When the iPad 2 does not impress, it seems the smart Cover-DVICE

"You have the lines at the box office!" cried Roger De Bris, the FAB-ulous-Director of the play-within-the producers, spring for Hitler. "It's an avalanche! It is a torrent! It is the biggest hit on Broadway! "

Well, not literally, but the Broadway iPad 2 is producing lines, sell-outs and now shipping delays in the face of an almost unprecedented sales. When I go to the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan last Friday afternoon sauntered to buy me, I was shocked to find that the line had snaked around the block.

Why was I shocked? The iPad 2 is available in literally 10 times the number of sites than last year original, but the lines were even longer this time.

Why the avalanche and torrent? I have a theory!

Objective, iPad 2 is a small update. Sure, it's much faster than the original, but the original is not exactly slow. It is a bit thinner and lighter than the original, but the original is not exactly an anvil.

The only clear upgrade is a not-so FAB-ulous 0.69 MP rear camera, that terrible images (although it does capture decent 720 p HD video), and an insult to a VGA camera. No memory card slot, no USB or Thunderbolt jack, no retinal display and no enhanced screen reflectivity, which means that Amazon can continue to run that not-so-subtle ads about how you have a tablet in the Sun, but you can not read a Kindle can read.

iPad 2 is not a bad tablet, despite its shortcomings camera — Yes, it is possible the best tablet available — but I still don't think it's FAB-ulous enough to justify the ridiculous rush.

What is?

Okay, maybe I'm a bit funny, but the smart Cover is, in my mind, the coolest and most innovative aspect of the iPad 2.

Please take a few minutes and check out the interactive image and video here on the site of Apple.
Smart Cover works exactly as advertised. You almost hit it on the magnets capture. form a hinge, and the whole thing aligned perfectly every time. It creates a cosy and secure fit, but can easily be removed with a bit of a jerk.

Til a corner, and iPad directly, and I mean immediately, wakes up. When the smacks down on the screen, iPad snoozer of country. How it does this I do not know — and don't tell me. I love the thinking of magic.

Here is what it seems all folded:

As you can see, the cover is a tri-fold, but the segments are not the same size. It is intelligent designed to form a triangle at the bottom wider than the sides (or whatever the correct geometric terms are) make a balanced basis for typing or video viewing.

The screen size of the folder is microfiber and helps the display to keep clean. If you want the cover off, just yank it out. It folds easily accordion-like almost flat so you can stick it in a bag and do not have the spring apart.

There are five polyurethane ($ 39) and five color leather ($ 69). I bought the red leather version.

Smart Cover is really really cool, a brilliant bit of engineering and styling.

And yet ...

I use the iPad 2 and the coverage for two days and discovered the smart Cover all a cover is supposed to solve problems.

It will not protect your investment. The smart Cover covers only the screen — the back is exposed to possible scratches left of what is in the bottom of your bag or suitcase. And Smart coverage will not protect your iPad 2 against drops or other forms of klutziness (when Apple will move to Gorilla Corning Glass on both the phones and tablets?).

These acts of klutziness are exacerbated by the iPad still smooth back and slightly lighter weight — it's like trying to get a thin wafer SOAP grip.

The front and back of the Smart-cover look almost identical, meaning that you'll spend a few seconds trying to find out which direction it goes. I'm going to subtly stencil or label at the top to make it easier to tell. And when you drag to snap the cover it up, you need to be careful not to accidentally scraping the metal hinge on the iPad screen if you miss out.
On a solid table, the triangle typing mode is fine, but the State tri-folded is unstable when propped up on your lap — the iPad keeps annoyingly shift on the triangle apex edge. And it should be a middle position angle between types and video viewing for game play and, above all, surfing the Web.

While the smart Cover perfectly to the screen, it is too large for the sloping back. When the iPad holding with the cover wrapped around the rear, the cover folds often spoken and the final segment valves around.

