You can use this convertible tablet on the longest flight in the world, and still have battery power left over to check your email when you land. An even better use would be for a busy student or business centre dweller who rarely has a chance to plug in: 20+ hours of battery life means that you can stay connected all day and well into the night. If “Office and the Internet” are your primary needs on a computer, then this Windows RT tablets is the everyday computer you really can carry everywhere.

The XPS 10 follows the now familiar hybrid tablet format. Primarily, it’s a slate tablet, measuring a slim 0.36 by 11 by 7 inches. Connected to its keyboard dock, the system grows to just under an 2 cms thick while keeping its other dimensions, and the combined weigh is .76kg.

Like other tablets, the XPS 10 is constructed from magnesium alloy and has a soft touch finish. The tablet latches to the keyboard dock easily, and can be removed just as easily by pushing a sliding tab on the keyboard dock hinge. When the two are connected, the XPS 10 looks and acts like a small laptop, with a comfortable keyboard and one-piece multitouch trackpad.

Around the edges of the XPS 10 are the tablet’s docking/charging connector, a micro-USB port (with included full sized USB port dongle), volume control, micro-SD card slot, and headset jack. The keyboard dock has a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a mini-HDMI port (with included mini-HDMI to full HDMI dongle), and charging port.

You can plug the AC adapter into the dock or the tablet’s docking connector for charging, one AC adapter is included with the tablet, and one with the keyboard dock. Since you have both chargers, you can leave one at home and carry the other with you in your travel bag. If you’re in a pinch, you can use a standard micro-USB cable and USB charger to recharge or power the XPS 10, albeit at a slow trickle rate.

One nicety we found during testing are the keyboard dock’s built-in speakers. When the tablet is used alone, the sound is fine for Web surfing and alert sounds. When you connect the keyboard dock, the speakers in the dock work in concert with the speakers in the tablet to give you a louder, richer audio experience.

The XPS 10′s screen measures 10.1 inches and is easily viewable from many angles, and its resolution supports 720p HD video. Any 1080p HD video can be downscaled for viewing on the system’s screen, but it’s a better viewing experience to watch 720p videos natively instead.

There are two major drawbacks with Windows RT: compatibility and the closed ecosystem. Since the XPS 10 and other RT-based systems run a version of Windows over an ARM processor (the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4), older programs are not compatible with RT.

The only source for programs is the Windows Store in the system’s Start screen. You can’t download and install your favorite browser, you can’t buy programs from a third party site  and you can’t install many browser plug-ins either. The one plus on the program side is that the system comes with Microsoft Office 2013 RT pre-loaded, and that the system is somewhat protected from viruses.

The system is bloatware free, since the only pre-loaded programs are Office, Skype, Dell Shop (physical products from Dell), Getting Started with Windows RT and Dell dock settings.

Getting Started with Windows RT is a good set of videos and documentation to help new users learn how to use Windows RT and the new user interface. The local storage of 23GB can be augmented by popping a microSD card into the XPS 10 or you can also use Microsoft’s SkyDrive for cloud storage.

When connected to the Web, the XPS 10 is an excellent tool. Internet Explorer starts up quickly, and websites load quickly as well. Programs like Netflix and Salesforce work as you’d expect. However, as stated above, the number of Windows RT compatible apps is still severely limited compared with those for Android Tablets and iPads.

The thing that RT tablets have over the other mobile platforms are the fully compatible copy of Office and the fact that the OS on RT tablets acts like a typical Windows OS. The XPS 10 comes with a one-year warranty standard with options for extending that warranty through Dell’s ProSupport service.

The XPS 10 lasts a staggering 11 hours and 34 minutes alone, and tops in at over 20 hours when connected to its fully charged keyboard dock. This is a phenomenal amount of battery life. However whilst all of the RT tablets outlast laptops and tablets with ultrabook-class processors like the Microsoft Surface Pro (4:58), Atom-powered tablets can give you full Windows 8 compatibility and long battery life like the Dell Latitude 10 (19:38 with extended battery).

Essentially, it comes down to what you need out of your tablet. If you need the ultimate in portability and don’t care at all about compatibility with Windows, then grab an iPad or Google Nexus 7.

If you absolutely, positively need legacy program support or Windows 8 Pro compatibility, then a full-blown Windows 8 tablet like the Editors’ Choice Dell Latitude 10 or Microsoft Surface Pro is worth the added expense.

