Android on Desktops and Laptops? A Matter of Time

BY Ray Hendon

It has been apparent for some time that the Android operating system would eventually be adopted as an operating system for laptop and desktop designs.  As a touch system it has had years in which to mature, as it has done.  Version 4.2 is the best it has ever been, and competitive with Apples OS X and iOS in most every way.

Android also has another tactical advantage:  it has tens of millions of users who know and like it from their uses of it on tablets and smartphones.  But, this advantage is somewhat subdued by the competition of Apple and Microsoft’s Windows 8.  Both of these operating systems have the advantage of running on larger screens, and countless millions of users who have used their products for a long time.

It is fortunate for Android that Windows 8 has not been a runaway success, so that is another advantage for Android on a laptop and desktop—except, of course, that it is not written for large screens.  Can the engineers at Google correct this shortcoming?  Certainly they can given enough time and experience.  But it will remain an open question until Android goes head to head for a while with Apple and Windows 8 devices.

We will soon see this battle played out, most likely beginning later this year.  Acer has just announced that it will offer an all-in-one desktop computer, probably with a 21-inch screen and keyboard soon.  And they also plan on trying Android on a laptop. The picture below is of Acer's "prototype" N3-220 all-in-one.   

Although “prototype” is its current designation, an Acer executive at Computex last week made it clear that it is Acer’s plan to put the refined version into a production model, along with laptop designs as well.

The screen size is well beyond anything we have seen running under Android, but that will be a matter of technical adjustments.

The larger problem for Android is that there are no apps in its Play Store that would look good if blown up to this pixel count.  In other words, virtually all of the hundreds of thousand apps in the store will have to be rewritten to accommodate the larger screen.  How many developers are willing to take on that task with nothing more than hope that a large screen Android desktop/laptop will be successful?

When the computer reaches the American market Acer plans to have a number of such apps re-engineered and pre-loaded.  Whether this will be enough to generate a sufficient sales level  awaits an answer by the end of this year.

I think Android on laptops and desktops may be successful.  Chromebook is one example of an Android OS competing reasonably well against some entrenched competition from the stalwart firms.

Nook Kills its eReader Apps for PCs and Mac

 

Ray Hendon

In what may be a portent for the future of eReading on PCs, Macs and laptops, Barnes and Noble has discontinued support for its dedicated eReader apps for PCs and Macs.  The good news is that the apps for Android, iPhone, iPad, Web and Windows 8 are still available and supported.

This move by Barnes and Noble is probably dictated by the dismal state of financial uncertainty facing them now.  B&N has not prospered under competition from Amazon—few can.  And the only certainty in its future is of the most dismal sort.  Its share of eBook sales is declining, as are the sales of its Nook eReaders. 

Amazon’s Kindle dominates the field, and B&N’s slide down that slippery slope looks irreversible.  The maintenance of the PC and Mac reader apps is a luxury they simply can no longer afford, especially in the light of declining share of eReading done on these two devices.  It is most unfortunate.

Neither is it clear that B&N is committed to its efforts over the long term to continue facilitating eReading on other device-specific machines.  There may come a time when B&N simply provides an on-line reading app on the web, and forces their customers to do their reading in the cloud.  That way it would have to provide only one app for all customers, regardless of which devices they use.

All of the other major eBook providers have recently provided eReading apps for the cloud, but Sony, Amazon and Kobo are continuing their support for apps that allow off-line reading on Android, iOS, Macs and PCs. 

I hope they continue supporting this versatility of options.  It makes it more convenient for their customers.  There are far too many times when the web is unavailable or inconsistent to users.  When this happens, the only way to read from your library is on a device that has copies of each book in your library.  Without eReading apps this would be impossible.

While this is most handy for their customers, it is expensive for the sellers.  They must employ teams of software developers to write, enhance and maintain each type of eReader app in their stable.  And they must periodically upgrade potentially millions of copies of their apps every time a revision is needed.  This itself is expensive.  Having only one web-based reading app would simplify the process, making it much less expensive.

While the logic of forcing readers to the web is easy to see, it is for me, hard to swallow. I hope Amazon holds the line on the present system.  Its leadership in the market could force their competitors to stay in the game and leave Barnes and Noble as the lone holdout on going cheap.

