Google released videos of the twenty eight Android sessions from the conference, conveniently collected as a playlist:

They also have individual playlists for specific tracks.
Design:

Develop:

Distribute:

For those of us who couldn’t attend Google I/O, the videos are the next best thing.

However, in tablets specifically my personal feeling is that, while Samsung is one of the leaders, the most exciting vendor using Android is ASUS. ASUS doesn’t have the recognition and attention of Samsung, but they’ve been doing some great work in tablets – and it looks like Google took notice as they took ASUS’s planned $249 Eee Pad MeMO 7-inch tablet and reworked it to become the $199 Nexus 7, Google’s first branded tablet. The first quad-core 7-inch tablet and the first device to launch with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

In the first generation of real Android tablets, those launched with Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the Galaxy Tab was well known for its sleek design. But the ASUS Transformer, and later Transformer Prime, we nearly as slim and light while keeping functionality like a microSD slot, which the Galaxy Tab did without. And, of course, they had the unique capability of effectively becoming a netbook with a purpose designed keyboard dock. They’re tablets have been competitively priced and have had a series of firsts. The first Android tablets designed with a keyboard dock, the first ‘slider’ tablet with the Eee Pad Slider SL101, the first quad-core Android tablet with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 powered Transformer Prime, the first HD Android tablet with the 1920×1200 10.1″ Transformer Pad Infinity, and more.

The the Transformer Pad Infinity’s display is 224ppi, effectively making it the Android market’s answer to the iPad’s 264ppi retina display. Though I personally feel the 10.1″ 1920×1200 16:10 aspect ratio display on the Infinity is preferable to the iPad’s 9.7″ 2048×1536 4:3 aspect ratio display when it comes to consuming content, especially HD video.

Of course, ASUS also has the Padfone which is a truly revolutionary design that I’ve been waiting for someone to build for years. I hope it finds its way to the US in an LTE model. ASUS also has a good track record for updating their devices to newer Android versions. It hasn’t been painless, but they’ve done a better job that a lot of the bigger names. And we’ve just heard that even the original Transformer and Slider will be receiving Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, along with the newer models.

All of these, IMHO, have been sleek, well designed products. I myself own the Transformer Prime (though I’m starting to feel the lust pangs for the Transformer Pad Infinity since I don’t see Verizon picking up the Padfone soon) and I couldn’t be happier with it. My wife & I gave our nephew the Transformer last xmas and he’s still using it regularly. He hasn’t lost interest or broken it – not bad considering he’s 13. I’ve recommended the ASUS Transformer line to many people, as I think they’re truly the best Android tablets out there.

The keyboard dock, or just the capability of using one, is a major advantage over other tablets for anyone looking to use a tablet for productivity. A keyboard case or Bluetooth keyboard just isn’t the same. The keyboard dock makes an effective case for the tablet in one solid, easy to carry, solid package. And the extra battery life is most welcome. I love the way ASUS designed it to keep the tablet battery charged, charging it from the keyboard battery when connected. That way the tablet is always topped up if you want to use it solo, and the keyboard provides a kind of portable charger if the tablet gets drained.

Performance is top notch and inclusion of memory card slots and ports makes the ASUS tablet more flexible than some of the competition. Personally I think the Galaxy Tab 2 line was something of a disappointment. It is really more of a refresh of the original Galaxy Tab than a next-generation tablet. Similarly the Motorola Xoom 2/Xyboard wasn’t a big jump from the original Xoom. With the ‘flagship’ vendors kind of dropping the ball it really left the market open to ASUS, and other vendors like Acer and Lenovo, to produce some of the best tablet values considering performance and price.

I think there is a strong argument to be made that ASUS is really the leading Android tablet maker when it comes to innovation, value, and functionality. I think they deserve more attention from consumers and the press covering the tablet market. Whether they get it or not, I hope they continue down the same road and continue to provide innovative products. If you’re considering an Android tablet purchase I think you’d be well served to carefully consider ASUS’s offerings. The second generation ‘low-end’ model Transformer Pad TF300T is a close match to my first generation ‘high-end’ Transformer Prime TF201, and the model I think most buyers will be looking at.

ASUS recently released a series of videos which gives us a peak into the design process and philosophy that shaped the Transformer products, especially the new Transformer Pad and Pad Infinity. I think they’re a nice look behind the scenes and not overly full marketing spin.

So what do you think? Do you agree that ASUS is really the flagship Android tablet maker? Do you think someone else is? If so, why do you feel that way? Leave a comment!

The video also clearly states the requirements for streaming in high quality (HQ) mode. SlingPlayer for iPad and SlingPlayer for Android tablets require 800kbps over 3G or 4G networks, and 1200kbps over WiFi. SlingPlayer for iPhone/iPod Touch, SlingPlayer for Android phones, and SlingPlayer for Windows Phone requires 500kbps over 3G or 4G networks and 800kbps over WiFi. Note those are the minimum speeds required for streaming HQ, higher speeds will provide better quality. If you can’t get those speeds you should stream in standard quality (SQ) mode. If you leave SlingPlayer it ‘auto’ it should figure it out and set the mode correctly.

