First the Gear S.  I’ve been using it for 2 weeks as I gave my trusty LG First gen a rest.  Notice I said it was good, not great or I love it.  There are things about the UI that bug me, lack of apps, and I miss my integration with the Android system and Google services. But after a few weeks, the design, size and the key functions the watch does perform have won me over despite its initial size and previous listed issues.  The first thing that really surprised me is the curved screen is way more functional then I expected, but not so much from a UI/UX point of view, but the fact I can easily extend my arm and expose the watch! Such a simple thing.  And when I lower my arm, my shirt sleeve smoothly covers it again.  My LG and the few days with the Apple watch did not do this despite being smaller watches.  Even the round Moto gave me issues.  After a few weeks, what I though was a large clunky looking watch started to grow on me which is even more surprising since I got the white band instead of black like I would normally do.  The second very useful thing was wifi support and taking calls on the watch.  (I did not spring for a sim card).  The sound was clear and I found it was just as easy to take a call on the watch if I was in a quite room.  Basically as an everyday watch, the Gear S form factor is better than I thought.  It’s comfortable, quick to get used to seeing on my arm and my clothes do not get hung up on it.  More importantly, I have plenty of screen real-estate.  It may not happen overnight, but I think we will see this size curved smart watch more and more and people get used to seeing it, just like when the first large phones came out.

The Gear S form factor is just one direction in the second generation of smart watch design.  The LG Urbane will set the tone for the watch as a design artifact.  Not for everyday work, but for going out, special occasions, etc.  In other words, I can see some people owning two watches as people used to when I was young. I have the Pebble Steel with a nice leather band and tend to wear that when I go out.

I will be watching the price on the Urban ( I tend to buy used ) and most likely will use that as my replacement when the price drops enough.  As nice as the Apple watch is, it still looks like a throw back to the first attempt and smart watch design.  Sure Apple is already talking about the Apple 2 watch, but from what I understand, the form factor will be the same.  Old.

Well they finally did.  And I think they got it mostly right this time.

Source: www.slashgear.com

The Gear 2 S is still too big and heavy for my tastes.  The fact that this watch comes with 3G and wifi tells me they could still thin this out a bit more.  However, this is the best looking watch to date mostly because of the curved form factor and the refined minimalist design for the watch case.  Cannot say the same for the band, its too large and still has the metal clasp that I really never liked.  However what is gone are the camera, the IRLED sensor and other sensors in the band.  And did I mention the screen is big? 360 x 480 pixels big.  But because the screen is curved, it does not look as bulky as some of the smaller flat watch faces.  The face is big enough that you ‘could’ type on this, however, using swipe and word suggest is going to be the only way you will really be able to type if at all.  Check that out on the video below.  Although you do have wifi and 3G on this watch, you still need a companion device, i.e. a Samsung phone to make this work.  More on that later.

I do give Samsung credit for fast innovation.  This is their sixth watch and each watch seems to be dialing in better and better based on feedback, sometimes harsh, that has been coming in from all sides in the media.  But the fact Samsung ‘seems’ to be listening shows me that they are completely committed to owning the smart watch market.  But here is where things get sticky.

The New Gear, like the Gear before it is not using Android but instead running on Tizen, a custom OS from Samsung.  Although Samsung claims they will have 1000 apps ready by the release, apps running on Tizen is not the biggest limitation, but instead that they are only working with other newer Samsung phones.  As I said in a previous post, the desire on Samsung’s side is to create and control a complete eco system as Apple does.  The problem is Samsung is not Apple.  They do not have the rabid loyal following that Apple has.  And perhaps that is why they are iterating at a blinding speed, knowing that Apple has been dragging its feet on the iWatch, and this is their one best chance to really differentiate themselves in the market and perhaps make a name for themselves that is greater than the sum of its current parts.  With this current release they are on the right track, but will it be enough to convince people to not only leave iOS, but Android as well and live in a Samsung only world?  Time will tell.

image from phonedog.com

Recently there has been rumors that Samsung will release the new gear and a new set of phones running on the little known Tizen OS.  Which seen a bit odd given the experience they had with Bada.  Remember Bada?  Do not blame you if you do not.  Bada was actually a good OS, and the interface you are seeing with all Samsung phones was there with Bada.  The issue was, no one wanted to write apps for the Bada OS.  So what makes Samsung think that suddenly there will be a wave of people writing apps for Tizen?  Because Samsung thinks they have a good market share of the mobile phone and tablet market, the first major player out the door with a smart watch and finally with their curved and other advanced screen technology, can produce nitch phones that will not have any direct competitors.  But these reasons are not enough to take a chance on a OS that few app makers will write for.   Or are they?