I take no joy in B&N’s troubles.  But for them it is apparently time for desperate measure. 

The Best Smartphones for eReading

Ray Hendon

Update 6/10/2013:  Scroll to bottom for view and specs of new ZTE 5-inch smartphone.

eReading is done on every kind of computing device, and smartphones are no exception.  A person wishing to read can can do it on virtually any mobile device—smartphone, tablet or laptop.  The table below summarizes which devices were used for eReading as of the end of June, 2012.

A few notes of explanation.  First, the research was done by the marketing research firm, Bowker Market Research.
Secondly, the sales of Kindles and Nooks include their E-Ink readers and their branded LCD tablets.  So the Fire, Fire HD and Barnes and Noble’s tablets are included in these figures.
Third, the “Other Devices” includes the lesser brands of electronic eReaders such as Kobo, and the many variations of Android tablets.
Two broad conclusions from these data stand out to me:  Amazon has more than held its own since the introduction of the iPad-- it has actually increased it market share.  Also, the iPad has done well, gaining 3 percent since 2010.  The losers are all the smaller branded devices and Barnes and Noble.  The Nook is not holding its own, and the other smaller players are not prospering.
But the main interest I have today is how much eReading is done on smartphone devices.  If I combine the iPhone and Smartphone shares,  it shows that smartphones have a respectable 6% of all eReading.  This is equal to the share held last year by desktops and laptops, and beats all other methods of eReading after the three largest players are accounted for.
I would like to see a further breakdown of “Others” where tablets other than the iPad were shown, but that data is not available now.   But it looks to me as if the eReading market is heading for a three or four-player field:  Amazon (tablets and E-Ink eReaders), Apple (iPad and iPhone) and Android smartphones and tablets.  Windows 8 devices will begin showing up someday, but they did not show up in the survey taken last June.
In the last article I did in this series I covered tablets as alternative eReading devices, and I barely mentioned smartphones.  Click here for the article on Tablets 
This article completes the last one by focusing exclusively on smartphones.  How good is a smartphone for eReading, and what are the options?  These are the questions I cover in the balance of this piece.
Thus far, smartphones have garnered a relatively small share of the eReading experience.  Most likely the small share is because of the small screens available.  The first generation smartphones had screen of three to four inches, and this is simply too small to make for a good reading experience.  I can see using one if nothing else is available, say in the dentist office waiting for your turn to experience pain, or other times when you have nothing better to do.
However, if smartphones had larger screen they could improve their eReading penetration significantly, and that seems to be happening now. As you will see below, there is one smartphone with a screen size greater than five inches, and another that is close with a 4.7-inch screen.  The smallest screen is on the iPhone 4.
First on the list of the large screen smartphones is the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 2, shown on the right.  The is the largest cell phone I know of now, and it is a smartphone, too.  To gain perspective, recall that the E-Ink screen eReaders have a six inch screen and the most popular eReading tablets are seven inches.  The iPad Mini has a screen of 7.5 inches.
This puts the Galaxy Note 2 close to normal eReading size.  And with the excellent screen resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, eReading on this screen would be a pleasure, especially given that it uses Super HD AMOLED technology for screen brightness and color definition.
Current pricing on the Galaxy Note 2 is $199 with a two year contract from Best Buy or $799 free of contract.  Keep in mind that the Note 2 also comes with a stylus that allows you to take notes and draw on the screen, so it can do many things besides eReading and phone calls.
Whether it will prove popular for eReading is not known.  It will depend, to some degree, whether or not the 5.5 inch screen dimension is seen as too large for phone use.
Next on the list is the Samsung Galaxy S4, shown below left.  This is the Sprint S4 and is also sold with a contract for voice and data services.  The S4 has a five inch screen and features an ultrahigh, retina display density of 1920 x 1080 pixels.  It features a quad-core processor, so it should be able to handle several chores at the same time.

The Best Buy price on the S4 is $199 with contract and $749 without.  It also sports a Super AMOLED HD touch screen.  It is available in 4G connect speed through LTE and is capable of serving as a WiFi hotspot.
The S4 runs under Android 4.2.2.
The iPhone 5 is next on the list of good eReading smartphones.  Although the screen on the iPhone 5 is relatively small at 4 inches, it has a retina display of 1136 x 640.  This means the text on an eBook would be clear and crisp. 

