Just bought a Dell Inspiron 1121 (11z / M101z) and want to know how to upgrade the memory or hard drive?  Unlike a few netbooks from the Dell Mini line, it’s quite simple on the 1121 and all you need are a couple of screw drivers and about 10 minutes – keep on reading to learn how!

Video Guide:

Text Guide

First off, Dell has an illustrated guide on how to access the memory and hard drive here: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1121/sm/index.htm.   I’d suggest using that to supplement my guide (it’s what I used!) if you have any questions.

Upgrading the memory:

1.  Remove the battery, unscrew the memory door screw, and remove the memory door itself:

2.  Push the clips on either side of each of the memory sticks and the memory stick should pop up a bit. Then simply pull/wiggle them out. 

To put the memory back in, simply push them back into place (you know it’s all the way in when you cannot, or barely, see the gold contacts of the memory stick), and push it down into the clips.  Screw back on the memory door and you’re done upgrading the memory!

Upgrading the hard drive:

1)  To gain access to the hard drive, you must first remove the keyboard.  To do this, start by removing these three screws on the bottom:

2)  Now we need to start pulling the keyboard out.  The easiest way to start this is by using a screw driver (or any other small tipped object), and push the keyboard out through one of the screw holes you just worked with and grab it from the other side when it’s pushed out a bit:

3) With your finger holding a corner of the keyboard out, proceed by sliding your finger to the other side and getting the other corner loose. 

It’s important to note that there are 4 clips holding the keyboard in at this point (and 5 tabs at the bottom):

You can probably just pull up on the keyboard to get the two top tabs (red) loose, but you may need to use a credit card to put in between the keyboard and the chassis to get the bottom two clips loose:

4)  With all 4 clips overcome, slide the keyboard up towards the screen a bit (to clear the bottom 5 tabs) and flip the keyboard over the palm rest.  Note, don’t pull the keyboard too far away from the computer as it is still attached via a ribbon cable:

5) At this point, you could remove the hard drive as is, but I think it’s better to remove the keyboard entirely (just so you have less chance of pulling the keyboard out and damaging the cable).  All you need to do is flip up the tab holding the cable to the motherboard (the black part of the tab is hinged to the white part, so with minimal force, just pull it (rotate it) up and to the left – watch the video if you are unsure – and the cable will be free):

6)  With the keyboard completely removed, all you need to do is remove the two screws securing the hard drive in place and pull it to the right, then out:

7) From here, just simply remove the 2 screws on either side securing the drive to the drive caddy, replace it with your new hard drive, and screw it back in:

8)  Place the hard drive and caddy back in it’s place, slide to the left, put back in the two hard drive screws.  Then, place the keyboard upside down on the palm wrest, flip the ribbon cable upside down so you see the white line,

place the ribbon back in the connector, and rotate the latch closed:

9) Almost done – flip the keyboard around and start with making sure the tabs slide under the chassis, press on the keyboard around where the 4 clips are, replace the 3 screws underneath, and you’re done!

And there you have it – relatively quick and painless to upgrade the memory and hard drive.  If you’re looking for come memory upgrades, here are a few options:

Any thoughts to make this easier or want to know how to dismantle or upgrade any other part of this laptop?  Let me know in the comments!

I originally planned to write this review a couple days after I received my Galaxy Note in late October, but I decided to wait.  After using it for the first couple minutes, I didn’t like it as much as I hoped because it’s larger size made it feel a bit awkward to hold and use with one hand (at least, in my hand). It just simply didn’t feel right.  At the same time, however, I was genuinely excited by it’s specs and feature set such as 1280×800 resolution, 1.4GHz dual core Exynos processor, huge battery, stylus, camera, etc.  I didn’t want to not like it.

So, I decided to give myself time to try and get accustomed to it and then see how I felt about it after having used it for a while.  After a little over two months of usage now (a little longer than I had originally planned), I’ve really put the Note to use: traveling to France, Germany, and the US, multiple long train/plane rides, many days of using it as a sat nav, using it as a portable media player, extensive web browsing, playing games, etc. 

Note (ha), this review is going to focus on it’s physical size, as that was pretty much the only thing I did not like.  The GPS is fantastic (best from any phone I’ve used), battery life is great, performance is snappy, etc, but it was the fact that it was so big that really put me off. 

So, has using it for two months changed my initial impression?  Read on (or watch) to find out!

It’s size:

It’s big.  And that’s just exactly what everyone, friends or strangers, say whenever they see me using it: “Whoa, that’s a big phone!”, “Is that a phone?”, “Dude, does that fit in your pocket?” (yes, it does).  And it’s that which seems to be the main factor that makes people like the Note or not, which makes sense and I agree with, to a point.  Again, it’s big, but with that there’s a question to ask which is: is it a big phone, or a small tablet?  It is indeed too large to be a true one handed device (at least, for my hands), but you need to keep in mind that it’s not necessarily meant to be one.  Every phone you’ve likely been using in the past has been a phone that fits nicely in your hand, so it’s going to be a big change (yes, I know the Dell Streak is of similar size and if coming from that phone, then you already know what it’s like). 

As shown in Samsung’s own ad, they too say it’s not just a phone, but also a tablet: 

When I first heard about the Note, I thought – this sounds great – it has a huge, high resolution screen unlike other phones (such as the Galaxy S 2, iPhone 4S, etc), so it’ll be awesome for browsing the web and watching videos while still being pocketable – and indeed it is!  I’ve used it now on long haul train and plane rides, while on vacation, at home on the couch and in bed, and it’s wonderful for media and browsing.  I also had the hope that it could be my all-in-one device, meaning, I wouldn’t need to carry around my laptop and/or tablet (either the original 7 or 10.1 Galaxy Tab) in conjunction with my phone when traveling.  Normally, I would take my tablet (or Dell 11.6” 1121) when on vacation or taking long train/plane rides to be my main movie/tv show player and web browsing machine, as well as my phone for maps/gps, music, and games.  I saw the Note as being the opportunity to combine my laptop and phone into one device. 

