Thursday, February 10, 2011

Review Samsung Galaxy Tab

Samsung Galaxy Tab

The good: Samsung's 7-inch Android tablet is a serious contender to the Apple iPad, boasting two cameras, Flash compatibility, and a more convenient size.
The bad: The Tab behaves more like a supersize Android phone than a Netbook alternative. The Android OS and its apps aren't yet optimized for the larger screen. Depending on your plan, you may be in for a two-year contract and a commitment to monthly charges.
The bottom line: The Galaxy Tab is a beautiful product with features that will make iPad owners envious, but its in-between size and possible carrier commitments hold it back from broad appeal.

Since the arrival of the Apple iPad in April of 2010, we've seen a handful of competitors step up with inexpensive tablet alternatives in all shapes and sizes. With the Galaxy Tab, Samsung has created a true peer of the iPad--an uncompromising product that stakes out new territory in terms of both design and features.
Unlike the 9.7-inch iPad and its Apple iOS software, the Tab's screen measures 7 inches diagonally and runs Google's Android 2.2 operating system. Sprint's version of the Tab goes on sale November 14, priced at $399 with a two-year contract and a monthly data plan, or as an off-contract model for $599. Data plans come in two versions: a $29 plan with a 2GB cap, and a $59 plan with a 5GB cap. Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T will all have similar versions of the Tab, though pricing and availability may vary.
Design
Tablets are only as good as their screens, and the Tab's screen is a glossy beauty with the strength of a beast, thanks to a protective layer of Corning Gorilla glass. The LCD underneath it is a crisp 1,024x600-pixel resolution, which is on par with the iPad, but since the screen is about half the size, the pixel density is much tighter. The screen uses a capacitive, multitouch technology that can match the iPad in both response time and usefulness. Not once did we catch ourselves cursing at it--at least, not in the same threatening tone as we used with the Dell Streak or the Archos 7 Home Tablet.
Above the screen you have a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, perfect for video chat with the included Qik app. Across the bottom you have the typical Android-style buttons for menu, home, back, and search. There's a standard headphone jack on the top, and volume and power buttons on the side, along with a microSD card slot. For this model from Sprint, a 16GB card came installed. Samsung's dock connector and a pair of built-in speakers are located on the bottom edge. The dock connector works with the included USB adapter and power brick, but can also be used for accessories, such as a keyboard dock or video output adapter.

On the back of the Tab you'll see a smooth white plastic back and a more impressive 3-megapixel camera with an integrated flash. The camera can capture video at a maximum resolution of 720x480 pixels at 30 frames per second.
Overall, the Tab, at 7.5 inches tall by 4.7 inches wide by 0.5 inch thick, has a solid, paperback book feel that can be comfortably grasped in one hand. Unlike the Apple iPad, we never felt that we needed to set the Tab on our lap or cross our legs just to use it comfortably. For better or worse, it operates and behaves just like a giant Android smartphone, requiring little-to-no learning curve to navigate menus, type e-mails, or browse the Web.
Features
Before we get into the nitty gritty of what the Tab has to offer, let's state for the record that the two best features of the Tab are the least complicated to understand. First off, you have the size--which is smaller, lighter, and more convenient than the iPad. Second, there's the full, undiluted Android 2.2 experience, complete with third-party apps, and the official Android Market for all the latest and greatest apps. We've seen other Android tablets this same size, but none running Android 2.2 with Market support. Similarly, we've seen tablets like the Dell Streak that offer the Android Market, but the size is cramped and the OS isn't yet up to 2.2. Currently, only the Galaxy Tab hits this "just right" Goldilocks zone among Android tablets--and that's what makes it exciting.
When you unlock the Tab's touch screen, you'll find a familiar home screen with a floating Google search bar, dock icons for e-mail, Web browser, and a drawer for apps. Hold the Tab in either portrait or landscape view and the built-in accelerometer sensor will reorient the screen automatically. By default, the Tab includes three main home screens, which you can jump between by flicking left or right. Beyond the core apps in the dock (mail, Web, drawer), the first of the three home screens comes preinstalled with apps for Market, Messaging, Sprint Zone (a Web link for relevant Sprint and Tab news), Contacts, Free Games (crippled Gameloft demos you'd do well to skip), Gallery, Amazon Kindle, and Samsung's video download portal, Media Hub. Aside from the Kindle app, these are all the same home screen apps you'd find on Samsung's Epic 4G smartphone.
You have to dig a little deeper to appreciate the work Samsung did to differentiate the Tab experience from its line of premium Android smartphones. Spend some time in the app drawer, and you'll find that seemingly benign apps like Contacts, Calendar, and Memo have all been optimized by Samsung for the larger screen, using split-screen views and nested tabs to take advantage of the added screen real estate.
Most Android apps, unfortunately, aren't yet designed for the larger screens of tablets. It's a complaint you'll hear echoed in all of our Android tablet reviews so far. With all the extra room, some apps stretch unnaturally to fill the space (Pandora), whereas others appear like large print versions of their original smartphone incarnations. Until Google commits to the tablet form and offers developers and consumers a way to distinguish tablet-optimized apps from smartphone apps, this is going to be a recurring headache for everyone

