Scroll Excel 7 first look

Posted on January 29, 2012 at 11:37 am UK

The market for tablet computers is looking rosy according to any number of research studies and reports in the mainstream media and tech press.

It’s continuing good news for Apple and its iPad and for the myriad Android tablet-makers; and for satisfying consumers’ desire to own the latest affordable tech that gives them the freedom to get at information whenever and wherever they want it.

According to one recent report I read by Research and Markets, the expected growth of the tablet market in the UK over the next few years will be driven by features such as ease of use, long battery life, mobility, ability to multi-task, instant on/off and the large number of applications available.

Such predicted expectation drivers – no doubt valid in most if not all markets, not just the UK – keep the pressure on vendors where those that build better mousetraps are likely to be the ones that dominate in the market, either overall (like the iPad) or in a niche.

Such predictions and opinion are probably welcome news to a UK niche player like Storage Options, maker of the Scroll Excel 7″ tablet they loaned me and that I’ve been taking a look at over the past few weeks.

Just over six months ago, in June 2011, I reviewed Storage Options’ predecessor tablet, the Scroll 7″ Tablet PC (Capacitive). As I mentioned in the review, that device while competent had some significant issues that made me reluctant to consider it a product to recommend to anyone.

But that was then, and this is now with a new device that offers a much better experience and makes it a worthy offering in an increasingly-crowded market. You can see what I make of the Scroll Excel in my first-look video report that runs at just under ten minutes.

(If you don’t see the video embedded above, watch it at YouTube.)

Overall, I think this is a very good device, certainly a far superior product compared to its predecessor. It’s well specified; the device I’ve got includes:

Android 2.3.4 operating system
Cortex A8 1Ghz single-core processor
512Mb DDR3 RAM; 4GB internal storage memory (of which 2Gb is used by the operating system); slot to add a microSD card up to 32Gb
Capacitive 7-inch touch screen, 16:9 (screen resolution) 5:3 (pixel resolution), 800 x 480
0.3 megapixel front-facing camera
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Mini HDMI socket for connecting to, eg, a TV to play HD video (you’ll need to buy a cable, one isn’t included)
Mini USB port for connecting to a computer for file transfers and to to connect peripheral devices: keyboard, flash drive, etc (and a cable is included)
Plays 1080p HD video, supports MPEG2, MPEG4, AVS, H.264, WMV, AVI, MP4, RMVB, FLV, MKV

I like the build quality, the speed of operation (on a par with most devices I’ve used and matching your expectations in how quickly something happens when you tap on the screen), the screen’s great resolution, and long battery life (with my moderate use so far – exploring the device, video watching, news reading, a bit of email – it’s days between charges).

Storage Options offers the Scroll Excel 7″ at a pretty keen price – currently, £129.99 is mentioned on their website although I see Amazon UK has it at £139.99, a discount of £10 off the original price. And they reported earlier this month that it was selling very well indeed.

There is a negative about the device, although how big it is depends on what’s important to you. The Scroll Excel 7 doesn’t come with the app you commonly find on many Android devices that lets you connect to the Android Market to download and install or update your apps.

Storage Options say this:

Due to licensing restrictions, the Scroll Excel cannot officially be used to access the Android Marketplace. It does however come with a number of pre-installed apps including Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Reader, Aldiko Book Reader, Amazon Kindle, BBC iPlayer, BBC News, es_file_explorer, Evernote, Facebook, MSN Talk, Quick System Info Pro, Slider Me Market Place, TuneIn Radio, Twitter, WildTangent Games and YouTube.The Scroll Excel also comes with access to the Slide Me Market Place where most major apps can be downloaded to the device without issue.

I mention this in my video review. If ease of use for you includes installing or updating your apps with just a tap or two on the screen, then this could be a big issue. There are workarounds, though, as Storage Options mentions (and includes reference to in the device manual). There are also some extreme ones.

