Here we are!

Posted in Uncategorized by Rohan Shravan on May 28, 2011

Greetings everyone!

Been silent for a while. Well, that’s the silence before a lot of things come to all of us!

First quick updates:

We are pushing the Eden 1.5 update on Monday, so click that update buttons on your Adams! It comes with more than 150 changes as compared to Eden 1.0 (you can check out the documentation on Conclave on Monday).
We are pushing one more update on Wednesday, specially for those who want to test rich features of 2.3 Gingerbread!
We discussed about Kindle and Dolphin Browser coming bundled on Adam, well, there are more apps coming in (some in this update like Chords (with Panel), To-Do (Panel) and some around next week)! Some for the 2.2-2.3 clients, and more for Honeycomb!
The kernel update is on its way. The reason this update took little longer than expected end of third week was to dis-associate it from the kernel up-gradation which is required for Honeycomb. Right now you can see the images on Tabletroms working pretty well, but there are lots of errors and broken pieces.
Last 6 weeks we were integrating all support pieces to an advanced online system, which you will soon see go live on support.notionink.com. This system is used by right from FedEx to Samsung, and we are expecting it will cut the time to response further down, get you one system to track all your issues, get live support and get to scan through a large documentation of past issues.
@Home (from Google) announcement is a very good news for Adam users. We have a team here working on automation systems, and after their study we will release few DIY system using which you can do interesting things!
Adam is going live again! We are going to open sales coming Monday (evening to be precise)! Those who have subscribed at http://store.notionink.com/subscribe.php will receive an email invitation.
Good News for Indian customers. Now they will receive products with all duties pre-paid.
We have moved all our resources from current Eden 1.5 and Gingerbread to Honeycomb, and near the end of next month, you all should have Honeycomb on your devices!

Last line actually reminds me a sudden burst of criticism we had seen earlier from some people on Harmony and Ventana matters. I think now we can put it to rest. Images which you download are 120MB in size and you can see 1GB space alotted for your OS, also one more things you can notice is the 1GB RAM. It will take you a lot of effort to cross 512MB RAM usage on Adam right now. If you try to run heavy games, the load is then shared by the GPU, and still healthy amount is left un-utilized. Even the bus supports up-to 400MHz of bandwidth.

While Google gets to choose who they support officially, there is little we can do. But when we get friends like Andy, Stephen, and rest (I think like you I also know them with their nicks: Reobeet, Rothnic, Dougie187, IntuitiveNipple, TwoSpirits, MyGuy, AlbertWertz (same as his name), josh4trunks, jerryaycock, gamepro, newbe5, RaYmAn, red_herringx, Covrus and blazingwolf) we can do much more than the Bilderberg Group!

I think there is one area where you can agree with me. When it comes to fluidity of the User Interface, there is no other OS than iOS. I have failed to see any missing frame on it when I see moving images, icons or lists or even motion animations. The reason is the missing GPU support for UI on Android. You can follow this conversation here: http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6914 This conversation is 14 months long and is still continuing!

Currently I am in love with PowerVR architecture. Probably because there is a lot to read about it, and little less on the Tegra’s internal GPU (GeForce). iOS accelerates a lot of their UI using PoverVR SGX GPU, specially using their PVRTC format for textures. PVRTC is also an interesting lossy, fixed rate texture compression format and has a native support on SGX and has far greater implementation potential. iOS is bound to get faster and smoother, and that’s what you can do is you have control over the hardware and software. Lack of NEON, CUDA and OpenCL on Tegra also concerns me (as of now though, as roadmaps can be surprising). It’s high time we start developing for GPGPU. Currently even on Tegra, if you have 2 threads it doesnt mean they are running on 2 different cores. First it is decided to use one or two based on the processing requirement (e.g. if more than 500MHz is required then use 2 cores else one), and second you can’t program it to handle 2 threads. Even in OMAP you get to choose if you want 2 cores for an app or one, but not on Tegra (having said that, you can find instances when running an app on one core is better than on two when bench-marked against performance and power consumed).

Again, apologies for little silence here, but I did told you, busy weeks are coming ahead!

