iOS or Android: which offers more?

When the first iPad was released back in 2010 many commentators questioned whether they would succeed; given that they didn’t seem to fulfill an obvious gap in the market. Too large for a pocket, unable to take calls - buy an iPad the joke went and pay hundreds of dollars for a bigger, more useless version of the phone you already have.

Time has clearly shown those early naysayers wrong; as 229 million tablets were sold worldwide last year. Approximately 68 million, or 30%, of the total were Apple devices and while collated Android sales figures are not yet available for 2015 it is likely in the 140m - 150m range; confirming that these two operating systems maintain a virtual duopoly on the tablet market.

Which to plump for?

Assuming your choice is between an iOS and Android device, what are the main advantages of each system? The primary advantages of iOS are twofold - it is incredibly intuitive and, because the system is built for a very small range of devices, the 500,000 iPad specific apps will run extremely well; with few glitches or crashes. However for the trademark Apple style, you will have to pay somewhat over the odds.

Android tablets are sold by a variety of manufacturers, and utilise a wide variety of hardware. Samsung, Kobo, Asus and, of course, Google have all released successful tablet ranges running Android - but on a wide variety of screen sizes, processor types and other hardware options. Although this gives the consumer a relatively larger choice it comes with usability drawbacks - you may download an app for your Android tablet and find it requires hardware your model doesn’t have. You’ll also run into more bugs and crashes - but be compensated by a larger range of titles and the greater freedom given to developers in the Android framework.

As an example, Android users rave about Tasker which allows you to program your phone to perform actions when triggered; like turning on WiFi as you approach home, for example. No equivalent app exists for iOS because Apple are incredibly reluctant to give any developers the “under the hood” access these apps require.

Of course both systems share their basic functionality and have a large overlap in the range of compatible apps. Whichever system you buy you’ll be able to watch TV on Netflix, read emails or play video games on the move. Given the recent surge in popularity of “interactive gaming”; betting to you or I, most casinos and bookmakers ensure their full suite of games is available on all platforms.

Before making your choice try to think what you want to use your new tablet for. If you’re just looking to watch videos and music; Android will likely fulfill your needs at a lower price. If however you’re looking to do a bit more, organising emails, contacts and calendars for example, you’ll likely find iOS far more simple and intuitive.

Author - Dan Brook

Apple to Adopt IGZO Displays for Future iPads and MacBooks?

Apple is planning to expand its adoption of IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) displays to reduce the energy consumption of its mobile devices, reports etnews.com.

According to industry insiders, having decided to apply the IGZO method to displays for MacBook, Apple is talking with LCD panel manufacturers, such as Sharp and LG Display.

IGZO is a semiconducting material that has forty times more electron mobility than the standard amorphous silicon that is used as the active layer of an LCD screen, allowing for higher resolution displays, better reaction times, and less power consumption. 

The report suggests that in addition to expanding to IGZO displays for the MacBook, Apple is also planning to use them in the iPad. Apple is said to be relying on Sharp for the displays, and last year news surfaced that Sharp had already begun mass production of IGZO displays that could be used in future Apple products. 

The site expects IGZO MacBooks to appear in the first half of 2014, but does not note when an IGZO iPad might make an appearance. Apple is expected to release a new, thinner fifth generation iPad later this year. 

Source: Mac Rumours

 

How good is the iPad for gaming?

The iPad Mini has been around for a while now and whether you love it or hate it there are some areas in which it excels - despite the late Steve Jobs’ aversion to creating such a tablet. Android lovers will claim that the iPad Mini is only popular because of Apple fan-boys but anyone who enjoys gaming on a tablet, whether for the casino games like Roulette at Ladbrokes or casual games like Bejewelled, will tell you that the iPad is excellent when it comes to gaming.

The iPad mini is Apple’s corner of the 7-inch tablet market, and although it hasn’t blown competitors out of the water, they have certainly matched expectations. The 1024 x 768p resolution is ideal for gaming, as the smaller screen means the graphics are more precise. Combined with the dual core A5 CPU chip, gaming on the iPad mini has slightly better specifications than its main rival, the Nexus 7.

For those who love a flutter at the online casinos, the iPad mini is the one to go for. Live casinos are now available on iPads thanks to companies like Ladbrokes.com, who have recently launched their exciting array of tablet games and slots. Roulette is currently one of the favoured games as it is ideal for playing on the train during the commute, or whilst waiting for friends. Because of the immersive viewing offered by the iPad mini, less time-consuming games like roulette become more enthralling and can bring the feel of live casinos and dealers direct to your tablet. The superfast dual core A5 chip (same as that of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4) combined with the fluidity of Apple’s iOS 6 makes the gaming experience of this tablet a joy to behold. Despite people suggesting that the larger iPads are better for graphics, the mini’s minimal weight – only 308g – means that when playing your favourite casino game, your wrists will not ache from the weight over time. Whether holding through the centre or by the corners you can sit for hours on end while travelling or simply sitting in your favourite chair, and not think the tablet cumbersome and awkward as happens with the full-sized iPads. Although the placement of the speakers means that, when held horizontally, the sound can be muffled, and the placement of the headphone jack means the cable can occasionally droop across the screen, the iPad mini is easy to handle and draws you seamlessly into your gaming experience regardless of its size.

