The VERY popular iPhone 5 video is a hoax, but it’s still worth watching. Although this is not a concept phone as suggested, the “laser keyboard” and “holographic screen” technologies are not necessarily out of reach in the near future.

Here at Technology Report we’ve always been fans of ASUS for their innovative designs combined with power and low prices.    Their early netbooks were among the first in that line, and now they appear to be coming up with a tablet that will exceed the iPAD in some specifications, including a very clever detachable keyboard that solves one of my main concerns about tablets – they are MUCH harder to write with than a netbook, desktop, or laptop unless you plug in a keyboard, making them … cumbersome.     ASUS appears to have solved this challenge with a very thin, light, and sleek detachable keyboard that appears to also act as a cover, making this device – to my frame of mind – a lot more logical than the standard format tablet computer.     We’ll have more at CES where I’m sure ASUS will be showing these off a lot:

Update:  After seeing the demo of Wordlens and hearing that reviewers were “disappointed” due to speed and effectiveness I think this application needs a lot of work.

Remains, however, a great idea

Kudos to the folks at Quest Visual:  Questvisual.com.   Their free  iPhone application “Wordlens” allows real time translation by simply pointing your iPhone at a sign or other text.

As any traveler knows it’s very helpful to be able to interpret signs, menus, and  other text.   This is naturally very difficult in countries where you don’t speak the language.    Wordlens is only available in spanish now but other languages are on the way, and this is clearly a great step in the direction of our phones and handheld devices becoming “universal translators”

Via Singularity Hub

more at Quest Visual:  Questvisual.com

Information Week online has a nice summary graph and article showing what appear to be trends in mobile operating system adoption.   Apple’s still dominant with 56%, but that is falling from 70%.   Only Android shows growth and that growth is substantial – now at 25%.

Although it’s now clear that Smartphones are a key global browsing tool and that this use will grow explosively, it is not clear if Apple can retain their dominance in this market – perhaps with price drops on the iPhone or other innovations that may bring Apple devices into the price points demanded by many late adopters.

PC World has compared the iPad and the new Samsung Galaxy Tab with this great comparison chart.

PC World seems to feel the Galaxy is the first real competitor to Apple’s iPad even though that’s not really true at all – e.g. the Dell Streak.

At fist glance the Galaxy Tab really seems superior with phone capabilities, lighter weight, and two cameras vs the iPad’s zero.

However it’s never clear the the legions of Apple’s enthusiastic customers would stray from the mother brand, and many products have flamed out assuming that unlikely scenario.   Still, it seems that Apple’s brilliancies in the iPhone and iPad are starting to be duplicated here, with the EVO phone, and with arguably superior form and function, so the future, as usual, remains uncertain.

HTC EVO™ 4G

Sprint Evo 4G

Sprint is gushing about their new Evo 4G which will soon be more available in the USA although it appears sold out in some areas from pre-orders.

That’s right. The phone that captivated international trade show CTIA is here, and we’ve packed it full of features! A large vibrant 4.3 inch screen, dual cameras, 32GB MicroSD card slot and wicked fast web speeds, this is more than a phone. It’s a Mobile Hotspot for up to 8 of your Wi-Fi devices. It’s a high-quality mobile device – featuring Android™ 2.1 and the award-winning HTC Sense™ experience, and it’s your personal portable HD media center with an HDMI output so you can share in HD.

Hyperbole aside, the reviews from CNET, Engadget, and early users are very favorable.

CNET Reviews

Engadget summary:    Let us be crystal clear: we love this phone. Nay, we adore it. But the fact remains that it’s still very much an Android device — which means that if you don’t like Android now, odds are good that even Android executed on the most amazing hardware to date won’t do much to change your opinion of it. You’ve also got to be concerned about upgradeability; Froyo is almost certainly around the corner now, and HTC hasn’t done anything to suggest it’s able to push Sense-powered updates in a timely fashion.

That said, this is truly one of the best smartphones ever made, and even spotty 4G — a reality of a young technology that’s going to take years to properly build out — probably won’t do much to hamper your enjoyment of this thing. It’s reasonable to assume that phones like the EVO will ultimately come to every carrier over the next few months… but hey, if you jumped ship for Sprint to pick up this monster, we wouldn’t be able to blame you.