With Warm Regards

Rohan Shravan

151 comments

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vineethkuruvath said, on June 3, 2011 at 10:14

Maybe you should move to OMAP
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4413/ti-announces-omap-4470-and-specs-powervr-sgx544-18-ghz-dual-core-cortexa9

I think Nvidia is just using brute force with kal-el and bringing full 3D for its own sake, not keeping the end-user in mind.
rutumvachmim said, on May 31, 2011 at 14:30

Patience pays…did i say it too early
twospirits said, on May 30, 2011 at 18:49

This post has alot of stuff init. Personally I like Eden, and like the concept of the leaves. I’m looking forward to see what the new updates do. But At the moment I have Honeycomb on the Adam. And do see that as the real deal, so when NI gets that done the Adam will be way way better.

TS
Murali said, on May 30, 2011 at 17:15

I am back on stock adam. (Needless to say, the joy of being on beast ROM:) )
Can someone please validate if I am on the right build and version to be able to get the updates from NI.

My current build number – NIA920080411
Kernel – 2.6.32 (2.2)
- dwarf4242 said, on May 31, 2011 at 07:48
  
  Murali, Yes, that is the latest supported NI release. You should be able to do an update with that using the Setup path to updates. Once the server issues are resolved you should be able to update.
  Luck,
- Murali said, on May 31, 2011 at 10:03
  
  Thanks dwaf4242.
  I tried to update adam this morning. Download stops at 82% on every single run.
  Looks like some issue with the image.
- dwarf4242 said, on May 31, 2011 at 17:56
  
  Welcome Murali, I to am having problems with the update completing. Rohan has said that there will be a manual download available soon, so I think I will wait for that…
  Luck,
shailu212 said, on May 30, 2011 at 16:59

Just got the email from Notion Ink to order my Adam.. Don’t know why i’m having thoughts about it??

The email goes like this:

“Dear Notion Ink Enthusiast

Greetings!

Here`s an opportunity for you to own one of the hottest tablets around -
The Notion Ink Adam!

First off, we have some really exciting news for you – Gingerbread 2.3, Eden 1.5, Amazon Kindle and Dolphin Browser HD!

We are proud to announce that the Adam now supports Gingerbread 2.3!

We have also gone ahead and given the entire UI a facelift and are proud to present to you Eden 1.5 – with a cleaner and fresher user experience along with some major tweaks for performance improvement.

We have also bundled a couple of new apps we developed just for you. Chords – our very own music player and a brand new To-Do app.

Love reading? Well, your reading experience just got better with the Amazon Kindle eBook Reader for the Adam! Thats right! The Adam now comes with the Amazon Kindle eBook Reader for you to enjoy your reading on. You will also have access to the vast ebook collection available on the Amazon Kindle Store.

We are also pleased to announce that the Adam will now have Dolphin Browser HD preinstalled along with the improved and re-skinned Notion Ink browser.

You can now buy an Adam by visiting the Notion Ink Store and logging in using the credentials below. “
- Rahul Siddharthan said, on May 30, 2011 at 17:06
  
  Thoughts as in, considering it or having second thoughts?
  
  My take on it is, the Adam is worth it for the Pixel Qi screen and the hackability. (It seems lots of people dislike the Pixel Qi screen. It is certainly not as vivid as an LCD screen, but it can be read outdoors easily and requires minimal backlighting indoors, and therefore is very easy on the eyes. To me it’s worth it.)
  
  But if you are not the type who is willing to mess with your device, root it, flash alternative roms on it, and so on, it is probably not for you. Out of the box it is a poor experience. Perhaps the Eden 1.5 update improves things. I will give it a try but I expect I will return to Beast, which I have been happy with.
- Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 17:20
  
  I like my pixelqi, and my adam, I just want my update to go with it.
  
  I backed everything up again, so I would be ready.
  
  But now I’ve been ready for about 8 hours.
- shailu212 said, on May 30, 2011 at 17:22
  
  I don’t know, I am confused..!!
  
  I am considering LCD screen and i am pretty much the type who messes with the device..
  
  I really want it but then don’t know why I am little skeptical..
  
