Two Android tablets take on Apple: One is up to the task

Comparing Apple's iPad 2 with Motorola's XyBoard and Amazon's Kindle Fire is fraught with peril. But here goes anyway.

Let me preface my review by saying that a few overzealous readers (I'm being charitable with that description) almost invariably call the writer (me) an idiot for not being as savvy and/or perceptive as they claim to be. That's par for the course. But let's get a few things straight here.

First, this isn't an official review. Like the kind you would find at CNET Reviews. Second, I don't favor one manufacturer over the other. So, let me state the obvious (though, I realize, this will never satisfy conspiracy theorists). If Product X makes what I need to do easier, then I will favor it over Product Y.

And, third, as a corollary to the above, I have personalized needs, like anyone. A graphic designer will place a very different set of demands on a tablet than I would. So, my use case doesn't necessarily apply to everyone.

That said, I have used the iPad 2, the Motorola XyBoard (aka Xoom 2), and the Amazon Kindle Fire long enough to understand their strengths and weaknesses for my particular needs.

I've had the iPad 2 for 10 months (and if you count the original iPad, that's about 22 months of iPad use). The XyBoard for about 2 months. The Amazon Kindle Fire for a little more than 2 months.
And availability addresses an important point. Apple has been making 10-inch-class consumer tablets longer than anyone. That gives Apple an advantage. Based on my own personal preference, I had to wait until Motorola came out with the second-generation Xoom to justify the purchase of a 10-inch-class Android tablet. (Motorola didn't ship its original Xoom until about a year after Apple announced the original iPad.)
So, here's my (admittedly somewhat cursory) evaluation.

Xyboard with Android 3.2 is in dire need of performance tweaking: Web browsing is probably the most basic task that anyone can ask a tablet to do. Unfortunately, the Xyboard doesn't do that basic thing well.
The stock Android browser on the Xyboard can be deceiving. In the first few weeks I used the Xyboard, Web browsing seemed fast. That's because, as it turns out, I wasn't using it for extended periods of time. In other words, when I picked up the Xyboard and played with it for 15 minutes or so--which I tended to do in the first few weeks because I couldn't immediately wean myself off the iPad that I had customized over the previous ten months--it seemed fast.

But once I started customizing the Xyboard and used it for long stretches (as I'd been doing with the iPad), it broke down.

News Web sites, which tend to have a lot of graphics, began to refresh too slowly. YouTube became very erratic: sometimes working OK (i.e., refreshing pages at acceptable speeds), sometimes not--tempting me to drop-kick the tablet across the room. Keep in mind that this is predicated on all things being equal with the iPad and Kindle Fire, i.e., not related to connectivity.

And, bizarrely, the Xyboard can't access the mobile versions of some Web sites, despite relying on a mobile browser. (Browsers like Skyfire solve this particular problem but introduce others. And Opera Mobile can be faster, but it too has its own problems.)

Even a simple thing like typing in a Web address in the stock browser can become so slow (molasses comes to mind) that you have to wonder what Motorola and/or Google were thinking. (Google, after all, is slated to become Motorola's parent company).

And it gets worse. My Xyboard, despite being announced just as Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) was being released, came with Android 3.2. And it won't get Ice Cream Sandwich until "Q3" (third quarter) of this year. If, in fact, Motorola doesn't delay the update (not unheard of in the annals of promised updates).
I don't know if ICS would solve the performance problems, but it might at least be a start.
I could go on, citing other negatives (text input), but I won't because I've covered the most serious shortcoming for me: browsing.

I want to like the Xyboard: Not only because I spent my own money but because I like the design--more than the iPad's. That was probably the single biggest reason I walked into my local Verizon store and grabbed the Xyboard.