Since the Transformer is $364.99 on Amazon, and the keyboard dock is $118.15, getting both for $319 is an excellent deal.

Features (some features are only available to TiVo® Premiere DVR customers):

• Browse the channel guide without interrupting the show you’re watching – View shows up to 14 days in advance
• Schedule TV show/movie recordings and ongoing (Season Pass®) recordings
• Browse your recorded shows list and play a show from the App
• Find exactly what you want to watch – Search across TV, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video & Blockbuster -and see integrated results on Demand to find what you are looking for
• Explore cast and crew while watching a show
• Comment about what you’re watching on Facebook or Twitter
• Use a TiVo remote control replica or our intuitive, gesture-based remote control
• Manage your ongoing (Season Pass®) recordings and your To-Do List – Delete and reprioritize recordings for your favorite shows
• Instantly schedule, search and browse for shows while you’re away from home

Screenshots:

Via Android Police and TiVo Blog.

To go with that Galaxy Tab 10.1, and provide more storage, they’re also offering a new Samsung Galaxy Tab SD Card Reader for only $10. As pictured above, the card reader connects to the 40-pin port on the tablet and enables the use of SD & SDHC cards, as well as microSD & microSDHC via the included adapter. Given the low pricing, and the 16GB of storage in the tablet, I’d strongly advise spending the extra $10 to pick one up. And if you already own a Galaxy Tab and want a way to use SD cards, this is your deal.

Lastly there is a refurbished Vizio 8″ Android Tablet for only $154.00 + $5 S&H. This is a lower-end Android tablet, running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The 8″ screen is 1024×768, and it has a 1GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM, and only 4GB of on-board storage – though there is a built-in microSD slot for up to 32GB of additional storage. So it isn’t a power house, but this tablet’s differentiator is the built in IR blaster. Yes, it is really designed to be used like a large, touch screen remote control for your home entertainment system. The tablet includes the V.I.A. (Vizio Internet Apps) Plus interface and it comes pre-loaded with a number of universal remote app covers to make it easy to start using it as your remote control.

It is not a Google TV device, it runs the same Android 4.0 found on phones and tablets on a 1GHz Cortex A9 processor. The current design has 512MB RAM, but they’re investigating bumping that to 1GB before going into production. It has 4GB of on-board storage, but also includes a microSD slot for up to 32GB of additional storage. There’s also a full-size USB port for input devices and mass storage, or even a webcam for videoconferencing. Network connectivity is via 802.11b/g/n WiFi. There’s no Bluetooth currently, but they’re working on it. All of that in a package 86x31x14mm and weighing only 35 grams.

There are two remote controls available. The standard remote, included with the Pocket TV, is a traditional IR remote with 5-way navigation and several dedicated buttons for specific actions and Android navigation (such as Home, Back, and Search). The other remote is one I think most users will want, and that’s the Air Remote. The Air Remote connects to the Pocket TV via the network, so no line of sight is required. It includes a gyroscopic sensor so you can control the Pocket TV by simply moving the remote, and it has a full qwerty keyboard to make text entry a snap. You can also use the Google TV Remote app for Android and iOS to turn your smartphone into a remote control for the Pocket TV.

It sounds like a pretty interesting device, no? But this isn’t a product from a big company; Infinitec is a small, three year old start-up and this is a community funded development effort on Kickstarter. I first heard of it from PVRblog and I jumped right over to help fund the project. I’m in at the $135 level for a Pocket TV and Air Remote. I thought it was a great idea and I love to see small companies trying creative ideas, so I thought it was a project worth backing. And those who back the Kickstarter project also save money – the bundle I’m signed up for has an expected combined retail MSRP of $190. You can pledge as little as $110 for the standard Pocket TV with IR Remote. There are 26 days left to get in on the Kickstarter.

While you’re over at Kickstarter check out some of the other projects. I’ve backed several and I’m always looking for projects that pique my interest. Thanks to PVRblog for bringing this one to my attention.

TiVo will continue to support ATSC in future products, in some way, shape or form. I asked about this because the TiVo Premiere XL4 is a QAM only product, and knowing how hardware development and refresh cycles work I fully expect the Premiere and Premiere XL to be refreshed at some point and migrate to a shared design with the XL4. It is much more cost effective to produce one board and simply populate it differently for different products. The Premiere and Premiere XL will clearly be updated to add MoCA at some point, and it makes sense to go to a shared design. But that had implications for ATSC, hence my query.

TiVo can’t say, probably because at this point they honestly don’t know, what form an ATSC-supporting product might take, but they know there is a solid niche of ATSC users. Clearly the majority of their business comes from cable subscribers, but they do not plan to abandon ATSC users. There are issues with supporting ATSC however. ATSC tuners are more expensive than QAM tuners, and aren’t available in the same densities. We’re seeing single QAM tuner chips with six QAM tuners, even fully integrated SoCs with six, or more, integrated QAM tuners – but not ATSC.