In spite of some frustrations, there are quite a few things the Galaxy Tab nails dead on that will get Apple fanboys flustered. Because the Tab includes GPS, the included navigation app does an excellent job as an in-car navigation device, offering turn-by-turn directions, points of interest, and voice search (via the integrated microphone).
Another little advantage the Tab has over the iPad is Adobe Flash 10.1 compatibility, allowing all of the Web's Flash video content to play natively in the browser. The results are a little choppy in some cases, but it's nice to have the option.

Performance
Predictably, when you add up the Flash video playback, GPS, and 3G (not to mention Bluetooth and 720p video decoding), battery life can go downhill quickly. By pulling down on the home screen you can access a menu for quickly activating or killing off GPS, Bluetooth, and 3G, helping to squeeze the most from your battery life. Keeping yourself to core features such as Web browsing, music, and e-mail, Samsung expects you'll get around 7 hours of battery life with Wi-Fi active.
As far as media playback performance is concerned, audio, video, and photos all work beautifully. Transferred content--whether by USB or microSD card--is immediately scanned by the device and accessible in the appropriate app. Samsung's years creating highly rated portable media players is evident in little extras, such as audio enhancement settings, video bookmarking, and a mosaic view of video stills for quickly skipping to the perfect spot in a movie.
The movie and video content available through Samsung's Media Hub is priced competitively with Apple's iTunes offerings. Most movies are available to buy for between $9.99 and $17.99, or rentable for between $1.99 and $3.99. A decent selection of TV shows is also available for download, with content from NBC, MTV, Warner Bros., Comedy Central, and others, all priced at $1.99. All of the videos in the Media Hub have been optimized for playback on the Galaxy Tab.
As an e-book reader, the Tab has plenty going for it. The included Kindle app grants you access to one of the most popular e-book retailers in the world. Through the Android Market, e-book software from Barnes & Noble and dozens of other sources can be installed. As an alternative to a dedicated e-book reader, such as the Kindle, Nook, or Sony Reader, the Tab's paperback-like dimensions make it a natural fit. On the downside, the Tab's battery life is relatively low; it's considerably heavier than most e-readers; and its highly reflective backlit LCD isn't as revered by book lovers as e-ink screens.
If productivity is your thing, you'll be happy to know that the Tab's calendar and e-mail apps readily took to our Gmail and Exchange accounts. We're also happy to see the ThinkFree Office app preinstalled, which allows you to view and edit any Microsoft Office documents. That said, for serious document editing, it makes more sense to spend the same amount on a Netbook with a larger screen and peripheral support.
Tabs versus Pads
Now for the big question: iPad or Galaxy Tab? The short answer, in our opinion, is iPad. It's offered at a better range of pricing options--none of which requires any form of carrier contract. Apple's catalog of apps optimized for tablet-size screens number in the thousands, whereas the Tab has just a handful--and they're not terribly exciting. If you feel that a tablet computer should be more than just a supersize smartphone, the iPad is still the best game in town.
In fairness, what we enjoy most about the Galaxy Tab is that it's not trying to exactly copy the iPad's blueprint for success. Sure, Samsung's notepad, calendar, and photo apps look like pixel-for-pixel reproductions of the iPad's, but let's not overlook the fact that the Tab is half the size of the iPad. It's a different type of product that presents a different use case, one geared more for portability. That said, the Android smartphone market seems to cover a lot of this territory already.
The Tab is also reaching out to all of the people who winced at the iPad's lack of Adobe Flash support, video camera, memory expansion, and drag-and-drop file support. If these are the features that have been holding you back from purchasing a tablet, then the Tab should be a perfect match.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR Overview

