Honeycomb : Android's latest Tablet OS !

After a huge success in the field of mobile phones, now android is all set to launch in tablets and other handheld devices. A new version of Android V3.0 named as "Honeycomb" has specially been designed for use with larger screens such as tablets. So what makes the Honeycomb different from other versions of Android such as Gingerbread(V2.3), Froyo(V2.2) and Eclair(V2.1). Lets take a look.

Honeycomb is optimized for use with larger display screens and supports a larger resolution display. It also supports dual core processors and most importantly, hardware accelerated graphics. Coming to the UI, a new Action bar has been implemented on the homescreen which replaces the hardware buttons for menu, home, back and search as were present in the earlier versions.This is a very nice addition as it improves the looks of the tablet device. Also, the contents in the Action bar change according to the app being used.Now thats a clever feature which makes handling of apps easier. The App switcher is improved and now shows the preview of the apps running in the background making it a truly multitasking OS.


The browser is also excellent and page rendering is very smooth. It makes the browsing experience enjoyable. Switching between windows is easy and fun.Only drawback is that out of the box flash support is not yet available but Adobe has confirmed that work is in progress and it will be available soon so that is not going to be a major problem. Private or Incognito browsing is also supported which doesn't save your browsing history or cookies ;). Another useful feature is Quick Control which can be activated by swiping from left to right of the screen on the browser which displays an array of important shortcuts instantaneously.

On the multimedia side, the Honeycomb doesn't live up to its expectations as in the previous versions of android. The camera interface is not as cool as in other OS such as the iOS and is dated.The Multimedia experience is better than previous versions and the UI has been completely revamped.A 3D view of the albums and songs is displayed which looks pretty cool.As far as video playback is concerned, popular codecs like H.263, H.264 and MPEG-4 are supported.Third party codecs can be also downloaded from the app store.The Maps works pretty well and the GPS locks in very fast displaying near accurate positions.The apps run in honeycomb in native resolution unlike that of the iPad which runs a lot of apps optimised for the smaller screen iPod touch in strech and fit format.

At the end, we can conclude that it is not just a smartphone OS that has been tweaked to be fit in a tablet but it is a dedicated OS built and optimised for the tablets and I hope that in the coming days,the minor flaws and bugs in the OS will fixed.An article about upcoming Honeycomb tablets will be updated soon. Keep reading !

Windows Phone 7 : The latest smartphone OS by Microsoft !

Windows phone 7 is the latest mobile smartphone operating system to come from Microsoft. Windows Phone 7 is the successor to the very popular Windows mobile 6.x version. WP7 has already been launched by Microsoft and companies like HTC, Dell, Samsung, LG have started selling phones running with this OS. Nokia recently announced its collaboration with Microsoft and their phones loaded with WP7 are expected to hit the shelves in the first quarter of 2012.

Now, how far is WP7 better than its successor? Well, I would say its far better than the previous OS and has the potential to be very successful in the long run.The primary reason is that all the phones running in this platform have to meet the minimum required specification to run it. The minimum specifications to run the OS are :

- 1 Ghz or better processor
- Capacitive WVGA screen with a resolution of 480 X 800
- DirectX 9 capable graphics unit
- Accelerometer with compass, A-GPS
- 5 Megapixel camera with flash
- Standard 7 dedicated buttons for various functions

On the hardware side, the minimum requirements look pretty impressive which also assures that the OS runs smoothly in any hardware on which it is loaded. So, the performance would be greatly imporoved rather than devices running on Symbian ana Android whose minimum requirements for running the OS is much lower. This also proves that WP7 is targeted to the enterprise audience who doesn't want to compromise on quality.



Coming to the UI, I feel that it is very clean and impressive. Microsoft calls this UI as "Metro UI". The home screen or the start screen consists of various tiles which link to the respective applications. The most important thing about the UI is that it is clutter-free and displays only the information required to the user. Text input is by a virtual keyboard on the screen. The web browser provided is obviously a mobile version of the IE. Gaming is impressive with the integration of xbox live and syncing to a Windows PC is done by Zune. For the office needs, a full fledged mobile version of the MS Office is present. Windows Marketplace is the online store for purchasing and downloading apps. Microsoft is trying to attract more and more developers to WP7 by introducing simple IDE for development[Visual Studio] and API's to create a huge library of apps.
There are also a few drawbacks of the new OS. Video calling facility has not been provided. Connecting to hidden wifi networks, static IP addresses and tethering to the PC are not yet available in this new platform. To add to this, flash player is also absent. But we can hope an update from Microsoft in the coming days to fix these problems as copy paste feature was recently enabled in the last update by Microsoft.
Finally, I think the WP7 is really a great effort by Microsoft to regain its share in the smartphone market. Although this platform has a few shortcomings, I strongly feel Windows Phone 7 will prove to be the trump card of the Redmond based company in the long run. Any thoughts guys??

A look at the future of notebook displays by SONY !!!

While the news is still not officially confirmed by sony, lets have a look at the new display concepts that can be expected with future Sony Vaio notebooks. These notebooks feature a holographic glass screen that can go transparent and a keyboard that turns opaque when turned off. The display is such that it remains opaque as a normal LCD/LED display in notebooks but the specialty is that they turn transparent when is display is switched off. Another interesting yet innovative thing in this concept is that when the keyboards are switched off, they turn completely opaque like a brick.