Pricing on the iPhone 5 at Best Buy is $349.99 under contract and $899.99 without one.  Pictured at right, this smartphone and its iPhone 4 cousin accounts for about 25% of all smartphone sales.  Only Android phones, at 35%, have a larger share.
There is a native eReader app for the iPhone, iBooks, that is free from the iTunes store.  Kindle, Nook, Sony and Kobo eReader apps are also available free for the iPhones.
A screen shot of the iPhone 4 is shown below.

Beside the 3.5-inch iPhone is a 4.3-inch ZTE smartphone.  This side-by-side comparison gives you an idea of what an extra inch does for your page size.  In this photo the fonts are not exactly the same--the ZTE phone is showing a slightly larger font, but even with a larger font it displays four more lines of text.

The resolution of the iPhone 4 is 960 x 640 while the ZTE is 800 x 640.  But even with the lower resolution, I prefer the ZTE display for reading. It requires fewer page turns. Either screen, however is readable.  The slight fading on the left side of the iPhone is not the iPhone's fault, however.  It is attributable to the poor light distribution on my desk where the photo was taken.

There are two other smartphones shown below.  On the left is the HTC Windows 8 device.  And on the right and below are two photos of the HTC Android smartphone.
The HTC Android phone has an excellent 4.7 inch screen with a retina display of 1920 x 1080 pixels.  It also features a quad-core processor and a screen brilliance as good as any I have seen.  The horizontal picture below shows how brilliant a photo taken with its 13 megapixel camera looks.  The vertical picture below the horizontal image is of the home screen.

All of the popular eReading apps are available for this phone, including Windows 8 apps for Kindle, Nook and Kobo, and Windows 7 apps for even more brands.  They all work well on the HTC Android smartphone.
Windows phones are gradually increasing their presence in the smartphone market.  But, they still have a long way to go to claim a significant share of the smartphone market. 

Windows 8                                                               HTC  Adroid 4.1

                                         


The HTC Windows 8x phone is shown above right.  The screen is 4.3 inches and the resolution is 1920 x 1080.  This is quite good, and the reports on it are complimentary.  Kindle, Nook and Kobo apps are available for it, and texts will look better than on the iPhone 4 shown above.
Pricing for the Windows 8X is $99 with AT&T contract and $449 regular price.  Neither AT&T nor Verizon lists a no-contract price.
Down the road an eight inch smartphone from Samsung is coming.  It has not been priced as of yet.  It goes without saying that it would make a fabulous eReader, but at eight inches I am not so sure I would want one for a cell phone.
Regardless of your choice, there are many good options for reading electronic books on your smartphone.

---

UPdate: Sprint has added the new ZTE Vital to its lineup of smartphones, and with its enlarged 5-inch screen it would make an excellent eReader with apps available for Kindle, Nook and just about every other independent reader app available.

7-inch Tablets on Windows 8 Soon

Ray Hendon

The 7-inch category of laptops has been dominated by Android offerings, at least until the iPad Mini came out with its 7.9 inch dimension.  It should probably be classified as an 8-inch screen, it is to close. 

But now a Taiwanese manufacturer, Inventec, has show attendees at the  Computex Fair in Taipei prototype model of a 7-inch Windows 8 tablet.  Shown below, it is one device I can’t

wait to see.  However, we will not see this device under the Inventec name. This firm does not make computers under its own name, so variations on the one shown will likely be sold with an Acer, Asus or some other name when it gets to market.

According to reports, the tablet has an Intel Atom Bay Trail processor, a 7 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel IPS display, and Windows 8 software. By the time it ships, it’ll run Windows 8.1.  The prototype has 2GB of RAM and a 64GB solid state disk, although a 128GB model is also in the works.

A video below shows the new tablet in operation:  Follow the link to the video http://youtu.be/torPYQf_N58

I will be looking for this item when it hits the market.  With the specs provided it looks to retail for close to $400 or $500.

SmartPhones and Phablets as eReaders

Ray Hendon

The phenomenon of eReading has gone through several stages in its early development.  At first the popularity of reading electronic texts was expressed in the sales of E-Ink screen devices and the sale of eBooks that were read on them.

