Being the concluding part of the article, The Apple iPad, do we really need it? Part One.

Why the Apple iPad has done very well
The ipad did very well the weekend it went on sale. It sold more than 300,000 units in its opening weekend and more than half a million units a couple of days later. In fact, the international launch of the iPad had to be delayed because of the quantity of the device that was being sold. It was literally selling in droves, and as a result, to my chagrin, the international debut of the iPad had to be postponed. You see, demand for the ipad far exceeded the supply, more than Apple could cope with.

So, why did the iPad do so well? Surely it must be really good to attract so much attention. People are not fools to dish out hard earned money only to live up to a Craze. Even, there were queues in the stores just as you had during the iPhone’s opening weekend sales.

The iPad is an engineering achievement. It was intricately designed with years and years of R and D to show for it. It is a laptop substitute. You could use it to listen to music, watch Movies, browse the web, use productivity applications, create documents, Play games, read E-books, newspapers and comic books. You can do all this while you lay back and relax on your sofa or on a bus. It is lightweight when compared to a full laptop or even a netbook. It definitely fits a niche. If you love the iphone User interface, the ipad is even much better. From videos I have watched of it, it looks exquisite, fluid and dexterous to behold. It is difficult to resist owning it! So I do not blame those who have to wait in the queue to buy it or the early adopters.

Ipad Competitors and “ipad Killer”
Just like the iphone, the ipad has begotten a long list of wanna-be “ipad killer”s. The sales were phenomenon and of course other manufacturers would want to catch in on the craze. It is only logical for them. Top companies like Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Google are already planning to come out with tablet computers ala the ipad. HP last week started leaking information about its own Slate tablet computer in blog posts and in teaser videos posted on YouTube. The HP Slate is expected to ship by mid-year. Other companies are also entering the fray. Dell is reportedly developing the Streak, while Nokia, Acer and Lenovo Group are also working on tablets.

I believe they have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to compete with and beat Apple Inc.’s popular ipad device. This only makes the tablet computer space highly competitive and consumers shall have many choice to show for it.

Conclusion
The ipad is a revolution. And also an evolution of what Computers would become. It is not simply a scaled down version of any computer or the MAC Operating system X. Rather, it is an intuitive OS, with easy to operate User interface with minimalistic design and an improvement over the iphone. It Boots from shut-down to full power in less than 15 seconds and you get your work done speedily with little clogging of the suave OS. Unlike what you have in a computer and more analogous to a phone, the ipad is mostly on standby and you can bring it on and to use in less than 3 seconds from standby. This is an obvious advantage over regular PCs.

The ipad is also more like a computer. You can watch videos and read books on it, and maybe even get some work done. Many authorities however have criticized it as a consumptive device for media and not a media creator. But such criticism appears to be extreme. You can actually get some work done on an ipad.

I believe that despite the renewed enthusiasm of the tablet PC format that has failed to catch up in the past, you cannot stop Apple, you can only hope to contain it. And even with that these days, it may seem like a bit too much to ask. The ipad has now popularized the previous moribund tablet PC form factor and would likely lead the pace. In addition to the successful launch of the ipad by Apple into the foray of the world of tablets, the company has transcendentally announced the iphone OS 4.0 which mobilitynigeria had been kind to announce earlier. What this means is that the ipad can only get exceptional. With coming iterations of it, it would have no choice but to get better and improvement shall lead it to become the ultimate device.

Finally, all the speculations about potential buyers for Palm Inc. have been laid to rest as HP has announced that they are purchasing the troubled mobile manufacturer for $1.2 billion.

It would have been a sad day to see Palm just die out and fizzle away. With HP’s acquisition, we are excited and hopeful that we will see a new crop of WebOS devices. HP has traditionally been a producer of monoblock QWERTY mobile smartphones – a form factor that Palm and WebOS are known for.

This acquisition looks like a marriage made in heaven. And hopefully, unlike Palm, HP will put more effort into getting its smartphones in the hands of enthusiasts around the world.

