Blog Archives
Google Nexus 7″ Tablet Now Released – Live Details and Video
As reported yesterday, the highly anticipated launch of Google’s first tablet has now occurred.
Shipping in July from $199 is Google’s Nexus 7 Tablet, in conjunction with Asus, here are all the final specs and initial impressions.
Size: 7″
Display: 1280×800 IPS Display with Corning glass protection
CPU: Tegra 3 Quad Core
GPU: GeForce 12-Core GPU
RAM: 1GB RAM
MEMORY: 8 or 16GB on board memory
OTHER: NFC Support, 9 hour battery life, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 1.2MP Front facing camera
As you can see, Google have not gone for all out dominance with the spec list on their first foray into Tablet hardware, but instead are concentrating on the hotter end of town. The Kindle Fire end of town more predominantly.
Google want a Tablet in every house hold and within reach of all who may find the $450 – $800 price range just too out of reach for the average Uni Student, Housewife or School Kids.
What you are getting is a solidly built, light and fast (seriously fast) tablet with a great screen and excellent graphics capabilities what with its 12 Core GeForce GPU and Quad Core CPU and all.
Here is some hands on feedback from the team at Engadget:
” The tablet feels good in the hand. It’s a bit on the chunky side — 10.45mm thick — just fractionally thinner than the Fire but, at 340g in weight, noticeably lighter than the 400+ gram tablet from Amazon. The biggest difference between the two, however, is the screen quality.
That IPS panel looks great from all angles, showing good brightness and good contrast even in a brightly lit room. We’ll need some more time to see how that compares to other competing 7-inchers, but it’s certainly a screen that is aiming higher than its price point.
Performance too is aiming high, not besting the latest of superphones like the Galaxy S III or the HTC One X when doing things like launching apps or panning around websites, but still very quick and very responsive to most tasks — much more so than the Fire in most cases.”
Google Australia have advised the 8GB model will sell locally for AUD$249 ($50 more than US), however Aussie purchasers will receive a AUD$25 voucher for the Google Play store upon purchase. This is a nice move as it gives real value back to the end user to get loaded up on a heap of games or books right away. Great to put a few away for Christmas presents we would dare suggest!
Ballistic Protection For Your Droid
If you are like us and love your Android like it’s your best friend, then you will certainly be after the very best in protection for it.
Look no further than Ballistic Cases. Offering a large range and near bullet proof protection for your techno pride and joy is what the Ballistic team are all about.
Stocking a large range sold directly from their website at http://www.goballisticcase.com.au you will find a range of heavy duty yet stylish cases for HTC, Motorola and of course Samsung.
The Galaxy SIII range is even coming on line now, as advised by Sales and Operations Manager, Craig Scott. Customers can place a pre-order on the web site now, with shipping following very soon there after.
With the precision engineering that goes into every device, not to mention the large HD screens and super light weight bodies that now adorn our Droids, it just makes sense to give them some adequate protection.
From Ballistic’s own words, “Our designs include many unique features, such as rubber on the inside to prevent scratches, absorb shock and promote cooling airflow. “
Here’s a look at some of the Galaxy SIII range:
The sleek, modern and colourful Lifestyle Smooth case
Then we have the tougher SG Maxx with belt clip and the ShellGel range
So whatchya waiting for?
Head on over to http://www.goballisticcase.com.au and make your choice. Your Droid will thank you for it.
Look for a full product review in the near future with the Ballistic team!
Ballistic cases are Designed to Survive Life!™
Flipboard For Android Calling All Beta Testers
The App all ‘Droiders have been waiting for is finally here – almost!
For those lucky enough to have a Galaxy SIII, you will find it preinstalled, and there have been ways and means of obtaining the leaked version for a while now, however we can now confirm the Beta version is now officially available to those that just can’t wait for the delicious app’s arrival in the Play Store.
We have had it running for some time now on our in house Galaxy Note with TouchwizUX, and call upon it every day.
If you, like us, just can’t wait for the final product and want to jump in, go right ahead and grab it here or hit the scan below.
Galaxy SIII User Manuals – Get To Know Your GT-I9300 Now!
Samsung have upped the manuals to their Support Site already for the impending superphone, the Galaxy SIII.
For those lucky enough to have one on pre-order, you can get to know your new toy early!
All the new features are listed in detail in the full manuals, such as S Voice, NFC, Dropbox and Flipboard to name just a few.
Interesting, there are listings for GT-I9300, GT-I9300T and GT-I9303T. This leaves speculation wide open to a Telstra optimized Next G variant (9300T) and a 4G LTE version (9303T).
Only time will tell!
In the mean time, hit the relevant image below to download your very own Galaxy SIII User Manual.
