Hasta La Gadget!

Not as big as the new iPad; not as small as the iPhone 5 or iPod touch; it’s Apple’s own “tweener” and by all rights and intents the iPad mini should be nothing more than a gap filler. Yet anticipation is high for the presumed 7.85-inch iOS tablet, and while spirits always tend to get, well, spirited in advance of an Apple event, sometimes the justification seems more inexplicable than others. Arguably, in the context of the tablet market – and post-PC computing as a whole – Microsoft’s Surface is far, far more important than the iPad mini.

Windows 8 is the centerpiece of Microsoft’s next-gen OS strategy – the hub of desktop and mobile computing, as well as pulling together Windows Phone 8 and Xbox gaming – and the company’s future as an industry heavyweight is dependent on it getting that right. That also means showing how Windows RT – as on the first Surface model – fits into that equation, something so far we’re yet to see summed up in a consistent, easily communicated message.

As Microsoft’s Surface chiefs pointed out, though, their tablet project approaches slates from a different direction to others already in the market. Windows RT may be a pared-back version of Windows 8, but it’s still Windows-from-the-desktop boiled down into tablet form. In contrast, iOS on the iPad and Android on tablets running Google’s OS both take their cue from phones scaled up. What will be really interesting – and deserves attention – is seeing how full apps translate to finger-use and whether the detachable keyboard accessories Microsoft is so proud of turn out to be essential rather than just eye-catching.

With some calculated timing, though, Apple knocked Surface from the top of the headline pile: the preorder news had its few minutes of attention, only to be swallowed up by the invite for Apple’s event next week. Yet in comparison with Surface – which, for Microsoft is pivotal – an iPad mini would simply be filling in a line-up gap for Apple. So why all the attention?

“It’s iconic founder Steve Jobs who has to be disproved”

In no small part, it’s because the biggest challenge Apple has to overcome with the iPad mini is… Apple itself. More accurately, it’s iconic founder Steve Jobs who has to be disproved, after he so vocally and memorably blasted smaller-than-iPad models back in 2010. Tablets that size, Jobs pointed out, don’t just offer a slightly reduced display area of 9.7-inch iPad, but a considerably smaller touchscreen to play with. Vendors would need to supply sandpaper, he joked, so that users could file down their fingers in order to tap on-screen graphics with any degree of accuracy.

Jobs was undoubtedly a master of misdirection – telling you today that Apple had no intention of entering a segment, then launching a product to do just that tomorrow – but with his near-deification since his passing last year, and his comments on tablets still getting broadly circulated, all eyes will be on how Apple itself has addressed those complaints. If the iPad mini really is just a smaller iPad (which you may recall is, according to some, just a larger iPhone) then there’s a legitimate question of whether Jobs was actually talking codswallop back in 2010. Just as the iPod nano does its touchscreen interface differently to the iPod touch, taking into account the smaller display size, so Apple needs to demonstrate that there really was a challenge to overcome, and prove that it alone has addressed it.

Looking more broadly, though, all eyes are on the iPad mini because of doubts in the small tablet segment as a whole. When Steve Jobs roundly dismissed 7-inch “tweeners” as unnecessary and useless in the market, that’s because at the time they were pretty much pointless. 7-inch as a form-factor has, so far failed, unless it’s been cheap as chips like Google’s Nexus 7. That, with the heft of Google branding and a strongly competitive price – two Android tablets for the price of one iPad – has made the Nexus 7 the exception not the rule so far.

“Apple may have to compromise to make iPad mini a success”

Apple may have to compromise to make the iPad mini a success, and compromise is not something the company does all too often. Too ambitious, too whizz-bang, and the smaller iPad won’t be able to hit a competitive price point. Too humble, or built to too strict a budget, and it will lack the premium cachet the brand is known for. The smaller devices are, often the more complex they are to piece together – gathering the right blend of components for a tiny phone is more of a challenge than for a 10-inch tablet, where they may be a little extra wiggle room to play with.

The iPad mini lacks that room to wiggle, and the excitement around the product launch isn’t simply because lots of people want a smaller tablet (though some undoubtedly do) but because we want to see whether a firm with a track-record of convincing consumers it has solved the equation can do the same under arguably tougher constraints. The world may not need a “tweener” iPad, but if Apple decides that it range does, then it needs to demonstrate it can do it with more than just a bloated iPod touch or a shrunken new iPad.