Espoo, Finland – The Nokia N8, Nokia’s latest smartphone, intuitively connects to the people, places and services that matter most. With the Nokia N8, people can create compelling content, connect to their favorite social networks and enjoy on-demand Web TV programs and Ovi Store apps. Available in select markets during the third quarter of 2010, the estimated retail price of the Nokia N8 is EUR 370, before applicable taxes or subsidies.

The Nokia N8 introduces a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Xenon flash and a large sensor that rivals those found in compact digital cameras. Additionally, the Nokia N8 offers the ability to make HD-quality videos and edit them with an intuitive built-in editing suite. Doubling as a portable entertainment center, people can enjoy HD-quality video with Dolby Digital Plus surround sound by plugging into their home theatre system. The Nokia N8 enables access to Web TV services that deliver programs, news and entertainment from channels like CNN, E! Entertainment, Paramount and National Geographic. Additional local Web TV content is also available from the Ovi Store.

Social networking is second nature to the Nokia N8. People can update their status, share location and photos, and view live feeds from Facebook and Twitter in a single app directly on the home screen. Calendar events from social networks can also be transferred to the device calendar.

The Nokia N8 comes with free global Ovi Maps walk and drive navigation, guiding people to places and points of interest in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Symbian^3 in action
Powering the Nokia N8 is Symbian ^3, the latest edition of the world’s most used smartphone software, which introduces several major advances, including support for gestures such as multi touch, flick scrolling and pinch-zoom. The Nokia N8 also offers multiple, personalizable homescreens which can be loaded with apps and widgets. The new 2D and 3D graphics architecture in the platform takes full advantage of the Nokia N8’s hardware acceleration to deliver a faster and more responsive user interface. Symbian^3 also raises the bar in performance by delivering greater memory management allowing more applications to run in parallel for a faster multi-tasking experience.

Specifications:

• Dimensions: 113.5 x 59.12 x 12.9 mm
• Weight: 135g
• OS: Symbian^3
• 3.5 inch capacitive widescreen display; 640 × 360 pixel resolution
• 3.5mm audio jack
• HDMI out port (using the supplied cable)
• Micro-USB connector, High-Speed USB 2.0
• USB On-the-Go: plug in a USB flash drive
• Bluetooth v2.1 including support for stereo headsets
• 802.11 b/g/n WiFi
• FM transmitter
• FM radio
• Integrated GPS with A-GPS
• BL-4D 1200mAh battery
• 680 MHz ARM11 processor with accelerated Open GL 2
• 256 MB RAM
• 135mb internal storage, 16GB mass memory
• Up to 32 GB of additional storage with an external microSD card
• Web Browser with FlashLite support
• Web TV
• MP4 Video recording at HD 720p – up to 25frames per sec
• Video playback file formats: H.264, MPEG-4, VC-1, H.263, Real Video 10, ON2 VP6, Flash video
• 12 megapixel camera, Xenon flash, Carl Zeiss optics
• Live updates from Facebook, Twitter, and RenRen pushed right to your home screen
• Ovi Maps application

The Apple ipad was launched on Saturday April 3rd to a herald of hype from Apple fans, the Tech world, critics and the web. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple calls the ipad as truly “Magical” and “Revolutionary”. Presently the ipad is only available in the US, but within two months, it is expected to be launched in Europe and elsewhere.  When it gets to Europe, I expect to order one and then give a hands-on review on mobilitynigeria. But before then, it is still safe to say that from intensive study and follow-up of the ipad news and saga on the web and on CNN that the long awaited ipad had generally mixed to favorable reviews.

What exactly is the ipad? Is it a net-book? Or a net-book replacement? Or could you call it a tablet PC. Or is it just an entertainment device with a fantastic and eye candy user interface? What niche will it occupy if it becomes mainstream or if it ever becomes mainstream? Do we need another device separate from our laptop and mobile phone? This analytical review shall attempt to look at these pertinent questions. And push us closer to the inexorable question; Do we really need an ipad?

