Mobile health company Fitbit have launched wireless syncing via Bluetooth 4.0 for its One and Zip trackers.

This makes the trackers the only ones on the market to offer this ability to Android users, the company said, and follows the news that Nike won’t be creating an Android app for its FuelBand tracker.

As a caveat, users need to have a Bluetooth 4.0 enabled device, so if you’re a Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2 or HTC One X and like running and carrots, you’re in luck. Other than this, more devices would be available “shortly”, the company said (but they’ll need to have Bluetooth 4.0 enabled).

So…what does it do?

The app allows Zip and One owners to sync their fitness information via Bluetooth 4.0, giving real-time progress updates, the company said.  This allows users to update stats, track progress and receive notifications on their phone when they were close to achieving their goals, the company said.

More importantly, it means you don’t have to wrestle with cables and dig through the clothes on your bedroom floor in order to transfer your stats to your phone or computer.  The pairing via Bluetooth also meant there was no worry about battery drain, the company said.

Users need to be within about 15 feet of the device for the syncing to be in range.

An iOS app with the Bluetooth 4.0 syncing capability was released in October last year (usable on iPhone 4S, 5 and iPad 3) and the company had been working on an Android equivalent for the last six months, Fitbit UK country manager Peter Groom said.

“For Android, it’s very different…it’s not part of the operating system so it’s really difficult to do it…there isn’t a rule book for it, we’ve had to reverse engineer.”

A standard Android app was available early last year, Mr Groom said, but without the live data syncing.

App-ly yourself

Fitbit had an open Application Programming Interface (API) which worked with most of the free apps such as MyFitnessPal and Endomondo so that data swapped between them, so if you’ve used these previously, there’s no need to transfer data separately, Mr Groom said.

The company added about two or three partner apps every month and had about 30 of the largest apps listed on their website.

Just how many Android users need to know how many stairs they’ve climbed?

Research suggested the market for wearable connected health devices  for 2016 would be around $US4 billion, which equated to 80 million devices a year being sold, Mr Groom said.

Based on Android being slightly more than half of the mobile market, using “very crude” Maths, the company should be aiming for uptake of about $2 million worth and 40 million devices by 2016.

While there were probably several disgruntled users following Nike’s announcement, having the company in the market had helped Fitbit by bringing credence to the category, he said, and drawing people into the category.

No joy for Windows Phone 8

The company had concentrated on getting the most popular Android syncing working and a Windows Phone 8 live syncing app was a possibility for the future, but not a priority, Mr Groom said.

The company was covering 95% of the addressable mobile market, Mr Groom said, and the remaining percentage was something that would be worked on.

Next time on What Mobile

Stay tuned for What Mobile’s review of the app, coming soon to, well, this website.

Saturday saw the Microsoft Surface Pro launch, the company’s supposed first ‘proper’ Windows 8 tablet, with retailers already claiming it is selling out (although even this claim may be a bit dodgy).

Unlike the original Surface, which I was interested in, and even a bit excited about, the Surface Pro leaves me absolutely cold.

The original Surface (bear with me here folks), ran on an ARM processor (similar to other tablets and smartphones) and used a modified version of Windows 8 called Windows RT (don’t ask why it’s called that) and managed to creak out 8 hours of battery (see our 3-star review here). The new Surface Pro seems like a cruel joke.

It’s being called the first ‘proper’ Microsoft tablet (sorry Windows RT) because it runs the full Windows 8 operating system, and, unlike Windows RT this can do everything a desktop PC can do (Windows RT is limited to app specifically written for that platform, and is incompatible with proper Windows software).

It is also drawing a fanboy following because it has a proper Intel i5 processor in it and a 1920×1080 screen (strange as I consider this poor vs a Google Nexus 10′s 2560×1600). It also ‘boasts’ 64GB and 128GB of storage (but once Windows has had its space gobble, these figures shrink to around 40 and 80GB).

The Surface Pro is a waste of time. Why? Because a 4 hour battery life (under only moderate usage!) on a tablet is a joke in the modern world.

I was a huge tablet skeptic for the longest time (I only bought my first, the iPad 3, in April last year) – but I think after a year of use I finally ‘get it’. I won’t go into all my reasons why I now love it – but the key ones are: always on, portability, a high res screen and 10+ hours of battery. These cancel out the other compromises made in the hardware.

My old Dell Latitude (circa 2009) laptop at home is now only used for Microsoft Office (and rarely), Photoshop and backing up files. Nothing else. It is too heavy, too noisy, its screen is (now) rubbish, and its battery doesn’t last longer than 4 hours. Sound familiar?

It used to come with me on business trips (and would involve lugging a heavy bag and cables) – now the iPad slips into my satchel alongside a notepad and a camera. Job done.

