Apple Suing Motorola, says XOOM looks just like the iPad

pple's succesfully blocked the Samsung Galaxy Tab in Australia and the European Union, excluding Netherlands and is now setting its sights on the Motorola Xoom, which it says has been copied from the iPad.

Being wronged? 

Those following the reports pertaining to Apple and patent lawsuits would know that the iPad manufacturer is planning to drag every major tablet manufacturer in the space to court, suing them for patent infringement. However, the real deal stands at this copy of a 4-page Community Design document, submitted by Apple to acquire a design patent. A look at the images in the link above, and you would know that by their very nature, these images are 'generic'. Simply put, every tablet, possibly made ever will bear at least some resemblance to Apple's iPad, simply because the product category is such. 

Apple has been citing these very reasons for keeping the Galaxy Tab out of popular markets. To know all that has been happening between Apple and the rest of the tablet manufacturers, in terms of patents, click here. 

Android Honeycomb 3.1 - A Quick Breakdown

Google’s Android operating system for tablets has had mixed reactions.

Google’s Android operating system for tablets has had mixed reactions. On one hand, users seem to like Android for the mobile phone, and on the other hand, there’s Honeycomb 3.0 that lacks the finish and refinement seen in its primary competitor - iOS. Many of us agree that the OS is far from complete and there are some bugs that need to be ironed out. The iPad has been a runaway success and Google is hoping to catch up once Honeycomb matures. We just got news of Motorola launching Android 3.1 for the Xoom tablet and that’s something we’ll see across the board very soon. Here’s a quick look at what key features and enhancementsHoneycomb 3.1 has to offer. Improved USB support While tablets were designed to replace netbooks and notebooks, one of the key things stopping users from doing so was poor connectivity with other devices using the USB interface. Come Honeycomb 3.1, users will be able to use a wide variety of USB devices with their tablets. USB open to a variety of devices; game controllers included This means, everything from keyboards, mice, other input devices and even digital cameras will be able to work with tablets. Imagine typing on a tablet using a portable, folding keyboard and transferring images from your camera or a card reader to your tablet, and viewing photos in real time. Google says that you can even use Bluetooth-based input devices with the tablet. Resizable Widgets Sure, this is something that third party window managers bring, but Android has never really had a built-in feature to do this. This means, anyone using Honeycomb had to be satisfied with the size of widgets. The new widget system lets you drag widgets into the screen of your choice and then adjust its width by holding it down, similar to what LauncherPro would let you do. Improved Wi-Fi capabilities Well technically, it’s not going to be faster or anything of that sort, but there will be bits and pieces added to the functionality. For example, users can now turn off the screen and the tablet will continue to stream content over the network for extended periods. Wi-Fi optimized for longer battery life There’s also an option for users to use HTTP proxies for separate Wi-Fi networks, so you no longer have to switch networks and set a different HTTP proxy each time. Google claims that their new Preferred Network Offload (PNO) feature will help reduce battery drain during long Wi-Fi sessions. App Updates There are a bunch of Google apps that come bundled with any Google Android OS. Google has tweaked many of these for the 3.1 release. The browser, for example has an improved Quick Controls UI that’s bound to make navigation and multitasking between tabs easier. The browser has been upgraded to allow HTML5 video playback, so you no longer have to depend on Flash versions of Vimeo and Youtube videos. UI tweaked and enhanced to allow easier navigation Ability to save web pages for offline viewing is also a part of the browser now. Users should also notice some performance benefits, all thanks to hardware acceleration support through plugins for the browser. The Gallery now supports something called PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol). In simple terms, you can import photos from a camera to the Gallery easily. Other apps to receive enhancements are E-mail, Contacts and Calendar.  ASUS Transformer - one of the tablets to get the 3.2 update Whether or not Google is successful in impressing users will only be known in the weeks to come, as manufacturers start rolling out these updates. Google has already started work on 3.2 andmanufacturers are announcing that the update should be available sometime in August.

