World Round Up: UK T-Mo Pulse – Mexico Milestone – India Nexus One – Germany and S Korea Tablets
Keeping our finger on the pulse
I bought a T-Mobile Pulse (Huawei U8220) because its a robust little phone and apparently nigh on impossible to brick. I installed the 2.1 update when it became available in Hungary earlier this year rather than wait for the UK roll out and it works fine. Imagine my surprise then to hear that T-Mo are suspending the 2.1 update for UK users and advising Pulse customers to reinstall 1.5 if they are having problems and wait until October when they will be re-releasing the 2.1 update. Puzzling.
Droid doesn’t
An interesting line of text was pulled from a Motorola upgrade timeline. Milestone (Droid) users in Mexico and Latin America will not be getting the Froyo (2.2) upgrade, ever. Despite the 2.2 roll out already having begun in the US. Very puzzling.
Nexus None
Despite originally planning to bring the Google/HTC Nexus One to India, Vinay Goel, product head for Google India says the plans have now been cancelled. This is due more than anything else to the rapidly dropping prices of smartphones in the subcontinent with prices now often below the Rs.10,000 ($210) mark.
AG SmartBook reborn
Now this looks sweet. A 7 inch tablet with Android 2.1, 720MHz of kick and 2GB of internal storage all for €250 ($320). Its called the Surfer (pictured) and its made in Germany by AG, who invented the word ‘SmartBook’.
Bigger not always better
The iPad’s 10 inch screen looks and sounds impressive but as the choice of tablets grows, it seems that customers prefer gadgets that fit in their pocket or bag more easily and the 7 inch tablet seems to be the size of choice emerging from sales statistics and, as if to back my theory up, in South Korea SK Telecom are launching the Samsung Galaxy Tab in September and KT Corp are also planning and Android Tab manufactured by Enspert Inc which could be released next week. And finally further compounding my theory that we prefer 7 to 10 in tabs LG U+ are planning something similar for early next year.
Category: General
Yeah. 7" seems to be a sweet-spot. I don't know if that is based on any real-world user experience or if it was based on the fact that 7" models are more affordable and therefor more attractive to consumers, or if the form factor is more appealing. However, just take a look at a site such as Euogo.com and you'll find that the vast majority (10/13 so far) are 7-8", and the remaining are 10+. When you factor in the tablets coming from bug name manufacturers, and the recent rumors of a smaller iPad, you have to wonder if 7" is the way to go. If only they would start putting 720p screens in them…
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