Meet:Mobility Podcast 48 is now available. Recorded on 23rd April 2010.

JKK, Chippy and guest, Chris Davies from Slashgear talk about netbooks, the iPad, new news from Dell and why Chippy paid 520 Euro for an Xperia X10. We also cover the question ‘Are netbooks getting boring?’

Full show notes and playback options over at Meet:Mobility.

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On the podcast:

JKK – JKKMobile.com

Chippy – Carrypad.com

Chris Davies – Slashgear

More mobile internet device news leaking out from Dell today shows new information about the Dell Streak. [Info: Currently #1 on Carrypad.] As we’ve already heard, the launch timescales could be well into the summer but at least there are plans for accessories.

Before we talk about the accessories though, check out the roadmap for the Dell Mini 5 (at Engadget) which shows a Q3 to Q4 launch window. We suspect that it’s a wide window for carrier launches with 3G but the indication is that there will be a WiFi only version which should launch earlier based on the fact that no 3G certification will be needed. Our guess is that you’ll see that in the Dell shop from day one. Also on the roadmap is an indication that the Dell Mini 5 will get an upgrade to Android 2.1

Secondly, there’s a huge range of colors available indicating a young consumer target audience which should also mean aggressive pricing and high sales targets. Archos need to watch their backs carefully here, especially as the accessory kit looks like the box of bits and pieces I’ve got here with my 605 Wifi and Archos 5.

Looking at the accessories I’m quite shocked to see the battery priced at $55. For a 5.5W battery that’s expensive although it does make me wonder if ‘kit’ means ‘extended battery.’ Somehow I’m doubting it.

Moving on we’ve got a set of in-ear plugs, a soft pouch and a few ‘kits’ for the car and the home theatre. This is where Dell steps right on Archos’ turf!

Full specs have been also been confirmed and show support for multiple video and audio codecs and a non user-accessible 2GB storage (user storage appears to be only via Micro SDHC card.)  The rest of the specs are in our database.

I think that about covers it but to be sure, check out all the images at Engadget.

Last time we caught up with Bob Morris, Director of Mobile Computing at ARM, we spoke at length about consumer tablets and smartbooks, the software stack and what would attract a customer. I also asked him how significant the ‘smart’ device category was. At that time he said it was ‘extremely important.’ I’m guessing that after just 3 months, the category has even more weight within ARM to the point where it’s on the critical path.

In this interview, Bob talks to Stacey Higginbotham of GigaOM around the 7 inch Android-based prototype from Compal and poses the question, “What makes [tablets] hot and useful? inch Price-points are mentioned along with 1080p video, 3G and battery life over 10 hours. He also talk about ‘single pin number’ payments through another ARM technology that provides ‘ATM level security.’

I just can’t help thinking back to Origami when I see that tablet.

Source

Via

The core of a ‘smart’ device or consumer tablet/netbook  is the software and despite its shortcomings, the iPhone OS is recognised as the market leader. Android isn’t far behind though and for some, the multitasking and ‘openness’ put it way into the lead. If you want the best Android experience out there, you’ve got to look slightly below the handheld tablet and smartbook category at the new high-end smartphones that are appearing. The Droid/Milestone, Nexus 1, HTC Desire and Xperia X10 are fast, fluid and a lot of fun. Only 10 days ago I bough an Xperia X10 and I’ve been writing about it on a sub-blog at XperiaX10.Carrypad.com Yesterday evening I posted the second part of my first impressions.

Overall it’s an impressive bit of kit with a fast browser, great daylight camera, enjoyable UI and of course, seamless access to Google applications and the thousands of Google Marketplace applications.

It’s a highly converged device and for anyone looking for the ultimate in web-capable smartphones, it’s up there with the best of them but I can’t help thinking that it would be even more enjoyable if it were simply a handheld tablet rather than a smartphone. On a 5 inch screen the experience would be way more useful/readable and the on screen keyboard would be much easier to type on. Finger-sized icons and menu items would take less effective screen space and there would be space for a battery that would last more than the 9-12hours that I get out of the X10 when I start using it like it should be.