This makes it harder, and more costly, to design and build a product with ATSC support. And the more ATSC tuners you include the higher the cost and complexity. And there are often knock-on costs – additional RAM, ancillary chips, etc. Add to that the effects of economies of scale. There are more QAM-enabled products than ATSC, that means there is more demand for QAM chips. The greater demand drives higher production levels of QAM chips, and the per-unit costs keeps coming down. ATSC components aren’t following the same decline, but remaining at higher price points.

And that’s why we don’t have an ATSC XL4, and probably won’t see one. And also why the bulk of products going forward are likely to be QAM-only, with specific SKUs to address the ATSC market niche.

On a different note, the new TiVo SDK will be released ‘this fall’. TiVo has hired someone who is working full time on running the SDK program and driving it to release. They’re serious about getting it out there and attracting more developers to create apps for TiVo.

TiVo would like to support Amazon Prime Streaming as much as users would like them to, but at this time they have nothing additional to announce.

My own take is that it is in the road map but they need developer support from Amazon to get it done. Remember the situation with Hulu Plus? Same deal. It will almost certainly happen, the question is when, but TiVo isn’t going to announce anything until there is something firmer to stand on. Like I said, that’s my read on the situation.

As for HBO Go – they know there is demand but they have nothing public to announce right now. My take is they will probably do it but won’t be saying anything until there is ink on paper to authorize it.

While I’m on the subject, TiVo says to expect a lot of additions to OTT content and, further out, extensive changes to the UI for selecting OTT content. I’m heartened by this, as the weak support for OTT content has been a pet peeve of mine for some time. For myself, I’d love to see content like NASA TV and Crunchyroll supported. I know others would love sports channels, such as MLB.TV. And the UI for Web Video is very creaky now. Next to something like Roku it is kind of sad.

I think the ’tile’ HD UI for ‘browse’ that TiVo has now could make for a decent web video UI. You could have a tile for a provider, and then tiles for each ‘show’ from the provider within that screen, etc. I think that if TiVo can really enhance the UI and expand the content list, the IP STB could have a secondary life as a general purpose streaming STB even for non-TiVo households.

As I reported back in February, TiVo continues to consider adding support for DLNA/DTCP-IP but doesn’t have anything more to say at this time. However, I have to say that, after talking to many vendors at the show, TiVo will add support for DLNA/DTCP-IP. It is a question of when now, not if.

Why do I say that? Because everyone else is doing it. It is really taking off, it seems like every vendor I talked to had something to say about DLNA/DTCP-IP. Just one example, the Pace XG1 box that runs the TiVo software can also run several other software stacks. On every other stack it uses DLNA/DTCP-IP for whole home streaming – but when running the TiVo software it uses TiVo’s proprietary system. ARRIS’s Moxi DVRs use DLNA/DTCP-IP – and therefore you can use a PS3, DLNA/DTCP-IP-enabled Smart TV, etc., as a client.

The stack is rapidly becoming MoCA+DLNA+DTCP-IP – and with RUI coming on strong as the next likely standard component. Since TiVo is serious about playing in the MSO market, and MSOs all seem to be extremely interested in standardizing on these components, I believe TiVo will simply have to adopt them to remain a player. It is almost painful to say, but the big, legacy players seem to be adopting standards faster than TiVo. You’re going to see DLNA everywhere before long, and TiVo needs to invite themselves to that party or risk being on the outside looking in.

Oh, a little side note. I was in Pace’s booth today, looking at the XG1 (there will be a post eventually), and I got crowded up for a bit by a gaggle of suits who came in for a demo. I noticed they were with Suddenlink, and they were quite interested in the XG1 running the TiVo software. I overheard some generally favorable comments about TiVo as a solution, but they seemed to like the idea of more ‘MSO-friendly’ hardware like the Pace unit. Which is kind of the whole point of TiVo’s partnership with Pace, so that’s a good thing.

Another good thing is that the Pace reps I observed doing the demo for various groups were all pretty gung ho about the TiVo solution. While they had an number of units setup, running different UI stacks (Comcast X1, a few Rovi solutions, etc.), they really stressed the TiVo solution. I head things like “TiVo is the one we’re really excited about” from the reps talking to MSO people dropping by for a demo. So that’s good to see & hear; it is good to see TiVo with an enthusiastic partner.

On a different note, unsurprisingly TiVo wouldn’t comment about future DVR products, aside from indicating it was likely transcoding will be ‘baked in’ to some future box, as I previously reported. But reading between the lines I think we can expect to see more tuners in a future box as well – an XL6 if you will. There are chips available now with six, or more, integrated QAM tuners. And an M-Card supports a maximum of six streams.

