Linked List: November 10, 2010

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Fabulous collection of prototype Apple hardware designs. Be prepared for a wave of powerful nostalgia for things that never were but could have been.

Wired’s Samsung Galaxy Tab Review ★

The headline: “Samsung’s Galaxy Tab: iPad’s First Solid Contender”.

The conclusion: “The Tab ultimately reveals itself not as a competitor to the iPad but as a new class of mobile devices: a minitablet that is designed to go everywhere you do.”

Sounds great:

In use, the Galaxy Tab performs well, but is not exemplary. It feels snappy enough, but longish load times can sometimes be tiresome, and webpages invariably loaded more slowly than the iPad — sometimes taking twice as long. We also ran into a few issues with apps hanging and the Wi-Fi connection suddenly vanishing without explanation. Reboots solved both issues.

Instapaper 2.3 for iPhone and iPad ★

Worth reading just hear the algorithm Marco devised for the new “automatically switch to dark mode” feature.

Also, Apple is promoting Instapaper with a nice video in their iPhone Quick Tips podcast.

Mac OS X v10.6.5 Is Out ★

Release notes for what’s new; security update info here.

Apple Did Not Purchase Bluetooth Headphone Maker Wi-Gear ★

Apple did hire company co-founder Michael Kim, and the Wi-Gear company has ceased operations, but Apple didn’t buy the company or its IP. It wasn’t a bad guess, but alas, 9to5 Mac’s Seth Weintraub didn’t report it as a guess — he reported it as a fact:

A source tells 9to5Mac that Apple scooped up a small Bluetooth wireless headphone designer in San Francisco two months ago. […] Apple plans to build its own stereo Bluetooth headphones for future iOS devices and MacBooks with technology and expertise from Wi-Gear.

Weintraub has corrected the story, and published an apology for the mistake.

Undercutting, Eh? ★

Paul Thurrott, today, on the news that RIM is going to sell the BlackBerry PlayBook for “under $500”:

It looks like RIM is going to try and undercut iPad pricing with its upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. This is very wise: The iPad is overpriced, and thanks to this pricing, the competing tablets coming from the Android world and elsewhere are coming in too high as well.

Call me a cynic, but when RIM says “under $500”, I hear “$499”. But we shall see.

Bonus claim chowder postscript: Thurrott, back on January 27, live-blogging the iPad announcement event:

The big question, of course, is the price. I’m guessing $999 to start. […]

iPad pricing starts at $499. That’s actually quite aggressive for Apple. In fact, that’s pretty amazing. So good for them.

(Via Kyle Alden.)

Sprint ZTE Peel ★

$79 slider case for the iPod Touch from Sprint, including a 3G hotspot. $29 per month for service. Interesting, but why not just buy an iPhone?

Update: My thinking on the “why not just buy an iPhone?” is that almost everyone is going to want a cell phone, too, and even a cheapie feature phone is going to run another $30 a month in service. So, once you’re paying $60 or $70 a month, why not just get an iPhone? But clearly, there are reasons to be tempted by the ZTE Peel. Maybe you don’t like or can’t use AT&T. Maybe you already have and rely on an iPod Touch and just want Internet access everywhere. And, perhaps most enticingly, it’s a real Wi-Fi hotspot, so you can use it to get your laptop or Wi-Fi-only iPad online too. It’s just that my first instinct is that $29 a month is too much. But if you can make do without a phone, and just use Skype or something for voice (FaceTime, perhaps, eventually) $29/month is cheap if that’s your total bill.

Gizmodo Reviews the Samsung Galaxy Tab ★

Scathing review overall (“a pocketable train wreck”, “this thing is just a mess”), but he does say battery life was good.

RIM to Sell PlayBook for ‘Under’ $500 ★

Jun Yang, reporting for Bloomberg:

Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, said it will begin selling a tablet computer in North America in the first quarter for “under” $500 as it takes on Apple Inc.’s iPad.

Chopper 2 ★

Another game that lets you play on an iPad using an iPhone as the controller — including the ability to use a TV as the output device for the iPad. Check out the demo video.

Microsoft Will Control Windows Phone Updates ★

Ed Bott on who controls Windows Phone 7 OS updates:

The official response from Microsoft, on the record:

Microsoft will push Windows Phone 7 software updates to end users and all Windows Phone 7 devices will be eligible for updates.

No equivocation, no qualifiers. And because of Microsoft’s strict control over the hardware standard we’re unlikely to see oddball hardware configurations that don’t qualify for OS upgrades.

They’ve learned a lesson from the old Windows Mobile — and perhaps from Android.