So has it’s size met my expectations and desires?  Yes, but also a bit no.  As mentioned earlier, it’s not necessarily meant to be a one handed device, though I’ll admit that I was expecting (or hoping?) that it would be.  With my Galaxy S 2 (and all other smaller phones), the way I hold a phone is by having the bottom of the phone rest on my pinky, with my other fingers wrapped around to the other side, which then leaves me free to use my thumb to get everywhere on the screen:

With other (non Galaxy Note) phones, I am able to hold them in my hand and reach my thumb up to swipe down the notifications menu, reach to the top right corner app on the home screen (though just barely on the SGS2), and reach the ‘back’ button in the bottom right corner. 

However, on the Galaxy Note, this is not quite possible for me.  Now, I say not quite possible, as opposed to flat out not possible, because I can still reach up and pull the notifications menu, or tap the top right corner app on the home screen, etc – I just can’t do so without having to shuffle it around in my palm or without loosing my firm grip on the phone.

For example, here is how I ‘normally’ hold the Note (and any other phone) when just simply using it:

However, when I need to reach the top/top right of the Note, I have to slide it down my hand a bit (and therefore no longer have it resting on my pinky) in order to do so:

Okay. That all being said, for the first couple days of using the Note, I wasn’t all that happy with needing to adjust the way I’ve always held a ; it didn’t feel right to have to change my ‘phone grip’.  However, after using it for a while, I’ve found my self holding the Note differently without giving it any thought, I simply hold it differently to compensate for it’s size and go back to my ‘old phone grip’ when using any other (smaller) phone.  I simply slide the phone up and down my hand/fingers to reach the places I couldn’t reach with the way I’ve held phones in the past and it has become natural to me.  

Is it pocketable?

Yes.   I don’t wear baggy pants, though also not skin tight or skinny jeans, and I don’t have a problem with it.  It easily fits in my pocket, doesn’t restrict movement, and is easily removed from my pocket. 

It even fits in a shirt pocket:

Size comparisons to other devices:

Here are just some simple photos of it next to other devices:

iPhone 4s, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab 7

iPhone 4s vs Galaxy Note thickness

Conclusion

Update 20 Jan: Samsung has just released an update which makes the keyboard more one-handed friendly: http://phandroid.com/2012/01/19/new-samsung-galaxy-note-update-brings-better-support-one-handed-typing/

In short, after taking a few days/weeks to really get used to handling a larger phone, I have zero issues with it’s size and now am that much more satisfied with the Note.  Do you have a Note and also had initial reservations with it’s size but now you’re okay with it?  Or perhaps you never got used to it?  Let folks know in the comments below!

However, that’s when I came across http://joel.thegoodmanblog.com and found that you can simply put the bios files on a bootable USB drive and update the bios that way.   However, I had a bit of trouble finding the correct boot files so I figured I’d elaborate on his post in case anyone else has any troubles:

1. Download the following:
   • Latest bios from www.foxconnsupport.com (943F1P06 is the latest as of 2 Dec 2011) and extract it,
   • Windows 98 System Files (for creating a dos bootable USB drive) and extract it,
   • HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool (which allows you to use the win98 boot files to create a bootable USB drive that will get you to a dos prompt to run the bios update) and install it




2. Insert your USB drive (or SD card, etc) and run the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool.  Note that you may get a permissions error:
   
   To get around this, right click and Run as Administrator:
   




3. In the HP tool: select your USB drive (A),
   choose FAT32 (B),
   check “Quick Format”, “Create a DOS startup disk”, and browse to where you extracted the Win98 System Files (C),
   click Start (D),
   and click Yes (E)
   




4. With that done, you now have a bootable USB drive (if you have hidden/protected files visible, you should see “COMMAND.COM”, “IO.SYS”, and “MSDOS.SYS”):
   
   What you want to do now is copy over the extracted files from the bios zip (you only need the .ROM file, AFUDOS.EXE, and DOSFLASH.BAT):
   

5. Safely remove the flash drive from your computer, plug it into your Foxconn, and boot it up.  While it’s booting up, press F11 to bring up the boot options and select your flash drive.  You should then be presented with a Windows 98 boot screen for a second and then be at a command prompt.

   From here, you want to type in ‘dosflash.bat’ and then press enter:
   

6. The bios updater should do the rest automatically (calling afudos with the required parameters) and once it’s done, you should be presented with a “CMOS checksum destroyed” and “Program ended normally”:
   
7. Almost done – now you’ll want to reboot (and remove the flash drive).  During the first reboot, you’ll get a message saying “CMOS Checksum Bad” and you’ll want to press F2 to load the defaults – otherwise, things like not being able to specify the sleep mode will not be possible (not sure why, but just do it!):
   

And that’s it – you’ve just flashed the bios!  (thanks again to joel.thegoodmanblog.com!)

With the introduction of the iPhone 4S, I’ve been keen to see how it compares to one of Samsung’s flagship devices, the Galaxy S 2.  Of the many aspects of both phone to compare, I was most interested in which had the batter camera in terms of both videos and photos, so I tested them out!

Let me start by saying I am nowhere close to being a ‘great’ photographer, so when I take pictures, I pretty much just frame the shot and click.  Sure, I know enough to manually adjust ISO and shutter speeds (when using a camera that allows it) to try and compensate for certain lighting situations, but that’s about all I know.  In other words, my observations of which camera is better should be taken with a few grains of salt (someone else may have been able to frame my sample shots better/etc to make them turn out better); think of me as just an average person taking photos/videos with their phone (because I am!). 

To try and make as true of a test as I could, I strapped both phones to a piece of double cardboard (one right above the other) and had both cameras vertically lined up.  My idea was that this would allow them to take as close to the same photo/video as possible:

Videos:

Both devices have a maximum video resolution on the rear camera of 1920×1080 – however, the Galaxy S 2 allows you to adjust the recording resolution to lower resolutions as well (ie, 1280×720, 640×480, etc) whereas you are stuck at the full 1920×1080 on the iPhone.  While by itself that’s not really an issue, it could become one once you start to add apps, photos, and music.  On the iPhone, each second of video takes up approximately 2.89MB (that’s about 173MB a minute), and given that there’s no expandable storage options, I would have liked the ability to take lower quality videos (if even at 1280×720) if I wanted to conserve space.  

