| Today Sony sent out another email about the Sony Reader ebook store closing tomorrow on March 20th. The email doesn’t contain any new information or give a specific date when the transition to Kobo will commence. It just basically says to expect an email with a link to transfer your account over to Kobo in […] |
A Semi-automated Technology Roundup Provided by Linebaugh Public Library IT Staff | techblog.linebaugh.org
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Lots of People Unhappy with Sony Sending Accounts to Kobo
All-new OverDrive Help is live
| We are pleased to announce that the all-new OverDrive Help site is now live! Head over the help.overdrive.com to check it out—we hope you like the modern design, streamlined navigation options, and quick links to help resources for getting started, troubleshooting, and more. You can now also search through our database of help articles, videos, and compatible device profiles, all in one place. To learn more about the new OverDrive Help site, watch our 10-minute demo of how the site works–and then make sure to visit OverDrive Help and experience it for yourself. You can also learn more about this transition by revisiting Quinton’s detailed preview of the new OverDrive Help site. Just as a reminder, if you previously linked directly to any of our help articles from your own help materials, you'll want to update those links, since all our help articles have new URLs. We hope you and your users enjoy the all-new OverDrive Help site, and we look forward to hearing your feedback. Carrie Smith is a Technical Writer at OverDrive. |
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OverdrivesDigitalLibraryBlog/~3/EhtaYjiKf-8/
New PlayBook Update in the Works, BlackBerry Bridge Update Available
| BlackBerry is reported to have come up with an update to its Bridge app but, it's not expected to be an extensive update. The last news of an update to the BlackBerry Bridge was late February when a minor update to fix a notification issue was released. It's not yet known what this latest update is about. However, in what should be even more exciting news for current PlayBook owners, the company is said to be in the advanced stages of launching an update for the tablet. BlackBerry has practically disowned the PlayBook, so any new updates were unexpected. There have been some recent rumors about BlackBerry contemplating a sequel to the PlayBook in 2015, though. The update for PlayBook won't bring the OS to BB10, however, something that has been ruled out categorically by the ex-CEO Thorsten Heins. More details about the update are expected. via crackberry, berryreview
New PlayBook Update in the Works, BlackBerry Bridge Update Available is a post from: Good e-Reader |
PODG eBooks Now Available on Flipkart in India
| Publish On Demand Global (PODG) today announced a partnership with Flipkart.com to offer all digital content from PODG networks for sale in India. The deal allows PODG to tap into the vast market of English speakers in India. The deal was finalized during the Word Book Fair held in New Delhi a few weeks ago. "It has been three weeks since we left Delhi and our books are already live on flipkart.com which is stellar. Deals never happened this fast in China. With a market size of 1.2 billion and a literacy rate of 74% and growing India could very well be the next China for the US publishing industry," stated Managing Director of PODG, Kait Neese. Flipkart has emerged as the biggest online retailer in India and controls a commanding 75 percent of the ebook market in the country. eBooks sourced from the online retailer can be read on iOS, Android, and Windows 8 devices using the company's app. The deal will also help PODG establish itself as one of the largest content distributor networks of books, both digital and print, already providing services to about 10,000 authors and publishers from around the world.
PODG eBooks Now Available on Flipkart in India is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Spring and summer marketing preview
| Spring is coming for the northern hemisphere! Hard to believe if you're in one of the many areas still covered in snow, but the calendar tells me it's true. With spring, we have many things to celebrate and many ways to help promote your digital collection at the same time. Last month, I wrote about our seasonal promotional materials for Winter. This month, I'd like to share a preview of what you can find in our seasonal promotional kits for Spring (March – May) and Summer (June – August). Spring (March – May) Women's History Month
Spring into eBooks
Easter
Mother's Day
Summer (June – August) Summer Reading
The K-12 flyers feature stock images of children and the library flyers feature adults. Graduation season
Father's Day
Expect more materials to be added to the Spring and Summer "promo packs" over the next few weeks and months! Remember, there are always opportunities to promote your digital collection and help increase your circulation. Need more ideas? Make sure you browse the many offerings in the Partner Portal and keep up with our blogs. Contact your Account Specialist with any questions!
