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IDF 2013 Mobility Keynote–Highlights


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We’re expecting Baytrail products to show this morning. We’ll hear about Ultrabooks and we’ll hear about Windows and Android mobility.

This article will update with relevant pics and information as the keynote progresses. (Start at 0900 San Francisco time)

0900: starting.

I think we just heard a new ‘bong bong bong bong’

First up is  Doug Fisher who sets the stage.

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Hermann Eul will now go into details….

 

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Smartphones….we want more. “It all starts with great CPU”

The Silvermont Core….

“Spans an Ultra Dynamic Range”

 

 

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Announcing  Bay Trail.

Next generation of Intel multi-core. Intel HD graphics.

“Ample” performance.

Advanced imaging capabilities.

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Asus announce T100 Baytrail Transformer

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HD display. over 10hrs of battery life.

“Perfect for productivity.”

 

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[Update: Pic from post-event Q&A]

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Hermann: Baytrail wonderful for mobile gaming.

It’s demo time… Online shopping.

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Nice avatar and measurements-based online shopping demo. Animated catwalk rendering impressive.

 

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These manufacturers will release Baytrail based products.

 

Dell. Windows 8 8-inch ‘Venue’ Windows devices.

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Branding – Venue – a range of products launching ni October.

What comes next….

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We just had a lightshow….

 

Next up, Kirk Skaugen….

New 2-in-1’s coming.

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Prices down to $349. Clearly Ultrbooks and BayTrail deivces mixing in this sector.

Sony Vaio Duo 13. Dell XPS 11, Sony Vaio Tap 11, Dell XPS 12 get a little demo. All info on these over at Ultrabooknews.com

Time 10:00

Tami Reller from Microsoft now on stage…

“Big fans of the category”

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Windows 8.1 RTM released to developers yesterday.

2 million downloads from MSDN so far.

Windows 8 momentum. August “highest amount of activations in the history of Windows 8.”

Apps: Facebook, Foursquare coming. 8.1 will help the apps ecosystem.

VPro Ultrabooks and 2-in-1.

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SSD Pro 1500. NGFF form factor helping to reduce time of disk encryption.

Intel Pro WiDi announced.

BMW on stage talking about Intel in their cars. Traffic info, etc. Also talking about IT infrastructure. [time for a break….]

50000 VPro Ultrabooks will be distributed internally at BWM.

Baytrail M and D…

140 design wins across this sector. Non touch clamshells down to $199 2-in-1’s down to $349

Branded with Celeron and Pentium capability.

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What’s coming in 2014…

Broadwell 14nm systems….

 

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30% power reduction for the same performance level on Broadwell

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Perceptual computing being integrated into frames with 3D cam capability.

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Kirk closes with a slide about developer opportunity.

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Doug Fisher back on stage…

Skyrim with touch overlay shown…

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Doug plugs IDZ – Intel Developer Zone. Online resources for developers.

Google announcement coming,….? Google flashes up on screen.

Android optimizations highlighted, NDK bridging technology, tuned Dalvik Runtime, optimized drivers.

Highlighted: Tools for Android.

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New Chromebooks coming on Baytrail.

hp 14 with optional 4G

Acer, Toshiba, Asus Chromebox

Improve battery life by 50%

Coming for Holiday.

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Google on stage. Sundar Pichai

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Latest version of XDK for HTML5 announced. Doug talks about cloud combined with XDK and promotes IDZ again.

Keynote finished.

Update: Baytrail tablet pics. (Post Keynote event.)

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Deutsche Bank to Investors: Intel CloverTrail Tablets can Compete


IdeaTab-Lynx-2Early reviews of CloverTrail devices are positive and that’s making investors and analysts sit up and take note. Deutsche Bank have just issued a note to their customers saying some very positive things about the platform and notes that it is competitive against ARM-based solutions.


Read the full story

Tracking the CloverTrail Win 8 Tablets at UMPCPortal


Those of you that have been following me for a while know that I also have my finger in another pie…

sAMSUNG aTIV sMARTpc 500t (5)

Read the full story

Changing My Tablet Loadout, Iconia A100 is My New 7 Incher — Video Impressions and Photos


Early last week, I received my notification that my HP TouchPad order was going to be one of the final production run we have all heard about, and that it was expected to ship in 6 to 8 weeks. This stuck in my craw for a few reasons. I had seen the charge from HP flutter back and forth between pending and then disappear for several days. I thought HP was actually trying to fulfill my order out of current stock. While the TouchPad is a case outside of the norm, my usual schtick is not to let people hold onto funding for an order for product that I am not going to receive for several weeks. When I put my order into the HP Small & Medium Business site during the TouchPad firesale, I originally received a notice of intended shipment two days later, so I thought I was ordering from stock. None of this is to say that I cancelled my TouchPad order because I felt HP had dropped the ball. I cancelled my order because I had lost interest in the TouchPad in the face of not getting it immediately, and I had other issues to deal with as well.

