Apptooth (www.apptooth.com), a leading mobile app development studio today launched a new patent-pending mobile application called Hero™ available in the Apple App Store for iPhone, iPad, iPod and Google Play for Android.
 
Potential Scenarios:
 
★ Walking home late at night and a suspicious character approaches. Tap the HERO button and device starts sharing video, sounds and location to everyone in the immediate vicinity in seconds.
 
★ Child gets lost in a crowded area. With HERO, every Hero app user -up to 5 MILES- can receive an instant alert notification on their smartphone -IN SECONDS- with the child’s picture and communicate with each other to help locate the child. Once the child is found, resolve alert and all data is instantly erased.
 
★ There’s an armed robbery or a traffic accident nearby. Heroes can notify to avoid that area. Plus Hero can help locate friends and family wherever they are and even locate the phone if lost or stolen. And show the location of Facebook friends.
 
Hero™ Features Summary:
 
• Users can invite friends and family to be their “Heroes” from numerous social media networks including Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
• Upon pressing the HERO icon on a smartphone in times of need, the user can share instant video, audio and GPS coordinates to his or her social network and other HERO app users within a five-mile radius – powered by geo-location technology.
• Track real-time location of your Facebook friends and family – your Hero network.
• The app is a unique combination of powerful social networking, crowd-sourcing and geo-location features.
• Hero™ can be downloaded for FREE in the Apple App Store for iPhone, iPod, iPad and Google Play for Android.
• Developed by mobile app development studio Apptooth, http://www.apptooth.com.
 
With the rise of social media and use of mobile devices, individuals have the ability to serve as the eyes and ears during times of need. Time is of the essence in cases of abductions, robberies, stolen property, car accidents, lost pets and numerous other similar situations.
 
Mobile app developer Apptooth today introduced HERO™, a mobile app that provides the ability to instantly stream live video, audio and GPS coordinates from a smartphone to all your Heroes and even the crowd around you within five-miles.
 
The new technology is endorsed by Elizabeth Smart and backed by Brett Tolman, former U.S. Attorney, who spearheaded the prosecution of her abductor. Elizabeth’s abduction and recovery motivated parents, law enforcement, and worldwide leaders to focus on child safety. In the 10 years since her abduction, Smart has become an advocate for change and through the Elizabeth Smart Foundation has helped increase awareness of personal safety and how to prevent abductions.
 
“In times of need, with a simple tap of an icon, the user of the HERO app can instantly share video, audio and GPS coordinates, capturing vital information and sending it to the user’s social network and to other HERO subscribers within a five-mile radius,” said George Matus, Apptooth Founder and CEO. “Subscribers can select a range of features including emergency, custom and instant crowd alerts; HERO tracking; Facebook login and alert and location mapping. Uses of the HERO app can apply to a variety of scenarios including child abduction, robbery, assault, car accidents as well as less serious situations such as a lost dog, flat tire, etc… HERO is a powerful tool combining Social Media with Crowd-Sourcing and Geo-location technology on a smartphone.”
 
To download Hero™ for free, visit www.apptooth.com/Hero and click on the Apple App Store icon for iPhone, iPad or iPod or the Google Play icon for Android.
 
 

About Apptooth
Apptooth is a leading app development company specializing in producing some of the world’s best-selling mobile apps in a variety of platforms. For more on Apptooth, visit www.apptooth.com or like on Facebook at www.facebook.com/apptooth.
 
THE HERO APP IS NOT AN EMERGENCY SERVICE AND DOES NOT REPLACE ANY LOCAL AUTHORITIES, MISSING PERSONS NOTIFICATIONS OR NATIONAL AMBER ALERTS. APPTOOTH ENCOURAGES YOU TO FIRST CALL 911 AND/OR CONTACT THE APPROPRIATE LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN THE CASE OF ANY SERIOUS EMERGENCY. SEE HERO™ TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY IN THE APP FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

At this point, you’ve refined your big idea hundreds of times over in your head and all your friends love it. Or perhaps you’re further along and have already spec’d, wire-framed, completed the app design and user interface and maybe even the development. Nice work! Looks like everything is set for launch, right? Nope! Not even close.

