The Samsung Galaxy Note is big…relatively speaking. It’s the biggest smartphone currently on the market and has been dubbed by some as a phablet—part phone and part tablet.
The larger screen is meant to make writing with Samsung’s stylus, called the “S-Pen” easier. Hence the note in Galaxy Note. The idea sort of makes sense; smartphones and tablets do a lot of the same things, so why not combine the two and cut down on your techy clutter? Unfortunately, the Note doesn’t seem to perform well as a smartphone or a tablet, so it might be a while before the phablet becomes a fad.
The above video shows a rather neat (if impractical) Kinect-powered shopping cart that can follow a user around the store and monitor what they buy. Putting aside how expensive a single cart would be (and the obvious problems in the demo), it’s still hard to envision this thing in my neighborhood grocery store. I shudder to imagine that creepy robot voice announcing every item that everyone puts in their cart. Plus, call me old fashioned, but I think I’d prefer to push my cart.
Still, it is a cool amalgamation of tech and who knows what the final product will be.
Haiku Home Automation for HAI
Developer: Nullriver, Inc.
Price: $49.99
Compatibility: iPad and iPhone
Description: Haiku combines HAI’s proven home automation controllers with iOS’s unbeatable user interface experience and versatility. This leverage brings the consumer a solid, user-friendly and convenient home automation interface that is as usable from anywhere in the world as it is from the comfort of your couch.
Pros: Frequent updates, intuitive layout, great interface, easy setup
Cons: No version for Android, reports of crashes after updating
SnapLink Mobile
Developer: Home Automation, Inc.
Price:$49.99
Compatibility: iPad, iPhone, Android.
Description: Turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a whole home remote control. Homeowners and property managers with an HAI control system can view and adjust lighting levels/scenes, temperatures, security settings, surveillance video, audio, and more.
Pros: Lots of control functions
Cons: Buggy
Crestion Mobile Pro
Developer: Crestron Electronics, Inc
Price: $100
Compatibility: iPad, iPhone, Android
Description: Crestron Mobile harnesses the power of 3G and Edge networks to stay connected to the home or office when you’re on the go. View alarm status, adjust lights and room temperature while lying on the beach or sitting in traffic.
Pros: Quick load time, theme options
Cons: Pricey, reported crashes
Control4 MyHome
Developer: Control4
Price: Free to download, $99.99 licensing fee
Compatibility: iPad, iPhone, Android
Description: The MyHome family of software apps allows you to access and control the lighting, temperature, music, movies, energy, security and more from a wide range of devices in your Control4 enabled home. By turning your existing smart phones, tablets and PCs into additional interfaces, Control4 MyHome offers you an affordable and convenient way to access and manage your system.
Pros: interface, updated graphics
Cons: misleading pricing
R2 Control for Crestron
Developer: id8 Group R2 Studios
Price: $99
Compatibility: Android
Description: R2 turns your Android device into a fully functional Crestron touchpanel!
R2 enables residential and commercial customers to control AV, lighting, thermostats, security systems, and thousands of other products via their Android device from anywhere in the world.
Pros: lots of options, speed
Cons: can be hard to configure for some users, price
Sources say that Apple has scheduled an event in early March to unveil the newest iPad, and many are speculating that it will be available for purchase a week or so after the event.
The iPad has definitely been a game-changer in the home automation field, and it’ll be exciting to see what changes have been made in the newest iteration.
The Kindle Fire has lit the way, so to speak, for other moderately priced tablets that try to beat the iPad on price instead of specs.
The Kobo Vox Android tablet has launched without much fanfare, but its $200 price tag is sure to get it noticed. Vox features a 7-inch 1024 x 600 resolution AFFS+ display with multi-touch, a 7-hour battery, and 8 gigs of internal memory with support for up to 32GB of SD storage.
We’ve been talking about tablets and lot recently and would be remiss not to include the newly released Sabre Pyramid.
iPad has killer apps, Kindle Fire has a killer price, but neither has the Power of the Pyramid.
The Pyramid weighs about 3 pounds without the battery and the highly recommended memory booster. Going without the booster gives you a whole “50 L” of memory with which to…do stuff. Details are sparse about what exactly the Pyramid can do, but who needs details when you have the Power of the Pyramid?
Apple has recently announced that they are seeking a court order to ban the sell of the Pyramid in the United States and Europe despite the fact that it is completely fictional.
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