Android Tablet Update

Tablet computers have become popular among professional sports athletes, but you have probably never seen one on the sidelines during an actual game. That will change soon because the Phoenix Suns, along with Verizon Wireless and Samsung Mobile, just announced that they integrate the LTE Galaxy Tab 10.1 across all company operations.

The National Football League and Major League Baseball have strict rules that won’t allow tablets on the sidelines, but the National Basketball Association allows coaches to bring them on the court.

It’s sort of a mystery why we haven’t seen tablets during games, but the Suns will be changing that this season as the first NBA team to adopt a tablet on the court. Head coach Alvin Gentry and his staff will implement the Galaxy Tab 10.1 into all aspects of the team’s preparations on and off the court. Every player will receive their own tablet that will include a team playbook, video from practice sessions, scouting reports for upcoming opponents, and travel itineraries for road trips.

Think of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as a one-stop shop for all the basketball information that a player would need.

Gentry said that tablets are the best way to display diagrams of plays that he wants to run during a game. ”If I say, ‘I’m going to run a play called four-pop, [assistant coach] Noel Gillispie can cue that right up for me,” Gentry told the Wall St. Journal.

The Phoenix Suns organization will use the Tab 10.1 for business development opportunities. This includes such actions as season ticketholder presentations and in-game promotional programs. The Suns will also integrate the Tab 10.1 into their TV and radio broadcast to interact with their digital fans through social media platforms.

Ryan Bidan, Samsung Mobile Vice President of Product Marketing, said, ”The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 hosts an impressive array of technology that will allow the Phoenix Suns to collaborate, share, interact and prepare for games in ways that were impossible before. Not only will the Phoenix Suns be untethered from the traditional hard copies of their playbook but the Tab 10.1 will also provide the Suns with a premium and truly mobile, multi-media experience over Verizon’s 4G LTE network.”

The question I’m wondering is, will this tablet have any affect on the team’s performance on the court? This season the NFL allowed two teams, the Baltimore Ravens and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to use iPads as their official playbooks. We saw the Ravens come up just one game short of the Super Bowl, but they have been a strong team in the past.

Phoenix currently sits three games out of playoff contention in the NBA’s Western Conference, but they have the 5th oldest team in the league and they are still struggling to find their rhythm.

Gentry says today’s announcement “marks the beginning of a new era in the NBA.” Hopefully it also marks the start of a new era for the struggling Suns.

We’ve known this was coming for some time now, but US Cellular has finally laid out specific details on their 4G LTE launch. You’ll be able to kick the tires and light the fires and of course also satisfy your need for speed in March. That is of course assuming that you are in one of the select cities in Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and/or Wisconsin that are part of the initial class^[1]. Additional coverage will be announced later this month.

The next logical question is what are you going to be able to use on your nigh unlimited new super network and the answer is a bit of a letdown as the two devices that will be available first are the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is going to arrive first in March and it should be indistinguishable from the versions that have been available for about 8 months now. The Galaxy S Aviator is a new name, but it bears a striking resemblance to last year’s Droid Charge. It has the same 4.3″ Super AMOLED Plus display with an 8MP rear-camera, front-facing camera and HDMI port. If you were forced to go with one of the early 4G LTE phones from Verizon that probably would be my pick, but it would have been nice to see something more in line with the Galaxy S II or of course the Galaxy Nexus as was rumored.

While the devices might not be blockbusters it’s nice to see the regional carriers putting pressure on the majors like this. If US Cellular can get a second round of devices out in late Q2 or early Q3 that are a little more in line with at least today’s top-end devices they will be worth serious consideration if you live in one of their LTE regions.

In the wee hours of the morning, Samsung took to Facebook to at last outline the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade plans for a number of their high profile 2011 devices.

It won’t surprise anyone that the Galaxy S II tops the list for an upgrade in Q1 of 2012, but joining it in the coveted first slot is the much less prevalent Galaxy Note.

Unfortunately those are the only two devices greenlit for a Q1 2012 helping of Ice Cream Sandwich at the moment.

