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]

ios 4.2.1

Release ios 4.2.1
Carrier unlocker stay away....


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Persiaran Murni,Subang Jaya,Malaysia

DO NOT UPGRADE OR UPDATED

“PLEASE DO NOT UPGRADE TO iOS 4.2 IF YOU’RE RELYING ON A CARRIER UNLOCK!”. Wait for the right updated tools to come out, in this case Ultrasn0w unlock. And we highly recommend that you go through the guide carefully before you proceed first so you get a clear idea of what you are going to do. And also keep in mind that you have to be a part of the iPhone Developer Standard or Enterprise Program if you want to have access to iOS 4.2 GM and iTunes Beta 2.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Jailbreak and unlock

The iPhone Dev-Team has confirmed that RedSn0w 0.9.6b2 can jailbreak iOS 4.2 GM Seed; however, they warn it should only be attempted by advanced users.

Today Apple released to developers the GM seed for 4.2. Tinkerers will find that yesterday’s redsn0w jailbreaks today’s 4.2 GM seed, simply by pointing redsn0w at the 4.1 IPSW (rather than the 4.2 one). Right now it mostly only makes sense for JB app developers to do that because many apps (including Cydia itself) need to be updated for 4.2. However, if all you want to do is enable afc2 (to use iFunBox or other file browsers), or to tweak settings like Battery % and Homescreen wallpapers, then go for it (if you have valid paid access to the GM seed). Be sure to uncheck the Cydia box, though! Ultrasn0w unlockers should stay very far away from this!!


Early this morning the iPhone Dev-Team released the new version of RedSn0w for Mac and Windows that uses the Limera1n exploit to support more devices and adds the ability to restore custom firmware ipsws.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Who Better?

Apple iPad vs Samsung Galaxy Tab - Which One Is Better?


Just before Apple announced the iPad back in January 2010, the only tablets that were making news were Michael Arrington's CrunchPad and Notion Inks Adam – both of which are yet to see the “proper” light of the day.

While the Crunchpad has become the JooJoo controversially, Notion Ink is still playing with internal prototypes.

Almost a year down the line, Apple has already managed to carve a niche for itself in the almost non-existent tablet market. Since its launch back in April 2010, the iPad has gone on to become the most widely used tablet ever – selling over 7.5 million units to date.


It was too late when the rest of the pack realised that Apple now had a head start in the Tablet market. That however did not deter manufacturers like Samsung and Dell who have bought their own Tablets in to the fray soon after the iPad arrived. Notable amongst them is the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Lets see how this Tablet compares to the iPad and whether it has the oomph to convert a hardcore iOS user to at least consider giving the Galaxy Tab a chance.

We will compare the two tablets on a variety of factors and see who comes out tops

Design

Looks are subjective. Agreed. But then, with Apple having a long history of making uber cool looking devices, Samsung had a tough fight on its hands. That said, there is very less in terms of design that one can implement when it comes to a tablet - mainly due to its form factor and the fact that most of its “visible” area encompasses the screen. From what I opine, there isn't a clear winner here. Of course, hard core Apple fanboys would not touch anything that doesn’t have the Apple logo with a one mile rod – but hell, the Galaxy Tab is surely a sleek looker. Make no mistake about that!

Winner: Tie

Screen

The screen has to be the most important aspect of any tablet. While the iPad has chosen to go with a large 9.7- inch display, the Galaxy Tab has a smaller 7-inch display. Also to be noted is the fact that the iPad has an IPS panel unlike the Galaxy Tab which romps home with “just” a TFT screen. The larger screen on the iPad also boasts of a larger resolution of 1024*768 in a 4:3 aspect ratio.






The Galaxy Tab on the other hand has a slightly lower resolution if 1024*600. But then, since the Galaxy Tab is significantly smaller, the pixel density on the Tab would be slightly better. Also, the Galaxy Tab has a 16:9 aspect ratio – better suited for wide screen movies. But then, for an engrossing movie experience, the larger the screen, the better the experience. The iPad is a winner here – even though it does have its own share of flaws.

Winner: iPad

Under the Skin

Lets now delve in to the hardware bit. The iPad has a blazing fast A4 chip for a mobile device that runs at 1Ghz. The Galaxy Tab isn't far behind with his Hummingbird processor which (also) runs at 1Ghz. This is the same processor being used in the Galaxy S smartphone. While the processors offer comparable computing prowess, the iPad falls short when It comes to the amount of RAM. With “just” 256MB of RAM, it has just half the amount of RAM the Galaxy Tab has. Although its debatable as to how much of a degradation in performance is experienced by an average iPad user.

Winner: Galaxy Tab

Storage:

On the storage front, the Apple iPad is available in either 16, 32 or 64 GB options. On the other hand, the Galaxy Tab is available in two storage options: 16 GB and 32 GB. Unlike the iPad, the Galaxy Tab does have microSD support using which you can increase the stock memory. That said, we feel, for tablets 64 GB of memory should be enough. Unless of course you are a hardcore HD movie freak. In any case, both the devices can have a maximum of 64 GB of data stored in them. However, the iPad can provide it out of the box and doesn't need a microSD card to do that.

