Dec 29 7 most Attention Seeking Gadgets of 2011

2011 proved to be a year full of Smartphone and tablets and gadgets like them. Especially tablets and Smartphone achieved a status of necessity instead of being style slogan which they used to be in the past, all thanks to Apple and Google.

From Apple’s side they throw the successor of iPad and iPhone that were iPad 2 & iPhone 4S. You must be aware of all the specs and related news to them as we have discussed them a lot throughout the year. From Samsung we got Galaxy 2 and Galaxy Nexus that is the first Smartphone to run on Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) operating system.

Features on Android 4.0 include widgets in a new tab, a customizable launcher, Gmail with offline search, a two-line preview and a new action bar at the bottom. It also has better voice integration, improved copy-and-paste functionality and a new tabbed Web browser that allows up to 16 tabs.

The year also saw online retail giant Amazon foraying into mobile computing arena with its Kindle Fire tablet.

Following are our top 10 gadgets that enchanted geeks in 2011:

• Apple iPhone 4S,
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus,
• Apple iPad 2,
• Samsung Galaxy S2,
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1,
•  Amazon Kindle Fire,
• MacBook Air 13

iPhone 4S

The latest member in iPhone family was iPhone 4S that showcased on 4^th of Oct just a day before the death of Steve Jobs that was the biggest lost in the year 2011.It has already become a cult with a new operating system in the form of iOS 5, iCloud and Siri voice assistant. iPhone 4S officially sold 4 million units during its opening weekend.

The features of the Apple smartphone incorporate a 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, Apple A5 chipset, and 8-megapixel camera capturing videos at 1080 pixels. It also has a 3.5-inch TFT Retina multitouch display, and is loaded with iOS 5. The device measures 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm and weighs 140 grams.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Galaxy Nexus was the first Smartphone running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich that was launched by the collaboration of Google and Samsung. It was launched at an event in Hong Kong on Oct. 18.

The Galaxy Nexus — measuring 135.5 x 67.94 x 8.94 mm, and weighing 135 grams. It is also known as Samsung Google Nexus Prime, Samsung Google Galaxy Nexus I9250, Samsung Google Nexus 3, and Samsung Google Nexus 4G.

The Galaxy Nexus sports a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, TI OMAP 4460 chipset, 4.65-inch high-definition Super AMOLED display with about 316 ppi pixel density, 1GB of RAM, 16GB or 32GB of internal memory, NFC support, 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture, and 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls.

The smartphone has an oleophobic surface, a multitouch input method, an accelerometer sensor for UI autorotate, touch-sensitive controls, a proximity sensor for auto turn-off, and a three-axis gyro sensor.

Apple iPad 2

As we have told you with its release that iPad 2 is the second generation of the iPad. The tablet, which runs on iOS 5, is 15 percent lighter and 33 percent thinner than its predecessor. Apple launched the device on 2^nd March, 2011, began selling it on its Web site and retail stores on March 11, and released it in 25 other countries on March 25, including Australia, Britain and Canada.

iPad 2, which weighs 601 grams, has a lithium-ion polymer battery that lasts up to 10 hours, a new 1GHz dual-core Apple A5 processor and VGA front-facing and 720p rear-facing cameras designed for FaceTime video calling. The device has 9.7 inches LED display with 1024×768 Resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi).

iPad is one of the best-selling gadgets, and Apple recently proclaimed that it sold more than 25 million devices since the iPad was launched in April 2010.

Samsung Galaxy S2

Samsung Galaxy S2 received devastating responses from all around the world. Galaxy S2, which runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS and sports Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, comes in three variants, on AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, whose version is called Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic. It has been officially known that Galaxy S2 would be upgradable to Google Inc.’s smartphone operating system.

The  AT&T version retains 4.3-inch display, featuring 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm dimension and weighs 116 grams. The smartphone is power-driven by a dual-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9, Mali-400MP GPU Orion chipset.

Galaxy S2 also has an 8-megapixel camera with flash and can record HD video in 1080 pixels. The phone also has the front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chat.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Galaxy Tab 10.1 was first released in February but at that time Samsung showcased a rather bulkier frame measuring 10.92 mm thickness. After Apple launched its game,changing lighter and slimmer iPad 2, Samsung changed its Galaxy Tab 10.1 to an ultra-thin beauty flaunting an 8.6 mm thickness and weighing a mere 565 grams.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 features a 10.1-inch display with 1280×800 screen resolution and runs on Android Honeycomb operating system. It is powered by a dual-core 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset and offers 1GB RAM and comes in 16/32/64 GB internal memory configuration. It also features a 3MP rear-facing and 2MP front facing cameras. The tablet offers 1080p video playback support.

Amazon Kindle Fire

Amazon began shipping its Kindle Fire tablet on Nov.14. The product, which sells at $199, features a vibrant 7-inch color touch screen offering 1024×600 Resolution with 169 ppi, a 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM and a new browser, Amazon Silk  as well as the Amazon Web Services cloud.

Kindle Fire is built on the older generation of Android systems (Android 2.2 Froyo) and lacks a camera, which may disappoint photo aficionados.

The tablet is appealing to an entertainment hungry audience, as Amazon will integrate the tablet tightly with its Cloud services that sells books, movies and music, providing stiff competition to Apple in terms of content.

MacBook Air 13″

On July 20, 2011, Apple revealed an updated model of MacBook Air 13″ in the same form factor as the prior model. The new model was power-driven by new dual-core Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, had a backlit keyboard, Thunderbolt instead of Mini DisplayPort and Bluetooth was upgraded to v4.0.

The notebook runs on Mac OS X Lion and sports a sleek thin aluminum frame, a full-sized keyboard and screen and no moving parts. MacBook Air’s display offers a 1440×900 resolution, and is powered by 1.7 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 to 1.8 GHz dual-core Intel Core i7. The notebook has 4GB RAM, with 128GB or 256 GB flash storage.