What Samsung wants is what Microsoft wants, what Blackberry tried for, and to some extent, what Google is working on.  They want what Apple has.  An eco system where they collect a VAT (value added tax) on all transactions within the eco system. Apple is making amazing profits as every app is created and bought within the system.  Samsung wants this so much so, that they are willing to take a chance on relying on app developers to develop a version of their app for yet another OS. If they were to do this right now, they will have a bad time.

But I do not think they plan on leaving Android that fast.  Yes, they have given the first warning bell when the Samsung Gear was restricted to only work with Samsung devices. They already have been hiding some elements of the Android UI with their own Touchwiz UX and will bury Android even further with the new version of Magazine UX for tablets. Many Samsung users are so locked into the touchwiz system they would be a bit lost using a pure Android for the first time. In fact, if you were to take an old Bada phone and give it to a Samsung user, they would have no problems using it at the basic level.  And that is the plan.  To create an interface so removed from Android that you could be using any OS and you would still feel like you were using a Samsung device, just as you feel you are using an Apple device when you pick up an iphone. But still, you need apps when you get a phone and right now, there are not many Tizen apps out there.

And this is the problem.  Samsung cannot just abandon Android and strike out on there own. We have seen with Bada, MicroSoft, Intel’s Meego and BlackBerry that app makers do not have all the time in the world, and normally they will build for Apple first, Android second, and perhaps Microsoft third if they get around to it or someone pays them to do it.  So what makes Samsung think this is going to work?

Lets go back to what I said in the beginning.  They have a good chunk of the phone market.  A lead with watches (if you think that matters) and other tech that gives them a lead.  They are hoping this is enough to attract programmers to create for what they gamble will be a maintained if not grown market share.  I think they are taking a big chance that in the short term, will not pay off.   Yet…

In the long term, it may not matter.  With HTML5 apps getting better and better, a ‘set’ of apps that seems to be common among most consumer smart phone users getting integrated into the OS directly and tools that are making it easier to migrate code from one OS to another will remove much of the ‘yet-another-OS’ barrier.  By Samsung having a large number of diverse devices that work with each other, phones, watches, tv’s, laptops, etc.., a unified UI and a name to back them up, they could capture a part of the market that views smartphones as utility devices as most Apple users do and not mini computers as many hardcore Android users do.  And this brings up another point.  iOS user are far more likely to pay for their apps then Android users are.  These people are normally consumers, not first adapters, and want a simple unified eco system not something they have to hack.  And this is what Samsung is building.

So although in the short term, they could backfire, in the long term it may not matter.  The question is; how long?

What we do know is the soon to be announced Note III will have the Gear app pre-installed.  I have already seen the App on the Galaxy S III, so odds are you will be able to install the app going back to most Galaxy devices with an updated Android OS.

Samsung has put a lot of work into the S pen.  I would not be surprised to find out you can use the S pen on the watch. Also, Samsung has been working on promoting its Chord APIs.  These APIs allow networked devices to pass information back and forth allowing a fluid experience from one device to another.  So one can imagine taking down a short note on the watch and flick it to your phone or tablet. And just the reverse as well.  You can be looking at something on your tablet and flick it to the Gear. Based on the leaked images, the watch face is pretty large, so very simple pen strokes could be possible.

Although there have been plenty of ‘smart’ watches released in the past 4 years, none of them seem to capture what The Pebble was able to do.  Create a watch that is highly flexible allowing developers to create new and innovative ideas for the device without being locked into one device.  And this will be key to the success of Gear.  Can you use it on other phones?  Most likely yes.

One of the reasons I supported the kickstarter for the Pebble was the fact I could use on any device.  Now that has not proven to be completely true since Apple’s Bluetooth connectivity code is less the stellar. Something that should be addressed when iOS7 comes out. From what I have seen it looked like it can work on any Android device with the proper hardware.  This would also make sense from a product point of view.  To lock it to Samsung devices would be a very poor move. If you can get as many of these watches into as many hands as possible, the odds of a person choosing a Samsung phone would be higher.

