How Samsung phones and tablets compare to iOS devices

To begin with Samsung make great phones and tablets they are usually quicker to bring out new features out ahead of its competition, such as face recognition, Oled screens etc, while Apple usually waits a while until those new advances become more proven. So as a consequence of this their products often feel that they are in beta compared to iOS products.

 

Another thing that is to the detriment of Samsung is its reliance on the Android OS. Samsung should have fully adopted Tizan as its main os for its phones and tablets. At the moment Tizan is doing well in the Samsungs tv line up and the Samsung watch line up. If they could fully adopt Tizan they could trim the OS to work to its best with Samsung hardware so you get the maximum performance interns of battery life and in hardware performance.  With Android running on 1000’s of different devices and with devices often running on older versions it often makes it difficult for app developers to deliver a polished app experience like on iOS.  

 

The only reason they have not moved fully over to Tizan for its phones and tablets is due to sheer lack of apps available to the Tizan OS. That is the achilles heel of the OS like it was to the Windows Phone OS, which lead to the downfall of the Windows phone OS. What they could do like Microsoft Windows could have done is to have enabled Android apps to function on the OS, then these os’s could have flourished.

 

Evasi0n is the most popular jailbreak of all time

ipad mini 1 jaibrokenAccording to Alexa, since the launch of the jailbreak 6 days ago the jailbreak website called Evasion has seen an unprecedented amount of visitors. Almost seven million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch owners have cracked Apple’s restrictions on their devices using the jail breaking tool. 

Jay Freeman, the administrator of the app store for jailbroken devices known as Cydia also confirms this by stating,”As of Thursday night, Cydia the alternative app store had received visits from 5.15 million iPhones, 1.35 million iPads, and 400,000 iPod touches that were jailbroken with evasi0n, the first jail breaking software for the iPhone 5 and iOS 6.1.”

He also says: “That makes the iOS-hacking app the fastest-adopted jailbreak software of all time”.

There are a few reasons behind the popularity of this jailbreak. Firstly there is a much larger number of iOS devices than ever before circulating around than when there was a previous jailbreak available.  Apple sold 136 million phones in 2012, according to the latest figures from analyst firm Canalys.

The other reason fuelling the popularity is the fact that Apple locks down too many too many things on iOS devices. People desperately just want more options, like what Android users are accustomed too such as the option to customise their phone appearance or the option to choose their favourite app what has been banned by apple.

Apple unfortunately seem to be slowly gaining an advantage in this constant cat and mouse game,  because Apple are getting better that keeping jailbreak hackers at bay through improved security. It took hackers as much as 136 days to crack iOS 6.1, compared to just 98 days for the iPhone 4S, 38 days for the iPhone 4, and just 14 days for the iPhone 3GS. Who knows when iOS7 is released how long it will take for the jailbreak to become available, their could become a time where is no jailbreak possible. Apple really need to allow users to do more with their devices. If they continue not to listen, then they will continue to loose customers to Android.

 

 

 

 

Samsung more than doubles it’s tablet market share

Amazingly the tablet and smartphone maker Samsung has more than doubled its tablet market share in the final quarter of 2012, according to new figures that have just been released.

IDC which is a research firm claims that Samsung sold 7.9 million slates in the last three months of the year, that took it’s share to of the sector to 15.1%.

Samsung’s success seems to be impacting on Apples sales this can be clearly seen by the erosion of the iPads market share, during this period where it dropped from 43.6% from 51.7%.

Apples lose comes at a time when tablet shipments have reached a record high of 52.5 million units during the quarter, which represents a 75% increase on the months previous.

Tom Mainelli, research director of tablets at IDC states, “We expected a very strong fourth quarter, and the market didn’t disappoint.

It’s evident that Android will eventually dominate the tablet market place within a year or 2.  Which will be at mainly at the expense of Apples ios platform. All this happened a few years ago within the smartphone world.  In fact Apple could eventually be relegated to the 3rd place with Windows taking the 2nd place crown. If Apple was to really listen to the needs and concerns of the consumer then it might not have to be this way and history will not have to repeat itself again.

 

A must have Hurricane app gets released by the Red Cross for Android & Apple iOS users

The American Red Cross releases a free app called the Hurricane app for Android and Apple iOS users. This app is particularly useful for anyone living on the eastern seaboard of the USA and those who live in the Caribbean. This app form a part of their plan to help provide assistance to the wider community in time of an emergency. The app comes on the heals of their first aid app which has had already over 600,000 downloads within the last six weeks. They plan to release other apps too that will be available within a couple of months.

