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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-09-04 , 14:39
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#171

Here's a tidbit of information that is interesting, though not related uniquely to the Tab: Unity3D v3 is coming to android!
http://unity3d.com/unity/coming-soon/android

Basically this means a LOT more games for the android eco-system as Unity 3D is a very popular game development environment, used in Windows, web (unity plug-in -- soon to support NaCl runtime!), iPhone, iPad, Wii, PS3, and XBox games. Games should now be relatively easily ported, and android targeted with new game development!

Here's a gallery of some of the titles released:
http://unity3d.com/gallery/

+1

Last edited by Capt'n Corrupt; 2010-09-04 at 14:45.

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-09-04 , 14:44
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#172

Originally Posted by tso

i think samsung have a case that can be folded into a stand planned. And all the archos models come with a stand built in (the 101 even have one with two angles, so one can use the onscreen keyboard more comfortably).

I like the built-in stand, though for some odd reason, I prefer to have no built-in stand at all. I don't know why, but I like the idea (perhaps its just that) of a solid device with no moving parts.

But the stand is handy. My N810 stand has become bent due to falls, and pressure when in my bag. It still works, though.

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-09-04 , 15:46
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#173

Here's an interesting video of the Tab keynote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEsdc...eature=related

It mentions that according to research 52% preferred to use the tablet on-the-go, and 70% wanted to be able to communicate using the tablet. These are compelling stats (if not simplistically presented) for the inclusion of the WAN radio.

I can see using the Tab on-the-go, though something like the iPad sized device is a little less practical in this regard.

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-09-04 , 16:42
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#174

From the looks of things, it doesn't seem as though this device has a user-replaceable battery.

Of course, it could be the case to remove the cover using a small/thin prod. There seem to be two small cut-out holes straddling the PDMI port. I suppose that these could be cover release buttons.

I can understand the design decision to still keep the sim/microSD slot accessible, even if the back cover was hard to remove, as with a tablet, there is a greater likelihood of swapping sims to avoid needing an additional account for this device.

Then again, there is no battery on the accessory page, which may be significant. Bottom line? I have no new information, apologies to those that read the whole thing -- hopefully it was entertaining, at least.

Having a non-user replaceable battery seems as though it would be a big deal for Samsung that would need some sort of a mail-in program to change batteries. Here's hoping that it can easily be purchased and replaced!

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-09-04 , 18:05
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#175

For those interested in a speed comparison between a 600MHz A8 3530 and 1.6GHz Atom 330 (dual-core), here's an interesting article:
http://www.slideshare.net/napoleanin...rk-comparisons

The conclusion is that the Atom does far better, however in terms of performance per megahertz, they actually perform rather similarly. This may hint that the Tab's performance will be noticably lower than a that of a netbook, but still acceptable for desktop os tasks (ie. ubuntu). The upcoming A9 (eg. Tegra2) devices will actually be *faster* than first gen netbooks (source: pc world).

Last edited by Capt'n Corrupt; 2010-09-04 at 18:08.

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	tso	2010-09-04 , 18:50
	Posts: 4,783 \| Thanked: 1,253 times \| Joined on Aug 2007 @ norway	#176

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

Having a non-user replaceable battery seems as though it would be a big deal for Samsung that would need some sort of a mail-in program to change batteries. Here's hoping that it can easily be purchased and replaced!

My guess is that they have figured that by the time the average battery have lost most of its capacity from repeated charges, they will have a new product on the market that they can get people to upgrade to. Planned obsolescence at its finest.

And if one worry about running out of battery while on the go, there are now plenty of external batteries that provide a extra boost via a usb port.

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	tso	2010-09-04 , 19:01
	Posts: 4,783 \| Thanked: 1,253 times \| Joined on Aug 2007 @ norway	#177

Originally Posted by Capt'n Corrupt

For those interested in a speed comparison between a 600MHz A8 3530 and 1.6GHz Atom 330 (dual-core), here's an interesting article:
http://www.slideshare.net/napoleanin...rk-comparisons

The conclusion is that the Atom does far better, however in terms of performance per megahertz, they actually perform rather similarly. This may hint that the Tab's performance will be noticably lower than a that of a netbook, but still acceptable for desktop os tasks (ie. ubuntu). The upcoming A9 (eg. Tegra2) devices will actually be *faster* than first gen netbooks (source: pc world).

