Apple Execs on the 3rd Generation iPad

A few hours ago, Apple unveiled to the public the successor to the iPad 2. Many speculated that it will be called iPad 3 and some said iPad HD. Apple officially announced it as The New iPad. Here are comments of Apple executives as they launched the new iPad.

• Everyone's been wondering who will come up with a product that's more amazing than the iPad 2 with it's big beautiful 9.7" screen, super fast A5 chip, all day battery life and elegant thin and light design... Stop wondering. We are. (Tim Cook)
• To this day, no one has yet matched the Retina Display technology in the iPhone 4. Today we bring that technology to the new iPad. When you turn on that new iPad, you will see graphics, text, icons sharper than you can imagine. Just beautiful. (Phil Schiller)
• Text that rivals anything you've seen in print, newspaper and magazine.
• Photos will just look amazing.
• 2048 x 1536 screen resolution. That's 3.1 million pixels. The most ever in a mobile device.
• The new iPad has more pixels than your HDTV. A million more pixels than your HDTV at home.
• 44% greater saturation
• A5X quad-core graphics
• The best mobile display ever shipped
• In the front of the new iPad is the FaceTime camera. Now in the back it has the new 5MP backside illuminated iSight camera.
• Apple brought the optics system from the iPhone 4 to the new iPad. The 5 element lens and a hybrid infrared filter
• A built-in ISP in the A5X chip for software algorithms for your photos.
• Image stabilization
• 1080p video recording
• Auto exposure (AE), auto focus (AF), face detect, exposure lock, focus lock, white balance

Other features:

• voice dictation
• 4G LTE, HSPA+ and Dual-channel HSDP iPad variants available
• same 9 to 10 hours battery life as the iPad 2 depending on network mode used
• same price as the iPad2

Apple's website said that the new iPad is resolutionary.

The new iPad will be available from March 16 and preorders starts the same day as the announcement.

Nokia Belle FP1 Overclocks Phones

Nokia casually informed readers of Nokia Conversations that the OS that's running inside their MWC award-winning 41MP Nokia 808 PureView phone will also be rolled out to Belle-born phones.

The OS upgrade is known as Nokia Belle Feature Pack 1 (Belle FP1). It will bring the following improvements to Nokia phones 701, 700 and 603:

• increased processor speed from 1Ghz to 1.3Ghz
• Dolby digital decoding
• 20+ new and upgraded home screen widgets
• web Brower 8.xx with HTML 5 support
• new Nokia Maps
• Microsoft Apps
• better notifications and multitasking bars

No mention if the SuperSampling PureView photo algorithm in the Nokia 808 will be ported in also.

I wonder if the increase in processor speed will impact battery life.

I wonder if this OS upgrade will later come to Nokia N8 then overclock it from 680Mhz to 1Ghz. If Belle FP1 will fit into the N8's 512MB RAM maybe it will.

41 Megapixel Nokia 808

Nokia stunned the smartphone world when it announced the successor to its N8 king of cameraphone. The new king is the Nokia 808 PureView that has a 41MP camera sensor that is around 1 square centimeter in size. This big sensor can be used to take 38MP pictures with a file size of roughly 10MB. It can also be used to take very high definition 5MP pictures where it distills a 38MP picture to 5MP by a Nokia technology called super sampling. The result is a super high definition 5MP shot with very minimal noise and image artefacts. If common terms, it generates super high quality 5MP photos like no other camera can by super sampling a 38MP source image. Neat!

Here are the camera specs:

• Symbian Belle Feature Pack 1 OS
• 1.3GHz Arm11 single core processor
• dedicated camera processor
• GPU
• 512 RAM, 1GM ROM, 16 GB internal, 32 GB expandable
• 640 x 360 screen resolution
• 4" AMOLED, clear black display, capacitive touch screen, Gorilla glass
• 41MP camera, Auto Focus Carl Zeiss lens, ND filter
• Xenon flash with LED video light
• up to ISO1600 light sensitivity
• F-stop 2.4
• 1080p video recording with 4x lossless zoom
• HDMI, USB on the go, bluetooth, DLNA, secure NFC, FM transmitter
• GPS/A-GPS
• Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n

Symbian Daughters

Symbian might be a burning platform, but it does not stop Accenture from developing new versions of the mobile OS for Nokia. So what's in line for Nokia's Symbian line of phones before eventually Windows Phone OS takes over Nokia's phones? Two more baby girls are on the way, Carla and Donna, to join toddlers Anna and Belle.