Melissa Marin is a Marketing Specialist at OverDrive. |
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OverdrivesDigitalLibraryBlog/~3/9UaX9FrLM7I/
Hot Topics and Current Affairs – Nuclear Energy
| My father has worked in nuclear power plants for over 30 years, so nuclear energy was very common topic of conversation in my home growing up. For decades, the use of nuclear power has been highly debated and has caused a great deal of controversy. The month of March marks both the anniversaries of the Three Mile Island accident and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster so the debate has recently been making headlines and stirring emotions.
Whatever your personal opinion may be, I think we can all agree that this is an important and fascinating subject to study. We have created a list of popular titles dealing with nuclear power and energy that are available for purchase in Marketplace. These titles would make a great addition to a science class curriculum, a current events library display, and I think the title Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen would make for a very interesting Book Club discussion.
If you would like more suggestions, your Collection Development Specialist is available to help create recommended lists. Email collectionteam@overdrive.com for more information today. *Some titles may have limited regional or platform availability.
Rachel Somerville is a Collection Development Analyst at OverDrive.
|
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/_msjiZllf5k/
Timelapse tutorial from Carrie Anne’s Geek Gurl Diaries
| Even though Carrie Anne Philbin is working here at Pi Towers now, she’s still carrying on with the Geek Gurl Diaries YouTube channel that she set up before she joined us – for which we’re all profoundly grateful, because her videos are some of the best tutorials we’ve seen. Here’s the latest from Carrie Anne: a tutorial on setting up the camera board, making timelapse video, and creating animations. Are you a primary or secondary teacher in the UK? Would you like two days of free CPD from Carrie Anne and the rest of our superstar education team? You’ll get to come here to Pi Towers, meet all of us, and learn about the many ways you can use the Raspberry Pi in the classroom. Apply here - we’d love to hear from you. |
Apple Re-launches iPad 4 as Replacement For iPad 2, Priced $399
| The old iPad 2 has reached the end of the road, three years its March 2011 launch, but its void is going to be filled by the more recent but not the latest iPad 4. Interestingly, this will be akin to a re-launch of the iPad 4, which was launched in November 2012 before being replaced by the latest iPad Air in October 2013. According to Apple, the iPad 4 will serve as the new entry level iPad even though choice will be limited to the 16 GB model. Buyers can still choose from a wifi-only version priced at $399, and the LTE version will cost $529. This is good news for users who want a cheaper full-sized iPad as it offers much better specs compared to iPad 2. The retina display offers more vivid and sharp images compared to iPad 2. Powering the device is a dual core Apple A6X chip rated at 1.4 Ghz and offers 1 GB of DDR2 RAM, compared to iPad 2′s 1 GHz dual core ARM Cortex-A9 chip mated to a 512 MB RAM. There is a much better 5 megapixel camera at the rear, capable of 1080p video recording. Apple has seen demand for its iPad slump below Android recently, even though the Apple tablet continues to be the single largest tablet brand even four years after its launch. However, whether measures like these really help remains to be seen; an even cheaper model–at around say $300–could have helped build demand even more. In a related development, Apple has announced a cheaper 8 GB variant of the iPhone 5c to help spur sales in the low-end segment.