In addition there are a growing number of units from other vendors appearing with six tuners, which means competitive pressure on TiVo. Their MSO partners are going to want to “keep up with the Joneses”. While they could do that by using a box like the Pace XG1, those that have based their solutions on TiVo hardware are likely to want commonality.

My speculation is that sometime in 2013 we’ll see an ‘XL6′ using one of the newer chips, such as the BCM7435, with six QAM tuners, MoCA 2.0, and on-board transcoding. It probably will not have built-in WiFi as TiVo is trying to steer users away from WiFi and toward Ethernet or MoCA, to avoid customer experience issues and support headaches with streaming and flaky WiFi networks.

The tablet version of the Android app is actively being worked on. I reported in March that TiVo was saying ‘spring’ for Android tablets, but that’s clearly slipped a little. They recently made changes to the way they handle app development and they’re committed to iOS and Android. When the TiVo Stream is released this fall there will be clients for both, on phones and tablets. The streaming functionality will be incorporated into the existing TiVo apps.

TiVo is aware that the new YouTube and Netflix apps have long start-up times, and they’re working on ways to speed that up. The apps themselves are out of their control, that’s Google & Netflix, but they are working to improve performance, especially the start-up.

TiVo is updating their software more frequently, and we can expect more and more of the UI to migrate to HD with the coming releases. Screens such as the Season Pass Manager, To Do List, and screens from a remote unit (such as when using MRS), will be made HD this year. I think TiVo has made some real progress with the migration over the past couple of releases and I look forward to seeing it continue to progress.

OK, I think that’s it for now – and I really need to get a few hours of sleep before I return for the last day of the show. I have plenty more to write up as posts – such as my visits with Humax, Pace and Arris – but that’ll have to wait.

Sellout.Woot! shows the tablet as shipping with Android 3.1 Honeycomb, but the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update has already been released for the Xoom so you should be able to update as soon as you have it. All in all the Motorola Xoom is a solid Android tablet. This is a half-price deal as the MSRP is $499.99. And new tablets sell for $369.87 on Amazon.

Well, actually, Samsung is better than that, since they had nothing to do with it. It turns out the stunt was staged by, of all companies, RIM – as uncovered by Macworld. And RIM fessed up once it was uncovered:

UPDATE: RIM Australia issued a statement this morning, May 1 9:20 AM AEST, with Richelle Gillett, Account Director from Spectrum Communications for Blackberry confirming:

“We can confirm that the Australian ‘Wake Up’ campaign, which involves a series of experiential activities taking place across Sydney and Melbourne, was created by RIM Australia. A reveal will take place on May 7th that will aim to provoke conversation on what ‘being in business’ means to Australians.”

I don’t know what is sadder – the idiotic stunt itself, all of the free publicity RIM effectively bought for Samsung (with more to come as updates, like this one, get posted), or that it seems RIM wasn’t even considered as a possible culprit in the PR stunt. When you think of companies staging social media stunts, RIM just isn’t the company that comes to mind. They just aren’t considered ‘cool’.

It reminds me of the old OS/2 Warp ads in which IBM tried so desperately to seem cool. As my best friend once put it some years ago: “It’s like watching your grandfather breakdance, seeing a company like Honda or IBM try to Get Down Verbally. You don’t know whether to be mortified or just afraid he’ll break a hip.”

Way to go RIM.

Good work by Macworld and MacTalk in finding the real culprit behind the idiotic stunt.

The end of the video displays this text progressively: “With technology that fits in this easily, you can now stand out from… …everyone else.” And when it displays “everyone else” the video shows a pen full of white sheep ‘baa’ing. While they never call out Apple or the iPhone, given the history of their rivalry I think it is clear who that is aimed at.

So that’s all well and good, a little jab at the competition. But they also apparently arranged another stunt at an Apple Store in Sydney, Australia as part of a pseudo-viral “Wake Up” campaign that seems to be designed to drum up interest in advance of the Galaxy S III launch. (And here I am writing about it, so I guess it is working.) The website wake-up-australia.com.au is just a large countdown timer. There have been incidents of “Wake Up” popping up around Sydney – on billboards, in a pool, etc.

But this time a couple of large black buses pulled up outside of the Apple Store in Sydney and disgorged a horde of black clad ‘protesters’ who held black placards emblazoned with “Wake Up”. They then proceeded to chant loudly outside of the store, blocking the sidewalk and generally creating a disturbance. And a local blogger caught it on video:

Frankly I think this is way over the line, and just completely dickish behavior. That goes beyond good natured ribbing and is just harassment of the Apple Store employees and customers. And the general public who had to deal with the obstruction and disturbance. All to drum up attention. But this is like a toddler throwing a tantrum to make everyone pay attention to them. Samsung – you’re better than that, cut this crap out.

EDIT: Apologies to Samsung, the real jerk is RIM.

From mUmBRELLA via Android and Me.

