Via Engadget
Mmmm...gadgets!
Via Engadget
Well, obviously, I love it. The way Samsung positioned the Note between a smartphone and larger tablets feels pretty on the money. Except for the tablet-only, Next Issue app that I've been using lately, I haven't needed to use anything else for browsing/reading needs. For how I use my mobile devices, the 5.3-inch screen feels quite comfortable. I admit I barely ever use my smartphones as phones, though. They're basically mobile data devices for me.
Granted, because I don't write professionally now, I am more of a content consumer these days (save for the occasional text or photo blog), so I don't need the larger-screened devices for writing or researching. (That said, I am composing this blog post on the Note right now.) I wouldn't be able to convert the Note into a sort of laptop replacement for writing as I did with my iPad 2 + ZAGGfolio keyboard case because of the screen size. But again, at the moment I have no need to do so.
Tangent about content creation with the Note: I LOVE its camera. It is the first device I've used that is at least on par (or a bit better than in some cases) with the great camera on my iPhone 4. I was genuinely surprised by this. I figured the camera would be pretty good, but the Note's 8-MP camera has great performance.
My main annoyance is the lack of camera/photo editing apps for Android. By this, I mean that while there is a fair number of very good photo apps for the platform, it's still not as rich and varied as the photo app offerings for iOS, sadly. While I have found a nice group of go-to photo apps, I miss certain iOS apps, still, like Hipstamatic, Snapseed (it's available on Android, but only for Tegra 3/ICS devices, IIRC), PhotoToaster, Camera+, and many others. It seems like the developers for these apps are unwilling to make the move to Android at the moment. I hope this changes soon, given how awesome the camera on the Note (as well as many other new Android devices) is.
Anyway, you may have noticed a resurgence of photoblog posts recently. Thank the Note for that. :-) Besides it having a higher resolution than the iPhone 4 which allows for more flexibility in cropping, I like the Note's white balance. It seems to be more true than the iP4's. The iP4 has a warmer default WB which is fine in some cases, but annoying in others since I feel it's harder to fix too warm WB as opposed to slightly too cool WB, but it's all relative.
If you're considering the Note, be advised its camera is quite good. I hope more photo apps get developed to fill out Android's offering relative to iOS. The alternative is for me to transfer photos to my iPhone or iPad and do the editing there, but that is annoying for a few reasons:
1. It's an extra step that will make me less likely to edit the photos in a timely manner (I'm already lazy about editing and uploading photos I took with the Note), if at all.
2. Despite my bellyaching, I do have a nice group of photo apps I can rely on: Aviary Photo Editor, Snaptastic, PicSay Pro, Pix: Pixel Mixer, and a few others. They do quite well; I would just like a bit more variety and choice.
3. I shouldn't have to do this! I'm hoping that with the advent of ICS, that more iOS developers will consider finally making the move to Android. We saw a few developers (some from webOS) do this already. If any of my favorite iOS photo app devs are reading this, please do so!
Moving along... The Wacom-based S Pen is pretty great. I've already done a couple very short ink blog posts from the Note (though I didn't trumpet which device they came from at the time), but at the moment I'm waiting on a couple 3rd-party apps -- Papyrus and Jotter -- to add JPG or PNG exporting.
The S Memo app from Samsung works pretty well, but I don't really see it as a long-term app for ink blogging. So, I haven't used the S Pen as much as I expected yet. But that doesn't speak ill of its performance; I think it works very well, though the palm rejection and S Pen calibration after rotating the screen can be finicky. Despite those niggles, it's the closest I've come to Tablet PC inking performance yet! I'm really tempted by the Galaxy Note 10.1 for a TPC "replacement", at least as far as digital ink blogging is concerned. But I think that purchase is still a long way out. I'm very happy with a 5.3-inch mini-tablet, thanks. Oh and BTW, the S Pen is obviously great for Draw Something! :-D
Speaking of gaming, I'm not a hardcore gamer, but the large screen of the Note has made me seek out more games. It's kind of like a PS Vita "substitute" for me, thanks to the large screen and more varied selection of casual games for my tastes. It probably also does well with other games like whatever first-person shooter, racing, or whatever non-casual games you kids today are into. I just wouldn't be a good judge of that, since I'm not really into those.