That being said, after taking a video of the same scenes with both cameras, it’s my opinion that the video quality of the iPhone is better than the Galaxy S 2:

(note that in the video above, I had to make some adjustments during editing to try and have a good even ‘cut’ between both clips and therefore had to push the SGS2 clip up a bit in the frame – that’s not an issue with either phone but rather the way I took the videos with my ‘cardboard rig’)

The colors on the iPhone are less washed out, bright scenes (like when looking directly at the sun) don’t create as much ‘lens flare’ (is that the right term?), it focuses much faster and accurately, and with its video stabilization there’s much less jitter.    The Galaxy S 2 does have a couple advantages, however, such as being able to choose lower resolutions to record at, having a slightly wider angle, and a few different color effects (sepia, negative, b&w, etc). 

Photos:

They’re very close and it’s hard to say which one produces better quality photos overall.  As with videos, the iPhone 4S can only take shots at it’s maximum resolution of 8MP (3264×2448) whereas the Galaxy S2 (same max 8mp res) can take lower res shots; though, unlike with videos, I can’t think of a situation where you’d ever want to take lower res shots, so that’s a non-issue to me. 

Here are a few sample shots (iPhone 4S will always be on the left, Samsung Galaxy S2 on the right):

Here we have a simple shot at the streets below my balcony.   In this particular example, the colors are more vivid on the SGS2, while the tree line where it meets the sky seems less washed out on the iPhone (but, perhaps that’s because there was ‘less’  bright sky in the field of view on the iPhone while it was focusing, thus helping the resulting iPhone photo?)

This is taking a picture of the side of my building with the bright sun just around the corner (to see how it does with light and dark objects in the field of view). Other than the iPhone making it’s picture a tad brighter, they both look the same.  (iPhone was ISO-64 1/1905s exposure, SGS2 was ISO-32 1/1479s exposure)

In this room, it’s fairly dim, so I figured this would be a good ‘indoor’ photo test.  The SGS2 photo is a bit darker and looks a bit noisier even though it was shot as ISO-400 and 1/17s exposure vs the iPhone which was at ISO-800 1/15s exposure. 

Here I tried taking photos inside my very dark bathroom.  As in the previous photos, the SGS2 was a bit darker though I’m not sure if it looks noisier or if it’s just cause it’s simply darker, but the iPhone shot does look slightly better (if not, at least brighter) and both images had the same iso/exposure as above. 

Here we have the same dark bathroom photo only this time with the LED flash enabled.   This time, the Galaxy S 2 seems to have taken the better photo as it’s a bit brighter while also sharper with more defined colors.   The Galaxy S 2 was at ISO-125 and 1/20s exposure with the iPhone 4S at ISO-250 and 1/16s exposure. 

One last shot is of my cat on the duck mat.  The two were very close here, and only upon zooming far in does it look like the iPhone’s photo is ever so slightly more clear – but either way, they’re almost the same.   Galaxy S 2:  ISO-125 at 1/17s, iPhone 4S: ISO-200 at 1/20s.

Software/Camera app:

Both phones have their advantages over the other in this department.  The great thing about the iPhone 4S is it’s zero shutter lag and it’s ability to access the camera from the lock screen.   For the shutter, as soon as you tab the shutter button, the iPhone almost instantly focuses and takes the photo – however, on the Galaxy S 2, it takes about a second to focus (or sometimes longer if it’s poorly lit) and up to another second for it to take the shot.   And for the lockscreen, I absolutely love the ability to access the camera by double clicking the iPhone home button and tapping the camera icon and very much dislike the fact that I have to unlock the screen and wait for the camera to load on the SGS2:

Then we have the Galaxy S 2 where one of it’s main advantages over the iPhone 4S is it’s numerous photo and video mode options.  While the iPhone 4 just has the ability to show a grid or use HDR,

the Galaxy S 2 has a multitude of features such as smile/blink detection, panaramic, beach, sunset, fireworks, manual ISO/white balance/exposure/color effects:

To see all of the features, be sure to check out my in depth review of the SGS2 and scroll down to the camera section. 

Conclusion:

When speaking strictly about quality from the photos and videos I’ve taken the past few days, the iPhones 4S has the better camera.  The iPhone’s videos are much smoother thanks to it’s stabilized lens, and the photos (on average) come out to be a bit more clearer/sharper.  It’s not substantially better, nor in anyway is the camera on the Galaxy S 2 bad, but it’s still better.   That being said, I’ve been using the S2 for 6 months now and have been plenty satisfied with it as a camera when I don’t have my ‘real’ one with me.  The Galaxy S 2 does, however, win in the category of feature or the camera with it’s ability to take photos and videos at varying resolutions, being able to manually choose the ISO/exposure/white balance/color options, as well as various scene settings such as beach/portrait/fireworks/sunset/text/etc. 

In the end, based on the photos and videos I took above, it is my opinion that the iPhone 4S does have a better quality camera/lens.    Do you have one of the devices and think otherwise, or perhaps you agree?  Do you have any sample shots or videos that you’d like to share?  Any questions or requests for me to take better samples or comparisons?  Let me know in the comments!

As a Samsung Mobiler, a few of us were invited to attend and promote the Samsung “GALAXY Note WORLD TOUR in Europe” launch event in London to show off the GALAXY Note and GALAXY Nexus – and as any sane person would do, I accepted their offer!  We were all there for about 5 hours and below is a description of what the event was like for us Mobilers

Before the event started:

The event was held this past Thursday evening at the Battersea Power Station in London:

At a bit before 5:00, I finally was getting close to the power station, where I’d soon start getting educated on the devices, and I finally started to see some signs letting me know I was on the right track:

Once I got through two security checkpoints (my name wasn’t on the list!), I met with our Samsung Mobiler contact and was shown to a trailer where I met with other UK and German Mobilers to start the pre-event training. 