I discovered a way to get to the Market, by accident I think, when I installed the Kindle app for Android from Amazon directly, which took me to the Market. I did that today, after I recorded the video review yesterday, and it opens up some interesting usage possibilities I hadn’t considered – the Scroll Excel 7 makes a pretty good Kindle device alternative with a better screen reading experience than the Kindle itself (and it’s in hi-res colour), and the price between the two devices isn’t far apart. The Excel is about the same size as a Kindle, too.

That’s an extra although one you may find as appealing as I do. But as a ‘mainstream’ Android tablet, this Scroll Excel is worth considering if you’re looking for a good-quality and good-value device and you don’t want to venture into iPad-like pricing territory.

This market is evolving very quickly, though. For instance, Dell may be getting into the consumer tablet market later this year (not to be confused with it’s abortive efforts in the business tablet market with the Dell Streak). There’s also Amazon’s Fire rumoured to be coming to the UK in a few months and at a price that will bring pressure to budget-device makers

Still, for a penny under £130, the Scroll Excel 7 is a very nice product at the budget end of the market.

Dell and the wow factor

Posted on January 11, 2012 at 8:25 am UK

Among the many announcements out of the Consumer Electronics Show this week is Dell’s new XPS 13 Ultrabook.

Dell joins other manufacturers in the embryonic ultrabook segment late to the party, some say. Even if true, does it matter if you have something really different like Smart Connect functionality? That looks pretty cool, according to PC Magazine:

[...] It periodically wakes during sleep and, if a known Wi-Fi network is available, updates your email, calendar, and other information so new content is waiting for you when you resume work. It’s also location-aware, so gadgets such as weather and restaurant listings are updated if you change cities.

Or maybe it’s on a more emotional level as I suggested in an impromptu chat in Google+ with Dell’s +Susan Beebe:

It helps in the differentiation from competitors when such differentiation is focused on emotional elements like form factor, aesthetic appeal and usability. Which all blends into a wow! factor

Agree?

Reshared post from +Susan Beebe

Embedded Link

Dell Ultrabook Features Backlit Keyboard, Smart Connect
Dell joins the 13.3-inch ultrabook category with an aluminum and carbon-fiber flyweight starting at $999.

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

Sizing up the Samsung Galaxy Note

Posted on December 18, 2011 at 7:11 am UK

galaxynotes2

I’ve been exploring a new gadget this weekend, a Samsung Galaxy Note that I have for review. If you looked at it, you’d think it was a rather large smartphone. Indeed, compare it to the Samsung Galaxy SII that I have – which is a rather large smartphone – and you’ll see it needs another description.

You can see the size of it when looking at these two devices side by side in the photo above – the Note on the left and the SII on the right.

When I first looked at the Note on unpacking the box, my immediate thought was – this is like the 5-inch Dell Streak in terms of size. In fact, I have a Dell Streak so a comparison is easy to see at first hand as this photo below shows: Galaxy Note on the left, Dell Streak on the right.

galaxynotedellstreak

Pretty close in overall size dimensions. Pretty close, too, in screen size – the Note has a 5.3-inch display and the Streak has 5.0 inches. Not really much in it. Compare that to the SII at 4.3 inches – an inch less in overall dimensions – or the iPhone 4: at 3.5 inches, its screen is nearly 2 inches smaller overall than the Note’s (and almost 1 inch smaller than the SII’s).

You may be wondering why I seem to be fixated on size. Does size matter? Well, it does if you’re thinking of a smartphone and how you’d use that with emphasis on the ‘phone’ part of the word. I don’t know about you, but I really wouldn’t want to have to use a device the size of a Note or a Streak as my primary phone. Imagine something that big stuck to your ear!

Although the Galaxy Note does have a slot for a SIM card so you can make and receive phone calls and text messages, I wouldn’t call it a smartphone as what you’re far more likely to want to do with it is run apps and connect to the net. So a cellular connection as well as wifi is handy, letting you be online just about anywhere. And if push comes to shove, you can always make a phone call if you really want to.

This device is a mini tablet – a hybrid, in fact, in between a smartphone and a tablet. It’s the space Dell first entered in 2009 with the 5-inch Streak. But it’s a space they’ve now vacated entirely in the major markets of Europe and North America, leaving it to Samsung in particular to make the most of it.