One last thing before I sign off for now: the 4G LTE support isn't anything to write home about, IMO. I haven't seen blazing speed compared to my 3G devices on AT&T. I was hoping that maybe there would be a little bit of a performance bump, but in practice I just haven't noticed any such thing. But the areas where I live/work don't seem to be great for AT&T connectivity to begin with, so YMMV.
I'll definitely be writing more about my experiences with the Note, so if you have any specific questions, let me know! I'll try to answer them the best I can.
Wha? I want this tiny original PlayStation! :D
Editor's Note: This was originally a cross-post from my Gadgety Goodness board on Pinterest.com, thanks to an "if this, then that" task. The title isn't ideal, so I have to tweak the task a bit. Bear with me!
This curved speaker dock from Samsung for both iOS and Android devices is pretty slick. I love the shape and the touch controls.
By now it seems pretty apparent that the iPad 3's main upgrade will be a Retina Display, or something that Apple will spin as Retina Display, since it won't have as high PPI as the iPhone 4/4S (263 PPI on iPad 3 with 9.7-inch display, 2048 x 1536, vs. 329.7 PPI on iPhone 4). The chassis likely won't change much, if at all. The processor will have to be upgraded in order to support the higher-res screen. And the battery likely will be bigger to help at least maintain the battery life people are used to with the iPad 2. The rear camera might get a resolution bump. But on a device as large as the iPad, I still think a rear camera is mostly useless. The iPad 3 will probably get Siri; that wouldn't be surprising.
But will there be any upgrades that are genuinely surprising? I have a few ideas about what might be coming in the iPad 3 announcement.
I wonder if Apple will talk about digital textbooks again. After the announcement in New York, some people seemed disappointed that there wasn't any talk about educational discounts for iPads to make the up front costs to migrate to iBooks textbooks a little easier to take. With the introduction of the iPad 3, iPad 2s will naturally go down in price. It's Apple's M.O. to continue selling the previous generation of devices at a reduced price, while the next generation stays at the same price as last year's models. But I wonder if iPad 2s will get an additional discount for student purchases. The white plastic MacBooks popular among students and more budget-minded buyers just recently got discontinued. To make up for it, 13-inch MacBook Airs got an educational discount option. It's possible that iPad 2s could get similar treatment to help iBooks textbook adoption along.
There's a rumor that the iPad 3 might get LTE support. I'm pretty skeptical about this. I think the next generation iPhone will get LTE before the iPad does. While LTE is really fast, it's still not that widespread. AT&T is just ramping up their LTE network. I think Apple will wait a little longer for LTE networks to mature before adding it to any of their devices. If the next iPhone does arrive around summertime, that is likely a better time to add LTE.
It's rather unlikely to happen, because having an OLED display would be a costly upgrade, unless Apple made the deal of the century for bulk pricing on OLED displays. But it would be a pretty stunning pairing to have the Retina Display AND OLED.
This is kind of self-explanatory. I hope that the next version of iOS that accompanies the iPad 3 will better handle scaling iPhone apps up for the iPad. Universal apps are great, but there are still apps that haven't been updated for the iPad that I wish weren't limited to an iPhone-sized window. The 2x button is a lame way to handle this. Google is attempting to fix this problem with Android 4.0. I'd imagine a similar fix is (or should be) coming with the iPad 3.
I also know it's wishful thinking for the iPad 3 to have an active digitizer layer and stylus support like the Samsung Galaxy Note. I know that Steve Jobs infamously said, "if you see a stylus, they blew it." I disagree. There are times when styli are quite useful. But I would say that, coming from the PDA and Tablet PC eras. :) Even though Apple had the Newton line of PDAs, I know it's more likely for hell to freeze over than Apple adding stylus support to their tablets. I still wish they'd do it, because I think they'd do a really great job. But they don't have to.