SlashGear will be liveblogging the whole iPad mini event at live.slashgear.com from 10am PT on Tuesday, October 23; for more on Microsoft Surface, check out our behind-the-scenes tour with the Surface team.

Why do we care about the iPad mini? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Google, if the rumors are true, has turned to long-time Android supporter (and arguably the only OEM really making a success out of Android) Samsung for the next Nexus tablet, and unlike the budget Nexus 7 it’s a direct challenge to the iPad. Blasting past Apple’s “Retina” boasts with a 10.1-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 display, there’s no doubting that such a slate would be a joy to the eyes, but it’ll take more than ribald resolution to address Google’s lingering Android tablet problem, and no amount of fancy Samsung hardware can do that.

Android has never had a device problem. Some of the most innovative and boundary-pushing hardware we’ve seen of late is running Google’s OS: fast chips, impressive screens, superlative connectivity; capable cameras; a smorgasbord of options to suit your hand, and pocket, and wallet. That’s not to say there isn’t innovation going on elsewhere – Apple keeps churning out compelling devices, and I’ve had a soft-spot for a while for Nokia’s PureView tech – but suffice to say you could never accuse Android of lacking in pure gadget appeal.

The Nexus 7 was compelling, then, not because of its hardware, but because of the balance it represented between specs and price and capabilities. A sub-$200 tablet with a highly usable screen, sure it lacked some of the bells & whistles – like a rear camera – but ASUS and Google had good excuses for their absence, and the promise that when Jelly Bean gets replaced, Nexus 7 owners will be quickly treated to the next version.

At its launch, I speculated that Google’s goal with the Nexus 7 was to encourage consumers to begin paying for apps rather than relying on free, or ad-supported software. Google’s $25 of free Play store credit was contingent on registering a credit card or other payment option, for instance, and the Nexus 7 was delivered already linked to the buyer’s Play account. Android users have long been known as favoring free apps to a greater extent than iOS users, and Apple hasn’t stinted from rolling out those “average spend” stats whenever it can.

The Nexus 7 had another purpose: encouraging Android developers themselves to create more applications for the platform. Not just any apps, though: software for tablets.

“Giving out a free tablet and hoping apps follow isn’t a new strategy”

Giving out a free tablet device and hoping apps follow isn’t a new strategy; in fact, Google tried it itself at I/O in 2011, a year before. It was Samsung doing the honors with hardware too, funnily enough, in the shape of the original Galaxy Tab 10.1 (complete with a fetching limited edition Android-themed back panel). “Go, take our slender Honeycomb tablet” was Google’s message, “and reward us with applications so plentiful they knock the iPad into a cocked hat!”

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go to plan. Honeycomb proved underwhelming, just like sales of the Android tablets running it, and then the Ice Cream Sandwich update was slow to appear, and finally – by the time Jelly Bean appeared on the horizon, looking smooth and compelling – Samsung decided it wasn’t going to bother updating the Galaxy Tab 10.1 any more anyway. All of those developers carefully prepared with hardware, only to discover that they couldn’t test their apps on the latest version of Android unless they installed it via unofficial routes.

The end result is, well, little change from the state of Android tablet app play 18-24 months ago. At a time when the App Store is flourishing with apps for the iPad, the Play market is still all too often smartphone-centric in its wares. It’s still hard to put together a convincing list of tablet apps that show off the best of Android hardware.

In the meantime, we’ve had no shortage of clever, unusual Android tablets to choose from. We’ve seen removable keyboards and digital pens; accessories and add-ons Apple has never bothered with. And, with third-party developers apparently so reluctant, manufacturers like Samsung and others have stepped up with apps to take advantage of those features themselves, and in the process increased the likelihood that the tablet will be delayed in getting the next version of Android fresh from the Google spout.

Any Samsung launched under the Nexus brand will have pure Android as Google intends it, but that also means none of Samsung’s own app handiwork to fill in the gaps. All buyers will have to play with is what’s in the Play store today, and the bulk of that is software intended for phones. The Nexus 7 could get away with it because, at a pinch, an embiggened Android smartphone app looked okay on its 7-inch screen. On a Retina-slaying Samsung super-slate, with 10.1-inches to play with, that’s simply not going to fly. Google needs to figure out how to wake more developers up to Android tablet apps, or the Samsung Nexus 10 is only going to emphasize how poorly prepared the platform is.

