Chromebook tidal wave...

I am a major fan of the Google Chromebook - both the hardware and the wider concept of dirt-cheap, cloud based computing and once again the Mountain View powerhouse has broken another barrier with the unveiling of another new laptop from Acer - the C7 - and it is the first under the magical £200 barrier, albeit £199.00. It's not as good a spec as the Samsung variants but the price point will no doubt broaden the appeal further.

Incredible Nex-Gen Android Phones

I had to blog about two of the most incredible new mobile phones that are available to buy now. The first is the aforementioned HTC One X - an amazing device with a feature set that is pretty much untouchable. It has a 4.7 inch screen, 1.5Ghz processor, 8 meg camera, 1080p video recording, photo shooting whilst video recording, Beats Audio, 32gb of storage, Dropbox included and 1gb of RAM. It is also backed up by a pretty slick advertising campaign...this commercial takes my breath away every time I watch it!

The One X is not the only phone to enter the fray however as the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S3 has also hit shelves. The S3 will look to continue the popularity of the S2 and has a similar aspect to the One X. It has a slgihtly larger 4.8 inch screen but also rocks HD resolutions and video recording, a quad core processor, 8 meg camera, 64 gigs of memory and S-Voice, Samsung's own voice control software amongst   numerous other features...many pretty similar to the One X.

With both phones running their own skin on top of Android 4.0 and having strong market presences already, it will be interesting to see which one comes out on top. The Galaxy range is pretty popular but HTC always make awesome phones so it will be a fun fight and a good time to be an Android user! Hopefully both will sell well...

The Joy of Chromebook

After great deliberation I finally took the plunge and bought a Google Chromebook. Regular readers will know that these are items I have debated and promoted greatly in the past and strongly believed they would be a terrific addition to the pc market. After using my Chromebook for the past week or so I am absolutely ecstatic with the product - it has been everything I had hoped for and more.

I plumped for the Samsung Series 5 wifi only model in Titan Silver (charcoal) and obtained it for an obscenely cheap price at a local discount retailer. I figured that I wouldn’t need the 3G option as my Nexus S can operate as a wireless hotspot giving me a portable connection when required.

First impressions when opening the box were that it was a refreshingly spartan product offering - no manuals, warranty cards etc. - just the laptop, charger and vga adapter cable. With everything plugged in and charging I then opened the device and hit the power button...

First boot sees you taken through a very quick walkthrough to establish a link with your wifi connection (which took seconds) and on how to use the nifty touch pad. You are then presented with your standard Google log-in page and a few keystrokes later - voila! I am then staring at Google Chrome with all my bookmarks, my own familiar desktop wallpaper (an image of the Nissan GTR if you must know!), my own Chrome apps and extensions and a rock solid internet connection. I was then off and surfing!

The device nice and quietly downloaded an update in the background which I applied at a later stage and that has been the only service activity - beyond that it has done exactly what it said on the tin - simple, web-centric computing based on the cloud delivery model. Google’s products are perfectly integrated with the device whilst I have yet to hit a glitch anywhere on other sites. As a result I have spent very little time in front of my traditional Win7 desktop pc preferring the portability of the Chromebook. What was particularly striking was the battery life (it went a whole week of use without needing charged) and the boot up speed - from off to surfing definitely takes under 10 seconds as advertised. You can tell the slowest part of the process is the establishing of a connection with the wifi - beyond that everything else just flies.

During the course of the week I was repairing a couple of friend’s laptops and had the Chromebook open to provide web-based assistance. Having a chance to compare a Windows laptop alongside the Samsung gave me further belief that the Chromebook is the future - no mucking about with patches, nagging software updates, slow boot times, limited storage space, installing apps, virus scans etc....the ability to open the lid and go is both refreshing and liberating and family members who tried the device thought it was too...

In short, I cannot rate the Chromebook highly enough and roundly recommend it to everyone...

The Galaxy Nexus lifts off...

Well the rumours have been proven correct for the most part (except the name which is confirmed as the Galaxy Nexus rather than Nexus Prime)...

The newest pure Android phone has been unveiled and looks incredible. The device features Android v4.0 (codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich) and has other nifty features not described in my previous post such as facial recognition software that unlocks your phone, tap-to-share data transferring via Android Beam, a panoramic camera, Google's new social network-focused People app and a barometer (!). It's also tightly integrated with the cloud.

Thankfully many of us running previous editions of Android will also see these benefits as 4.0 is rolled out in the coming months but there is little doubt that the Galaxy Nexus combines the state-of-the-art in terms of Android software development and cutting-edge mobile hardware, leaving its rivals in the shade...it is expected to land in November 2011

Nexus Next...

It appears that official word on the latest Nexus android phone will be unveiled shortly in an announcement delayed from the 11th of October due to the passing of Steve Jobs. The Nexus Prime, as it is apparently to be known, will now be unveiled by Samsung and Google on the 19th of October. It is significant as it is likely to be the first device released that runs the 4.0 edition of Android known as ‘Ice-Cream Sandwich’.  

The device is expected to be a beast with a 1.2Ghz processor-powered core, a gig of RAM and 32gigs of internal storage. It will also be capable of playing 720p HD video via its super AMOLED screen and recording 1080p HD video via it’s 5meg rear camera.

The device follows on from the two previous and highly popular Nexus devices - the Nexus One made by HTC and the Nexus S also made by Samsung. Nexus devices are seen as the purest Android phones, devoid of any manufacturer cruft or gloss, leaving only the cleanest Google experience from which all other Android devices are designed to flow.

It will be interesting to see if the Prime continues this legacy....