Apple iPad Mini vs Google Nexus 7

Power :

The iPad Mini is powered by Apple’s A5 dual-core chipset which promises to be plenty fast enough to run all your favourite games and apps. The device also features 16, 32 or 64GB of storage, though, being an Apple product, you won’t find support for micro SD cards here, so use that internal space wisely.

The Nexus 7 is driven by an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset which consists of a quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A9 CPU and a ULP GeForce GPU that’s able handle any game you throw at it. The device also sports 1GB RAM and comes in 8 and 16GB flavours, and we’re expecting a 32GB version to drop soon too, giving you a nice extra option.

The device doesn’t offer support for micro SD cards though so, like the iPad Mini, you’ll have to be picky with your content.

Display :

The Google Nexus 7 is fronted by a 7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD which operates at 800 x 1280 and offers a pixel density of 216PPI.

The screen is bright and vibrant, and offers some of the best viewing angles around, but if you plan on using the device outdoors on a sunny day you’ll likely be disappointed.

The iPad Mini sports a 7.9-inch LED-backilit IPS display which operates at a resolution of 768 x 1024 and offers a pixel density of 163PPI. The screen looked superb in Apple’s demonstrations, as you would expect, and we’re looking forward to doing some testing of our own, but expectations are high with this one.

Software :

Google’s Nexus 7 runs on Android 4.1 AKA Jelly Bean, and the most recent iteration of the company’s mobile platform is by far the most comprehensive.

It’s fast, offers unbeatably smooth graphical performance thanks to Google’s ‘Project Butter’ initiative and expands on the new UI first seen in Ice Cream Sandwich to offer users automatically resizing widgets, great new notifications system and the spookily accurate Google Now enhanced search solution and a ton more to boot.

In addition to the core functionality of the OS being taken up a notch, users can also still make use of the Google Play Store for all their app, game and media downloads, and the selection is great.

The iPad Mini runs on version 6.0 of Apple’s ageing iOS platform. The software is (still) remarkably easy to pick up, with intuitive gestures and menus throughout, and also looks polished and pleasing, but the lack of widgets, real-time information and customisation options set it back against Google’s platform.

Fortunately it isn’t all bad though, because iOS gives users access to Apple’s App Store, which is chock full of great apps and games, and you’ll also find iTunes too, for your media needs.

Form :

Apple iPad Mini - 200 x 134.7 x 7.2mm, 308g

Google Nexus 7 - 198.5 x 120 x 10.5mm, 340g

The iPad Mini is a thin, light, well designed device which looks every inch the Apple product. Its lines are clean and the device looks to be ergonomically sound, which is more than can be said for many tablets.

The device is priced competitively and only time will tell if Apple has had to cut any hardware corners for the privilege of rivaling the Nexus 7 on that front.

The Nexus 7 is small, light and easy on the eye, and remarkably well built considering its bargain basement RRP, in fact you’ll find very little to complain about in Google’s joint venture with ASUS – the device simply checks all the boxes.

Camera :

We’re dealing with tablets here, so photographic prowess isn’t exactly top priority. That said, it’s nice to have the ability to snap the odd image and Google’s Nexus 7 obliges by offering a very simple 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera which is more than adequate for video calling and casual use.

If you want to make use of the camera you’ll have to take to the Google Play Store and download some third-party software to enable it though – and we have no idea why. Answers on a postcard please.

The iPad Mini features a 5-megapixel primary camera and a VGA front-facing camera which, like the Nexus 7, is fine for FaceTime and Skype use but doesn’t offer much more beyond that.

Ubuntu running on Nexus 7

Up until now, we haven’t see much of Linux in the tablet world– well, except for the Linux-based Android OS. This is about to change as Ubuntu 13.04 will see a greater focus on aspects like battery life and memory consumption.

Ubuntu has become quite touchscreen friendly in the last few years, thanks to its new Unity interface. With that in mind, it seems that the Nexus 7 is now up and running with Ubuntu 13.04. According to Canonical (the folks behind Ubuntu) this particular tablet makes a great reference device for running Ubuntu.

The only downside to using Ubuntu on a 7-inch screen is that the icons are kind of small. Still, this is probably easily adjusted and we might see a slightly more “tablet optimized” version of Unity in the near future. For future testing, Canonical will focus on Google’s flagship tablet hardware. Who the actual vendor for a real Ubuntu tablet might be remains unseen though. It is also possible that Ubuntu on tablets will largely remain DIY project.

T-Mobile LG Optimus L9 release date October 31 for $80

The new T-Mobile LG Optimus L9 is a nice phone for people who don’t care about technology but still want a “smartphone”, especially those who dont even know what phone updates are. they will be content with this phone which will probably never be upgraded.

For only $80, this is a very, very well specced device. Looks nice except for ICS, which is a dealbreaker, even on a mid-range phone.

The T-Mobile LG Optimus L9 features include a 4.5-inch qHD Corning Gorilla Glass 2 Display, a 5MP rear camera, VGA front-facing camera, 1GB of RAM, 4GB internal memory, 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, dual core 1ghz is enough for most apps and basic games. And a 2,150 mAh battery and Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 will receive Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It will be available in stores and online beginning October 31st for $79.99 with a two-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate.

New Version Of Google Wallet Coming Soon

Google has quietly updated the website for Google Wallet, its mobile-payments service, to advertise "the next version of Google Wallet, coming soon."

Visitors can request an invite. We did, and Google asked us what kind of device we used—offering a choice of iPhone, Android, or "other."

That suggests that Google is getting away from its earlier dependence on special hardware on Android phones and is looking to broaden Wallet's acceptance among consumers and merchants.