The TF300 Transformer Pad is closer to the TF201 Transformer Prime than the original TF101 Transformer. Like the TF201, the TF300 has a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU, 1GB RAM, 802.11b/g/b WiFi, and a 10.1? 1280×800 display. However, the display is IPS, not Super IPS+, and it is only available in 16GB & 32GB versions – instead of 32GB or 64GB. The TF300 has Bluetooth 3.0+EDR, up from 2.1+EDR. The TF300 loses the flash on the rear camera, though it is still 8MP, with a 1.2MP front camera.

While the TF300 is currently only available with WiFi, it will also eventually come in HSPA+ & LTE versions. Battery life is 10 hours, 15 with the dock – down from 12/18 on the TF201. And it is physically slightly larger. But it also has a $399.99 MSRP for the 32GB model, $100 less than the Transformer Prime. However, with the TF201 available for less than the MSRP, while the TF300, being new, isn’t available at much of a discount, the gap is currently smaller. It isn’t a clear choice – do you get the TF300 with most of the features and save a little, or go for the slicker TF201 with all of the features for just a bit more?

When the forthcoming Transformer Pad Infinity, effectively an HD Transformer Prime, launches it’ll be interesting to see if they keep the original Prime in the lineup or drop it to create more differentiation in the lineup. For now I’m happy with my Transformer Prime.

And now it is just $49.99 for new Verizon Wireless customers when purchased through Amazon Wireless. And if you’re an existing Verizon Wireless subscriber looking to upgrade it is just $149.99 with a contract extension.

However, all of that said, some people are understandably upset, or at least annoyed, by the issue. Well, ASUS has decided to make things right, at no cost to owners. Now through July 31, 2012 they are offering a free dongle, properly called the ASUS Transformer Prime GPS Extension kit. If you own an ASUS Transformer Prime simply follow the instructions to file your claim. It is fairly simply – just register your Transformer Prime, if you haven’t already, and then click on the link to claim your dongle. They’ll send you one that matches the finish on your tablet.

The dongle itself is fairly large, as you can see in the image above. It is a bar that clips on the bottom of the tablet, using the same connections as the keyboard dock. That does mean you can’t use the dongle and the keyboard at the same time. And there is no indication that the dongle has a pass through for the 40-pin connector – which would mean no charging while it is in use. But hey – it is free.

We’ve seen a few real work examples of augmented reality, with varying degrees of success. The most common are smartphone applications, such as Layar, which can overlay information onto the world as seen through the phone’s camera. So you can hold up the phone and call up different information – like icons for restaurants around you, or information culled from various social media sites, etc. But you don’t want to walk around holding your cell phone up in front of you, awkwardly looking at the world through its screen.

Well, Google has unveiled one of their pie in the sky projects aimed at making augmented reality practical – Project Glass. And it isn’t just a concept, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been spotted in public wearing an early working prototype. The initial concept appears to be a monocular display that is worn like a pair of glasses. A combiner optic sits in front of the eye with most of the hardware contained in the frames. The basic information is displayed such that is appears in the user’s field of view, but when not displaying anything the combiner should appear transparent. They’ve also talked about a version for those who wear prescription glasses, so they’re not left out.

It is very early days and who knows when or even if Google commercializes the technology. But it does seem like just a matter of time until we have something like this available. The real problem has been the size of the technology. Past efforts to create something similar have relied on bulky LCD displays, and generally required the glasses to be cabled into a separate battery and processing unit. Google is hoping to create something self-contained within Project Glass.

The promotional video they released with the announcement of the project gives us a, somewhat cheesy, look at what they’re hoping to accomplish:

First up, originally slated to end March 26th, but extended through March 31st, the DROID Madness Sale. This sale is only good on new Verizon Wireless activations. New activation includes a new individual account, a new family account, or a new line to an existing account. The promotion does not include upgrades or contract extensions.

All Motorola DROID devices on Verizon are on sale. The DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB in black is $199.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. While the DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB, DROID X2, DROID 3 Global, and DROID PRO are all just $0.01 each – a penny! My wife has the DROID RAZR and she loves it, it is a very nice phone.

The second sale has some overlap with the first, now extended through April 15th (formerly March 31st) Double Your Data on 4G Phones. It is pretty simple – all 4G Verizon phones qualify for twice the amount of data for the same monthly price. New 4G smartphone activations and upgrades are eligible, including existing customers with 4G smartphones.

The following prices are for new activations, upgrade pricing may differ. As above, the DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB is $199.99. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G is $99.99. The HTC Rezound 4G is $79.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. The LG Spectrum 4G is $19.99. The HTC ThunderBolt 4G, Samsung Stratosphere 4G, DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB, Samsung DROID CHARGE 4G, and Pantech Breakout 4G are all just $0.01 – one red cent.

Of all of these the one I’d select is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – which is in fact the phone I carry. My second choice would probably be the DROID RAZR, or maybe the DROID RAZR MAXX, though battery life hasn’t really been an issue for me so far.