The Fujifilm FinePix HS20EXR places an EXR-branded sensor into an HS-series camera body. The 16 megapixel EXR sensor in the Fuji HS20EXR is a newly developed, CMOS imager, as opposed to earlier Super CCD EXR designs. It uses a backside-illuminated layout, with the wiring moved off the light-sensitive side of the chip, hence increasing the light gathering area available for each photodiode. Fuji's EXR image sensors feature a rearranged Color Filter Array, offering more effective pixel binning (for improved sensitivity at reduced resolution), plus the ability to read out half the pixels during exposure (for increased dynamic range). It isn't clear whether the new EXR-CMOS chip retains the same 45-degree octagonal pixel layout seen in Super CCD EXR ships, which allows somewhat increased resolution on the horizontal and vertical axes. The camera can automatically select the best mode of operation -- favoring the best resolution, dynamic range, or signal/noise ratio -- via its EXR Auto mode.

The Fuji HS20 couples its sensor with a Super EBC FUJINON-branded 30x optical zoom lens with manual zoom control, and actual focal lengths ranging from f/4.2 at wide angle to f/126 at telephoto, equating to the same range as a 35mm camera with a 24mm - 720mm lens, a generous wide angle to a very powerful telephoto. Maximum aperture varies from f/2.8 at wide angle to f/5.6 at telephoto, and the lens has 58mm filter threads. Given the extreme telephoto reach, mechanical image stabilization is obviously a necessity to fight blur from camera shake, and the Fuji FinePix HS20 includes sensor shift stabilization. Images and movies can be framed and reviewed either on an electronic viewfinder, or a 3.0-inch, tiltable LCD display. A proximity sensor detects when the camera is brought to the photographer's eye, and switches between the two display types automatically.

Output from the EXR-CMOS sensor is processed by a newly developed Fujifilm EXR-branded image processor, and the combination allows swift shooting at eight frames per second for as many as eight full resolution frames, as well as 11 frames per second shooting for an unspecified burst depth at a reduced eight megapixel resolution. For times when less speed is required, lower rates of three or five frames per second are also available. A contrast detection autofocus system in the camera is said to allow focusing in a minimum of 0.16 seconds, although no information is provided on the maximum focusing time required.

The Fujifilm HS20EXR can capture 1080p high definition videos at an unspecified frame rate using H.264 compression in a .MOV container, while still images can be saved in raw or JPEG formats, as well as in both formats simultaneously. There's also a 320 frames-per-second movie mode which shoots at unspecified resolution. A Motion Panorama mode uses the camera's swift shooting to capture a number of sequential photos for stitching into a 180, 240, or complete 360-degree panorama, either horizontally or vertically. An automatic scene recognition function can identify no less than 27 different scene types, and then configure the camera automatically as appropriate for the detected type. Other features include film simulation bracketing (Provia, Velvia, Astia), dynamic range bracketing (100%, 200%, 400%), and autoexposure bracketing, plus the ability to recognize the faces of eight specific individuals, and to automatically correct red-eye. Connectivity in the Fujifilm HS20 includes an optional cabled remote release, and a high definition mini-HDMI video output.

