Apple iPad vs Samsung Galaxy Tab (iPad for Kids?) – Head to Head Comparison

When we talk about touchscreen-only Tablets, the first device that pops up in mind is the iPad. It is an awesome device in many ways, provided that you find some good use for it. When iPad waslaunched earlier this year, it was pushed as a device to innovate the way we use our computers, just like what iPhone did with smartphones back in 2007.

The popularity and success of iPad naturally spawned many different manufacturers to bring similar devices to market. There was the JooJoo, the now dead HP Slate, Dell Streak and tons of other Android based devices. But none of them could proved to be a serious challenge to Apple’s offering. Samsung recently announced the Galaxy Tab, an Android 2.2 tablet which is getting lots of attention in media for being the only tablet that can give iPad a serious a run for its money.

Below is a quick showdown between the two touchscreen-only tablets, showing how the more popular iPad stands against the yet to be released Galaxy Tab.

Galaxy Tab’s specs above sure looks impressive, but can this 7-inch device be even qualified as a touchscreen-only Tablet? To me, the fact that you can easily hold it in one hand, make phone calls with it, and take picture on the go makes it more of a one big ass smartphone than a Tablet of iPad class, which should probably be competing with the Droid X, HD2 or the EVO 4G and not the iPad. Yes, the front-facing camera for video conferencing makes sense, and this is probably something Apple should have included with v1 of iPad but then again, iPad is slated for a hardware revisionearly next year and is very likely to get iPhone 4 like FaceTime video calling feature. The rear camera on the other hand seems completely pointless to me because I don’t think people would like to take photos with a 7″ digital camera.

Coming to the user experience, which is extremely important for a Tablet device of this kind. iOS for iPad is optimized for larger, more spacious screen of iPad. If you have ever used an iPad you would know what exactly I am talking about here. Android 2.2 in its current iteration isn’t ready for large screen devices yet. It is primarily a phone OS which has been forced to do a Tablet job, just like those Windows 7 Tablets with custom UI shells on top. And so to hide Android’s deficiencies, Samsung has come up with a large screen version of TouchWiz custom UI which is also found on their Galaxy phones. This new version of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI (for Tab and Galaxy S) in my opinion is an iOS knock-off, and it has this “iPad/iPhone for Kids” look and feel to it which makes the device look more like a toy for kids, than a serious gadget.

Multitasking on Galaxy Tab shouldn’t be a big deal because by the time you get Tab in your hands, iPad will have all the multitasking goodness as part of iOS 4.2 release in November.

Last but not the least, the sheer number of quality iPad only apps in the App Store compared to the unmonitored crappy mess in Android Market for different Android based devices, the higher price point of Tab (rumored to be between $800 to $1000) compared to iPad etc. only makes iPad a much better value for money than any of the competing devices out there.

Let us know what do you guys think about this. Would you chose an Android Tablet over iPad? and if so, why?

Spoof Your Carrier Name on iOS 4.2.1 With Fake Operator [Jailbreak Tweak]

With a new tweak available in Cydia called Fake Operator, you can now rename your operator / carrier and put it as whatever you desire. Similar to the MakeitMine application that was released after the first-ever jailbreak, but with this new tweak you can do so without a dedicated app, oh and it is fully support on the latest iOS 4.2.1 firmware.

The app will not add an icon to the home screen, but options can be configured from the iPhone Settings app. MakeitMine in comparison had the extra option of changing what is displayed on the banner and is also available for free.

You will, of course, need to have a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch to install it. Follow our step by step guide posted here to jailbreak your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with Redsn0w on iOS 4.2.1, or with Limera1n on iOS 4.1 if you haven’t already.

Fake Operator is available now from Cydia under the BigBoss repository for free.

Take Full 360 Panoramic Pictures with iPhone 4 Using 360 Panorama App !

Few weeks ago we reported about a new tweak available in Cydia called Parallax that allows you to use Android style panoramic widescreen wallpapers on your iPhone / iPod touch which scroll horizontally as you move along icon pages. But with a new app called 360 Panorama available on the App Store, you can now take your very own panoramic pictures which can also be used as iPhone wallpapers.

The features which make 360 Panorama stand out from the alternatives like AutoStitch Panoramais that it has a 360 view grid and the app utilizes the iPhone 4’s gyroscope to accurately capture what you’re viewing in real time. The app has built-in light sensing too which is very useful when creating images in a large room where the light levels fluctuate.