Android 3.2 Heading for Motorola Xoom 3G

After the recent Android 3.1 update for the Wi-Fi version of the Xoom in India, it’s the 3G version’s turn. The Wi-Fi version has already received the 3.2 update in the West a while back, and now Verizon has posted details about the 3G version getting the update. The ‘soak test’ completed a few daysago, so we should be expecting the update to roll out any time now. There’s no official word on when this update will be hitting our shores yet, but we expect it to arrive soon.

3.2 update rolling out soon for the 3G version

Android 3.2 is the next incremental update to Honeycomb that brings with it a host of new features, as well as some much needed performance optimizations. Some of the major changes include ‘Media Sync from SD card’ that now lets apps directly access media from the SD card slot, if the tablet has one. The next one is ‘Compatibility zoom for fixed size apps’, which adds a new menu icon in the system bar for apps that are not designed for a larger screen. Finally, we have a bunch of general optimizations done for a wide range of tablets of different sizes. Google has also added some new APIs for developers to manage their apps better across different screen sizes. For the full change log, hit this link here.

MSI Announces Low Priced Tablets for India - ENJOYPAD 7 and 10

MSI’s WINPAD tablet running Windows 7 was unveiled last year Computex 2010 but never really made much of an impact on the Indian market. It does however appear, that they fully intend to launch their budget priced tablets viz. the ENJOYPAD 7 and 10 (not really the best name out there) for this market.   Low priced and ready to go The new Enjoy series of tablets feature a 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor and 512 Mb of RAM. This means new slim tablets will be running Android 2.3.3 aka Gingerbread out of the box. Perhaps Honeycomb would have required them to up the price. There's been no word on whether or not these devices will be upgradable to Honeycomb at some later date. The tablets will have Adobe Flash 10.1, support for better web browsing and feature display resolutions of 800 x 480 pixels for the 7-incher (16:9) and 1024 x 768 for the larger 10-inch device (4:3). Aside from that both tablets will be equipped with dual 2 megapixel cameras for video calling and images. Other features include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP. These ENJOYPAD tablets will come with 4GB of internal memory and support for microSD cards up to 32GB. MSI has stated that the battery life (4000mAh Lithium battery) on these devices have a target of 4-5 hours of usage. We can only confirm this after our own tests of course.    The tablets are priced at Rs. 14,999 for the ENJOYPAD 10 and Rs. 13,999 for the smaller ENJOYPAD 7. They can also be ordered online from http://in.msi.com/.

VisionMobile Report: Android Not a Very 'Open' Platform

One of the reasons for Android’s success is the belief that it’s an open operating system and people generally like that. A study done by VisionMobile, an analysis and research company states that Android isn’t the most open platform out there. VisionMobile has deviced a way to gauge the ‘openness’ of a software or platform and it turns out Android has an openness rating of just 23 percent. Eclipse, a software development toolset scores the best score of 84 percent followed by Linux at 71 per cent. Webkit, the rendering engine for Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome browser closely follow at 68 and 65 per cent respectively.

Android trails behind the rest

VisionMobile believes that openness of a software or code is not only to do with the license that it adheres to, but also to do with Governance. Governance is what decides the roadmap for the project, the transparency of the decision making process, whether the discussion on the development of the project is open to everyone and if anyone can choose to make variants of the project. VisionMobile believes that the most open of projects are likely to do well in the long run. The only odd one out is Android, which although popular, isn’t as open as some of the other platforms. VisionMobile says it wouldn’t have been as successful, if vendors hadn’t pumped in the money that made it a strong competitor to Apple’s iOS-based devices.

Six Free Video Chat Apps for Your Android/iOS Smartphone

With a whole plethora of free applications available for video calling on smartphones, we users are spoilt for choice.