Ah never mind.  This tuned out to be fake.  Oh but I wish it was true. 

This is just TOO good.  I read a story in thepaperblog on how Samsung paid Apple in nickles!  30 Trucks full! Seems the laywer forgot to include any clause about HOW to make the payments.  Nice.  Seems the way is not over between these two.  Not sure how Apple will respond to this, they already went thermonuclear remember, so I guess its going to be tit-for-tat.  However, look for some serious digs at Samsung in the next Apple adverts.     Excerpts from the story..

This morning more than 30 trucks filled with 5-cent coins arrived at Apple’s headquarters in California. Initially,  the security company that protects the facility said the trucks were in the wrong place, but minutes later, Tim Cook (Apple CEO) received a call from Samsung CEO explaining that  they will pay $1 billion dollars for the fine recently ruled against the South Korean company in this way.

This dirty but genius geek troll play is a new headache to Apple executives as they will need to put in long hours counting all that money, to check if it is all there and to try to deposit it crossing fingers to hope a bank will accept all the coins.

Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, told the media that his company is not going to be intimidated by a group of “geeks with style” and that if they want to play dirty, they also know how to do it.

You can use your coins to buy refreshments at the little machine for life or melt the coins to make computers, that’s not my problem, I already paid them and fulfilled the law.

Another win for Samsung: in the D’889 patent, which covers the look of the iPad’s design, including the edge-to-edge glass, thin bezel, and rounded corners. In this case, the jury found that the Galaxy Tab did not infringe Apple’s patents.

Samsung’s counter suite, that Apple infringed on ITS patents came up empty and was thus awarded no damages.

But to quote Brian Solis; Somebody just leaned over to the disappointed Samsung attorneys and asked, “How do you like them apples?”

Keep in mind this is not the end of the story.  If Samsung is blocked from selling its products, that will be far more costly then just $1B.  I am looking for Apple to push for just that.  Hopefully Samsung, now knowing where the edges are, will design a new line of phones around the patent and call that innovation.

More details as they come.

The preliminary injunction was first granted last month by the German court, which found Samsung’s tablets closely resembled Apple’s designs. It initially banned sales of the tablet across other countries in Europe, but that ban was eventually lifted in most countries.

As FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller points out, today’s news means that Samsung won’t be able to keep fighting the injunction in the Düsseldorf Regional Court, but it can appeal the case in a fast-track proceeding at the Higher Regional Court. With that plan, the injunction could be lifted within a few months.

..

For now, Samsung won’t be able to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 within Germany, and its German branch won’t be able to sell the tablet to other EU countries (Mueller says that, in practical terms, that means nothing, since they get their tablet stock from elsewhere). Samsung was also forced to remove its Galaxy Tab 7.7 from the IFA consumer electronics show floor last week due to a new injunction.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/09/samsung-german-galaxy-tab-injunction/

I do not agree with this ruling but can see the logic here.  Yet another reason to review out woefully outdated patent laws. However, since Apple can win an injection based on its design, cannot JooJoo sue Apple?  The iPad looks ALOT like the JooJoo from the drawings, so I think ‘could’ lose for winning here.  Dangerous waters.  However, hope is on the way.  President Obama mentioned in his speech yesterday that patent laws needs to be updated. In fact, a law is heading to his desk today that will help improve patent time to publish as well as interpretation.  Witehr it would have an effect in the a case like Apple vs. Samsung remains to be seen.

The Senate voted 89-9 to pass the patent bill and send it to Obama for his signature. The vote came a little more than an hour before Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress on his jobs agenda and gave some evidence that lawmakers can, in an age of political division, occasionally find common ground.

The first major change in patent law in six decades is aimed at streamlining the patent process, reducing costly legal battles and giving the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office the money it needs to process patent applications in a timely fashion.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/08/senate-nears-final-vote-on-patent-overhaul-bill/#ixzz1XUL9bS4L

They are already going through the appeal process and I’m sure there are many other steps that Samsung can take, but after removing the Galaxy from an upcoming tech show and now this ruling, its looks like Samsung s Galaxy is moving far far away.

