Samsung Galaxy Note- Ice Cream Sandwich not until Q2

 

Samsung Galaxy Note owners will have to keep twiddling their S Pens a little longer in the wait for Ice Cream Sandwich. While the Samsung Galaxy S 2 is starting to get ICS rolled out this week, the extra coding required for the stylus-toting Note will mean a wait until as late as June for its new Premium Suite software.

The update to Premium Suite – which includes all your favourite S Pen apps – will mean S Note now recognises and digitises numeric formulas, geometric shapes and even grids and tables (scientists: cheer now). The update will also include My Story, a tool that lets you create digital cards using anything from notes and texts, to videos, photos and even voice recordings (blokes who forget birthdays until the last minute: cheer now).

And finally you'll get access to an exclusive Angry Birds Space level. There's also 30 Danger Zone levels. Will it be worth the wait?

Android 5.0 – Jelly Bean Features

Google has already released Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich which will soon make its way to several smartphones and tablets all over. However, it is now expected that the next generation of Andriod – Android 5.0 or Jelly Bean – will soon arrive with new features. 

 

Although several features have been rumored on the Internet, there are a few which the fans will want to see. Here are 8 features we want integrated in the Jelly Bean.

Toggle Options: Google would do its users much help by adding toggle switches in the new version of the Android as it would greatly save the smartphone or tablet’s battery since toggle options will enable you to switch on/off applications. HTC smartphones already have several toggle switches to turn on/off GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Efficient File Management: An efficient file manager is what everybody is expecting with the new Android 5.0 because a smartphone or tablet will have an immense number of movies, music and other random media files that will even make a 32 GB memory look small, and hence a good file manager is the very least to expect from Google as soon as the new OS arrives. It is always better to have an integrated file managing service rather than downloading or buying one externally.

Themes: Google has to include some good themes to the new Jelly Bean OS. Although the later versions of Android after Froyo – Gingerbread, Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich – all look cool, nobody would want an all black theme for their devices as people have their own choices and likings. It is high time Google introduced some themes along with its new OS.

A Better Browser: A better integrated browser or simply a mobile version of Google’s own Chrome with constant on-screen tabs with a bookmark bar will be a welcome addition by Google along with the new OS. This is one area where Google might want to sweat it out as two of their major competitors in the market – iOS and Windows – have already done so with their own browsers like Safari and IE, respectively. Although there is support for Chrome Bookmark sync service in Android 4.0, it’s not enough.

 

Screen Lock: Google could introduce several lock screen widgets to the Jelly Bean. These widgets will greatly help in viewing any notifications with the screen locked. However this may not be possible if you have a passcode or pattern lock enabled for security reasons. But other small widgets like music player update, weather or custom clocks could be added. These are currently available in the HTC Sense 3.0 and 3.5.

Upgrade Procedure: Anyone who has gone through the procedure of updating or upgrading their Android device will know that the process takes a lot of time, and sometimes too long, unless your device is unlocked. Although the newly announced Ice Cream Sandwich promises to bring in the updates faster, it is still to be seen if that happens as compared to the previous Android versions. And even if faster upgrades fail to arrive this time, it is expected that this will start happening as soon as Jelly Bean arrives.

Improved Operating System: Google would really be a dangerous opponent in the OS market if it somehow manages to tweak the Jelly Bean so that the device doesn’t have to deal with heavy battery loss with dual or quad core processors in place that aim to make the device faster and smarter. Few reports have even claimed that the current Android versions are a bit sluggish than Windows Phone 7, let alone iOS.

Keyboard Issues: A standard keyboard is a must for the new Android 5.0 as in the absence of any specific Google-designed keyboard Swype and Swiftkey are providing as much assistance as they possibly can and have actually provided smart and quality keyboards. However, it may be better for Google to not depend on these and actually work on a standard keyboard for the next generation OS.

 

Rumored Slimmer MacBook Pro in production

 

you like the MacBook Air but wished it was more powerful like the Macbook Pro, you might be in luck. We’ve heard rumors about an ultrathin MacBook Pro in the past but according to the folks over at DigiTimes, it is currently in production. According to their sources, the computers are being made right now and will be shipped out sometime this month.

These Macbook Pros will arrive in 13″ and 15″ models and are said to have no more optical drives as well, which will let them have a slimmer profile. The MacBook Pro computers are also said to feature more advanced specs than the MacBook Air in terms of CPU performance and storage capacity.

As is the case with DigiTimes stories, they’re more often misses than hits so take this news with a pinch of salt. But if they turn out to be true, you can expect the new, slimmer Macbook Pros to arrive pretty soon.

Apple's $10 billion share buyback

Summary: Apple announced its plans to spend $45 billion of its cash reserve over the next three years, including a cash dividend and a $10 billion share repurchasing program. 

