Mobile! Will Samsung's Ugly Duckling Become a Swan?

Reactions to Samsung's Galaxy Note are anything but consistent, but the device is catching a lot of attention. Is it a whopper of a smartphone or a sleek little tablet? That seems to be the question of the day, but the answer is probably not important if consumers or businesses are drawn to it. Samsung isn't identifying a target market, but the company isn't likely playing coy. It probably doesn't know who wants it either.


Samsung has unveiled the Galaxy Note, which sports a 5.3-inch screen -- a size that places it between a typical smartphone and a tablet. It features an HD Super AMOLED display with a 180-degree viewing angle. The device comes with a slide-out stylus called the "S Pen" and sports a rear 8 MP camera capable of capturing video in 1080p HD, as well as a front 2 MP camera for video chat. The unit is powered by a 1.4 GHz dual core processor and runs the Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system operating system.

The Note's overall dimensions clock in at 110mm x 58.2mm x 12.3mm. The device boasts 16 GB of storage and 1280x800 resolution, which is sharper than the iPhone 4 and the iPad.

Samsung is emphasizing the amount of power the unit wields, for its size, and the usability of its stylus for detailed art work and notes on the fly. The Galaxy Note will be compatible with WiFi, HSPA+ and LTE networks. Samsung has not yet determined a launch date.


Great Specs, Weird Size

While the Galaxy Note is an unusual size, it packs a strong set of features. As for whether it leans more toward being a phone or a tablet, it seems to favor tablet.

"I'll call it a tablet because it will not be supported for cellular voice," Chris Hazelton, research director for mobile and wireless at the 451 Group, told TechNewsWorld.

"It does support IP communications such as VoIP and Skype," he said. "It has a very good camera, a great processor, and a great screen. But it's hard not to compare it to Dell's (Nasdaq: DELL) 5-inch tablet, which has not gained much traction in the market."

The in-between size may present a marketing challenge for Samsung. There may be a limited group of potential buyers.

"The size is awkward. Will it fit in a pocket, or will you have to put it in a bag?" wondered Hazelton. "I can see people using this as an alternative to a notepad and pen, but that could be small pools of users. This device is very consumer-oriented -- it's strong for gaming. Yet it's not targeted for any certain type of user or Samsung would have mentioned it."

One important feature is the stylus that comes with the device. With most devices, the stylus is a pricey extra.

"Having the stylus included may draw some users," said Hazelton. "Usually a stylus isn't included and costs an extra (US)$50 to $75, so that could be attractive."




A New Market Segment

The Note could be the next step in a genre of tablets with small size yet large functionality. Packing even more features and power into phone-tablet hybrids could eliminate the need for laptops for some consumers.

"Samsung is clearly carving out a new sub-segment of tabletphones for itself by luring consumers with compelling slim slate design sporting cutting-edge specs," Neil Shah, analyst for wireless devices strategies at Strategy Analytics, told TechNewsWorld.

"Over the next two years, tabletphones are going to emerge as a popular segment as more and more vendors jump into this premium 4.5inch -- 5.5-inch bandwagon," he predicted.

Pocketability and mobility have been the key factors in driving the handset industry until now, Shah pointed out. Even a few inches added to the standard smartphone size can increase its ease of use and screen quality significantly.

"However, the smartphone, superphone and tablet revolution has led to a need for a device larger than four inches," said Shah. "The tabletphones segment offers a compelling form-factor and hits the sweet-spot in terms of size in enhancing the user-experience for a plethora of use-cases, such as better and comfortable Web browsing, HD-quality video viewing, superior gaming, video conferencing and the ability to take notes."
Who Is This For?

On the question of whether it's a phone or a tablet, Samsung may choose to not answer. Or it may say "both." If there is a market for an in-between-size device, it may not matter much.

"The first question to ask is, 'what is it?' Is this a small media tablet or a large smartphone?" asked Jeff Orr, group director of consumer research at ABI Research.

"Samsung is taking the approach that there is a market for a device in between those categories," he told TechNewsWorld.