  Why the hell am i like this..!!??
- karen said, on May 30, 2011 at 17:28
  
  Hi Shailu…
  Puberty…?
  LOL…
Himanshu said, on May 30, 2011 at 15:23

Back to stock adam. Waiting starts.
Doja said, on May 30, 2011 at 15:15

Hmmmm….. Where’s the update?

@Phillip Yes I’m tired of seeing your adam is up to date.

And slowly but surely, today is slowly ebbing away.

Tick-tock NotionInk tick-tock.
- Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 15:51
  
  Aaaaarg.
  
  NO, MY ADAM IS NOOOOOOOOT UP TO DATE !!!!!!!!!!
  
  Give da updatezzzzzz.
  
  Plz
- Doja said, on May 30, 2011 at 15:57
  
  Neither is mine. Patience is a virtue I don’t have and waiting is a luxury I can’t afford.
  
  WHERE IS THE UPDATE??
- dwarf4242 said, on May 30, 2011 at 16:08
  
  Well Phillip, It is early morning on the East coast of US, so we have about 10 hours to wait before the update is late. Talk about anxious
  Waiting is
- Doja said, on May 30, 2011 at 16:34
  
  It’s midday in the Uk and 17:30 Ist.
  
  Adam: Your adam is up to date
  Me: No you’re not, stop lying!!
  (So I click update adam again)
  Adam: Your adam is up to date
  Me: He said Monday, today. Today is monday.
  Help, give us the update already plssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
- Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 17:04
  
  @dwarf
  I’ve decided,
  Waiting is…
  
  Normal apparently
- joyfication said, on May 30, 2011 at 16:43
  
  Why this un-warranted pressure on self & NI ?
  
  It is not 17:30 IST .. my watch reads 16:30 , so does your comment timestamp. PPl like Andy has already got the update , so it is for real & is freezed. They may me doing this somewhere at end-of-day .
  
  Now going by the experience so far , no one can vouch for NI . But one thing is sure , they have always missed the schedule … but that also means they have always delivered.
- karen said, on May 30, 2011 at 17:03
  
  Today is surely passing slooooowwwwly…
  I am @ work in the office, expected to find solace there in this agony of waiting, but focus seems to be a problem today
  
  A long weekend is coming up with Ascencion Day, so more than enough time on our hands to discover that long list of improvements.
  
  It’s 17.00 in India now btw. Doja.
  And Phillip: peace out, Adamite
Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 13:04

And in other news, here’s the next generation of NVidia’s SOC’s,

I give you, Nvidia’s Quadcore Kal-El. (hey, wasn’t that Superman’s father?)

Check out this very cool demo. “http://bit.ly/iUGzxI”

Maybe adam2?
- Mehdi said, on May 30, 2011 at 13:20
  
  I saw the video this morning, it is indeed pretty cool . The rendering is really impressive, so is the difference between quad-core and dual-core is.
  
  Kal-El is actually Superman himself, his father is Jor-El. And the next Nvidia chips will be named Bruce (Wayne aka Batman), Logan (aka Wolverine) and Stark (Tony aka Iron Man) .
Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 12:04

Ok all, is anyone else already sick of “You Adam is up-to-date”?

LOL

I am SO addicted. I need help.
- Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 12:05
  
  *your* oops
- shailu212 said, on May 30, 2011 at 12:07
  
  hahaha.. you’re funny, man..
hvenky said, on May 30, 2011 at 08:27

Its Monday, where are the updates?
- Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 08:56
  
  Tick tock
- dawcx said, on May 30, 2011 at 08:57
  
  Cookoo cookoo
- Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 09:00
  
  Actually King on conclave said it would be Monday evening IST time.
  
  As we can see its morning in India (good morning Rohan, its going to be a great day) and so we’ve got a little while yet – although IMHO it would be good to have the updates enabled from now so that if (God forbid) there’s a problem the NI staff will be in the office to fix ‘em.
  
  Phillip
- karen said, on May 30, 2011 at 09:57
  
  I second that, Phillip.
  