Artists already create wonderful digital paintings and drawings on the iPad and iPhone using their fingers or capacitive styli. Many note-taking apps already implement palm rejection and other ways to make writing on a capacitive screen easier (though they still can't hold a candle to an active digitizer on a Tablet PC). And third-party styli are coming out soon that either use an external receiver connected to the dock connector, Bluetooth, or other methods to provide pressure sensitivity and a more active digitizer-like writing experience. So again, Apple doesn't have to add styli support, but I still wish they would.
Along the same lines, I know the iPad 3 won't be a 7-inch or similarly sized device. And Apple likely won't make a smaller tablet to fit between the iPad and the iPhone...at least not until they can find a good way to explain its place in the product line up. But given my love for the smaller tablet form factor, I wish they would. A 7-inch tablet is just so much more portable, easier to bring everywhere someone would likely bring his/her smartphone.
A smaller iPad would be awesome for reading (reading on 7-inch tablets feels like reading a paperback book), media consumption, and quick tasks you may have done on your smartphone, but wish you had just a little more screen real estate. It could be a nice-sized tablet for students, getting back to digital textbooks. Yes, a larger screen would be better for many textbooks, especially if they have interactive media like videos, or complex diagrams, or 3D renderings that you can spin around 360 degrees. But it would be one way for Apple to offer drastically discounted iPads for students, perhaps closer to Kindle Fire pricing, offering a 7-inch iPad at $199 or $299.
It would be nice if the iPad 3 gets stereo speakers. If the newer leaked photos of the supposed iPad 3 rear covers are real, then this won't happen. It's a little thing, but when I watch Netflix or other videos on my iPad 2, the mono sound is kind of a bummer. My Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has stereo speakers, and it is nice to get a little separation and a little bit fuller sound from the Tab 10.1's stereo speakers. I would love to see that on the iPad 3, but I'm not holding my breath on that.
A fair amount of people seem to like pairing their iPad 2 with a keyboard case to turn it into a mini-laptop. I used one called the ZAGGFolio at CES and Macworld, and it was quite handy for longer stints of writing. Adonit has a really nice keyboard case called the Writer 2 that is worth looking at. Several other companies including Logitech have their own version of keyboard docks or keyboard cases.
When Apple came out with the original iPad, they also showed off a keyboard dock where it was basically their Bluetooth keyboard with a non-foldable iPad dock glommed onto the back. It was rather inelegant product, in my opinion, not very travel-friendly. I think it would be nice if Apple made their own keyboard folio, perhaps somehow combined with a Smart Cover for the iPad 3. Harking back to student usage (or for executives, writers, or other mobile professionals), an iPad 3 with a sleek keyboard folio would be a good lightweight computer to use in class (or meetings, at trade shows, writing in coffee shops, etc.). The phenomenal battery life on the iPad would make it more appealing for an all-day note-taking and surfing/research device than a regular laptop or netbook. I know it's a pricier option compared to a laptop or netbook, but those products don't run iOS (there are tons of great iOS apps for students), and they don't have iBooks. Again, it could be a package to encourage migration to Apple's digital textbooks. Just a thought.
I'm sure there are other wish list or wild speculation items I forgot about, but these are the key items I think are relevant and related to usage trends I've seen, either with the iPad 2, or tablets in general. As with a lot of Apple announcements, so much hype builds around them, that inevitably some people are disappointed that their pet features weren't included.
But I think even if all the iPad 3 got was a Retina Display and a bump in processor speed, I would be fairly interested in getting one. I love the Retina Display on my iPhone 4. I can't wait for an iPad with a higher-res screen. Incidentally, Samsung may beat Apple to the punch with a really high-res tablet of their own, if the rumors are true about their Mobile World Congress announcements coming in February.
Whatever happens, upcoming tablet announcements this year from Apple, Samsung, et. al., will continue to provide a lot of Gadgety Goodness (TM). :D