"The second question is," said Orr, "is 'who is this for?' The demonstrations so far show a range of consumer and business uses from productivity to gaming. Perhaps businesses will look to offer employees larger mobile devices instead of the smartphone, in the future, while retaining the mobility that is not yet possible with media tablets."

Censor-Proof Satellite! Skynet: Hackers Dream Up Censor-Proof Satellite Internet Grid

Organizers of a project called the "Hackerspace Global Grid" want to launch a network of small, low-orbiting satellites in order to facilitate Internet access that can't be blocked by government censors. The network would also include an array of base stations around the world. The project's developers are excited, but doubters say it's not going to fly.

A group of computer enthusiasts have begun working on creating a satellite network that could be used to thwart censorship on the Internet.

Called the "Hackerspace Global Grid" (HGG), the network could provide a way for activists to access the Net when a repressive regime suppresses access within its borders.

The network would be based on a number of low orbiting "cube" satellites that would be networked in a way similar to the Internet. If one satellite were to be disabled, for example, its functions could be rerouted to others in the network.

Various amateur and educational organizations -- HAM radio operators, for example -- have found ways to get their cube satellites in orbit, and the hacker grid hopes to use those methods, as well as others, to get its spacecraft in low orbit too, according to Nick Farr, a hacker and accountant who is working on the project.

Cube Sat Explosion

"What we're seeing right now is a big explosion in people launching cube sats," Farr told TechNewsWorld.

Those satellites are small, have a near-earth orbit and have a small communication window with base stations on the ground.

To get a cube sat in the sky, amateur satellite launchers typically piggyback their bird on a bigger payload, Farr explained. Oftentimes launchers have more rocket than they need for their payload because of security, safety or some other reason. "So they'll have room for lots of smaller payloads that they can detach in near earth orbit," Farr said.

The HGG is now at its infancy stage. One of the first problems it has to solve is how to track the low orbiting satellites from the ground.

High orbiting satellites, like those used for telecommunications and geographic positioning, have a fixed position in the sky. That makes them easy to find from the ground.

The position of low orbiting satellites is more variable. What's more, they're moving fast, so the window for finding one and maintaining a connection to it is short.
Cellphone Net in Space

What the HGG is doing now is establishing a network of base stations around the world. Those stations won't be limited to tracking satellites, according to Armin Bauer, one of the lead hackers on the project.

"The first goal is to have the stations being able to track various things, for example airplanes, satellites, weather information," he told TechNewsWorld. "For various science fields, a large distributed sensor array is a good way to measure data."

Once the stations in the grid reach a certain critical mass, it would be possible for a network of low-orbiting satellites to be used much the way a cellular network operates. In a cellular network, calls are handed off to towers as a phone moves. With HGG, a communication link would be handed off from station to station as the satellite moves.

"We plan to have quite a lot of those stations distributed over the planet's whole surface, thus the grid can be used with these satellites since a satellite will always be in radio range of a ground station," Bauer explained.
Sidestepping Censors

Once the network is up and running, anyone could tap into it and reach the Internet from anywhere. "The whole point of it is to connect back to the global network to a place that's not as censored," Farr observed. So a person in China, for example, could link to the HGG and connect to the Internet through Germany or Japan and sidestep the domestic restrictions on their access.

"What they're doing is really cool and has a lot of interesting goals," Josh King, technology lead with the New America Foundation, told TechNewsWorld.

The foundation's Open Technology Initiative supports efforts to set up communication networks on the neighborhood, community and municipal level.

"They're creating a satellite network to connect people all over the world," King noted. "An endpoint of one of those satellite links might be an individual or a community network. Our project is building those community networks."






Lame Scheme

Creating a new satellite network is an ambitious project -- too ambitious in some people's minds.

"Satellite connections are expensive and slow," Tor Project development director Karen Reilly told TechNewsWorld. "It will take a lot of work to make this a more viable option."

The Tor Project offers free software that allows people to communicate anonymously on the Internet.

"This is the lamest scheme I have ever seen," Richard Stiennon, chief research analyst with IT-Harvest, told TechNewsWorld.

"The guys proposing this spouted off way before they put any thought into it," he said. "Give them points for dreaming big, but this project is going to need big dollars."

