tabletwise

Ipads hit the US refurb Store

Wise Tablet — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:08:29 +0000

So you didn’t win a free iPad yet? Well, you still won’t but at least you’ll get a discount on the price that hurts if you grab an apple iPad on the US refurb store.

Apple started offering decent deals on its tablets with a lower end model (16Go WIFI) priced at $449. Higher-end iPads pricing seems to be pretty agressive as well…as if they wanted them out asap. Is that another clue for an ipad 2G coming anytime soon? It shows anyway that the production is big enough now to handle spare parts requests.

Refurbished iPad, 16GB Wi-Fi – $449

Refurbished iPad, 32GB Wi-Fi – $549

Refurbished iPad, 64GB Wi-Fi – $649

OR Check it out by yourself with your own eyes !

Viewsonic 10″ G Tablet preview

Wise Tablet — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:42:22 +0000

Viewsonic is a relatively quiet company compared to others but what’s great is that when they start talking, they have something to show that looks great: the Viewsonic 10″ G Tablet. It will be launched around October for $529 according to engadget. You said iPad killer? Possibly. Android-lovers and iPad-haters are about to have the choice between 2 products that compete directly with the iPad: Viewsonic G Tablet and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Ok so two direct competing products will start by the same letter and with almost the same name. Oh boy, watching the TV ads will be very entertaining.

Announced tech specs:

16GB of storage
1024 x 600 resolution
1GB of RAM
USB / HDMI,
802.11n WiFi
Bluetooth 2.1
1.3 megapixel camera
Dimensions: 9.96- x 6.5- x 0.5-inches

iPad available in Latin America on 17 Sept

Wise Tablet — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:41:06 +0000

Good news for our folks in South America! You guys can start lining-up in front of your favorite retail electronic stores as the iPads will be available in the following countries tomorrow (Sept. 17th): Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador and Peru.

iPad light painting

Wise Tablet — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:48:15 +0000

Magical and almost poetic stop-frame animation made with an iPad and a few other gizmos. Perfect example on how creative people can hijack an original use-case to make it serve their goal.

Definitly in our top-10 iPad videos.

Made by the guys at Dentsu London

New Kindle Commercial – September 2010

Wise Tablet — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:57:07 +0000

The new Kindle is not as versatile as your favorite tablet and its is strongest asset. Put it differently, Kindle only does 1 thing very well: make ebooks readable everywhere. Inspired the the creative angle of the “I’m a mac” campaign, the commercial keeps it as simple and as accessible as the Kindle itself.

We like.

Samsung Galaxy Tab and Media Hub keynote

Wise Tablet — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:24:49 +0000

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab official keynote hit the web! The event will take place in NY on September 16th at 6.30pm with some of the most important people of Samsung North America:

Omar Khan, Chief Strategy Officer,
Samsung Telecommunications America

Gavin Kim, Vice President, Content & Data Services,
Samsung Telecommunications America

Ralph Santana, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer,
Samsung Electronics America

More than just devices, the Korean company is expecting to answer Apple’s streaming services and Apple TV with the “Samsung’s Media Hub”:

“Please join Samsung Mobile for the announcement of its latest Android powered device and official unveiling of Samsung’s Media Hub and new digital marketing experience.”

Do you think the Tab can compete with the iPad? Review the Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tech specs

Facetime my iPad, please.

Wise Tablet — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 19:46:35 +0000

We were all aware of the missing front camera in the iPad 1G and until Facetime was presented to the public, a blind iPad wasn’t a real issue since webcams were already at home. Now the lack of camera feels dramatic. We should start hearing soon millions of iPad 1G praying for not to be replaced within the next year: the Woody’s syndrome.

Facetime was introduced as a HUGE step forward, a major evolution in the way we communicate. Well, more because of an attempt to create a new standard than for the functionnality itself. After all, videocalling was released on smartphones 6 years ago -over EDGE and 3G. Will Facetime succeed where iChat failed? Most likely since Apple strikes back with some serious numbers in terms of sales.

Bringing Facetime to the iPad is more than just porting another iChat-Skype-like video conferencing software. It is -or will be- simply a part of the iPad user-experience. It’s not just another thing the iPad can do, it is a new way of contacting each other thanksfully to the iPad. You can see/view/watch your contacts by tapping on a screen. Another step into the “Magical” paradygm of the first iPad ad campaign.