The Galaxy Note I have is unlocked, not tied to any particular network or mobile operator. It works just fine on wifi without a SIM card, although I did notice something interesting – when I first turned it on and configured a wifi connection, it notified me of a new firmware update.

But it wouldn’t let me get it without a SIM card installed.

notesoftwareupdate That was easy to sort out by using the SIM card from my SII. It enabled the firmware to be downloaded and installed, which updated the version of the Android operating system from 2.3.5 to 2.3.6. Bang up to date!

(As an aside comment on that, searching for a firmware update on the SII – which, like the Note did, has Android version 2.3.5 installed – produces no result. Yet 2.3.6 is available. Maybe the fix that 2.3.6 brings – for a voice search bug – isn’t relevant to the SII. Or, as that device is tied to a mobile operator – Three UK – perhaps it’s waiting for Three to release the update)

As I opened the box only yesterday, I haven’t yet kicked the Note’s tyres in a meaningful way. Not run any apps nor explored some interesting aspects such as the S Pen – a hi-tech stylus that may seem conceptually familiar to you if you remember devices like the Compaq IPAQ from a decade ago – and some of the neat ways you can use it.

samsungbatteries

The short time I have spent so far with the Note shows me a mobile device that’s powerful, fast, familiar, light in the hand, feature-laden and a pleasure to use. One other thing I noted in particular was the battery – 2500mAh capacity. (Wikipedia explains mAh if you’re interested.) What that means to you and me is that a device this size with a screen this big needs all the juice it can get. Depending on use, I’d expect battery life to be on a par with what I get from my Galaxy SII with a smaller capacity battery (1650mAh) for a smaller-size and smaller-screen device – about a day’s charge with my typical use.

Would the Note be good as a primary mobile device, eg, as your phone? No, I wouldn’t recommend that. But if you want a tool that lets you do much of what you can with a full-size Android tablet (or iPad, for that matter) but in a pocket-size form factor – the best of both worlds, perhaps – then the Note may appeal to you.

Here are the top-level specs:

1.4GHz ARM9dual-core processor
1Gb RAM
16Gb internal storage (32Gb version also available but not in the UK)
MicroSD card external storage support for cards up to 32Gb capacity
Bluetooth
802.11a/b/g/n wifi
5.3-inch Super AMOLEDHD display with 800×1280 resolution
8 megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash plus 2 megapixel front-facing camera
Android 2.3 Gingerbread with upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwichcoming
Screen capture capability (making screenshots)

More thoughts to come as I get to know the Samsung Galaxy Note.

(All the pics above were shot with an HTC Desire 5-megapixel camera and tweaked a bit in Paint Shop Pro X2. Not a bad camera compared to the Note’s and SII’s 8-megapixel ones.)

Touching the BBC

Posted on November 24, 2011 at 7:57 am UK

I was taking a look through the beta version of the BBC’s new website when it occurred to me that what I was interacting with was a web presence that’s geared to touch and feel more than to point and click.

The overall layout that extends left and right off the visible screen area, prominent navigation arrows left and right, big visual and touchable content areas… all elements you currently see on touch-screen tablets like the iPad when accessing some types of content.

However this is the first commercial website I’ve seen that seems to be under construction with an eye on the future of user interfaces.

Clearly the BBC beta site isn’t wholly polished or finished as a touch-enabled web presence – you can load it in your tablet and see that for yourself (address: http://beta.bbc.co.uk). But I wanted to get a sense of what this may be like on a normal, standard desktop computer screen that’s touch enabled, the type of device that will be found in millions of offices, shops and indeed homes for years to come, no matter how many people also use mobile devices like 10-inch tablets.

Some PC brands are coming to market now with touch screens; luckily, my wife already has a touch screen desktop computer, an Acer Aspire Z5610 with a 23-inch HD touch screen. It’s gorgeous, and I’ve always thought it ahead of its time when so few standard software applications are touch enabled. But, assuming the machine’s specs are up to scratch, she’ll be well placed when Windows 8 comes out next year – designed for touchscreen input in addition to mouse and keyboard. (And just take a look at the new Microsoft Surface technology and think of the potential with that.)

