Latest Gadgets, Tablets and Smartphones
On Thursday, Apple reset iCloud and wiped all backup data from the service. This of course only effected Apple developers as they are the only ones who currently have access to the service. The implications of this meant that users simply had to create new backups from scratch.
Apple has now announced that iTunes Match and iCloud library are also being reset. The reset is scheduled for 10am PST today and will wipe all iTunes data from the cloud.
Amazon has sent out invites for a press conference that will be held this coming Wednesday 28th September. No details of what the event will be about have been hinted at although a number of people believe Amazon will be launching the Amazon Kindle tablet this day.
Samsung has announced that 10 million Samsung Galaxy SII devices have been sold in to the sales channel. This number follows the launch of the smartphone in to the US market.
When Apple [AAPL] announces a new iPhone or iPad, it holds the event in San Francisco. This time around it will be different though as Tim Cook will be holding the event on the Apple campus in Cupertino, California.
This week we are taking a look at a pico projector from 3M, the MP180 model to be exact. The pocket sized projector isn’t the smallest we’ve seen, but does measure in at 65x33x150mm making it easy enough to fit in a pocket. It weighs 338 grams which also isn’t the lightest, but comfortable enough to carry around.
Other specs show that it uses DLP projection technology and has a native resolution of 800 x 600 pixels. The lamp life is rated at 20,000 hours and the brightness is rated at 30 ANSI Lumens. It also has 4GB of memory built in, a 2 hour battery and a microSD card slot. Lets take a look and see if it’s any good.
The hype machine is in full effect. For the past few months rumors have circulated that Amazon is readying its first foray into the tablet market. They’re no newbies to the world of portable electronics, of course; the Kindle is its best selling product ever, and it is perhaps the most popular e-reader on the market. But the leap from e-book reader to fully functional tablet is no small one. Amazon, for its part, is prepared. They’re going to release the Kindle tablet at a competitive price point: likely $250 or below, which will put it on a different competitive plane than other tablets. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it will stack up feature-wise.
The HTC Explorer (Pico) is designed for the more casual user. The device will likely fall in to the budget range of phones when it launches.
The guys at XDA Developers have managed to get Windows 8 on to the HTC Shift. The Windows 8 version is the latest developers preview and as far as we can tell, most things (if not all) seem to work rather well on it.
When the Windows 8 developer preview launched last week it was well respected by bloggers who think Microsoft is doing a great job with the new operating system. After testing the operating system over the past week or so, some users have found that you can boot a laptop in to Windows 8 from a USB flash drive. We had heard it was installable from a flash drive earlier this week but now have a demo of it booting from a flash drive.
The Sony Tablet S is a new device that aims to tackle the iPad. It has a unique form factor and runs the Android operating system. Technical specs show that it has a dual-core processor, 16GB or 32GB of storage, 1GB RAM along with a couple of cameras and wireless connectivity. TechRepublic decided to take it apart to see what makes it run.
All three of the major search engines bid to become the default on iOS devices, but as most of you will know, Google is the default option on the iPad and iPhone. It has now become apparent that 2/3rds of all mobile searches actually come from iOS devices.
Near Field Communication (NFC) is becoming more popular recently. Google has recently put NFC chips in its smartphones and has built NFC capabilities in the latest builds of Android which lets users pay for goods by using their smartphone as a digital wallet. It now appears that Yale, the lock company, is also beginning to push the technology.