This is not really a hands on Review but an analytical look at the ipad and opinion of the author on the ipad before he gets one for himself, possibly in the summer,

Apple Ipad
The ipad is Apple’s multimedia tablet device. It is just like a tablet PC or a small MAC but with simplified user interface and a 9.7 inch diagonal with a resolution of 1024 – by – 768 pixels. From reviews I have read on the net and videos on youtube, it appears to have an intuitive, fluid and impressive user interface. Not un-similar with the iphone. In fact, the ipad shares the same Operating System (OS) with the iphone and ipad touch. The OS is 3.2. compared with the iphone which is presently 3.13.  The Physical Specs is; Height: 9.56 inches by Width: by 7.47 inches by Depth:0.5 inch (13.4 mm). Weight: 0.68 kg.

The Space between a Laptop and a phone
When Apple first announced the ipad in an event at Cupertino, California that I previewed live from a streaming video from Macworld.com, I felt myself engulfed in his enthusiasm and started there and then to develop a love for this device. Steve Jobs, Apple’s Founder positioned the device in the space between a Laptop and a phone. This singular act greatly impressed me because there were times in my life where my laptop may appear too big and then my phone will look way too small for the occasion. At such times, the ipad could fill the gap. I believe that the ipad cannot replace my phone anytime soon but the question remains whether it can replace my laptop from time to time, depending on the occasion.

Features of the Ipad
1.    Tablet form factor with a large screen measuring 9.7 inches.
2.    Built-in speaker and Microphone
3.    Apple’s designed 1 Gigahertz A4 system on Chip Processor.
4.    On Board Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, with Bluetooth 2.1
5.    Vibrant colour display on the screen with a resolution of 1024 – by – 768 pixels.
6.    SSD memory of 16, 32 or 64 Gigabyte
7.    10 Hours battery life when watching Video, (Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music)  Or One week on Standby.
8.    iBook – An E-reader for reading Ebooks.
9.    Iwork for working with Documents. Iwork consists of iPage, inumbers and Keynote. Those persons familiar with a Mac Computer or Macbook will appreciate this!
10.    An already established app store with more than 5000 ipad specific application or more than 150,000 iphone OS compatible apps
11.    Support for 3G sim card (in some models).
12.    Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating
13.    Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
14.    Game Centre. To play games with friends or strangers and lets you view your worldwide rank on a certain game as well as an achievement board.
Criticism
1.    No USB port (Although you can use an accessory from the Apple store. This will cost more money.)
2.    No Front facing Camera
3.    No QWERTY keyboard (But for God’s sake, this is a tablet!). You can as well use it with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard or a key board Dock. (This will however set you back 130 dollars!)
4.    NO Multi-tasking (At least this is only temporary, until summer, when it would start multi-tasking with an OS 4.0 update).

To be concluded – Editor

Pardon me but 4G does not exist – it has been invented by the press and by people with little knowledge of the mobile world and the standards being used.

To call LTE 4G is simply misleading and is contributing in moving focus away from the possibilities created by mobile broadband and over to a technological race with nothing else than the number of G’s deciding whether something is good or bad.

Source: LTE not 4G – Strand

Strand are not alone in this. Here is further affirmation that 4G does not exist, whether we are talking of LTE or WiMax:

Hakan Eriksson, chief technology officer of Stockholm, Sweden-based telecom equipment giant Ericsson, doesn’t much care for WiMAX. He doesn’t even think of it as a real 4G wireless technology — though to be fair, since the ITU hasn’t actually set the standard yet, there are no real 4G technologies.

Source: WiMAX Not Really 4G: Ericsson CTO

Ericsson’s CTO seemed biased towards affirming LTE as 4G though – understandable, seeing that his company has invested in that technology. Understandable but wrong all the same.

MobilityNigeria regulars here will remember our own article titled
LTE – Beyond HSDPA/HSUPA in which we stated that “…LTE is more of an upgrade or enhancement of 3G technology the same way that EDGE is an enhancement of 2G technology..”