A Samsung Nexus 10 won’t solve Google’s tablet problem is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I often look at Apple and what it has been able to accomplish over the last decade with amazement. Who would have thought that a technology company – especially one that was extremely close to failure – could become the world’s most valuable firm? But Apple has. And with over $100 billion in cash on hand, the chances of it going back to the old days of failure and despair seem unlikely.

[Original image: Photon_de]

Still, Apple’s meteoric rise from obscurity to household name is by no means unique. Several companies over the years have been able to land themselves at the top of the corporate world with a proper combination of innovation and outstanding leadership.

Realizing that, I can’t help but wonder if there will ever be another Apple. I’m not saying that the next Apple will be another company that builds smartphones and tablets, but one that can see the future and deliver it now.

Of course, many Apple fans would say that there isn’t any room for another Apple. After all, the company has the innovative insight to deliver the latest and greatest products already. And with enough cash on hand to buy up, well, just about anybody, Apple can insulate itself from losing ground to another firm.

“Apple might be big and popular, but it’s not invincible”

But holding such beliefs on the ultimate power of corporations is a dangerous game. Major companies can be huge and powerful, but a few wrong moves, and they will fail.

Make no mistake – Apple might be big and popular, but it’s not invincible.

So, that’s precisely why I think there can be another Apple. In fact, I’m a firm believer that there eventually will be another Apple. The company will find a way to innovate beyond what others in the industry have. And with a loyal following, it might just be able to surpass what Apple has achieved so far.

That said, I have no clue what company will be able to be the next Apple. And as much as I’d like to see a startup climb its way to the top of the technology world, I’m starting to think more and more that the next Apple will be a company that has already solidified its position as a trustworthy vendor in the marketplace. The way the industry works at this point, there’s really no easy way to reach the top without an already trusted brand behind it.

Still, it’s possible. Apple might own the mobile space for the next several years, but what’s to say some other company might not do something similarly special in the living room? Or perhaps a firm will come along that transforms how we use computers. It’s easy to say that no more innovation is possible beyond what Apple can deliver, but such claims are nonsense. This is the technology industry. With the right mind and enough cash, anything is possible. And to not believe so is to not acknowledge how far we’ve come over the last few decades.

Apple is special. Apple is impressive. But it’s not the end. And we must all remember that.

Can there ever be another Apple? is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I’m an Android user. I love my Samsung Galaxy S III. So why am I punching my details into the iPhone 5 reservation site every day? For the past week or so I’ve been using a borrowed iPhone 5, tracking how it holds up – and where it falls short – to the Android experience I’ve grown accustomed to. During that time I’ve been frustrated by Maps, impressed by the camera, and generally had my expectations of iOS shaken up some. It’s always good to mix up the status-quo every so often, too, and along the way remember that there’s more than one way to skin a metaphorical cellular cat.

Vincent’s already comprehensively reviewed the iPhone 5, so I won’t retread old ground where it’s not necessary. Suffice to say, the general reviewer consensus is that it’s the best iPhone to-date, and Apple’s announced sales figures certainly suggest that the buying public agrees.

As I’ve said before, I split my geek life mainly between Android and Apple. I use a MacBook and I have a new iPad, but I also use a Nexus 7 and my regular phone is a Galaxy S III. I love OS X for its simplicity (and I love the new Retina MacBook Pro for its build quality, excellent display, and design) but I’ve had mixed results with iOS. The limits on things like inter-app sharing are a frustration in comparison to Android, and Apple’s comparatively locked down ecosystem overall – though making for a very consistent user-experience – have left me feeling more at home with Google’s platform.

The iPhone 5 is the first Apple handset that has made me consider switching, however. Part of that is the industrial design; while there are many people disappointed that Apple has ditched the glass back panel of the 4/4S, I much prefer the crisp metal of the newest model. It’s a device which you simply must hold in order to appreciate: the perfect alignment and slick finish (assuming yours didn’t get scratched up in transit), and the balance of lightweight feel yet a phone which still feels solid in your hand.

“The 4-inch screen instantly feels correct”

Even though it’s been stretched out in comparison to its predecessors, the 4-inch screen and the longer form-factor instantly feel correct. The old iPhone looks squat and blunted in comparison now. It’s not just an aesthetic boon, though, and flipping between the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S III, I was struck by just how large and, occasionally, unwieldy the Samsung’s sizable screen is. Conversely, there were times where I was browsing, and the iPhone 5 still felt cramped when viewing full sites where the same content looked bright, readable, and bold on the Galaxy S III.