The Fujifilm FinePix HS20 ships from late March 2011, priced at around US$500.

from:http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/HS20EXR/HS20EXRA.HTM

Apple iPod touch (Gen 4) Full Review

The fourth-generation iPod touch is the latest version of Apple's handheld computer with added features, such as the speedy A4 processor, front and rear cameras, FaceTime video chat, iOS 4.1, and a high resolution Retina display.

It is currently available starting at $230 for a version with 8 GB of storage, $300 for the 32 GB version, and $400 for the 64 GB one.

BUILD & DESIGN

The new iPod touch is beautifully designed, as all Apple products are, with sleek lines and modern details. Unlike the iPhone 4, it isn't at all boxy. It is remarkably thin and light, with strongly tapered edges. If you use the device "naked" you may not even remember it's in your pocket -- it really is that small.

With smartphones, they sometimes seem quite light... and then you notice that the battery is still in the box, so you are immediately disappointed with a light phone that almost instantly becomes a heavy "brick" in your pocket.. That isn't the case here; the iPod touch is sealed so it comes fully assembled with the battery inside and it weighs just a few ounces.

The build quality is excellent, as you would expect from Apple. There is no creaking, bending, or flexing of any kind.

Display
The new Retina display on the iPod touch is absolutely gorgeous. I haven't had the opportunity to see it side-by-side with a new iPhone 4 yet, so it's hard to make direct comparisons. I can say that it is vastly superior to my old iPod touch. It is extremely sharp and clear, and much more readable outside in bright sunlight.

My photos look better than ever before, and video does too -- amazingly sharp and clear. If you have an older iPod touch, you'll see a huge difference in the display -- the new Retina technology represents a great improvement.

This improvement isn't really all that surprising, considering the screen resolution has gone from 320x480 to 640x960, but the display size hasn't changed -- it's still 3.5 inches.

Keyboard
The iPod touch doesn't have a physical keyboard, instead relying on a virtual keyboard for text entry. It works well, but of course I have long experience with the old iPod touch so there's nothing new for me here. I can say that typing is easier with the new model because it is fast enough to make the built-in word completion utility a pleasure to use instead of a pain.

It also lets you double tap on the shift key to enable Caps Lock, which I use all time time and am thankful to have. It's a little thing, but it isn't available on the original iPod Touch.

Other Buttons & Controls
The front of the device seems to be all screen, because it is all black. This differs from my original first-generation model, which has a display that appears lighter when it is off, like a calculator. The Home button is centered below the screen.

A low-res camera for use with the FaceTime video-conferencing app is centered over the top of the display, while the main image/video camera is on the top left corner of the the back of the device.

The power button is on the top right, the volume controls are on the upper left side of the device, and the headphone jack and charge/sync port are on the bottom edge.

The external speaker is just to the left of the charge/sync port. It works fairly well, with nice volume, but of course the sound isn't nearly as good as what you get listening with headphones. For games and sharing a new tune with your friends it's plenty good enough, but you won't want to use it all the time.

PERFORMANCE

The new Apple Apple iPod touch is blazingly fast -- everything just works, and works quickly, as soon as you launch an app. This is a noticeable improvement over the earliest models in this series, which can be very slow, depending on the app.

This is also my first experience with the latest version of Apple operating system, and it's nice that iOS 4.1 is preloaded on the device so that there is no need to download and install it myself. As you can imagine for a hardware and software reviewer, I have a lot of apps. Folders are a great addition, and have really helped me organize the home screen of my device. Multitasking works well too, allowing me to jump from app to app with just a couple of taps.