I just don’t think Microsoft seems to really ‘get’ what a tablet is – it is a portable device first and foremost.

The tablet standard has been set – 10 hours battery life.

People aren’t screaming out for a high powered tablet that will run commercial software such as Photoshop and Word. They will do that on their working tools – desktops or laptops – with a keyboard and mouse far more efficiently than on any tablet.

The tradeoff between performance and battery life isn’t important on a desktop – they don’t run on batteries. Tablets do. An Intel i5 processor is overkill for tablet applications (and your battery), but by the same token is a seriously weak processor for any other form of computing device. It is the worst of both worlds.

Somewhat ironically, I have a Microsoft Bluetooth micro keyboard (foldable) I use with my iPad – it runs Google Docs perfectly, and I can get most of my work done. It is ‘good enough’ for basic tasks – which is all most people use their computers for outside of work.

Microsoft should’ve spent more time making the original Surface better (think: better screen and battery, no Windows RT) rather than wasting their time on this silly product. It’s basically an underpowered, low battery, low res screen, tiny hard-drive piece of nonsense tech that costs a fortune.

Microsoft, instead of forcing everyone to use Windows 8, should’ve put their excellent smartphone OS, Windows Phone 8, on a tablet with some bells and whistles – just as Apple, Google and everyone else has done.

As it stands, I don’t particularly rate Windows 8 even on a laptop or desktop, but that’s an argument for another day.

Half the reason tablets have taken off is because people want a computer that ‘just works’ – not the messy joke of an experience Windows has become.

Tablets are casual devices, supplementary computing devices – for reading, email, mucking about and web browsing (with a splash of work). Laptops are left as the work machines. One day the two shall merge, but it won’t be by turning a tablet back into a laptop.

Apple iPad 4

From £399
http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad
Reviewer: Philip Brown

Two full size iPads in a year – is Apple pushing its luck?
Everyone saw the iPad mini coming from a mile off at Apple’s recent October press conference; what they didn’t expect was a new full size iPad to go with it.

Apple did a good job of keeping the replacement for its iPad 3 (which only launched in March) under wraps – something it’s struggling more and more with these days. But in part it was the lack of expectation that made it such a surprise for many.

Apple could have sold millions more iPad 3′s in the Christmas rush before having to worry about yet another launch. So why has it jumped the gun with the new iPad 4?

In truth, Apple’s played this one soundly. It’s given the iPad a mild but needed refresh, while not offering too much more – carefully balancing the risk against making current iPad 3 envious.

The times they are a changing… or not.

Visibly, the iPad has changed very little. It still sports the same 9.4mm profile, the same frame and brushed metal backing. It remains as beautiful as ever, and the flat back introduced with the iPad 2 makes it feel much more portable – something you can just throw in your bag.

The Retina Display meanwhile, is the centrepiece. Seven months on, and the 2048×1536 resolution, 9.7-inch IPS screen is still astonishing. You cannot see the individual pixels – games are glorious, websites look crisp, and reading whole books on it without eye strain is now possible, something unheard of an LCD screen until this launched.

But so far, so similar – these still aren’t killer reasons to upgrade. The five megapixel rear camera is still respectable, but remains utterly impractical – as all these cameras do on tablets.

Apple’s included more inside the iPad 4 to sweeten the deal. The Wi-Fi + Data model now supports 4G frequencies in the UK, for ultra fast downloads and uploads on the go (For the purposes of this review though, we tested the Wi-Fi only model).

A turbocharged CPU
The key change is that Apple has boosted the graphics and processing power inside with its new A6X processor – a significant power boost. Apple’s claim of double performance over the iPad 3 doesn’t quite translate into real world practice (benchmark scores seldom do), but it is blisteringly fast, especially when it comes to switching between apps with four-finger swipes.

Loading graphically intensive games, such as Infinity Blade 2, is sometimes several seconds quicker. The risk with adding all this power is that it could suck up battery life, iPads remain famous for their 10 hour battery life. Readers will be happy to know, this extra juice still doesn’t make a dint on the battery – 10 hours remain – and days to weeks on standby.

With this improvement, slowdown is a thing of the past. And for less demanding users, it makes the decision to choose between an iPad and a laptop a legitimate one: why put up with the confusion and boot up time of Windows when you could have this flawless, always-on device instead?