When shooting a photo or video with the rear camera, is the smart Cover hinge on the bottom, which means you have hold the cover up at the back (Home button on your right). Then you have to fold back the upper third segment to the lens (I tuck it behind the middle segment), but the segments still buckle and strap around depending on how you hold it (although it makes for a firmer grip when holding frame and shoot your images and video).

Because the Smart Cover only one backbone of the iPad 2 hecht, you'll find yourself unblock the orientation lock so you what is on the screen with the cover hanging down can view from the top (Home button to your left) so that you don't have to keep it.
And, when you flip the cover around the Microfiber side is exposed to air and particles and anything on your lap or on a table top which you lay the iPad that can then be transferred to the screen.

Yes, the smart Cover is so cool, way too cool to exult in the coolness and let it see. But I can buy a second sleeve before I put it in my backpack and my iPad 2 to expose the real world.

Read the rest of this entry »

HP TouchPad will Match iPad on price, says Leaked Document (HPQ, AAPL, GOOG)-San Francisco Chronicle

Hewlett-Packard's TouchPad will start at $ 499--the same price as Apple's iPad 2--according to a leaked document from a "major retailer" posted by PreCentral.

That is a smart move: Motorola's Android-based Xoom was dinged by influential reviewers for its high entry price of $ 600 with a Verizon contract, or $ 800 without.

Matching of Apple price is a good first step, but HP will have to developers to build apps to the huge library of Apple. HP has promised to ship WebOS on every PC they sell in 2012, that could developer interest in architecture.

The Tablet PC said will be available in June, CEO Leo Apotheker yesterday. That date is confirmed in the document. Pharmacist also said that HP does not intend to play in the "junior league" when it comes to tablets.

The document also mentions that a 7-inch HP Tablet slated to start in September. Previous reports say this tablet is code-named Opal.

Read the rest of this entry »

&Amp; Djay launches on the iPhone, Upgrades on iPad-Mashable

&Amp; Djay, the groundbreaking Mac app from Algoriddim featured in a recent iPad commercial, was only available on both sides of the iOS platform — and also got a major update to the iPad version.

The $ 9.99 app turns your iPhone 4 or iPhone 3gs in a few mixing decks. Load up of songs from your iTunes music library, and you can beat sync, scratch and transition between songs like a pro. You can also use your genius mix recording and as a high-quality AIFF file export.

Both iPhone and iPad versions of & djay are surprisingly similar to the $ 49.99 desktop version of the software, which is used by professional and amateur DJs alike, and Macworld awarded the highest rating.

An important feature that iOS, however both versions lack: the ability to lock in the key of a song. Match the BPMs of numbers on the vastly different tempos, and you are in the row that will start to either warbly or sound a bit baritone.

As for the Mac & djay automatically beat matches numbers, it is able to do this without the key either tune. It is a magical feature that can, in this writer's experience, DJ-ing a party almost scarily easy.

Algoriddim of head of product development, Frederik Seiffert, says that nearly impossible on the current iPhone and the first generation iPad hardware beat matching key-locked. "But we consider doing it for the iPad 2 when we see one," says Seiffert.

Algoriddim is based in Munich, Germany, where the iPad 2 is not available until the end of the month.

In the meantime, the company is no slouch on the front of the iPad. At the same time as it launched its iPhone app, it also released a free upgrade to the $ 20 iPad app, with enough that it can also be denoted by & djay 1.5 new features.

Scratches on the rotating disk with two fingers instead of one, and & djay will ensure that your scratch takes for a precise number of beats. And the crane of a couple of fingers, the app will loop a single measure of the track over and over. Again, it understands the rhythm and will ensure that the loop is accurate, so you don't have to (unless you want). Call it the T-Pain app for DJs.

Gone are the "out of memory" messages that plagued the iPad app in its original iteration. I've been testing on the iPad 2, where it runs faster than ever and gives the Mac version a serious run for its money. You can even pre-cue, IE. Listen to your next song without disturbing the party, with the help of a pair of jacks from Radio Shack.

As soon as it adds the ability to lock in keys for numbers, there will be little that the iPad version is missing. The same applies to the iPhone version — although we'll probably have to wait till iPhone 5 or 6 for the hardware.

