MobileViews Blog

Category: Mobile Devices

  • Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 update for Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0


    My Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 tablet received a minor update to Android OS 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) last night. You can see photos of the process here. The AllShare Play and Next Issue noted in the update text (second photo) are two Samsung apps that provide a way to share media and subscribe to magazines, respectively. The update also appears to have added apps named S Suggest (suggest apps) and Screensaver.

    The most interesting aspect of this minor update is the change to how bookmarks are displayed in Android’s default web browser. Previously, the browser required a lot of taps to go into a bookmark folder, back out, and then to a different folder. Folders are now displayed on the left side. Tapping a folder displays its bookmarks. This makes for a better and much faster web browsing experience for me.
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  • Three word response from Steve Ballmer to my recommendation to stop being nice to notebook/tablet partners

    I’m no Microsoft cheerleader or fanboi (though I am a former Microsoft MVP). But, after reading reports like this one in All Things D about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer seemingly trying to placate notebook and tablet hardware partners, I had to vent. And, since Ballmer often gives out his email address and tells people he reads his own email, I figured, why not send it to the man himself.

    Ballmer: “Surface Is Just a Design Point”

    I’m not convinced that the Surface RT (Windows 8 ARM based hybrid tablet-notebook) will be a success. But, it does look interesting and generated more buzz than Microsoft has seen in a long time. We still don’t know key information like availability date, price, performance, and battery life. However, none of Microsoft hardware partners seem to be producing anything half as interesting. So, I told him that it was the wrong message to send partners who had designed failures in the Tablet PC, UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC – aka “Origami”), and netbook categories for the past decade. I suggested these four points should be the message sent to these underwhelming hardware partners.
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  • Podcast 58: Sencha Touch 2




    Podcast Powered By Podbean

    In MobileViews podcast 58 Todd Ogasawara speaks with the Senior Director of Product Management at Sencha, Aditya Bansod, about Sencha Touch 2 which launched on March 6, 2012.

    From March 2012

  • Podcast 57: Spring Partners CEO Jeff Janer Talks About Springpad on Mobile Devices




    Podcast Powered By Podbean

    Todd Ogasawara speaks with Spring Partners CEO Jeff Janer about the firms Springpad note taking product available for the web, Android and iOS.

    From December 2011

  • Photos from a visit to the Missile Defense Agency’s Sea-based X-band Radar Vessel


    I’ve long wondered what the U.S. Defense Department Ballistic Missile Defense System’s Sea-based X-band Radar (SBX-1) vessel was like close-up whenever it docked its massive frame in Pearl Harbor. The SBX-1 is a semi-submersible self-propelled, mobile radar station designed to operate in high winds and heavy seas. Today, I got the chance to find out thanks the efforts of Honolulu-based technologist and radio show host Burt Lum and the hospitality of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Defense Department Ballistic Missile Defense System. Eleven people were allowed to tour the ship and learn more about our occasional visitor. You can see a lot of what I saw in the 25 photos posted here. You can click on any of the photos to see it in full resolution.
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  • Why it doesn’t matter that Microsoft alienated its hardware partners with the Surface tablet announcement


    There was a lot of speculation about what Microsoft would announce on their June 18 mystery event. Some speculators dismissed the possibility that Microsoft would announce their own branded tablet as they ended up doing because of the belief that that Microsoft would not alienate their hardware partners. Yet, as Reuters reports, only a few big hardware partners were notified days before the event. And, some like Acer and Asus were left completely in the dark.

    Microsoft kept PC partners in dark about Surface

    Let’s take a look at a brief history of Microsoft and its touch screen mobile device hardware partners to understand why it doesn’t matter if the Microsoft Surface tablet alienate hardware partners.
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