Sets of tablets were announced in late 2010 that were going to be shown off at the upcoming International Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Seeing as how I was going to be speaking at the CES 2011 convention, it would be a perfect time to visit the different manufacturer booths to learn more about the Motorola Xoom, Research In Motion’s Blackberry Playbook and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Also excellent was that I was going to be visiting one of the most concentrated groups of consumer electronics enthusiasts, buyers and manufacturing people in the world, to discuss the pros and cons of the devices. So Samsung and I thought it would be a great time to test out a Galaxy Tab 7″ with Verizon 3G service.

The Galaxy Tab 7” with Verizon 3G service was picked over other service options. This was done so that I could see how Verizon was going to stand up to the crushing amount of people coming to Las Vegas and CES trade show in January. I own an original iPad with WiFi, which I use a Verizon MiFi to access the Internet. I put the iPad away during the entire amount of testing, to see how Google’s Android 2.2 (Froyo) plus Samsung TouchWiz (User Interface) could keep up. Activation was quick as it took less than four minutes, from verifying of the 3G data service, to the sync of my Google account. I noticed instantly was how much smaller, lighter and more convenient a 7” tablet was over the iPad to carry around daily. The two cameras on the Tab was a nice addition over any iPad model that was available at the time.

After activation and synching was done, I went through the software settings panels to see what was different with this model of Android 2.2, that I was familiar with from my usage of many other Android devices, including T-Mobile’s MyTouch 3G. An exciting option I found while spelunking through the settings was 3G to WiFi sharing.

This was great because now I could test computers, cell phones and cameras. One of my first tests with the 3G to WiFi sharing was in a sub level of the Flamingo hotel in Las Vegas during a social media event. The Tab had acquired half signal in what was essentially a concrete basement, good for any device. The sharing option was easy to turn on with a few taps. The WiFi service icon in the title bar at the top showed that the Tab had changed modes. I shared the service with an iPhone 4, iPhone 3G and a MacBook Pro running 10.6. All devices worked via the sharing service, in a room with about five other WiFi routers or devices blasting out signal. Three of us used the sharing service via the Tab at varying times and were Tweeting with different apps and the official Twitter website with an auto updating at reply window. Tweets were being sent and received smoothly for an hour. I tested the sharing service on an iPhone 4 and Blackberry Bold throughout my many visits to the packed CES exposition show floor. To give you an idea of how well it worked, there were at any given time about 30k plus people at CES running around with cell phones with WiFi turned on blasting signal everywhere. Turning off the sharing service was easier than turning it on, which was done by swiping one finger down from the title bar and deselecting WiFi sharing mode.

Over the next few weeks after testing the Tab at CES and various events around Las Vegas, the Verizon service worked in many places that my iPhone 4 from AT&T or my T-Mobile phone didn’t acquire signal. Testing was performed with the two embedded cameras. The camera on the back had the best resolution with a noticeably bright LED flash. The flash provided enough light when the subject was close, however the quality dropped off after a few feet in low light conditions. Typically on tablets or cell phones these days, the cameras that face the front are several megapixels less in resolution. There are a lot of reviews out there that will talk about how many megapixels are in each camera but in this review, I wanted to talk about how the pictures looked from different lighting conditions. I have included a few pictures from the device on how they performed.

Aesthetically, the Samsung Tab 7” was pleasing with a slick black back for the Verizon model and a white colored back comes on the Sprint version. I used the device to view YouTube videos, download apps via the Android Marketplace, read news via several different apps and Tweet with the official Twitter or Seesmic apps. One feature that is worth its virtual weight in gold is the included Swype text interface. It is a big fast forward in how people enter text into mobile devices. I’ve used Swype on cell phones before, but this was the first time on a tablet computer. Once you are used to working with Swype, going back to hunting and pecking text into mobile devices seems so 2000 and late.

People reading this review want to know how the Tab compares to the Apple iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom. I’m leaving out RIM’s Blackberry Playbook as I was not able to be hands on testing with the device. The iPad 2, which I have used for a few hours, is almost a completely different kind of tablet computer from the single core processor Tab, running at 1GHz, which is enough to run apps and games like Angry Birds. I downloaded the full version of Angry Birds on the Tab and I was able to finish all levels before the testing period ended. Anyone who has played Angry Birds knows that is a lot of time spent holding any device. I enjoyed holding the Tab over holding the iPad, iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom for lengthy periods of time. The Xoom, iPad and iPad 2 feel weightier than the Tab. To everyone I showed the Samsung Galaxy Tab to, including social media professionals, publicists and people who didn’t own a smartphone, they liked it. All of them were able to use a few apps within about a minute from turning it on. Most of them saw Angry Birds and were playing it with ease. People like technology because it’s cool and sometimes they include games to catch their attention long enough to learn how to use its other functions. At its current price point the Tab has a bigger potential market for those who are considering buying a tablet or smartphone and for those who want a bigger screen.

