Morning Ladies and Gentlemen,

Lately we are getting inundated with new gadgets (especially new Android Devices), anyone can see that it looks like Google and hardware manufacturers have been hungry to take over the majority market share that Apple has run away with. I have been a hardcore Apple geek. I had my Iphone 3, now I have the 4, and I have had the opportunity to use the IPAD and IPAD 2 extensively (I had to wear a drool guard with the IPAD 2). The devices work well, it comes in a pretty package, and the apps that are available are stellar. Augmented Reality Vegas Kicks Ass.

However recently I have been drawn into the Apple Vs. Android Camp argument with the gentlemen I work with. This is a daily argument with articles being slung back and forth about why one sucks more then the other. I have also had the opportunity to extensively play with one of the new Honeycomb Xoom tablets and HOLY CRAP!! The graphics were phenomenal and crisp, the customizability far surpasses Apple (even a jail broken product), and there are games that are utterly as addicting as Angry Birds. See Rocket Bunnies, Pocket Legends, and Cordy (and for all of you RPGers see Vendetta cause DAMN the graphics and game play are WOW). The other major thing I like about the Xoom is the fact I could be sitting at work with the tablet at home on the wifi network and I can download from the Market Place this almost made me go and buy one, and it works for the phones too.

If I had to choose between the two tablets I am not sure I could. When testing I utilized them differently, I will, however, say the only thing that makes me a sad panda is that there is no native Google Docs support on either platform. Who knows what we may see in the future.

Now onto other Gadgets, Sony has announced 2 new tablets coming to market. Only time will tell if these will be any good Sony has a tendency to be hit and miss with its devices and a lot of the tablets in general for Android have sucked because the hardware manufacturers don’t pay attention to specification. However on Sony’s “Hit” list, only from reviews and what I have heard, the Xperia is an awesome device for gamers and with all the new Emulators coming out for Android there will be much less productivity when this new Android Phone drops. Co workers Apple and Android alike have been drooling over this phone.

Now that you are all excited over the whole Apple vs Google Mud Wrestling match, I’m going to switch gears on you, because the Cell phone/Tablet war is not the only technology field advancing by a long shot.

There are new things from Nintendo on the horizon (and already here as well). So lets being with the 3DS. Now, I have a DS lite. I don’t get to play with it that often but when I do I really enjoy it, and since my purchase of the DS Lite, they have released the DSi (ooh a camera) and the DSXL (so much bigger)…I haven’t wanted to run out and buy one of these because, I mean really? I don’t NEED those features. I have a phone for camera, and ok its bigger but and? “Its not the size love its how you use it”, heh heh heh.  Enter the 3DS to the market, my dear husband Endymian and I were in one of our local Electronics stores, and he made me go look at the floor model 3DS. SOLD. First 2 minutes I was like this is COOL I WANT ONE. The price tag hurts a lot and the games for it so far are kinda meh, but I can see me making this purchase in the upcoming year possibly when the slimmer, more battery efficient product comes out (you know this will happen).

Also on Nintendo’s horizon is the Wii2, now the question becomes will it be an upgrade to the Wii like the Kinect is to XBOX 360, or will it be a brand new experience completely? From the news it looks like we will find out at the upcoming E3 convention in June. More info on that as it becomes available. If we pray to the gods that are Nintendo, maybe we will get something just as revolutionizing as the original Wii was to the gaming community.

So, with all the different options out there what do you spend your hard earned money on? My recommendation is regardless of the reviews, or your peers at work (Here’s looking at you guys, you know who you are!!), go to a store that lets you handle the product, do the research on what you are specifically looking to get out of the device and go from there. Yeah, the wow factor is cool on a lot of these aforementioned devices, but it is all too easy to buy one and then find that it sits on the shelf getting dusty in a month.
Enjoy the time we are living in folks, new ground is being broken daily on what we can accomplish with technology.

Class Dismissed

~Dragonkitty