Apple Re-launches iPad 4 as Replacement For iPad 2, Priced $399 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
The Rise of the Smartwatch: Google, LG, Moto 360
| Google is going in for a no holds barred approach to the smart wearable segment, which the giant has claimed as the next hot zone, high stakes battleground for all the biggest tech companies. To that end, Google has come up with an Android smartwatch. Dubbed Android Wear, it will no doubt spur companies to develop smartwatches based on the Google OS. The manufacturers were forced to customize the standard Android OS for this one, but it’s unlikely to be limited to smartwatches alone. To showcase its capabilities, Google collaborated with LG to develop the G Watch, the smartwatch equivalent of the Nexus 5. The Moto 360 from Motorola is the only other smartwatch released that is based on Android Wear. The functionality and ease of access to data has been given the highest priority. Users can have all the data that they need and at the right moment. Not surprisingly, personal fitness is one aspect of the new Android version. Users can look forward to Android Wear-equipped smartwatches as the perfect fitness companion, providing them with reminders or other relevant information such as time, distance, and speed information in real time. Android Wear also incorporates Google Now into the smartwatch. For it to respond, all the user has to say is “Okay Google.” “Say 'Ok Google' to get stuff done, like calling a taxi, sending a text, making a restaurant reservation or setting an alarm," Sunder Pichai revealed in a company blog post. Having notifications from social feeds and other sources is almost imperative for the device to vie as a worthy complement, and Android Wear does not disappoint on this front. Suitable apps are all designed to keep the user informed, like the incorporated Google Maps. The Moto 360–slated for a summer release–is Motorola's answer to offering a smartwatch that is as much about style as functionality. The device incorporates the classic watch design with a circular dial and a knob along the side is reminiscent of a conventional watch, though it's still not clear what function it serves. Overall, it's sleek and stylish, but it will be interesting to see how long it's going to last on a single charge. Users can hope that a smartwatch as cool as the Moto 360 isn't just tied to a Motorola device, and ties up with Android devices from other manufacturers as well. In contrast, the LG G Phone is a lot more “conventional” in that it incorporates a rectangular watch face as seen with most of its competitors. Not much is known of the G Watch except that it’s likely to be priced quite low, a familiar strategy adopted by the Nexus series of devices. Google stated they are working with several other manufacturers to develop more smartwatch device in future, which includes several fashion brands as well. Meanwhile, here are some videos showcasing Android Wear.
The Rise of the Smartwatch: Google, LG, Moto 360 is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Analog Augmented Reality to Book Covers
| We live in a world where digital books are growing at a rapid pace and many brick and mortar bookstores are shutting down. There is a ravenous zeal in which serious readers are embracing the digital form. Still, there are many things that physical book can do, that an eBook cannot. A new Tumblr pairs people and book covers, in new and interesting ways. The core concept is actually fairly compelling. It is spearheaded by Emily Pullen, who photographs and collects pictures of people posing with books in such a way that designs of book covers match parts of their bodies. It originally launched in 2008 at Skylight Books in Los Angeles “on a boring Thursday night.” Analog Augmented Reality to Book Covers is a post from: Good e-Reader |
ZTE Open Review – FireFox OS Not Ready for Prime Time
| There has been lots of buzz surrounding the Firefox OS, as many companies are trying to not exclusively do business with Google. There are 3 current generation phones that run Mozillas mobile operating system. They all suffer from really small screens and abysmal resolution. Is there a future for Firefox OS, or is it a flash in the pan? Today, we look at the ZTE Open, to evaluate the phone and how it performs. Review The ZTE Open was the first Firefox phone to become available. There are two more companies entering the fray, LG and Alcatel. The ZTE Open features a 3.5 inch touchscreen display with a woeful 320 x 480 resolution. It is powered by a single core 1 GHZ processor and has 120 MB of memory, when you take it out of the box. You can also elect to snap some selfies with the 3 MP rear facing camera. The design of the phone has a rectangular shape, but it has very rounded corners and a tapered front which gives you better and easier access to the home button. The home button is the only physical key on the entire phone. Other ports include, headphone jack and Micro USB port. Battery Life is around 7 hours via the 1,200mAh battery. You will need an SD card to do anything on this phone. You cannot even use the music, videos or photo apps without one. The internal memory is relegated to apps that you can install from the Firefox App Market. Most of this games are super small, due to the HTML5 nature. The hardware on the ZTE Open is lacking tremendously. This seems to be the theme so far with all of the Firefox phones. Only LG offers a four inch screen, while ZTE and Alcatel offer 3.5 inch ones. I found it is too small to do anything of note, including reading eBooks or PDF. Who knows why they all elected to make really small phones, maybe to keep the price down? Mainly its the emerging market, with the phone and app market now available in nine different countries. In the videos below, we give you an unboxing, review of the phone and complete OS review. You can get a sense on exactly what this device brings to the table and if its a phone you should consider buying. My recommendation? The only people who should care about this phone are people who want neat stuff no one else has, or a beggar on the streets. The OS is not ready for prime time, it is lacking with content and crappy specced phones. It is marketed as a cheap and cheerful device, but the OS does not have a ton of developer support. By contrast, Blackberry World is an awesome ecosystem compared to Firefox, and that is saying a lot!