The iPhone app is still best in its class, even without those new iPad features. In short, there is no excuse for road trips too bad that DJ would ever again.

Read the rest of this entry »

Doodle jump reaches 10 M downloads, Kinect, iPad versions come-Gamasutra

Controlled almost two years after the first release on the iOS App Store, tilt-game doodle jump has already more than 10 million times downloaded according to developer Lima Sky climb.

The developer has also announced that a XBLA Kinect-powered version of the title is in the works, as well as an iPad version which will contain "brand new content." These new versions come on top of an upcoming update for the original game that will have multiplayer support, according to Lima Sky.

The popular title will expand in licensed products, as well as with branded stationary, toys and comic books planned, according to the company. The game already contains a cameo appearance of a character in Universal's upcoming animated comedy Hop.

"After this incredible first two years, it's safe to say that even our wildest imagination, Doodle jump has exceeded" Igor Pusenjak of Lima Sky founder said in a statement. "We look forward to even more amazing content to millions of Doodle jump fans all over the world."

The iPhone game sales charts awarded doodle Jump regularly during 2010. The title reached the milestone 3 million download just before his first birthday last March.

In January, word leaked that Pusenjak had sent legal requests to developers of other iPhone apps with the word "Doodle" in their name, asking them to place their titles on trademark infringement grounds.

Read the rest of this entry »

iPad 2 vs. Xoom-Chip Chick

The iPad 2 was released last week and so far it is a hit. But just a little while before that, the first honeycomb tablet hit the store shelves in the form of the Motorola Xoom. So the question is, what's worth your hard earned money? We break the two down under in an iPad 2 vs. Xoom, throw-down to death, or rather, for your wallet.

The iPad 2 sports a 9.7 "display with a resolution of 1024 × 768 on 132ppi with LED back-lighting, while the Motorola Xoom sport a 10.1? widescreen display with a resolution of 1280 × 800 on 150ppi and LED backlighting too.

Winner: iPad 2 – the Xoom display is sharper, but the iPad display is brighter and richer colours produces.

The iPad 2 runs on Apple's new Dual-core chip, while the A5 Xoom is powered by a 1 Ghz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra.

Winner: iPad 2 – runs on the NVIDIA Tegra dual-core processor, the Xoom is indeed very fast, but according to this latest benchmarks of AnandTech, the iPad A5 processor blasts the Xoom.

This category is a very debated, but most users would agree that the iPad 2 's interface is easier and simpler to use. On the other hand, runs the Xoom Android 3.0 (honeycomb) who is a powerful multi-tasker. Honeycomb homescreens with features like widgets, and true push notifications are great for power users.

Winner Tie :-iOS on the iPad 2 has the advantage of having already longer and it is generally very polished, but the Xoom has many features that can be a iOS.

Safari on the iPad helped start the craze tablet with quick and nice features like pinch zoom and HTML 5 support. Meanwhile, honeycomb on the Xoom packs in a number of advanced Chrome features, plus it has Flash support.

Winner Xoom : – both devices offer a superior experience, but browsing on the Xoom browsing plus Flash compatibility makes for a very pleasant browsing, and desktop-like experience.

2 both the iPad and Xoom claim to have a battery life of up to 10 hours.

Winner: iPad 2 -of our time spent using the Xoom and iPad 2, the iPad 2 seems to be edge the Xoom with about 9 and a half hours of battery life, versus 8 and a half before the Xoom.

There are already thousands of polished iPad apps available in the AppStore. Unfortunately, created for tablets apps on the Android market are very few in number and are just starting to drip.

Winner: iPad 2 – the Android market currently has less than 50 apps for tablets, while the AppStore thousands of apps designed for the iPad. iPad 2 WINS by a landslide, granted have a headstart advantage. That said, more and more honeycomb apps are coming out every day.

The iPad 2 packs in a front-facing VGA webcam and a back-facing camera that can record 720 P video.The Xoom sports a 2MP webcam and a 5MP back-facing camera that 720 P HD video recording.

