Archos Announces New Android Tablet with Less Storage Space than a Hello Kitty USB Stick

by on in Android Tablets

ARCHOS 80 Xenon

Archos has announced an upcoming new and low-priced Android tablet – the Archos 80 Xenon. It runs Android Jelly Bean, has 3G data capabilities, a quad-core CPU – and will cost just $200 when it’s released next month.

But … check out this detail in the 80 Xenon’s spec sheet, emphasis mine:

Capacity • 4GB* + micro SD (compatible with cards up to 64GB)

4GB of storage! Seriously? It’s billed as an ‘Internet on the go’ device – but perhaps they should make that ‘Internet Only’. 4GB is something you expect on a Hello Kitty USB stick your daughter asks you to buy as one of those impulse purchase goodies on the way out of a Best Buy store.

I wonder whether the 4GB is even an available space number. Or is it 4GB minus system files and Archos built-in apps – i.e the Greedy Samsung approach to available storage.

I really, really wish manufacturers would stop listing the microSD expansion up to 64GB right alongside the actual storage numbers. This is clearly meant to give the impression that the real storage amount is no problem – because you can just easily pop a card in and increase it by 64GB. Which is … just not true, because on Android you cannot store apps on an external SD card – just music and media. So I think it’s cynical and misleading for device vendors to keep placing that sort of text right alongside their storage capacity numbers.

If you’re in the market for a Hello Kitty USB Stick low-priced Android Internet tablet you can see more info at the Archos 80 Xenon product page. Or if you’re after a bit more storage, you could have a look at this Hello Kitty USB stick.

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Quick Thoughts on the New Google Play Music All Access App / Service

by on in Android Apps

Google Play Music All Access app

One of the many cool new things announced and launched at the Google I/O event yesterday was Google Play Music All Access.  The new app and subscription service was touted as ‘Radio without rules’ by Google, and looks to be pitched as a rival to Spotify, Rdio and other similar streaming services. Another phrase that was used to describe it and sounded quite good is this one:

As lean back as you want it to be, as interactive as you want it to be

I have only just recently switched over from Spotify to Rdio as my streaming service, after a terrible experience with Spotify on Android. So my interest was piqued pretty quickly on this app – and even more so when they announced that the service could be trialed free for a month and if you sign up for a trial by June 30 you get it at $7.99 per month, rather than its standard $9.99 rate.

As soon as the talk on Google Play Music All Access was done, I was searching the web to see whether it was live yet. It was and I signed up for the trial and the $7.99 deal within just a few minutes. I also installed the update for the Google Play Music soon after on my Galaxy Note 2.

I’ve been using Google Play Music All Access a lot in a web browser and on the Note 2 and have some quick thoughts and notes on it to share. Here they are, in no particular order at all:

– What a mouthful of a name – I may get some sort of repetitive strain injury just typing out Google Play Music All Access so many times in this post. I’m not holding my breath, but I’d love to see it given a shorter, sharper name. In the meantime, I’ll call it GPMAA for the rest of this post.

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Kickstarter Phoenix Project To Bring Android Apps To HP TouchPad

by on in Android Apps, webOS Tablets

HP AndroidDo you remember HP’s brief schizophrenic foray into the tablet market when they bought Palm and introduced their webOS-powered TouchPad tablet, only to drop their drawers on the price and dump their inventory as fast as possible only a couple months after launch when sales were lethargic? I have a TouchPad among my stable of gadgets and like tinkering with it now and then for the sake of nostalgia. According to the folks over at Android Community, there may be some new life breathed into the TouchPad due to the Phoenix Kickstarter project to bring Android apps to the HP TouchPad.

Named after the mythical bird that burns and then rises anew from the ashes, Phoenix is a fitting name for a project that could resurrect the usefulness of many TouchPad tablets that are out there in the wild. The Phoenix project has raised the initial $35,000 goal needed for development costs, which means that in the not-too-distant future TouchPad tablet owners may be able to run many Android apps. Intriguing!

July is the target date for developers to release the software, so we’ll have to wait until then to see if we can run Android apps on the current “novelty” HP TouchPad tablet. You can head over to Kickstarter right here for more details on the project and to get updates. It’s encouraging to know that they plan on doing further development, like adding support for Android 4.0, with monies raised beyond their $35,000 goal. How many of you out there have an HP TouchPad and, if so, will you be blowing off the dust to run Android apps via Phoenix?

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Google I/O Keynote – 3 Hours of Goodness

by on in Google

Google IO 2013

I’ve been a hardcore iOS guy for years now – since the day that iOS came into existence back in 2008, and even leading up to its launch in July of that year.

Recently though, I’ve found the first two Android devices that have really impressed me – the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and especially the Galaxy Note 2. So this week I’ve found myself very interested in what the bi Google I/O event’s keynote presentation might bring – a first for me. I even tuned in to watch the keynote live on YouTube earlier. I watched the full three hour event (plus most of the Q&A that went past three hours) with just one quick bathroom break. And I was never even a little bit bored.

Here are some very quick thoughts on the Google I/O keynote:

– Great presentation all around. Impressive graphics, good professional presenters, and all of it flowed along and kept my interest – despite the length.

– Vic Gundotra is one heck of an impressive presenter. Maybe not quite the charisma level of Steve Jobs, but every bit as effective at getting the message across and making it compelling.

– Some massive Android numbers. 900 million activations as of this year – more than double the 2012 total. Google Play has surpassed 48 billion downloads. And Revenue per User is 2.5 times what it was a year ago, globally. That’s go to be a big plus in the eyes of developers.

– The changes to Google+ look good. I have found it by far and away the most interesting social network for the last year or more and it just keeps getting better and better.

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Trying Out a Cross Platform Apps Approach

by on in Android Apps

Google Apps

Now that I’m using both an Android and an iOS device heavily every day, I’m striving to adopt a cross-platform apps and services diet.

Since I’ve switched over to the Galaxy Note 2 as my everyday / only smartphone, I’m once again getting a lot of use out of my phone. As I mentioned in a recent post on the Galaxy Note 2’s excellent battery life, while my iPhone had become just a phone and camera for me the Galaxy Note 2 has quickly become much more of an all-rounder device with plenty of apps getting regular use.

For me that means that now both the iPad mini and the Galaxy Note 2 are getting heavy daily use. So I’m looking for ways to work smoothly across both devices and my iMac PC. For now, I’m focusing on finding great apps and services that can easily be used across both mobile devices and the iMac.

Here are some of the apps and services that are working well for me:

Dropbox: I’ve been a huge fan of Dropbox for file sync and backup for years now. It has been a staple on my Macs and iOS devices and I happily pay for a premium account. I love how effortless its sync process is and the huge amount of 3rd party app support for it on iOS. It works like a charm on the Galaxy Note 2 of course, and is available to share to wherever I need so far.

Photo Transfer App: Another old favorite from iOS. This app is easy to use and works beautifully between Android and iOS devices (and Windows and Mac PCs) for fast photo and video transfer.

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How To Improve Your Tablet Performance

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Have you ever been playing your favorite game or surfing the net on your tablet and noticed things getting sluggish, lagging, or just downright slower than a dial-up modem? If you have, it can be frustrating and time-consuming. Fortunately, there are a few simple things you can do to improve the performance of your tablet [...]

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