Blackberry Tablet Parks Near Stadium But Doesn't Enter Ring--Yet

A recent video demonstrates strengths that Blackberry's new tab PC has over the iPad in web browsing: faster loading times and flash support (i.e. animated web pages, for example).


One article suggests that the Blackberry's double the horsepower in internal hardware simply outshines what the iPad has under the hood. However, it goes on to say, the iPad might have improved by the time the Blackberry tablet comes out, which is still a ways away.


What's still at stake, however, is the screen-size quandary: are customers looking for an amazing new handheld device more like a blown up cell phone or more like a mini-laptop? I'll admit that the size of the screen is tied for #1 on reasons why I might choose iPad. Reason #2 is the apps.


Now what I need to see is a competitor show me that the software on a 7" screen makes it all worth my while.


See the video here:

Cage Match: Apple iPad versus Samsung Galaxy Tab

In this space we'll take a look at the breakdown between the world's first significant tablet PC competition. In the first corner we'll start with the iPad, since it came out first and currently rules the market sphere for tablet PC. In the second corner, we'll take a look at what the Samsung Galaxy Tab brings to the table.

LLLLLet's get ready to rumble!

Apple iPad Strengths and Specs

• Large 9.7” screen diagonal
  
• 40,000+ apps in a moderated app marketplace
  
• 10+ hrs battery life
  
• seventh-month headstart on market share and customer feedback
  
• cheapest model is $100 cheaper
  
• rumored to multitask as of iOS 4.2 releasing apprx. 11/16/10
  
• bigger screen makes viable eBook reader

Samsung Galaxy Tab Challenges and Turn-Offs

• Even Google despaired at the Tab using its Android—it was designed for a cell phone, not a tablet
  
• much less battery life
  
• no USB charging (ex. via laptop)
  
• smaller screen has less than half of the area than iPad

Samsung Galaxy Tab Strengths and Specs

• 7” screen diagonal viewed by some as refreshingly large compared to cell phone
  
• runs popular Google Android 2.2 interface
  
• cameras in front (video conference) and back (taking photos)
  
• 6+ hrs battery life
  
• like iPad did, Tab may spark renaissance of specific-to-device app development
  
• can see Flash web pages
  
• multitasks
  
• easier to hold in one hand
  
• Fits in more places, such as purses or jacket pockets

Apple iPad Challenges and Turn-Offs

• Although small and thin, does not pack as easily as the smaller Galaxy Tab
  
• significantly heavier than the Tab
  
• less mobile carrier options for 3G model
• no cameras... period

Conclusion
Choosing which competitor you favor will depend on your needs from the machine. For business purposes including video conferencing and ultra portability, you may like the Galaxy Tab. For personal purposes including a huge variety of fun and useful apps, the iPad may be for you.


Seeing the possibilities of the Samsung Galaxy Tab is somewhat of a changed attitude from my initial reaction, which you can read here: Dead on Arrival: Don't Need Tablet's Limited Size and Software for $600

Brief Illustrated History of Google

Based on a True Story

(Click on a picture to view larger version)

Larry Page and Sergey Brin conceive the idea.

They hire Craig Silverstein and name the
company after the number 10 to the power of 100.

Starting with a gift of $100k from the cofounder of Sun Microsystems, they try to
sell the company for as little as $750k. They are turned down, but they subsequently
receive about $25 million from other companies to keep going.

Google expands rapidly by buying lots of other good ideas, including a
3D Earth software and internet upstart-turned-sensation YouTube.

Google begins hopscotching around several different
industries and services until it just about offers everything.

Justin Bieber vs. Level 19 Fire Troll

Now you can choose on Google's free in-flight WiFi

Need to play World of Warcraft in the sky between JFK and LAX? Or review the YouTube library of Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga music videos before the peanut cart arrives on the aisle? Let the fight between two of your favorite WiFi options begin--maybe even before the seatbelt sign turns off!

For most of the year, you can pay just $11 for 24-hour access to Google's WiFi internet at certain airports and on certain planes. However, recent news reports let us know that Google is once again offering free WiFi at certain airports and on certain planes during the holiday season.

Free?!?!

Wait a second, you're saying. There's no such thing as a free lunch, and certainly there's no such thing as free WiFi.

How does a big ticket company like Google get its millions if it spends its days offering free, high-quality, and useful items? I feel like Microsoft charges for nearly every little thing it can offer, so to me they're not on board here. What's the business strategy in offering free stuff?

To me it seems like Google has long held a mantra of offering choices and, when possible, free choices. Their original search engine was famously simple to look at, not riddled with flashy banners and ads, and yet today Google is considered today to be a powerhouse in advertising.

Google acquired YouTube and kept the free service free: because free is a great word for building an audience. Today Google offers free WiFi all year round for a number of nearby Californian residents. From Google we get a free internet browser, a free desktop gadget utility, free lightweight yet powerfully adaptable email, and even an entire operating system (although this last one is admittedly not free; it does come preloaded on gadgets to be announced in the future).

The company's unofficial slogan at its inception was, “Don't be evil.” My thought is that the company seems to have spent its history making useful products that are either free (Google Earth is free, but its former competition wasn't), pleasant in their efficient utility (Chrome, Google search engine), or just a straight up challenge to the existing market competition (Buzz, Android).

To see evidence that Google is growing and succeeding, just take a look at the history of their investments, including stocks and acquisitions. I don't think that just because a company is enormous means that they are evil. So far Google has been pretty good to me.

Next time:

A Brief History of Google: An Illustrated Companion

Dead On Arrival: Don't need tablet's limited size and software for $600

This toy is neat, but for $600
I wouldn't called it a "must have."

“Dead on arrival.” Steve Jobs' dramatic exclamation may be true for a neat product for which there is high cost and little need.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab, although super neat, has two major disadvantages:

1. Seven Inch Screen Size

How are they going to compel the American wildlife of tech users to shell out another $600? Because now I have an even smaller, less capable stopgap between what my phone and laptop already do? Seven inches of screen real estate means that any typing is still going to be thumb based, as on a cell phone. Any finger pushing or pulling as on a web browser will be like a cell phone.

2. Non-Ideal Software

It uses Google's Android system developed for mobile phones, but even Google says this system wasn't designed for tablets. It will be like a big phone that can't call anyone. What makes the iPad/iPhone/iPod products so effective is that they managed to convince the vast array of app designers to make a vast array of well illustrated, finger-friendly apps. Will the Galaxy Tab go this way, or will it be like my Windows Mobile phone: promising to balloon in an exclusive app marketplace but instead flopping on the ground? Two of Samsung's partners in this endeavor, Blockbuster and VCast, have for me always been poorly made expensive substitutes to other products out there. Please change my mind.

And why is it more expensive than an iPad? I cannot be convinced to pay more money to take a risk on what could be less. That's one teacher's opinion.