From what i gathered today, there will be two variants of the next gen Atom. One aimed at netbooks (providing your typical pc interfaces like bios and acpi), and one aimed at phones and similar. This as the x86 pc legacy had added a bunch of layers, layers that windows in particular expects to be there.

So Atom, to be efficient, needs to shed these layers. Arm on the other hand starts from a simpler legacy, and so can add features while maintaining efficiency by being smart about what is added.

So if Intel and Arm hits their projections (iirc, there was a recent announcement that A9 could be clocked to 2Ghz, or 2.5 by being a bit more power hungry), Atom 5xx or 6xx and A9 may well be highly competitive. At least as long as Atom gives windows support the middle finger.

But in any case, the future drain will not be CPU but screen and wireless radios. Pixel qi and eink (and some other potentials, like mirasol) may solve the screen issue, but the radio issue is one of physics.

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Last edited by tso; 2010-09-04 at 19:04.

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etuoyo	2010-09-04 , 19:15
Posts: 1,179 \| Thanked: 770 times \| Joined on Nov 2009	#178

Think this is the best/most detailed preview I have seen so far:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jordanem.../1/bYHw4XkJ0YE

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-09-04 , 19:47
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#179

Originally Posted by tso

My guess is that they have figured that by the time the average battery have lost most of its capacity from repeated charges, they will have a new product on the market that they can get people to upgrade to. Planned obsolescence at its finest.

And if one worry about running out of battery while on the go, there are now plenty of external batteries that provide a extra boost via a usb port.

Ah, planned obsolescence, my bitter foe. You could be right about this... let's hope that you're not.

I'm not so worried about run-time, as it will do 7 hours of video and likely (based on an interview) more with lightweight tasks. This is certainly enough for me as I've comfortably made do with less on my N810.

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	Capt'n Corrupt	2010-09-04 , 20:11
	Posts: 3,524 \| Thanked: 2,958 times \| Joined on Oct 2007 @ Delta Quadrant	#180

Originally Posted by tso

From what i gathered today, there will be two variants of the next gen Atom. One aimed at netbooks (providing your typical pc interfaces like bios and acpi), and one aimed at phones and similar. This as the x86 pc legacy had added a bunch of layers, layers that windows in particular expects to be there.

So Atom, to be efficient, needs to shed these layers. Arm on the other hand starts from a simpler legacy, and so can add features while maintaining efficiency by being smart about what is added.

So if Intel and Arm hits their projections (iirc, there was a recent announcement that A9 could be clocked to 2Ghz, or 2.5 by being a bit more power hungry), Atom 5xx or 6xx and A9 may well be highly competitive. At least as long as Atom gives windows support the middle finger.

But in any case, the future drain will not be CPU but screen and wireless radios. Pixel qi and eink (and some other potentials, like mirasol) may solve the screen issue, but the radio issue is one of physics.

Great overview!

Yes, even today, CPUs are the main culprits in battery consumption rates for mobiles.

I still believe that there are further optimizations that can be done to the radios as progress permits. For example, using radio lasers as an optimization for situation where direct line-of-sight communication permits. Fractal antennas, for multi-frequency single-antenna features.

Somewhat analagously, the voyager 1 space craft in 1998 was sending communications back to the earth with a 20watt radio, and it was FAR away! The signal took almost 10 hours from transmission to reception, and the strength was 20 billion times smaller than the power in a watch battery!

Even screens have a long way to go. Imagine a Pixel Qi screen with a dynamic LED backlight that could detect the brightness over the surface and adjust the backlight LEDs accordingly. Imagine if samsung just turned down the brightness of their SAMOLED screens? From that simple optimization we might see further improvements in power consumption (in fact some users complained that they couldn't turn down the brightness below a certain point).

However, as battery tech continues to improve quickly, we may temporarily see a slowdown in research for lower power parts (eg. radios and screens). As I understand it, Li-S batteries offer 2-3 times more capacity than traditional L-Ion, and some nanotech batteries (Silicon/Carbon) have shown 10-fold increases.