The connected planet: Smartphones aren’t the only player

The number of connected devices is steadily on the rise, but it’s not smartphones or computers that will lead us to the 50 billion connected devices expected by the year 2020. Rather, the Internet of Things — numerous smart objects that speak to the web and one another — is the next wave of wireless and will power a wide range of devices as we want remote access to everything all the time.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Connected Consumer Q2: Digital music meets the cloud; e-book growth explodes

Android this week: Amazon’s tablet spied; Samsung Note debuts; Tablets galore at IFA

Amazon’s long-awaited entry into the Android tablet space is nearly ready and expected to launch in time for the holiday season. But it’s not the tablet that some were expecting. MG Siegler from TechCrunch spent an hour with a sample of the device and shared his experience: Instead of a full-fledged Android tablet, Amazon’s new Kindle slate runs a forked version of Android under the hood that no user is likely to ever see.

The 7-inch tablet takes a cue from the Barnes & Noble Nook Color; arguably the most successful non-iPad tablet if it fits your definition of one, and likely to see a hardware refresh soon. Amazon’s tablet will use a completely customized interface, not have Google apps of any kind, nor will it access the Android Market. It will run apps from Amazon’s AppStore.

Software to read Kindle books, watch Amazon videos on demand or play music from Amazon’s MP3 store and Cloud Drive service are the focal points. Expected to launch for $249, possibly with a free subscription to the Amazon Prime shipping service — normally $79 per year — the tablet could be a holiday hit for mainstream consumers who want a traditional Kindle with more access to Amazon services.

Those wanting something smaller than a tablet but bigger than a standard phone may be more interested in the newly announced Samsung Note. The handset uses a 5.30 inch Super AMOLED display with 1280×800 resolution and includes a digital pen which fits inside the phone for storage. Samsung says this combination of hardware features makes the Note a new class of device for enterprise users who want to capture and store digital notes. The pen is pressure sensitive and may be used for drawing images as well.

Samsung hasn’t abandoned the 7-inch tablet market, however. The company also announced a refresh of the existing Galaxy Tab with a 7.7-inch version that uses a 1280×800 screen like the Note. However, the display technology is boosted up to Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus, providing more vivid colors that appear to pop off the screen. The new tablet uses a dual-core 1.4 GHz processor, Google Android Honeycomb and a boosted battery capacity over the prior version.

Toshiba and Lenovo also debuted new Android tablets this week at the IFA exhibition in Berlin, Germany. Toshiba slimmed down its existing Thrive tablet to create the AT200; just 7.7 millimeters in thickness. The 10.1-inch slate uses a 1.2 GHz dual-core process from Texas Instruments and has a micro HDMI port to share media with a high-definition television.

Lenovo’s newest Android entry, the A1, runs on Gingerbread, which is designed for smartphones, and offers 1024×600 resolution on a 7-inch touchscreen display. It only has a single core processor and reminds me of last year’s Galaxy Tab from Samsung. However, the Wi-Fi model with many of last year’s hardware components has a price from 2010 as well: the A1 will cost only $199 and should appeal to many at that price due to its versatility and portability.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Hoping to steal iPad sales, three new tablets debut

This week kicks off the IFA Expo in Berlin, Germany, which is the largest consumer electronics trade show on the planet. As such, it’s no surprise that all of the major hardware vendors are announcing a slew of new mobile devices. What may surprise, however, is that several hardware makers show no signs of giving up their assault on the tablet market, even though Apple’s iPad is clearly outselling all others. Here’s a quick overview of the three newest competitors hoping for a slice of the tablet market share pie.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. This refresh of last year’s 7-inch model gains a slightly larger and much improved screen. The 7-7-inch, Super AMOLED Plus display uses a notebook-like resolution of 1280×800 pixels, as we expected. A 1.4 GHz dual-core processor powers the new tablet, which also gets a mobile broadband speed bump to 21 Mbps.

Unlike the prior model, the new Tab uses Google Android Honeycomb 3.2. At 7.89 millimeters, the new Galaxy Tab is thinner than before, but Samsung was still able to stuff a 5,100 mAh battery inside; a boost over the 4,000 mAh battery in last year’s Tab. Pricing and availability are yet to be determined.

Toshiba AT200. The company’s current tablet, the Thrive, is a bit chunky, but the new AT200 has been on a diet. The 10.1-inch Google Android 3.2 slate is thinner even than Samsung’s new smaller tablet, measuring just 7.7 millimeters in thickness. Toshiba still found room for plenty of ports and jacks, however: micro USB, microSD card slot, and a micro HDMI jack for connecting the AT200 to an HDTV.

