Category: Mobile Computing

Introduction

I am reviewing the HP Mini 210 netbook which is pitched as Hewlett-Packard’s main nethook for this year. It is available in a few different colours or can be purchased for extra cost as the Vivianne Tan edition which has the design work of this famous handbag designer on its outside.

The computer itself

User interface

The small keyboard is of the “chiclet” type which appears to be flat and more at risk of errors. There is also a touchpad which works in a similar manner to the Apple Macbook Pro and the HP Envy. This means that the selector buttons are areas that are marked off at the bottom of the touchpad area.

Like most laptops, this unit still requires you to press the Fn key to use standard functions and the Fn functions on this unit are written very dimly. This will make it hard to use the function keys like F5 for particular tasks like reloading the browser. I have found that there isn’t a PgUp or PgDn key on the keyboard which is important if you wish to browse large documents or Websites.

As well, the keyboard is very cramped which is common with all netbooks. This therefore makes it not suitable for long sessions of typing.

Audio and Video

This unit still has the similar audio and video capabilities for a computer of its class. It can reproduce a Youtube video properly for the bandwidth of the video and is still efficient on the battery when this happens. You also have  stereo sound reproduction but there is still that tinny sound that is common with laptop and netbook sound systems.

Battery life

There wasn’t an optical drive integrated in to this nethook so I wasn’t able to run down the battery on a DVD of a feature movie being played, which would normally test the battery on video, sound and disk activity. But I was able to complete a new-machine antimalware scan and a Windows Update concurrently, which would test the battery on the hard disk and the network. The unit had finished on 50% full at the end of the virus scan and Windows Update.

Therefore the unit can still do most tasks expected of a netbook on its own battery for a long time.

Quick-start shell

There is a pre-boot “quick-start shell” which allows you to do some elementary tasks without you having to fully boot Windows 7. This allows you to work with the Web, including viewing selected Webmail accounts; use an online calendar or  play music and view photos held on the computer’s storage.

I would like to see this “quick-start shell” extended to support for a desktop mail client for POP3/IMAP/ActiveSync mail setups which most home and small business users would use as well as support for access to DLNA media servers for online media playback. This could be extended to use as a DLNA Media Control Point for use in playing media on DLNA MediaRenderer devices. 

Conclusion

The higher-capacity hard disk can be of benefit when you want to do things like preview many digital pictures or work with a lot of email using a desktop email client like Windows Live Mail. Other than that, it has the typical capabilities of a netbook.

This means that I would still place it as a secondary-use traveller computer or as a “floater” computer for the home network for accessing the Social Web in front of the TV for example.

iOS 4.2 beta hits Apple’s developer portal, wireless printing dubbed ‘AirPrint’ – Engadget

From the horse’s mouth

HP ePrint enabled printers first to support printing direct from iOS devices |  The HP Blog Hub

My comments

A function that most of us who own smartphones long for is the ability to print documents from the smartphone using a regular printer. The main problem with this is the requirement for the computing device i.e. the smartphone to have drivers for the various printers that it will encounter. Typically this has been achieved through printer manufacturers providing free single-purpose apps through app-store platforms like iTunes App Store that only do a task like printing photographs on the manufacturer’s printer.

Now Apple have taken up the initiative by establishing a one-size-fits-all printing mechanism as part of the iOS 4.2 operating system. This mechanism is intended to work with the HP ePrint-enabled printers like the HP Photosmart Wireless-E printer that I previously reviewed but is intended to be rolled out to more printers offered by other manufacturers.

There are a few questions that I have about this wireless-printing platform. One is whether the platform is really reinventing the wheel that standards like UPnP Printing have established or simply is a way of allowing a manufacturer to market one of these standards under their own name?

Another more serious question is whether other handset operating systems and platforms like Android will implement the wireless-printing platform in a universal way at all. It may be easy to accept the status quo with Apple providing support in the next version of iOS but if this feature is to work properly, it has to work for other handset operating platforms and devices made by other manufacturers.

Other issues worth tackling include support for public-access printers, including secure job submission and collection as well as support for paid operation models.

This concept may open up a new field of access to hard copy for devices like smartphones and tablet computers as well as dedicated-function devices.

Articles

Microsoft locks down Windows Phone 7 code • The Register

Windows Phone 7 – Released To Manufacturing | Windows Team Blog (Microsoft)

My comments

The touchscreen-smartphone establishment is now feeling threatened due to Microsoft going “gold” on the Windows Phone 7 operating system. This will mean that the code is ready to roll out to the likes of HP and HTC in order to provide another competing platform for this class of device. In some ways, this platform may also work as a platform that competes with the Blackberry for business-use smartphones. This would be primarily because of the Microsoft name being of high value when it comes to traditional-business computing which is based around a fleet of information-technology devices that belong to the business and managed by IT-management staff.

