A daily digest of IT news, curated from blogs, forums and news sites around the web each morning. We highlight the key commentary and demystify the real story.
The Samsung Galaxy Note U.S. release date is drawing nearer. It'll be on AT&T's 4G LTE network in 12 days. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers can't wait... except for the ones that think it'll bomb like Dell's Streak. [Updated with more analysis and comment]
Your humble blogwatcher (@RichiJennings) curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: The American Diabetes Association and American Dietetic Association "have blood on their hands"...
Tony Bradley reports:
The Galaxy Note is a 5.3-inch device that straddles the line between smartphones and tablets..and is built on the latest version of the Gingerbread release of Android. .. [But] it is too unwieldy to be a great smartphone, and too small to be a worthwhile tablet. .. Displays larger than four inches are too big for most hands..and Dells attempt at a 5-inch tablet fizzled and flopped. .. For people who want something more tablet-like, but [don't want] both a smartphone and a tablet, perhaps the Galaxy Note is the right device.
Jessica Dolcourt adds:
Already available in Asia and Europe, AT&T's take adds..support for [its] 4G LTE network and a faster 1.5Ghz processor. .. What sticks out most is the Note's..Super AMOLED screen (1,280x800 pixels), which looked..gorgeous. .. It also felt light and thin for a phone of this size..and it felt comfortable enough in my smaller-size hands. .. [It] borders on awkwardly large for a smartphone, but small for a tablet. Yet its screen is slightly larger than the..Dell Streak (which, incidentally, bombed).
But your humble blogwatcher thinks Dell comparisons are duff:
As countless oh-so-clever pundits are reminding us, Dell invented this "phablet" market 18 months ago..[but] it was seen as a failure. So..the 5.3" Galaxy Note will also fail? Well, no. .. [It] failed not because of the form-factor, but because..Android wasn't ready for it..Dell didn't market it much..the battery was too small..[and] it was too fragile. .. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I own a Streak that I bought from eBay. If you're looking for an inexpensive Android [phablet], you could do a lot worse.
And what about that stylus? Jason Perlow runs defense:
Lo and behold, Samsungs product has a stylus. OMG SO #1998. .. Cheeky PalmPilot jokes aside no, hold on a minute. .. Millions of the units were sold by Palm and its licensees, and..it was the best electronic organizer ever designed. .. [I]nformation retrieval and entry..were outstandingly simple and easy compared to what we have now. .. I still do not believe that..weve matched or even improved on the basic functions of what the PalmPilot could do..on a dinky 16Mhz Motorola Dragonball. .. Despite what Steve Jobs may have wanted you to believe, there are people who actually need to write stuff down. .. There are other numerous other reasons why you would want to use pen input.
Meanwhile, Roger Kay muses on the angle subtended by a pixel:
iOS has made viewing..content at close range acceptable. I remember Philips theorizing about this subject in 2006. .. The idea was that the geometry of a 1 meter screen 2 meters away..was the same as a 10 centimeter screen 20 centimeters away. .. Philipss psycho-perceptual insight was that audio makes more difference..than video. .. If a phablet is designed right, the size compromise works out. .. Although common wisdom holds that you wouldnt want to hold something the size of a ham sandwich up to the side of your head.