The pricing for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7” 16GB with 2GB of internal memory is currently being sold at Verizon for $199.99 with a 2 year activation, Motorola Xoom for $599.99 with a 2 year activation and iPad 2 16GB is $629.99 with month to month service. A WiFi only version of the Tab is on it’s way to market with some electronics outlets taking preorders for around $350. If you’re in the market or want to dip your toes in this new wave of consumer electronics, the least expensive and a fun option is the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Peep the following for the technical bits about the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Starting with the cameras, it has a 3MP rear-facing camera, auto-focus, flash and a 1.3MP front-facing camera. For video is has a 3MP rear-facing camcorder with DivX HD video playback. To use the web it has a HTML Browser with Adobe Flash 10.1, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n flavors, Google Services including Gmail, Google Talk, YouTube, Google Calendar, Google Search, Google Maps with a fun 3D like tilt shift option to see depth when viewing satellite imagery and thousands of apps available on the Android Market. It has a bilingual user interface featuring English and Espanol. It is compatible with DLNA or Digital Living Network Alliance via AllShare. Widgets including the AccuWeather Clock, Daily Briefing, News and Weather are included. It includes all of the standard level communications tools like alarm clock, world clock, calendar and memo. It is compatible with text, picture and video messaging with threaded messaging, consumer and corporate email. For Bluetooth it is compatible with the following profiles; Object Push for vCard & vCalendar, SPP, BPP, A2DP, AVRCP, GAVDP, AVDTP, and AVCTP. It has a 7” touch screen with a 1024×600 WSVGA TFT LCD Display supporting up to 16M colors with a 6-Axis Motion Sensor and Accelerometer. Keyboards available are the virtual QWERTY with Swype and Samsung keypad options. The official battery usage time is up to 780 minutes or up to 500 hours of standby time. I noticed that using the WiFi sharing via a 3G connection, the battery lasted about three hours. Finally, the Samsung Galaxy Tab has a Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor running at 1GHz with 2GB of internal memory and 16GB microSD card that is pre-installed. It can be expanded up to a 32GB microSD.

Thanks goes to Samsung for sending me this device to test and I hope to bring my readers more reviews of technology in the future. All is in an effort to help you decide on what to buy, with all of the technology available.

This is a big change in Acer’s strategy. The company has previously focused on the high-volume consumer PC business, trying and failing for a long time to overtake Hewlett-Packard as the number one PC manufacturer.

The CEO responsible for the previous strategy, Gianfranco Lanci, resigned yesterday after many disappointing months. During the fourth quarter of last year Dell overtook Acer as the number 2 PC maker in the world. This year did not start well either: Acer’s stock price has plummeted 22 percent since March 25 when the company slashed its first-quarter sales forecast.

Now the company is leaving cheap consumer notebooks and the quest for market share behind. It is focusing on profitability.

“There is good consensus among the board members that the tablet is the way to go,” Chief Financial Officer Tu Che-min told Bloomberg.

It’s no wonder tech companies would like to be like Apple with high margins and desirable products. According to Bloomberg, Apple had 21.5 percent profit margin last year. Acer had 2.3 percent. But it’s not easy to transform a company from a mass producer of netbooks to a high-margin brand. Acer knows that, and that’s why it is searching for a new CEO who is a leading player in smartphones and tablets.

Moving to tablets won’t be an easy task. Apple dominates the market with the iPad, and the competition is fierce. Motorola’s Xoom, BlackBerry’s Playbook, the new Samsung Galaxy Tab and HP TouchPad are just some of the devices trying to find their place in the market. Acer has its own Picasso tablet that uses the Android operating system, but there in no information available on the release date or pricing.

Tags: Galaxy Tab, iPad, market share, pc, PlayBook, tablet

Companies: Acer, Apple, Dell, HP, HTC, Samsung

People: Gianfranco Lanci, Tu Che-min