That damn lightning connector again
The big change is perhaps the smallest though, and the most controversial. The new iPad packs Apple’s smaller Lightning connector, in place of the inch-wide 30-pin connector you’ve been seeing on iPods and iPhones for a decade now. We also saw this change on the iPad Mini (reviewed last issue) and the iPhone 5 (reviewed in the November issue). This may well be the sole reason Apple released the iPad 4 so quickly – to bring it in line with those devices. Apple claims it means it can make its gadgets even thinner – it certainly doesn’t copy or charge any faster. No doubt Apple wanted to get this standardised across the line as quickly as possible for one reason: accessories.

Apple prides itself on all the ‘Made For Apple’ gear you can buy for its devices (and charges manufacturers an arm and a leg for the privilege too). This new, smaller standard means your existing docks, accessories and toys are out of a job. Now, for those with an expensive speaker dock, this may come as quite a blow. especially since Apple is charging £25 for a 30-pin converter. Fortunately, Apple’s move to seamless wireless streaming with AirPlay minimises the loss.

Go mini or maxi?
As you can see from our iPad Mini review, we are a bit torn on the merits of an iPad Mini. The Mini offers just about every software and hardware feature that the iPad 4 does, even Siri and 4G data connection. Some have complained about the price of it (At £269, it’s over a £100 more expensive than its 7-inch rivals from Asus and Amazon). The iPad Mini lacks its bigger brother’s pure power and speed, as well as its dazzling, pin-sharp screen.

iPad 4 vs iPad Mini – consumption vs creation?

If there’s a difference, it’s this: the iPad mini is for consumption, the iPad for creation.

You could use a stylus and the stunning Paper app on the former, or hook up a Bluetooth keyboard to write long documents, but neither would be very productive. And you could just use the new iPad for watching videos and nothing more, but you’d spend the whole time wondering if you’d just wasted £130.

Think of it as the MacBook Air / MacBook Pro divide – and knowing Apple, it’s intentional, and something that’ll become very clear over the years to come. Although the rate Apple’s moving at, perhaps that should be months.

IOS 6 remains a problem
What you won’t find on the fourth-gen iPad are any surprises with the software: this is exactly the same experience as on the iPad 3. That’s no bad thing.

Now, iOS 6 has come under fire recently (Indeed, it may be the reason Apple’s iOS software boss was recently forced out of the company) for showing a remarkable lack of innovation, especially when compared against Google’s rapidly improving Android mobile operating system.

Those complaints are fair: save for Siri on the iPad, there are very few features here that will change the way you use your tablet. Apple’s strange obsession with skeuomorphic persists.

We doubt many Game Center users look at their screen and notice that the green felt background is meant to recall a casino – they just see bad, cheesy design. And that has traditionally not been Apple’s way.

And then, of course, there’s Apple Maps… the less said the better. A truly cataclysmic replacement for Google’s Map data that’s every bit as bad as headlines have made out, with a woeful lack of detail. Bridges are missing, addresses are wrong, and city suburbs are hopelessly out of date.

Here’s the thing though – so few of these issues matter on a tablet. You won’t ever find yourself staring into your iPad on a street, trying to figure out which door is 61, after all. The bigger screen also helps, as you can use your browser to go straight into Google Maps anyhow.

At its heart, Apple’s core iOS design structure is still so easy to use. Even if you don’t find voice assistant Siri very useful (it still defaults to a basic web search for too many things to be particularly useful), voice dictation on the iPad is superb.

Hit the microphone icon on the keyboard and simply say what you need to type: it’s much quicker than trying to tap out what you need in a search box or email, and alarmingly accurate. It’s not hard to see this becoming the sole way people input text on their computers going forward, if the only computer they own is an iPad.

The Apple App Store is still its killer app…
And a tablet’s use case means you end up using Apple’s core apps much less, and third party ones much more. Safari and Mail aside, you don’t need Apple’s other services, like voucher app Passbook – you’ll be too busy browsing the web, reading articles on Flipboard or Pocket, and playing games.

Perhaps more to the point, the app difference when it comes to tablets is still vast: Google’s Play Store is every bit the match for iTunes - on a mobile. But apps specifically designed for the larger screen real estate of a tablet? The iPad is still the only real game in town.

Even if Samsung can now match Apple for astonishing tablet display tech, it’s that app disparity which makes the choice a much more unexpected one: should you go with the new iPad or the iPad mini?

PLUS
+ Stunning display
+ Massive app eco-system
+ Superb performance

CONS
- Lightning connector won’t work with older accessories
- Only an incremental update to third generation iPad

Performance 5 stars
Features 5 stars
Usability 5 stars
Design 5 stars

Overall 5 stars

Verdict

Taken on its own, the fourth generation iPad is a triumph of engineering and design: it feels like a true laptop replacement for many, even if it offers only a minimal update over the third generation model that only serious spec heads would notice. Really though, it’s the iPad mini that will be its main competition. For everyone else who expects a bit more power out of their full size tablet, the new iPad remains best in class by a long way.