Nothing prepares you for how tactile the iPhone 5 is, however. I found myself picking it up and toying with it – automatically reaching for it when I was in-between writing articles, for instance, or just while watching TV. Not even necessarily turning it on, though the quality of the display and the smoothness of iOS 6 makes flicking through apps a somewhat mesmerizing experience. The simple cohesiveness and immediacy of the UI animations is enough to convince you that there’s a lot to be said for perfectly matching homegrown software with homegrown silicon, as Apple has done with iOS and the A6 chipset.

Still, iOS 6 isn’t all good. The “over 200 new features” Apple has touted of the latest release is an eye-catching figure, certainly, but in practice it’s tough to identify more than a couple of changes over previous versions. Some of those, like the switch from Google Maps to Apple’s version, are effectively a step backwards, too. The learning curve for existing users is small, then, for the iPhone 5, but the platform is also beginning to feel tired and maybe even stagnant. Why can I share photos via email or Twitter from the gallery, but not Google+? Why is there no “new email” notification when the phone is locked, despite most other apps getting the opportunity to slot alerts onto the lockscreen? Why, if even Apple admits that Maps isn’t ideal, can I not set a third-party alternative as the default for opening addresses?

iOS helped pave the way for a more user-friendly breed of mobile devices, but in many ways Android and Windows Phone have surpassed it in imagination. Part of that might be Apple’s reluctance to leave anybody behind along the way: as Jony Ive said of the iPhone 5 design changes, Apple didn’t want to evolve the appearance of the smartphone simply for the sake of doing so. There’s certainly something to be said for familiarity and sticking with what works, but there’s a faint whiff of laziness around Apple’s approach: a sense of “why do too much when people will buy it in droves anyway.”

Maybe that’s unduly cynical, and what new features do stand-out are generally solid. The panoramic photo system may not be the first such example in a smartphone, but the quality of the final shots is highly impressive. Put Siri – finally becoming of some use outside of the US with the recent functional additions – next to Samsung’s S Voice and the clunkiness of the Galaxy S III’s system is obvious. I’ve not had a chance to try LTE – I was using Vodafone‘s network, still on 3G here in the UK as there’s no commercial 4G service to be had – but battery life proved impressively lengthy.

Maps, then, is the fly in the ointment, and though US-based reviewers have had less of a struggle, outside of the US the situation seems considerably worse. Dodgy data is only part of it, though; Apple may have added turn-by-turn navigation, and I can do without Street View, but the absence of public transport directions is, for a city-dweller without a car like myself, a deal-breaker. I’m not the only one, either. Over the past week I’ve spoken to confused tourists and frustrated cab drivers, none of whom have been particularly impressed with Apple’s own mapping tool.

“Apple has the opportunity to do something interesting in the location space”

Maps will undoubtedly improve – and I do believe that Apple has the opportunity to do something genuinely interesting in the location space, though a combination of gamification and crowdsourcing, and in the process refine its data considerably – but it will have left a lot of users with burnt fingers and lingering suspicions of the native app. Those days I didn’t double up and bring the Samsung with me too, I relied on the excellent Nokia Maps in the browser (with a homescreen shortcut so as to pretend as much as possible that it was a native app).

So why am I considering buying an iPhone 5? Put simply, it’s faults can be addressed with software tweaks – invisibly on the server-side, in the case of Maps, so that for users the experience simply gets better – and its strengths, such as build quality, design, camera capabilities, and battery life, are all undeniable. Plus there’s a whole lot to be said for phones with top-spec components but with more mid-scale displays: 4-inches is a sweet spot that’s overlooked by rival flagships, and usually if you want a handset of a similar size, you have to make do with lower resolution screen hardware, underwhelming specifications, or mediocre aesthetics. Huge displays are eye-catching, certainly, and they do make things like browsing far more immersive, but they come with compromises too.

Question is, will I be carrying the iPhone 5 alone, or will it have to share my attentions with the Galaxy S III? The likelihood is that I’ll be relying on two devices; I’m also considering pairing iPhone 5 and the Nexus 7, though even at 7-inches the Google tablet is less than ideal for bag-less travel. So, two phones it is; that makes me an outlier, yes, but that I’d even consider it having been so satisfied with Android until now is evidence of the step forward the iPhone 5 has taken. It’s not perfect, but it does enough – and well enough – to finally earn a place in my pocket.