First, we were each given a Note to play around with while a Samsung rep showed us around all of the features and highlights the Note has to offer:

This was my first time actually seeing and handling a Note, and my first reaction was surprise at how light the device was.  I currently own a Galaxy WiFi 5.0 and was expecting it to be the same ‘chunkiness’ as that, but was pleasantly surprised when I found that it was quite thin and light (yes, I compared specs before arriving, but it doesn’t really mean much to me until I actually have it in my hand).  

After we went through a few minutes with the Note, we had some folks start showing us the Nexus and a few of it’s neat features as well

One thing that really stood out was some of the new features with Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) seemed to be taken from various roms I’ve used recently, such as being able to re-size widgets and the TV-Off animation when turning off the screen – very interesting.  

The one thing that stood out the most for me was the deeply integrated data management within ICS which allows you to closely monitor your data usage – you can set usage alarms, shut off mobile data once it reaches a certain amount (perfect for those with data caps), and even monitor each individual app’s data usage and set caps for each:

After our short training (to bad we couldn’t take one of each device!), we all changed into our Samsung blues (a shirt they gave us), and started to walk toward the main entrance.  It was neat to see that they lit up the power station blue and even slapped a GALAXY Note logo along the entire wall: 

The event:

First thing upon walking in, we checked our bags/coats at the front, and then we were promptly brought over to the product demonstration stations where we would be showing the event goers the Note and Nexus after the show:

After a bit of talking and grabbing some free food and drinks, we were seated and the show began with an interesting dance routine:

Then, we were all introduced to the GALAXY Note which has been designed to try and bridge the gap between Smartphones and Tablets:

(by the way, wouldn’t it be nice to have such a large display like this in your living room?)

We were then shown through a bunch of the features that the Note brings, most notable, of course, is the S-Pen, which they had @Liam Brazier use to draw a live image of the power station during the presentation:

Next up was a bit about the GALAXY Nexus, which is the first device to have Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich):

The phone itself really does look great, and all the new features that come along with Ice Cream Sandwich are going to make it difficult for me to eventually decide on whether to get the Nexus or the Note…(if only I’ll get one of each from Samsung – here’s to wishing!). 

The rest of the presentation went on to talk about the specs of each device, some sample scenarios of people using them in every day life, as well as a list of launch dates such as the following:

After the presentation was over, the curtains went up to the left of the room to show the demonstration booths. This allowed folks to get some hands on experience with both the Nexus and the Note, while us Mobilers helped show them off as well as doing a few interviews:

After a few hours of this, the event started to wrap up, we grabbed our belongings from the coat check, and went on with our lives. 

Final thoughts:

This was the first, big product launch event that I have been to (other than the Galaxy Tab 10.1 at PC World a few months ago) – and it was quite an experience.  It was great being able to get some behind the scenes training as well as be able to show fellow phone enthusiasts these new devices (especially before they were publicly available).  It’s definitely going to be a toss up as to which device I may end up switching to once both are available, seeing as how they both now seem to out class my amazing Galaxy S 2 (though, don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great phone!).   

One of the many aspects of this event that I enjoyed was to be able to meet some people behind a few of the sites that I follow, such as the folks from Android Central (check out their hands-on review of the Note from the event!).

Is anyone else stuck in deciding between which new Samsung device to get, or perhaps it’s no contest and you’ve already settled on one?  Were you at the event as well and have something to share?  Sound off in the comments!

It’s time for another Samsung Mobiler mission – this time we’re to document being active or ‘sporty’ with one of our Samsung devices.  I chose to focus on talking about using the Galaxy S 2 as a camera to take photos while hiking.

Camera:

I simply don’t like having to carry many things when I’m out hiking or walking around.  I recently bought a Canon SX30IS, which is basically a watered down DSLR (it is a big camera) and after going on a few hikes with it, it was just too big and bulky to carry around.  Now, I’m not saying that the SGS2 takes as good of pictures as the SX30IS, but it takes good enough pictures that I’m content with it’s image quality to use in lieu of a stand alone camera. 

For example, last weekend we went on a walk to Hadrian’s Wall where I had my SGS2 along with me and here are a few sample shots taken along the way:

A lake along the path

Part of Hadrian’s Wall

Sycamore Gap from Robin Hood:  Prince of Thieves

Steps over the wall

As you can see, the pictures are actually quite good (at least in my opinion), and what’s great is that since the phone is so light, I can barely tell it’s in my pocket.   I do sometimes have to pre-focus on a darker area if I am going to take a picture where there’s a lot of light (such as the "Robin Hood" tree above), otherwise it focuses on the sky and makes the tree very dark, even though it then makes the sky almost completely white. 

I also went on another walk/hike up Mount Snowdon, where I again took the SGS2 along (as well as the SX30IS).  I constantly found my self being bothered to take the full sized Canon out of the bag, putting the strap on my neck (as to not get in front of the lens), remove the cap, etc to the point where I gave up using it and instead used my SGS2 most of the time.  For shots that I ended up using both for, besides the Canon having a higher resolution, the qualities of the two were actually pretty close for the most part:

You can of course tell that the SX30IS is better (sharper and what I consider to be truer colors), but the SGS2 still produces good images.  Unfortunately, those are the only two images that I ended up having that were similar enough to have direct comparisons, but here are some more samples of the Galaxy S 2 while hiking up the foggy and rainy Mount Snowdon:

Now, granted, take my opinions about the SGS2 being a good camera with a grain of salt – I’m no photographer by any means, so I likely could have used better settings on the Canon to make the pictures look even better, but even so, the SGS2 took images that I am happy enought with to be okay if I don’t have another camera with me.

Do you have a Galaxy S 2 and have taken some great pictures to share, or perhaps you are not as pleased about it’s quality? Do you take yours around while being `sporty` or `active`? Sound off in the comments!