Tech specs
Dimensions241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4 mm
Weight662 g
OS IOS 6.0.1
Screen9.7 inch LED-backlit IPS TFT, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours
Resolution1536 x 2048 pixels at (~264 ppi pixel density)
CPUApple A6X, Dual-core
GPUPowerVR SGX554MP4
Memory1GB RAM
Storage16/32/64 GB storage
Camera5MP rear facing, 1.2MP front facing
Video1080P HD at 30fps, video stabilised.
WirelessWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
Cellular4G, 3G, 2G. DC-HSDPA – 42 Mbps; HSDPA – 21 Mbps; HSUPA – 5.76 Mbps. 4G LTE – 73 Mbps.
Ports Lightning Connector (USB2.0) and 3.5mm audio jack.

The full review of the iPad 4 can be found in the December issue of What Mobile, available at all good retailers.

The new iPad might have a similar profile and look and feel to iPad 2 but the Retina screen tech and A5X processor are actually the biggest upgrades to the iPad ever.  The screen upgrade covers Apple’s movie ambitions, taking on HD TVs ahead of any Apple television set announcement and the quad-core processor is designed for power apps and – crucially – games. The question is, what will you get from the upgrades on March 16th  and what real benefits can you expect to see over the cheaper (£329) iPad 2? We played with the new iPad at the Apple launch last night and have these impressions to share…

VIDEO AND IMAGE EDITING

The A5X processor offers a massive speed boost to image editing and any scrolling functions, much like the iPhone 4S above the iPhone 3GS. Photos and galleries now load faster than and flicking between images to compare and edit the best one is instant. If you’re used to hanging around while big images re-size or take time to process effects, this is a revelation – we couldn’t see any pause in any editing process.

RETINA SCREEN

The screen upgrade is the biggest (and most useful) upgrade. It feels identical to the landmark iPhone 4S screen and it beats Super AMOLED and Sony’s Tablet S screen tech instantly. We’ve tested a lot of tablets and this is the best yet – on screen text and web browsing are enhanced and movie trailers sparkle.  As a first impression, this feels like a step up from VHS to DVD or Blu-ray – in fact, for some people, it will feel like you’ve put on a much needed pair of glasses. New games like Sky Gamblers looked great, on a visual level with the new PlayStation Vita which, it has to be said, has a much smaller screen. If you watch movies on a tablet, you’ll need a seriously high-end TV and Blu-ray set-up to get this level of detail. The A5X processor may need deeper investigation to compete against Tegra 3 in tests but the screen is a winner from the first minute you touch the new iPad.

iSIGHT CAMERA

Tablet cameras have always been the poor addition at the end of the production process and the iPad was no exception, until now.  In practise the new camera feels faster and the new lens tech finally begins to match the performance that iPhone users are used to. It’s 5 megapixels not 8 megapixels of course but, like the new screen, it’s the best version you’ll find on a tablet.  Apple did a video capture demo and it’s clear that the new iPad is becoming a device used for video capture more than photos – live video looks great on screen and that’s something that the iPhone 4S can’t match on a small screen.

As Apple prepare for a big announcement at the end of the month, the Apple rumour mill has gone into overdrive, spurred on by statements and coverage emerging from CES 2012.

The biggest story comes from Bloomberg who quote a source from the iPad Asia production line – Apple use several manufacturer and distribution partners in the east, including Foxconn Technology Group during the production process.

The source claims the iPad 3 will feature a quad-core processor (thought to be the A6) coupled with a Retina Display style screen and LTE functionality. The source also claims that a March launch has been confirmed by Apple.

Next up is iLounge Editor Jeremy Horwitz who claims to have had hands-on time with the new iPad 3 prior to CES 2012 - his statements suggest that the new iPad features a major screen upgrade and contemplates whether the new iPad will carry the ‘iPad 3′ name at launch. The screen upgrade is seen as a direct response to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which features the world’s first ‘true’ HD screen – you can read more in our Samsung Galaxy Nexus review.

Horwitz also claims that the iPad 3 is marginally thicker than the iPad 2 (said to be due to the dual-light bar for the enhanced display) and features a new camera lens, hinting at a camera upgrade – an area where many tablets lose out to smartphones. Interestingly, Reghardware has details of iPad 2 screen production orders, showing that Apple expect continued demand for iPad 2 post March.

Mobile World Congress kicks off on February 27th and the world’s biggest mobile show is expected to see the first quad-core tablet out of the gate but not from Apple. HTC are prepping a high-end tablet, currently going under the name of ‘Quattro’ which will ensure that the next phase of the tablet war will start in a matter of weeks…