While I was ecstatic at getting HoneyStreak to run on my Dell Streak 7, the experience was not without its issues. HoneyStreak is a custom ROM that implements Android 3.2 Honeycomb on the Dell Streak 7. The major thing that was corrected was my Streak’s constantly dropping Wi-Fi connection, but I also received a boost in battery life. However, I lost a few things like the external SD card reader. Keeping the Streak 7 as part of my kit became called into greater question as the number of apps that I wanted to run as part of my routine were found to be broken or partially functional under the Honeycomb ROM. I experienced problems with Gallery, IMDb, and then Google Books. At the end of the day, the partial functionality of my collection of apps on the Streak 7 went beyond what I was willing to bear. My plan had been to run HoneyStreak on the device until my TouchPad showed up, then replace the Streak 7 with the TouchPad. When the HP date moved 6 to 8 weeks to the right and my problems with the Streak 7 increased, I decided it was time to make a different call.

Before I go any further, let me say that the issues with HoneyStreak were likely not insurmountable. I did not hit the XDA forums to see what issues others were having or what work-arounds had been figured out. For all I know, there was an updated version of HoneyStreak available. DJ_Steve, the code’s primary author, has been curating the build since he got his hands on 3.x earlier this year. However, the demands of school have been increasing, and, for the devices that I am going to employ, there is just not as much time to tinker. Loading the custom ROM was a cool thing to do during one soft-spot in my summer semester schedule, but I could not afford continuing maintenance and tinkering. I needed something stock, which is really where I live anyway. So my conundrum was: a Dell Streak 7 which was borderline unusable with its stock install, a custom ROM load that was not sufficiently functional when interacting with some of my more important (or at least frequent) apps, and the planned replacement suffering a 6 to 8 week delay in delivery.

The decision I made was to first cancel my HP TouchPad order. I decided I would be better off taking that $150 and  putting it towards a device I could get my hands on now. I then ordered an Acer Iconia Tab A100. I was very satisfied with my Acer Iconia Tab A500 so far, so the concept of the same device in a 7-inch form factor was appealing. While I awaited the arrival of the A100 from TigerDirect, I flashed the Streak 7 back to its stock install. Well…almost. I actually replaced some of the image files with some from the Wi-Fi stock install. I am not sure exactly how much difference there is, or if that difference even matters, but I will say that for the short time I had with the Streak 7 after the roll-back, I was no longer seeing the Wi-Fi disconnects that I had been before. I also saw a trend indicating even better battery life than I had seen when the device was running Honeycomb. I can only say that I saw these improvements as trends that hopefully prove to be truly improved functionality on the Streak 7. After the rollback to the stock OS image, I only had about 12 to 14 hours with the device before I handed it off to a potential buyer to demo over the weekend.

You can see and hear some of my early impressions of the Acer Iconia Tab A100 after the first 24 hours of use in the embedded videos below. I do some comparisons between my other two Android tablets, the Motorola Xoom 3G and the Acer Iconia Tab A500. My apologies for the low resolution  and framing. The only thing I had available to shoot video with this weekend was my Sony point-and-shoot camera. I have also dropped some pictures in for viewing. So far, I like what the A100 is bringing to the table in its 7-inch form factor. It is a huge improvement over the Streak 7, and a good compliment to my current set of mobile gear options. I will be posting later short-term and long-term reports as the device gets put to more use.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5qA3KBJ3w0

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r_v3DGsS4o

 

Sony Lets Media Get Their Fingers on New Tablets [video]


Sony S1 Tablet

Some members of the media were granted access to a Sony event held in Germany yesterday. Front and center at the event were the Sony S1 and S2 Tablets (which were first announced back in April), both of which take a differentiated approach to the tablet solution. Quite a few sites got some hands-on time, so let’s go through some of the general impressions.

As one would expect, Sony seems to have nailed the hardware design. The S1 is a “full-sized” 9.4 inch tablet running Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Most of the press seem to feel that its design invokes the feeling of a folded newspaper or magazine. One item of note is that the rear of the device is textured, which should result in better grip. I think a lot of tablet manufacturers fail to recognize the importance of grip in a tablet device. Good grip can compensate for a device that might otherwise be deemed too heavy.

In stark contrast to the S1’s design, the S2 features two 5.5 inch screens, and folds into a clamshell position for transport. It also currently runs Android 3.0 Honeycomb. I suspect that the actual OS version at launch might be a step-up of the 3.x-series by the time the S1 and S2 ship. Sony was mum on specs today. However, they did announce that the S2 will launch running on AT&T’s 4G network. AT&T has an HSPA+ network now, and is deploying LTE networks this summer. No one from the press appeared to get specific word on which variant the S2 will support, or if it will support both.

