Nexus 7, Kindle Fire 2 or Ipad Mini

We are living in interesting times, there is a new form factor for table devices, and is selling like hot cakes. Kindle Fire 1 may have not been very hot but certainly when Amazon advertised it they generated a lot of interest, unfortunately for us in the UK we did not get to see this device.

Nexus 7 is a runaway success as we know, should we just go ahead and buy one? or wait for Kindle Fire 2 or the Ipad mini? I know some people may not be able to wait and quite understandably when the device is available at a price point as Nexus 7 it does not make a lot of sense to wait.

If you are ready to wait, you may soon see an announcement of Ipad 3 or the Ipad mini - the 7.8inch device from Apple soon, infact according to some very reliable sources Apple suppliers have already received orders and with retun be able to ship the new devices in time for end of Q3 and in time for Christmas.

Given the mini Ipad is a departure from what Steve Jobs has always been saying, the minimum screensize for a tablet should be 9.7inch which the ipad 2 and the more recent the new ipad is, it will be interesting to watch.

The display technology has imporoved a lot in just a short span of 1 year, but interstingly the new macbook pro with retina display is only available for models 15 inch and above, does it tell us Apple are still not ready to put their money on smaller displays? or just a red herring from Apple to keep the people guessing about a 7.8 inch table?

In anycase sources say the new Ipad mini may be available as soon as september or october, Amazon is already planning a Kindle Fire 2 in two display sizes, given the Kindle fire was only for the US, hopefully the Kindle Fire 2 will be for a more international audience.

I will prefer to wait and see how the competition hots up when we have all the 3 players - Google, Amazon and Apple trying to capture the market share.

Google has the advantage of being there already, but this may also become a disadvantage - we just have to wait and watch.

Ipad3 or the Ipad Mini

Steve Jobs though a 7" tablet was not a valid market, he may have been proved wrong with interest growing in devices like Kindle Fire or the more succesful Google Nexus 7.

With Steve Jobs out of the way, Apple 'may' be thinking about a 7.8" ipad, after the ipad2 the next iteration was dubbed 'the new ipad' so the ipad3 or the ipad mini as many websites call it affectionately, was still coming.

There are many a bytes on the internet  rife with expectations of a 7.8 inch device from Apple, infact there are some sites that also show 'leaked' photos of the alleged device Apple is readying for an assault on the nexus 7, what comes from Apple still requires to be seen.

Up until now Apple was the game changer, to be honest it is still in most areas they are active, but the 7.8 inch device has been in rumour since a very long time, and more importantly the Apple website does not say anything about it.

What requires to be seen is will Apple be able to match the price point on which Nexus 7 was introduced, Kindle Fire will have its new version the Kindle Fire 2 soon and the competition seems hotting up - lets see if Apple does intend to jump into the ring - how the fight progresses.

There is a difference in form factor, a 7" device is smaller as compared to a 7.8" and not too big, there is definetely better content for ipad around than android at the moment, with apps specifically for ipad in the apple store - which the google play is lacking at the moment.

All in all this is a good time to be around with the mini tablet war hotting up...

Microsoft Surface - a hardware experiment.

Microsoft's Surface announcement was an interesting move from the Redmond, more interesting because this was a foray into hardware and manufacturing which we did not expect mcrosoft to do.

At times where manufacturers are tying up with brands to come up with a hardware solution, this move was a little surprising one.

So, Microsoft is going the Apple way? MS has seen the tremendous success Apple have seen with tight integration of hardware and software, will we in future look at devices mired with redmond software? well this will be something to see and watch.

Available in two flavours one with Windows RT and one with Windows 8 pro, 32gb/64gb and 64gb/128gb prices are not announced yet, but given the trend of Kindle Fire, the Nexus and eminent Apple 7.8inch table, the price point most likely will be exiting none the less.

No dates have been announced, but i guess as we do have an official launch date for Windows 8, close to its heels we will also have launch date for Surface, lets wait and watch.

Google nexus 7 is a great device

Google nexus 7 is a great device comming from the ASUS this is a lovely piece of equipment, there has been a talk about an 7" ipad but before that can happen it was right timing from google to announce the nexus 7.

Nexus 7 is available to pre order from play.google.com starting from gbp159 for a 8gb model and 199 for a 16gb one.

Technical Specification:
The Display
IPS display with a resolution of 1280x800 HD display promises to give stunning display, great for videos, reading pdfs etc. For a lot of us with small children will be happy to learn the glass is scratch resistant Corning glass.

The CPU
Quad-core Tegra 3 processor make this a monster among its class, dwarfs Kindle fire and ups the game, all your processor intensive games will run smoothly on this device.

The battery
Google say it will last a long time infact straight from the google pages follows below:


9 hours of HD video playback
10 hours of web browsing
10 hours of e-reading
300 hours of standby

The battery is close to 4350 mAh, not to compare with the ipad huge memory, pretty much the ipad is made of the battery... but still battery life is ok.

On the whole this should be a great device, only thing is it is not extensible in the sense you cant put a external usb drive to extend the device's memory - but hey what the heck a lot of content is now online and so it seems Google is content in letting people fetch it from the cloud.

Taking this further google are also giving a voucher/gift card of 15gbp in the UK and 25usd in the US.

The device is available from many leading vendors like PC world, Currys, and even from Google through their play,google.com site.

Do leave your comments on how you feel having your device in your hand..