One of the drawbacks of the thin design is that, to achieve it, Samsung left off any expansion capabilities – but this deal includes the Samsung SD Card reader accessory that supports SDHC cards up to 32GB, along with a microSD adapter to use your microSD cards with the reader.

MSRP on the tablet is $499.99, and Amazon sells them for $448.00. The Galaxy Tab SD Card Reader MSRP is $19.99 and Amazon’s price is $14.11. So the $299.99 price for both is a very good deal. This is still one of the best Android tablets on the market, and you’re getting it at a substantial discount.

What’s in this version:
1. Resolution Support for WXGA (1280×800), 1024×600 and 960×540
2. Added Exit Button on Menu option
3. Performance and Stability Fixes

The Exit Button, or lack thereof, is something a number of people had complained about so that should make some of you happy. And if you had issues with the app before, it might be worth trying again to see if the fixes resolved your issue.

Now, TiVo, while we’re waiting for the official tablet version of the app, why don’t you let us use this on our tablets? You have WXGA support now! 1280×800 is the resolution of nearly all Android tablets. And we know it runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich already, as it works on ICS phones. It would be better than nothing. Then later you can release one Android app that works on both tablets and phones, as developers should. (I’m looking at you Sling. You and your separate $30 apps for tablets and phones.)

Now, just to get this out of the way, the Android app is slated to get these features in ‘summer’. And the long-awaited Android tablet app should finally arrive in ‘spring’. TiVo, please, release one Android app that runs on all Android devices – the Android SDK supports it. It is silly when we get multiple apps for different devices. So, my fellow Android users, be patient.

One of the most notable changes is the new Browse UI:

There’s also a lot more usability to the app when you’re away from home. For S4 users you can see and modify My Shows, the To Do List, and the Season Pass Manager. S3 users can view (but not modify) their To Do List, and view & modify their Season Pass Manager.

You can also now create a WishList Search from within the app. And when you re-order you Season Passes you can continue to use the app without waiting for the list to finish re-prioritizing. And all of the images in the app are now ‘retina’ quality, just in time for the new iPad. Here’s the complete list of improvements:

What’s New in Version 1.9
New features for iPad:
-Graphical full-screen Browse experience that makes it much faster and easier to find new shows and movies
-Collapsible folders

New features for iPhone:
-Added new retina images for iPhone displays

Other new features for both iPad and iPhone:
-Added “Keep Until I Delete” option for shows in My Shows
-Added recording options for shows set to record in the To Do List
-Create WishList for shows that aren’t airing right now
-Added My Shows, To Do List, Season Pass manager capability in Away mode for Series4 DVRs
-Added To Do List/Season Pass manager capability for Series3 DVRs
-Make Away mode more resilient to network drops
-Can use app while Season Pass recordings are reprioritizing
-Added new icons to My Shows
-Add live TV padding notification when recording a live event on TV
-Added Facebook single sign-on for easier Facebook login

Multiple performance enhancements and bug fixes including:
-Guide scrolling ahead by days bug fixed
-Allow background music to continue playing while using the app

*For DVR Discovery issues, please make sure your router firmware is up to date or contact customer support if you are still having problems

Now, as an Android-only household, I can’t wait to see these improvements on my devices.

First up, running through March 26th, the DROID Madness Sale. This sale is only good on new Verizon Wireless activations. New activation includes a new individual account, a new family account, or a new line to an existing account. The promotion does not include upgrades or contract extensions.

All Motorola DROID devices on Verizon are on sale. The DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB in black is $199.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. While the DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB, DROID X2, DROID 3 Global, and DROID PRO are all just $0.01 each – a penny! My wife has the DROID RAZR and she loves it, it is a very nice phone.

The second sale has some overlap with the first, through March 31st Double Your Data on 4G Phones. It is pretty simple – all 4G Verizon phones qualify for twice the amount of data for the same monthly price. New 4G smartphone activations and upgrades are eligible, including existing customers with 4G smartphones.

The following prices are for new activations, upgrade pricing may differ. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G is $99.99. The HTC Rezound 4G is $79.99. The DROID 4 4G is $49.99. The DROID RAZR 4G 16GB is $34.99 in black, white, or purple. The DROID BIONIC 4G 32GB is $29.99. The LG Spectrum 4G is $19.99. The HTC ThunderBolt 4G, LG Revolution 4G, Samsung Stratosphere 4G, Samsung DROID CHARGE, and Pantech Breakout 4G are all just $0.01 – one red cent.

I note that the sale specifically states “all 4G Verizon phones qualify”, yet the DROID RAZR MAXX 4G 32GB and DROID BIONIC 4G 16GB from the first sale aren’t listed in the second. But I’d expect them to qualify as well, as they are “4G Verizon phones”.

Of all of these the one I’d select is the Samsung Galaxy Nexus – which is in fact the phone I carry. My second choice would probably be the DROID RAZR, or maybe the DROID RAZR MAXX, though battery life hasn’t really been an issue for me so far.