While most 10-inch Android Tablets are deploying with 1200 X 800 displays, the S1 has a 1280 X 768 screen. Despite the slightly lower resolution, the report from Germany is that viewing angles were good from both side and overhead perspectives.

Both devices are Playstation Certified. The jury is stil out on whether or not this feature is truly value-added. It certainly has not hepled reception of the Xperia Play, which debuted to lukewarm reviews.

This Is My Next caught a solid video of the S1 and S2 in action:

All-in-all, the hands-on reports seem to indicate positive interest. Of course, the proof will have to wait until the actual launches. No one is really certain how the Sony proprietary customizations of the Android OS (Quick View and Quick Touch) will be received. Sony’s Android solutions have not been hits so far, neither have they been complete failures. We’ll definitely let you know if these devices hit the mark or not when they release later this year.

Top Tablets Together, Live


This is totally unplanned so it should work out perfectly!

Update: The Live Session is over.
I’ll be writing a follow-up soon but please check out the recorded videos on YouTube – They’re well worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=PL21405378FDB03DF9

Late notice: Sascha has turned up in my neighborhood with the Playbook, Transformer and iPad2. I have the Tab 7, HTC Flyer, and Iconia Tab A500 in the studio so it makes sense, while we have the opportunity,  to go live!

We are live right now! Meetmobility.com/live

The chat is open already so if you’re looking at a tablet purchase in the next weeks, get over there now because this is a rare opportunity to see the best. The tablets aren’t bad either!

Spread the word.

@chippy and @Sascha_p on Twitter for latest information.

Official HTC Flyer Intro Video


htc flyerJkk (via SlashGear) posted this video of the HTC Flyer tablet earlier today. It gives a good idea of how HTC expects people to use their first Android tablet (though we can’t forget about the HTC Shift!). None of what you’ll see in the video is footage of actual use though, it’s all proof-of-concept. Have a look at the video below, and scroll further down to see Chippy’s brief inking test with the device at CeBIT.

The video shows off the HTC well, but it’s important to look through the marketing speak. After some time with HTC’s ‘Sense’ UI on Android, I’m not looking forward to the version that’s designed for tablets. It looks like they’ve bulkified their already-chunky widgets for use with the bigger screen.

The section about gaming is very interesting but will probably go overlooked by most because the video didn’t give a lot of info about it. HTC has made a sizable investment in the cloud gaming service OnLive, according to SlashGear, and there will be a version of their controller than can connect to the HTC Flyer and allow you to play console quality games through it. There’s also a virtual on-screen controller option but that’s pretty much a joke if you are trying to play any real-time game. This will be the first Android tablet with OnLive integration and could give HTC an advantage over it’s competitors if the service stays exclusive to HTC. With the service you can be gaming on your computer, then pause the game and pick up right where you left off on the Flyer, that’s pretty darn cool.

It’s clear that HTC has taken a lot of inspiration from the LiveScribe, and they are saying that inking and notes will be integrated with Evernote which is really good news. The closer that HTC can work with Evernote, the better. Evernote has a lot of experience with (PC) tablets and note taking. I’m just hoping that the integration will be sufficient to create wholesome workflow. Without thorough integration, people are still going to have to lug their computers around to work anyway, which sort of defeats the purpose of attempting to relegate everything to a tablet. Google Cloud Print could also be an important piece to the all-in-one productivity puzzle that HTC appears to be aiming for.

As for the ‘write anywhere’ capability, it may be less useful than it seems. After looking at Chippy’s test with the inking (video below) it appears as though as soon as one writes on the screen, it immediately takes a screenshot and then annotates the screenshot, instead of actually interfacing with the content on the screen. That’s just a guess though and it’s early software, so we’ll have to wait and see how it really pans out.

One thing that I’m not happy about with on the Flyer (other than the ugly white plastic on the back) is the lack of pen-silo for the stylus. Despite how much they’d like to say that the Flyer is totally designed for inking, I don’t know how convinced I am if there is no way to store the stylus on the device. Folks are not going to want to haul that around as a separate piece, especially if they don’t use it all the time.

Here’s Chippy’s brief hands-on with inking on the HTC Flyer:

Meet:Mobility Podcast 63 – Honey Now, Fusion Later


Meet:Mobility Podcast 63 is now available.

JKK (JKKMobile), Chippy (Carrypad) and special guest Al Sutton (Funky Android) talk in depth about Honeycomb and some of the tablet and netbook news from the last 2 weeks including Fusion, WebOS and Galaxy Tab 2

Listen, subscribe and download at MeetMobility here.

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