8. Amazon Kindle

There is obviously a lot of difference between what an iPad can do to what an Amazon Kindle. The purpose of the iPad was for it to also be compatible with iBook which is in essence the sole purpose of the Kindle – an eBook reader. So it is really what you want from the device, the Kindle is on its third generation in the UK and even has its own eBooks store.

Another big plus is if you just want an eBook reader, the Kindle is priced at £109 for a Wi-Fi only and £149 for 3G + Wi-Fi. With 4GB internal memory all ready for eBooks, the battery life will last you around one month and its e-ink screen means it not as harsh as an iPad to the naked eye.

So if you want an eBook reader, you may need to look no further than the Kindle.

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Well we haven’t seemed to have heard much in the news in terms of the Dell Streak due to Dell concentrating on their new line of Windows Phone 7 devices.

The Dell Streak seemed to be quite a bulky mini tablet – well you can’t really call it a smart phone as there isn’t really any phone facility.

It was safe to say though that for a mini tablet, it boasted some pretty respective specification such as a 16GB internal memory, android (a good yet predictable platform for customisation), 1GHz processor and V1.6 Android.

Now the big news is that supposedly there is going to be an update from V1.6 Android to V2.2 Froyo before the end of the month.

The following message was posted on Dell UK’s Facebook account:

#DellStreak will begin a rollout of the 2.2 update OTA before the end of Nov. This is happening over a period of time and staggered by region, starting in the UK.You will receive notification of the update directly on your Streak. If you don’t see it before the end of Nov, please be patient as your build may be happening at a later stage.

And you know what this update means? Yep – no plugging it into your PC to update your firmware, it will all happen over the air.

Source: Dell Facebook and Android Community



With Notepads, Laptops and Tablets all getting lighter, faster and reputable platforms being installed onto them such as Windows, Android and iOS4, we’ve seen many releases over the past few months.  The most popular tablet by far has been the Apple iPad.

The concept of the iPad was incorporating a capacitive touch screen (runs on a heat source, no stylus) and a larger version of an iPod Touch. The iPad has proved extremely popular for something so simple and so similar to the aforementioned iPod Touch, however it has ended up selling two million units within two months.

Apple are currently the market leader for “Tablets”, however many other vendors want a share of that market, meaning we have seen a lot of leaks online for tablets such as the HP Slate.  Due to the recent acquisition of Palm by HP, the Slate will probably not end up with Windows 7, but more likely webOS – the operating system currently used in Palm phones.

We have also seen products from Lenovo and Samsung where they have crammed Android onto their tablet products.  However, with virtually every manufacture cramming Android into their product, even the knock off ones from China, this may not provide them with a competitive edge or a compelling reason to buy.

In the past quarter we have seen the release of the Dell Streak which was produced as a smartphone but with browsing compatibility and no calling function. The Dell Streak can only be compared to the iPad as it’s marketed with a Data Plan.

Dell’s attempt at competing with the iPhone is likely to be put on hold until a more competitive operating system is released – Windows Mobile 7.

A lot of us are still waiting for a proper tablet to be introduced to the SME market.  The manufacturer who currently has the largest foothold in the SME gadget marketplace e.g. smartphones is RIM with its Blackberry product range. As Blackberry currently produce smartphones sold to both SME and Consumer, we know that they have the right credentials to work in both markets.

The online rumours surrounding Blackberry and the probability of them producing a Tablet has steadily been increasing. Recently, thanks to Mobile Crunch, they have discovered that Blackberry have registered a domain ‘www.blackpad.com’ for themselves. This could possibly suggest that RIM/ Blackberry have something up their sleeves – all that we know is that Blackberry is possibly developing something which will go into direct competition with Apple.

The Balckberry tablet is expected to have the following iPad killing features:

• Two cameras (one front facing)
• A faster processor
• New BlackberryOS6
• Bluetooth

and a few other’s that will definitely set it apart from the competition.

Whilst many features are still quite vague, we do know that Blackberry are producing it with a 9.7inch screen, it will make it work very close with their other Blackberry products and that it will be unveiled in November ready for Christmas.

Stay tuned for more information.