Get to know them closer.

1. Anna - an upgrade after Symbian 3 that features a newer browser, a virtual keyboard for portrait mode, introduced the new rounded square Nokia icons, three homescreens and real-time homescreen scrolling.
2. Belle - an upgrade after Anna that features a pull-down status/notification bar, NFC integration, re-sizable homescreen widgets, six homescreens, drawer type virtual keyboard that keeps pages in view. Better memory management.
3. Carla - will have a new browser app, enhanced NFC and support for Dolby Surround sound.
4. Donna - will be released after Carla and will support dual-core processors.

Google Nexus Prime Delayed

Samsung and Google decided to postpone their October 11 Unpacked Event where speculators are expecting the announcement of the next generation Android reference design phone warmly called the Nexus Prime. It will be the first ever device to run on Android Ice Cream Sandwich in all its raw, unaltered beauty. The event will be moved to November.

This move is probably a form of respect to Steve Job's death that will surely be the talk of the town for a few more weeks and will most likely take away a huge chunk of the thunder of whatever they announce on Oct 11.

So guys, wait a bit. Let the dust settle after Steve's death.
Next week is still not the "Prime" time for an "Ice Cream Sandwich."

Steve Jobs Dies at 56

Hot behind the heels of the iPhone 4S unveiling,

Steve Jobs,

the great co-founder of Apple,

the great innovator,

the visionary...

...just passed away at age 56.

Steve, thanks for all the magic.

--------------------

From Apple:

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

Via Engadget

Via Apple

New iPhone 4S - what changed?

Apple just announced in their campus the availability of their iPhone 4S from October 14. The leaks were true, it looks like the iPhone 4 that was released a year and a half ago and still no iPhone 5. So what changed from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4s?

• Apple 1Ghz A4 chip upgraded to a Apple dual-core 1Ghz A5 chip
• iOS 4 upgraded to iOS 5
• 5 MP AF camera upgraded to 8 MP AF with wide angle 2.4 aperture lens, face detect & higher low light sensitivity
• 720p HD video recording upgraded to 1080p HD video recording @30 FPS with anti shake
• new Siri voice commands and speech to text dictation
• GSM or CDMA upgraded to GSM & CDMA world phone
• 7 hours talk time upgraded to 8 hours talk time
• bluetooth v2.1 upgraded to v4.0
• lighter by 3 grams

What stayed as is?

• same phone profile and design - glass front and back, wrap around metal band
• 3.5" IPS display with 960 x 640 resolution

New Samsung Galaxy Tab 7"

The first ever Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 inch had become old and the price have been slashed in the past months before the release of its bigger brothers the 8.9" and 10.1"

Samsung is giving new life to its 7 incher and is calling it the Galaxy Tab 7 Plus. It puts the new 7 incher refresh in the league of other Samsung tablets.

• 1.2 Ghz dual core processor
• Android 3.2 Honeycomb with Samsung TouchWiz UI customization
• 1GB RAM
• 1024 x 600 capacitive PLS display
• 3MP rear camera and 2MP front camera, 720p video recording for the rear camera
• Wide video codec support
• GPS/AGPS
• Wi-fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
• thinner and lighter than the original 7 inch Galaxy Tab

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 Announced

Here is the successor to the first ever competitor of the iPad. Samsung just announced in IFA Berlin the Galaxy Tab 7.7. The specs are impressive and I like the smaller form factor that did not sacrifice the screen resolution or battery life.