Being a Samsung Mobiler has brought another opportunity for me to get my hands on many Samsung devices such as the Galaxy S 2, Galaxy Pro, and Galaxy Tab 7.  Next on the list is the 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 3G+WiFi Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet – check out my thoughts below!

Specifications of reviewed unit:

(taken from samsung.com)

• 256.7 x 175.3 x 8.6mm (10.1 x 6.9 x 0.34in)
• 565g (1lb 3.9oz)
• Pure White
• 10.1” widescreen, 1280×800 WXGA TFT LCD, 149 pixels per inch
• 1GB (RAM), 16GB (ROM/storage)
• HSPA +21 850/900/1900/2100
• EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
• WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n with dual band support (2.4ghz or 5GHz)
• Bluetooth 3.0
• WiFi Direct
• 1GHz Dual Core Tegra 2 processor
• 7000mAh battery, rated up to 9hrs video, 72hrs music
• Rear camera:  1280×720 HD video, 3MP auto focus photo with LED flash
• Front camera:  640×480 VGA video, 2MP photo
• Video playback:  up to 1080p 30fps with codecs:  WMV9, WMV7, WMV8, H.264, MPEG4, Xvid, DiVX, H.263, VP8
• Audio playback:  MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, RA with stereo (2) speakers

What it looks like:

Here we have the front and the back:

The top with power, volume rocker, ear phone jack, and simcard slot:

The bottom with the usb/charging port and mic:

And of course the sides, each with their own speaker:

Specs compared to other tablets:

Here’s an on-paper comparison to a few other tablets of similar size:

As you can see, they’re all pretty close in terms of specs.  The Tab weighs in the lightest and thinnest, the Transformer has the highest ppi, and the Xoom has the highest megapixel cameras. 

Included apps:

Along with the “standard Android” apps (such as gmail, gallery, google maps, navigation, etc) Samsung has included a few additional ones as well:

• Polaris Office:
  
  Polaris Office is essentially a lite version of Microsoft Office. 
  

  It allows you to create/read/edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, and it’s actually pretty good at it.  It’s pretty limited on what features you have in creating, but I haven’t run into any docs that haven’t been able to render correctly when viewing them here (though, perhaps I just don’t have access to any complicated word/excel files!)
  
  It’s great for creating or editing a document when you don’t have access to a PC (it’s helped me a few times while on the train when responding to a work email or two). 

• Samsung Apps: 
  
  This is basically a Samsung app store.  From the few apps that you can actually download from here, many appear to be either available in the standard Android Market or are relatively useless (at least in my opinion), so I honestly don’t see the point of this. 
• Pulse: 
  
  This is a fancy news reader, and it’s actually quite nice interface.  You see your various feeds in the homescreen (images and all), and it will even automatically update with new feeds periodically. 
  

  Once you tap on an article, it gives you a split pane interface for reading:
  

  You can also add in any RSS feed, as well as import feeds from Google Reader:
  

• Pen Memo:
  
  This is basically a note taking app – just use your finger to draw directly on the screen, or open up the keyboard and start typing away.  You can choose the thickness and color of the lines that you draw, and it’s pretty straight forward.    I honestly never find my self drawing a note, but it is something I regularly use to type out notes (grocery lists, todo-lists, etc)
  

• Samsung Music Hub:  
  
  This is Samsung’s music store.  It’s about what you would expect, you can browse for music (by album, artist, popular), or you can of course search. 
  
  To be honest, I don’t see much benefit of using the Music Hub over Amazon MP3 (which is generally cheaper). 

Web browsing:

Browsing the web is really great on this device – having a 1280×800 resolution screen, just like a laptop, really makes the browsing experience just as if you were using a computer.   For example, viewing Engadget, you don’t need to horizontally scroll and you can view the page just like you would expect:

I’ve also not had any problems performing any tasks that I would normally do on a full PC – for example, within Dolphin browser on my Samsung Galaxy S 2, tagging doesn’t work, however, no problems in the built in browser on the Tab:

Final thoughts:

All in all, the performance and experience is similar to other 10” dual core Android tablets in the market that I’ve tried (Transformer, Xoom, etc).  What mostly differentiates the Tab is that it is lighter and thinner than any of the other tablets I’ve used, it has a 3G option (which most don’t have, yet), and that there are no other ports (such as USB or MicroSD). 

One thing to note is that a few people have mentioned having the “Newton’s Rings” issue which is where you get what looks like an oil slick effect on your screen.  Mine actually developed this problem last week, and after I put it in the fridge for a bit, the problem is minimal now and it only happens if I press the screen a bit hard (there’s a YouTube video about it here).  However, Samsung seems to be replacing those that have had this problem, so as long as you don’t mind dealing with the issue if you happen to get it….

Do you have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and want to share your comments?  Thinking about purchasing one and have any questions?  Let us know in the comments below!

In previous posts, I’ve written about Google Voice (GV) and all that it can do and about how to utilize GV in conjunction with Gizmo5 to make free calls.  However, that party slowed once Google bought Gizmo5 and stopped taking new signups, and then it was completely over when they shut it down completely earlier this year.   However, the party can continue now that GV has enabled the ability to utilize Google Chat to make/receive GV calls in custom applications.  Various companies are taking advantage of this ability and this is where Obihai’s OBi110 for $50 (or £50) and OBi100 for $44 really shine. 

So what exactly are these?

The Obihai OBi110 and OBi100 are essentially enhanced internet phone adapters (ATA/VOIP adapter) that allow you to use a normal land line phone to make/receive calls (using your internet connection) using various VoIP providers (phone service over the internet).  One of the main features that really makes Obihai’s devices stand out amongst other ATA adapters (such as the Linksys PAP2) is that they have the ability to directly utilize Google Voice as one of the phone service providers (without having to use any other 3rd party service or have a computer running). This means being able to utilize Google Voice’s features (free US/Canada calls, call forwarding, voice mail transcription, etc) directly from a traditional landline/home phone while at the same time having access to all the Obihai features such as call bridging, free obi-to-obi calls, and much more:

What does it look like:

The devices themselves are quite small, especially the OBi100.  On the left/top is the OBi100 and the right/bottom is the OBi110:

Even the power supply is small as well as dual voltage (100-240v 50/60hz), so it can be used world wide:

Why would you want one?

