Apple iOS vs. Android 3.0 – HoneyComb

BY THE APPLE GIRL  Here are some of the key new features in iOS 4.3, which will just be an overlay on the existing iOS on the iPad. Improved Safari Performance: Apple moved the Nitro Engine Javascript engine from the Mac OS to iOS making it twice as fast. iTunes home sharing: lets you share your media and Apps across all your iDevices wirelessly over Wi-Fi. This is a no brainer and I’m surprised that Apple released this feature so late in the iOS lifecycle. Airplay improvements: Apple lets you stream video and audio using third party apps from your iOS 4.3 device to your Apple TV. Yes, no configuration needed. GoogleChic, you may not understand the phrase “No configuration” since you haven’t had the Apple kool-aid 🙂 Preference for the iPad switch: If you prefer the switch on the top right of the iPad to act as a rotation lock or to act as a mute switch, you now have the option to set your preference in iOS 4.3. FaceTime, Garage Band, iMovie, Photobooth: let you video chat, create and edit your own music, movies and pictures. Multi touch features: The iOS 4.3 will also support four or five finger gestures to give quick access to the home screen, multi tasking bar and to switch between Apps. Yes, everything is very intuitive. Here are some HoneyComb features that you should consider before deciding on either device Apps: iPad 2 sports over 65000 Apps designed to run on iOS while HoneyComb sports just over a 100 Apps. GoogleChic is happy with only a 100 Apps, but are you? 🙂 Native Video Chat: Finally, a native video chat client (FaceTime on iOS) comes to Android. You should experience both before deciding on your device of choice. Widgets: Android has gone over board with the widgets on Honeycomb while complicating user experience for non geeks. Why do you need a grid widget, a stack widget and why do you need visual previews of the Apps while switching between Apps? Eww reminds me of my Windows Vista! Notifications: Seriously, the notification was annoying the hell out of me in the demo video. Its like someone repeatedly IM’ing you on GMail when you are typing that work email. All in all, if you are geek and like to twist your brain around how to get your tablet to work best for you, then Android is the way to go.  If you want a tablet which is intuitive and hassle free with the best user experience, then iOS is your obvious choice. P.S: Check out the demo from the Android Honeycomb release. I would’nt blame you if you can’t get past 10 mins of the hour long video. Really, Google you need to learn how to get past your geekiness and reach out to the customers!!

BY THE GOOGLE CHIC  I would have to say that the most exciting feature of iOS 4.3 is the personal hotspot. I thought AppleGirl would be jumping up and down for this since she won’t have to tether off of me anymore 😉 The only downside to this is that it’s available only for the iPhone 4 and it looks like AT&T is putting a 3 device limit on this 😛 Apple is just a little behind in the game on this! As for the intuitive multi touch features, if there’s one button on the device of course you would need an “intuitive” gesture to go home. What’s more intuitive than a home button on the device ?:) As for the Honeycomb features here are the highlights I pointed out the other day. UI – new UI with a holographic theme, improved home screen customization, widgets, and notifications that has been integrated into a 3D experience (yes, 3D support!) Browser – Tabbing is now supported. A new feature “incognito mode” will let you browse without this history being record  (I’m  just saying) Gmail – will be displayed in two columns including an action bar Visual multi-tasking – provides a image of the last view state when switching between programs Multiselect mode – ability to select multiple items I guess AppleGirl, just doesn’t understand the concept of customization since it’s not available on iOS. Apple users are given what Steve Jobs says it’s good for the masses. I could see how having options would be confusing and frustrating for an Apple users. Most people would welcome the fact that you can choose which ever widget you would like to use whether it’s a grid or stack widget. No, I don’t think it’s for the geeks, if you don’t like it, simply don’t put it on your desktop. The notification looks pretty seamless to me. If I’m working on something I can easily see gtalk messages coming in. It’s much better than a number over an App icon 🙂 Lastly, Steve Jobs must feel pretty insecure about iOS to have to distort the truth when it comes to number of apps available for  Honeycomb. A majority of the apps on the Market will work on Honeycomb. There is a smaller percentage which has been optimized for Honeycomb but I wouldn’t take Job’s number as a fact considering his known distortion reputation.

iPad 2 – the newest iDevice in the market!