• Store up to 20,000 songs for free with millions of tracks available to purchase
• Select from more than 450,000 Android Apps and Games
• Rent any of thousands of movies, including HD and new releases
• Choose from the world’s largest selection of ebooks, over four million titles

As part of the launch Android devices running 2.2 or later will see updates: Android Market, Music, Videos, and Books will become Play Store, Play Music, Play Movies, and PlayBooks, respectively. The updates began rolling out today.

When you need a larger display the phone docks with a tablet. But the tablet is really just a screen and larger battery – it has no native processing capability. Instead the phone provides all of the power. That means no need to install apps twice and keep them in sync, or to have two data plans, etc. The tablet is just a ‘sleeve’ for the phone.

ASUS takes this even further with the PadFone, building on their Transformer products, but having the tablet dock with a keyboard. So the phone becomes a tablet becomes a netbook.

The PadPhone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 8260A Dual-Core 1.5 GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, and 16/32/54GB internal storage with a microSD slot for expansion. It has a rear 8MP camera with flash, though the front camera is listed as only VGA (.3MP) which is a little disappointing. The dimensions are 128mm x 65.4mm x 9.2mm with a weight of 129 grams. The display on the phone is 4.3″ qHD (960×540), which is respectable, though it’d be tough to give up the 720p display of my Galaxy Nexus.

The magic happens with DynamicDisplay, a special feature developed by ASUS. It dynamically resizes apps as the PadPhone is docked with or removed from the PadPhone Station. Not only do you get a 10.1″ 1280×800 display, but apps with optimized tablet views, such as Gmail, will change. So you won’t just see the phone display blown up, but the proper tablet view.

When docked, the PadPhone’s camera and flash are still used, but the front camera is replaced by one built into the tablet. What’s not clear from the specs and images is which ports the Station dock has. The keyboard dock looks very similar to the one for my Transformer Prime. Like the Prime’s keyboard it adds additional battery, as well as a full size USB port and full size SD slot.

This looks like a very interesting product. I’m not sure if I’d give up my Galaxy Nexus phone and Transformer Prime tablet for the PadFone, especially since I’ve really only just picked up both. But down the road when my G-Nex is up for replacement I’d certainly look at the then-current generation of the PadFone. This is exactly the kind of design I’ve been waiting for.

ASUS also announced that the Eee Pad Transformer line is bring rebranded as the Transformer Pad, and two new models are being introduced.

The Transformer Pad 300 looks like a slightly lower-end version of the existing Transformer Prime. Like the TF201, the TF300 has a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU, 1GB RAM, 802.11b/g/b WiFi, and a 10.1″ 1280×800 display. However, the display is IPS, not Super IPS+, and it only has 16GB of storage – instead of 32GB or 64GB. The TF300 has Bluetooth 3.0, up from 2.1+EDR. The TF300 loses the flash on the rear camera, though it is still 8MP, with a 1.2MP front camera.

While the TF201 is only available with WiFi, the TF300 will also come in HSPA+ & LTE versions. Battery life is 10 hours, 15 with the dock – down from 12/18 on the TF201. And it is physically slightly larger.

The other model, the Transformer Pad Infinity, goes the other way – an upgrade on the Transformer Prime. We saw this model teased at CES as a new model of Transformer Prime, the TF700. Specs-wise it is clearly an updated version of the Transformer Prime. It is the same size and weight – the keyboard dock is actually the same unit.

The WiFi model has the same 802.11b/g/n and BlueTooth 2.1+EDR, 1GB RAM, 32/64GB storage, and the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core CPU – only here is is clocked up to 1.6GHz. The like the TF201 the screen is a 10.1″ Super IPS+ display – but the resolution is 1920×1080 Full HD. It does as some new tweaks. In addition to Bluetooth 2.1+EDR it has Bluetooth 4.0 LE, or Low Energy.

Unlike the TF201, the TF700 will also come in HSPA+ and LTE models, which differ in other details. Instead of the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core CPU, these units will use the Qualcomm MSM 8260A/8960 Snapdragon S4 Krait Dual-core clocked at 1.5Ghz. Why? When they started designing this unit the Tegra 3 wasn’t yet paired with 4G chipsets. It seems the TF300 was designed later, as there is no indication the cellular variants of that model will not be using the Tegra 3. Battery life is given as 10/16, which makes sense with the higher resolution screen and higher CPU clock.

I love my ASUS Transformer Prime, and the Transformer Pad Infinity looks interesting. I’d go with the WiFi model since I currently use my Prime with WiFi tethering on my G-Nex.

EDIT: ASUS just posted a video of the launch event at Mobile World Congress:

On today’s call Tom Rogers stated that the transcoding box would ship “later this year”, which I believe is the first firm public statement.