With a whole plethora of free applications available for video calling on smartphones, we users are spoilt for choice. While most apps currently allow video calling over 3G and Wi-Fi for multi-platform users, it’s the extra features that set these applications apart. Let’s take a look at few of the currently available video chat apps, for both Android and IOS Skype The most popular video chat application currently, Skype allows free video calls between Skype users via both 3G and Wi-Fi. Post registration, Skype allows users on Android and iOS devices, MAC and Windows PC to make video calls to each other. Call quality is impressive, however, Skype currently allows video calling on extremely limited handsets. Skype Fring Fring allows free video calls via 3G and Wi-Fi between users from different networks (MSN, ICQ, Google Talk, AIM and Yahoo!). It requires registration to the Fring server and allows syncing of contacts from the networks mentioned above. What sets it apart from the rest of the applications, though, is support for a four-way group video chat. Fring Tango Another up and coming video chat service, Tango, is the ‘Whatsapp’ of video calling. Besides the usual video calling over 3G and Wi-Fi, the tango app seamlessly integrates into your phonebook and updates your contact list based on the people who have installed the app. The only downer for this app is that it is not as popular as some of the other apps for Android and iOS currently available. Tango Qik Qik, like the other apps, supports video calling over 3G and Wi-Fi. In addition to that, it allows video recording and uploading too. An interesting feature that Qik supports is video sharing for select circles. So, your colleagues will not have access to the videos you uploaded for your friends to view. Qik also supports live uploading, which means that if the user has Internet access, any video recording gets uploaded simultaneously in real time.  Qik

Vtok
Vtok is a surprisingly small application that allows video calls for Gmail users over both 3G and Wi-Fi. What sets it apart from the rest of the apps is that users do not need an account to sign up, they simply need to log-in with their Gmail account. Another feature is the option to choose between the front and the back camera on the device. The back camera option might just beat the whole purpose of video chatting; however, it could be helpful for users who want to try video calling features, despite their phones lacking a front camera. 

Vtok

ooVoo
Another video calling app that deserves recognition is ooVoo. It currently supports three-way video calling with HD video capability at 720p. 720p video calling is definitely work in progress with the current data rates. However, connection via Wi-Fi easily translates into superior call quality. Another feature is recording and sending video messages to friends or email addresses. Users can also send files up to 5MB in the free version. 

ooVoo

Honourable Mention: Facetime
Facetime, as we all know, is an iOS exclusive application that allows video calling between iOS users. It allows video calling through both, the front and the back cameras. The application has the best call quality out of the lot, however, it is usable via Wi-Fi only.

Facetime

All the apps currently support video, voice and text chatting between phones and desktops. Naturally for any video calling app, the best option is connection via Wi-Fi, due to better data rates and minimalistic fluctuations. Wi-Fi to 3G works decent, with the worst option being video calling over the 3G services currently available in India. What we would love to see in the near future is Google integrating the Google Chat Video Calling service in Android Phones, as well as the Facebook+Skype app for phones. Also, WhatsApp could give their chat service a major boost by introducing video calling among their users. 

The above mentioned apps are just a few of the many available options. Do feel free to list your favourites amongst these or any other options you would like to share.

Facebook 2.0 App for BlackBerrys, PlayBook, Out Now!

It’s official now. Facebook 2.0 for BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook, has been launched today. Available for download at BlackBerry App World, the Facebook app has undergone a facelift, with a new user interface and other additions to its features, which are apparently suggestions from their customers. The new app, according to BlackBerry comes with an improved Facebook chat, which makes it an important feature to look out for, in addition to integration with BlackBerry’s own apps. 

Facebook for BlackBerry

Keeping in mind their new tablet, PlayBook, BlackBerry has optimized the social networking platform for usage, especially for it making it a tablet-optimized application. BlackBerry claims that those using the Facebook app on their PlayBook tablet will be able to avail features like Facebook chat, video uploading and Facebook Places and view ‘Likes’ among others. Another interesting addition is the inclusion of Privacy control feature on status updates, wherein a user can control the number of people who can view their status updates. 

Facebook for PlayBook

Other features include:

Facebook Places – where a user can share their location, and other details of their activities with their Facebook contacts. It is also possible to get direction details from Facebook Places by simply clicking on the location, which will then open onto Bing! Maps. 
Facebook Events – users can view details of events like birthdays, and other notifications. It is also possible for users to RSVP.
View Likes – it is possible to view the likes the user has got on a particular post, and by clicking on their names it is also possible to get into the profiles of the users.