I discussed the topic of convergence over at UMPCPortal and put the argument forward that I might be better off with something bigger and a separate phone but right now there isn’t much choice out there so the question is, do I keep the X10 or sell it and drop back to my trusty N82 while I wait?

Of course, that’s just me. I know that the majority of people out there just want one device if possible and if that you, take a closer look at the XperiaX10 blog because I’m continuing to test the device from every perspective. I’ll also be interested to hear from Droid/Milestone, Nexus One, Desire owners too. How do you feel about total convergence?

I’m pretty sure the internet can read my mind. I swear just the other day I was wondering why we haven’t really seen Android on the iPhone. It is ARM based after all. Frighteningly enough, just a day or two after that thought, this video pops up…. [Some days I think my mind might be generating reality just for me. Feel free to hit up the comments for further philosophical discussion.]

Looks like the major things are in working order for the most part. The touchscreen seems to be functional and properly mapped/calibrated. WiFi and web browsing works fine. Probably most impressive is that the phone functions (including SMS) are actually working as well. If they can ever make a release that is relatively easy to install, I might just give it a try.

More detail can be found over at the project’s blog: http://linuxoniphone.blogspot.com/

[ModMyi]

Unfortunately there’s no mention of the Google Marketplace in the latest information from HP.com about the Airlife 100 but at least we’re one step closer to seeing it in the marketplace. Official specifications are now available on the HP website in the U.S. (indicating that it’s coming to the U.S. market perhaps) and they confirm what we already had.  In fact, we seem to have more specifications in our database than HP do in theirs!

In the application list we get clues about the version of Android. RoadSync is included for Exchange email syncing which means we’re probably looking at a V1.6 version of Android. Note that HP have modded the browser to include tabs.

It has been over 4 months since we first saw the Airlife and spring is here so we’re expecting Telefonica to make it available very soon but if it launches without a well-supported applications store (Google Marketplace is the de facto choice here) then it will fall short of many expectations for a social, always-on netbook.

Detailed thoughts about the Airlife 100 battery life and pricing available here.

News via NewGadgets.de and myhpmini

Source: HP.com

When the N900 was launched, Nokia positioned it as a total convergence device. It’s a dream (and the subject of my first ever blog post in 2006). The X10 is also aiming to be a total convergence device and does an incredible amount of activities with impressive quality but again I say no; and that’s not all. Battery life is a major problem with every smartphone I’ve ever used. I wrote about the problem back in 2008 and again in January. The X10 re-confirms my theory. There is NO SUCH THING AS IDLE and screens and communications continue to take the lions share of battery drain. Smartphones, when used professionally  as smartphones, don’t bring all-day battery life.

Forget talk about cpu idle power claims because it’s totally irrelevant. 2W is the headroom needed to do all the things the marketing people tell you are possible and assuming you ‘only’ use the device for 15 minutes every hour, you’ll need a 7.5wh battery to get you through a full day.

The X10 has a 5.5wh battery which means it’s not going to hit the mark for many. It needs attention, a top-up late in the day and if you’re to be ready for the next day it needs plugging in before you go to bed. That late-day top-up is a big risk if you’re a pro user and relying on being able to take an important phone call or respond to an email at any time and if that risk is there, you’ll need to manage it. In this case it means either a spare battery, a universal charger or, and I suspect that this is going to be the easiest route for many, take a second phone. Either way, you’ve got a second device and a problem.

Corner cutting.

The X10 pushes the boundaries in so many ways but it does it within the confines of a pocketable size, smartphone pricing and smartphone life-cycles and that means (and always will mean) cutting corners. The web experience is great but even though you’ve got 800×480 pixels, the pixels are too small. a 5 inch screen has always been better for mobile web browsing from the hand and now that people are experiencing even bigger handheld web experiences, the 4 inch screen has issues. Zooming to click a link is a pain in the backside.

Then there’s the camera. How do you keep the price down and still provide a superb photo solution? You stick to daylight-only scenarios, drop the flash and choose a daylight sensor. The X10 is crap at low-light and flash situations. My 2 year-old N82 beats the pants off it.

How do you keep the design simple, reduce parts costs and avoid having to ship 500 different physical keyboard layouts? You make a tablet device with a software keyboard. Losing 50% of a landscape screen to a keyboard isn’t nice but it’s a great way to reduce the time-to-market costs.