As such, the HTC EVO 4G is not really a 4G device. But who cares? The power of misinformation.

Let’s get this clear upfront – I am angry and frustrated right now. Very. So excuse the passion that you will feel as you read my words.

To give you a background, for the last three weeks, family, friends and associates have been largely unable to reach me on my mobile line. Mostly, they get the error message “The number that you have dialled does not exist on the MTN network“, or “The number you have dialled is incorrect“. I am mostly also unable to dial out as well. Contacting MTN customer care has not helped any bit. Please understand that for reasons like this, I have changed my mobile line several times in the last years. I’ve had them all – ECONET, GloMobile, MTN, Etisalat. Okay, I never got Mtel. Was that ever a network?

With the battle I have been fighting with voice on my line, I didn’t really need any other issues like I got with the Nokia N900. Yes; that super mobile computer. Oh, its a great device – voice calls are clear, speakers are loud, video is awesome, TV-out is sweet, camera is splendid, web browsing – you need to use it to understand how sweet it is browsing on the N900, firmware updates are smooth, even preserving your data, the user interface is sweet, and the processor is powerful enough to let the phonedo all these without breaking a sweat.

Sounds like I am insane to gripe about a phone like that; right?

No; I am not insane. For all the wonderful things that the N900 can do, you cannot begin to imagine the frustrations of not being able to send out emails on the device. My lowly Nokia 3600 Slide sends out mails without issues. My even humbler Sony Ericsson does so too. My Windows Mobile powered LG GW550 does it without hitches. But the N93,000 super mobile computer from the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer and world’s largest smartphone manufacturer does not let me send out emails.

I tried my Gmail account. Tried Google Apps hosted email. Tried my corporate email. Tried my Hotmail account. Even my Ovi (that’s angelic tongues for Nokia, I suppose) email account is unable to send out emails on the N900. I have never battled with email on a mobile device as I have on the N900 in the last few days. But I found out soon enough that I am not alone in this. Just do a Google search for “cannot send out email on N900“, and you’ll find more than enough to chew on.

Besides not being able to send out mails, it takes forever to refresh the inbox and to open received items in it to read.

The problem is that no-one really has been able to put a finger on what is the problem with the N900 email client. It works with Gmail for some, but does not for others. Some are able to send out mails by changing the SMTP port, but others are not. Some are not able to read downloaded mails, but others are able to. The N900 mail client is about the most amazing pile of dung on a smart mobile device that I have ever beheld.

I even re-updated the firmware of the device, just to be sure. No show.

Finally, I thought to myself that surely with the avalanche of complaints about the N900′s email client, someone would have developed a 3rd party email application to help Nokia’s incompetence. Sorry; no dice. The built-in email client on the N900 is an example of an application that should never have shipped with a production device. Ah, but perhaps typical of Nokia, three years after the launch of the N900, they will come up with a firmware update that will finally get the mail client to do what it should have been doing from Day One. But that would be MeeGo, not Maemo; right?

Well, as for me, I’m going. Yes; me go now.

Someone give me an HTC Touch Pro2 over this any day. If email is your thing, stay away from the Nokia N900. You will get your fingers burnt. But if what you want is multimedia, web, etc, you can’t go wrong with the Nokia N900. Someone make me a good offer for the N900 and its yours. Just like that. You see, I live on email. That makes the N900 a very useless device to me right now.

Earlier on, my friend Oluniyi David Ajao said he wasn’t going to buy another Nokia smartphone. I hereby join his club. No more Nokia smartphones for me too.

I wrote the above section of this article yesterday evening. The next part was added today.

But just in case you think email is all the trouble I have had with the N900, you’ve got another think coming. This evening, I plugged the device to my PC via the USB cable (as I had already done several times before without any issues) and it simply powered down. “Ah, no problem“, I thought, “I’ll just put it back on again“.

Sorry, but it has not come back up again since then. I have removed the battery and put it back, among other tricks. It starts to power up, then the Nokia logo fades away into the background and the screen goes blank. Awesome. That’s a N93,000 miracle from Nokia.