I like the wide 10.1-inch screen and I like the way it sits in my palm (again, more than the iPad on both counts). And I like the LTE "4G" (though it doesn't work in 4G areas as consistently as I had hoped).
I also know that the Xyboard's dual-core Texas Instruments' OMAP 4430 chip with an Imagination SGX540 graphics chip has a lot more potential than Motorola and/or Google have been able to wring out of it. I know there's potential for some very snappy sustained performance, but Motorola and/or Google haven't optimized the software to enable that.

Amazon got it right with the Kindle Fire: The Kindle Fire (Android 2.3) is a much better experience. Browsing with the built-in Android browser is reliable and consistently faster than browsing on the Xyboard. E-mail works as advertised, text input is snappy, and the apps that I need work well. (And note that the Kindle Fire uses the same TI chip as the Xyboard does.)

So, how did a Web retailer create a tablet for $199 (about $500 less than what I paid for the Xyboard) that works surprisingly well for a Gen 1 product? And do a better job than a device heavyweight like Motorola? I would submit that Amazon is much more focused on fusing the software with the underlying hardware. Sound familiar? Yeah, just like Apple.

Of course, in some respects the Fire is very different from the iPad. It's smaller (7-inch screen), runs Android, and is not billed as being as versatile as the iPad. That said, as a limited-function tablet, it works surprisingly well.

And if Amazon comes out with a larger tablet as rumored, I would seriously consider it based on my experience with the current Fire.

The iPad 2 just works: Which brings us to the iPad 2. I don't have much to say because the iPad just works. On pretty much everything (browsing, e-mail, light productivity) I need it to do, the iPad delivers. In fact, it comes about as close to a productivity device as a tablet can get.

While there are some obvious limitations to extended data input, formatting, and precise image editing (among other tasks), that could change in a heartbeat.

In other words, imagine an Apple-designed hybrid tablet-laptop (think: Asus Transformer Prime as a template) running iOS. Would that render the MacBook obsolete? An interesting point to ponder as we wait for Apple's imminent iPad 3.

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E-mail viruses most likely to appear in the morning

Eight in the morning is a good time to grab some coffee, but not to check your e-mail.

The number of viruses sent out each day peaks between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. EST, according to the Global Security Report released by security research firm Trustwave this week.

"The number of executables and viruses sent in the early morning hours increased," reads the report. "The spike is likely an attempt to catch people as they check e-mails at the beginning of the day."

Using real-world data collected in 2011 from more than 300 incident response and forensic investigations in 18 countries, along with analyzing 16 billion e-mails from 2008 to 2011, Trustwave compiled this in-depth report that looks at security trends, vulnerabilities, and more.

Trustwave also looked into which month of the year more viruses were sent and concluded that viruses shot up in August and reached a peak in September. Overall, 3 percent of viruses sent through e-mail came in August and September.

"The time from compromise to detection in most environments is about six months," reads the report. "Therefore, if these methods were successful, March 2012 should be a busy month for incident responders and breach disclosures."

Other interesting findings in Trustwave's Global Security Report:

What cybercriminals are looking for: Customer records are the No. 1 thing attackers look for, which make up 89 percent of the breached data investigated. Trade secrets and intellectual property are a distant second with 6 percent.

Franchises and chain stores are major targets: Industries with franchise and chain stores are top targets because they often use the same IT systems across stores. If an attacker can break into one store's system, most likely they can get into several locations. More than one-third of 2011 investigations happened in franchise businesses.

Global businesses have weak passwords: After analyzing more than 2 million business passwords, Trustwave found that the most common password used by global businesses is "Password1."

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How the two flavors of Windows 8 will be different

One thing was made crystal clear today by Microsoft. Windows 8 on ARM will not be the same experience as Windows 8 on Intel-AMD.

Windows 8 ARM devices will run on processors from Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Nvidia--marking the first time that a mainstream Windows operating system will run on processors from ARM chip suppliers in addition to those of Intel-AMD.

Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky said today that Windows 8 on ARM (WOA) will launch at the same time as Windows on Intel-AMD (X86)--though he didn't say when--and that ARM-based devices (such as tablets) will run the desktop version of Office 15. But there are some key differences.