With over 1 million mobile apps available for iOS and Android platforms, the App market is more competitive than ever and you’ll need to take additional steps in order to get your app noticed. The following are a few key tips to help you set the stage for success:

****Contact Apptooth at info@apptooth.com and we’ll provide you with world-class App Development, Design and Marketing from start to finish marketing your app into over 80 App stores worldwide and introducing it to millions of iOS and Android users!****

30 Days to Countdown:

Goal Setting: In order to know if you’re succeeding, make sure to set some goals. Keep it simple, to start, by placing goals around active install rates, number of reviews and average rating score.

Go Viral with Video: Video is one of the most meaningful and effective ways to show off your app’s user interface and capabilities. Consider creating a video that demonstrates its features and workflow. And you don’t necessarily have to invest in a production team — by using a smartphone screen emulator you can easily create simple, professional-looking video tutorials that showcase your app’s coolest features.

Focus: If you’re launching an app for Android, don’t try to submit your app to every store. This is why the App Store is still one of the more popular options for developers. Make sure to centralize your user base and focus your promotions to drive all potential users to one store. This will allow your app to get higher ratings, higher ranking and more visibility. Also, fewer distribution channels make it easier to update and track. Start with an official smartphone market, then expand to others once you start to build awareness.

****Did you know??? In addition to developing and designing Apps for the iPhone, iPad and Android, Apptooth also has an award-winning App Development and Marketing program. Plus, we can also localize (translate) your Apps into over 80 languages (for over 80 App Stores worldwide) dramatically improving your Apps success globally!****

The Week Before:

Finalize your content: Make sure your blog posts, news releases, social media campaigns – the text for your tweets and Facebook posts are all drafted, proofed and finalized in advance. Don’t leave this to the last minute! You’ll have plenty of other things to think about the day before right before launch.

Get to know the press: Apptooth has relations with over 400 App reviewers and bloggers who can help you greatly expand awareness of your app to numerous potential new users. Each reporter specializes in a specific category so make sure to research the publications that cover and review apps that fall in the same category as yours, and make sure you know who at each publication would be most excited about your app.

Two to Three Days Before:

PR, PR, PR: Ideally, reporters and bloggers should be able to publish content about your app right when it launches, so you’ll need to let them know in advance. Choose a handful of reporters to reach out to pre-launch, and be sure to let each know the specific date and time that the app will be released. Reserve time to answer questions and make yourself available to the press the day before and day of your launch, should they need any additional information. Remember that you’ll want to reach out to your full list of researched reporters on the day of launch.

Tease ‘em: If you can offer media previews of your app, go for it. Allowing the bloggers to play around with your app before it’s available to the public helps make their articles more informed and persuasive!

Art Assets are Key: The more visuals you have, including artwork, logos, screenshots and video, the cooler and more dynamic your resulting articles and marketing collateral will look, and the more interesting and communicative it will be to your audience. Make sure every reporter you’re in touch with has access to all assets before your app is released.

Launch Day!!!

Reach out to Everyone on your PR list: Hopefully you’ll get plenty of positive press the day of launch. To boost awareness, reach out to your expanded list of relevant reporters and bloggers and let them know about your launch. Be sure to send information about your app to the big app review sites and any other publications you think would love to know about it.

Tap your existing users: If you’re launching on a new platform, be sure encourage the fans you already have to help you spread the word. Leveraging your existing community to evangelize your product can have an immense impact on your launch. Reach out to your existing user base via blog, social media, newsletter or all three, and be sure to specifically ask users to help you spread the word. Consider a refer-a-friend campaign to boost response.

Social Media: Tweet and post to Facebook right when your app is released and a few more times throughout the day. Try a retweet campaign coupled with a giveaway-specific hash tag to boost Twitter activity and capitalize on the excitement of your launch. And don’t forget to monitor all social media channels closely; respond often with a simple “thanks” or retweet users when appropriate.

****In addition to world-class App developers and engineers, Apptooth has a team of the best App Marketing and Social Media specialists – sometimes providing these services for free on a percentage of sales basis. So there is no cost to you! And we only succeed when you succeed!****

Post-Launch:

After your amazing launch into every App Store throughout the world and over dozens of interviews with the power bloggers…how can you sustain the momentum and prevent your app from dipping under the radar?

Pay For It: If your app is hot, oftentimes paid promotion campaigns will keep it visible and extend the momentum that your launch, users and press attention have already garnered. But take advantage fast, and make sure the campaigns are live within a few days after launch.

Full Court Press: First, right after you launch, don’t forget to thank participating reporters for their interest and time. Second, as you continue to develop and add features to your app, be sure to keep reporters posted.