While Google ran a lot of ads on buses and billboards for Wallet, the mobile-payments service never appeared to take off with consumers—in part because it was limited to specific phones carried by Sprint and Virgin Mobile and relied on NFC, or near-field communications, a short-range wireless technology.

Google also offers a Web-based version of Wallet for online payments, including purchases of digital content and apps in the Google Play store. It has offered a similar service for years, previously under the name Google Checkout.

Black Samsung Galaxy S3 will hit Stores in October 2012

Samsung will release the black Galaxy S3 version on October 24, thus answering calls for the traditional black color that seems to make any smartphone look strikingly pleasing. Samsung originally planned to replace black with Pebble Blue, which was as close as Samsung got to black, without it actually being black. But this was not enough to meet the expectations of a vast worldwide audience. The buyers wanted more, and more is what they got, with Samsung unveiling several Galaxy S3 color versions in recent months.

Expansys tells us that come October 24, or just in two days from now, shipments of the black Samsung Galaxy S3 will start arriving. The retailer will sell the 16GB black version of the flagship device for £409.99, which is obviously the unlocked price of the smartphone.

For those who don’t live in Europe, Verizon’s black and brown versions of the device have already been released. Moreover, the device is available in Garnet Red from AT&T. While the black variant has been sighted on Samsung’s Facebook page at the London Olympics, snapping photos and sharing files via S-Beam, we got to take it for a hands-on spin only at IFA 2012 in Germany.

On a different note, Phandroid reports that a 64GB Galaxy S3 model could soon be available from Verizon, although nothing is certain yet. The model is also said to feature an Exynos chip instead of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 SoC found on all U.S. Galaxy S3 versions. Android enthusiasts may remember Samsung promising a 64GB Galaxy S3 at the London launch event, but the device failed to show up on the shelves. It was assumed that Samsung slated the idea, an ideology the company eventually denied – but we’re yet to see a 64GB Galaxy S3 in stores.

Acer to launch an Intel powered smartphone by the end of 2012

After Motorola, another big manufacturer is planning to launch Intel-powered smartphones. According to a report in China Post, Acer is gearing up to release its first Android smartphone with Intel chip inside by year-end.

The smartphone is currently a mystery, but we think, it will come with 2GHz Intel Atom processor, which was last seen in Motorola RAZR i.

The news of Acer Intel phone is coming from Peter Shieh, who is the vice president of Acer’s corporate account business division in Taiwan. He stated that Acer plans to pre-install its own cloud service on the new model.

Acer currently uses chips from Qualcomm, MediaTek and NVIDIA (for tablets) and Intel chips will help it diversify its portfolio even more as the company struggles to gain ground in the smartphone and tablet market.

“Intel is a more familiar partner to us because we have been working together in the PC sector for a long time,” Peter Shieh said.

Company has also launched its first Jelly Bean tablet in the North America on Thursday. The tablet has been priced at USD 229.99 and will go on sale starting October 30.

Vodafone’s Galaxy S3 getting Jelly Bean update today

It’s safe to assume that owners of Samsung Galaxy S3 on Vodafone won’t be hit with a bout of the blue Mondays. As expected, the wireless carrier has started pushing out the Android 4.1 update for the Galaxy S3 today.

Following Samsung’s confirmation that all UK-based Galaxy S3 smarphones will be getting Jelly Bean in the coming weeks, Vodafone was the second mobile operator in the country to serve Google’s latest and greatest mobile operating system. Remarkably, there’s no hint of a delay and the software upgrade seems to be rolling out smoothly.

Seeing that it’s being released in batches, you may not receive an update notification on your device right away, and it may take several days or more for the new firmware to reach everyone. If you don’t see any over-the-air prompt yet to download and install the file, it’s worth connecting your beloved Galaxy S3 to your PC and use Kies software to manually check for the update.

Google will unveil the LG Nexus 4 on October 29, confirmed by LG

This one comes as no surprise after so many leaks - LG has now confirmed that Google will unveil the Nexus 4 next Monday, on October 29th

"Google will unveil the LG Nexus on October 29 and the phone will be available in the Indian markets by the end of November," LG Mobile Product Planning head Amit Gujral said. The LG executive mentioned that the device will have a 4.7-inch display and a 1.5GHz quad-core processor.s

With the new Nexus flagship (it seems there will be one new Nexus phone only after all), Google will bring a brand new version of the Android operating system. Android 4.2 was widely rumored and now LG is confirming this as well.

Google is said to be doubling its security efforts with 4.2 (which could be called Key Lime Pie). It’s also allegedly bringing a new Gmail, a quick settings panel, a revised gallery application and multiple accounts for tablets.

LG launches Optimus Vu in India for Rs. 34,500

LG has now launched its very first phablet device in the Indian market, called the LG Optimus Vu. The phablet is priced at Rs. 34,500 and will go up directly against Samsung’s Galaxy Note II, which is priced at Rs. 39,000.
The Optimus Vu was first unveiled by the company at MWC earlier this February and it is a 5-inch device which has a 4:3 aspect ratio and a 1024×768 pixels resolution. The Optimus Vu is powered by a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor clocked at 1.5GHz, it has 1GB of RAM and 32GB of built-in storage capacity.

The LG Optimus Vu also sports an 8 megapixel rear camera, a secondary front facing 1.3 megapixel camera and a 2080mAh battery. The device comes with its own stylus and just like the Galaxy Note, the device comes with some pre-loaded apps which make use of the stylus input. It runs Android 4.0 ICS. In terms of hardware, the Optimus Vu is not as good as the Galaxy Note II which is powered by a slightly better processor, has huge battery, bigger screen and the stylus input has been heavily optimized. However, this phablet from LG does cost a little less.