Here are the major ways that Windows 8 on ARM and Window 8 on Intel-AMD are different:

•ARM will not run Windows 7 stuff: While Windows 8 will run on older Windows 7 PCs because everything is more or less standardized on the X86 platform, this is not the case for ARM. "The approach taken by ARM Holdings, the licensor of ARM products is, by design, not standardized in this manner," wrote Sinofsky. If you need to run a lot of existing X86 software, then you will need to have an X86 device. Period.

•No virtualization or emulation: And along these lines, WOA will not support any type of virtualization or emulation and "will not enable existing x86/64 applications to be ported or run." Why? "Supporting various forms of emulation runs counter to the goal of delivering a product that takes a modern approach to system reliability and predictability...Virtualized or emulated software will consume system resources, including battery life and CPU, at unacceptable levels."

•ARM uniqueness: Device makers work with ARM partners to create a device that is "strictly paired with a specific set of software (and sometimes vice versa), and consumers purchase this complete package, which is then serviced and updated through a single pipeline." Again, this is different from standardized X86-based devices. "In these ways, this is all quite different than the Windows on x86/64 world," Sinofsky said.

•Labeling to "avoid confusion": When a consumer buys a Windows on ARM PC, it will be "clearly labeled and branded" so as to avoid potential confusion with Windows 8 on x86/64. The PC will come with the OS preinstalled, and all drivers and supporting software. WOA will not be available as a software-only distribution, "so you never have to worry about which DVD to install and if it will work on a particular PC."

•Windows on ARM devices don't turn off: You don't turn off a WOA PC, according to Sinofsky. WOA PCs will not have the traditional hibernate and sleep options. Instead, WOA PCs always operate in the Connected Standby power mode, similar to the way you use a mobile phone today.

•Office 15: While WOA includes desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, these are "Office 15" apps that "have been significantly architected for both touch and minimized power/resource consumption" while also being fully-featured and providing "complete document compatibility." WOA supports the Windows desktop experience including File Explorer, Internet Explorer 10 for the desktop "which have been significantly architected for both touch and minimized power/resource consumption."

•And WOA and X86/64 are the same in important ways, too: Out of the box Windows on ARM will feel like Windows 8 on x86/64. Sign in, app launching, Windows Store access are the same. And, like X86/64, there is access to Internet Explorer 10, peripherals, and the Windows desktop with tools like Windows File Explorer and desktop Internet Explorer.

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Apple in 'crunch mode' preparing apps to demo iPad 3

In the wake of iPad 3 launch rumors, Apple is reportedly scrambling to prepare for the tablet's expected debut event next month.

The company is in "crunch mode" to drum up apps to demonstrate the tablet both onstage and in TV advertising, according to The Next Web tech site, which cited unidentified sources with knowledge of the matter.

The report notes that Apple usually spends weeks handpicking apps to showcase the tablet's capabilities during its introduction. Apple's selection process, which is moving along at an "increased rate," is placing special emphasis on graphics-oriented apps to show off the new iPad's rumored Retina display, The Next Web reported tonight.

Apple is said to be sending the apps it is most impressed with to its longtime advertising agency, TWBA/Chiat/Day, for possible inclusion in TV ads.

Apple is expected to unveil its next-generation iPad at a event in San Francisco scheduled for the first week of March, according to an AllThingsD report.

The design of the new iPad is expected to resemble the iPad 2 but run with a faster chip, an improved graphics processor, and better resolution. The new tablet is expected to feature a 2048x1536 Retina Display that would bring its pixel density in line with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

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Three years on, Chrome at last arrives on Android

Google today released a beta version of its Chrome browser for Android, a momentous step that marries two of Google's most important programming projects.