Wireless
Wi-Fi wireless networking works great, with excellent signal strength and none of the annoying "incorrect password" issues that show up almost daily on my previous iPod touch. My old touch often gives me errors when using it with my home network, requiring me to type in the password almost every day. Nothing like that occurs with the new model, and I'm quite pleased with its performance.

When it comes to Bluetooth, things went just as well. I had no trouble pairing it with my Apple Wireless Keyboard. It's ironic, considering that I used a Landware GoType and then a Stowaway Bluetooth folding keyboard with many of my Palm OS handheld over the years, but being able to use a wireless keyboard with the iPod touch turns it into a real (pocketable) productivity tool.

ProductivityMany people buy an iPod touch just to have fun, but there's much more to it than that. It comes with Calendar, Contacts, and Notes built in, and you can sync with Outlook, an Exchange Server, or Google's online services if you like. You'll also find Calculator, Clock, and Voice Memo apps, along with Weather and Maps.

There's nothing particularly new or radically different here, but every single one of the included apps works exactly as you would expect, offering a great out of the box experience. It's ironic to state this, considering the fact that there truly is "an app for that" no matter your needs or interests, but the iPod Touch comes with such a well rounded suite of applications that you don't have to venture into the App Store for a good long while unless you have a specific niche need.

Face Time in particular is a real standout, and it works great. Since you don't have a phone number like you would with an iPhone, you initiate a call through the Contacts app. Just tap on the button at the bottom of a particular contact's details to start a Face Time call over WiFi, and the conversation starts as soon as the other party accepts. It works flawlessly, with no lag or stuttering, and it's a great way to keep up with friends and family when you're on the go.

EntertainmentOf course, the iPod touch has plenty to offer in the "Fun and Games" department. Photos, Videos, iPod, and YouTube are pre-installed with the device. And if you want to add more music, video, and apps, of course you'll find the iTunes Store and the App Store.

There are no games preloaded on this handheld, but there are plenty to download from the App Store, both free and paid.

The new Game Center makes gaming a much more social experience, with the ability to add friends, earn achievements, and play online with others. In many ways it is a true "game changer" and I can understand why Sony and Nintendo are concerned about the incursions Apple is making into their traditional dominance of handheld gaming. Game Center is located "front and center" on the first page of apps on my device, providing richer enjoyment of the games I've downloaded plus an easy way to jump in to the fun, since games can be launched from within the app.

CameraThe camera on the new iPod Touch was quite a disappointment for this photo bug. I was hoping to have something extremely capable, so that I would always have a camera in my pocket, especially considering the excellence of the camera on the iPhone 4. Unfortunately the camera on the fourth-generation iPod Touch is only 960 x 720, and of rather low quality. You can zoom in and out just a bit by pressing on the screen, which is nice, but that doesn't make up or the extremely poor resolution.

That low resolution camera is even more of a head scratcher when you learn that the new iPod Touch is capable of recording HD video in 720p, You could say that the video capture abilities are the complete opposite of the still camera, because videos do come out extremely well -- beautifully sharp and clear. My only small complaint regarding video is that the sound on my recordings came out rather low. That's not a major concern because it's easy enough to turn up the volume during playback.

If you're really serious about video, you'll be glad to know that extremely simple editing functions are included on the Touch, and you can also purchase the iMovie app from the App Store if you think of anything else.

There's an extra camera to talk about here, since the current iPod Touch has a front-facing camera, just above the display. When you're in the Camera app, a single tap on the screen allows you to switch from the back camera to the front, so you can use it for self portraits. Of course the primary function for that front-facing camera is FaceTime video conferencing, and as mentioned above it works very well for that purpose.

