FLYABYTE - Filed under 'devices'

FLYABYTE covers products and news related to Cloud Computing for consumers, including: Web Applications, Operating Systems, Devices, Online Storage, and much more. It was created and is edited by Raphael Fontes, a Brazilian tech enthusiast that lives in Dublin. He has 11 years of experience working for Internet companies and has been following the Cloud Computing evolution very closely.

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devices

December 3, 2011

i'm watch - the first real smartwatch in the world? Well, Fossil was the first.

When I was a Palm OS user, I was never convinced by the "Fossil Abacus" watch. It was cool, but why would anyone buy it?

A new Italian company is trying again. And they did it in a very nice way. I doubt anyone can say the "I'm" Android watch is not cool. However, I'm not convinced it will take off.

First, the name is ... well, I hope Apple lawyers are not reading. Besides, do users really need another mobile device with such small screen? It took us a while to convince ourselves that tablets were needed (in addition to our phones), and they can be way more usefull. I honestly don't see myself reading, editing a doc or playing Angry Birds on my watch. Am I missing some use case? They are teasing a proprietary music market... but hold on: can't I just buy an iPod nano with a wrist strap for less than half the price and use all the music I already have on iTunes?

Well, I really wish these folks the best, but in my opinion this will be a niche product. And I'm likely one of the geeks who will end up buying one.

Prices start at EUR 249,00 and they start shipping January 30.

Check it out here.

Filed under // devices

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October 5, 2011

Apple's stock price could be up today if they launched new products as the car industry does

Apple launched the iPhone 4S yesterday. The new phone is a very significant upgrade from the previous version, and almost everything was improved: camera, battery life, reception, operating system, processor, price, you name it. Sounds like a lot to keep consumers and investors happy, right? Unfortunately not. Simply because the new phone is not called iPhone 5.

You might ask: why didn't Apple name it iPhone 5 then? Because the exterior is exaclty the same. And it should be! It is a gorgeous design that needs no update. For now. But Apple was the one that created this trap, by releasing a different version each year and naming the phones with sequential numbers.

That's not the case with new cars. Every year there is a new model for every car, but they sell it as the year model, not a sequencial number. And that's enough to keep people happy. The Audi A3 is an example of a beautifuly designed car that needed no change on the outside for many years. And the feature changes introduced every year were certainly not as significant as the ones Apple announced yesterday. But customers would be happy, just because they had the 20XX version of the car.

Is an iPhone 5 still to come this year? I doubt. Apple would not waste all the media attention yesteday if they had something significant to launch before Christmas. But who am I to say? I have no inside information and use a Nexus S. What I know is that the new 4S looks very impressive, and will likely continue to push the competition further so we can have better and cheaper devices every year.

Filed under // devices

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May 26, 2011

Ecopad Concept Tablet Powered By Touch [via SlashGear]

via slashgear.com

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May 11, 2011

Introducing the Chromebook

via youtube.com

Not convinced? Did you know you can now play Angry Birds on one of those?

Filed under // OS devices

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May 7, 2011

PocketBook 360°: smallest e-ink book reader, cheaper than Kindle and Nook

via pocketbook-usa.com

I was always a fan of the Cybook Opus e-book reader. Its small form-factor and high quality build brought a good alternative to the Kindle. The price, though, was never competitive.

For $129, the PocketBook 360 offers extreme portability with an on-screen keyboard to be used in the rare occasions you might need it. It comes in black or white (my preference) and has a sleek cover included.

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April 30, 2011

Netbooks down 40%: the tablet effect in real numbers

via liliputing.com

Netbooks were the pioneers in offering a "full" computing experience through mobile and affordable devices. With the rise of tablets, it is expected that a good portion of sales will be cannibalized.

For checking email and browsing the web, arguably the new Android devices and the iPad offer a better experience. However, there are a few caveats:

Price: although you can currently buy Chinese low-end tablets for ~USD 200, the quality of hardware and software is totally questionable. The Nook Color is an exception, specially with the recently lauched official support for Android apps.
Phisical Keyboard: If you write a lot, you probably need a proper keyboard. Although soft-keyboards are getting better, they don't fully replace the "real" ones.
Computing needs: for some less-savvy users, netbooks can fully replace laptops. That is more noticeable in countries where the price gap makes it prohibitive to buy notebooks.

In my opinion, given the reasons above, there will still be a place for netbooks. However, I certainly expect tablet sales to go up significantly, replacing a great portion of the market for netbooks. For me, I can totally see my eee PC sharing its time share with my iPad. ;)

Original article from Liliputing here.

Filed under // devices trends

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April 12, 2011

Kindle with Special Offers: first step for a free Kindle?

via amazon.com

Available for pre-order for USD $114,00, this Kindle version will use the screen savers to show you offers from Amazon. In my personal opinion, I'd still prefer to pay USD $25 extra to avoid being bombarded during my reading time. However, if the device was free, than it would be a totally different conversation.

Is it the first step in this direction? I have no idea, but it seems to me that folks at Amazon are probably slowly testing the idea with consumers to see how popular it will become. I'm curious to see the results.

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April 8, 2011