Exploring App Stores – Media Players for Android

One of the main reasons people buy Android phones is the wealth of customization options available in the form of apps. Apple’s App Store may still be the largest one today, but the Android Marketplace is expanding rapidly, and you’ll find most of the popular apps available on both platforms. When it comes to multimedia, the stock music and video player in Android offers very basic functionality and supports just a handful of formats. Unless you have something like Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, which supports MKV and FLAC out of the box, you have to rely on apps. Here are some of the best video and audio players available in the Marketplace, which I think are worth checking out.

RockPlayer Lite
We start off with RockPlayer Lite, a free video player that’s been around for sometime now and is still one of the best players. The player supports most popular video formats including MKV. The interface is not very fancy and directly gives you access to the folders and files in your phone. It also supports subtitles for movies.

A very capable barebones video player

Currently the only free version is available, which puts a little ‘R’ in the upper right corner of the screen and since the paid version has been taken down, there's no way around this.

Moboplayer
This is my personal favourite media player, as it offers all the features of RockPlayer in an easy-to-use interface. It supports multiple audio streams from a single video, multi-subtitles, hardware and software decoding, video streaming though HTTP protocols and thumbnail display of videos. The OSD controls are very intuitive as well, for example swiping your finger on the right side of the screen lets you control the volume, while the left controls the brightness.

Will play just about any video format

You can also lock the OSD by tapping the ‘Options’ soft key on your phone. The best part, besides it being free, is that when you start it the first time, it checks if you have the necessary codecs installed. If you don’t, it will redirect you to the Marketplace for the right codec pack for your phone. 

TuneWiki  
Let’s face it, the stock Android music player is a disappointment. This is where TuneWiki comes in. It’s a novice friendly music player app with a social networking twist. You sign in using your Facebook or Twitter account and invite your friends on TuneWiki. Then, through the SongBox feature, you can see what your friends are listening to, which is a great way to discover new music.

Discover new music through your friends with Facebook and Twitter integration

It even has an ‘F Like’ option for Facebook. Song ID is a feature similar to Shazaam and Sound Hound. The app also automatically pulls lyrics for the currently playing song and shows up at the bottom of the ‘Now Playing’ screen. Other features include managing and editing playlists, Song Maps that let you discover what songs are trending, videos of the songs in your playlist and streaming radio from SHOUTcast.   

Cubed This app is currently still in Beta, but it works just fine and I haven’t come across any major bugs, yet. Albums are displayed in the form of a 3D cube, which can be flipped vertically to scroll through the albums or horizontally to find any album alphabetically. The animations are really slick and smooth, but you’ll probably need a fast processor for the best experience.  Cool animations make it fun to use A five band graphic equalizer is present as well with a nice graphical representation. You also get different desktop widgets, so you can access your music without opening the app.  PowerAMP This is possibly the best and most powerful music player app in the Marketplace. The free version lets you try the app with all its features for 15 days. The paid version is not cheap, but worth it if you’re a music buff. The audio support list is quite extensive, which includes FLAC and APE formats, as well. The 10 band equalizer can be adjusted for a single song or a list of songs, perfect for the audio geek. Excellent tweaking options for your music Other features include crossfade, gapless playback, folder view, CUE file support, download missing album art, visual themes and many more. Hit the title to try the free version.  mVideo Player Finally, if you’re somewhat of a neat freak, then you’ll love mVideo Player. It’s not as powerful as Moboplayer or RockPlayer, as it will only play videos that your phone can natively play. However, it does one hell of a job organizing all your videos into categories, perfect if you have many TV shows on your phone. Great app for organising your video collection It also has IMDB and OpenSubtitles integrated to give you quick info about the movie you’re watching or find subtitles for the current video. Poster search lets you find movie posters making it easier to recognize the movie in your library.   That’s it from my end. Feel free to share your favourite media players in the comments below.