However, if you need insanely long battery life and your critical “Windows compatibility” needs are limited to Office documents, then you can get a Windows RT tablet like this Dell XPS 10. It’s one of the best RT tablets we’ve seen so far and given that we are far more used to Apple products and iPads are daily use items for us this Dell XPS 10 amazed us.

The post Reviewed: Dell XPS 10 appeared first on Business Matters.

1. Updating your current telephony solutions
State-of-the-art SIP trunking services bring advanced functionality to your conventional PBX solutions. These include automated call transfer between several locations, greater flexibility for users, improved voicemail and call centre functionality. Free SIP calls are also great options for mobile and home-working specialists.

2. The global reach
With free SIP calls, the boundaries of free telephony are not just limited to a company’s offices. Skype for SIP solutions allow businesses to make calls to landlines and mobile phones throughout the world. By getting Skype online numbers, it’s possible to receive mobile and landline calls to corporate PBXs.

3. Business rationalisation
Business SIP trunking services deliver new site rationalisation options, especially useful for multi-site businesses. You can reduce the number of PBXs without losing the numbers associated with your company. It’s easy to combine several offices into a single location, or even support distant employees.

4. Extending the range of services
Once you have an effective business SIP based communication system working seamlessly, it’s imperative to analyse employee occupancy. Free SIP calls and advanced SIP functionality allow attending a greater number of calls, which boosts productivity. It’s a great opportunity to extend the range of services your company offers.

5.  Seasonal requirements
If your business has seasonal voice capacity requirements, SIP trunking services are the answer to the question how to add more lines quickly, without long-term commitments. Reputable SIP providers deliver highly flexible systems able to manage significant seasonal growth in traffic. It becomes much easier to handle seasonal sales campaigns, for example.

High quality business communications go a long way. SIP trunking is a must for modern organisations looking to increase productivity and revenue without spending much on communications.

The post 5 Ways To Use Free SIP Calls In Business appeared first on Business Matters.

Made in partnership with laptop maker Lenovo, the Vodafone Smart Tab 2 is fronted by a glass-covered 7in screen, with an off-centre front-facing camera at the top for video calls.

The left edge is completely blank, the right side has a volume rocker, and the top houses a headphone jack, power button and microUSB port for charging and transferring files.

Compared to the 8GB or 16GB of its rivals, the Smart Tab 2 is let down by its lack of storage, but with 32GB microSD cards costing less than £15 online, it’s an easy and cheap fix to give the device more storage than a £350 iPad mini.

At 400g, the Smart Tab is almost 100g heavier than the iPad mini, 60g more than the Google Nexus 7 and just 5g heavier than the Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

Moving from my iPad mini to the Smart Tab was a very noticeable difference, but it’s surprising how quickly you get used to the extra weight, and the 122mm width and 11mm thickness make it easy enough to hold in one hand.

The Smart Tab is the cheapest tablet on the market with a 3G connection, but for the £20 contract you only get access to 2GB of data each month, so watching iPlayer on your daily commute isn’t possible without incurring a huge bill.

General web browsing, email and social networking are all fine though, and on my commute the Smart Tab performed well, staying connected almost throughout and returning useable speeds.

Problem is, 2GB isn’t enough for you to use the tablet on 3G all the time, so why not tether to your smartphone’s 3G connection with a Wi-Fi tablet instead? Most iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices let you do this and, while the phone’s battery takes a kicking, it’s an easy way to get a tablet online for short periods.

The post Reviewed: Vodafone Smart Tab 2 appeared first on Business Matters.

That pixel density is better than the 227 PPI on the 13.3 inch Apple MacBook Air with Retina Display and any other laptop for that matter, according to Google.

The multi-touch display, which brings touch access to Google’s cloud-centric Chrome OS for the first time, is provided by Corning’s Gorilla Glass and will enable users to tap, pinch and swipe objects on the somewhat unorthodox 3:2 ratio display.

The US version of the device is also 4G LTE ready (UK users will have to settle for Wi-Fi only at present), while it also boasts an Intel Core i5 (dual-core 1.8GHz) processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and 32GB of solid stage storage, underneath a stylish anodized aluminum chassis.