It reminds me of 1984-1985 when the home computing scene matured with at least six computing platforms became established in the marketplace and this opened a path for a mature home / educational computing market. Similarly, the late 1980s saw the establishment of at least three mature mouse-driven GUI-based desktop computing platforms on the computing market. During these time periods, software developers had to know how to pitch the same application or game at different platforms. In a lot of cases, the developers had to know what the different platforms were capable of and what their programming limitations were. With some platforms like the IBM PC, they also had to know of different display, sound and input-device combinations that were available for the platform at the time.

In the case of the smartphones, the developers may run in to issues with different models on the one platform being equipped with different screen sizes and functionality levels like availability of input or output devices. Similarly they may have to make their software please the companies in charge of some platforms before they can sell the software through the platform’s software marketplace. This may affect utility applications like Wi-Fi site-survey tools or remote-control applications that may implement functionality that may be “out-of-scope” for the platform.

These next years may show which platforms will mature and stabilise to become the preferred ones for consumer, advanced-consumer and business smartphone classes.

Engadget Articles

Philips GoGear Connect is a legitimate Android-based iPod touch competitor (updated) – Engadget

Philips GoGear Connect Hands-on – Engadget

My Comments

Over the last year, devices that are based on the Android operating system have challenged the Apple iPhone and iPad. Now, Philips has launched an Android-based touchscreen portable media player that can effectively compete with the Apple iPod Touch.

This unit can connect to a Wi-Fi network and download apps from the Android Market or gain access to the Web and email through the Internet. Of course, if you add Andromote on board, you can play music files from your DLNA Media Server through the GoGear or use it as a controller for your UPnP AV / DLNA Home Media Network. Similarly, you could install TwonkyServer Mobile for Android on this device and the media on there is available to the DLNA Home Media Network.

Like most Android devices, this unit supports most media codecs in use and also has other points of flexibility like a microSD card slot for extra memory or “cassette-style” media management.

The unit does have a GPS, compass and accelerometer as well as the touchscreen and trackball, which could make it become an Android-powered games machine in the same way Apple pitched the iPod Touch as an iOS-based games machine with that famous TV commercial. It does depend on what games are available at the Android Marketplace like what happens with the iPod Touch and its iTunes App Store.

If it was offered a bit more like integrated storage capacities being above that of a similarly-priced iPod Touch, this could set the cat amongst the pigeons.

Wave of Intel dual-core Netbooks to break | Nanotech – The Circuits Blog – CNET News

My comments

The new Intel Atom dual-core processor could be more than raising the bar for netbooks. One class of computer that appealed to me as a threat to the iPad was the “netvertible” or the convertible netbook. This was to have the same abilities as a netbook but also had a touchscreen that swivelled and folded over the keyboard like on other convertible notebooks and laptops.

There are a few issues that may put the brakes on this idea of a netbook competing with the Apple iPad. One is the lack of an e-book publishing system for the Windows platform that is robust enough to threaten the Apple iOS platform and the other is that netbook users are more likely to use their computers for producing content rather than just consuming it, an activity which the iPad is only good at. In this case, a writer, journalist or blogger could use a netbook as a “portable typewriter” for preparing written work on the road.

This may then allow the Atom chipset to be taken further to create a highly-competitive answer to the iPad and could also provide for “step-up” netbook computers for manufacturers who want to provide real differentiation in their netbook product lines. The chipset may also help with dethroning the StrongARM processors from the embedded / dedicated computing market like smartphones, medical equipment, NAS, Internet routers and the like; and extend the Intel Architecture in this class of device.

Previously I have mentioned about Alpine showing interest in implementing Nokia’s “Terminal Mode” mobile-phone interface standard in their car stereos, mainly as a competitor to the iPhone. Now more vehicle builders, including Volkswagen are registering interest in this technology to “show the mobile phone display” on the car dashboard and have come up with this video demonstration clip that VW had supplied.

The application that was mainly illustrated was to set up a phone call and plan a journey with your hands on the VW car stereo’s touch screen and all of this going via a Nokia N97.

News Articles

Cisco Unleashes Cius iPad Killer For Business Users | SmallNetBuilder

Cisco unveils Cius Android tablet with HD video capabilities | Engadget

Cisco uncloaks Android video tablet for suits | The Register (UK)

From the horse’s mouth

Press Release

Product Page (PDF brochure)

My comments

There have been a few features that impressed me about the Cisco Cius Android tablet judging from the news articles that I have read. One was that the tablet was able to work as a fully-fledged Android tablet with access to the Android Marketplace in a manner that makes it compete with the Apple iPad. The other one was that Cisco had taken a different market – the business user – and used the Android platform to make a tablet-style computer that fits the market.

This has then allowed Cisco to develop a hardware product that can offer the necessary functionality by adding on microphones, video cameras, an interface to a speakerphone / handset dock amongst other things. They could easily take this unit further with concepts like the “next-generation home phone” or simply make a competing tablet MID based on Android under the Linksys consumer brand.

This can also lead to a Cius tablet having a longer service life beyond the business because of its ability to benefit from the Android Marketplace which could yield many consumer-focused applications like Android ports of applications like Skype or may iPhone apps.