The market of tablets has grown very impressively over the last two years since the inception of the first generation iPad. With the passage of time the importance of tablets in everyday life is constantly increasing, even though they were initially criticized for their limitations. These days, you can use them to watch video content, stream music, interact with other on social networking forums and perform a variety of other tasks. This has given rise to the idea of ‘smart homes’ where the technical products would be completely integrated with each other. For example, you can use your iPad to control the Apple TV and with the passage of time, the penetration of tablet technology into over lives would certainly increase.

With the increasing influence of technology on our lives and the cloud technology, tablet can be used as the control center of the entire technically equipped house. For example, the security systems, television, lights and fans, alarms and even curtains could be controlled with the tablet in your hand sitting on the sofa. With the passage of time, it is possible that you would be able to perform all these tasks while being away from your home. Already we have manufacturers who have been developing apps for home automation system. Control4 is one such company that also has a iPad app and also owns a platform for which developers can create their apps. The company creates its own hardware for home automation and security systems. Besides, with this system you can also control the lights, temperature and operate electronics. A special iPad like product with the name of Comcast’s Xfinity Home Security product has been created by the company that can be used for these purposes. This device has its own iOS app and also comes with cellular data backup connection that can be used in case the broadband connection gets disconnected for some reason. Such systems are also being increasingly used for web-connected home security system, which are a cheaper and reliable alternative to rather expensive home surveillance systems. The Web Cam Technology used in these devices relies on the cloud based technology to maintain the footages recorded for security purposes. The footages recorded from these devices can be viewed from any tablet as long as you have the proper app installed.

So basically the increasing influence of tablets would enhance our everyday comfort with the help of smart phones where everything would be connected and automated and would certainly see the realization of all this in near future.

We have the latest version of the Apple iPad while Samsung has also announced the next version of its famous tablet Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 during the Mobile World Congress. Among the Android tablets, Samsung’s tablet is the most popular tablet in the market while Apple’s iPad is, as we already know, the most popular tablet of all time. A brief comparison of these two giant devices is in order.

A noteworthy aspect with regard to both these tablets is that you won’t find many hardware changes in both of them, even though there are several software enhancements, among them being 4G LTE capability for both.  With respect to the physical structure of these devices, even though Galaxy Tab is a bit thicker compared to iPad, its weight is slightly lower. The weight of iPad happens to be 662g while the corresponding weight of the Samsung tablet is 588g. With respect to the screen resolution, the new iPad has clear edge with its Retina Display, having a resolution of 2048 x1536 and a pixel density of 224 ppi. The resolution of Galaxy Tab 2, on the other hand, is 800 x 1280 pixels along with a pixel density of 149 ppi. When we compare the processing power of these devices, once again, Apple seems to have an edge. Surprisingly, Samsung didn’t upgrade its device to the anticipated quad core processor and instead decided to retain the 1 GHz dual core processor along with 1 GB or RAM memory. The new iPad, in comparison, runs on efficient dual core Apple A5X processor, with its widely acclaimed architecture.

From the software side, the battle between iOS and Android continues. Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 would come with Ice Cream Sandwich which has an extremely well designed user interface while Apple tablet would run the latest version of iOS, that is, iOS 5.1.

There was no update in the camera feature of the Samsung tablet as well and it remains to be the same 3.15 mega pixel camera with a resolution of 2048×1536 pixels and HD video recording in 720p format. Apple’s new iPad, on the other hand, contains a 5 mega pixel rare and camera with 1080p video recording along with video stabilization. So basically the bottom line is that the new iPad has a clear edge over the latest Samsung tablet and its pretty evident that some fine hardware and software enhancements have been made by Apple while Samsung, although contrary to the expectations, didn’t really impress the tech buffs.

Apple introduced some fine software enhancements, including various shortcuts, in the latest version of iOS. But unfortunately, some of these were not available for the people who were using jailbroken devices. Probably the most important of these features was the lock screen short cut for the native camera app introduced in iOS 5.1. According to this app, you can take snaps with your camera by tapping on the camera icon even though the screen of the device is locked. This can be done on iPhone as well as iPad. But finally a jailbreak tweak has been introduced by which the jailbreakers would also be able to enjoy this useful feature. For all the jailbroken devices that are running iOS 5.0.1, an app with the name of ‘Camera Grabber for iOS 5’ has been made available which would make the use of the above feature possible. What’s even more exciting, this app is available for free and you can download it and enjoy the resulting benefits right away, since you don’t need to change anything in the camera configuration after the installation of this app.