The new browser, unlike the stock Android browser, is available in the Android Market so that people don't have to wait for handset makers to offer it through an operating system upgrade. But its reliance on newer hardware acceleration interfaces means it only works on Ice Cream Sandwich, which despite emerging last year on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphone remains a rarity in the real world.
Chrome comes to Android, but only ICS

Chrome for Android (review) includes the desktop version's V8 JavaScript engine, has gesture-based controls for moving among multiple tabs, synchronizes with the desktop version of Chrome, and shuts out plug-ins including Adobe Systems' Flash Player and Google's own Native Client. With its performance and features, Google expects Android users to increase their browser activity.
"In general, we have seen usage go up," said Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president of Chrome and Apps. "I expect to see more people use the mobile Web."

It's unfortunate that it's limited to Ice Cream Sandwich, but Chrome doubtless will take off widely among those with Android 4.0. Even in beta, it's a compelling browser at least on the Galaxy Nexus I tried it on, and it's and a much better match for Apple's Safari on iOS. And eventually, its success is all but assured when it simply becomes what ships with Android.
Google tried to examine every aspect of browsing and if necessary adapt it for the mobile world. "The intent was to reinvent mobile browsers," said Arnaud Weber, engineering manager for Chrome. "We went through every feature of Chrome and brainstormed every feature."

Peas in a pod
Android and Chrome are made for each other. Each arrived for the public to use in the closing months of 2008. Each started as small, rough projects that exploded in usage and became top priorities for the company.

Each project isn't actually an end in itself, but rather a means to an end: get more people to use the Internet and Google's services on it. Android and Chrome are vehicles to carry people to Google search, YouTube, Google Docs, Google Maps, Google+, and doubtless many future online services. Not coincidentally, Chrome and Android are set up to work better if you're signed into a Google account.

With so much to gain from each other, it's somewhat surprising that it took more than three years for the Chrome chocolate to get stuck in the Android peanut butter. But Google wanted to make sure Chrome for Android would be good enough, Pichai said.

"We really wanted to get the full capabilities of a desktop browser--stuff like V8--in a highly capable browser that's optimized for the mobile experience," Pichai said. "It was a challenge."
And Google didn't want to brand the stock Android browser with the Chrome name. It wasn't based on Chromium, the open-source foundation of Chrome, and Google wanted to ensure the "underlying mobile platform could run things you're used to in desktops," Pichai said.

Feature frenzy
Among the features in the browser:

• The browser shows multiple tabs like overlapping pages when you tap the tabs button. Swiping one of the pages to one side or the other close it in much the same way that you can sweep away notifications on Ice Cream Sandwich. Once you click a page, it expands to fill the whole screen, at which point you can switch to new pages by sliding your finger from one edge or the other.

• The browser can preload pages in advance when Google has high confidence that you'll likely tap its link. That means pages don't have to wait so much for the network.

• Chrome for Android has hardware acceleration for tasks such as scrolling. It also uses it for slick visual feedback effects like browser tabs.

• It supports a wide range of Web standards, including Web Workers for multiple computing processes, Web Sockets for fast server-browser communciations, HTML5 video and audio, and IndexedDB for offline storage.

• The browser is rejiggered for tablets. "On tablets, we realize consumers expect a similar experience to what they get on a laptop," Pichai said, so for example the tab strip looks like what you'd see on a personal computer.

• You can synchronize data such as bookmarks and Web address autocomplete suggestions with your desktop browser, with passwords arriving in a later upgrade. As with Firefox for Android, tabs you had open on your laptop or desktop can be opened from a list in Chrome for Android. To use sync, you must be signed into your Google account.

• The browser has incognito mode that doesn't leave traces such as cached images, cookies, and browsing history on the phone. It's walled off into a separate stack of tabs; if any incognito tabs are open, you can move between them and the ordinary stack of tabs by tapping the tab button and then tapping the appropriate stack.

• Programmers can use their PCs to remotely debug Web pages that don't work properly on Chrome for Android. A command on the PC will open the mobile browser's Web pages for scrutiny.

