latest news is that Samsung may launch the Galaxy Tab 10.1 at the end of September.

The initial scheduled date was September 12th but the court will make a decision on the outstanding patent allegations on September 26th and Samsung has agreed to delay the launch until after this date.

It’s unknown whether the dispute will be resolved allowing the end of September launch but hopefully we’ll see the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia at this time.

You can still buy the Galaxy Tab 10.1 online in Australia from Mobicity.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 Launch Date Delayed Due to Patent Battle with Apple

admin — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 22:45:39 +0000

The launch date for the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is up in the air again. A few days ago Samsung announced a launch date of August 11th. However, Apple has successfully argued that the new tablet breaches 10 of its design patents. The Federal Court ruled in Apple’s favour and Samsung will not be able to advertise or sell the current version of the Tab 10.1 in Australia.

Samsung are required to provide three early samples of the Tab 10.1 to Apple and another hearing is set for August 29th.
Apple say that there is too much similarity in the use of graphical user interface design elements. These images include those for dragging text and icons and images for unlocking the device. There are also claims by Apple that the tablet functionality breaches design patents.

Vodafone are set to offer the new Galaxy Tab 10.1 to replace the older version which is no longer available. The timeframe for this is now uncertain.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 Launching in Australia on 11th August

admin — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:21:57 +0000

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is set to launch in Australia on August 11th as reported by ITWire. Not much is known about the new version except that it’s 10.1” and is an Android Honeycomb tablet. It’s supposed to be very slightly thinner than the iPad but in terms of new functionality or the details of how it will be sold in Australia, these question still have to be answered.

It’s likely that Vodafone will offer the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to replace the older version but details haven’t been confirmed yet.

The launch of the Tab 10.1 will be just ahead of the arrival of the HP TouchPad in Australia.