Winner: iPad

Connectivity

On the connectivity front, both the devices are equally matched. The iPad has 3G ready versions and so does the Galaxy Tab. Both support contemporary Wi-Fi protocols. The only part where the Galaxy Tab betters the iPad is when it comes to Bluetooth, which comes with Bluetooth 3.0 support. Both the tablets support GPS (iPad only on 3G versions) as well.

Winner: Galaxy Tab










Browsing

The browsers on both – the iPad and the Galaxy Tab are quite on par with each other. However, once the Froyo update arrives for the Galaxy Tab, it would be able to display full flash content on it. The iPad on the other hand – even without flash, offers a better browsing experience because of its larger display. Both the tablets support multi-touch gestures as well, which adds to the overall browsing experience. If we were asked to choose a winner, it would still be the iPad.

Winner: iPad

Camera

This is a complete no contest. While the iPad completely misses the bus here, the Galaxy Tab boasts of two cameras. Although the better rear camera can take images at just 3 megapixels, the fact is it HAS a camera.



The front camera is a 1.3 megapixel shooter. That said, we wonder why Samsung didn’t cram in a better camera with the Galaxy Tab – especially when they can put in a 5 megapixel sensor on a much smaller Galaxy S. The iPad loses out completely here as it has no camera at all.

Winner: Galaxy Tab

Apps

This is where the iPad get backs at the Galaxy Tab after it lost the camera contest! The iPad has access to the widest variety of applications that you would ever see on any tablet. Add to it, the fact that developers can tweak all applications designed for the iPhone or the iPod touch to be supported on the iPad means you have a mind boggling number of apps at your disposal. All this, just months after the launch of the product. The Galaxy Tab on the other hand has lesser applications but unlike the iPad, the Galaxy Tab applications might have compatibility issues because the Android market has applications designed for a wide variety of Android devices - and not just the Galaxy Tab.

Winner: iPad

Conclusion

If you ask me a simple question, “Who wins”, I'd say no one. While both these devices in the fray are broadly classified as tablets, from what we see, they appeal to different kind of audiences. The Galaxy Tab is easier to carry around. The iPad is a little bulkier but it too can be carried around – just as not freely as the Galaxy Tab. Unfortunately, what the Galaxy Tab gains on portability is lost when it comes to the user experience, which is much better on the iPad because it has a larger screen. That said, let us reaffirm that the Galaxy Tab is not at all visually drab. In fact, you'd love using it – until you come across the iPad. Are we hinting at something? Go figure!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Jalan USJ 2/2,Subang Jaya,Malaysia

Limera1n and redsn0w

redsn0w+limera1n fun
It looks like geohot’s recent limera1n exploit for iPhone3GS/iPhone4/iPad/ipt3g/ipt4g/atv2g will be very beneficial to jailbreakers and unlockers for the next few months (at least). geohot’s limera1n program and the alternative greenpois1on program both use his same exploit (although greenpois0n refuses to tell you that, FWIW), and hopefully SHAtter can be saved for some later device.

In the meantime, we’ve also incorporated the limera1n exploit into redsn0w. But we’ve added a few extras:

custom bootlogos for iPhone3G/iPhone3GS/iPod2G users (with qualifying bootroms)
an option that implements the “DFU” button in PwnageTool. This button (which you can use from Windows) lets you prepare your device for a custom DFU. Even if you’re purely a Windows user, you can get a trusted friend to run PwnageTool over your IPSW to create a custom IPSW. You can now install that custom IPSW on your own Windows box, after you run this redsn0w version.
This latest redsn0w is available at:

OS X
Windows
For Windows users who have run redsn0w and chosen “Just enter pwned DFU mode right now”, your device is now completely vulnerable. Running iTunes and selecting a custom IPSW from PwnageTool (choose it by pressing Shift+Restore)….you’ve now convinced your device and iTunes to restore to a custom firmware. Congratulations!

If you are timid about software and running these programs…please just wait! Don’t jeopardize your carrier unlock for a firmware upgrade. Wait for even easier methods than this latest redsn0w release.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Persiaran Murni,Subang Jaya,Malaysia

Unlock for iPhone 3GS, 3G on iOS 4.2 & iOS 4.1 to Drop After 2 Days At Most Once iOS 4.2 is Public

Unlock for iPhone 3GS, 3G on iOS 4.2 & iOS 4.1 to Drop After 2 Days At Most Once iOS 4.2 is Public

In a reply to one of his many followers on Twitter, MuscleNerd of iPhone Dev Team has confirmed that ultrasn0w unlock for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G on iOS 4.1 and iOS 4.2, with 05.14.02 baseband will be released in a day or two at most, once iOS 4.2 is released to public.

Since the baseband OS on iPhone 4 is different than its predecessors, it will probably take a little more time for the devs to figure out unlock for iPhone 4 on 2.10.04 baseband, on iOS 4.1 and iOS 4.2.

Apple is expected to release iOS 4.2 sometime in November this year.

Stay tuned ! We will let you know as soon as iOS 4.2 is available to public, followed by the Ultrasn0w unlock for iPhone 3GS and 3G, running iOS 4.2 / 4.1.

You can follow us on Twitter or join our Facebook fanpage to keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google








- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Persiaran Murni,Subang Jaya,Malaysia