Users will be able to boost that 32GB of storage with 1TB of free Google Drive storage for a full-three years after purchase, leaving plenty of room for photos, documents, videos and makes them available to download from the cloud on any of your other devices.

Whilst we were unable to test the Chromebook Pixel, we were very taken with its little cousin the original Chromebook when we reviewed it. The Pixel has powerful, full range speakers, a 720p webcam and three microphones positioned around the device in order to cancel out background noise.

The Google-made device (no third parties are involved, unlike with other Chromebook models), also features an etched glass touchpad, a backlit Chrome keyboard, 2 USB ports, a mini-display port and a two-way card reader. In terms of connectivity it has 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0

However, as you’d expect with this gigantic spec leap for the Chromebook series, those extra pixels come at a premium cost. The Chromebook Pixel will cost a considerable £1,049 when it goes on sale in the UK on April 1st. The laptop is available to pre-order now.

The post Google unveils its first touchscreen Chromebook Pixel appeared first on Business Matters.

Like other Chromebooks, the Samsung machine makes a great first impression. About 10 seconds after pressing the “on” button, we were presented with a log-in screen. A few seconds later, after entering Google account credentials, I was on the Web. I tried closing and reopening the laptop, and it woke up in less than five seconds. This is the kind of instant ’0n’ that as a Mac user I am used to.

The keyboard is not unlike one you’d find on a MacBook, but with a few key differences. Instead of function keys, the top row has a set of keys specifically designed for web browsing. To the right of the Esc key are Forward, Back, Refresh, Full screen, and Window swap buttons, as well as display brightness and volume controls. To further enhance the web surfing experience, Samsung has eliminated Caps Lock and replaced it with a web search key.

The clickpad is big and perfect for multitouch gestures. Two-finger scrolling and drag and drop were fast and responsive, However, we had to swipe repeatedly to move the cursor where we wanted it.

Display & Audio
The 12.1-inch, 1280 x 800 matte display is good and clear and prefect for text and web use. It was also more than adequate for streaming NetFlix or BBC iPlayer, especially given it’s price point.

Listening to music via Spotify was also ok, and once again you need to remember the price point as the bass is not as good as many laptops on the market at present, however they are twice the price and also heavier.

Ports & Webcam
Keeping with the less-is-more agenda, the Chromebook is light on peripheral support. On the right side are one USB 2.0 port and a SIM card slot. The left side houses an additional USB 2.0 port, a mini VGA port, a combination microphone/headphone jack, and the power jack, while the front features a 4-in-1 card reader.

The 1-megapixel HD webcam gave us rather grainy picture quality in both an office setting and in our home, but is more than adequate for occasional use.

Setup
Getting started takes a quick and painless 2 to 3 minutes. When we first turned on the notebook, it prompted us to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot. Then, we entered our Google account info.

The laptop also gives users the option to log in under a guest account, but a note in the browser informed us that our browsing and search history would not be saved. Any downloads or bookmarks we created would also be erased after we logged out. The first Google account entered into the Chromebook automatically becomes the sole administrator and owner; unfortunately, you can’t change this in the settings.

User Interface
The Chrome OS interface takes some getting used to. The first thing we noticed was the total lack of a desktop. The browser window takes up the entire screen, and we had to fight the urge to try and minimize it. When we first logged in, Chrome OS presented us with a blank white browser with a list of pre-installed web apps (Entanglement, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Talk, Poppit, Scratchpad, Web Store, and YouTube) and two menus for the most visited and recently closed links. The system clock, battery indicator, and wireless bars live in the top right corner atop the gray wrench representing the Settings menu.

Web Apps
Instead of standalone apps, Chromebook owners need to use web apps. Since the software can’t be downloaded, the “web apps” are more like bookmarks that show up as icons when you “install” them. Google’s Chrome Web Store has thousands of apps that cover a wide range of categories including Education, Games, Productivity, and Utilities. Many are free, but a few apps do carry a charge. In addition to apps, we were able to install extensions and themes.

While the device is designed to be used with an Internet connection, some of the apps can work offline. When offline, we were able to use Scratchpad, which later synchronized all our notes to Google Docs once an Internet connection was reestablished. However there doesn’t appear to be any offline email management facility which is a little frustrating.

Files & File Manager
While we could view JPEGs and PDFs just by clicking on the file it also appeared to offer a native image editor, but no matter how hard we tried we couldn’t get the app to load when selecting an image.