 

Apple, the world’s richest technology company, announced its plans to spend $45 billion of its cash reserve over three years. 

It sounds like a lot, but compared to it raking in over $13 billion in profit in the last quarter alone, it barely scrapes the surface of Apple’s value as a company. 

The company will issue a quarterly divided of $2.65 a share. In doing so, it bows down to investor pressure, but keeps potential investors interested. Apple doesn’t need to give back to those who invest, however, as it continues to show considerable growth.

The board has also authorised a $10 billion share buyback program to start in fiscal 2013, after September 1, and to be carried through over three years. This gives Apple the option to buy more stock if it wishes.

In a press release, the reason for its share repurchasing plan is to: “neutralize the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs.”

The dividend starts in the fiscal fourth-quarter, after July 1. It is the first dividend Apple has issued in 17 years, ZDNet's Jason D. O'Grady reports.

“We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure,” chief executive Tim Cook said.

“You’ll see more of all of these in the future.”

Shares of Apple were up 2.4 percent in premarket trading. Earlier this month, the company scraped the $600 a share mark, but fell slightly over the following days.

 

Apple iPad (3rd generation) review

This year, it’s all about the screen. The third-generation iPad has lots of other improvements but it’s the brilliance of the display which leaps out at you as soon as you wake the screen. 

 

Apple has come in for some criticism that the new iPad doesn't offer as many new features as some had hoped. But, with the new screen and improved GPU the battery has also had to be improved and its capacity increased – it's nearly twice as capacious as the one in the iPad 2. With all that, it's not a huge surprise that there aren't a raft of new features.

Jaw-dropping screen

As you may know, it has four times as many pixels as last year’s iPad 2, which wasn’t exactly a slouch in the display department. The 3.1 million pixels give a resolution of 264 pixels per inch, which is enough to make picking out the individual dots completely impossible.

As a result, text which had previously seemed perfectly readable is suddenly sharper, with a crispness that rivals print. No more jagged edges on curved lines, no matter how much you squint. It’s hard to convey what a major, but also subtle, change this is. Stare at it in the right light and it looks like it could be a printed photograph, not an electronic display. 

Suddenly, even if you absolutely prefer reading books to ebooks – and who wouldn’t? – the new iPad becomes a much more tempting prospect. Of course, it is still a backlit screen rather than restful-on-the-eyes paper, but this is the first iPad to be a better e-reader than the Kindle in terms of sharpness. Though in bright sunlight Amazon’s e-ink screen still wins out.

The new screen also has greater colour saturation – an increase of 44 per cent, according to Apple – which lifts the vividness of the screen. And it does this without becoming over-saturated or garish.

This is a great technical achievement: to squeeze in this many pixels could easily have resulted in image noise, crosstalk or any number of visual artefacts, but Apple has pulled it off. Not once have we seen the display look blurry or anything less than stable and pin-sharp. According to Apple, that’s because the pixels have been distanced from the signal which tells them when to turn on and off or how brightly to burn. However it’s been achieved, it works flawlessly.

Of course, it’s down to the A5X chip, as well. This is an improvement to last year’s A5 CPU, found in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. It’s worth noting that the CPU itself remains the same, but the graphics capabilities have been specifically changed, upgrading the graphics processor to quad-core.

There’s more to say about the 2012 iPad than just the new display, but in passing, let’s note that this is an expensive component. It’s hard to believe that rival tablet-makers will be able to match, let alone undercut, Apple’s prices.

 

Developers are gearing-up for high resolution

Enhanced graphics in iPad games will arrive quickly as app developers update their programs to match the high-resolution screen, though until then, they’re upscaled nicely.

Some apps are already being retina-ed, such as Pocket-lint favorite Tweetbot Comparing the new iPad to the iPad 2 shows the new version is discreetly different. The text is universally sharper and tidier, and profile photos look punchier – though obviously the quality of those images is variable.

Improved camera

The camera on the new iPad is a big improvement over last year’s iPad 2, where the resolution of the video-optimised camera was less than 1 megapixel. Although the new model is 5MP, not the 8MP you’ll find on the iPhone 4S, it’s pretty good. Not least because of the lens structure, the f/2.4 aperture and the backside illuminated sensor - it sounds vulgar, but it just means the camera’s wiring isn’t in the way of the sensor.

No tablet is going to become your camera of choice because it’s just not compact enough to be handled easily, but the results here were impressive. Happily, the newly released iPhoto shines on this display, so you can look at the shots you’ve just taken in all their glory. This app is a powerful and effective photo editor that is a joy to use.

Dictation is here, but no Siri

There’s no Siri on the new iPad – which is a shame – though arguably the best part of it is here: dictation. With Siri, if you’re dictating a text message and Siri mishears a word, you have to start dictating again from the beginning. With dictation, things are much better. As with the iPhone 4S, if you have an internet connection, every keyboard that appears has a microphone key. Touch it to launch dictation and the software will listen and transcribe, including punctuation marks.

