iPad

Bill Gates: iPad users frustrated, need the Surface

The legion of unhappy iPad users is vast and growing.

They picket Cupertino daily, protesting that Apple make urgent changes to a device that really is substandard. They are very mad and they just can't take it anymore.

No, no, this is not my observation. It's my imagination of Bill Gates' imagination.

For in an appearance on CNBC on Monday, Microsoft's chairman explained very patiently that the iPad is a hive of pain.

I am grateful to the Loop for espying this footage and not using the word "loopy."

Gates told CNBC that Microsoft is … Read more

First Retina iPad Mini is on track, DisplaySearch reports

Update at 11:15 p.m. PT: The iPad Mini will get a refresh in the third calendar quarter with a Retina display, NPD DisplaySearch predicted late Sunday.

This is an update to information that DisplaySearch provided earlier Sunday.

"We see two refreshes coming. One [with a Retina display] in the second half of this year, then one in Q1 [first quarter] of 2014," analyst Richard Shim told CNET late Sunday night.

"The Q1 [2014] device will have a Retina display plus an updated processor," Shim added.

Earlier Sunday night, NPD stated that the first iPad … Read more

Apple fail should be a lesson for Microsoft

Apple is good at addressing design oversights. Will Microsoft be as adept?

The Retina iPad, for example, violated Apple's design creed: products should get thinner and lighter -- aka, cooler. Not thicker and heavier.

But Apple fixed this quickly (six month later) with the iPad Mini trifecta: thinner, lighter, cheaper. And the iPad, reinvented as the Mini, has been a runaway success.

Now that Microsoft is in the business of making tablets, can it act fast when it commits product-design sins?

Surface is not a success -- yet. The Surface Pro is too big and heavy (and expensive), according … Read more

Amazon Kindle Fire to go 10-inch

Amazon is expected to bring out a bigger version of the Kindle Fire, as it gradually grows the size of its tablets.

Amazon arguably started the small tablet fad when it launched the 7-inch Kindle Fire in November of 2011. And it followed that with 8.9-inch model, announced in September 2012.

Now it's moving up to the 10-inch class, Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, told CNET.

The biggest Kindle Fire yet will sport a stunning 2,560x1,600-pixel density 10.1-inch display, according to Shim. That's about 300 pixels per inch (PPI), considerably denser than … Read more

Google smacks down reports that Now for iOS drains batteries

Hot on the heels of Google adding Now to its iOS app, a handful of users began complaining that the app update made their iPhone and iPad batteries drain more quickly. Questions arose, was Google Now slurping too much juice?

Google has responded that iOS battery life doesn't have anything to do with Google Now. The Web giant sent a statement to CNET giving a bit more explanation as to why the battery draining allegations were false.

Reports that Google Now on iOS drains battery life are incorrect. We understand people's concern about seeing the Location Services icon … Read more

Apple envisions curved batteries for mobile devices

Apple is eyeing different shapes for batteries to find more room for them in phones, tablets, and other mobile gadgets.

Published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent application dubbed "Curved battery cells for portable electronic devices," describes exactly that. The shape of such a battery would be changed during the manufacturing process to form a curve in its design. That trick would be achieved by heating up a set of curved plates and applying pressure to the battery cell.

The goal would be to create a battery that can make better use of … Read more

Is Apple losing its edge to a cheaper, smarter tablet market?

At first glance, new numbers released by research firm IDC show that Apple has nothing to worry about regarding its control of the tablet market, but a closer look could raise some doubts.

While Apple is still the world's No. 1 tablet maker, Samsung is No. 2 and growing at a faster rate. Looking specifically at year-over-year growth from first quarter numbers, Apple grew by 65 percent -- not bad. But, Samsung grew by 282 percent, Asus grew by 350 percent, and Amazon grew by 157 percent.

The question is: Is this part and parcel of a bigger problem? … Read more

Aiming for more retail deals, Square adds partnerships VP

For a mobile payments platform whose future success is tied to its ability to be accepted by as many retailers as possible, a company like Square has to have someone leading the charge toward such deals.

That's why Square -- the San Francisco startup founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey -- has just hired its first vice president of partnerships. It said today that it has tapped Alex Petrov, former PayPal vice president of retail marketing, for the job. Petrov also previously held the position of vice president of consumer brands at supermarket giant Safeway.

It will be Petrov'… Read more

Fund this: MirrorCase for iPad gives you a rear-facing camera

You can take notes on meetings or lectures on an iPad, or you can record videos of meetings or lectures -- but you can't have it both ways.

Kickstarter project MirrorCase aims to solve that dilemma. It's an iPad case that uses mirrors to point the camera lens forward, while at the same time raising the tablet to a comfortable typing angle.

For students and business users alike, that's potentially a big deal. It means you can sit in a conference room or lecture hall, typing or sketching on your iPad while at the same time recording … Read more