Winner Xoom : – both still photos and video quality of cameras on both tablets are not so great, but the Xoom edges slightly out iPad 2 a bit in terms of quality.

The iPad 2 weighs just 1.33 pounds and is housed in a sleek aluminum back design with a choice of a glossy black or white front panel. Meanwhile, the Xoom is coated with aluminium anodised and soft touch rubber grip, and it is indeed pretty handsome look, but rather plain in comparison with the iPad 2.

Winner: iPad 2 – sure, the Xoom is an ok looking device, but there's no denying, the iPad 2 is down right sexy.

The iPad 2 is available as a WiFi only model, a model of Verizon 3 G and a AT&T 3 G model. The Xoom is available only if WiFi or 3 G with Verizon.

Winner: iPad 2 – both devices come with Verizon 3 G as an option. But the iPad 2 also has a AT&T 3 G option, which means that it can be used worldwide more than 3 G.

Despite the fact that not even a week old, there is a plethora of accessories that have already been announced for the iPad 2. As regards the Xoom, there is a speaker dock available for Xoom and a few cases have been announced for it.

Winner: iPad 2 – there are a few accessories available for the Xoom so far, but on the whole, there is not much. On the other hand, there are already a huge amount of accessories for the 1st gen iPad, many of which are compatible with the iPad 2. Plus there are new accessories and cases every day for the iPad 2 announced.

Pricing starts at just $ 499 for the 16 GB Wi-Fi only iPad 2 model, while the prices for the Wi-Fi only Xoom $ 599.

Winner: iPad 2 -Wi-Fi only Xoom costs $ 600, while the 16 GB iPad 2 undercuts that price at $ 500. Also, even the cheapest iPad 2 3 G model is cheaper than 3 G of Xoom.

When you break it down, trounces the iPad 2 the Xoom in almost every category. That's not to say that the Xoom is not a really good tablet, but unfortunately the iPad 2 manages to wipe the floor with it in everything, from design to performance. That said, the Xoom finds much happy homes with Android lovers.

Read the rest of this entry »

IPad 2s sell for double the price in Hong Kong-Wall Street Journal (blog)

With no release date set for the iPad 2 in Hong Kong, the devices have reached close to $ 15,000 Hong Kong dollars (US $ 1,924) of the city of grey market — more than double what they are retailing in the US

BloombergA white iPad 2

Shops have paid couriers in the US, the only market where the iPad is currently 2, sold to buy as many iPads as they can with them before flying back to Hong Kong.

In the store, as in Sin Tat Plaza were the new iPads on sale for HK $ 6800-HK $ 14,800, depending on the storage and connectivity. In the u.s., the devices retail for US $ 499-$ 829. As sold 40-50 of the new iPads on Sunday, shopkeeper Alex Kei said. Monday night had the store 10 iPads left. But he said that the sale of the original iPad, which at the same price points were established, flew from shelves faster last year.

A Hong Kong, another store in Sin Tat Plaza, said it sold about 100 iPads Sunday and Monday, another 100 charge HK $ 6800-HK $ 13, 000. Like most shops in the shopping centre, iPads are the white commander of a premium. For the top-end model are the white iPads HK $ 2000 more than comparable black units on a Hong Kong. (Black and white models for the same specifications not differences in prices in the USA)

In men Show digital Telecom, was shopkeeper jealousy Kwok large boxes that are filled with iPad 2s extract.

"There is no more room here," said Mr. Kwok, crowded shelves. The store had Monday night after the sale of about 30 devices Sunday close to 100 iPads in stock.

On Thursday, the day before the iPad 2 field on the sales in the us went, men Show had put the prices at HK $ 6,000-HK $ 11,000 — with customers dropping a 50% deposit. But after the first day of the sale, the store raised his prices to HK $ 7,250 for the basic model and HK $ 12,000 for the top-end 64 GB model with wireless and third generation wireless.

"Hong Kong not have iPads, and people here are money," said Mr. Shum of the premium. His shop expects to receive about 50 more devices every day for about a week.

Read the rest of this entry »