The developers of this app have also taken the fact into consideration that the devices that don’t have any pass code would provide complete access to the camera roll once the camera icon is tapped from the locked screen. This has made the use of the feature simpler and you just need to pull up from the icon to use the camera app. You can also view the recently taken photos in the similar way. You might feel a slight difference in the appearance of the new short cut and the one that exists on the devices that are not jailbroken, but there isn’t much of a difference. Although previously, utilities and apps that facilitate this kind of features on the Apple devices have been made available, Camera Graber seems to be the best one among them all. Other than having close resemblance with the standard look, Camera Grabber is also the easiest to use since you don’t need to play around with the configuration. So for all those who were missing out on this important feature, here’s your chance to enjoy the full potential of your jailbroken device. Download the utility for free and start enjoying the benefits.

Finally we have some update, no matter how vague it is, on the upcoming model of ASUS Transformer Prime. A short teaser about the upcoming version of the ASUS tablet was released on the Facebook page of ASUS which, however, did not give out any details regarding the technical specifications of the device. The only thing that was actually said is that the upcoming version would be equipped with the “awesome new features”. So we are not sure what to expect on the device. There are various areas in which enhancements and improvements can be expected, such as GPS, operating system update and apps etc. but anything said right now would be nothing more than a guess. However, good news is that we can expect the device to be released soon and the firmware 9.4.2.21 is set to be released on 30^th of March. Release date of the device itself is also unknown. A few expected updates, derived from the Swedish Facebook site of the company are in order.

Among the new features, we can expect Press-able notification in Lock screen and the facility of checking the unread emails and notifications under the locked screen. There would also be updates in MyLibrary and MyCloud technologies and we would have an improved user interface along with enhanced media content. Some important functions would also be added in this version of the device. For example, it would have support for USB to LAN cable of UX series and there would also be certain improvements in the camera such as the automatic installment of the Camera FW upgrade with the image upgrade. This would remove the need of resorting to camera upgrade icon in the notification area. Besides, the device would also have support for the Ad Hoc mode. Among the software improvements, the users would have choice about the type of browser they would want to use. For example, you would be able to select among the tablet or the desktop version of the browser, although it seems quite unlikely that anyone would choose the desktop version on a tablet. As for the big software updates and hardware enhancements, we are not aware of that since there is no official word on that. We can, however, expect to have another Ice Cream Sandwich tablet in the market pretty soon. For rest of the details, you would have to wait for a while.

Apparently many of the iPad users in Australia are not happy with Apple because of the LTE concerns and for those users Apple is willing to offer the refunds. Australians users had massive expectations that the new iPad would fully support the 4G/LTE network offered by Telstra, but the device is not able to fulfill the required functionality. Due to this many users have been blaming Apple for misinformation. Apple, on the other hand, is ready to issue refunds to such users even though Apple maintains the official stance that the company never claimed that it would fully support the 4G/LTE network in Australia. This statement was released by Apple senior counsel Paul Anastassiou. Apple has also published the compatibility issues that are being faced by the new iPad in Australia on its website.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is also considering taking Apple in court because of the same reason, since before the release of the new iPad it was announced that the device would be capable of the 4G/LTE technology and since the device actually fails to do so, this means misleading of the consumers. At present, the new iPad is available in two versions. One version works specifically for WiFi networking while the other one works for the wireless networks provided by mobile phone carriers. This means that the areas where 4G is available, in the United States, the device would work with this technology while the areas where this technology is not available, the device would operate with 3G capabilities. But the problem here seems to be that of the frequency band. In Australia, the frequency band used by the 4G network is 1800 MHz but the required frequency band for the 4G operation of the new iPad happens to be 700MHz or 2100MHz. This mismatch in the frequency bands has created problems for 4G support in Australia. There is, however, no frequency band mismatch in areas such as US, Canada where the new iPad works perfectly well with the networks such as AT&T, Bell, Rogers, and Telus. For the time being, there is no official statement from Apple about the kind of measures that would be taken to resolve the 4G compatibility issue in Australia. All we know is that users who are not happy with this outcome can have their money back.