  Besides, I am running beast now. Will I be able to switch to Eden 1.5 without problems, in a single switch?
  Oh well, first a day in the office ahead here in the Netherlands. That will keep my mind of anything else for now.
  Have a great day all!
  Waiting is…
- dawcx said, on May 30, 2011 at 10:59
  
  If Monday evening IST is for real than by the time I wake up here in Western Canada the update will be ready.
- Phillip said, on May 30, 2011 at 11:12
  
  @Karen, I think you have to revert to good old eden 1 for the OTA to work, but NI may provide a link so that it can be downloaded and applied using recovery mode.
dawcx said, on May 29, 2011 at 20:29

Hopefully the update comes in another 12hrs or so
sliderem said, on May 29, 2011 at 17:09

Will Rohan change the Tegra platform for the next generation of Adam ?!

I was reading the last message posted by Rohan on his blog and at the end, kind of suddenly and unrelated with the post subject, he starts discussing about how good is the GPU hardware acceleration on iOS products and how good, especially PowerVR architecture is.

Now that they are announcing a new wave of pre-orders (PO3) I don’t think they will say anything official about the second generation of Notion Ink tablets , but it seems that the successor of the Adam is under work and it seems also that it may not use Tegra platform!

I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, we have to take into account that the new generation of Tegra chipsets (Kal El) that will be used even by almighty Amazon in their tablets will be very powerful and will have a wide industry support after the relative big success and adoption of the Tegra 2 as a de-facto standard for Android tablets.

From another point of view there are other platforms available for android with very good GPUs. Samsung with the new generation of processors (Cortex-A9 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset) is blazing fast, Samsung Galaxy S II (with all its glorious reviews) is at this moment arguable the best smartphone and offers the most fluid experience, even smother then iOs, if that is even possible .

Also HTC Sensation with 1.2 GHz Snapdragon dual-core processor, Adreno 220 GPU, Qualcomm MSM 8260 , that is similar with PowerVR can not be neglected, the reviews
are showing also an huge power for small mobile device.

In this moment the mobile chipset market is still young and the actors and the hierarchy is not yet defined and is not yet well established, and this is adding a lot of fragmentation for android hardware support. Maybe they should have a more driver oriented aproch like for desktop operating systems. Otherwise… with NVIDIA, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm and even AMD and Intel entering in this new El Dorado and doing mobile processors with comparable performance we will see a huge “battle”.The market is dynamic in a good and in a bad sense in the same time, and we have to see if the Darwin lows will apply soon and only one or two competitors will survive and will become dominant.
- Tim said, on May 29, 2011 at 18:23
  
  I think the pace of change is accelerating so fast that predictions are becoming obsolete as fast as hardware. I am reminded of Alvin Tofflers “Future Shock” but somehow this all seems more exhilerating than disorienting. Fun time to be alive.
- joyfication said, on May 30, 2011 at 13:33
  
  I interpret Rohan’s references differently.What he is saying is …..
  
  ” I agree Adam UI is not smooth. So is most of the Android devices out there unless you power it with over-the-top specs. Hence NI will next focus on coding for the GPU to offload as much functions to GPU as possible. But then the Tegra GPU is not all that supportive & PowerVR has better architecture. So before we commit our Dev resources for GPU integration task , we’ll have a good look at the landscape with long-term goals.”
  
  Now that’s called putting words in Rohan’s mouth !
hitchkay said, on May 29, 2011 at 12:58

Oh well, it is but another day and half’s wait…
I had been advertising Adam to my friends before iPad came out… They bought the iPad and then the iPad2 and I feel like a chump waiting… Let’s see what Monday brings our way
chaipau said, on May 29, 2011 at 10:56

By end of this week, some changes we’ll see!
drdpsk said, on May 29, 2011 at 08:49

Best post even with great news
sanal said, on May 29, 2011 at 07:33

Good to read all the updates….read it too quickly….couldn’t hold my patience
have to read it agn….bt frm wht i see all gud news. Hoping tht the updates go smoothly without any issues like the frst one.

greg already is playing wth it….i guess its goin smooth thn….bring it on NI is wht my adams typing
rtm7791 said, on May 29, 2011 at 07:31

So excited for honeycomb. Great news for a holiday weekend!!!!!!
Arif said, on May 29, 2011 at 04:21

I guess I will stick to Beast Rom till the solid Honeycomb update comes out. Or in the mean time, I might just play with the Honeycomb port from tabletrom.

Either way will be fine, but as for now, Not looking forward to Eden. Sorry bro.