My final feelings on the camera functions of this device are mixed, which comes as no surprise. The still camera is rather underpowered, but will help you catch those shots you would otherwise have missed. Be especially careful with barcode scanning apps, because the camera resolution doesn't compare to the iPhone 4. The Sephora shopping app, for example, is unable to capture bar codes on the fourth-gen iPod Touch, and I had to type in the UPCs for each product. If a free lite version of the app you're considering is available, I would strongly suggest that you try before you buy, just to make sure that the app fulfills your needs. The video camera, on the other hand, is extremely good and I've really enjoyed having it with me all the time.

Battery LifeI've never had any problems with battery life on Apple products... until now. I use my iPad quite heavily, for example, and only have to plug it in once every several days. But It seems that there is some sort of glitch in the OS, because the fourth-gen iPod Touch can go completely dead overnight. I have a couple of apps set to update regularly, including Mail, so it could be that the device isn't going back to sleep as it should. I haven't seen it wake up unnecessarily during the day, however, and the battery meter hardly budges, which makes the overnight battery drain even more frustrating.

In any case, this is another disappointment because Apple hasn't acknowledged the problem and therefore hasn't issued a fix. I know this isn't just a defect in my unit, because plenty of folks are discussing it on the various discussion forums online. The only workarounds at the moment are either going into the Settings app and putting the iPod Touch into airplane mode each night (which allows the Touch to last several days before needing a charge, even with heavy use), or else making sure that it's plugged in each night. Neither one is all that difficult of course, though that's one more thing to remember each night if I don't want to face my morning commute with a dead iPod Touch.

CONCLUSION

I have used my fourth-generation iPod touch extremely heavily over the last month, and it's easy to conclude that it represents a significant upgrade from my first-gen model.The new display is stunning, and even though there are some issues with the camera it's still great to have it in my pocket at all times. The external speaker is good quality though not terribly loud, but it's great to have one and makes playing games without headphones a lot more fun. Being able to use it with the Apple Wireless Keyboard means that the Touch can be much more than a simple entertainment device if you want it to be.

Whether or not the new features like the camera with video capture and the new Retina display make it a worthy upgrade from a second- or third-generation device is a more difficult question to answer at this point, and depends a great deal on your budget.

If you don't already have an iPod Touch and can't stand the thought of signing a contract with AT&T in order to get the iPhone, the new iPod Touch is a great all-around entertainment and productivity device. I find myself reaching for it constantly at the office, at home, and on the go, and the latest iPod Touch is likely to be on plenty of Christmas wish lists this year.

Pros

Overall size/thickness/weight -- the iPod Touch is very small and extremely thin
Retina display is simply amazing -- apps have never looked better
Blazing fast performance means you won't have to wait for apps to launch
HD video capture
External speaker enhances game enjoyment and music sharing without headphones

Cons

Serious battery drain problem
Poor still camera
Price -- if you're willing to sign a contract, you can get a similarly-equipped smartphone for the same or less

By Jen Edwards, Brighthand.com Contributor

Apple iPad Review: Laptop Killer?

For the past week or so, I have been testing a sleek, light, silver-and-black tablet computer called an iPad. After spending hours and hours with it, I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop. It could even help, eventually, to propel the finger-driven, multitouch user interface ahead of the mouse-driven interface that has prevailed for decades.

But first, it will have to prove that it really can replace the laptop or netbook for enough common tasks, enough of the time, to make it a viable alternative. And that may not be easy, because previous tablet computers have failed to catch on in the mass market, and the iPad lacks some of the features—such as a physical keyboard, a Webcam, USB ports and multitasking—that most laptop or netbook users have come to expect.

If people see the iPad mainly as an extra device to carry around, it will likely have limited appeal. If, however, they see it as a way to replace heavier, bulkier computers much of the time—for Web surfing, email, social-networking, video- and photo-viewing, gaming, music and even some light content creation—it could be a game changer the way Apple’s iPhone has been.

The iPad is much more than an e-book or digital periodical reader, though it does those tasks brilliantly, better in my view than the Amazon Kindle. And it’s far more than just a big iPhone, even though it uses the same easy-to-master interface, and Apple (AAPL) says it runs nearly all of the 150,000 apps that work on the iPhone.

