Even though it has its flaws there’s no denying that Apple has done a great job with the iPad. A while back I got to play with one for a few days to prepare for a demo. Next to its obvious and well documented/talked about flaws I also think it is too heavy and too big and so I was on the lookout for a smaller and lighter alternative. Obviously everyone in the tech industry took notice of what Apple had created and we’re finally starting to see the details of some of the iPad’s future competitors.
I’ve been following the news about the Galaxy Tab from Samsung for a while now. Today they started an official teaser campaign. See the video below.
Now… I’m just wondering… Am I the only one that watched this video frame by frame? Am I the only that tried to decipher the blurry text in the background? (The blurriest one says “Flash support” by the way. After all Samsung is one of our Open Screen Project partners.)
This looks like it’s a great form factor. A 7-inch screen sounds just right to me and the widescreen aspect ratio makes a lot more sense especially if you want to watch video on it. I can’t wait to get my hands on one! The second half of this year is going to be very interesting… and expensive ;-)
This idea has been in my head for quite some time. I actually came up with it when I was building the demo for my MAX keynote appearance last October. I just never found the time to actually build it but I started on it this week.
The idea is simple. You open up a browser, surf to the game’s website and start a new game. Then you take out your Flash/AIR enabled device, surf to the site or download/install the app and join the game. All devices just connect using Stratus, our P2P service. Family fun without the need to buy anything new. While the app is very much still in very early development phase, I just wanted to give you a little sneak peek.
I finally found a use for those cool arcade buttons in Flash! :D Stay tuned for more!
Powerful CPU? Check! 1.6GHz Intel Atom. Capable of HD video? Check! 1080p! Camera? Check! 1 front, 1 back. Flash Player 10.1? Check! Adobe AIR 2? Check! HDMI-out? Check! USB port? Check! Expandable storage? Check! SDHC card slot. Pen/digitizer support? Check! Perfect for your finer art/graphics projects. I can install whatever I like? Check! Runs Windows 7 Home Premium. Multi-tasking? Check! Easy to use touch UI? Check! HP built their own touch enabled layer on top of Win7. Cheaper than Apple’s tablet? Check! $549 for 32GB model vs $599 for Apple’s 32GB model Available now? Not yet… but I can wait! I want this one soooooo bad! :D
The leaked specs also mention that it comes with a 5-hour battery. While that may seem a lot less than the 10-hour battery Apple promises, we all know that you have to take Apple’s battery promises with a grain of salt. My MBP is supposed to be able to give me 8 hours but I’ve never gotten more than 4 out of it. Perhaps if you switch off WIFI, turn down the brightness to 1 and don’t do anything you get the 10 hours they promise but you can hardly call that usable… 5 hours sounds decent and honest enough.
Update: As pointed out in the comments, some reviewers are posting some good reviews about the battery life of Apple’s tablet. However, keeping my experience with my MBP in mind, I think it’s only fair that I am a bit skeptical about that.
I already blogged about how excited I was about HP’s slate device a few weeks ago. These two new videos make me want it even more!
The first one is a teaser ad from HP but make sure you watch the second video! Adobe’s Alan Tam shows the device in action! No CGI tricks here! Alan shows Adobe AIR and Flash in action on the device: Video playback from MTV.com; A Spongebob Squarepants game (most casual games on the Web run in Flash); photo editing at Photoshop.com and reading the digital version of the New York Times. Now that is the web experience I want on a slate device! I’m ordering this the minute it becomes available!
Lots of excitement at the Adobe booth at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Our announcement about Flash Player 10.1 and AIR for mobile devices is definitely buzzing!
Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer
Today Mobile World Congress kicks off in Barcelona. If you follow my Tweets or are a regular reader of my blog, you already knew we had some big announcements coming to the show. I’m so happy we can finally talk about this ;-)
Adobe AIR for mobile devices
If you are in Barcelona for MWC, make sure you drop by our booth! We are demoing AIR applications running on Android devices. This is fantastic news for Flash Platform developers who can now build applications that not only run across different desktop operating systems but can now also be deployed to Android devices. It’s obvious that AIR for Android takes full advantage of the improvements and new features we added to Flash Player 10.1. Those include multi-touch, gesture inputs, accelerometer input, GPS and screen rotation. My fellow evangelist Kevin Hoyt recently recorded a demo showing a couple of AIR mobile apps (Tweetbox, Southpark, Acrobat Connect) on the Motorola Droid. For more information, visit www.adobe.com/go/airmobile.
Flash Player 10.1 for mobile devices
I’ve been using Google’s Nexus One for a week now. One of the perks of working for Adobe is having access to the prerelease bits of new technology we are working on. The Nexus One I’m using actually has Flash Player 10.1 installed on it. It is extremely refreshing to be able to use the full web on your mobile device! Just the other day I wanted to view a video on Qik.com. While Qik has a mobile HTML5 site, the Nexus One didn’t seem to have the correct video codec. So I opened the normal Qik site which uses Flash Player to play the video… I pressed play and the video played. No blue Lego blocks, no missing plugin headaches. It just worked and that’s the way it should be. So far, I haven’t seen any Flash content that didn’t work on my Nexus One. I think that’s pretty impressive seeing as this is still a prerelease version. So yes… We are still working on it and no… you can’t download it today. But it’s coming soon and it truly is the missing piece in the mobile web puzzle. Whether you are addicted to Farmville or Bejeweled or if you’re like me and don’t want to install an app for every single news site you visit, you’ll be able to use those games and watch those videos in your mobile browser soon!
While most of the content just works, you should really think about tailoring your content to deliver the best possible user experience on mobile devices. Get a head start and learn how to do just that on Adobe Devnet.
