Archive for July, 2011

Android Tablets gain ground on Apple

Sales of Apple’s iPad have increased three-fold in the past year and there is certainly no denying the iPad’s position as tablet champion. Think tablet, think Apple, the iPad is the benchmark by which all other tablets are measured at the moment.

I realise that Apple and the iPad are not to everyone’s taste and there are now more choices that ever when it comes to tablets, almost every hardware manufacturer out there is releasing their own tablet and almost all run Android OS.

This time last year Apple had almost 95% of the tablet market. However, just a year later and Apple see that market share fall to just 61.3%

So it the tide turning against Apple in favour of Android? Probably not. Let’s not forget that this time last year there was far less choice when it came to buying a tablet and Apple have basically created the tablet market. Whilst the news it great for Google and Android integrators I don’t think Apple will to too worried, sales are still growing and the market, just like the tablets themselves, is still evolving.

Posted by: Matt

Pre-order the ZTE Skate from Clove

It was only last week that Matt and I attended a press event in London hosted by ZTE where they announced that ZTE branded devices will be on sale here in the UK in the near future. The chaps at Clove already have the Skate available for pre-order and at only £249.99 (inc VAT) this one looks like a real bargain. This price is still to be confirmed nearer the time and a release date is not until September but I think this huge Android device is going to do real well.

Of course we will see the ZTE Skate sooner as it is coming to the Orange network but renamed as the Monte Carlo. We are yet to see what Orange will do in terms of a custom UI but if you want pure vanilla Android then you may have to wait for the sim free version.

Either way it is great to see ZTE pushing brand awareness. I think they are here for the long run.

Features of ZTE Skate:

• Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• 800 MHz processor
• 4.3" capacitive touchscreen
• 800 x 480 resolution
• MicroSDHC up to 32 GB
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
• 5 MP camera with autofocus and flash
• aGPS and Google Maps
• 126 x 68 x 11.3 mm

Posted by: James

OS X Lion goes on sale along with a new MacBook Air and Mac Mini

I guess the post title here steals it but this afternoon, after what seems like a long delay, Apple released OS X Lion through the App Store for all to download. The great thing about what Apple have done here is that they are offering Lion for a little over £20 and furthermore you can install it on more than one Mac, as long as it’s yours.

We’ll look at some of the new features of Lion at some point soon.

Also today the Apple Store was updated with new MacBook Air and Mac Mini models. As expected both now have the new Thunderbolt ports and Sandybridge. Processors now start at with 1.6GHz Intel core i5 up to quad core 2.0GHz i7 in the top of the range Mac Mini.

Even more surprising though is the price, the entry level MacBook Air is down to just £729.60 while the Mac Mini starts at £476.40.

We’ll have our hands on these for review VERY soon too!

Posted by: Matt

Carphone Warehouse to target business customers

The Carphone Warehouse are having a purge on signing up business users by targeting local sole traders and SME customers with what it claims is the widest range of phones, tablets, networks and tariffs available.

As well as the networks standard business tariffs, CPW will also offer there own business tariffs which will either be unique to them or cheaper than competitors. And to top things off they will offer a price promise as well as a 14-day coverage guarantee. With the added bonus of Carphones ‘Walk Out Working’ service it seems that small business users really could benefit from visiting Carphone Warehouse to discuss the options available.

We should see some ‘dedicated business areas’ being trialed in stores later this year.

Posted by: James

Google+ app for the iPhone available

Many of us have now got acquainted with Google’s new social network, Google+, but I am sure I am not alone in finding it slightly frustrating that it is only Android users that get a proper G+ app. Well not any longer as the iOS app has been given the go ahead from Apple and is available to download for your iPhone or iPod Touch.

I have only just downloaded it so a little early to give much of an opinion but it looks good.

I am sure we will do a little review in the coming weeks.

Click here from your iPhone to download.

UPDATE: The app has already had an update so make sure you have version 1.0.1.1809

Posted by: James

BlackBerry PlayBook gets an update

The BlackBerry PlayBook gets a software update pretty often but this one has some nice new features I thought are worthy of a mention. This new version, OS v1.0.7, brings us BBC News and BBC iPlayer web icon (shortcuts) which will be pre-installed. Sure it would be nice to see proper BBC apps one day but to be honest as the Playbooks web browser is so awesome it doesn’t really matter.

As well as the BBC gubbins the below features are also added in this update:

Improved connectivity & productivity with the BlackBerry Bridge application

• Enhanced Support for Saving Attachments – The BlackBerry® BridgeT app offers you more flexibility around where and how you save attachments for viewing and editing. You can now save an attachment to a removable SD card, or to your BlackBerry smartphone’s internal flash memory.
• ZIP Attachment Support – The BlackBerry Bridge app now gives you access to ZIP files received as an email attachment. While bridged, you can now download a zip file from an email to your smartphone SD card and then extract compressed contents for viewing or editing on your BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.