Tablets are the only cure

Big players at Berlin’s IFA show agree this is the year of sharing content across devices

YEAR FOR year at the world’s largest consumer electronics show, the IFA in Berlin, there is a suspicious amount of agreement between the big players on the next big thing. Either extra-sensory perception is prevalent in the electronics business or industrial espionage is alive and well.

Earlier this decade, all the big players threw big, bigger and biggest televisions on the market at the same time. Then, simultaneously, they tried to take viewers into the third televisual dimension. This year’s buzz word was content convergence. From Sony to Panasonic, Samsung and Philips, all are in agreement that this is the year of sharing content across devices.

But more of that later. First to this year’s big row. Writs were flying around Berlin’s exhibition grounds: annual absentee Apple has taken Samsung to court, accusing it of lifting more than a few design details from the iPad for its own Galaxy Tab 7.7.

The ongoing spat made sure the Samsung tablet had the delicious taste of forbidden fruit.

Getting a contraband contraption for a hands-on test, it’s easy to see why Apple is nervous: the Galaxy Tab is a slick trick, a potential iPad-beater.

It’s smaller in size than Apple’s original, with a crisp AMOLED 7.7 inch display offering 1280x800 resolution and a remarkably smudge-free surface, despite heavy handling. Extremely light (330gm) and slim (less than 8mm thick), it fits nicely in one hand, leaving your other hand free to . . . make notes.

Running Android’s 3.2 version of Honeycomb, it is a zippy mover thanks to a 1.2 GHz dual processor. Its 5,100 milliamps battery means it can go 10 hours non-stop in video mode, Samsung says. Front and back cameras of 2 and 3 megapixels complete the package.

On the downside, the test device seemed to get quite hot, and legal wrangling means it’s not clear when the device will roll out across Europe. Display models were plastered with stickers saying “Not available in Germany” and “Design subject to change”.

The downsides compared to the iPad are that typing on the slightly smaller screen seems even fiddlier; there’s no physical home button, and touchscreen response seems a tiny bit sluggish. “The new Galaxy Tab 7.7 demonstrates Samsung’s commitment to offering consumers the most choice in the mobile tablet market,” said JK Shin, president and head of Samsung’s mobile communications business at the launch.

He could barely contain his excitement with his other big announcement: a new hybrid smartphone-tablet called the Note. This has a sharp, 5.3 inch AMOLED display with 1280x800 resolution, a 1.4 GHz processor and an 8 megapixel camera out front.

There’s one retro touch: a stylus, allowing you to take notes. It’s not quite the pleasing, tactile experience it could be: the gap between stylus tip and writing means it can look like a ghost’s handwriting rather than one’s own. Practice might make perfect, though.

Samsung says the Note is the answer to a year of in-depth customer research. Rather than carry a netbook, a smartphone or both, Samsung wants executive road warriors to take note of the Note. And will they?

Apple says its research shows there is no market for a device of this size. Dell’s decision to yank its Streak device last month seems to confirm this. Time will tell. Launch is pencilled in for October, price around €650.

Samsung had its own take on digital convergence, “Smart TV” and some cheap and cheerful offerings like entry-level laser printers in blue and pink starting at €69.

Venturing into the Sony hall, the Japanese giant promised “all our innovations folded into one”. There were indeed some innovations, such as a 3D Bloggie portable camera with two lenses. The Sony Reader had some new wrinkles for bookworms: now less than a centimetre thick, readers can touch the screen to turn pages and zoom. It offers a greater selection of books through a wifi connection and allows hand-written on-screen notes.

Strolling by the latest versions of the Walkman, a real innovation in its day, Sony’s promise of innovation seemed a little hollow this year. The Reader is the bridesmaid to Amazon’s bride – the Kindle. Its new “smart” televisions are packed with others’ technology, from YouTube to Skype.

Sony’s highly anticipated Android-based Tablet S, meanwhile, is more miss than hit. The plastic casing feels cheap and chunky – over 2cm at the thick end of its wedge-like design. Its “TruBlack” 9.4 inch display seems much sharper than the iPad, yet the device feels more like an outsized, expensive remote control with a slightly lethargic touchscreen response. Prices start at €479, shipping in a few weeks.

Its smaller brother, the Tablet P, is a split-screen device that looks like a glasses case and a portable laminator had a baby. It flips open horizontally to reveal two separate 5.5-inch screens – with no seamless images between screens – and just 4 GB of internal storage with no SD expandability.

It’s a light device with no physical buttons, though its Playstation Portable game capabilities mean the target market is clear. For e-mail and internet, it’s a little too wide for thumb-typing and too narrow for touch typing.

Both tablets showcase Sony’s take on content convergence, allowing users to “throw” content from their tablet to their television, or using their smartphone as a remote control.

Sony’s smartest decision by far this year is to pool the corporation’s vast music, movie and television content. It tried this already with the absurdly named Qriocity (don’t ask). Now it’s called the “Sony Entertainment Network”. What took them so long?

Finally, Panasonic had some clever add-ons to existing technology. Panasonic camcorder owners can buy a new 3D lens attachment that delivers impressive results. And it had a new range of compact Lumix cameras allowing 3D photos and HD videos. As with its rivals, Panasonic is anxious for its convergence products to talk to each other, with connection apps.

Rather than get involved in the tablet game, it allows buyers of its new Viera televisions to steer the device via their iPad.