Amazon hit a new market when they annouced the Kindle a year ago, but it appears that other companies are trying to jump into this market. We have already seen a few Sony E-readers hit the market as well as cheaper, less powerful ebooks as well. Not to be left out of the cold Barnes & Nobles have been rumored to be making an E-reader for the past few months but it looks like on October 20th, we may get some official information on this when they hold an event they just recently annouced.
Below is the supposed mock ups on this reader.
Something to note, it looks like the reader will still be using B&W e-Ink but also will have a multi-touch LCD at the bottom for more graphic intensive purposes.
I apologize in advance....I had a bit of a snafu with my capture equipment for the Windows 7 demo I was doing to do. But I did get my hands on a Palm Pre and I have a few videos coming.
Here is my unboxing of the Pre....I apologize for the focus getting wonky but it shouldn't be too bad.
As some of you have probably heard by now, The Palm Pre is being hailed as the "new hotness" across the mobile world. This is exactly the reaction Palm (and Sprint to a degree) needed to remain a competitor in the cell phone market.
For the unaware, Palm's stock have been in the garbage and talk about their new operating system was just that...talk. After many years of waiting they unleashed their new OS at CES this year to great impression. Now that sometime has passed I thought I could better address my personal opinions on the Palm Pre and WebOS but first a quick rundown to update people on the Palm Pre:
The Palm Pre, which is set to be released "in the first half of '09, follows the trend set forth by the iPhone: Large touch screen with a intuitive user interface. While we have seen a few companies go after the iPhone market, many have failed to garner the same attention that Apple received when they announced the iPhone. This has now changed.
The Palm Pre is built off a new Operating System developed by Palm called WebOS. It gets its name because of a few reasons. The platform (which is a Linux core) relies heavily on what palm calls Synergy. They have partnered with companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon to bring the internet to your phone without you even noticing.
For instance: During their press conference they announced that your contact list could be completely downloaded from Facebook (and the phone would smartly combine any duplicate information) but not only that, if your friend changed his/her profile picture, the new picture would be represented on your phone as well. It's this kind of "synergy" that Palm hopes will separate their product from Apple's.
The other reason Palm went with the name WebOS is the fact that any application built for the phone has to be programmed with web standards such as HTML and Javascript. While this is more than capable for most applications, there are some concerns how well this will work in terms of gaming and more intensive applications.
The Pre itself in my opinion looks great. Its a pebble shape with a slider form factor. That's right, the Pre has a slide out physical keyboard. The Pre retains the classic Palm Mute/Ringer switch as well as a power button and usb port for charging. I'll post additional pictures after this article.
So far the Palm Pre looks like it could be a real winner. The term "iPhone Killer" is getting old in my opinion but this phone certainly looks to have the same "ease of use" feeling of the iPhone with the workhorse abilities of a Windows Mobile device.
Keep checking in and as soon as I get a chance to use it I will give further impressions.
When Microsoft came onto the MP3 scene with their original Zune over a year ago, many scoofed at the idea. Microsoft, corporate suits, boring Windows....they can't be cool.
But to some people's surpries, it was a decent mp3 player. Didn't beat out the ipod but it was an additional option in the marketplace.
Fastforward a year later and I guess the original Zune sold well enough to warrant a second incarnation and Microsoft wasted no time making improvements. They completely overhauled the UI (user-interface) that seperates it completely from any mp3 player on the market. The great part is they provided this update for the original Zune as well as to not leave their original userbase out in the cold (something Apple could learn.)
But lets get into the meat of it:
Design: The Zune 80 is a pretty good size. Its slightly bigger than the iPod classic but still very pocktable. Compared to the original Zune, the Zune 80 is 3.6 millimeters thinner and 31 grams lighter. It also has a slightly larger screen (3.2 inches instead of 3) and higher battery life (up to 30 hours for music, versus up to 14).The majority of the front is taken up by the huge screen with the bottom reserved for the three button setup. The Zune 80 now includes a touch pad that is capacitive and only reacts to human contact similar to the iPod scroll wheel. It works well and is documented in my video review. The Zune comes in 3 flavors, Zune 4, Zune 8 and Zune 80...each representing the amount of memory in the Zune. UI: Great as well. Everything is logically put together and you should have no problem adjusting to it. The ability to use your pictures as a background are a plus as well.
File Formats: The Zune is a great music,video and picture player. It also can read many formats to keep you covered. Here are the file formats it supports:
Windows Media® Audio Standard[3] (WMA) (.wma): Up to 320 Kbps; constant bit rate (CBR) and variable bit rate (VBR) up to 48-kHz sample rate. WMA Pro 2-channel up to 384 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz
WMA Lossless
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) (.mp4, .m4a, .m4b, .mov) - .m4a and .m4b files without FairPlay DRM up to 320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz
MP3 (.mp3) – Up to 320 Kbps; CBR and VBR up to 48-kHz
Windows Media Video (WMV) (.wmv) – Main and Simple Profile, CBR or VBR, up to 3.0 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD WMV files at device sync
MPEG-4 (MP4/M4V) (.mp4) Part 2 video[4] – Simple Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD MPEG-4 files at device sync
H.264 video[4] – Baseline Profile up to 2.5 Mbps peak video bit rate; 720 pixels x 480 pixels up to 30 frames per second (or 720 pixels x 576 pixels up to 25 frames per second). Zune software will transcode HD H.264 files at device sync
DVR-MS[5] – Zune software will transcode at time of sync
It supports jpeg files for pictures as well.
Features: Wifi for file sharing and wireless syncing. FM Radio. Video Out.
Software: The software can be downloaded on www.zune.net. The original software for the Zune was a reskinned version of Windows Media Player (in my opinion a very sloppy/clumpy way to organize your music.) However the new software is made from the ground up, and once you place it on your computer you will be able to tell. It looks like something created by a bunch of hipsters as opposed to Microsoft. iTunes, which looks like a musical spread sheet is more Microsoft orienated. With that said, once you become accustomed to the software you will find it very good. You have many of the options you find on iTunes including playlist, auto playlist, Music store etc. But the Zune software also includes an area for your "friends" you can have in the Zune social. Conclusion: If you have been searching for a media player other than an iPod Classic, take a good look at the Zune. Its a great player and a wothy competitor to the iPod. Though some may still feel some restrictions as opposed to the more open Media players currently on the market. Below please find a video review of the Zune 80.
I was lucky enough today to check out the Samsung Instinct over at the Samsung Experience Store at Columbus Circle. To those who are not too familiar, the Instinct is Sprint's new flagship phone. Much of the press (and even some of Samsung's marketing) have been dubbing this phone an "iPhone Killer." While I won't comment on that speculation until I have the phone to review I must say with the brief time I spent with the phone I was impressed.
Like the iPhone, the Instinct is mostly controlled through the use of its haptic touch screen. Haptic is force feedback felt when a "button" is pressed on the touch screen. The Instinct emits a small buzz so you know when you touched something. This really does add to the expeirence of a touch screen phone. Dimensions wise, it is a bit taller than the iPhone but a bit thinner and a slightly smaller screen size (3.5" vs. 3.2"). Some notable features of this phone are the fact it has built in GPS, a full function web browser that works similar to the iPhones' with a zoom in/zoom out feature as well as a media player built in. I did not get to try out these features as the phone was not connected to Sprint's network but given other online previews it seems these all work as advertised.
From my brief time with the phone I can tell you the screen is clear and beautiful, the on screen keyboard is comfortable and the camera is solid. Going through pictures in your album is very similar to the iPhone as you use your finger to slide over to the next picture.
All and all, I was very impressed with the Instinct and I can't wait to give a full review on the phone.