Web apps or native apps?
Chrome for Android increases a certain tension within Google: should software run natively on a particular computing device or as a Web app within a browser?
For Android, the answer clearly has been largely the former as Google has pushed the Android Market and worked to improve programming tools and interfaces. But part of Chrome's raison d'etre has been to spur Web-app innovation, a subject near and dear to Google's heart. Because browsers run on so many devices, Web apps span them and at least theoretically offer programmers the promise of cross-platform development.

Naturally, with Chrome on board, Android becomes a much more powerful foundation for Web applications. That's especially true since Chrome will be on the Android Market and therefore Android users will be able to upgrade it even when their handset manufacturers can't be bothered to keep up with newer Android releases.

Path shares photos--oh, and uploads your contacts, too
But Chrome's arrival doesn't herald a new age when Web apps rule on Android.
"The mobile ecosystem is evolving at such a rapid pace that native apps will always be there, while the Web works its way there," Pichai said.

Chrome for Android doesn't yet overwrite the stock Android browser. The latter is still used, for example, by other Android apps that need a browser engine.

Android 4.0 only
Google stuck required Ice Cream Sandwich because it has necessary interfaces such as those for hardware acceleration. It sure is convenient, though, that it means Google doesn't have to worry about a lot of problems with compatibility and performance of a lot of older phones.
In fact, Google passing over earlier Android versions is almost exactly what Microsoft chose to do with Internet Explorer 9 when it dropped Windows XP support, in part because it lacks newer graphics interfaces. That cuts off a lot of people but simplifies engineering and support.
"ICS represesnts a big leap forward," Pichai said of Google's choice. "It made sense to aim there, to build for the future."

Likewise, don't expect Chrome on other mobile operating systems, most notably iOS. Apple permits other browsers on iOS only if they use its WebKit engine to render Web pages; although Chrome stems from the same WebKit lineage, it's a different bundle of bits with, for example, a different JavaScript engine.
"On iOS, we can't run V8 or our multiprocess architecture," Pichai said. "There are a lot of limitations."
Chrome for Android is based on Chrome 16, the current stable release of the browser for computers. Google plans to update Chrome for Android every six weeks, just like the desktop version, and eventually the browser version numbers will sync up, Pichai said.

"Our intent is to have the smallest possible gap" between the desktop and mobile versions of Chrome, Weber said.

Chrome for Android won't support Flash, Pichai said. Google has been a tight Flash ally with its creator, Adobe Systems, but Google was spared a tough choice when Adobe scuppered its attempt to extend Flash from desktop to mobile last year.

Google's own Native Client, for running Web apps compiled to run at native speeds, also isn't an option, said Dave Burke, the Android engineering director. For that sort of software, programmers will simply write native Android apps, he said.

But Google loves the mobile Web--and it's a big deal financially.
"We believe one in every seven searches on Google comes from a mobile device," said JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth in a research report yesterday.

Advertisers pay only a half to a quarter the amount for each ad when people click on them compared to what they pay on personal computers right now, but more mobile usage likely will mean more advertisers bidding and therefore higher cost-per-click payment rates for Google, he said.
But overall, a lot of Google's excitement seems to be just about finally giving a top company brand a prominent place in a fast-moving, important market.

"I think mobile browsing is in its infancy. As phones are getting more powerful, as screen sizes are getting larger and higher-resolution, and as connectivity is getting better going from 3G to 4G, I think mobile browsing can be huge," Pichai said. Now using Chrome on Android, "my browser usage has sky rocketed."

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Startup Soraa lights up with 'LED 2.0'

To build a better light fixture, startup Soraa started right at the foundation with a different kind of LED chip inside.

The Fremont, Calif.-based company tomorrow will come out of stealth mode and launch its first product, a spotlight which uses efficient LEDs (light emitting diodes). The MR 16 bulb replaces a 50-watt halogen and uses 12.5 watts and it offers a better beam and light quality, said Soraa CEO Eric Kim.

The bulb from Soraa, which has raised more than $100 million in venture capital, is the first in a planned line of LEDs for general lighting and lasers for projector displays.