It’s qualitatively different, a whole new type of computer that, through a simple interface, can run more-sophisticated, PC-like software than a phone does, and whose large screen allows much more functionality when compared with a phone’s. But, because the iPad is a new type of computer, you have to feel it, to use it, to fully understand it and decide if it is for you, or whether, say, a netbook might do better.

So I’ve been using my test iPad heavily day and night, instead of my trusty laptops most of the time. As I got deeper into it, I found the iPad a pleasure to use, and had less and less interest in cracking open my heavier ThinkPad or MacBook. I probably used the laptops about 20% as often as normal, reserving them mainly for writing or editing longer documents, or viewing Web videos in Adobe’s (ADBE) Flash technology, which the iPad doesn’t support, despite its wide popularity online.

My verdict is that, while it has compromises and drawbacks, the iPad can indeed replace a laptop for most data communication, content consumption and even limited content creation, a lot of the time. But it all depends on how you use your computer.

If you’re mainly a Web surfer, note-taker, social-networker and emailer, and a consumer of photos, videos, books, periodicals and music—this could be for you. If you need to create or edit giant spreadsheets or long documents, or you have elaborate systems for organizing email, or need to perform video chats, the iPad isn’t going to cut it as your go-to device.

The iPad is thinner and lighter than any netbook or laptop I’ve seen. It weighs just 1.5 pounds, and its aluminum and glass body is a mere half-inch thick. It boasts a big, bright color 9.7-inch screen that occupies most of the front. As on all Apple portable devices, the battery is sealed in and nonreplaceable. It has a decent speaker, and even a tiny microphone.

Memory, also sealed in and nonexpandable, ranges from 16 gigabytes to 64 gigabytes. And you can order one with just a Wi-Fi wireless connection to the Internet, or Wi-Fi plus an AT&T (T) 3G cellular connection. The Wi-Fi models will be available Saturday and the 3G models, which I didn’t test, about a month later.

Prices start at $499 and go to $829, with the costlier models having more memory and/or 3G. The cellular models don’t require a contract or termination fee. You can pay AT&T either $15 a month for 250 megabytes of data use, or $30 a month for unlimited data—a significant reduction from typical prices for laptop cellular connectivity.

I was impressed with the iPad’s battery life, which I found to be even longer than Apple’s ten-hour claim, and far longer than on my laptops or smart phones. For my battery test, I played movies, TV shows and other videos back-to-back until the iPad died. This stressed the device’s most power-hogging feature, its screen. The iPad lasted 11 hours and 28 minutes, about 15% more than Apple claimed. I was able to watch four feature-length movies, four TV episodes and a video of a 90-minute corporate presentation, before the battery died midway through an episode of “The Closer.”

Oh, and all the while during this battery marathon, I kept the Wi-Fi network running and the email downloading constantly in the background. Your mileage may vary, but with Wi-Fi off and the screen turned down from the fairly bright level I used, you might even do better. Music plays far longer with the screen off. On the other hand, playing games constantly might yield worse battery life.

Apple says video playback, Web use and book reading all take about the same amount of juice. When I was doing the latter two tasks for an hour or two at a time, the battery ran down so slowly for me that I stopped thinking about it.

I also was impressed with the overall speed of the iPad. Apple’s custom processor makes it wicked fast. Screens appear almost instantly, and the Wi-Fi in my home tested as fast as it does on a laptop.

I found email easy and productive to use, and had no trouble typing accurately and quickly on the iPad’s wide on-screen keyboard. In fact, I found the iPad virtual keyboard more comfortable and accurate to use than the cramped keyboards and touchpads on many netbooks, though some fast touch typists might disagree. Apple’s $39 iPad case, which bends to set up a nice angle for typing, helps.