Performance
The Chromebook is powered by a 1.66-GHz dual-core Intel Atom N570 CPU, 2GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD hard drive, and integrated graphics. As a result, the notebook boots up in a zippy 14 seconds and is more than capable for all of the tasks that we through at it.

Cloud Print
Similar to AirPrint for iOS devices, Cloud Print lets you send documents via the Internet to connected printers. You can print directly to cloud-ready printers such as HP’s ePrint line as well as older printers, provided the latter are connected to a notebook running Google Chrome. Setting up a printer to work with the laptop took about 10 minutes–we had to install Chrome on a Windows host computer, then enable cloud printing in Chrome’s control panel–but after that, it worked well, albeit slowly. It took a minute or two for the document (a one-page e-mail) to travel over the Internet to the printer.

Battery Life
According to Samsung, the ChromeBook has a battery life of 8.5 hours and from our testing there is little to suggest that this is incorrect. We took this to an all day conference and for email, social media and accessing our cloud CMS system we did not need to feed the battery at all.

Conclusion
Does the world need a computer with a web-only OS? Google seems to think so, and, in a connected world, the Samsung Chromebook would seem to be the answer. It’s an attractive and highly portable notebook that gives you near-instant access to the Internet and given its seamless integration to traditional browser based VPN or cloud based systems is a very strong contender if you are looking at an iPad for business use.

The post Reviewed: Google Chromebook appeared first on Business Matters.

Promising a camera that makes “the ocean look bluer” and “kids look happier”, Apple showed off a gadget with a taller 4-inch screen and thinner body, capable of running on 4G mobile networks, including in the UK.

In what has now become an international event, the online audience following this year’s showcase was the largest since the first groundbreaking Apple handset arrived in 2007, but commentators have already described it as the last great iPhone launch.

British shoppers will be able to buy the new handset from 21 September, with the unsubsidised price starting from £529 and depending on memory size.

Apple unveiled a new version of its iTunes music, film and TV series store. The updated software, available from October, uses cloud computing so that viewing paused on one device can be resumed at the same point on another. The UK’s largest mobile network, EE, will have an effective monopoly on sales, given that it will be the only network with 4G service before Christmas and rivals could take up to a year before they are ready to launch one.

With a feature set widely leaked before the launch – and described by one tech blogger as “evolutionary rather than revolutionary” – sales of the latest version of Apple’s “Jesus Phone” will be watched closely by those who wonder whether the world’s largest company has what it takes under new chief executive Tim Cook to retain its creative momentum.

From the launch event in San Francisco, Cook said: “Only Apple could create such amazing hardware, software and services and bring them together. Apple has never been stronger.”

Apple is expected to shift significantly more phones in the runup to Christmas than the 37m it sold last year, with research firm IDC predicting sales of 51m units. Nonetheless, it now has a fierce competitor in Samsung, which has already shipped 20m of its best selling Galaxy SIII handsets and is expected to slash its price over the coming weeks.

“The company has changed,” said IDC analyst Francisco Jeronimo. “It is a lot more focused on profits and management rather than product. Hopefully that won’t bring Apple back to where it was in the past.”

In 1996, when Jobs rejoined the company after a period in the wilderness, it was on the verge of bankruptcy. All that changed with successive hits including the brightly coloured iMac computers, the iPod, which changed the music industry, and the world’s most popular phones and tablets.

With the release of the first iPhone in 2007, Apple triggered a personal computing revolution which has shifted our online lives away from PCs and laptops and on to smartphones and tablets.

It is a revolution that has turned Apple into the world’s most valuable company, with $620bn market capitalisation and a near $100bn pile of unspent cash, largely held in foreign bank accounts to avoid the tax bill repatriation would incur.

A successful iPhone5 could boost GDP in the US, with ripples around the world for the more than 150 companies in Apple’s supply chain, and the mobile networks hoping to fatten their revenues from an increasingly smartphone dependent subscriber base. But a new edition that lacks the wow factor needed to persuade shoppers to part with hundreds of pounds to replace their existing smartphones could have wider implications.

“There is an economic impact if they don’t come up with something more exciting than they did last time,” says telecoms strategist Bengt Nordström. “The impact will be slower growth in the industry, and this is one of the few industries that have been growing.”