A 1.2 GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor powers the slate. Toshiba didn’t supply pricing information, but says the AT200 will launch in Europe by the end of this year. I’m expecting a U.S. model to debut at January’s Consumer Electronics Show.

Lenovo A1. Yet another vendor is thinking what I’m thinking: there’s a market for 7-inch tablets. That’s the form factor of the A1, which uses a less-than-inspiring 1024×600 resolution, but Lenovo makes up for it in pricing. A Wi-Fi model with 8 GB of storage will cost only $199, with 16 GB and 32 GB models priced at $249 and $299, respectively.

At these price points, you can’t expect high-end specifications, but the slate should be capable enough with a single-core 1 GHz processor running Android 2.3. And although there’s no mobile broadband connectivity, the A1 does include an integrated GPS receiver for navigation and mapping.

Although only the A1 has an official price, it’s sure to be the lowest; even after Samsung and Toshiba announce their device costs. As a result, Lenovo’s tablet with a starting price of under $200 could sway some who want a tablet, but don’t have the extra cash to pony up for an iPad — even a discounted refurbished unit.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Sony Tablet P video: Finally a fresh tablet design!

With so many iPad lookalikes in the tablet market, it’s actually refreshing to see a new design. And the freshest of them all may be Sony’s new Tablet P with its dual-screens in a folding clamshell case, launching later this year with support for AT&T’s LTE network.

I’m not convinced the Tablet P will be a tablet sales leader — especially if AT&T continues to think subsidized LTE tablets should cost $699 — but I do credit Sony for its efforts in both the hardware and the software on the Tablet P. The clamshell runs on Google Android Honeycomb, but you might not know it based on this video first-look from Netbook News from the IFA show in Berlin.

Typical of Sony, the Tablet P looks like a refined piece of hardware. The device uses two 5.5-inch IPS displays, allowing for wide viewing angles, although I think I’d find it challenging to get past the bezel between the two screens. And the company is clearly leveraging its other lines of consumer electronics; in the video you can see how the Tablet P searches for and connects to a Sony-branded television and wireless speakers.

Of course, there’s an immediate downside to any device that uses a heavily modified user interface on top of Android when it comes to updates. As Google improves its Android tablet system, Sony will undoubtedly have to spend time and effort to rework such custom user interface elements; a process that can take months if Sony even chooses to make the changes. That means as nice as the Tablet P may look now, it could lag behind other tablets that gain new features and functions through Android updates. The good news is that Sony will have Android 3.2 on the Tablet P when it begins to ship.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

$699 with contract? Good luck, HTC Jetstream tablet

On Wednesday AT&T announced the HTC Jetstream, the company’s first Google Android tablet that will support the carrier’s upcoming LTE network. Similar to other tablets running Android 3.1, the Jetstream uses a 10.1-inch display, but with a twist: The capacitive touchscreen works with the HTC Scribe digital pen accessory for note-taking and drawing.

AT&T is supplementing the Jetstream with a new 3-GB data plan that costs $35 a month. Customers who agree to a two-year contract on the new plan will be able to purchase the Jetstream for $699, a subsidized price likely to put many consumers off.

To a gadget addict like myself, there’s much to like about the Jetstream on paper: a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, support for today’s HSPA+ mobile broadband networks as well as future LTE networks, a new version of HTC Sense software for improved usability and dual camera sensors, including an 8-megapixel rear camera, to name a few key specifications.

But AT&T seems to be betting on LTE as a key differentiator here and perhaps as justification for the relatively high subsidized price of the Jetstream. I think that’s a mistake. We’ll see when the tablet hits stores on September 4, at $699 with contract, reportedly $849 without.

AT&T needs only to look at the tablet pricing of its rivals Verizon and Motorola Xoom to get an idea of how well a tablet with a two-year contract will sell at $700 or more. Simply put: It won’t, at least not well. Granted, the Xoom certainly faced other issues outside the initially high price, because it was rushed to market with some key flaws: general instability, a limited number of tablet-optimized applications and a promised LTE hardware upgrade where “coming soon” meant six months later. In a sense, LTE support for the Jetstream is also “coming soon,” because AT&T hasn’t yet launched its LTE service. And when it does, it will only be in 5 markets to start and 10 more by year-end.

While I expect that HTC’s hardware and software won’t face the same problems as the Xoom, it still needs to answer a key question: What justifies the price premium over an Apple iPad 2, which can be had without a contract?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.