However, with the recent advent of the tablet computer, the reading public is switching to the internally illuminated screens of 7-inch and larger form factors.

Now there is an increaqsing use of multiple devices.  A person reading  may use a smartphone, a 7-inch tablet, or a larger smartphone with up to a 7-inch screen. 

Smartphones were popular early-on as an ultraportable way of eReading, but they were handicapped by their small, 4-inch screens.  Comparatively little text can be displayed on a 4-inch screen, so page turns are frequent to the point of distraction.  The popularity of the small tablet—the ones with 7-inch screens was partially a response to the uncomfortable size of the smartphone’s screen.

In the last year or so a hybrid devices has become more prominent.  It is a device that has smartphone capabilities, i.e., it makes phone calls and surfs the internet, but it also has a screen that makes eReading more of a pleasure—almost as much as a 7-inch tablet.  It has been labeled a phablet, and the phone providers are taking interest in this new form factor. 

Below are pictures of a few of this new hybrid device, and it looks as if there are to be many more introduced before the end of the year.

All of the phablet devices show below have eReading apps available from Kindle, Nook, Sony, Kobo and others.  The three shown use Android as the OS, and all the apps are free in the Google Play store.

Immediately below is Samsung’s Galaxy Note II.  It has a well done 1280 X 720 Super AMOLED HD 5.5” screen and retails (unlocked) for $541 unlocked on Amazon.  It can be bought for $300 under contract with a WCMMA configuration for Sprint or Verizon or in a GSM mode for T-Mobile or AT&T.  It is also available with LTE (4th generation high-speed cell phone connectivity).

5.5-inches is the low-end screen size.  Samsung has 6.8-inch phablet planned for release soon.

Below is the Huawei Ascend Mate: It features a 6.1” screen with a 1280x720 IPS display.  Its dimensions are 5x3.4x.4 inches thick, and it weighs in at a mere 7-ounces.  The display below

is close to actual size.  By the looks of it eReading with a Kindle or Nook app would be quite enjoyable.  It doesn’t look to be as easy to carry, though, as a more traditional 4-inch screen smartphone.  That inconvenience is a tradeoff that is unavoidable with a screen that size.  Reviewers, however, say it is comfortable to hold.

The main knock on the Ascend Mate is the graphics are not as good as a retina display, and that the processor is not as robust as most tablets.  This means that it is not good for gaming, so a full-fledged tablet is more in line for those who need the capability. But the relatively mundane graphics keep the price down.

I haven’t seen the Kindle or Nook run on this device, but the screen specs tell me the text and coloration of the text field will be quite good. 

The battery life is outstanding, and one website posted a picture of the screen showing eReading texts (shown at left).  Why they put a magnified section in the middle I do not know.  I presume it is to show off a magnification ability of the eReader. They do not say which eReader app was used.

Pricing is less than $479 for a WCDMA cell phone configuration, set up for Verizon.  Verizon and Sprint may offer the Ascend Mate with a contract for considerably less than that in the future, but it not available at the time of this writing.

 

Acer Liquid S1 5.7’ inch screen with 1280x720 resolution.  It will be available in the third

quarter of this, but information as to carriers is not available.

For the larger picture, phablet-sized smartphones can be expected to become more plentiful at all the carriers.  This ne form factor may be an eReader’s answer for a single device for general purpose computing power, eReading and smartphone capability.  But for now there is little to choose from.

For today the option is mostly to accept the tradeoffs of the small screen smartphone (3.4 to 4.3 inches) and get a seven inch or larger tablet for more serious internet work and eReading.  The next article will cover the small to medium sized tablets.

Stay tuned to this article.  I will be adding to it as more devices come to market.  This week and next with the Computex trade show in Taiwan, I expect to see several more announcements about this new form factor.

Intel’s New Specs For Ultrabooks

Ray Hendon

Intel has announced new specifications for computer designers to follow if they want to be designated as an Ultrabook.  The new specs grew out of the move to Intel’s 4th generation System on a Chip (SOC), the Haswell which will be debuting in the next few weeks.