If you have an iPad 2, you can use Dragon Dictation or Vlingo, excellent apps which transcribe very well, but don’t make it easy for you to attach the transcribed text to an email, say. Apple's dictation lets you talk straight into an email.

 

4G, just not in the UK

Dictation is just one application that needs a decent data speed to work well. The new iPad has the capability to handle up to 42Mbps - though the masts that offer these speeds are far from ubiquitous. And though the box says “Wi-Fi and 4G”, you’ll get 4G LTE speeds only in the US, not the UK, even when 4G LTE arrives.

Not perfect, but not far off

The iPad still isn’t perfect. If we really can’t have 4G, at least an indication when you’re connected to the fastest speeds (HSPA+ etc) instead of plain 3G would be good. After all, the iPad is set up to say when you're on plain old GPRS or EDGE.

It would also be good if there were better connectivity: not more slots, but a more effective USB adaptor so it’s easier to take photos off the tablet when there’s no data connection, for instance. And we'd like it if, among all the localisation that is embedded,  a UK iPad knew we spell “Favourites” with a u in it.

It's also worth remembering that new, high-resolution apps will take up more space on your iPad. Apple still hasn't moved beyond the 64GB maximum storage capacity yet, and we really think this new iPad could use a storage boost. Especially if you factor in new, 1080p videos coming to iTunes. 

Google To Release New Ice Cream Sandwich Update For Nexus S

 

I don’t blame Nexus S users for feeling a bit forgotten — for a device ostensibly meant to be on the cutting edge of Android updates, the Nexus S hasn’t had much luck on the Ice Cream Sandwich front.

If sources hold true though, that may all change very shortly. According to the latest news, Google is once again preparing to make the Ice Cream Sandwich update available, and it’s expected to drop within the “next few weeks.”

Google initially pushed out the update in mid-December 2011, but issues with battery life and the occasional sketchy wireless connection eventually caused them to stop pushing up the date to users. At the time, Google said the update was paused so they could “monitor feedback,” and many users were ultimately without a way to upgrade.

There were still ways to get the update going, if you were lucky. T-Mobile Nexus S users could download the update and install it manually, but anyone who didn’t feel up to the task were plumb out of luck. Sprint customers working with Nexus S 4Gs have actually had it even worse — while their GSM brethren at least got a crack at downloading the update, Google has been quiet about an update for the CDMA/WiMax variant since day one. Thankfully, their patience is finally being rewarded — that is, if they haven’t bit the bullet and loaded up a custom ROM already.

Where in the World is Ice Cream Sandwich?

 Google's roll-out of Android 4.0, dubbed "Ice Cream Sandwich," has stalled, stifling its positive impact on the Android platform.

 

The fourth version of the Mountain View, Calif.- based company's mobile operating system made its debut on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus late last year. Critics praised the reworked platform for its clean user interface and strong features, but manufacturers' failure to release the update for their devices has left ICS as nothing but a rumor for most Android phone owners.

Companies reassured consumers at the Mobile World Congress new handsets running Android 4.0 are on the way, but millions of users with current devices have now been waiting months for the update. The Samsung Galaxy S2, Motorola Droid Razr and HTC Rezound, three of most successful devices this past holiday season, are still operating on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

Manufacturers are putting updated release plans in motion, with most promising a launch of the OS early in the second quarter of this year. Motorola, for instance, updated its schedule of devices due to receive ICS updates. However, rumors are surfacing about Google's next update to Android, and the botched launch of ICS has left a black eye on the company and its platform.

Part of the reason is due to Google's ever-present issue of fragmentation. Smartphone makers have taken their time getting the ICS update out to their devices, as they engineer their own custom skins and bloatware to work properly with the new platform. Manufacturers customize the newest version of the Android OS to better position themselves against their own competition, but Google's software is spending time on the shelf getting stale.

As phone makers take their time customizing the OS, Android is losing ground to its rivals. Google is in a constant battle with Apple's iOS in the world of smartphone software. ICS introduced some new ideas in the Android platform that inspired jealousy in even the most die-hard Apple fans, but the software's inability to saturate the market with the platform has neutralized any advantage the company could have gained.

As a result, instead of going head-to-head with Apple and iOS 5 with top-of-the-line devices running ICS, Google stands by as the 4S enjoys the best sales in the history of the iPhone, due in part to facing competition running the outdated Gingerbread OS.

Google's decision to make Android a licensed open-source operating system has left it vulnerable to problems like the poor roll-out of ICS. It appears as if Android 4.0 will finally make it to users devices this spring, but it just won't be quite as fresh as it would have been four months ago.