From a technical perspective, based on my conversations with TiVo, the unit that comes to market will probably resemble the unit previewed at CES, but it may not be exactly the same. It is planned to be an Ethernet only device, most likely installed near the router in the home. It will stream content from TiVo Premiere units using the same system as the Premiere-to-Premiere Multi-Room Streaming (MRS) available today. The content will then be transcoded to H.264 and forwarded to devices running TiVo’s client app – such as Android or iOS phones and tablets. Users will be able to view the streams in real time, or they can be saved on the device for later viewing – which is how side-loading is accomplished.

The hardware itself is powered by Zenverge, so it looks like my prior speculation was close to the mark. However, the unit is not planned to have MoCA. I asked Jim Denney about this and he said that MoCA was considered, but given the envisioned use case it was felt that the added cost wasn’t justified. And after discussing it with him, I see his point. Even if the TiVo units are on MoCA, that MoCA network will need to be connected to a non-MoCA network to reach the client devices. And that connection point is a logical place to connect the transcoding box. It doesn’t really make sense to connect it to the MoCA network when it’d have to send the transcoded signal back over the same network to eventually be bridged off to the client network. Keeping the unit dirt simple – just a power connection and Ethernet – keeps it small and keeps the component costs down.

From a capability standpoint, the unit can accept and transcode up to four streams simultaneously. And on today’s call Rogers made the interesting comment that it could be a recording, or LiveTV. I believe the latter is new. Today streaming is only between units that have their own tuners, either Premiere-to-Premiere or Premiere-to-Preview, so there isn’t a need to grab a tuner on the remote device for ‘live’ TV. But for those who want to watch live on a second screen device, it’d be a necessity. (As well as for another application that’s coming, but I’ll leave that for another post. )

I asked about the streaming technology – is it based on Sling Media or Monsoon Multimedia, or anyone else? It is not. It is an in-house implementation using Zenverge’s silicon and developer tools. So it is unique, and the clients will come from TiVo. That gives me some hope. While Sling & Monsoon Multimedia treat their clients as a revenue stream, TiVo has been giving away their client software. And since you need a TiVo with an active subscription to use this transcoding box they have that revenue stream to draw upon. Rather than milking the customer for anther payment, I’m hopeful they will continue to provide the client software for free, relying on the sales of the hardware, and the TiVo subscription, for revenue.

If they do this it also makes me hopeful that they might publish the client APIs for 3rd parties to build support, as well as create clients for other platforms that aren’t Android or iOS. But that might be a bridge too far since I’m sure they’ll need to protect the content to keep the content owners happy, and that means they couldn’t tell others how to decrypt.

From my conversation with Jessica & Jim, the current plan is for streaming within the home, with side-loading for ‘on the go’ viewing. But not for place shifting streaming content outside of the home. Jim & I talked about this for a while, since I’m a long time Slingbox user and for me streaming beats side-loading hands down. He made the valid point that side-loading has some popular use cases – the most obvious is for when streaming isn’t an option, such as on an airplane. I know parents also use it to load up a bunch of their kids’ favorite shows to whip out on demand to pacify them, etc. So I’m not going to argue against side loading. It isn’t a use case that really interests me, but I acknowledge that it is valid.

As far as streaming outside of the home, Jim was sure to stress that it has not been “designed out” of the product. It isn’t currently planned, but it is something that could be added if there is demand. A lot of the concern is over quality of the experience, bandwidth requirements, etc. I made the point that I’ve been using a Slingbox since I had 768kbps upstream ADSL and only 2.5G EDGE data on my phone, giving me maybe 200kbps if I was lucky, and it was usable even with 320×240 resolution. And these days I have a 5Mbps uplink and 4G LTE on my phone, which has a 720p screen and HDMI output capabilities.

I’ve streamed HD video from my Slingbox PRO-HD from Worcester, MA to Seattle, WA and viewed it on my laptop while I’m out there for work. Being able to access my personal content at home, in real time, while I’m on the road just can’t be matched by side-loading. So I’m strongly in favor of TiVo enabling remote streaming as well. I argued that bandwidth costs continue to drop as speeds continue to increase, and device capabilities have never been greater. Now more than ever before streaming is viable.

I felt it was a good discussion and that TiVo is very much open to feedback on this issue. So it’d be good to hear from the user base. Do you want remote streaming? Or does local streaming and side-loading meet your needs?

No pricing or specific release dates are available at this time, so I can’t comment on that. But if they can bring this to market at a decent price point I think this would be very attractive, especially if they add remote streaming. By way of comparison, the DirecTV Nomad is $149, but you also need to subscribe to the Nomad Mobile DVR Service. My impression of this TiVo unit is that it is a one-time purchase, so it may retail for more than the Nomad. By while the Nomad is strictly store-and-forward side-loading, with real-time transcoding, the TiVo unit does streaming and side-loading, and it sounds like it will transcode for side-loading in better than real time.

I, for one, would be very interested in getting my hands on one of these units.