SYNAPSE CIRCUIT IFA 2014

LG: G3 Stylus

  SYNAPSE CIRCUIT

IFA 2014
Good evening, Synapse Circuit Readers. I hope you had a great day! My day has been odd! I just hate it when tech does not work as expected and this means that a certain gadget will be on its way back to the store first thing in the morning! I hope you are having better luck with your tech!

Are you looking forward to this year’s IFA? I certainly am!

#IFA #IFABerlin2014 #SamsungGalaxyNote4 #ASUS #Huawei #LG

TECH BONANZA = IFA
I am very, very excited about IFA 2014 as there will be an obscene amount of tech that we can look forward to! I keep saying that I am after a tablet and I have been ever since the Nexus 7 came out but I have been, admittedly, hanging back to see how the tablet market develops and it looks like the time is right!

I am also in the market for a couple of upgrades later on this year and at the moment the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is high on my list of the most wanted handset! But will I wait for the Galaxy S6 or go for one of the many challengers to Samsung’s throne! We’ll have to see about that!

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY
I am expecting more wearable tech in the form of smartwatches. Hmmmm... To be honest I think that the smartwatch is in its infancy and if I were to go for one I’d like to get a pretty decent one. By all accounts the Moto 360 could be the one to go for and it is said that it will be announced at IFA; I am very curious! Will it be all that it’s cracked up to be? Or will LG’s round smartwatch usurp the Moto 360? It wouldn’t surprise me if ASUS got in on the act too... I know ASUS have got a few handsets and tablets on offer this year but I am surprised that they haven’t announced or leaked a smartwatch.

I guess that the main smartwatch to look out for it is Samsung Gear Solo that is said to contain a SIM; “Hello, Dick Tracy...” This I’ve gotta see! It’s supposed be round also! I have to say that I am at a loss as to why none of the bigwig manufacturers haven’t come up with a large rectangular screen on a wristband instead of these odd looking small watch faces! Hmmmm... Oh, well... I guess when one of those smartwristbands come out it could make the handset obsolete. But there again, these tech-glasses have yet to take off in a big way... I think people are still afraid of these things! Lol! One day, one day... The price has a way to go for such smartgoggles to enter the mainstream!

TABLETS
Yes, I told you that that the new phablet is the 7 inch tablet with either 3G or 4G built into them! We should be seeing quite a few of those – I think I may have outed one such tablet / phablet by ASUS. It is unclear if they are going to produce similar tablets but with a slimmer bezel so that it looks more like a handset – just like the Samsung Q!



Now, would Samsung release a 7” version of the Galaxy Tab S that has 4G as a standard? Hmmmm... I guess that will take away from the Galaxy Note 4.

Archos have announced a number of tablets to hit the market this year and one of them is the 8” tablet, 80 Helium 4G! It features a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB RAM and 8GB storage expandable by microSD card up to 64GB! You can make and take calls on it! And it only costs £199.99! Gosh! Oh, it has a 5MP main camera and 2MP front-facing for video calls! Sweet!
HANDSETS
Yes, just before the iPhone 6 is announced there will be so much competition from IFA alone that it is so very interesting to see if the iPhone market will grow or shrink even further! Having been in some serious shall we say “discussions” with iPhone fans it is a tough one to call! I would imagine that those that use the iPhone as a productivity tool may stick with it but those that just want a fancy handset the iPhone may have outlived its usefulness. Huawei is going to show off its Ascend P7 handset with a sapphire display! Nice!

Check out the ASUS ZenFone 5 (A501KL) is a 2GHz quad-core handset with a 5” (Gorilla Glass, 720p) display that features 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, 8MP main camera, 4G and Android 4.4 (KitKat) with ZenUI costs £199.99! Yes, it is expandable via microSD up to 64GB RAM! Wow! Should ASUS get the marketing right this handset could fly!



LG will show off the G3 Stylus that could be a budget alternative to the tripped out Galaxy Note 4! We’ll see! The G3 Stylus is not like the G3 in terms of the QHD 1440 x 2560. Uh-uh! The G3 Sylus features a 5.5” screen with a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels and a pixel density of 200 ppi. So, the G3 Stylus is looking to take the budget end of the phablet market! But the Galaxy Mega 2 could pour cold water on that challenge.

We can expect the Sony Xperia Z3 and its mini variant. For some reason I am not yet convinced by Sony handset designs. I am hoping to see a better design from them. I think the square design is getting a little long in the tooth! What I appreciate about LG designs is the round edges and the very slim bezel on it.

Motorola could be showing off the Moto G2 and X-1. From what I have seen of the “leaks” I do like the design with the rounded edges. I don’t fancy speculating on the components within as I’d rather weigh them with the competition when I learn what they are. I personally find creating articles on spec a little tired. I think now that the superphones are here there’s not that much to build upon when it comes to the brilliant premium handsets that we have come to expect from the Android stable at the middle range of the market. The thing with Android is that we are getting some great efforts in at the lower end too! I think it has gotten to a point where the markets of high, middle and low are starting to blur. One day we’ll be purchasing handsets from a dispensing machine! Lol!

OBSERVATIONS
Has the camcorder become obsolete? Sure, I see them in stores but it appears as if there is no longer a great interest in the camcorder and I guess this is thanks to the superphones from Samsung, LG, Sony, etc. There was a bit of an interest in 3D camcorders but the interest in that seems to have fizzled out. By the looks of things the camcorder has ported over to the digital SLR market which by all accounts is still going strong. Mobile phone photos are good but not quite up to the quality of the digital SLR.