The rest of the “ICS-upgradable GALAXY devices” include the Galaxy S II LTE, Galaxy R, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 7.7 and the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Samsung only indicates that details on the updates for these devices will be forthcoming.

Quick caveat to all you US Galaxy S II owners: I wouldn’t start holding your breath until your carrier has weighed in on the matter. It’s also worth noting that the special edition Galaxy Tab 10.1 that was given to developers at Google I/O this year has never even seen the Android 3.2 update, so whether Samsung has any plans to continue support for it is unknown.

A perusal of the comments on the announcement show that original Galaxy S and Galaxy Ace owners are the most irate about their devices seemingly coming to the end of their upgradable life. A smattering of original Galaxy Tab owners are chiming in with their disappointment, as well.

With the benefit of letting the other major manufacturers commit to their plans first, it looks like Samsung has drawn a nearly identical line in the sand for upgrading their devices.

Is there anything that you are shocked to not see on this list? If not, what do you feel is the drop dead point for Samsung to get these updates completed without frustrating owners of these devices?

Thanks, Rob!

Tis the season to be jolly. Things are finally looking good for both Motorola and Samsung in their separate battles against Apple’s tyranny in the mobile and tablet space. First up is the ruling from the court in Australia which has denied Apple’s appeal on the court’s decision to allow Samsung to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country. Apple secured an original injunction against the Android tablet in mid-October which was later lifted by the Australian court late last month. ^[1]

The second victory goes to Motorola which has been granted a preliminary enforceable injunction by the German Mannheim Regional Court against Ireland-based Apple Sales International on products which violate Motorola’s European Patent 1010336 (B1). The patent in question allows for a “method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system” and covers most of Apple’s iOS powered devices (iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, iPad 3G and iPad2 3G). Apple is able to avoid the injunction if it chooses to remove the element within the OS which infringe on Motorola’s patents, but we have a feeling that they’ll appeal the ruling and try to battle things out in the courts before conceding defeat. ^[2]

We know that all these patent stories are getting out of hand, but we’re glad that we’re starting to see a few of them go in Android’s favor.  Now that Apple is feeling the pressure from Android OEM’s, do you think they will back down on their patent attacks?

It certainly did not take long for the CyanogenMod team to get working on Android 4.0. Soon after the Ice Cream Sandwich source code was released, Cyanogen’s official Twitter account informed us that work had begun. We never thought results could show up so early, though.

Steve Kondik (aka Cyanogen) posted something very exciting on his Google+ account last night. It reads as follows:

ICS on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is pretty great. Coming soon to a CM mirror near you :)Steve KondikCyanogenMod

This pretty much means that the port to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is at least close to being ready. Steve does state that the experience “is great,” so he is definitely getting a taste of some Ice Cream Sandwich right now. Expect the port to be available soon. As he states, they will be offering the files through their mirrors, so you might be running ICS on your tab very soon.

Try not to crack your knuckles or pull your hair too much. Let’s just wait and see when the CyanogenMod team can get us some ICS fun. We sure hope more devices get it soon, too. Who will be flashing ICS to their Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1?

Those that have been following the patent wars know that it has become quite a mess. One of Apple‘s most notable moves thus far was a ban on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany due to the similarity in the Devices’ front look. Apple may have won that battle, but it seems like Samsung did not give up on the war, and is now back to business in Germany.

Samsung has re-designed the look of the Tab 10.1, and has named it the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N. The design is not remarkably different, though; Samsung has extended the bezel to cover part of the front (wraps around the tablet), and added what seems to be speakers (or dual microphone) to the front. Not too much of a hassle, right? If nothing else, Samsung’s “redesign” has proven that these issues are simply not big enough to take to court.

After this move, German customers can now get their hands on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N without needing to import it. We will now have to play the waiting game to see if Apple will try to take things further with the new design. Knowing Apple, they will definitely try to take pursue further legal action if at all possible. It looks like Samsung is confident enough about their move.

In the meantime, Samsung has managed to sidestep Apple’s lawsuit, and should be selling these bad boys in Germany very soon. Are any of our German readers going for a Galaxy Tab 10.1N? Or would you rather go for one of the better upcoming tablets by now? Do you think Apple will try to make another move on this?