• world's first tablet to sport a Super AMOLED display
• 7.7 inch screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution
• 1.4 Ghz dual core processor
• Android 3.2 skinned with Samsung Touchwiz UX
• 3MP rear camera with LED flash and 2MP front facing camera
• voice calls and video calls
• GPS/A-GPS
• wi-fi with Wi-fi channel bonding for faster data transfer rates
• HSPA+ connectivity
• micro-SD card slot supporting cards up to 32GB
• 5100 mAh battery that gives the tablet 10 hours continuous video playback
• full 1080p HD video playback and Divx codecs
• universal remote control functionality
• portable, thin and light tablet vital stats
• full access to all Google Android apps

Samsung also announced a smaller tablet or should I say bigger phone - the Samsung Galaxy Note. They say its a new category of gadget. It has a 5.3" super AMOLED display with 1280 x 800 resolution and is powered with the same 1.4 Ghz dual core processor used in the new Galaxy Tab 7.7. It also adds Samsung in the exclusive "gadget with stylus club" with it's announcement that the Galaxy Note has what they call an S-Pen.

Introducing Nokia Symbian Belle

A few days after the worldwide roll-out of Symbian Anna, Nokia opened its windows and introduced the next iteration of Symbian warmly called Belle. And it looks nice, responsive and with  features comparable to Android and iOS such as multi window home screens, resizable live widgets, swipe down from the top of screen to see what's happening in the phone, threaded messages view, app icons without folders. The video below demonstrates Symbian Belle running on the new Nokia 701.

During the launch in Hong Kong, Nokia mentioned their invention of texting (SMS) in 1997 then shortly followed by the Philippines being the texting capital of the world. I was one of those early users back then.

Nokia 701 Features

• 3.5" capacitive scratch resistant IPS screen (360 x 640)
• 1 GHz processor with 3D hardware accelerator
• Symbian Belle OS
• 8 megapixel fixed focus camera with 720p video recording at 30 fps
• GPS/A-GPS
• Wi-fi 802.11b/g/n
• NFC, bluetooth
• accelerometer, compass
• micro USB
• FM radio, FM transmitter
• 22 days standby time

Google Buys Motorola Mobility

In a bold move, Google buys Motorola Mobility, thus giving Google 19,000 plus more employees, full capability to build their own phones and tons of patents that will help them defend themselves from attacks on their Android OS and the manufacturers using it.

Google just evolved into an Apple like company that has vertical integration in phone manufacturing (software and hardware). Plus, google has that great search engine, YouTube, eBooks, multimedia content, Google Maps with navigation, Google TV, Gmail, Google+, self driving cars and more. Some of these Apple doesn't have. Wow!

Now all big three mobile OS out there has the backing of a large phone company either owned or through  strong business ties.

• Apple owns iPhone and iOS
• Google owns Android and Motorola plus strong ties with Samsung and HTC
• Microsoft has strong ties with Nokia and Samsung

 I wonder if Microsoft and Nokia will reconsider the rumor about their merger or acquisition.

2012 Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner

The first generation Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner were launched in the Philippines in 2005. Three years later, it received its mid life kicker in the form of a facelift of the bumpers and new rear combination lights. Now its life is coming to an end (the average Pinoy car's model life is 6 years with a minor facelift in the middle). So late this year or in early 2012, the 2nd generation Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner will be introduced in the Philippines.

Toyota Astra is already starting to slowly update their website to the second generation Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner. These models were already on display in the recently concluded International Motor Show in Indonesia. So the pics below are fairly accurate on what to expect here in the Philippines, plus or minus some features.

The new Innova and Fortuner borrowed some genes from the Toyota Altis in the form of more horizontal grilles and the protruding headlights. The Toyota family resemblance is unmistakable and is now spread across most of their product lines.

A friend was planning to replace their car. But for now, they will patiently wait for the release of the new models. Because if they buy now, it will quickly look obsolete next year. Waah, I also want one.

Next Generation Toyota Innova (2012)

Next Generation Toyota Fortuner (2012)