BY THE APPLE GIRL  Here is our official iPad 2 blog. Steve Jobs plugged in most of the features we had estimated to see on the iPad 2 except for a higher resolution display (or a Retina display). But not to worry, even without the Retina display, iPad is still the best tablet in the market 🙂 1. Size The iPad 2 will have the same 9.7 inch display but will be 33% thinner than the original iPad and thinner than the iPhone 4 too! Thank you Apple for setting the trend for others to follow. 2. Front and rear facing cameras The iPad 2 will have two cameras and it supports Facetime. I know GoogleChic will complain about two cameras and video chatting not being new on tablets. But the key is that Apple is building an integrated device line up and this feature brings the iPad up to par with the rest of Apple’s products giving you the best performance and awesome user experience. 3. 1GHz dual core A5 chip, improved graphics processor and a gyroscope Apple has doubled the iPads processing power with the in house A5 chip along with 9 times increased graphics processing capability and a gyroscope. Say hello to a faster iPad with potential for intensive gaming and navigation. 4. Battery life Apple managed to squeeze all the new improvements without affecting its battery life. I’m literally on the verge of shredding my Windows Vista laptop for it has a battery life shorter than the shortest lifespan of a MayFly (yes that’s hardly 30 minutes!). A battery life of 10 hours is a welcome relief to me and I’m sure to all of you as well! 5. iOS 4.3 iOS 4.3 has some new features overlayed on the older version of iOS. It will give an improved browser (Safari) performance, wireless music and video sharing with iTunes on your computer, AirPlay to Apple TV from third party applications and web along with letting you choose between using the iPad switch as a rotation lock or as a mute switch. In addition it comes with the Facetime, PhotoBooth, iMovie, GarageBand (the latter 2 Apps cost $4.99 each) specifically designed for the newly camera enriched iPad 2. Are you wondering how iOS on iPad matches up to Honeycomb on an Android tablet? Watch out for our iOS vs Honeycomb battle blog 🙂 6. Smart Covers If you are one of those visual kinds, you will like this new feature. Apple designed the iPad 2 with a smart cover to protect the iPad’s display. Built in magnets in the iPad draw the smart cover for a snug fit and the smart cover wakes and stands up the iPad. It comes in 10 bright polyurethane and leather covers. We have more inside scoop on the smart covers. Look out for our iPad 2 smart cover blog 🙂 7. Black and White iPad This isn’t a big deal if you don’t care about the color and care more about the meat inside the iPad. But hey with smart covers, you can actually show off the white iPad. 8. Price Apple has kept the prices on the iPad 2 same as that of the original iPad. It has a starting price of $499 for the 16GB Wifi only model. Yes, both the black and the white models cost the same! Check out Apple’s site for more model and pricing information. However, if you are counting your pennies, you could get the original iPad (Apple just dropped $100 on the original iPad) Keep in mind that you will get the iOS 4.3 features on the old iPad as well. 9. Shipping The new iPad 2 is available starting March 11 online as well as at the Apple stores. Now let’s hear what GoogleChic thinks of the new iPad 🙂 Vodpod videos no longer available.

BY THE GOOGLE CHIC  Like I’ve said before, Apple designs very slick hardware and they’ve done it again with the iPad 2. It’s the thinest tablet out there. With that said there are some disappointing things about the iPad 2 1. Display The screen size and resolution remains the same as the original iPad,1024 X 768. More than the screen size, I think a lot of people were hoping for the Retina display. 2. Memory There was no mention of how much RAM the iPad 2 would contain. Hopefully, more than the 256 MB in the original iPad but I guess we won’t know until March 11th. 3. Camera Yes, there is now a front facing and rear camera. The rear camera supposedly can record 720p videos, but it takes still pictures at 0.92 megapixel?! No, that’s not a typo, that’s a big OUCH! So pretty much Apple is giving you two holes to go with your iPad 2. I was going to mention that there’s no flash on the iPad 2, but I guess you won’t need it because all you’ll be taking are Mr. Blurry cam pictures. 4. Post PC device The iPad is suppose to be a post-PC device, but ironically to update the software you’ll have to hook your device up to a PC. 5. HDMI & SD card It’s not a surprise that there’s no SD card slot. Guess you’ll have to keep syncing it back to your PC ;). As for the HDMI slot, a lot of people asked for it and Apple’s solution is a $39 doggle? From the looks of it, it doesn’t support widescreen? It’s interesting how Steve Jobs claims that the iPad is a “magical & revolutionary device”.  There’s only a couple of things missing 😉

iPad is a giant iPhone?

BY THE APPLE GIRL   GoogleChic, you are going to love this Motorola tablet evolution ad 😀 It is the same Motorola tablet which Andy Rubin had showed off during the Honey Comb preview. Motorola terms the iPad as “It’s like a giant iPhone, but… it’s like a giant iPhone”. Motorola can’t even get its jabs right. iPad is more like a giant iPod Touch than a giant iPhone 😉 Motorola labels the Samsung Galaxy Tab as “Android OS, but Android OS…for a phone”. Ouch, now you can’t even trust a fellow Android user to watch your back? Isn’t Honeycomb just an optimized version of Android phone OS 🙂 Pretty much like iOS for iPad? Not only does Motorola come late into the market (to be released at CES Jan 2011), but it  made the stupid mistake of comparing its tablet to the first gen iPad. Motorola is yet to realize that it will actually be competing with iPad  2 (rumored to be released early next year).