Sorry, guys, but I am pretty much tired of the N900. Unfortunately, I cannot sell it while its dead

I am currently downloading tools that will enable me to flash it. If that does not work out, I will have to take it over to Nokia Care first thing tomorrow morning and see if they can sort it out. I expect that they’ll ship it off to Abuja again, like they did my E90 back then. But there’s this nagging fear at the back of my mind that someone will tell me there that they do not have support available for the N900 here in Nigeria yet.

That, dear friends, will be Nokia putting icing on my cake. But who knows, perhaps the gods of mobility will have mercy on a devotee like me and I’ll get my loved-and-hated N900 back, this time with email SMTP working as it should. Just maybe.

Who wants to offer a sacrifice on my behalf?

No; this is not the review yet – a top-specified device like the N900 cannot be objectively reviewed under 24 hours or even a week. It has to be thoroughly used, so you’ll all have to be patient about that review.

But while waiting, we have titbits for you to digest, and some of these info will help portray the N900 accurately when the review is published.

First off, here’s what is in the Box:

• Nokia N900
• Nokia Battery (BL-5J)
• Nokia High Efficiency Charger (AC-10)
• Nokia Stereo Headset (WH-205)
• Video out cable (CA-75U)
• Nokia charger adaptor (CA-146C)
• Cleaning cloth

And here is the long list of specifications

• Dimensions: 110.9 × 59.8 × 18 (19.55 at thickest part) mm
• Weight: 181g
• OS: Maemo 5 software on Linux
• 3.5 inch touch-sensitive widescreen display; 800 × 480 pixel resolution
• 3.5mm AV connector
• TV out (PAL/NTSC) with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable
• Micro-USB connector, High-Speed USB 2.0
• Bluetooth v2.1 including support for stereo headsets
• Integrated FM transmitter
• Integrated GPS with A-GPS
• BL-5J 1320mAh
• TI OMAP 3430: ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz, PowerVR SGX with OpenGL ES 2.0 support
• Up to 1GB of application memory (256 MB RAM – almost 150 MB available after booting, plus 768 MB virtual memory)
• 32 GB internal storage (Store up to 7000 MP3 songs or 40 hours of high-quality video)
• Up to 16 GB of additional storage with an external microSD card
• Full QWERTY tactile keyboard
• Full QWERTY onscreen keyboard
• MicroB browser with Adobe Flash™ 9.4 support
• MP4 Video recording at up to 848 × 480 pixels (WVGA) and up to 25frames per sec
• Video playback file formats: .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .3gp; codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, H.263
• 5 megapixel camera (2584 × 1938 pixels); 3 × digital zoom; Dual LED flashCMOS sensor, Carl Zeiss optics, Tessar lens
• Photo editor on device
• Integrated GPS, Assisted-GPS, and Cell-based receivers
• Documents viewer (upgradable to full editing suite)
• Ovi Maps application

That is a very long specifications sheet, but the question is, Does the N900 deliver? While drooling over the specs and the hardware, it occured to us that we were not going to find out if we didn’t power on the phone; would we? So, we reached for the power button after slotting in a SIM card.

Power On and Firmware Update
A few minutes after powering on the phone, a system update notification balloon indicated that a frirmware update was available for the device. A quick check showed that the firmware on the device was version 2.2009.51-1.002.

The system notification further indicated that the size of the update was 16.2mb. The device also automatically checks for updates of installed applications and notifies the user the same way.

Everything was done Over-the-Air. No PC. No cables. No hitches. After the update was completed, the “About Device” info showed that the new firmware was version 3.2010.02-8.002.

So, there we were with the latest firmware on our N900 and we were ready to go!

Tomorrow, we will upload a video of how well the TV-out functionality works on the N900. Why TV-out first? Well, its an apt way to show you the user interface of the device – all on a big screen. You don’t want to miss it.

Nokia’s bestselling mid-range smartphone, the 5800 XpressMusic, has received an update that bumps its firmware to version 50.0.005.