The Hurricane app is divided into three sections. The first section concentrates on providing the user with useful background knowledge of Hurricanes. The second section focuses on how you should prepare for the Hurricane. You will be provided with a comprehensive check list so you and your family will be able to create a family emergency plan. There is also instructions for putting together an emergency kit in order to survive the on coming Hurricane. The last part of this app mainly focuses on how you can get through actual Hurricane event, such as helping you find the nearest open Red Cross shelters during the Hurricane.  Also in this part of the app you will be able to track the Hurricane, so you will know when it is safe to leave your shelter.

The user will have invaluable access to weather alerts that is provided by the  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which provide weather alerts for the US and its territories. The user then will be able to easily share share that information on social networks, such as Facebook, twitter etc. This app will also make it easy to keep in contact with your family members, by letting you post very quickly via a number of social networks, such as Facebook, twitter etc. There is even a one touch feature on the app called “I’m safe” that lets users inform others they’re safe via the social media outlets.

If your interested in this app just head over to the Apple App Store and the Android Google Play Store.

Apple users in the UK and some other countries can now store their itunes movies in Apples iCloud

Apple have announced that Apple users in the UK, Australia,New Zealand and Canada, along with several in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region, can now store their movies that they have previously purchased from iTunes in the iCloud. Previously iOS users in these countries have only been able to back up books and music, TV content and app purchases to Apples iCloud.

This  service is ideal for those who don’t want to rely on their pcs to backup their content. This service has also the added advantage of allowing  you to download your content across all your iOS devices. The only disadvantage is that there will be a yearly cost involved. Users will most likely need to purchase more than the free 5GB of storage what Apple gives you for free.   

Apples iClould has been rolled out to many as 37 countries around the world. But due to licensing agreements not being initialised or finalised in some of these countries, iOS users will not have the opportunity to backup up movies music and TV content in the iClould. 

 

Apple fixes a glitch that causes apps to crash after they have been updated

Apple has apparently fixed a glitch that has caused apps to crash after they have been updated. This problem was raised last week by Apple users and developers.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller says that ”only a “small number” of users had been affected by the problem, which was caused by wrongly-applied digital rights management (DRM) code.

“We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded,” Apple said. 

“The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again. 

“Users who experienced an issue launching an app caused by this server bug can delete the affected app and re-download it.”

 

Muller goes on to say that the problem was first raised on the 4th of July, by an app developer called Marco Arment, who is the creator of an app called Instapaper. Who blogged and tweeted that he started receiving lots of complaints of his app crashing from angry customers who had just updated to the latest version of his app, which was version 4.2.3. He went on to state that even totally removing the app and reinstalling it did not fix the problem. Arment goes on to claim that this then quickly totalled up to over 20, 000 complaints over a short period of time.  He also documented that this problem seems to have effected over 120 of other iOS apps including “Angry Birds,” Huffington and GoodReader.

This raises suggestions that Apple has appeared to have downplayed the incident, who really knows what was the exact magnitude of the problem with the exception of Apple. 

 

Windows Kinectimals gets released on Android

Windows Kinectimals gets released on Android.  The game focuses on a variety of big cats in which the player gets to choose one to care for. The player then gets to train the Cats through one of the three activities that are available. There is also an option to unlock five exclusive cubs, which can then be transferred over to the Xbox 360 version. 

This app will prove popular amongst children and animal lovers. Kinectimals has proven to be popular on the Xbox 360, which it was first released for. This app is also available on the Windows 7 Platform and iOS. 

This game  is available on the Android play store for $2.99 or £1.93 in the UK Play Store. You can  buy it from here

Microsoft has showcased a family of Windows 8 powered tablet computers

Microsoft last Monday night showcased a family of it’s first own branded Windows 8 powered tablet computers at a presentation in Los Angeles. 

Microsoft executives said at the event that:The Surface tablet comes in two flavours. There are consumer-targeted slates powered by an Nvidia Tegra processor and running Windows RT, Microsoft’s first OS designed for devices using ARM-based chips, and there’s also a “professional” version of the tablet for content creators that uses an Intel Core i5 chip and runs the x86-optimised flavour of Windows 8 for mobile devices”. ”The new tablets include a “kickstand” for viewing content, as well as a cover that also doubles as a keyboard and touchpad for content creation. A version of the tablet will include a “TypeCover” designed to replicate a full-size keyboard”.