Cook was never the ideas man, but is credited with making the Jobs vision a commercial success by reorganising Apple into a slick money-making outfit, closing its factories and outsourcing manufacturing to an array of largely Asian suppliers.

The challenge now is whether Apple can hold on to its creative edge without Jobs. To make this happen, Cook is relying on those who report to him such as British-born Sir Jonathan Ive whose minimalist designs and attention to detail can be seen in Apple’s hardware, and head of software Scott Forstall.

The fact that so many of the iPhone5‘s features, from photographs of its inner workings to its screen size and 4G capability, were leaked before the launch added to the feeling that Apple’s marketing events have lost some of their magic.

Jobs was a master showman, obsessively keeping details under wraps until the last moment, and often saving the most interesting news until the end of his presentations, pretending to walk off the stage before announcing, finger in the air, that he did have “one more thing”.

But as Ricky Gervais pointed out, there are legions of diehard Apple fans prepared to buy its latest hardware no matter how incremental the changes. The comedian tweeted: “Can’t wait for the new iPhone 5. I’ve had this mint condition, perfectly good, antique iPhone 4 for over a year now. Embarrassing.”

The post iPhone 5: Apple unveils its faster, thinner 4G handset appeared first on Business Matters.

If there is projector with an HDMI port on-site you could look at Apple TV, a compact £99 device that fits into the palm of your hand. After connecting Apple TV to the projector with an HDMI cable you could use Apple’s AirPlay to establish a wireless connection to an iPhone 4S. You could then create your presentation in Keynote and save it to Apple’s iCloud service.

Using the Keynote app (£6.99) you could download the presentation to your phone. (You can also edit your presentation or even create one from scratch right on your phone.) Setup took about 15 minutes, but there was a big upside: Swiping on my phone brought my full-blown presentation–transitions, animations, and video–to life onscreen (albeit with a delay of about a second).

Apple TV doesn’t work with Android phones, so I also tried a free service called MightyMeeting on my Samsung Galaxy S II. (It works with the iPhone and iPad, too.) With MightyMeeting, you store your presentation in the cloud, which allows you to access it from a connected device anywhere. MightyMeeting does not support transitions, video, or animations, and you can’t edit or create a presentation on the phone, as you can with Keynote.

You also must connect your phone to the projector using an HDMI cable with a special adapter. (A paid version lets you use your phone as a wireless controller, but you still need a laptop as a go-between.) On the plus side, setup took less than 10 minutes, and as I swiped through my slides, they were immediately mirrored by the projector.

In the end, I went with Keynote with my iPhone and Apple TV for my presentation. It was a bit trickier to set up than the other options were, but the ability to edit slides on the fly was a big plus. And, even without an inherent gift for public speaking, I wowed my audience with the ability to call up animations and video with just the tiny device in my hand.

The post Toolbox: Leaving the laptop behind when making a presentation appeared first on Business Matters.

The new package will give business users access to unlimited calls, unlimited texts along with 1GB of data, and is available on a 24 month contract with a handset included or on a 12 month contract for the SIM only.

On & On will allow small business users to make calls, send texts and surf the web without the worry of incurring high charges. With a range of price points depending on handsets, for just £21.67 a month, ex VAT for customers keeping their current phone or from £30 ex VAT a month with a new phone – On & On offers unlimited minutes to mobiles and landlines in the UK and unlimited text messages to UK based numbers. Also included is a gigabyte (GB) of data for business to use however they like, including tethering and streaming. For more prolific internet users, there is also the option to purchase an extra 1GB of data for £4.17, allowing users to create a package that’s right for their data needs.

Claire Darley, Head of Small Business Sales at O2 said: “We believe that On & On will be the most competitive tariff in the SMB space for some while. O2 has been talking to small business customers and we know that they want better value from mobile networks, as well as simple tariffs.

Devices like smartphones have revolutionised the way we do business because they enable us to stay constantly connected. These tools and technologies add an enormous amount of value, but also make cost management more complex.

Small businesses want to know exactly what they are going to be paying each month to run their communications and connect their staff, suppliers and customers. On & On helps business customers to get the best of both worlds by keeping costs fixed whilst allowing employees to use their devices freely, without the worry of phone bills weighing them down.”