The update brings the following features (among others):

• Kinetic scrolling in application menus
• Updated music player
• Updated QuickOffice application
• Ovi Maps updated to version 3.03
• Ovi Store updated
• Web browser updated

If you have a Nokia 5800, hook it up to your internet-connected PC and get it updated. We hear that the update has changed the device so much that its almost a different device from what you purchased.

That’s right, folks. We have the Maemo 5-powered mobile computer, the Nokia N900, in our hands – and we are drooling all over it.

A picture, it is said, is worth a thousand words. Fortunately, we have more than one picture. So, feed your techno-lust on these while you wait for the detailed review/s.

Comparison shots with Samsung S8003 Jet and LG GW550:

A few years back, every self-respecting touchscreen smartphone sported a stylus – that is a pen-like device used for selecting and tapping on the devices’ displays.

We remember the Sony Ericsson P800, the for-runner of sorts to the modern touchscreen smartphone. We remember the excellent P1i and those from other manufacturers such as HTC.

Then came along the iPhone and touchscreen smartphones never remained the same. For the first time, here was a deviuce that did not necesarilly require a stylus for usage. A finger was sufficient.

Of course, that came at a price. We lost handwriting recognition when we threw away the stylus. We lost some measure of accuracy once the onscreen item is small in size.

But it felt great to do away with that ugly, wieldy stylus! And every touchscreen manufacturer seemed to join the bandwagon to get rid of the stylus on their devices.

But is the idea of using a stylus on a smartphone without any merits whatsoever? Is the stylus really that bad – afterall we are used to using pens in everyday scenarios. Even some iPhone users have had to purchase a stylus eventually for use (God forbid!) with their Cuppertino toys. Perhaps the sylus is not such a black sheep?

1. Tell us if you have ever used any stylus-based device
2. Tell us if you have used any of the newer no-stylus device
3. Tell us what you think are the pros and cons of both sides
4. Then tell us what (or what combination, if possible) you would prefer

Clearly determined to ride the full waves of the QWERTY revolution that has been going on in the mobile sector for the last few years, global market leader Nokia has announced three new devices packing QWERTY keyboards.

The C3 (left) is an S40 device featuring GSM/GPRS/EDGE (no 3G) and surprisingly Wi-fi.

The E5 (middle) is an S60 3rd Edition device featuring GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/3.5G, Wi-fi, a 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera with LED flash, Bluetooth, GPS, and a 3.5mm audio jack, among other features. Like the C3, it comes in a block form factor.

The C6 (right) – clearly a move by Nokia to deliver high-end specs on a mid-range device – is an S60 5th Edition device with a side-sliding full QWERTY keyboard featuring GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G/3.5G, Wi-fi, Bluetooth, GPS, a 5 mega-pixel camera and a touchscreen.

The C6 is basically an N97 Mini packed in a cheaper casing. As a matter of fact, all three devices offer amazingly low prices for the features they pack, with estimated prices of 90, 180, and 220 Euros respectively.

The MobilityNigeria team are auctioning off two devices, a Samsung S8003 Jet and an LG GW550. Both phones are in excellent conditionand have no functional defects. Sales packages intact.

Current market prices are N51,400 for the Jet and N45,000 for the GW550.

Initial bid price for the Samsung Jet is N30,000 and LG GW550 is N40,000..

You can submit your bid by posting in the comments section. Please include your GSM number, so that we can contact you if necesarry.

The highest bid for each device wins. If there is only one bidder on a device, that individual wins.

Bidding is open to individuals based anywhere within the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Preferred bidders must pay for and collect the specific phone from our office in Ojodu (not Ogudu), Lagos within 48 hours of announcement of a winner.

Alternatively, a successful bidder resident outside Lagos can pay by bank deposit into a designated bank account and also arrange for the phone to be sent to him by courier at his own cost and bearing all risks associated with delivery.

If a preferred bidder fails to meet the deadline, the next highest bidder will be contacted to pick up the particular phone.

The bidding is now on.