The new iPad from Apple has been here for some days now and it has been making a lot of headlines. While it isn’t exactly an all new product from Apple, it does come with upped specs, especially with that Retina display that has wooed many. While Apple has already shipped three million new iPad tablets within three days of launch, it’s time to see why you should or should not buy this tablet.

Why you should buy it?

The most significant feature and the first thing that you will notice the moment you lay your hands on the new iPad is its ultra-high, ultra-clear Retina display. With an A5X processor which supplements the tablet with quad-core graphics, you are able to get a very vivid tablet experience. Talk about having a true feel of gaming, surfing the web or watching movies.

Also, the new iPad comes with iOS 5.1 which is incredibly refined and sleek. To put it in a few words, there are no glitches or breaks with this nifty piece of software. Also, Apple has been able to keep the battery life of the tablet constant even when all that power goes into juicing up the 2048 x 1536 display. That’s a real achievement although there have been indications that the new iPad gets more warm than iPad 2 when it is working. Finally, for those who have wanted an Apple tablet with high-speed 4G connection, the new iPad is their dreams come true.

Why you should not buy it?

One of the major down-sides of the new iPad is that although it furnishes the same battery time as iPad 2, it takes much, much longer to recharge. Also, as mentioned earlier, the new iPad warms up a lot more than iPad 2 and you may have to put it down at times, which is further exacerbated by the fact that it weighs more than iPad 2 and is thicker (essentially a departure from Steve Jobs’ philosophy of getting things only thinner). Moreover, whereas the new iPad does have a 5-megapixel camera which is really good, the front-facing camera still remains VGA. So if you were planning a FaceTime chat on the new iPad, that’s still going to be a poor experience.

While you may be all prepped up to spend a solid $500 on this tablet, you may feel a little disappointed because essentially, the only thing that significantly stands the new iPad apart from iPad 2 is its Retina display – and that distinction blurs when you realize that iPad 2’s price is hovering near $350 since the launch of the new iPad.

Dell does not have a very good experience with tablets, even though its history as a manufacturer of personal computers is remarkable. Previously, Dell released its 5 inch tablet with the name of Streak tablet which could not attract much attention. Besides, the tablet was also criticized by many people due to some functionality issues. This is the only tablet from Dell so far and comes with Android operating system. At present, Dell is not selling this tablet any more, although it can be purchased from third party retailers. But it seems that Dell has not given up and is planning to release another tablet in near future. According to Steve Felice, the chief commercial officer of Dell, the company would be releasing an 8 inch tablet in near future. This tablet would be running Windows 8 since the initial reception of Windows 8 is very high and positive. Besides, the touch interface that accompanies Windows 8 is compatible with a variety of different products.

Even though Dell has not been able to make a mark in the market of tablets, it is still a huge name when it comes to the development of personal desktops and laptops. At present, Dell is the third largest manufacturer of personal computers, after HP and Lenovo. The new tablet, however, would be announced in the second half of 2012 and most probably we would see it in the market in early 2013. One of the main aims of this tablet, according to Dell, would be to incorporate the common and commercial requirements, since the workers in the IT departments of the companies are fed up of doing such incorporation for the employees, which also results in a lot of overhead. Right now there are several serious issues such as security, compatibility, device management etc. and tackling all these issues from a single device is certainly a huge task, and Dell intends to undertake such as task in the new tablet. Besides, Dell still believes there is a lot of room for innovation and improvement in the market of the tablets, since the processing power and typing facilities in the tablets are still not as good as conventional computers. Dell would possibly also bring forward some ideas to cover the gap that exists between conventional computers and tablets on this front.

There is a lot of anticipation about the release of a Windows 8 based tablet from Nokia in near future. This would certainly be a delight to use since Windows 8 is already generating positive reviews everywhere. This can be among the tablets that can pose serious threat to the monopoly of iPad, but to make that sure, Nokia would have to take care of a few important things.

For the time being, there is no information about the technical specifications of this device and all we can do is guessing. First of all, let’s talk a bit about the display of the device. With respect to the resolution of the devices, we have seen some exciting progress in the recent months. Samsung has released its 7.7 inch Galaxy Tab with AMOLED display which is a delight to use. Apple, on the other hand, has released the new iPad with Retina Display which is the highest resolution in the market right now. So resolution is one front where Nokia would need to pay special attention. Secondly, battery of the device is very important for today’s busy and engaged user. Having a battery of less than 10 hours critically reduces the overall impact of the device. This problem has been found in most of the tablets and smartphones. One way around this problem is the approach that has been taken by Asus by placing a secondary battery in the keyboard. So a battery life of at least more than 10 hours would certainly increase the worth of the tablet.