This is very similar to what Facebook gave us: a simple way to connect and interact with our relations: “a place to connect“. What Facebook is doing for the “almost-live-media” (i.e what is not streamed), Facetime for iPad will do it at a higher level of privacy -our Mac’s contacts list- for our daily life. The major difference is that we don’t need to be connected to be reachable. So maybe the Preferences panel will have an option to turn it on/off in , but it doesn’t matter really, they nailed down the core concept: videocalling by default on a mobile device i.e a serious alternative to phonecalls.

Tricks or Threat.

Facebook releasing a videochat/videocall function?

Having a videochat on Facebook is already available through 3rd-parties apps but no official announcements have been made so far. Piles of privacy considerations and a poor CPM performance ratio, don’t make videochating a priority for sure. Revenues-wise, Places will generate an infinite number of clicks where videochat/videocal just doesn’t fit that business model. But who knows, if Facetime becomes a real standard, Facebook may seriously think about it.

User-accounts are painful.

As users, keeping in mind who we can Facetime or not and fire the right app will be a huge P.I.T.A. So companies have to do the first move and find a common-ground to make it simple for users. Again, we just don’t want the same mess as having multiple accounts floating around to talk to different people.

Samsung Galaxy Tab tech specs

Wise Tablet — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:26:05 +0000

Samsung’s finally unveiled the specs of its first Tablet. The device seems promising running the 2.2 Android build, multitouch enabled and ready for videochat with a front-facing camera. No doubt some sites will feel a bit squished with a 600px wide screen in portrait mode -but this is the price to pay for some enhanced mobility. The behavior of the Flash plugin will be the most interesting thing to experiment as RollOvers are at the center of most of the Flash sites…but being able to browse our favorite video portal will be huge. Presented as the most serious iPad’s competitor, we’re eager to have it released in Canada.

7-inch TFT-LCD touchscreen with 1024 by 600 pixels resolution
1GHz Hummingbird processor with PowerVR SGX540 GPU
512MB RAM
Android 2.2 with Adobe Flash Player 10.1
1080p HD playback (DivX, XviD, MPEG4, H.263, H.264, and more)
1.3-megapixel front-facing camera
3-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash
3G HSPA connectivity (7.2Mbps downlink / 5.76Mbps uplink) or EV-DO
GSM/EDGE or CDMA
SMS/MMS capabilities
Wi-Fi Wireless-N
Bluetooth 3.0
Speakerphone
Gyroscope
Weight: 380g
Size: 191 x 121 x 12mm
4000 mAh battery
microSD/HC memory slot
16GB or 32GB NAND Flash memory
Social Hub
Music Hub (Music Store)
Media Hub (Video Store)
Readers Hub (eBook Store)

No price announced still. Deals with careers are in progress…

Another iPad Commercial Parody

Wise Tablet — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:40:47 +0000

Oh boy. It’s a late perfect Friday link but it’s a good one. This is a parody of the very first official video that was released following the iPad presentation. Do you remember the intense eyes of Apple execs in their first iPad video? Well the guys in this video below have a great sense of humour and stay very serious until the end. Oh FYI, their video title is a great example of keywording since it is not an official Apple video at all.

MSI Wind Pad 100 – tech specs

Wise Tablet — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:49:17 +0000

Videos and photos of the first MSI Tablet have been around for a while now and the Wind 100 will be released anytime soon. The war between tablets makers (Dell, MSI, Asus) will start this fall and Tablets’ will make a great Christmas gift, choices being driven by tech specs and connectivity.

MSI Wind Pad 100 – tech specs

Custom MSI Interface based on Windows 7 premium
10.1 inches
1024 x 600
Intel Atom 1.66GHz
Storage 32GB – 2Go of Ram
Battery life : 8 hours
Connectors: 2 USB, HDMI
Webcam WIFI/3G
1.8lbs – 820gr

Look like a netbook isn’t it? MSI stays pretty quiet about the interface. Needless to say that turning a Windows 7 install into a true multitouch OS is THE real challenge.

The video shows a neat 3D “dock-like” to store application shortcuts. As neat as we’re not convinced by the 4 columns layout wich is kind of crowed and very windows-ish -hey that’s a windows tablet. But that’s just a demo and without a specific launch date, MSI engineers and IUX specialists still have a few month ahead to polish the interface.