To help make that new phone even more affordable, On & On is available for £30, £34.17 or £38.33 all ex VAT per month. Each price point gives customers the same unlimited UK minutes, the same unlimited UK texts and the same 1GB of data. The three different price points enable a customer to select the right tariff for them based on their monthly tariff and hardware cost. For instance, the iPhone 4S 16GB has an up-front cost of £59.99 (usually £99.99) on the £30 ex VAT On & On tariff, £19.99 (normally £49.99) on the £34.17 ex VAT tariff or free on the £38.66 ex VAT per month tariff.

On & On small business customers will also get the same peace of mind as all O2 Pay Monthly customers with regular text updates on how much data they’re using.

The post O2 launches On & On with unlimited tariffs for UK Small Business appeared first on Business Matters.

Of all the changes Apple has made to the iPad since last year’s release of the iPad 2, this is the one that will make you want to buy a new iPad immediately.

There are other changes too, of course, particularly in performance. The upgrade is apparent already in some of Apple’s apps but it will become clearer still once new apps are released that take advantage of the graphics capabilities of the new A5X processor.

Photo and video related tasks will get a boost, which is handy because Apple’s new iPhoto and iMovie apps are remarkably powerful editing tools.

The performance jump is not as significant as the leap between the original iPad and the iPad 2. In normal use, it means that things are slightly more responsive. iBooks, for example, opens a book noticeably more quickly.

You’ll notice a difference if you buy the ’4G’ iPad too. Though the super-fast LTE 4G mobile broadband service is not available in Britain, the new iPad supports faster 3G protocols than the iPad 2. Depending on your network, data downloads will be up to six-times faster.

Last year Apple brought cameras to the iPad, primarily for video chat. This year, the rear camera has been upgraded to 5-megapixels, with lens technology taken from the iPhone 4S and a range of image enhancements from the software to the processor.

Apple is pitching the iPad as a quality camera, although we were a little disappointed and struggled to be able to tell the difference between some identical shots taken with both the iPad2 and this third generation device.

The iPad is an unwieldy camera. Still, it is handy for quick snaps when the iPad is the nearest thing to hand.

Perhaps more useful for the business market is the new dictation feature. Tap the new microphone button on the virtual keyboard and you will be able to dictate emails, messages and other documents. It’s hard not to feel self-conscious at first while talking to your iPad but it is a time saver.

Regardless of those features, the new iPad is all about the screen. It is very slightly heavier and thicker but not enough that you would notice. Apple’s magnetic Smart Covers still fit and the battery life remains a robust 10 hours.

If you have been holding off getting a tablet then this is the one to go for. In my view, it’s the best that money can buy.

Existing iPad owners who are thinking of upgrading should take a look at this new device. You’ll see the difference, but we are unsure if many will non-geeks will rush to upgrade.

Cost
The new iPad, £165.83 from £22.50 on 24 month pay monthly plans

Stockists:
www.vodafone.co.uk/business

Business Matters Rating
4.8 out of 5

The post Under Review: The iPad3 appeared first on Business Matters.

So what sets it? For starters the device is a marvel of engineering and just feels right. Unlike the Acer Iconia A500 and the MotorolaXoom, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 finds that ideal balance between a pick-up-and go e-book reader such as the Amazon Kindle 3 and a 10-inch tablet that’s perfect for watching movies on a long car trip, but given the Android Marketplace provides access to thousands of business led apps.

You can resize widgets and scroll through open apps in the pop-up thumbnails for the “recent apps” list.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 doesn’t have a USB port, so it doesn’t take advantage of the new Android 3.1 feature to support USB-connected peripherals which is a shame, but that’s not the direction Samsung is going with this tablet. This is all about pick-up-and-go functionality and portability.

Samsung actually downgraded the built-in camera on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 compared to the Galaxy Tab 10.1V, which had an 8MP rear camera. Still, the new model has a 3MP rear camera, which is three times higher than the Apple iPad 2′s camera. There’s also a front-facing 2MP camera.

There are quite a few interesting perks and additions on this tablet. Some may seem underwhelming at first, but as a whole they give Apple a good run for the prize.

One fact is that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a battery for all-day tablet use. In our tests, it lasted about nine hours for everyday tasks and marginally longer that you can expect from an iPad.

The 10.1 also has a four-way accelerometer and gyro and responded faster to quick turns and screen rotations, and generally worked better for controlling games. It also has great side speakers for playing music and movie audio, and plays smooth HD video.