The main reason I bought one was simply to save on calls.  Google Voice allows free incoming/outgoing calls to the US and Canada, and very cheap UK calls (they recently lowered rates to UK mobiles – it’s now cheaper than any other VoIP provider that I use).  I work from home in the UK and deal with our US and UK offices all the time (and don’t get reimbursed for phone usage), so this saves me an incredible amount of money.  I didn’t want to sign up for an expensive UK land line calling plan, nor did I want to pay the price for a higher/unlimited cell plan, so being able to utilize the Obihai boxes for GV is perfect for me (especially since it’s a no hassle setup and doesn’t require a dedicated computer or similar to run it).

Prior to using an Obi, I set myself up a FreePBX system using the easy to install and use Incredible PBX.  Discussing IncrediblePBX would need a whole post (or more) by itself, but it’s basically an incredibly supercharged Obi100 that runs on a computer.  It has so many features, and works great – however, it does require a dedicated computer to run on (which would cost more than the Obi devices) and has a lot of features I would simply never use

So that’s one (big) reason, cost savings for calling from home, to get an OBi110/OBi100.  Here are some more reasons and sample scenarios in how you could/would want to use an OBi:

• Call internationally from your cell phone at cheap (or free) rates.  With the Obi devices, you can set it up so that when you call into it, you can have the option to then call back out from it using any of your configured VoIP providers.  For a specific example, I currently have a free Google Voice and free Sipgate UK VoIP account setup on my Obi110.  Sipgate UK allows free incoming calls and they even provide a free UK phone number.  So, from my cell phone in the UK, I dial my Sipgate UK number which gets picked up by the ObiAttendant (which is a built in automated operator which you can turn on and off for each configured phone service provider).  I then select the option to make an outgoing call and then proceed to dial a number from the US (which is routed through my GV account), and my call is connected.  I have just dialed an international number from my cell phone using my “regular” minute plan as opposed to dialing internationally directly from my mobile and paying £0.49/minute (yes, I know there are cheaper mobile providers). 
• Call directly through your Obi110/100 from your cell phone using your data connection.  Obihai has a mobile app, “OBiON”, for iOS and Android which will allow you to make calls directly from your Obi device using your phone’s data connection.   However, I’ve never had great success/quality when using OBiON (and by judging by the app reviews, it’s the same with many other people), so perhaps it’ll get better in the future, and in the mean time, you’ll probably want to stick with utilizing the ObiAttendant/call through feature mentioned above (if you’re wanting to use your Obi device with your cell phone)
• Save on cell minutes when at home.  This is basically my “cost savings” reason above, but when I was still living in the US, I did not have any land line service and relied entirely on my cell phone.  Seeing as how I didn’t want to pay the price for a huge minute plan (or unlimited), I could see running into issues if I ever needed to make multiple hour+ calls to support (either for fix the internet, get a computer warranty repair, etc).   However, having an Obi110/100 and GV would allow me to make as many calls to tech support as I’d want without paying anything (besides the initial cost of the Obi device of course). 

Is it easy to setup (with or without Google Voice)?

Most definitely, and it’s quick too – check out Obihai’s excellent step-by-step guide (and below is a very brief overview):

• 1.  Unbox the Obi110/100 and plug in the power supply, Ethernet cable, and your land line phone, and put it where you want (I mounted mine under my desk near the modem):
  
• 2.  Get your Google Voice account ready (it’s best to use a dedicated Google Voice account – one not associated with the email address you regularly use – so it doesn’t conflict with the GMail chat app when you have GMail open).   Turn off Call Screening, Enable calls to be forwarded to Google Chat, and turn off direct voicemail access.
• 3.  Go to http://www.obitalk.com and sign up for a new account.  Once registered, click on Add Device and follow the on screen instructions to add your device to your account (you basically dial a **5 number which has the Obi device connect to your Obitalk account automatically). 
• 4.  Then click “Setup google voice”, enter in your google voice email address and password, click Submit, let the device restart, and bam – you’re done!

How does the OBi100 differ from the OBi110?

Besides the obvious differences in size, the only way they differ is that the larger and slightly more expensive OBi110 offers an FXO (or “line”) port that the OBi100 does not:

An FXO port allows you to plug directly into your “actual” land line provider (assuming you have one) so that you can have both your land line connection and your Google Voice/VoIP connections all managed and accessible through the OBi110.   It’s also useful to have the OBi110 if you have a land line, even if you don’t have service, as you can (maybe) utilize it to make 9-1-1 calls if/when necessary (though you can also setup “E-911” service with various VoIP providers).   This way, all incoming calls from all your phone providers can be answered, and dialed from, a single home phone – very convenient!

FAQ/frequent questions I’ve seen:

Since the OBi110 and OBi100 have been released, there have been tons of deals and general information threads on various forums across the web and many people always ask the same questions – Here are a few of the more frequent ones:

• You can’t use this (with or without GV) outside of the US:  False.  I live in the UK and have no problems with either device and they even have the OBi110 for sale at amazon.co.uk now.  The only caveat is that if you want to use Google Voice outside the US, you must sign up from a US IP address as well as have access to a US phone number for the initial ‘activation’ (GV will call this US number to confirm your account). Once you have an account, you can use it anywhere.   Note that if you live in the UK, you may need to buy a BT-to-RJ11 plug adapter in order to get a UK phone to work with the OBi devices (they’re cheap!):
  I had an OLD cordless UK phone that worked fine, but then purchased a new one and it wouldn’t work with the same RJ11-to-RJ11 cable from the US that I was using, so I had to stick w/the RJ11 to BT cable the new phone came with and purchase an adapter to switch the BT end back to RJ11.  (For those interested, the UK uses a different standard phone plug [“BT” as it’s frequently called] and it appears that on the RJ11 end, the two outside wires are swapped when compared to the US style RJ11 plug, which is why a standard US RJ11-to-RJ11 plug won’t necessarily work)




• Related to the above, you do not need to have two OBi devices (one setup in the US and one setup in whatever country you are living in) in order to make calls (whether they be US/Canada calls or local to the country you live in) with GV if you are outside the US. 
• This is not the same thing as a Linksys/Vonage PAP2 ATA.  While it is very similar, the Obi110/Obi100 has MANY more features that the PAP2 does not, most notably again, being able to utilize GV directly (whereas the PAP2 cannot). 