Microsoft chief executive, Steve Ballmer , said ”that the company had set out to work with OEMs, but also has a history of designing its own hardware to showcase the best designs”. Ballmer also used the Microsoft keyboard, Mouse, and the Xbox game console and Xbox Kinect sensor accessory as examples”.

The two versions will have different amounts of memory, the Arm powered version will come with either 32 GB or 64 GB of memory while the Intel Core version will come with either 64GB or 128 GB of memory. The Intel Core version will also come with a slightly higher resolution screen. Size wise the Intel Core version is slightly thinker at 13.5 mm vs  9.3 mm for the Arm version, this is due to the extra room needed to accommodate the Intel Core Ivy Bridge i5 processor. It’s also the heaviest of the two models weighing  903 grams (almost two pounds) vs 676 grams (1.5lbs) for the other model.  The Intel Core version will also come with a larger battery too offering 42 Watt-hours in total capacity vs a battery offering 31.5 W-hs for the Arm powered version.

All models will come with hdmi output, other features will include twin cameras, stereo speakers and dual microphones that are most  suited to work with Microsoft owned Skype. 

These tablets will also come with a case made out of VaporMg, which is a magnesium alloy, which will be very strong and light that will have magnets embedded into it to help secure the case shut. This case will also be able to perform the function of a kickstand for the device. 

The Intel Core version will be released 3 months after the Arm version is released and it will be priced at a similar price to other ultra books, so making it the more expensive of the two versions. However no official announcement has been made by Microsoft regarding the release date. But it is expected to be released in the Autumn along side the release of Windows 8 which is due in October.  

For Microsoft to be able to effectively compete with the iPad, which they need to do to fully succeed, they will have to compete with Apple on a number of levels, firstly they will need to offer as many useful apps as Apple does, because that is what the iPad is about. Secondly they will need to offer a similar iOS experience to what Apple offers, which is very user friendly, smooth, highly polished and highly integrated.  I cannot see Microsoft being able to compete on this playing field for the immediate future. These tablets maybe be able to out match the iPad on functionality, but as history has told us its not functionality that is the most important factor, when the man in the street looking for a tablet pc. 

 

Mozilla is working on bringing a revised version of Firefox to the iPad

Mozilla has announced on their website air Mozilla that they are working on bringing a revised version of Firefox to the iPad. Their aim is to bring out a browser that is best suited to the form factor of the iPad,this browser also aims to beat Apple’s Safari browser in terms of  usability and looks and it also promises to make browsing more of a pleasurable experience.  The project is called codenamed “Junior”. The browser is going to feature a minimalist design, there will be no tabs or address bar taking up the space, so providing you with a less distracting full screen Internet surfing experience. The only buttons you will get on the browser are two buttons, which will give you access to the usual features that are on most browsers such as bookmarks url/search bar,etc.

Alex Limi, who is a product designer for Mozilla said on the website air Mozilla that

“We wanted to make something entirely new. We wanted to look into how we could reinvent the browser for a new form factor,” adding that Safari on ipad is “a miserable experience”. “There are a lot of reasons we should be on iOS even though we can’t bring our rendering engine there.”

Mozilla will be entering an already overcrowded ios market. It seems that they will have their work cut out to make an impact, due to the advanced features being already offered by their competitors on ios, such as the ability to view flash content ect. Whether they are able to make an impact it’s anyone’s guess.  

No official date has been given by Mozilla for the release of their browser for the iPad. Let’s hope it will not be too long.

The Kindle’s iOS & Android app now supports comics children’s books and graphic novels

The Kindle app for iOS and Android  and it’s Cloud Reader now supports comics, children’s books and graphic novels, before they were only available to Kindle fire owners. Amazon says that there are now over a 1000 of comic and children’s titles available to Amazon Kindle users. Amazon goes on to say that children’s titles will get an extra level of support by supporting  Kindle’s Text Pop-Up feature, which enables you to view images and text in a pop up windows style which seems to bring books to life and improve readability.  Comics will also get Kindle’s Panel View feature that lets you view everything in a frame by frame format.

The iOS and Android versions will also get different additional features added, for example, the iOS version will get an option to do a title and author search within the library and when your using this app on the iPad you will get an option to view a page with smaller margins. If your using this App on an Android tablet or via the Kindle Cloud Reader,(that enables you to view digital books via a web browser), then there will be an option available to be  able to view a digital book within a two page format.