After that, since the tablet would hardly be released before the end of 2012, it would certainly need to have a support for 4G, since by the end of this year, having no support for 4G would pretty much reduce the importance of the device. Other than the main technical specs, the design of the tablet also matters a lot since not everyone purchases a tablet just because of the technical specs. Besides, among the top end tablets, there is not much difference between the technical specs and under such a situation a lot of users prefer to purchase tablets due to their design appeal. But we can trust Nokia on this front. Last but not least, it would be better for Nokia to create a device that succeeds in producing its own worth in the market. The device might not even have technical specs better than iPad, but it should have some alternatives that make people go for it rather than other tablets. Hopefully, interesting technical specs coupled with Windows 8 would certainly result in one of the best tablets in the market.

Most of the people who are planning to purchase the new iPad had not even gotten their hands on the device and we already have the news that it has been jailbroken. This is certainly impressive since the jailbreak of iPad 2 took quite a long time. This time, however, just a couple of weeks after the announcement of the device from Apple, jailbreak video has been released on YouTube. Watching the jailbreak of iOS 5.1 itself was not much of a huge task, but the limited time in which this has been done is certainly impressive. This came as a shock for many people since they thought that the jailbreak of the new iPad would also take as long as it took for the jailbreak of the previous version.
 
The person who undertook this process of iOS 5.1 jailbreak has previously also performed several tricks related to iPads. The popularity of the videos from this hacker can be estimated from the fact that there were 28 likes on the video even before it was completely uploaded. People are surely excited to see a jailbreak video of the new iPad even before they have actually purchased the device. This means that the jailbreak process can be performed right after you get your hands on the device and you would not need to wait for an eternity, like you had to in case of iPad 2. This video spanned 4 minutes and 39 seconds and demonstrates the jailbreak process in details.
 
Among all the hustle and bustle in the technology, this latest piece of news is certainly a source of another excitement for Apple lovers, particularly those who have already purchased the new iPad or are seriously considering having one. This also shows the increasing interest of people in the tablet devices compared to the conventional desktops and laptops. Even though we didn’t see many grand changes in the latest version of iPad, the popularity of the device would most probably be retained, given the brand loyalty of Apple users and the status symbol that iPad has become. Anyways, now that you have the method to jailbreak the new iPad, you can try it out on your new device and utilize the full potential of the device.

So Apple has finally released the latest version of iPad with the name of iPad new, containing several cutting edge features as well as a few surprises for everyone. There shouldn’t be any two opinions in the fact that the new iPad would be a highly popular device but we would have to see how long it would take for the new iPad to beat the previous version and claim the top position in the market. In comparison with the first generation version of iPad, the new iPad has clear advantages. Other than the immensely improved technical specs, there are various apps and software enhancements that would not be available on the first generation iPad. However, when it comes to comparison with iPad 2, the situation dramatically changes.
 
iPad 2, at present, happens to be the most popular version of iPad and is being used by millions of users worldwide. Even the onslaught of Android devices could not disturb the popularity of iPad 2. During the event of the new iPad announcement, Apple also announced that the sale of iPad 2 would be continued which means that the software enhancements that we would see on iPad 3 would most probably be also available iPad 2. This further means that the new iPad would only have a few technical specs that would provide it an edge over the previous version of iPad. According to various tech experts, it might take as long as eight months for the new iPad to surpass iPad 2 as the most popular tablet of all time. When iPad 2 was released, it claimed about 50 percent of the iOS tablet impression in a limited period of six months. This would be a difficult target for the new iPad 2 since the price of iPad 2 has been drastically reduced by Apple which has made it even more attractive for the users, particularly those with constrained budget limit. Besides, the use of the first generation iPad would also continue, even though Apple would terminate the sales of that device. Apple dropped the price of iPad 3 from $499 to $399 and this is certainly quite a huge difference. This would compel many users to ignore some of the cutting features of the new iPad and instead go for iPad 2. But Apple had to make this move, keeping in consideration the Android tablets, some of which present a perfect alternative to the Apple Tablet, such as Galaxy Tab and Kindle Fire.