1. Touchscreen operations must be enabled.
2. The thickness of the computer or hybrid must be no more than .9 inches.
3. Voice command and control must be enabled.
4. Battery life must be:
• 6 hours of HD video play
• 9 hours idle time
• 7 days standby time
5. Awake from sleep mode in less than three seconds.
6. WiFi and Wireless Display for streaming enabled.
7. Antivirus and Antimalware preinstalled.
8. Antitheft and identity protection preinstalled

Oddly missing are the requirements for USB 3.0 ports and a minimum screen resolution requirement.

At this time, only a few machines meet these requirements.  The first out of the gate is the HP Envy TouchSmart 14, pictured below.  No pricing information is available yet, but the older 3rd generation ultrabook was priced at about $750.  It isn’t known yet if the new processor will

increase that price.  The older version includes an internal 500MGb hard drive, but the newer model pictured above does not include an internal hard drive.  With the hard drive the older model was over four pounds. Without it, at least one or one and a half pounds should be shed. 

The second recent announcement was the Sony Vaio Pro 11, shown below..

The VAIO Pro will be available as a 1.92-pound model with an 11-inch display, or a 2.34-pound model with a 13-inch touchscreen. The VAIO Pro 13 will offer a high-speed PCIe SSD drive, which Sony claims is the first of its kind. Connect the optional sheet battery to double the battery life of either, endowing the VAIO Pro 11 with 14 usable hours and the VAIO Pro with .

The VAIO Pro models will be available in Carbon Black and Carbon Silver on June 9. The VAIO Pro 11 is expected to fetch $1149, while the VAIO Pro 13 will go for $1249.

 

Sony Vaio Duo 13:

The VAIO Duo 13 combines the best features of a notebook with the convenience of a tablet. The 2.93-pound computer expands its touch screen size from the original VAIO Duo 11 by minimizing the bezel. Sliding the screen up from tablet mode reveals a full-sized backlit keyboard and a trackpad.

The Duo 13 continues to work even when put into a sleep state. It updates applications and receives mail with minimal power consumption.

The VAIO Duo 13 will be available June 9 in Carbon Black and Carbon White and will cost $1399.

Software Apps for eReading

Third in Series

Ray Hendon

This piece of the series is meant to give you some of the last piece of information you need in order to maximize your eReading experience.  With all the options available today for someone wishing to read books and other electronic media, the time has never been better.

But, eReading is, in one sense, a fragmented industry.  Vendors have their own hardware and, to some degree, their own software.  Each has its own quirks and good points.  But, the industry is coming together much more than they have since 2006 when eReading began its serious stage.

I will cover the software and file formatting issues today.  This involves the eReading apps and file formatting more than anything else.  I hope this information will allow you to make a good choice in how you go about perusing your reading goals.

eReading began as a piece of hardware using a  new E-Ink technology for its display.  You bought a Sony Reader or an Amazon Kindle, and the software was imbedded in the package.  The vendors held their own inventories of books to sell its customers, so when you bought your eReader device, you were committed to the vendor’s library as the source of all your reading options.  Once you decided on your hardware, you were locked in to the vendor.

File Formats and Why They Are Important

The options of different eReader apps cannot be discussed without first covering the basics of file formatting.  It is important because each eReading app is made to read on the file formats which the vendor sell.  This means you cannot read a Nook eBoook on a Kindle device or eReading app from Kindle, and vice versa.

The Kindle reads Amazon’s proprietary file format (AZW), plus TXT,PDF and Mobi files.  Kindle has the ability to convert some other formats of documents into the AWZ specification.  You can, with a Kindle, convert a Word for Windows file to AWZ so you can read your Word files on your reader. 

Kindle does not, however, read or convert the ePub format. This is important because ePub  happens to be the format almost all other eReaders use.  As you would expect, none of the others eReaders can read Amazon’s AWZ files.  So, in an, important sense, the file format is a critical difference in determining what app you choose.

But, there are ways of getting around these restrictions if you are determined.  First, Independent software vendors now sell eBooks formatted in all of the popular file formats, so you have the option of receiving you new eBook in the file format of your choice.

Secondly, hardware vendors began providing free eReading apps to anyone who wants them regardless of whether they owned their hardware.  Although there is nothing altruistic in their motives, it has had a beneficial impact on our choices of reading material.  Taking these two changes together has made a huge difference in the options we have on our eReading experience.