And of course, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 matches the features of other Android tabs: built-in GPS, support for Adobe Flash in the browser, 1290 x 800 screen resolution, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor and Android tablet app.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a smart buy for anyone who wants a light and portable Android tablet. Google still has a ways to go on apps for Android and there are tens of thousands of worthy iOS apps.

If, unlike 75per cent of everyone who is reading this, you genuinely want a tablet and are not just going to automatically buy an iPad 2 or 3 then you really should look very seriously at the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Cost
£190.83 on 24 month pay monthly plans

Stockists:
www.vodafone.co.uk/business

Business Matters Rating
4.7 out of 5

The post Under Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 appeared first on Business Matters.

The  Raspberry Pi, which went on sale today, is built to teach children how to programme – it looks like a naked circuit board, but can plug into any television and work like a normal computer.

‘Initiatives like the Raspberry Pi scheme will give children the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of programming,’ said Secretary of State Michael Gove prior to launch. ‘This is the cutting edge of education technology.’

The credit-card-sized device is designed to teach children how to programme, and includes a wi-fi connection to access the internet was created by volunteers in the UK, and all profits go back to a charity.

Its makers hope that enthusiasts will write software for it, and that it will be used in schools.

Eben Upton, the Executive Director of the Raspberry Pi Foundation said, ‘We didn’t realise how successful this was going to be. This means we can scale to volume. Now we can concentrate on teaching people to programme.’

‘Six years after the project’s inception, we’re nearly at the end of our first run of development – although it’s just the beginning of the Raspberry Pi story,’ says the British company.

‘We have entered into licensed manufacture partnerships with two British companies, Premier Farnell and RS Components. They’ll be manufacturing and distributing the devices on behalf of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The Foundation continues to make a small profit from each Raspberry Pi sold, which we’ll be putting straight back into the charity.’

The Pi requires an additional television and keyboard to function – but the £16 gizmo will eventually be able to do office programmes such as word processing, internet and even TV and video.

Its makers say, ‘The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games.

‘It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming.’

The computer resembles the first Apple I boards that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sold from Steve Jobs’ garage in 1976.

The pocket-sized PC runs the operating system Linux or Mac OS.

The chips and connectors allow users to connect cameras and other gadgets via USB, and are powerful enough to deal with hi-def video and sound.

The Raspberry Pi is available at either Premier Farnell or RS Components however you might need to be patient as initial stocks sold out within minutes of the launch.

The post £20 Micro computer set to revolutionise British entrepreneurs appeared first on Business Matters.

What sets the TeraStation Pro series apart is the fact that it uses Windows Storage Server software, making it secure, powerful, familiar to Windows users and very robust.

It’s affordable and easy to manage but you can scale it up to add extra storage as you need – it’s available in configurations up to 4TB of storage while other models beyond the Duo offer even more space with four or six drive bays instead of the two bays here.

It’s packed with features, including disk quotas to make sure none of your employees guzzles too much disk space. It’s fast and efficient, thanks to the Atom dual-core processor which keeps its performance reliably nippy and makes data transfer satisfyingly quick even when in demanding use from several users simultaneously.

Servers always get hot but the TeraStation is designed to keep things cool with two silent fans and well-designed ventilation slots to help. You can see from the LCD panel the status of the drives and can hot swap them – that is, no need to power down as you do so – if you need to.

Supplied software includes NovaBackup Business Essentials, so you can back up as many as 10 PCs, servers or databases easily.

And the Pro WSS tag in the name is what tells you it uses high-performance components and Windows software. There are Pro NAS dives without Windows and lower-performance TeraStations which are the entry-level models. But if you want speed, the new model will be of interest: for the Pro WSS models Buffalo quotes test results where three PCs are working simultaneously, performing search tasks, replication jobs and the like, with anti-virus scan in the background. The server manages data transfer at around twice the speed of the entry-level machines.

Cost
£622.76

Stockists:
All leading hardware suppliers

Business Matters Rating
3.5 out of 5

The post Under Review: Buffalo TeraStation Pro server appeared first on Business Matters.

In these hotels, wi-fi can be prohibitive, and since the price is usually per gadget, you triple your bill when you connect tablet, phone and laptop. Some hotels don’t allow you to have more than one device registered to your room anyway.