ZTE Open Review – FireFox OS Not Ready for Prime Time is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Recorded Books and FastPencil Deal Allow Self-Publishers to Distribute Books to Libraries
| Self-publishing used to be the option of last resort for frustrated authors, but more and more authors are abandoning the frustrations of the traditional publishing industry in favor of the immediacy and creative control of self-publishing. Now that self-publishing and digital publishing have garnered some long overdue respect in the publishing industry, one of the last hurdles for indie authors is getting their content into libraries. FastPencil and Recorded Books have just signed a landmark distribution agreement that will put self-publishers books in the library. FastPencil’s powerful technology provides libraries with an end-to-end publishing network that helps authors write, manage, convert and distribute books and eBooks. With access to robust management capabilities, libraries can also ingest, store and post library content to patrons. "This unique service is a game-changer in the publishing and library industry," said Rich Freese, Recorded Books president and CEO. "FastPencil for Libraries removes the hurdles that inherently come with traditional book publishing, making it possible for authors to collaborate with their local library to write and prepare their own books for publication." Recorded Books will Market this new program as “FastPencil for Libraries.” It is not clear right now if this new program will be just for eBooks or just print books, or a combination of both. We have reached out to both companies for a response. Recorded Books and FastPencil Deal Allow Self-Publishers to Distribute Books to Libraries is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Washington Post Gives Away Free Digital Access
| The Washington Post is giving a free digital subscriptions to their online website and the myriad of apps they have to existing premium subscribers of other newspapers. Smaller newspapers can leverage themselves to give away a free digital subscription to the Washington Post, on top of their normal promotions. The new program will officially kick off in May and the following partners already plan to sign on: The Dallas Morning News, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Toledo Blade, Minneapolis Star Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. When Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos purchased the paper last August, the mandate was to focus on digital. The paper has seen a 44% decline in operating revenue over the past six years. Although the paper is one of the most popular news sources online, print circulation has dwindled an additional 7%. The average person can only subscribe to so many digital editions, before it gets overwhelming. The Washington Journal and New York Times are the most popular digital editions around and are often cited in many online circles, such as Reditt. The Post, is hoping that giving free access away will boost their own subscription numbers. Washington Post Gives Away Free Digital Access is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Trade-In Old eReader to Amazon for Gift Card and $20 Bonus Toward New Kindle
| For a limited time, Amazon is offering a $20 bonus toward the purchase of a new basic Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, and Kindle Paperwhite 3G when you trade-in your old Nook, Kobo, Sony, or Kindle ebook reader using Amazon’s trade-in program. Like usual, you’ll also get an Amazon gift card for the trade-in value of the […] |
URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/iz-5BmQXdyA/
We’re seeing Starz!
| In addition to the thousands of titles already available in the OverDrive catalog, we are pleased to inform you that hundreds of new Streaming Video titles from Starz Digital Media are now available for pre-order in OverDrive Marketplace! We recently announced the addition of award-winning titles and major media distributors, and now, we will have even more available to add to your growing Streaming Video collection. Prepare to offer your patrons Streaming Video blockbusters such as Silver Linings Playbook, starring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Oscar®-winner Jennifer Lawrence (Best Actress); The King's Speech, winner of Academy Awards® for Best Actor (Colin Firth), Best Director (Tom Hooper), Best Original Screenplay and Best Motion Picture; Django Unchained, Academy Award® winner for Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz) and Best Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino); The Men Who Stare at Goats, starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey; The Master, nominated for three Academy Awards® and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams; and many more. Popular TV series such as Seasons 1 and 2 of Spartacus, anime series Ghost in the Shell, and Sci-Fi hit Painkiller Jane (starring Kristanna Loken) will also be available as Streaming Video titles through OverDrive. Click here to see the full list of pre-order titles from Starz Digital Media. The Starz Digital Media catalog titles are available under the one copy/one user model (no costs per checkout or metered access). Users can select their lending period for three, five or seven days. Once a video first streams, users have 48 hours to watch the video (messaging is in place on the site for end users). The presale list includes introductory pricing, so make sure to act now and save! OverDrive Streaming Video is a convenient and exciting way to instantly watch videos anytime, anywhere, on any computer, tablet or mobile device with an internet connection (and coming soon: the OverDrive Roku channel)! Check out the growing list of Streaming Videos available for simultaneous access in Marketplace as well. Talk to your OverDrive Collection Development Specialist to add Streaming Video today. |