Source: Samsung Support
Use Droids For Work With BYOD
The Bring Your Own Device movement is not new, however with small business now having equal access to the Cloud as its larger competitors, BYOD should now be considered alongside that cloud takeup.
What Is BYOD?
Quite simply the notion behind Bring Your Own Device is simple. Rather than our Gen Y and now Millenials being expected to perform on something that belongs in a museum, they may choose to bring to work their own iPad, Macbook Pro or other device of choice to work on.
Said Gen Y and Millenials argue they will be more content and more productive working on their pride and joy gadget, and also have the flexibility of working out of hours – bonus. Or is it?
Why, and Why Not To BYOD
The advantages of BYOD far outweigh the disadvantges.
Some things to consider are this: Security, Support and Insurance claims. Should said multi-thousand dollar device be damaged whilst at the workplace or being used for work purposes, who’s policy will cover the replacement? Your insurance broker should be able to tailer a BYOD package to suit.
Your IT department will need to broaden their knowledge outside of the simple PC / Server architecture, however for Gen Y and now Millenial Network Admins, this shouldn’t be much of an issue. You could always lock the choices down to a few devices to keep things manageable.
Access at its most crudest could be kept to a secure Remote Desktop Connection, only allowing connection to the device and user account in the allowed hours of operation. Best Practice Active Directory management would ensure User Access is also restricted.
As Public and Private cloud environments gain increasing traction, the argument of access and reliable provision of services becomes almost nul and void.
Cloud Vendors do need to be Brand Agnostic in their rollouts though for maximum market penetration.
Cashflow Positive Initiative
Another benefit to the small business owner is cashflow. Whether or not you choose to provide employees with an allowance, per Kraft in the USA (who gives their employees a Device Stipend), or not depends on your requirements and BYOD Policy.
There is a real advantage to work with your employee here and show you really are an avant-garde employer.
Why not come to a Salary Sacrifice arrangement with your employee (seek Tax Advice first!), then offer to rent the device back from your Employee?
Or simply pay your Employees a Technology Allowance so they can buy the latest tech of choice safe in the knowledge the Allowance will cover the costs. The Employee simply claims the cost of the gadget in their personal income tax return (again seek Tax Advice first!).
However, the Australian Taxation Office have declared that iPads have substantially the same functionality as laptops hence would be treated the same as laptops in tax claims.
So what are you waiting for, you’ve implemented some cloud technologies, you’re considering moving to Private Cloud, now take the final step and outsource your hardware to your Employees. They will love you for it.
Is This The Galaxy S III? Photos And Specs Inside.
Certainly one of the most leaked and rumoured phone releases this side of the iPhone 4, has got to be the Samsung Galaxy S III.
A myriad of bogus claims, spy shots and other material has been plaguing the internet for at least the last six months, moreso in recent times.
However, Youmobile are claiming this to be the final iteration, and we have some live pics for you to decide. Is this the real deal?
The unit shown certainly has the Galaxy lines and is Samsung branded. It is also showing Nexus style capacitive buttons rather than the previously flaunted hardware buttons.
The screen is said to be the reported size of 4.7″ with resolution of 1280×720, and is Super Amoled which is great news.
We can also see from the above shot, that the version numbering is also in line with its Galaxy forebears. This time around showing GT-I9300.
One thing we are not so sure about is that reports have previously suggested the Galaxy S III might don the GT-I9500 monicker.
Potentially Samsung may still have the real Galaxy S III under wraps as the GT-I9500 and this GT-I9300 may be a slightly different product with some lower specs.
Or will there be different model designations for different world markets?
Only time will if this IS the REAL Galaxy S III.
For now, here is the apparent full list of specifications.
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
4G Network LTE 700
Expected Release Date: Q3, 2012
Dimensions
131.3 x 64 x 7.9 mm
Weight 125 g
DISPLAY
Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.7 inches (~312 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes, with TouchWiz UI v5.0
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass 2
SOUND
Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
MEMORY
Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal 16GB/32GB storage, 1 GB RAM
DATA
GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed 21MB HSDPA, HSUPA
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR
NFC Yes
USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB (MHL), USB On-the-go
CAMERA
Primary 12 MP, 4000×3000 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization
Video Yes, 1080p@30fps
Secondary Yes, 1.3 MP, 720p@30fps
FEATURES
OS Android v4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich
Chipset Exynos
CPU Quad-core 1.5 GHz
Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
Browser HTML, Adobe Flash
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
COLORS
Black, White
OTHER
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- TV-out (via MHL A/V link)
- SNS integration
- MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
- S Memo, S Planner, S suggest Apps
- Image/video editor
- Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- Voice memo/dial/commands
- Predictive text input (Swype)
BATTERY
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1850 mAh
Enjoy this video which depicts a roundup of all known rumours so far, and don’t forget to tell us what you think! Fact or fiction?