Once the app has finished creating the panoramic shot, it has a really cool feature where you can view it live as a 360 view. Just by rotating the phone, the gyroscope will automatically pan the live shot. Once finished you also have the option to save the image to the camera roll, e-mail it, or just upload to share it with friends and family.

iPhone 3GS is also supported, but of course without the accurate support of gyroscope.

Full list of features are as follows:

✓ Real-time panorama creation
✓ Create full 360 degree panoramas in under 20 seconds
✓ Instantly save to the Camera Roll – no waiting for image stitching
✓ Fully supports the new high-resolution Retina displays
✓ iPod touch (4th generation) is now fully supported

As of version 3

✓ For the first time ever on iPhone/iPod Touch, you can instantly share immersive 360 Views! Anywhere!
✓ Tweet your panoramas in seconds with new Twitter integration
✓ Completely redesigned interface for dead-simple saving and sharing
✓ Augmented reality (AR) style viewing! Just hold your phone upright to engage (gyroscope required)!
✓ iPod Touch users: Greatly expanded field of view (FOV)!
✓ Dynamically adjusts to scene light levels for crisp panoramas even at night
✓ Better motion tracking on 3GS – no more need to realign, ever!
✓ Dramatically improved accuracy and more vibrant colors
✓ GPS location tagging

Download 360 Panorama [iTunes Link]

BlackBerry Exclusive UberTwitter App Arrives on the iPhone

UberTwitter is one of the more popular Twitter clients which was previously exclusively available for BlackBerry users, accounting for more than 10 million tweets each day. It has now become available on the iPhone due to the growing success of the iOS mobile platform.

Apart from offering standard Twitter features like tweeting, re-tweeting, direct messaging and link shortening, the major distinguishing feature is UberView, which allows access to links within tweets without exiting out of the app or even opening a new window within it.

Holding the device horizontally moves the app into the landscape view which splits the screen in half, with the tweet on the left hand side and the linked content on the right. Cool features like this are tempting but at present UberTwitter displays ads at the bottom of the screen, which essentially, is distracting and occupies screen real estate.

The final v1.0 release is scheduled to be released in the middle of December.

Full official press release is as follows:

ŰBERTWITTER, WORLD’S #1 TWITTER APPLICATION, BEGINS OPEN BETA OF IPHONE APP, INCLUDING ŰBERVIEW OF EMBEDDED LINKS FOR EASIER TWEET READING

ŰberTwitter, the world’s most widely used Twitter app for sending and reading tweets, announced today that a beta version of ŰberTwitter for iPhone is now available as a free download from the Apple App Store. Until now, ŰberTwitter has been exclusive to RIM’s BlackBerry devices, where it was one of the first Twitter client apps to be available for the platform and set the standard for features and functionality. Today, more than nine million users have downloaded ŰberTwitter, and they send approximately 10 million tweets a day with the app.
In addition to traditional Twitter client features – such as composing and sending tweets, retweeting, direct messaging and embedded link shortening – ŰberTwitter for iPhone offers an important new feature called ŰberView that makes reading tweets faster and easier. Either by tapping the tweet in portrait mode or turning the phone to landscape mode, users will be able to view and use content from any embedded link (e.g., webpage, photo or video) instantly without leaving the app or opening a new page within it. Over 10,000 people have already downloaded the current beta release and are providing great feedback. The version 1.0 full production release will be available by mid-December, and will incorporate many of the suggestions made by the beta users, as well as a number of other features.
"Given the iPhone’s growing dominance among smartphone users, we wanted to extend our product offering to its users while making sure our app offered features that would complement the platform’s unique functionality," said Paul McDonald, CEO of ŰberTwitter. "For instance, ŰberView will enhance the way users consume content. As more tweets become vehicle for sharing articles, photos and videos, this feature will become ever more indispensable."
"One of the most important aspects of the new ŰberTwitter for iPhone is ŰberView," said Sean Callihan, CEO of Plixi. "Plixi serves millions of images every month to ŰberTwitter users, and our business is all about creating easier and more intuitive ways for customers to share and view images. With ŰberView, ŰberTwitter has once again demonstrated their leadership in the Twitter client space, this time on the iPhone platform."
Additionally, ŰberTwitter will continue to encourage its users to share their suggestions for new features as it did with its original Blackberry offering. Within the app, there is a button where users can submit their ideas, and the feedback will be used to prioritize development efforts on some of the remaining, popular features of the BlackBerry version that have yet to be added to the iPhone beta version.
For more information, please visit www.ubertwitter.com.

Download UberTwitter for iPhone [iTunes Link]