The company was founded by a team of scientists renowned for their contributions to LEDs and lasers, notably Shuji Nakamura from University of California at Santa Barbara. In 2008, investor Vinod Khosla approached Nakamura and his colleagues Steven DenBaars and James Speck to commercialize research they had done on new materials for LEDs.

White LEDs use gallium nitride (GaN) as the active semiconductor material that gives off light when current is passed through it. Most companies make LED chips where a gallium nitride crystal is grown over a substrate of sapphire or, in the case of Cree, silicon carbide.

Soraa's LEDs are made with an active material layer of gallium nitride and a gallium nitride substrate. Having a single material leads to LEDs that can take more current and thus produce more light on a package of a given size. It also means that there's less wasted heat, which can degrade the life of LED lighting.

For the most part, the LED industry has tried to bring down the cost of LED lighting by scaling up manufacturing, Kim said. Competitor Bridgelux intends to make crystals on a silicon wafers to take advantage of existing silicon manufacturing equipment.

Kim said that the performance improvement that comes from the new material will help bring costs down quicker than ramping up volume production with existing materials. That will make LEDs more compelling for general-purpose lighting.

"When you have a very tight lattice match, light generation happens far more efficiently," said Kim who joined the company in 2010 after working at Intel and Samsung. "It really leads to LED 2.0 and a whole new disruptive technology curve."

Rather than supply LED lights sources to light fixture makers as is common in the lighting industry, Soraa is making its own LED fixtures as well. Being vertically integrated allows it to come to market faster with a light bulb and ensure supply of needed components for its LED chip platform.

Soraa's initial focus is commercial customers who use MR16 bulbs, which are typically used in restaurants, retail outlets, and museums. But it intends to make a set of products designed as replacements for existing bulbs, including those for consumers.

An executive from Soraa competitor Cree agreed that having the same active material as the substrate in an LED does lead to good efficiency, but the main limitation in this case is cost.

"A GaN (gallium nitride) wafer would be on the order of 50-100 times more expensive than an equivalent sapphire wafer. So while the wafer cost doesn't matter too much in the world of GaN-on-sapphire LEDs, it definitely would be a major expense for GaN-on-GaN," said Cree product marketing manager Paul Scheidt

Kim declined to say how much its new bulb cost, but said that the MR16, which will be available this quarter, will offer a payback in under a year, a benchmark it intends to target for future lighting products.

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Google to promise fair licensing for Motorola patents

Google is reportedly preparing a letter to standards organizations to reassure them that it will license Motorola Mobility's patents on reasonable terms if their planned merger closes.

The letter, which is expected to be sent in the next 24 hours, will promise that the company intends to license Motorola's patent portfolio in accordance with FRAND, or fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms, people familiar with the letter told Bloomberg. The move is a timely one: European regulators are expected to decide the fate of the two companies' $12.5 billion merger by next week.

"Since we announced our agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility last August, we've heard questions about whether Motorola Mobility's standard-essential patents will continue to be licensed on FRAND terms once we've closed this transaction. The answer is simple: they will," a Google spokesperson told CNET.

Meanwhile, Apple has reportedly sent a letter to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, asking that the standards body to create basic guidelines regarding how member companies license their patents. In the letter, Apple said the telecommunications industry lacks consistent patent licensing plans and offered suggestions for appropriate royalty rates, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Motorola has mixed it up with Apple in several courtrooms around the world, but the two recently clashed over patents in Germany, forcing the company to temporarily remove older iPhones from its online store in that country. The court later granted Apple a temporary halt on the ban.

Google announced its plans to buy Motorola in August for $12.5 billion. Google, which makes the mobile operating system Android, said it plans to run Motorola as a separate company. Google has said it is interested in the troubled cell phone maker mainly for its strong patent portfolio. Google and many of its handset partners that use the Android operating system have been fending off several lawsuits in the last few years for possible patent infringement.

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