The Web browser also works beautifully, and takes advantage of the big screen to show full pages and cut down on scrolling. It even now has a bookmarks bar at the top. As noted, however, it doesn’t support Adobe’s Flash technology.

I also was able to easily sync the iPad’s calendar and contacts apps with Google (GOOG) and Apple’s MobileMe.

Watching videos, viewing photos, listening to music, reading books and playing games was satisfying and fun. I used the device heavily for Twitter and Facebook. And I even got some light work done in the optional iPad word processor, called Pages, which is part of a $30 suite that also includes a spreadsheet and presentation program.

This is a serious content creation app that should help the iPad compete with laptops and can import Microsoft Office files. However, only the word processor exports to Microsoft’s formats, and not always accurately. In one case, the exported Word file had misaligned text. When I then tried exporting the document as a PDF file, it was unreadable.

The iPad can run two types of third-party apps, both available from Apple’s app store. It can use nearly all existing iPhone apps. These can either run in a small, iPhone-size window in the middle of the screen, which makes them look tiny, or blown up to double size. The larger size makes them fill the screen, but can make type inside them look blocky. Still, the dozens I tested all worked properly. And it can run a new class of specially designed iPad apps, of which Apple hopes to have 1,000 at launch. I successfully tested the revamped App Store, which features the iPad apps most prominently when you’re on an iPad.

Based on my very small sample, some app developers may be testing higher prices for iPad apps than the 99 cents or $1.99 typical for paid iPhone apps. The paid iPad apps I saw ranged from $3.99 to $49.99. Others were free.

Apple has rebuilt its own core iPhone apps for the iPad to add sophisticated features that make the programs look and work more like PC or Mac software. For instance, there are “popover” menus that make it easier to make choices without leaving the screen you’re on. And, when the iPad is held horizontally, in landscape mode, as I often preferred to use it, many programs now have two panels, making them faster and more useful. For example, in email, a left-hand panel shows your message list, while a larger right-hand panel shows the message itself.

The photo app is striking, and much more like the one on the Mac than the one on the iPhone. The device can even be used as a digital picture frame. The iPod app is beautiful, too, as are the calendar and contacts app. Unfortunately, Apple excluded some of the more familiar apps from the iPhone, including Weather, Clock and Stocks.

I tested a small selection of the new third-party iPad apps Apple hopes to have available at launch, and most were also rich and feature-filled, beyond what iPhone apps offer. These included games such as Scrabble and “Touch Hockey,” a database app, news services and more.

I was able to try a pre-release version of The Wall Street Journal’s new iPad app (which I had nothing to do with designing), and found it gorgeous and highly functional—by far the best implementation of the newspaper I have ever seen on a screen. Unlike the Journal’s Web site, or its smart-phone apps, the iPad version blends much more of the look and feel of the print paper into the electronic environment. Other newspapers and magazines have announced plans for their own, dramatically more realistic iPad apps.

I also found iBooks, Apple’s book reader and store, easy to use, and read a couple of books on it. I consider the larger color screen superior to the Kindle’s, and encountered no eye strain. But the iPad is much heavier than the Kindle and most people will need two hands to use it. The iBooks app also lacks any way to enter notes, and Apple’s catalog at launch will only be about 60,000 books versus more than 400,000 for Kindle.

I did run into some other annoying limitations. For instance, the email program lacks the ability to create local folders or rules for auto-sorting messages, and it doesn’t allow group addressing. The browser lacks tabs. And the Wi-Fi-only version lacks GPS. Also, videophiles may dislike the fact that the iPad’s screen lacks wide-screen dimensions, so you either get black bars above or below wide-screen videos, or, if you choose an option to fill the screen, some of the picture may get cut off.

All in all, however, the iPad is an advance in making more-sophisticated computing possible via a simple touch interface on a slender, light device. Only time will tell if it’s a real challenger to the laptop and netbook.

by Walter S. Mossberg

from:http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20100331/apple-ipad-review/