Tech Info and Gadgets

When the age of smartphone dawned about five years ago, online retailers began to salivate over how they could be within reach of a vast number of shoppers at all hours of the day and how they would easily and casually end up buying a lot more than they ever had. At a time when business owners were happy merely with ways in which to advertise to phone owners, here was a new way in which to actually sell to them. But that online shopping dream has somewhat soured. It isn’t that the general smartphone owning public isn’t interested in shopping on their phones. It’s just that retailers haven’t really developed effective enough mobile sites and apps that could make the experience pleasurable.

Visit the mobile version of many online shopping sites (if those retailers have even bothered to make mobile versions), and you are quickly struck by how difficult it can be to browse anything. Nothing seems to be designed for the 3 inch screen you hold in the palm of your hand. And pages can be frustratingly slow too. Have you ever tried entering shipping information on those pages? They must’ve made them for the fingers of a one-year-old. These retailers therefore shouldn’t really be surprised that no more than 3% of their sales come from customers on smartphones.

Retailers have done online shopping on the mobile right, really have seen spectacular returns. EBay, for instance, projects that it will earn $6 billion from customers on smartphones this year, having had a great time last year. Famous retail brand names like Bed, Bath & Beyond on the other hand, don’t have mobile versions for their websites. They don’t even have apps. Only one out of 8 American retailers has a website that works on smartphones. It isn’t that the promise of the mobile customer has somehow faded. Customers with smartphones have been their insistent in their demand. It’s just that retailers have been very slow to respond.

One of the big success stories in online shopping for the mobile has been Amazon. Amazon started developing a mobile version of its website even before the smartphone came along in the form of the iPhone. They used innovative ways in which to navigate their website like barcode scanning and auto-complete. Going online on sites like Amazon, you already have all your information on the company’s servers. It can be a quick and painless experience.

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T-Mobile announced the addition of two 4G tablets to its gadget lineup Monday: the new SpringBoard tablet and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, both of which run Google’s Android Honeycomb operating system.

The SpringBoard will feature a 7-inch touch screen, a 1.2-gigahertz dual-core processor, 16-gigabytes of built-in storage and an SD card slot that can make use of microSD cards up to 32 gigabytes.

A 5-megapixel camera that can shoot up to 720p video is found on the back of the SpringBoard, and a 1.3-megapixel camera is mounted on the front for video chatting. The SpringBoard will also have an HDMI port for connecting to a TV.

T-Mobile hasn’t said when it will be released or how much it will cost — although the company did say in a statement that it will be “one of T-Mobile’s most affordable tablets” and should be available in time for the holidays.

The new tablet is the second from T-Mobile to be outfitted with its own branding — the first being the T-Mobile G-Slate from LG. The T-Mobile SpringBoard will be built by low-cost gadget maker Huawei in Shenzhen, China.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 (named for its 10.1-inch screen) has been out for months, but hasn’t yet been available from T-Mobile.

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According to multiple sources and rumors. it’s pretty much confirmed that the iPhone 5 will be released this October.

AT&T are said to be in charge of releasing the iPhone 5 in the US. One of their executives have been rumored to mention that October will be a busy month for them.

Reports have also stated that their vice president has spread the info among their employees, stating that the next gen iPhone will be debuting in the US this October. The head of AT&T also mentioned that the next few months are going to be hectic and they should prepare in advance accordingly.

Although the rumor of an October release is not new to the smartphone community, this release of news by AT&T will surely put a foothold and practically confirm the month of release. Another source have already practically called it a while ago, stating that the dual-core sporting smartphone will not be a “slight upgrade” and that October will be D-day in terms of release.

The iPhone 5 will include a dual-core processor, Qualcomm’s dual-mode GSM/CDMA baseband and an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera. The iPhone 5 is also expected to be released alongside iOS 5.

Meanwhile, on the Internet, the Apple online community are buzzing about, stating that Apple will officially reveal the iPhone 5 in September. This makes sense as Apple has previously unveiled previous models approximately a month before hand.

Judging from this recent news, it can be safely said that September release date rumors can be squashed, rather, an unveiling in the said month and the release in October is looking more and more likely.

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It’s official – the iPad 2 is here and it’s set to be huge no matter what you think of the changes. Any new iPad description will tell you it’s available in both black and white, with an all-new camera. But how much has really changed since the original iPad? Here’s a guide to some of the key features of both models.

The Size

Any iPad description you read will make note of the new slimmer size for the iPad 2, and it’s one of the bigger features that Apple are promoting. The differences are very small, though anything that improves portability is useful for a device like this. If you’re used to the old iPad, you’ll probably notice the changes.

Height:
* iPad 1: 9.56 inches
* iPad 2: 9.50 inches

Width:
* iPad 1: 7.47 inches
* iPad 2: 7.31 inches

Depth:
* iPad 1: 0.50 inches
* iPad 2: 0.34 inches

Weight:
* iPad 1 Wi-Fi Only: 1.5 pounds
* iPad 2 Wi-Fi Only: 1.33 pounds
* iPad 1 Wi-Fi + 3G: 1.6 pounds
* iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G: 1.35 pounds
* iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G For Verizon: 1.34 pounds

Display And Storage

Both of these aspects of the iPad are easy to compare between the versions: they have stayed the same. Both the iPad 1 and iPad 2 have a 9.7 inch LED-backlit glossy display with 1024 by 768 pixel resolution, and both models come with the same storage options (16GB, 32GB and 64GB in both Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G).

New Camera

One huge new addition to the iPad 2 is a camera! Not just one camera, in fact, but two! The back camera can be used for HD (720p) video recording up to 30 frames per second with audio, or as a still camera with 5x digital zoom. The front camera is designed for face to face video calls, can record VGA up to 30 frames per second, and take VGA-quality still images. Photos and videos can be geotagged over a Wi-Fi connection.

Battery Life

Battery life is essential for any highly portable device, so some people might be disappointed to hear that this is one area Apple haven’t improved on for the iPad 2 – however, with the new features, it’s good to know that battery life hasn’t taken a hit. Battery life still sits at 10 hours on Wi-Fi or 9 hours when using 3G.

New Inputs For The iPad 2?

The iPad 2 features all of the inputs of the iPad 1 (the 3.5mm headphone minijack, built in speakers, microphone, SIM card tray for the Wi-Fi + 3G model and the 30-pin dock connector port). Unfortunately there are still no USB ports and no SD card ports which may disappoint some people.

What Else Has Changed?

Some other changes include the upgrade to the 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 processor from the original 1GHz Apple A4 processor. This means that the iPad 2 will run faster than the original model.

The iPad 2 also includes a new gyroscope as well as the accelerometer of the iPad 1. What this means is improved motion sensing accuracy, the ability for the iPad to know the direction you’re moving in space, and how fast you’re moving it. This has great potential for more accurate motion sensor based games or apps.

Lastly, the iPad 2 comes with the latest operating system: iOS 4.3. This brings a number of new features, namely improved streaming capabilities to devices around the home with iTunes Home Sharing, faster browsing and more.

All in all, the new iPad description seems to suggest that the iPad 2 is going to be sleeker and faster than before, with the huge bonus of a new camera for those who want to shoot photos, videos, or hold video calls on the road. Whether the changes wow you or disappoint you will depend on exactly what you’re looking for in the iPad. The good news is that it isn’t going to cost any more than the original iPad model did on release!

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