I’m also really excited to see the Dell Mini 5 Tablet in action. In the video below Alan Tam shows a sneak peek of Flash content running on Dell’s upcoming touch-based tablet.
We’re demoing Flash and AIR content on a number of different devices at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week but if you can’t make it, make sure you don’t miss these demo videos. I’ll also record a few demos at the booth today and post them to my blog later… If there’s anything specific you’d like to see, don’t hesitate to leave a comment. Stay tuned!
It’s a great time to be a Flash Platform developer! Flash on!
Believe me when I say that Adobe is going to rock at Mobile World Congress next week! I wish I could tell you about all of our announcements today but you’re gonna have to wait a little longer…
If you are in Barcelona for MWC, please come and say hi! The Adobe booth is located in hall 1 (stand 1D45). We’ve teamed up with lots of content and device partners and we will be showing lots of cool stuff at the booth!
Keep an eye on my blog and the Flash Platform blog for more info throughout the week!
There’s no denying that Apple did a terrific job with the iPhone. After walking around with PDAs and smartphones, Apple really changed the market and it took a while for competitors to catch up. I honestly never thought I would think about replacing my iPhone any time soon. Even with all its obvious flaws… But today, a late Christmas gift arrived in the form of a Google Nexus One.
I had heard and read about it and really wanted to get my hands on one to see if it was really as fast and good as the reviews seemed to suggest. Today I finally got that chance and yes… the reviews are right. The Nexus One certainly feels very fast, the screen is gorgeous and the camera is a serious upgrade from my iPhone 3GS. It also feels a bit lighter than the iPhone and also looks thinner. The most obvious plus is that it has Flash Player 10.1. The same Flash Player that you are used to on your desktops and laptops will soon be available for your smartphone.
I’m going to try and not use my iPhone for a few days,a few weeks, … as long as I can. I have become pretty accustomed to using my iPhone for just about everything but I really do feel that the Nexus One may be a very good competitor.
Things I like so far:
It has Flash Player 10.1 therefore I finally have a full web-experience in the palm of my hand.
The camera. The quality really is better and it comes with an LED flash making the camera usable even in the dark.
Most of the apps I use daily (like Tripit or Twitter) are also available in the Android Market or have a decent alternative.
I love the fact that you can organize your home screens exactly like you want them.
Things I don’t like:
The Android Market is not fully available in Belgium. Therefore I only have access to free apps. This will potentially become a real problem for me and it sorta already is. The Exchange client that I want to use is not a free app and therefore I can’t download and install it. I hope I can find a workaround soon because this is a serious deal-breaker… If you happen to know a workaround, I’d love to hear it.
Are there really only 5 home screens? I currently use 9 screens on my iPhone… This may become a problem although you do have access to all your apps in the application menu. I guess it’s just a different way of launching the apps.
I’ll keep you updated on how I get on with the Nexus One, on which sites I visit/use that I couldn’t before and on any Flash development experiments I may have time for in the next days/weeks. Stay tuned ;-)
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is just around the corner and you can already feel the excitement building.
2010 is going to be an amazing year for Flash developers who want to create mobile applications. Not only did we announce the Flash CS5 iPhone compiler but we’ve already demoed Flash Player 10.1 on a variety of devices from Android to WebOS to Windows Mobile. At Mobile World Congres in Barcelona we will be demonstrating uncompromised rich web experiences in Flash on the latest smartphones, netbooks, and smartbooks with some of the Open Screen Project partners. If you plan to attend the show, come visit us in Hall 1 and experience them firsthand.
We’re also offering Flash Platform developers a limited number of complimentary exhibition visitor passes (a value of € 599 per person) on a first-come, first-served basis. Email us with your name, company name, and email address (for each pass) if you’re interested. For more details, visit http://www.adobe.com/go/mwc2010.
From the evangelism team, Mark Doherty, Tom Krcha, Enrique Duvos and I will be there to answer your questions. Hope to see you in Barcelona!
Write once, deploy anywhere. Sounds nice, no? Sadly it’s not really a reality today. The currently available technologies are very fragmented and today there is no technology out there that makes that dream a reality.
I have a strong feeling that is going to change dramatically in 2010. Some will disagree or say that I am too biased but I really do think it’s going to happen… Want proof? Ok… You got it!
I’m sure you’ve all heard that the next release of Flash (CS5) will allow you to build native applications for the iPhone. Instead of having to learn a new language to built such a native app, you just build it with the tools and technology you all know and love. The demo video below shows an application that I’ve been building the last couple of days. A FailBlog video player that gets all the latest FailBlog videos and allows you to watch them on your iPhone or mobile device. It is completely written in ActionScript 3.0 and plays Flash Video (FLVs with On2 VP6 in this case. So no need to transcode your videos!) on the iPhone. And that’s not even the coolest thing about it! The coolest thing about this is that I can export this as an iPhone application, SWF file and AIR application with just one button click. At the end of the video you’ll see a sneak peek of the same application running on a Palm Pre in its browser with Flash Player 10.1! And that is the power of the Flash Platform! Write once, deploy anywhere? It’s finally becoming a reality!
If all goes well, you should be able to play with the iPhone version of this app before the end of the year. I still have some optimizations to do and have to clean up some bits and pieces but I’m feeling confident that that shouldn’t take too long. Keep an eye on my blog for more details!
There’s no denying that Apple did a terrific job with the iPhone. After walking around with PDAs and smartphones, Apple really changed the market and it took a while for competitors to catch up. I honestly never thought I would think about replacing my iPhone any time soon. Even with all its obvious flaws… But today, a late Christmas gift arrived in the form of a Google Nexus One.