Worse, if they do offer free wi-fi it’s restricted to communal areas like the bar – where you’ll be spending money in a different way. This is fine if you’re checking Facebook updates but not suited to confidential work.

Belkin’s latest gadget gives you the freedom to create your own personal hotspot for multiple gadgets. You use the hotel’s network, so you are still paying for connecting to that, but only for the router, which creates the connection for all your other gadgets.

It works with up to five devices simultaneously, which is handy if you’re using your room as a hub for your colleagues to work with you while you’re all away from the office.

What’s more, the router connects by Ethernet cable, so if there’s actually no wi-fi at the hotel, only a cable connection, the Belkin means you’re not restricted to where to sit. The router is supplied with the appropriate cables and a charger with UK and EU connectors.

It’s very simple to set up and works well, though if the hotel wi-fi is slow then using multiple devices will only hobble it further. And if you’ve picked a place with a wi-fi connection but no Ethernet option, it’s no use.

Still, it may be cheaper than upgrading to a better-equipped hotel. And needless to say it works everywhere, not just in hotels, so if your office has cabled internet only, it could add extra flexibility – though check with your IT supervisor first.

This is the sort of gadget that you would hope didn’t need to exist – hotel internet should be fast, wireless and free. But until then, it’s a good stopgap.

The post Under Review: Belkin’s Go router turns a hotel room into an office appeared first on Business Matters.

New BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 features include:

• Integrated email client with a powerful unified inbox: With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 you have the option to use a  unified inboxthat consolidates all messages in one place, including messages from Facebook®, LinkedIn® and Twitter®, as well as personal and work email accounts.
• Social Integration with Calendar and Contacts apps:  The built-in calendar harnesses information from social networks and makes it available where and when users need it.  Contact cards are also dynamically populated with updated information from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to create a consolidated view of contacts.
• Updated BlackBerry Bridge app: BlackBerry® Bridge™ is a unique app that provides a Bluetooth® connection between your BlackBerry PlayBook and core apps on your BlackBerry® smartphone (including BBM™, Email, Contacts, Calendar and Browser) in order to let you view the content on the larger tablet display. With BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, it’s easier and quicker than ever to take documents, web pages, emails and photos that appear on your BlackBerry smartphone and display them on your BlackBerry PlayBook for an optimized viewing and editing experience. The updated BlackBerry Bridge app also provides a new remote control feature that allows a BlackBerry smartphone to be used as a wireless keyboard and mouse for a BlackBerry PlayBook.
• Improved mobile productivity: Updated document editing functions, the new Print To Go app, and increased control and manageability of corporate data with BlackBerry® Balance ™ allow you to get more out of your BlackBerry PlayBook every day. Plus, an updated virtual keyboard with auto correction and predictive next word completion learns how you type to enable faster, more accurate typing.
• New apps and content: Thousands of new apps are being added to BlackBerry App World™ today (including a range of Android®apps that will run on the BlackBerry PlayBook). A new BlackBerry Video Store¹ is launching today. Enhanced web browsing capabilities are also available with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0.

The post New Operating System for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet users including email finally released appeared first on Business Matters.

Display
It’s screen is very bright, all the colors are eye-popping and very beautiful, and they don’t darken or fade when you look at the screen at an angle. It’s great for watching movies and even for playing HD games (there are plenty of them in Android Market).

Processor
The Samsung Galaxy S2 boasts a 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor that provides really fast performance without any delay. Web browsing is very quick even via Wi-Fi networks.

Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S2 has a good 8MP camera with auto-focus and LED flash that takes 3264 x 2448 photos and 1080p videos at 30fps.

Platform
Android the Samsung Galaxy S2 runs is the most popular platform at the moment, famous for being easy to customize and for having a huge number of apps in Android Market, too.

Conclusion
This is the first Android phone that I have used and I was very impressed. It was fast, easier to use for web browsing and apps use than, my smart phone of choice, the BlackBerry, and after a while I got used to using the touch screen instead of hard keyboard. Buyers should definitely look at this phone before automatically going to buy an iPhone 4S.

Cost
Free from £30 pay monthly plans

Stockists:  www.vodafone.co.uk/business

Business Matters Rating

4.5 out of 5

The post Under Review: Samsung Galaxy S2 appeared first on Business Matters.