VoIP. How to Make VoIP Calls With Your Android Phone

Many smartphones are WiFi-capable, but that doesn't necessarily mean your carrier will support WiFi for voice calling -- particularly if you bought the phone elsewhere. You can use a Nexus S purchased from Best Buy to surf the Web on any WiFi network, for example -- but not to make voice calls. That can be a problem if you spend much time in an area where your carrier's cellular coverage is weak. The answer? VoIP.

If you live or work in an area with marginal cell service and want to use your Android smartphone to make and receive voice calls, you can. The key is to piggyback on an Internet connection at your location using the Internet bandwidth there to carry your voice traffic.

This method of calling works using Voice over Internet Protocol technology (VoIP) -- a form of calling over computer networks without traditional telephone copper wire. You are abandoning your lackluster cellphone signal and routing your voice traffic over a WiFi router, and down into the depths of the Internet pipe.

There are two approaches to setting this up. One involves SIP, or Session Internet Protocol, a signaling technology called that's widely used in commercial VoIP applications. The other is to use the proprietary Internet calling system Skype. Skype simply involves downloading an app and opening an account, whereas SIP can be complicated to set up, with cryptic settings.

Both of these approaches let you make calls anywhere you have access to a WiFi router. As with many technology projects, it's not a bad idea to set up both for redundancy purposes, and to play around until you find the solution that suits you best. I've found the Skype Android app with paid (US$60 per year) incoming number to be better call quality than SIP, yet SIP is a significantly cheaper solution because the incoming number is free.


1st: Sign Up

Open an account at a SIP trunking provider like Tpad, Callcentric, or SIP2SIP by browsing to the provider's website on your PC and entering your details in the Web-based form.

There are numerous providers out there with varying quality of service. Quality of service is generally based on bandwidth -- both yours and the provider's. Try different trunking providers if necessary.

2nd: Gather Settings

Make a note of the SIP account number that the provider will have sent you in Step 1. Then browse to the setup instructions area of the provider's website.

Look for the server, proxy, ports and other trunking-specific settings. For example, Tpad's Server or proxy is "sip.tpad.com" and doesn't require a domain; yet SIP2SIP uses a proxy of "proxy.sipthor.net" and a separate, distinct domain of "sip2sip.info."

3rd: Set Up the App

Download a free SIP/VoiP client like Sipdroid from the Android Market and allow it to install on your phone.

Click on the "Settings" menu option in the Sipdroid app and enter the exact syntaxes you obtained following Step 2 in the "Server or Proxy" and other fields.

Other key pieces of information to enter may include the Authorization Username, which is your account number; the password you set up; the port, usually 5060. Just follow the lead from the provider's website and enter each syntax carefully.

Choose "WLAN" in the Sipdroid app's "Settings" to route the call over the phone's WiFi radio. Then turn on the WiFi radio within the phone's "Wireless and Networks" setting.

4th: Obtain an Incoming Number

Visit IPKall's website on your PC and enter your details in the form there. IPKall will provide you with a free, incoming Washington state phone number that can be used by callers to reach you. They dial the number provisioned and it terminates at your SIP account -- ringing your phone.

The Web page form's field labeled "Hostname or IP address" is where you enter the same server or proxy that you entered in the Sipdroid app earlier. For example, sip.tpad.com. Some SIP trunking providers, like Callcentric, for example, offer parallel services as IPKall, but they charge you.

5th: Run a Test

Perform an outgoing call test by dialing the number that the SIP provider has given you for testing purposes. This varies too. Tpad provides a test number, but Callcentric doesn't. If the quality of service is acceptable, purchase some minutes on the website for calling. I'd start with the minimum -- usually $10 worth until you're sure the quality of the provider you've chosen is acceptable. SIP2SIP's minimum is $20. The per minute call charges are nominal across all of the services, including Skype.

Perform an incoming call test by dialing the IPKall number from a regular telephone. It should ring on your smartphone through the Sipdroid interface rather than the regular Android interface.

Tip: Look for a green notification tray dot on your phone to verify Sipdroid is successfully connected to the server.

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