Anyway, I tried a little touching and swiping on the BBC beta site. It’s very easy to imagine this way of interacting as natural and preferable, once the site is fully enabled for that use and the computer hardware and software fully support such use. Currently the site mostly behaves like a normal website, eg, drop down menus, etc, that aren’t really good for touch interaction, more suited to point and click.

Still, it’s a good pointer (pun not intended) to what we can expect to find on the web when touch and feel comes to the desktop.

Related posts:

Getting to know the Galaxy S II

Posted on November 19, 2011 at 7:19 am UK

I got a new smartphone a few days ago, a Samsung model, as my evolution from the HTC Desire, the phone I’ve had for the past eighteen months.

It’s not the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus that launched in the UK (and across Europe) on November 17, the Android phone I’d sort of decided upon when I heard it announced a month or so ago.

No, the phone I went with is the Samsung Galaxy S II you see pictured here. Also an Android phone, this was my original choice before I heard about the Nexus.

But after all the research and in the final furlong of decision-making, I discussed specs of both phones at length with the knowledgeable sales assistant at the Three store in west London, and we concluded that for what I was looking for, the S II was the better choice, and one that I’d be comfortable with having made over a two-year contract. Plus it was about ten percent cheaper on the contract deal I chose.

Both phones are richly specified, from fast dual-core processors to rich and vibrant colours on the large screens, to excellent cameras and high-definition video-recording capabilities, and plenty of internal memory storage space.

Given that the Nexus runs the very latest version 4.0 of the Android operating system known as Ice Cream Sandwich – which no other Android phone yet has – that offers some compelling new features, and the device has a bigger screen in higher resolution than the S II, you may wonder why would I not go for that one?

Three specific reasons:

The Galaxy S II has the ability to expand memory storage with a microSD card of up to 32Gb capacity. Add that to the device’s internal storage capacity of 16Gb and you have 48Gb at your disposal – plenty for all the apps, HD video, photos, music, etc, that you might wish to have on your phone. In contrast, the Nexus has no such expansion capability – you’re stuck with the internal storage only. In the UK, that’s just 16Gb (there is a version of the Nexus that offers 32Gb of internal storage, but it doesn’t look like that model’s coming to the UK). Now looking forward to no more low-space warnings when I try and install any app, an unwelcome feature of the HTC Desire with its low 576Mb of internal storage.
The S II has an 8-megapixel rear camera, compared to the Nexus’ 5-megapixel camera. On the front, the S II’s secondary camera is 2 megapixels while the Nexus offers one at 1.3 megapixels. Small practical differences, you might argue, yet they are significant if you take lots of photos as I do and want to use video-calling eg, with Skype (which I already tried: it’s terrific!).
The lure of the coolness of Ice Cream Sandwich isn’t especially compelling to me as Samsung has said that it’s coming to the S II soon as an upgrade to Android 2.3.4 aka Gingerbread that the device currently runs. If that means not for two or three months, I’m happy to wait.

In the meantime, I’m very pleased to have a Samsung Galaxy S II that I’m getting to know. I’m well impressed with its thinness and light weight, excellent build quality, very good battery life after a couple of days of playing with it extensively, and its robust yet highly responsive Gorilla Glass touch screen (clever tech from Corning Glass: just take a look at what they see glass doing in the future).

There’s also the practical aspects of using such a phone in a business setting. I’ve yet to install many of the apps I run on the HTC Desire but already email’s up and running with various email accounts, calendar, contacts, etc, nicely sync’d with Outlook and Google apps in the cloud using the nifty Kies air app that syncs your phone wirelessly: no USB cable connection needed. I have the phone on Three’s The One Plan which, among other things, offers unlimited data use and tethering. That’s a huge appeal for me.

Earlier this year, Three produced this neat video introducing the S II including a simple explanation of Kies air at about the 1:40 mark

(If you don’t see the video embedded above, watch it at YouTube.)

So lots to see and learn about the S II; I expect to post further thoughts here in this blog. If you have an S II, a Nexus, or any other comparable device, care to share your impressions?