How do you tackle the audio issues? Speakers need space, always. To fix that problem you ship it with a standard 3.5mm headphone port and hope no-one wants to use it as a radio. The speaker on the X10 is far from ‘top quartile.’

A great MID.

A 500 Euro smartphone is an expensive item but when you look at what the X10 is giving you it’s hard to put much weight on the corner-cutting. In terms of mobile internet, the X10 blows away any Intel-based MID I’ve tried. Sure, I’ll have to put up with a no-flash experience but the X10 brings me email, PIM and calendar integration, sync and accessibility that I’ve never had before. The dedicated GMail J2ME app on my old Nokia 6280 was really fast but this is something else altogether. Being able to push information around (sharing with email, IM, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and other important networks) is easier than on a PC and when you add the always-on feature, GPS (location based search adds a lot of value) a WVGA video capability and an 8MP camera that puts every PC-based 1.3mp webcam to shame, you’ve got something special that goes way beyond browsing. With 4-6hrs full-on web browsing time, 9GB storage and a 138gm (measured here) weight, you can forgive it not having the ability to beat a dedicated digital camera in a low-light photography test.

What have I learnt?

I’ve learnt that I use the Internet too much for a smartphone. Actually I knew that already which is why I’m still looking for the ultimate MID but the X10 serves to re-iterate that point. No smartphone battery can keep up with me.

I’ve learnt that Android fits me perfectly. I’m a Google user and Android brings my services to me in a way that no other device ever has and that means that I won’t pursue a Windows-based mobile internet device. Actually, I never did. I knew that a dedicated OS was needed from day 1 but the choice just hasn’t been there. [History: Carrypad was started in 2006 to journal my question for a mobile internet device]

I’ve learnt that I love having a top-end, stylish smartphone. Just because! (Who doesn’t?)

I’ve learnt that the ARM/Android platform is able to bring a consistently high-speed, multitasking and flexible web experience. I experienced it on the Archos 5 and it’s here again on the X10. Android will easily scale to bigger screens and given the apps, would be able to provide a productive internet experience.

I’ve reaffirmed that the Marketplace is critical. Without it, Android devices just can’t keep up.

I’ve learnt that the X10 may not be for me but I know it will be difficult to part with it. I’ve tasted Google Android at 1Ghz and I don’t want to step down from that. The Dell Mini may be my savior.

HTC Nexus One / Desire, Motorola Milestone / Droid

Many of you have been asking how the X10 compares to these two phones. I’m afraid I can’t comment on the Desire and N1 because my hands-on was with a device that kept crashing but from my brief hands-on with the Nexus One I can say that the experience is very comparable. As for the Droid, I’ll immediately say that the Droid is a better value device. It’s available for under 400 Euros now and has the 2.1 upgrade. It offers similar photo, web and UI experience. If you’re a Google user and smartphone oriented,you’re not going to walk away from a Droid purchase unhappy.

The fact is that all five devices are top quality Android smartphones and offer an experience that will is likely to lock you in to the Android way.

Detailed first impressions and review.

I’m writing about the X10 in detail on a separate sub-blog and have just posted Part 1 of my first impressions. The article highlights three potential show-stoppers so take a look, comment and check back soon for part 2 where I cover the good stuff. Part 2 is going to be much longer than Part 1 I’m sure!

Also on the XperiaX10 blog:

Sample Daylight Photos. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to create photo’s and videos on a UMPC!

Size comparison. Includes Archos 5, 5 inch PMP.

Information on the screen.  It’s transflective. Why didn’t UMPCs ever get good outdoor screens?

Unboxing and Open Review (with JKK)

Several of the latest mobile operating systems have interfaces that are based on a very bothersome paradigm: the widget-oriented home screen. I really wish the people making the high level design/UI choices could step away from this awful interface concept and think outside the box to some degree (maybe look into what the First Else is doing?). Now, I’m not an interface designer, but I am someone who has used plenty of these devices and at very least, I can tell you why I hate widget-based home screens on mobile operating systems.