According to various sources, this is just a concept as of now and further details regarding the battery life, feature specs are not available as yet. Lets hope to see this emerging technology in the near future.

Nokia 888 Concept Phone : “Form follows you”

               Well this is something new and a strange concept from Nokia ... Its currently called as the Nokia 888 Concept phone and is totally different from the regular cellphones we use now.You dont have to carry it in your pocket or on your wrist. You can carry it anywhere, in anyform. You can roll it, bend it, put on your clothes like a clip. It also makes some form changes that makes it more ergonomical: i.e. when you want to talk on the phone, the body form turns into the form of the good old telephone. You can personalize these forms and record them. So it fits you the best in the way that you have chosen. The functions that it has also create a feeling of electronical pet, as it senses your moves, understand what you want, respond you in the best way. The phone's shape is completely customisabe according to the needs of the user hence the tag line “Form follows you”.

                 The Nokia 888 features a flexible touch screen UI and a touch sensitive body cover which lets it adjust according to the environment. It has a simple programmable body mechanism so that it changes forms in different situations. Another important feature of the phone is that it uses a liquid battery which is not rechargeable but has enough power to last for atleast 18 months of regular usage. There are unconfirmed rumours that it might have a solar charging panel for charging the battery.

                  Another splendid feature of the phone is e-motions. This allows users to interact which each other.You can send and receive forms from / to friends. As an example, you can send a heart shape to your friend, so her telephone turns into an icon of heart. Or you can send a dancing form to your friends to call them to the party tonight. This is the fun side of the product which makes it quite unique and sought for.
                Wondering when this phone will be a reality??Well, its expected to hit the markets of Europe by the end of 2011. So lets wait and watch for this awesome gadget to launch !!!

Have a look at this amazing video of the Nokia 888 concept phone.

4G : The latest technology in mobile telephony is here !!!

          The fourth generation of cellular wireless standards is generally referred to as 4G. While 4G seems to be a distant reality for India at the current time, 4G standards have been started in test & trial modes in many advanced countries including the United States and Japan. 4G promises enhanced speeds up to 100Mbps for mobile devices and up to 1Gbps for stationary devices. 4G will also revolutionize wireless network access (Wi-Fi) into a much faster and secure connection known as Wimax which will also be capable of providing gigabit speeds.
          4G will also lead to seamless global roaming without any kind of disturbances which will lead to a much pleasant global telephony experience. In terms of multimedia, 4G will be able to provide real time television,HDTV video content, Ultra high speed mobile broadband and internet gaming on the go. Coming to the technical side, 4G will be based on OFDM - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing which will enable data to be sent on hundreds of parallel channelss instead of one channel as in case of traditional UMTS or CDMA network. From the above facts, we can conclude that 4G will be the next big thing in mobile telephony. But the question is "When will 4G be a reality in India, where even 3G networks have not been fully operational till now?"
          Do share your views and comments on this post !!!
         

Photosynth and 3-D photography....

                   Photosynth is a software application from Microsoft Live Labs and the University of Washington that analyzes digital photographs and generates a three-dimensional model of the photos and a point cloud of a photographed object.The Photosynth technology works in two steps. The first step involves the analysis of multiple photographs taken of the same area.The second step involves the display of and navigation through the 3D point cloud of features identified in the first step. This is done with the publicly downloadable Photosynth viewer
        Photosynth is an exciting futuristic application which helps you click a number of photos of an object or a place and then stitch them into a 3D structure which creates a panoramic 3 dimensional view of the photos clicked by you. It is a very futuristic technology and its fun to try. .Different than static photos and video, Photosynth helps the user to explore details of places, objects, and events unlike any other media. Also,using photosynth the photos in a photo gallery can be browsed and immediately the spatial relation between the photos can be seen. In order to enjoy the exciting features of photosynth, move your browser to http://photosynth.net/default.aspx . So why wait,start uploading your own photos and create your own synths and check out the magic of 3D photography!!!

Visual Studio 2010 :First Look !!!

     [VS logo is a copyright of Microsoft]

Here is some good news for all those programmers and developers aka coding experts.. Microsoft is going to formally launch the full fledged versions of Visual Studio 2010 on April 12th,2010.

               Microsoft Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It can be used to develop console and GUI applications along with Windows forms applications,web apps and web services for all platforms supported by Microsoft Windows, Windows Mobile, .Net framework, .Net compact Framework and Microsoft Silverlight.Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting Intellisense as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger.

            Visual Studio 2010 comprises lots of new and intelligent features which will benefit the programmers by saving them a lot of time. VS 2010 is much more efficient and powerful than the previous versions and comes with various new features such as - Auto Implemented properties, collection Initializers, Implicit line continuation, Multiline lambda subroutines, type equivalence support and dynamic support.

             Visual Studio 2010 will be available in the following versions - Professional, Premium, Ultimate & Test Professional. To download the beta of the software, please click on the link http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/download.
          Want to share this article with other developers and coders??Click on the buzz logo or logos of other socail networking sites below !!!