What else these devices are not and cannot do:

• No answering machine built in.  If you want to have an answering machine, you’ll either need to get a physical answering machine plugged into the phone port, or let the VoIP provider(s) handle it (ie, GV). 
• You cannot connect a SIP/VoIP phone to it (directly).  This device is not like an Asterisk server where you can connect a SIP/IP/soft phone.  You can, however, setup the Obihai bridge (OBiAPP for PCs) on a computer and then connect a SIP/IP/VoIP phone via the bridge.  For example, say you wanted to use X-Lite (a softphone app which lets you make a call from your computer, similar to dialing from GMail) – you would need to have OBiAPP running on a computer and you would then connect to the OBiAPP which then connects your SIP/IP/soft phone to the OBi110/OBi100.  Again, this requires you to have the OBiAPP running on a computer anytime you want to make/receive a call from a sip/ip/soft phone. 

Some final thoughts:

There is SO much that you can accomplish with these devices and there are TONS of articles, reviews, guides, etc on how to use them and tips and tricks.  Most notable to me are the series of posts over at The Michigan Telephone Blog which goes through a very detailed review and how-to guides for setting up various things.  Obihai also has a good support system and very active user forum if you want any sort of question answered (or see if anyone else has the same question or issue). 

One thing to note is that yes, one of the major selling points for these are it’s simple integration with Google Voice. However, Google Voice has (so far) only stated that calls to the US/Canada will be free through 2011 with no mention as to what happens in 2012 (it may remain free, they may start charging – who knows).  However, no one knows if they’ll stop the free party, but even if they do, I wouldn’t expect it to be much (as there are other providers that offer unlimited US/Canada calls  for $3-4 a month, so I would think Google would meet, if not beat, those prices).  Plus, this works very nicely with any other VoIP provider out there (Sipgate US or UK, Call Centric, VoipFone, etc the list goes on ). 

It’s only available from Amazon for now, so head on over there and pick one up:

Have any questions about using the OBi110 or OBi100?  Have you picked one up and want to share your tips and tricks?  Sound off in the comments below!

It’s time for another Samsung Mobilers mission – so far this year I’ve had the opportunity to user and review the Samsung Galaxy S 2, Galaxy Pro, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (a day in my life using the new Galaxy Tab 10.1), and now we’ve been tasked with a few more lighter missions.  This next mission is for us to list our top 5 favorite games and explain how to install them:

1.  Angry Birds: 

This is the game that I play the most, and I’m sure most everyone has at least heard of it and at least seen it played (if not play it themselves).   It’s a very addictive puzzle game where you fling birds at buildings and pigs to try and free their eggs (and some birds have special abilities like becoming a bomb or dropping explosive eggs:

One of the things that makes this game great is that there are currently 3 versions  which can be downloaded from the Android Market (Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons, and Angry Birds Rio) and each version has TONS of levels (and more levels are added on a regular basis).   Also, the sound effects are quite enjoyable as well… If you don’t already have it, download it now, it’s free!

2.  Peggle:

Peggle is another puzzle game only this time it’s like an extreme version of Breakout.  There are multiple rounds where there are a number of bricks on the screen that you need to destroy by having a ball (that you launch) touch them on it’s way down to the bottom of the screen.  Touch all the red bricks within your 10 available balls and you move on to the next round. 

You can check out some sample game play in AndroidSPIN’s youtube review here:

So you’ve searched for it in the Android Market and can’t find it?  That’s because it’s currently only in the Amazon AppStore.   Simply head over to the Amazon AppStore and enter in your email address (that you can check from your Android phone), or your phone number to get a text, and click on the link in the message.  You basically just need to enable non-Market apps to be installed (such as the Amazon AppStore), and then download and install the AppStore.  There’s a very simple video from Amazon that shows you how to install it and start getting apps from it:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m25J6SKSWIK6HC/ref=ent_fb_link

3.  Words with Friends:

Here we have another extremely popular game which is essentially Scrabble that you can play with other mobile phone users.  What makes it especially great is that you can play with users using multiple platforms such as iPhone/iPod/iPad and Android!  You can grab the free version (ad supported) from the Android Market

4.  Robo Defense:

Robo Defense is variant of a tower defense game done well.  You are basically given weapons towers to construct in order to defeat the enemies before they are able to cross the screen.  On the free version, you are given 3 different choices for towers with each having a few different upgrade paths and just one map available – even still, you can find yourself playing again and again while trying to configure different layouts to try to get to the 100th round:

It can be downloaded from the Android Market in a free version (limited to one level) or paid version (multiple levels, upgrades, and maps).

5.  TapTap Revenge 4: 

For those who like Guitar Hero/Rock Band, TapTap Revenge 4 is essentially a port of those games over to Android – use your thumbs, fingers, and even the built in gyroscope sensor to hit the right notes at the right time with tons of different (and even recent/popular) music.  

I was worried at first that it would be relatively easy, even on expert mode, but the songs can very quite difficult, so it should be able to keep you busy for a while (if you want to try to get a high score).  Like the other games above, it too is free and available from the standard Android Market

Do you have a particularly favorite game that isn’t listed here?  Know of any other sources to get games that weren’t mentioned?  Let everyone know about them in the comments and stay tuned for more Samsung Mob!ler missions!