URL: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalDistributionBlogOverdrive/~3/rTi3LS0grHU/
Sony PRS-T3 eReader Available in U.S. via Amazon for $149
| Oh, the irony. Just as Sony is getting set to close the doors on their ebook store for good in the United States and Canada on March 20th, their latest and probably last ebook reader, the Sony PRS-T3, is finally available for purchase in the U.S. from Amazon for $149. It’s being sold by a […] |
URL: http://feeds.the-ebook-reader.com/~r/feedburner/cmWU/~3/xkIOe3AwvAw/
Amazon Whispercast Technology Delivers eTextbooks Across Brazil
|
"We are pleased that Whispercast is one of the foundation technologies for this innovative program. Amazon working with FNDE enhanced Whispercast, which has been used by thousands of schools in the U.S., to meet the needs of the teachers and administrators in Brazil. We are very enthusiastic in helping to bring new technologies that will help the education segment in Brazil," said Alex Szapiro, Country Manager, Amazon.com.br. "We hope to work with FNDE on the rollout to reach students and teachers in all grades with the goal of improving education in Brazil." According to a statement on the partnership, “Teachers using the free Kindle Reading App are able to read, highlight, make notes and reference the dictionary directly in the textbooks, even when the tablets are not connected to the Internet. To date, more than 40M eTextbooks have been delivered.” All-digital classrooms have been slow to become a reality all over the world, but initiatives such as the FNDE and programs that are aimed at distributing cost-effective tablets instead of quickly obsolete and highly damage-susceptible print editions are making the digital classroom an even more likely reality.
Amazon Whispercast Technology Delivers eTextbooks Across Brazil is a post from: Good e-Reader |
New camera mode released
| Liz: you’ll notice that this post has no pictures or video. That’s because we’d like you to make some for us, using the new camera mode. Take some 90fps video using our camera board and the information below, slow it down to 30fps and send us a link: if yours is particularly splendid, we’ll feature it here and on the front page. Over to JamesH! When the Raspberry Pi camera was released, the eagle-eyed among you noticed that the camera hardware itself can support various high frame rate modes, but that the software could ‘only’ manage 30 frames per second in its high-definition video mode. There’s is no hardware limitation in the Raspberry Pi itself. It’s quite capable of handling these high frame rate modes, but it does require a certain amount of effort to work out these new ‘modes’ inside the camera software. At the original release of the camera, two modes were provided: a stills capture mode, which offers the full resolution of the sensor (2592×1944), and a 1080p video mode (1920x1080p). Those same eagle-eyed people will see that these modes have different aspect ratios – the ratio of width to height. Stills outputs 4:3 (like 35mm film), video 16:9 (wide screen). This creates a problem when previewing stills captures, since the preview uses the video mode so it can run at 30 frames per second (fps) – not only is the aspect of the preview different, but because the video mode ‘crops’ the sensor (i.e. takes a 1920×1080 windows from the centre), the field of view in preview mode is very different from the actual capture. We had some work to do to develop new modes for high frame rates, and also fix the stills preview mode so that is matches the capture mode. So now, finally, some very helpful chaps at Broadcom, with some help from Omnivision, the sensor manufacturer, have found some spare time to sort out these modes, and not just that but to add some extra goodness while they were at it. (Liz interjects: The Raspberry Pi Foundation is not part of Broadcom – we’re a customer of theirs – but we’ve got a good relationship and the Foundation’s really grateful for the volunteer help that some of the people at Broadcom offer us from time to time. You guys rock: thank you!) The result is that we now have a set of mode as follows :
