News for Wednesday, 24 September 2008

Yesterday, Google unveiled the first Android-based phone, the HTC G1.
Now, HTC is known for having released a number of "smartphones"whcih have all in their turn been dubbed as potential iPhone killers. But the iPhone is still alive...
The tech media went berserk when Google announced that the first phone that will run their Android phone OS would be a joint HTC/Google effort.
So, now that the gPhone has been unveiled, how good is it? Well, according to Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal,

In sum, the G1 is a powerful, versatile device which will offer users a real alternative in the new handheld computing category the iPhone has occupied alone.

Sounds rather good eh?
But wait, there is a catch... if you read his preview, it's a litany of "not as good as the iPhone", like:

[the phone] can only synchronize the phone’s calendar and address book with Google online services. Unlike the iPhone, it doesn’t work with Microsoft Exchange, and it can’t physically be synced with a PC-based calendar or contacts program, like Microsoft Outlook.

or

The G1 won’t win any beauty contests [...]. It’s stubby and chunky, nearly 30% thicker and almost 20% heavier than the iPhone. [...] has a somewhat smaller screen.
Still, it feels pretty good in the hand when closed, although I found it more awkward when opened.

So, he finds a LOT of shortcomings, but it is still solid? Google must have licensed the Reality Distortion Field from Apple...
Head over to the blog for an in-depth review of Walt's review...

Despite expectations from RAM manufacturers, the price of memory chips keeps going down.
While one could have expected that the “Back to school” period will lead to an increase of the RAM demand, the price went down from 15 to 40 % depending on the size of RAM chips. The decision taken by several manufacturers to slow down their production did not provide the expected effect on the market.
As end-users we can only be happy to be able to boost the RAM of our computers at a low price, so if you wanted to add additional modules, it is the right timing now.

In a short press release, Cisco announces to have acquired Jabber, the well known provider of presence and messaging software. Jabber is the protocol used by IM such as iChat, Adium or even Google. By acquiring Jabber, Cisco expects to enhance the existing presence and messaging functions of Cisco's Collaboration portfolio targeting enterprise organizations. It will also offer interoperability and enable collaboration across many different presence systems such as Microsoft Office Communications Server, IBM Sametime, AOL AIM, Google and Yahoo!
However, it remains unclear if Cisco will let current Jabber-based IM applications (such as iChat or Google) to use the protocole, and if Cisco will keep developing Jabber.

Sony unveiled new series of 11.1" notebook, in other word ultra-portable models:

Among specifications, let's mentioned:
- 1.3 kg
- 16:9 LED display with 1080p resolution as a BTO
- carbon fiber case
- Blu-ray
- Centrino 2 Platform
- HD or SSD up to 256 GB of storage space
Prices start at 2,000 USD and reached 2750 USD with a 128 GB SSD, as the price for the 256 GB SSD is not known yet.
With the release of the future MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models on October 14th, we hope that Apple can catch up with competitors for some key features (CPU, 1080p, BD, etc.). Maybe Apple will release a MacBook Air with a smaller display to compete with Asus eePC and other ultra portable notebooks.

As we reported it earlier, Adobe unveiled its CS4 suite yesterday with availability for the end of the year. One of the main new features for Photoshop is the ability to benefit from GPU processing power to speed up rendering and/or some functions.
If Apple was always offering graphic cards from the generation N-1 to Mac users, the new CS4 suite could push Cupertino to revise this weird strategy and better follow GPU availability, not only for gamers, but now for all Pro users. Indeed, Apple will most likely not let CS4 suite and other audio/video/graphic software to run faster on a Win-based PC than on a Mac, as it could push long-time Mac users to the PC world. So it has to do with market shares and Apple's image.

If in France we could blame Orange for having locked the data transfer speed for iPhone 3G owners for a short period of time, in USA, most iPhone owners could not get a call and/or send/receive any data from their device.
John Donovan, an exec from AT&T, admitted that the company underestimated the success of the iPhone and were pushed to react in emergency to upgrade their technical infrastructure. This was especially the case in large cities and for university campus.
If some carriers considered the iPhone as a "must have" device, then as the best way to attract new customers, they now realize that it will require massive investment in technical infrastructure for allowing data transfer linked to the way iPhone owners are now using their mobile phone and data transfer ability