The Samsung Mob!ler program is back and better than ever.  We are now a larger group, it’s been said that there will be many more missions than last year, and this year we’ve already been given a Samsung Galaxy S 2 to review and now we’re onto a Samsung Galaxy Pro.  Our first ‘official’ mission this year is to compare the Galaxy Pro against BlackBerry.

First off, it’s hard to compare a single phone to an array of phones (Galaxy Pro vs BlackBerry in general), so let’s take a birds eye look at comparing the Galaxy Pro two of the latest BlackBerrys (BlackBerries?) of a similar form factor – the Curve 3G and the Bold 9780 – and while we’re add it, let’s throw in the HTC ChaCha. 

Let’s first start out by comparing their spec sheets:

Spec	Galaxy Pro	HTC ChaCha	BB Curve 3G	BB Bold 9780
CPU	800 MHz	800 MHz	624MHz	624MHz
Screen Size	2.8” TFT	2.6” TFT	2.46” TFT	2.44” TFT
Touch Screen	Yes (not multi)	Yes	no	no
Screen Res	320×240	480×320	320×240	480×360
OS	Android 2.2	Android 2.3	BB OS 5.0	BB OS 6.0
Memory	512MB	512MB	256MB	512MB
Storage	512MB Internal 2GB MicroSD	512MB internal	256MB Internal	2GB MicroSD
Rear Cam	3MP	5MP+Flash	2MP	5MP + Flash
Front Cam	none	0.3MP	none	none
Height	4.28in/108.6mm	4.5in/114.4mm	4.29in/109mm	4.29in/109mm
Width	2.62in/66.7mm	2.54in/64.6mm	2.36in/60mm	2.36in/60mm
Thickness	0.42in/10.7mm	0.42in/10.7mm	0.55in/13.9mm	0.56in/14mm
Weight	3.74oz/106g	4.23/120g	3.7oz/104g	4.3oz/112g
Batt TalkTime	6.3hrs	7.5hrs	5.5hrs	6hrs
Batt Stand By	460hrs	640hrs	456hrs	528hrs
WiFi	b/g/n	b/g/n	b/g/n	a/b/g

As you can see, they’re all fairly similar.   The ChaCha and Galaxy Pro (on average) have the better battery life, processor, memory, and screens

Media/Screen:

First and foremost, neither device is meant to be a media power house.  Yes, you’ll be able to watch a wide variety of videos from either device, but at 2.8” and less, it won’t necessarily be something overly enjoyable.   The screen on the Galaxy Pro specifically is a bit pixely given that it’s a 320×240 stretched across a 2.8” screen, and the viewing angles aren’t the best – when viewing text and/or a webpage, it can be a bit hard to read when zoomed in to a point where you don’t need to horizontally scroll to read the page:

However, the same issue exists with the 320×240 screen on the Black Berry Curve 3G as shown from Tech Radar in their post here.  It’s just how it’s going to be with a screen this small and at this resolution.  

However, where the Galaxy Pro definitely beats either BlackBerry is that it has a capacitive touch screen.   (Yes, there are newer BlackBerrys that have touch screens, but they’re a bit above the class from the Galaxy Pro).  This is essentially where the Pro mixes non-BlackBerrys with the BlackBerrys.   Where most BlackBerry users are used to using the optical pad/scroll ball wheel, users of the Pro now are able to control input by directly on the screen.   But of course, there is a limit to it’s capabilities in that it is not a multi-touch screen, which means (for example), there’s no pinch to zoom for websites or google maps – one must use shortcuts built into the various apps for such actions:

However, having a touch screen is still much better in my opinion than having to scroll through a list of links on a given page in order to click on the one you want (BlackBerrys). 

Keyboard:

It’s not common to have an Android phone with a hardware keyboard like most BlackBerrys do, so it’s a definite way that Samsung is trying to steal some of the BlackBerry users out there.   For traditional Android phone users wanting an affordable option to have a hardware keyboard, then this is of course an option.  However, I found the keyboard on the Galaxy Pro to not be quite as well laid out as those on either the Curve 3G, Bold 9780, or even the ChaCha. 

As you can see, of the four phones I’ve been mentioning in this review, the Galaxy Pro is the only one that does not stagger the keys in a more ergonomic (curved) fashion:

Also notice that the Galaxy Pro has it’s bottom row of keys pushed to the left so that the Z is directly under the A and Q which, at least for me, has caused me a great number of typos (not that I use ‘Z’ a lot, but many of the other keys are not in their ‘natural’ location either).   

While it is a step up for those of you who have been yearning for a hardware keyboard on such a form factor, I feel as though it’s just simply not as good as a BlackBerry (or the ChaCha). 

OS/Software:

Now this is going to be hard to discuss without being biased towards Android, as it’s what I’ve been using for quite some time and am therefore quite used to what it has to offer.  That being said, the fact that the Android app market is much more developed (number of quality apps), leans me towards Android as a winner here. 

There are, however, good BlackBerry-Only apps – one most known about is BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), which is basically a built in IM client that works, and is present, across all BlackBerrys.  While this exact feature does not exist in the Android realm, there are plenty of cross-platform/OS apps that accomplish a similar feature, such as any number of IM clients (AIM, Meebo, etc), or one that is very similar:  What’s App, which is a cross-platform IM client that works on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Symbian.

Conclusion:

Unfortunately, I do not have the years of experience of using and owning a BlackBerry to go into a detailed comparison, but as you can see, they two mentioned here are very similar from a quick overview.  Each has their own advantages over the other (when comparing similar form factored devices), and I feel that it (mostly) comes down to which mobile OS you prefer and how important it is to have a touch screen.  Both are of similar size, weights, and battery life – both provide a similar hardware keyboard (though, arguably, BlackBerry may have the upper hand here) – though the Galaxy Pro affords a touch screen. 

Do you have a definite leaning towards which you feel is the better mobile phone?  Are you on the fence as to go with a BlackBerry or a Galaxy Pro (or even HTC ChaCha)?   Sound off in the comments below!