For serious gamers we think this is the ideal tablet and starting at £269 it’s a reasonable price for the amount of technology you’re getting. The next thing we’re waiting for from Apple now are expandable memory options.

Geek Competition Results - the finalists

The results of the Geek Competition were announced earlier today. It now gives us great pleasure to share the three finalists with you here. Click through to see their channels & of course subscribe if you like what you see (I am sure you will). A big thank you to all the companies involved in supplying prizes too.

First Runner-up is houlker199 who wins a Belkin Tri-Fold Folio & PowerPack 4000 (thanks to Belkin).

 Second Runner-up is TechMeOut who wins a Belkin Tri-Fold Folio & PowerPack 4000 (thanks to Belkin).

The Grand Final Winner is TechnologyGadgets who wins the following;
Blackberry Curve 9380 (thanks to Blackberry UK).
Editors Keys SL150 Mic & FCPX Keyboard (thanks to Editors Keys).
White Sennheiser HD228 Headphones (thanks to Purely Gadgets).
Belkin Conserve Surge Protector (thanks to Belkin).

New Apple iPad Unboxed Early

With the new iPad still a few days away from being in people's hands, this one has turned up early. Check it out.

Apple Launches New iPad 3 HD

SAN FRANCISCO―March 7, 2012―Apple® today introduced the new iPad®, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, featuring a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video. iPad with Wi-Fi + 4G connects to fast networks worldwide, including AT&T’s and Verizon’s 4G LTE networks, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. Beginning today, iPad 2 will be offered at an even more affordable price starting at just $399.
“The new iPad redefines the category Apple created less than two years ago, delivering the most amazing experience people have ever had with technology,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The new iPad now has the highest resolution display ever seen on a mobile device with 3.1 million pixels, delivering razor sharp text and unbelievable detail in photos and videos.”
The new iPad’s Retina display delivers four times the number of pixels of iPad 2, so dense that the human eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels when held at a normal distance, making web pages, text, images and video look incredibly sharp and realistic. The 3.1 million pixels in the Retina display are more than one million more pixels than an HD TV, and with 44 percent increased color saturation the new iPad displays colors that are unbelievably richer, deeper and more vivid. Movies are now capable of playing at full 1080p HD-resolution, delivering an incomparable viewing experience on a mobile device.
The powerful new A5X chip with quad-core graphics was specifically designed by Apple to deliver a fast, responsive user experience while supporting the incredible Retina display. With double the graphics performance of the A5 chip, the A5X provides a superb balance between performance and power efficiency so users can enjoy all the benefits of the stunning new display while experiencing a smooth Multi-Touch™ interface, immersive gameplay, incredible visual depth and all-day battery life that iPad is known for delivering.
The 5 megapixel iSight camera features advanced optics for taking stunning pictures and recording full HD video. Backside illumination allows you to take great photos in low-light conditions and a new video image stabilization feature removes the bumps and shakes typically seen when filming with a hand-held device. Images can be enjoyed on the large Retina display, then edited, enhanced and easily shared with friends and family using the built-in Photos app on iPad. 
iPad Wi-Fi + 4G with built-in next generation 4G LTE has the most comprehensive support for fast networks worldwide including HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA, and now both CDMA and GSM iPad users have the ability to easily roam internationally. The world-ready iPad delivers blazing download and upload speeds so web pages load incredibly quickly and email with large attachments can be sent and received easily. Personal Hotspot can be used to share the fast network connection on your iPad with up to 5 other devices using Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB**. 
With iOS 5.1, the latest update to the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, the new iPad has a number of new features and enhancements including: a redesigned Camera app with video stabilization technology; the ability to delete photos from Photo Stream; support for dictation in English, French, German and Japanese; and Personal Hotspot. iOS 5.1 also works seamlessly with iCloud®, a breakthrough set of free cloud services including iTunes® in the Cloud, Photo Stream and Documents in the Cloud, that works seamlessly with your iPhone®, iPad, iPod touch®, Mac® or PC to automatically and wirelessly store your content and push it to your devices. When content changes on one of your devices, your other devices are updated automatically.
The new iPad also supports dictation, another amazing way to get things done just using your voice. Instead of typing, tap the microphone icon on the keyboard, then say what you want to say and the new iPad listens. Tap done, and iPad converts your words into text. You can use dictation to write messages, take notes, search the web and more. Dictation also works with third-party apps, so you can update your Facebook status, tweet, or write Instagram captions.
Apple also introduced the iPhoto® app, along with major updates to iMovie® and GarageBand®, completing its suite of iLife® apps for iOS. iLife and the iWork® apps, Pages®, Keynote® and Numbers®, have all been updated to take advantage of the new iPad Retina display. iPhoto includes breakthrough Multi-Touch features so you can use simple gestures to sort through hundreds of photos and find your best shots, enhance and retouch your images using fingertip brushes and share stunning photo journals with iCloud. iMovie now gives you the ability to create amazing Hollywood-style trailers as you record HD video, and GarageBand introduces Jam Session, an innovative and fun new feature that allows a group of friends to wirelessly connect to play instruments and record music together live on their iOS devices.
iPad runs almost all of the over 585,000 apps available on the App Store™, including more than 200,000 native iPad apps, from a wide range of categories, including books, games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The iTunes Store® puts the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store at your fingertips with a catalog of over 20 million songs, over 90,000 TV episodes and over 15,000 movies. The new iBooks® 2 app for iPad lets users experience an entirely new kind of ebook that’s dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. iBooks created with Apple’s new iBooks Author offer gorgeous, fullscreen ebooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more.
Pricing & Availability
The new iPad Wi-Fi models will be available in black or white on Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model and $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G for either AT&T or Verizon will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, and select Apple Authorized Resellers. iPad will also be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands on Friday, March 16. Customers can begin pre-ordering their new iPad today, and the incredible iPad 2 is now offered at a more affordable price of $399 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just $529 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model. 