BY THE GOOGLE CHIC  Based on Andy Rubin’s preview of the Motorola tablet Honeycomb looked awesome! I would say it’s a overhaul of the Android OS and not an optimized version of it 🙂 I wonder how pissed Samsung is about this ad. Motorola took a direct jab at Samsung with their “Android OS, but Android OS for a phone”. Ouch, first off Samsung Tab is a 7 inch tablet which is why it’s able to utilizes Android 2.2 (Froyo) and it works well. The Motorola tab is a 10 inch tablet so it definitely needs Honeycomb which will handle the larger resolution. As for the iPhone comment, it looks like Motorola is implying that their tablet will have more features as compared to the Droid X for example. Come on Motorola, stop teasing us and release the specs already!

Honeycomb – sneak preview

BY THE GOOGLE CHIC   Early this week, Andy Rubin gave a preview of Honeycomb on an unannounced Motorola 10 inch tablet. More pictures were released today of the devices, check it out via Engadget. The Motorola tablet looks amazing, especially the UI. AppleGirl shouldn’t have any issues operating this device, it doesn’t have any buttons. Also, it rotates according how it’s held (sounds pretty simple to me)  😉 Jokes aside, AppleGirl will LOVE Andy’s comment about Apple. “Apple has done a perfect job on being an intergrator of hardware and software”, this was Andy’s response when asked if the Motorola tablet was Google’s vision of a perfect tablet. Of course, long story short is that Google is not in the market of making hardware. Check out the video below, the Google maps update looks sweet! I can’t wait to get it on my phone. P.S Check out Andy at 5:05 in the video, being a little possessive aren’t we? 🙂

BY THE APPLE GIRL   Andy praised Apple for being the perfect integrator, more so because he wanted to point out that Android is more like Apple than Microsoft. ROFL. According to him, Microsoft throws software out there and lets Acer and others build PC’s out of it. Ahem, I thought Android does pretty much the same 😀 Don’t they release software for every aspiring phone and tablet maker out there? I am not sure what Andy Rubin was going for. The part that cracked me up most was when Andy Rubin was explaining how Android on tablets is different from Android on phones, and this was what the interviewer said “Isn’t that essentially what Apple did?” Ouch! P.S: GoogleChic, you say Andy Rubin was “possessive” when he didn’t allow the interviewer to play with the Motorola tablet. I think it was more like he was “scared that Honeycomb would crash on him during an interview” 😉

Android not ready for Tablets?

BY THE APPLE GIRL  This news is from the horse’s mouth itself. Hugo Barra, Google director of mobile products, recently said that “Froyo is not optimized for use on tablets. If you want Android market on that platform, the apps just wouldn’t run, [Froyo] is just not designed for that form factor.” However, Samsung claims that the Samsung Galaxy Tab will be compatible with 85-90% of the Android programs.Well, for all that advertising Samsung has done, the Tab better support that many apps. Isn’t it really depressing to hear that the most anticipated Galaxy Tab may not be quite ready for the tablet market yet. With a flood of Android tablets coming out, Google better start working hard to get those 80,000 apps working on the tablets. If they don’t,  GoogleChic, you wont have much to grapple over and I will be really bored without an iOS competitor to diss. 😉 Samsung has announced that the device will be upgradeable to Android 3.0 (Gingerbread).  However you wont be able to upgrade it to Android 3.5 (Honeycomb), since there will be new hardware to support that. With the blazing speed at which Google is releasing software updates, GoogleChic, would you still want to buy a device which only gets one software update in its lifetime?  Geez, you fAndroids must be really very rich!

BY THE GOOGLE CHIC  Do you really think that Samsung who manufactures quality products will release a crap tablet like it’s counterparts Augen? Heck no! Of course they thought about the new screen resolution on its tablet. Come on, in the technology world everyone knows that you just don’t go poof and everything will magically appear on a new device. Samsung has been working with Google to identify apps that will not work as in on its new Tab and have been in contact with those developers. If you look at the iPad, there are apps specially made just for it to take advantage of the larger screen. AppleGirl, were you depressed when the iPad came out on day one and not all the apps was working as you expected ;)? As for the 80,000 apps, Google doesn’t need to lift a finger, that’s not their responsibility. Each developer should go back and make their application compatible (much like the Apple process). However,  to Hugo Barra’s point, there is an easier way to make all of these Apps compatible, “we want to make sure that we’re going to create a application distribution mechanism for the Android market, to ensure our users have right experience”. This is something that Google is already working on with Gingerbread (Android 3.0) . As for Honeycomb, Samsung is planing to release a full tablet portfolio in 2011 which supports Honeycomb. So, you could wait it out until then but the Samsung Tab is about portability with the 7 inch screen size and if that’s what you like I would say go for it! I somehow have a feeling that the tablets released by Samsung in 2011 will be larger than 7 inches. For now, check out the hands on video with Samsung Tab, it sure looks sweet to me!

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