Thanks to the free reading apps and multiplicity of eBook vendors, most any kind of format can be read on almost any laptop, desktop, or smartphone.  The entire world of eReading has opened up, although there is still much brand loyalty to one’s first purchase.

The eReader apps shown below are all available free to owners of just about any PC, tablet, laptop or Android device.  There are many other independent apps available, but I cover only the majors.  Click on the icons to go to the site.

Kobo             Sony                  Kindle             Nook

The iPad has its own free app for eReading, called iBooks.  It is a fine eReader, but it isn’t available for anything but iOS devices. Their library listing is pictured at left.

This means iPad users have the option of using one additional app for their eReading, but the iPad iBooks app is tied to Apple’s rather paltry selection of books, magazines and newspapers.  Because of this, many iPad and iPhone owners also use apps from Kindle, Nook and others to supplement their eBook inventories.

The last development in the spread of eReading is the rise of the free eBook libraries.  Gutenberg.org and Manybooks.net provide their libraries of copyright-free books at no charge.  There are probably close to 100,000 free titles available from these two sources, and both organizations give the downloader the choice of formats when downloading.

These options for format choices and free classic titles has opened up eReading to those who do not have a dedicated E-Ink screen and otherwise constrained with their eBook budgets. If you are interested in collecting and reading electronic editions of books you are not longer required to purchase a dedicated eReader.  The apps are free, and with the recent additions to web eReading, any device that has a browser can read eBooks, Magazines and Newspapers.

Whether you own an E-Ink reader or not, your reading progress on each book can be synced between all your devices, as long as you buy the book from the app vendor.  This allows you to stop reading on any page using, say you Kindle Fire, and pick up where you left off when you switch to an iPhone or Sony Tablet computer. 

The syncing will not work, however, for books bought from vendors other than the supplier of the app.  So a Nook reader will not be able to sync your free books or those you paid for from other app vendors.

Given these latitudes of choice, which of the eReader apps is best?  There is no definitive answer to this question, because if depends on what other devices you have. 

For example, if you have a dedicated E-Ink reader, say the Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight, then you certainly want the Nook apps on your other devices.  That way your library travels with you regardless of which you take along or want to use when convenient.  You obviously do not need to be concerned about the other reading apps

Are there advantages in one reader app over other brands?  Yes and no.  I can’t say that all apps are the same, for they are clearly not.  But, there is little difference in their functionality between brands.  Although the syncing is done differently between brands, they all accomplish what they need to do.

For example:

• Each reader app gives you some font control.  Some have a different set of font types, and some have more sizes than others.  They are all accessed somewhat differently, but in the end, there is little difference.
• All give you some control on background shades and colors. 
• The screen can be split between two columns for wide displays and one for narrower ones like a smartphone or 7-inch table in the portrait mode.
• All offer bookmarks and highlighting modes.
• In-line dictionary lookups are available in various forms.

The biggest difference is in the titles available from each vendor.  Generally, not one can match Amazon’s selections, although Barnes and Noble is quite competent and Sony has a good selection, too,.  But none of the other vendors can match Amazon’s totals or its special publications such as Kindle Singles—unique short-form essays and stories that Amazon contracts directly with the authors to publish.

Add to this Amazon’s vast store of movies and other electronic content, and Amazon rules this space without much dispute.

As for versatility in handling file formats, the Sony Reader, in my testing, is the champ.  I rarely find one it cannot handle, except, of course, AZW. 

But a fairly recent addition to the app war makes file format less a matter on concern.  The icon pictured at right is that of Calibre, a software program that readily converts virtually any file format to any other file format.  For example, it can convert an ePub file to AZW and vice versa.

This is a must have addition to the dedicated eReaders who has multiple file formats on their devices.  Although Calibre also has an eReading app of its own, I don’t care for it, but I like it archiving abilities as a place to hold various file formats, and if you want to read a Nook file format so it an be read on a Sony or Kindle app, Calibre can do it.

If you are content to live with two or more eReading apps, then no conversion will be necessary, so it is absolutely necessary.  I have lived with multiple apps for years, and I have converted only one file through Calibre, but is may prove handy.

I hope this information will assist you in getting the most out of your computing equipment for your reading enjoyment.