That iPhone 5 appeal (or, confessions of a swayed Galaxy S III owner) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The tablet market is heating up, and for once it’s not Apple, or Google, or Samsung doing the shaking, but booksellers Barnes & Noble. The new NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ may carry the same name as B&N tablets of before, but they’re worlds apart in hardware and clarity of software ecosystem. Not content to chase Amazon and Apple on price alone, there’s an apparently legitimate attempt on B&N’s part to tune each model to the audience most likely to be interested in it, rather than chasing some imaginatively aspirational but likely non-existent “perfect” consumer.

Barnes & Noble’s first big surprise was the hardware package it had put together. Both new NOOK tablets are lighter than the competition, comfortable to hold, and well priced; the NOOK HD may look heavy on the bezel, but it makes it easier to grip like a paperback book, while the NOOK HD+ is half the price of the new iPad but still manages to feel roughly as solid as Apple’s slate.

The screen quality is what really catches your attention, though, with both the 1440 x 900 of the HD and the 1920 x 1280 of the HD+ looking not only crisp and sharp, but having great viewing angles and – thanks to the optically-laminated glass – graphics that seem to float just beneath your fingertip. If the Nexus 7 feels like it has made some quality compromises to hit Google’s price target, B&N has somehow managed to achieve its own competitive pricing without your fingers feeling it.

As for the software, that’s the second strong punch. It’s reskinned Android, something Google and the Android faithful might object to, but which makes sense for a media tablet like the NOOK and the sort of audience that B&N is aiming for. Sensibly it’s not bells & whistles for the sake of UI differentiation, but instead a number of modifications some of which Google could do worse than to borrow for core Android.

So, there’s multi-user profiles, because B&N’s customers didn’t want to buy a new NOOK for everyone in the house, but still wanted to allow everyone to use the tablet pretty much as they see fit. You obviously get access to the retailer’s curated app, movie, TV show, and ebook stores, but you can also lock them down – just as you can the browser, email, or any other apps – so that you can leave the HD and HD+ in the hands of your offspring without worrying about them accessing something they shouldn’t be seeing, or indeed charging dozens of downloads to your card. But, there’s also cross-profile sharing of purchased content, so that mom and dad can each read Fifty Shades of Grey without having to buy their own copy.

Although Amazon’s sales success – and the likely success of the NOOK HD and HD+ – may seem unusual at first glance, they’re arguably just evidence that few other Android tablet manufacturers have quite grasped what Apple did so well with the iPad. Like the iPod worked as a conduit for music sales, and the iPhone opened up the mobile app market, so the iPad put multimedia and software purchases in your face. Selling people a single piece of hardware is a way to make money once, but regularly selling them content to enjoy on it is a revenue stream that keeps on giving.

Even Google’s Nexus 7, blessed with a competitive price, seemed to be getting the message on the value of content. Rather than apps like the browser and Gmail, the Google Play media downloads were put front-and-center by default on the Nexus 7′s homescreen: big widgets leading into movie, music, and ebook downloads.

Google and ASUS may not quite be treating the 7-inch tablet as a loss-leader, but they’re under no illusion about where the ongoing revenue stream comes from. Even the bundled free credit of $25 toward Play purchases was only added to accounts which register a credit card, Google’s way of encouraging paid downloads rather than free app grabs.

Barnes & Noble’s initial success will depend largely on how well stocked it can make its electronic stores. If users can’t find the content they want, they’ll look elsewhere. However, it also needs to adequately leverage its physical stores, still a differentiator from rivals like Amazon. Ironically, given B&N is best known for selling books, that didn’t work so well with ebooks, but the company could do more with DVDs and Blu-ray if it can play up the UltraViolet angle.

Buy a physical copy of a movie with the UltraViolet logo (or, indeed, whip one off the shelf of your collection at home) and you can instantly unlock a digital version through the NOOK Video store. So far UltraViolet has failed to gain any noticeable traction, but a tightly-integrated brick & mortar retailer/digital device duo could tip that in Barnes & Noble’s favor.

The NOOK HD and HD+ still have a battle ahead of them. The iPad has captured mindshare among those who don’t really care about the technology side, and for whom “iPad” and “tablet” are fast becoming interchangeable, while Amazon has a wealth of digital content for the Kindle Fire HD. Competitive pricing and eye-catching hardware is a good place to start, however, and the NOOK HD and HD+ already do enough to eclipse much of the Android tablet line-up for the mass market.

NOOK HD and the B&N ecosystem gamble is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.