First, the players. The big two at the moment are Android and Maemo (there are also several Windows Mobile shells that suport widgets). Additionally, you may have recently seen the WePad [product page] interface demo, which has a widgetized home screen so large that you need a map to navigate it (literally!). All of these essentially use a multi-“desktop inch design which allows the user to customize what widgets are on each desktop as they pan from one to the next.

A widget is sort of like a tiny application which resides permanently on the home screen. It usually does a simple task, and generally offers little to no further functionality. When you think of the term ‘widget’ what comes to mind, exactly? I’ll tell you what comes to my mind… “shallow inch.

What exactly do I mean by shallow? Well it’s just that: widgets do something extraordinarily simple. The thing that makes them shallow is that they offer such little functionality that they are practically worthless and become nothing more than a waste of CPU cycles. Generally they do something that could easily be recreated in the status bar. Take, for example, a clock widget. What does it do? It tells the time, perhaps in analog. Is that really useful to anyone? I doubt I’d even waste the space on my screen with an analog clock widget. Is the current time not already displayed in the status bar? How about a widget that shows some recent emails? Generally, the screen is so tight on space that you can only see, perhaps, the last 3 emails that you’ve received, and more often then not, the widget doesn’t sync up with your actual mail application (to mark mail as read, or delete it, etcetera), and then it becomes rather pointless.

Don’t even get me started on the cliché “slideshow inch widget. Is anyone seriously flipping through their multiple desktops to find the slideshow widget so that they can enjoy some random images at 100×100 pixels?

Even homepage shortcuts, as widgets, can become pointless because of the multi-desktop approach. Should I seriously spend my time swiping through four or five different homes screen desktops to find the shortcut I placed? Wouldn’t it be easier and faster to have the web browser accessible at all times from the push of a button, then just pull up a list of bookmarks?

Motorola’s “Motoblur inch interface manages to show just one Facebook status update, five words from a tweet, and four words from an email — all on a spacious 480×320 screen. Pathetic.

Even if some widgets do link into a deeper application and stay correctly in sync with them, the widget becomes pointless if the user wants to use a different application. Consider an RSS widget that displays a few posts from an RSS feed. Maybe it can launch out to a built-in RSS reader, but then the user is limited to using the built-in application because it is the only one that supports the widget, even if there is a better alternative application.

Mobile applications, which are already confined to small screens and slow (compared to x86) processing power, are already giving users a stripped down experience. What I’m trying to say is that mobile applications are already much like widgets themselves. They provide the essential functionality. Home screen widgets really don’t have a place anywhere on a mobile operating system. They are so simple that, more often then not, they are pointless. They frequently don’t provide any deeper functionality, and when they do, they only link in to one application, which limits the user from using other applications.

Many people laud widgets for providing “at-a-glance inch info, which I don’t have a problem with, but that sort of information is what the status bar is designed for. One glance at a status bar could easily inform you of the time, battery life, new email, missed call, new text, new RSS items, etc., so why are users expected to waste screen space and device resources to have persistently running widgets? With a smart notification system, applications can call attention to themselves and alert that user that something is up (for instance, a new email has a arrived.) The user should be able to launch into the application just by tapping the notification, and do whatever it is that they need to do from the “full inch interface of the application. The widget middle-man is entirely unnecessary.

Maybe my issue is simply the fact that widgets are so inconsistent. For the most part they are oddly shaped and they all work differently. If someone created a more inclusive widget, that did more than one random function, it might not be so bad. In fact, on the iPhone I use a bit of software called LockInfo (jailbreak only) which replaces the lock screen with what is essentially a glorified notification list, and I greatly prefer it over a bunch of widgets that are spread across multiple desktops. The great part about it is that we aren’t talking about a Facebook widget that shows one status update, we are actually getting a list of notifications that are directly generated from the Facebook application itself. So clicking on an application takes me straight there and I don’t deal with any widget middle-man. This is beneficial because if I want to use an alternative Facebook application, that application can generate its own notifications to go to the lock screen list, rather than being unable to link in to a proprietary Facebook widget. The concept here is a bit different from widgets, but I still have all of the at-a-glance info that I need right from this screen.

Please let me know in comments… am I the only one that hates widgets on mobile operating systems?