This Android Tablet means business...

The tablet market is in a peculiar situation right now – according to sales figures it is basically Apple’s iPad and then everyone else. This is however not because of a lack of choice. In fact, there is a multitude of Android tablets out there from a variety of manufacturers in all shapes and sizes. The danger with this situation is that the Android tablet market is becoming somewhat commoditized, and there is not really a lot of them out there that are truly unique.

So we have been looking forward to trying the Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet, which really does seem a bit different from the rest, and not *Just Another Android Tablet*. Yes, it is called the “Thinkpad Tablet” despite Lenovo making a variety of tablets on a number of operating systems. So why is this one different? First off, it carries the Thinkpad name, so it should have good performance and be built well. Right? And secondly, the Thinkpad Tablet has a decent stylus included (at least the one I reviewed) for handwriting recognition and notes. But we will get to that later.

Our current favourite Android tablet is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (see our review here), but the Thinkpad might just take that crown. So how does it do?

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South Africa was lucky enough to be amongst the first countries to get the new Samsung Galaxy Note device, and they put a great amount of fanfare behind it’s launch. So we headed through to Sandton to attend, and the Galaxy Note did not disappoint.

In case you have not heard of the Galaxy Note – here are the details. Even though it is a smartphone, it is clearly skewed towards users who want to use their phones more like tablets. A huge 5.3 inch display means that this is by no means a small phone. If you have small hands you have to think of this phone as a two handed device. But that nice big screen carries a big advantage – it can carry a massive 720p resolution. It is one of the highest resolutions on any smartphone out there (1280 x 720 pixels) and photos and videos look brilliant on the phone.

Despite the large size, the Note is really very thin.

The other advantage that the Note has is a stylus which can be used for notes and handwriting recognition. (more…)

We have been waiting to see what would be the first phone to come from Google’s Motorola acquisition, but now we know. Say hello to the new Motorola RAZR. Boasting a sculpted glass face, diamond-cut aluminum accents and a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Advanced display, the Motorola RAZR also sports KEVLAR fiber and Gorilla Glass to help the screen stand up to scratches and scrapes. In fact, every part of Motorola RAZR is protected by a splash-guard coating – even the electrical boards inside.

Inside it is pretty great as well – 1GB of RAM hooks up with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and Android 2.3 to get you a fast user interface and the  plenty of power for multitasking. You can also find 802.11n wifi, and 16 GB of memory and a large 1780 mAh battery.

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BlackBerry might be attempting a very risky move soon with BBM. Many BlackBerry users stick to the platform primarily because of BBM – it is free and (arguably) a lot more stable and reliable than other mobile services like Whatsapp. It does however have a few criticisms – biggest of which is the BlackBerry only nature of communication. You might have BBM, but if your buddy does not have a BlackBerry, well, you will need to use other channels.

Recently leaked images (by TechnoBuffalo) of BBM running on an Android device seem to suggest that RIM is looking at broadening the install base of BBM to other platforms. Current supports seem to suggest that BBM might be coming to Apple’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows Phone platforms. The leaked images on the Android device seem to share the same basic minimalistic interface design as the BlackBerry version, and the app logo also uses the BlackBerry Messaging logo.

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Samsung was pretty quick on the tablet market to compete with the iPad, but their first 7 inch device was not received too warmly. While the shape and size was great, the Android 2.x operating system was just not properly implemented for the new higher resolution of a tablet, so some apps just did not work too great in the tablet world. (You can read our review here)

Of course since then Google has released Honeycomb, its tablet-focussed version of Android, and Samsung has released some pretty great Android Honeycomb tablets, primarily focussing on a iPad-matching 10 inch screen (See Albert’s review of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 here). But what if those 10 inch tablets are perhaps a bit unwieldy? Luckily Samsung has now released that great 7 inch form factor of the first Galaxy Tab with the tablet – dedicated power of Android 3.2 Honeycomb. (more…)

The Android fans are gonna like this. Up until now, Android has been leading a double life – with one versi0n for phones, and another version for tablets. Compare this with iOS who have been recently giving concurrent software updates with iOS on iPhone and iPad. Well the good news is that Android’s tablet and phone lines are going to be joined in a upcoming release of Android nicknamed “Ice Cream Sandwich”, which will combine the best features of each, regardless of what class of device might be.

While there has been some small leaks with Ice Cream Sandwich, this is by far the most detailed one. But it is quite surprising how this video came out. Apparently a user bought a second hand Google Nexus S on eBay, and he was surprised to find Ice Cream Sandwich installed on the Google reference device. First thing you will notice is the influences of Honeycomb on the handset. While luckily not as “Tron-like” as the first Honeycomb release, the interface is definite shift away from Gingerbread. (more…)

Owning an Android device means that you’ll try out a large number of applications over time. Sometimes there are so many that writing a single post for each and every one of them doesn’t really make sense – so we’re introducing a new series of posts that will showcase a few applications at once. This first iteration looks at a few South African centred applications, either developed locally, or targeting the local market.

BatteryFu (Free)
Probably one of the first applications to come out of South Africa, BatteryFu by local developer Toby Kurien helps you get more out of your device’s battery by periodically toggling mobile data (or Wi-Fi) – so your device is only connected and checking your accounts for a short period of time. A novel idea, and one that apparently works very well.

BatteryFu features:

• Lean and fast (see download size!)
• APNdroid support (use if data is not switching off)
• Widget: tap icon to toggle, tap text to config
• Data while screen is on, with screen off delay
• Data while charger is plugged in
• 3rd party app support (using intents)
• Travel mode (wifi off)

Computicket (Free) (more…)

LG has just launched its new Optimus Q2, an Android 2.3-based smartphone with a slide-out, full QWERTY keyboard. The smartphone is a follow up to the LU2300 QWERTY slider released last year.

Powered by a 1.2GHz Tegra 2 processor, the features include a five mega-pixel rear camera and VGA front-facing shooter for video chat and a four-inch IPS-based LCD with 700 nits of brightness. The device will also be a tenth of an inch thinner and lighter than the previous LU2300.

The device is set to launch in Korea and Europe later this week at an unknown price and plans for a wider release are yet to be confirmed.