TV
I am expecting announcements of 4K televisions – I may be getting one this Christmas to watch my Galaxy Note 4 footage! I am expecting some announcements from companies we’ve never even heard of looking to get inexpensive 4K televisions into the European market and this should drive the prices of 1080p televisions down even more! The large hypermarkets are selling these 1080p TVs by the truck load so it seems; every time I visit my local 24hr hypermarket I see at least a couple of people walking away with inexpensive HD TVs. Come October to December this year there will be some level entry 4K TVs.

VISION
What I see is Android gaining more ground in terms of more handsets and tablets towards the end of this year and throughout 2015 we’ll be seeing the Android tablet invading the streets all over the world! My American friends tell me that Android tablets are commonplace on the streets and it is only a matter of time before London and UK-wide streets have people walking around with Android tablets as they do with their handsets. It is going to be a great thing! We should also be seeing some Android based TV boxes / gizmos; since ceasing Virgin Media I am keen on developing my Android set-up!

I also expect to see more on automated home systems for both Android and iOS. I thought the last two years was an exciting time for technology and we have so much more to look forward to!

I hope to bring you some news / facts on what I think is the best of IFA 2014!

THANKS FOR READING...
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SYNAPSE CIRCUIT ANDROID TABLET SALES SURPASS iPAD

SYNAPSE CIRCUIT
ANDROID TABLET SALES SURPASS iPAD 2013
#AndroidTablets #Android #Tablets

Good evening, Synapse Circuit Readers! How are you? I hope that you had a great weekend! I spent much of it chilling out with family!

Can you believe that I am still in the market for a tablet? I keep saying that I am going to get one but I haven’t quite been convinced...

ANDROID TABLETS OVERTAKE
Fuelled by a 127 percent surged in worldwide sales, Android tablets collectively overtook the iPad last year, research firm Gartner said Monday.

Android tablet sales jumped to 120.9 million in 2013 to snag a global market share of 61.9 percent, up from sales of 53.3 million and a 45.8 percent share in 2012. Over the same time, iPad sales grew to 70.4 million from 61.4 million. But Apple's share of the tablet market dropped to 36 percent from 52.8 percent.

Apple's slice of the market fell amid increased demand for smaller, low-cost, name-brand tablets and cheap "white-box" products from off-brand manufacturers in emerging regions, Gartner said. Tablet sales for the whole industry grew by 145 percent across emerging markets compared with 31 percent in mature markets.

"In 2013, tablets became a mainstream phenomenon, with a vast choice of Android-based tablets being within the budget of mainstream consumers while still offering adequate specifications," Gartner research director Roberta Cozza said in a statement.

Apple hung onto its spot as the top tablet maker, leaving Samsung in second place with 37.4 million in sales and a market share of 19.1 percent. But Samsung was on fire last year compared with 2012 when it sold just 8.5 million tablets and eked out a 7.4 percent share.

Overall tablet sales hit 195.4 million in 2013, a 68 percent increase from 2012.

(Credit: Gartner)

NO SURPRISE
This news is hardly surprising. I think that the reason for the iPad decline is the iPad mini; as soon as I got wind of the iPad mini I predicted that it would cannibalize the sales of the iPad and it seems that this is happening. The trouble with Apple is that they send out mixed messages:-

1. Steve Jobs said that he would never stoop to the smaller tablet. When Tim Cook took over as CEO he stooped to the smaller iPad. In my opinion this cheapened the iPad as standalone product of outstanding quality. In creating the iPad mini many people saw this as Apple questioning the viability of the iPad which is very expensive to begin with and if that wasn’t enough they changed the 30-pin dock connector to the current Lightning standard with no adapter and therefore it rendered 30-pin peripherals obsolete unless an adapter was purchased for an extra £25! Then the biggest killer is the constant need, if you want to stay up-to-date, to upgrade. The iPad consumer spends a lot of money with the window space of up to a year (or less) to make use of the device.

2. The iPad mini made consumers question the more expensive iPad, “If I can still use the same apps on the mini then why would I bother to go for the iPad?”

3. Compared to the Android tablets the iPad mini is not a competitor where price is concerned. The Nexus 7 2013 edition offers superb quality for the money!

4. The iPad market seems rather confused. It’s too expensive for entertainment purposes – just ask the parents whose children have racked up a huge credit card bill through in app purchases! Then one has to ask, “Am I not better off with a laptop / Macbook Air?”

THOSE OTHER GUYS
As you should now, the Android tablet panders to a more versatile market: Entertainment, Social Networking / Internet and Productivity / Business.

I’ve seen people pick up tablets for the sole purpose of alleviating the use of a desktop / laptop; an edutainment device for children and an augmentation to the PC as a productive device. You just can’t do that comfortably with the iPad and its mini variant.

I also wonder if the sales of phablets count as a tablet in the analysis. Again, it’s only Android, at the moment, that can offer the consumer such a wide choice of options in both usage and cost. I predict that the sales of Android tablets this year will reduce Apple’s percentage by another 15% - if not more!

Once again, let me draw your attention to some very interesting tablets coming our way soon:-

Lenovo Yoga Tablet 10 HD+

HP Slate 7 VoiceTab

Huawei MediaPad X1 LTE

Huawai MediaTab M1 LTE

Nvidia Tegra Note 7 LTE

Sony Xperia Z2

Archos 80 Helium LTE

What do you notice? That at least four of them are LTE compatible which means that not only can you use them as a phone but you can enjoy the download speeds of LTE! Now Apple can’t do that with their iPads! Instead Apple overcharges just for adding the little chip that’ll give the tablet LTE! I think it’s only a matter of time before other Android tablet manufacturers’ follows suit.

It is good to see that Huawei and Archos are stepping up with the innovations which should yield in record sales... I know for sure that I will be getting a tablet this year! How about you?

What do you reckon?   

Take good care!

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