I’m anxious to read more discussion of the 2-5 year  future of iPhone vs Android devices, but maybe I’m missing something here to think that’s very relevant.    Apple folks will always have iPhones and new folks will choose on the basis of factors that are not necessarily technological.     It is very clear that mobile devices are already shaping the future in key ways, and there is plenty of room for many models.

Important plan and 4G coverage info from Sprint.

In a move Sprint hopes is not too late to the game, they’ve announced their latest and greatest addition to the Sprint line, the HTC Evo 4G.    We’ve seen how powerfully the Apple  iPhone has managed to maintain it’s solid position as the Smartphone of choice, so it will be a surprise to many if the Sprint HTC Evo makes more than a minor dent in the iPhone market.    However, the capabilities are impressive:

CNET seems to have the most intelligent commentary on the Apple iPhone / Gizmodo  case that may have far-reaching implications for technology and new age journalism.     Gawker is likely to move forward with the case without a settlement (or perhaps because the state will refuse to settle this without criminal charges), so we are probably going to see some important decisions about how much protection bloggers have.

Some will argue – I feel speciously – that this is a case about freedom of the press when in fact it’s a case about the relationship of the media to criminal activity.     How far should the law go to protect the rights of the media when stories are based on stolen goods or illegally obtained information?     A few years back Gizmodo got off the hook very easy after a malicious prank at CES to disrupt a presentation.    The lax standards in the blogging journalism world – where fun, alarmism, distortion and opportunism trumps professionalism much of the time –  have got to come home to roost sometime.

Personally I’d be a lot more sympathetic to Gizmodo if this was about some sort of political or general technology issue where they could make a case that the public right to transparency and knowledge trumps the way they got the information.   (e.g. Pentagon Papers)  However the iPhone case seems to mostly be about commercial issues, presented in a commercial way for monetary advantage.      I’m guessing this will be the nail in the coffin of Gizmodo’s case and lead to a (relatively minor) criminal charge.

CNET:

It’s clear that federal and state law generally provides journalists–even gadget bloggers–with substantial protections by curbing searches of their employees’ workspaces. But it’s equally clear that journalists suspected of criminal activity do not benefit from the legal shields that newspapers and broadcast media have painstakingly erected over the last half-century.

No less an authority than a California appeals court has ruled that the state’s shield law does not prevent reporters from being forced, under penalty of contempt, to testify about criminal activity, if they’re believed to be involved in it.

Today police seized computers at the home of one of the web’s most prominent online technology editors – Jason Chen of Gizmodo.    The action was in response to Gizmodo’s aquisition of an new Apple iPhone prototype that was left in a bar by an Apple employee.   It appears that the employee left the phone at a table where it was picked up by another patron who then *sold the phone* to Gizmodo.

The impact of this case may extend far beyond a simple stolen property issue.    Gizmodo is likely to claim press protections under free speech laws in another test of  how the courts will treat new media journalism.

Although I think we’ll hear a lot of rationalizations of the purchase of the  phone by Gizmodo, I’d guess the case will hinge on whether Chen understood he was “buying stolen property” and whether Gizmodo’s publication of information about the phone was for profit or “the public good”.     Frankly, I don’t see how Gizmodo can make a strong case for either of these conditions.   Even if the seller insisted he had legally obtained the phone, Chen’s position as editor of one of the most watched iPhone watching websites in the world means Chen would have known that Apple had not released this yet.     In fact the Gizmodo articles about the phone are likely to be some of the most incriminating evidence against them.

It’s very early to speculate but I’m guessing that arrogance,  hubris, or the lack of good legal counsel led Gizmodo to think they were dealing with a Google rather than Apple.      Google’s mostly transparent and open sensibilities and public persona would probably have led them to effectively slap Gizmodo around a few times, extract an apology, and go on with the business of the web.

Apple, however, is a very different company and Steve Jobs is likely to view this as something of a personal and corporate affront.      If Gizmodo was in competition with Apple or had deeper pockets I think Apple would probably be more aggressive, so it is hard to know how this will shake out.     It’s not even clear this type of publicity harms Apple in any way – if anything it is probably favorable in terms of future revenue from the new phone.

However in any case the legal case against Gizmodo promises to be a major online law case unless settlements are reached out of court .

More on Gizmodo / Apple  from TechMeme