I’ve introduced a new word in the that list. Binned. This is how we can get high frame rates. Binning means combining pixels from the sensor together in a ‘bin’ in the analogue domain. As well as reducing the amount of data, this can also improve low light performance as it averages out sensor ‘noise’ in the absence of quantisation noise introduced by the analogue to digital converters (ADCs), which are the bits of electronics in the sensor that convert the analogue information created by incoming photons to digital numbers. So if we do a 2×2 ‘bin’ on the sensor, it only sends a quarter (2×2 = 4 = a quarter!) of the amount of data per frame to the Raspberry Pi. This means we can quadruple (approximately – there are some other issues at play) the frame rate for the same amount of data! So a simple 2×2 bin theoretically means quadruple the frame rate, but at half the X and Y resolution. This is how the 1296×972 mode works – it’s exactly a 2×2 binned mode, so it’s still 4:3 ratio, uses the whole sensor field of view, and makes a perfect preview mode for stills capture. We also have a very similar mode, which is 1296×730. This is used for 720p video recording (the sensor image is scaled by the GPU to 1280×720). This is a 2×2 binned mode with an additional crop, which also means a slightly increased frame rate as there is less data to transfer. Now by reducing the resolution output by the sensor even further and by using ‘skipping’ of pixels in combination with binning, we can get even higher frame rates, and this is how the high speed 640×480 VGA modes work. So, the fastest mode is now VGA resolution at 90 frames per second – three times the frame rate of 1080p30. So, how do we use these new modes? The demo applications One thing to note: the system will always try to run at the frame rate specified in preference to resolution. Therefore if you specify a high rate at a resolution it cannot manage, it will use a low resolution mode to achieve the frame rate and upscale to the requested size – upscaling rarely looks good. It may also be too fast for the video encoder, so some of the extra frames may be skipped. So always ensure the resolution you specify can achieve the required frame rate to get the best results. So, a quick example, to record a 10s VGA clip at 90fps There have also been minor changes to the V4l2 driver to support these new modes. These should be included when you do the The V4L2 driver supports the new modes too. Just using the normal requests, you can now ask for up to 90fps. So doing the same streaming of VGA at 90fps to H264 would be the following set of v4l2-ctl commands: There are a few provisos that you will need to consider when using the faster modes, especially with the V4L driver.
That said, most people should find no problem with these new features, so a big thank you must go to Dave Stevenson and Naush Patuck at Broadcom for finding the time to implement them! Also, thanks to Omnivision for their continued support. |
Pew Internet Study Finds Technology to Be a Draw for Public Libraries
|
In this latest report, the organization uncovered perceptions on technology use especially, and found that a growing number of patrons are encouraged by the abundance of technology options for patrons. The days of the “newfangled” desktop computer that replaced the card catalog are gone; patrons now seek out fully stocked computer labs, online learning opportunities, touch screen interfaces, and more. According to the survey report, “Libraries loom large in the public imagination, and are generally viewed very positively: 90% of Americans ages 16 and older say that the closing of their local public library would have an impact on their community. This means that many people have a stake in the future of libraries, and as the digital age advances, there is much discussion about where they are headed. “In recent years, public libraries have continued to add new technologies and formats to their holdings, with the goal of providing patrons resources in whatever form they prefer. Many libraries have also expanded into community centers, serving as unique gathering places in their towns and cities. Today, they offer many events and services, and are experimenting with providing the next generation of ‘expensive and scarce’ resources, from 3-D printers to recording studios.” The findings of the report can be accessed HERE via the Pew Research Center’s website. This is the third and final report in a three-part series on how consumers perceive libraries and place worth on them.
Pew Internet Study Finds Technology to Be a Draw for Public Libraries is a post from: Good e-Reader |
Firefox Mobile OS vs Blackberry vs Android vs iOS
| The Firefox mobile operating system is one of the youngest out there. The ZTE Open is one of the first devices to be marketed from the official Firefox website. It is meant to basically showcase the OS and be sold to emerging markets. Today, we look at the OS and compare it to Blackberry, Android and iOS. There are 3 current generation phones that run the Firefox mobile OS. You have the ZTE Open, LG Fireweb, and Alcatel One Touch Fire. All of these devices have 3.5 to 4.0 inch screens and 320 x 480 pixels for the resolution. You mainly just have a single core processor and around 512 MB of storage. All phones have a 3 MP rear facing camera to snap some pics. You will need to invest in an SD Card to take advantage of video, camera, music and other core functions. There really isn’t enough internal memory to devote to media. Instead, default memory is allocated just to the simple apps that are available. Firefox OS has a fairly young app market with standards such as Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud and Line. There are a few thousand, but no support for paid apps. In the videos below, we show you the total ecosystem and core functionality of of the operating system. We are not really looking at the hardware, but how everything gels together. You can get a sense on how Blackberry 10, iOS 7, Android 4.0 and Firefox Mobile OS compare against each other.
Firefox Mobile OS vs Blackberry vs Android vs iOS is a post from: Good e-Reader |