Apple iPad 3 Event Invites - missing home button !

Apple have finally sent out invites for a media event, the one we have all been waiting for, the new iPad 3 launch. Due to take place on 7th March 2012 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern / 6PM GMT at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, USA. 

Check out the invite too, I have been wishing for this for a long long time, even predicted in my videos, but that photo looks like there is no home button. If this is true, maybe we will get a capacitive button that appears centrally in both portrait and landscape. If my prediction comes true, I will certainly jump for joy. Now it could be that this picture shows the iPad 3 in landscape, but one can only hope I suppose. It also looks like the back of the device may well be black… does this mean we might get a white option too?

Check out the image below (enhanced)… do you see a home button?

Geekanoids will be following this closely, incuding the event itself and of course getting an iPad 3 in for testing and review.

*UPDATE* A lot of my readers & viewers have pointed out that the bubbles match up with the iPad being in landscape. This may be true, but I am still hopeful that Apple do the right thing and get rid of the physical button.

iPad 2 Arrives in UK & 25 other countries this Friday

CUPERTINO, California — 22 March 2011 — Apple today announced that iPad 2, the second-generation of its third post-PC device, will go on sale in 25 additional countries this Friday, 25 March. iPad 2 will be available at Apple retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers at 5 p.m. local time, and online through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/uk/) beginning at 1 a.m. GMT. Apple today also announced that all models of iPad 2 will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries in April.

“While competitors are still struggling to catch up with our first iPad, we’ve changed the game again with iPad 2”, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re experiencing amazing demand for iPad 2 in the US, and customers around the world have told us they can't wait to get their hands on it. We appreciate everyone’s patience and we are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone”.

iPad 2 features an entirely new design that is 33 per cent thinner and up to 15 per cent lighter than the original iPad, while maintaining the same stunning 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen. iPad 2 features Apple’s new dual-core A5 processor for blazing fast performance and stunning graphics and now includes two cameras, a front-facing VGA camera for FaceTime and Photo Booth, and a rear-facing camera that captures 720p HD video, bringing the innovative FaceTime feature to iPad users for the first time. Though it is thinner, lighter, faster and packed with new features, iPad 2 still delivers up to 10 hours of battery life* that users have come to expect.

Pricing & Availability
iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK on 25 March for a suggested retail price of £399.00 inc VAT (£332.50 ex VAT) for the 16GB model, £479.00 inc VAT (£399.17 ex VAT) for the 32GB model, £559.00 inc VAT (£465.83 ex VAT) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G will be available for a suggested retail price of £499.00 inc VAT (£415.83 ex VAT) for the 16GB model, £579.00 inc VAT (£482.50 ex VAT) for the 32GB model and £659.00 inc VAT (£549.17 ex VAT) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 will be available in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and additional countries in April, and in many more countries around the world in the coming months. Further international availability and pricing will be announced at a later date.

iMovie and GarageBand for iPad apps are available for £2.99 each from the App Store on iPad or www.itunes.com/appstore. The Smart Cover is available in a range of colours in vibrant polyurethane for £35.00 inc VAT or rich leather for £59.00 inc VAT.
*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

iPad Shipping time now within 24 hours

Since the iPad was launched we have experienced shortages, followed by waits for shipping from the Apple Store online. Now things have improved, with all models of the iPad now shipping within 24 hours of placing your order. This has been reflected on many of the Apple online stores worldwide, including both the UK & US. Apple have been striving to ramp up production on their successful tablet device and it seems like they have finally caught up and have a plentiful supply.