Partner up with other app developers: Integrating with other apps can be a wonderful way to both expand the capabilities of your app and get it in front of brand new, already engaged audiences. In order to choose the right integration partner, think first about what is most valuable to your existing users. Don’t choose your partner purely based on the size of its user base — often, that’s not most important for the earliest stages of awareness. If both your app and your integration partner’s app are useful and smart, you’ll be able to grow together. Apptooth is always looking for App partners. Your app will get noticed worldwide as an Apptooth partner. Contact us at info@apptooth.com for more details!

Engage: Be active on social media: Ask your users questions and respond to their inquiries, ideas and feedback right away. If they make recommendations that you implement in a future update, be sure to thank them for contributing.

Apptooth (www.apptooth.com)  is a leading developer of mobile applications and games for the iPhone, iPad, Android and all other major mobile platforms. Apptooth software programmers have engineered over 240 apps to date yielding over 40 million downloads, with plenty more to come. Apptooth offers award-winning app development, app design and app marketing for iPhone, iPad, Android and more. Please feel free to get in touch with us to find out how we can help your app stand apart in a crowded marketplace.

Like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/apptooth and have first access to our upcoming mobile applications and games and receive the most recent App, iPhone, iPad,  Mac, Android and Apple tips, news and updates.

Like Us: www.facebook.com/apptooth

Figuring out how and when to update a mobile app is a crucial part of the mobile app development process. Mobile apps are very different from traditional desktop software apps. Let’s look at some of the most common reasons to update an app and how to handle the inevitable “upgrade” question.

Update Stages

When it comes to software versioning, or assigning a version number to a certain piece of software as it exists in a unique state, the most common number scheme is to assign a major version number, like 1, followed by a point release for minor updates, and sometimes followed by a second-point release for a revision or bug fix.

In the software world, version numbers typically follow a major.minor.revision pattern. For example, the current version of Twitter for iPhone is 3.3.6. The “3″ indicates that it is the third major release. The second “3″ indicates that it is the third minor revision of that release and the “6″ indicates that it is the sixth revision, or bug fix, to that minor release.

These numbers indicate what type of update an app has received.

The Bug Fix

The most frequent types of app updates are bug fixes. Bug fixes are typically covered in “revision” or “bug fix” releases. Bug fixes don’t change the structure or feature set of an app. Instead, these updates make sure that the app is working as designed.

No matter how much beta or user testing a developer does before releasing an app, there are always going to be problems, bugs and issues that only show up after the app is used more broadly.

Bug fixes are a way to keep the integrity and structure of the app intact, while making sure that it doesn’t crash and performs more optimally.

Google‘s update policy with the Android Market allows developers to push out updates whenever they want. With Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, however, updates have to go through the same approval process as submitting an app to an app repository in the first place.

Apple has a policy in place with the App Store that allows developers to fast-track an important or crucial bug or security fix without having to wait as long as with a regular update. Still, these instances are reserved for situations in which an app is either crashing consistently or is potentially insecure.

Because it takes time for even bug fixes to get approved, many developers try to lump several updates and bug fixes together in one release. This limits the number of new downloads for the user and prevents the developer from having to wait through multiple approval queues.

Developers should triage bug fixes based on factors like how many users are affected (or how many have complained) and the severity of a problem.

Adding or Removing Features and Updating UI

Adding or removing features from an app is a more significant update than a bug fix. For example, when Facebook released version 3.5 of its iPhone app, it rolled in new privacy updates, refined the user interface and added the ability to share external links from within the app.

It’s common for developers to use designations like “.5″ as a major milestone for a release. In other words, a 3.5 update is often seen as more significant than the 3.1 update.

Adding and removing features is an important part of the app development process. When it comes time to add a feature, it’s important to look at the feedback you are getting from your users. If enough users are requesting a feature, it’s a good idea to look into what would be required to add that feature.

Just as important as adding features is removing functionality. It isn’t uncommon for developers to go into the app creation process with one feature in mind, only to find that users don’t like or use the feature, or that it doesn’t work as expected.

Sometimes, features have to be removed for performance, stability or even compliance reasons. When making the decision to remove a feature, keep in mind what impact removing that feature will have on your users. If a feature is causing undue strain, performance problems or it’s not being used, dropping it is often worthwhile.

Marco Arment’s popular Instapaper app for iPhone and iPad has undergone some significant changes over the years. Arment is not afraid to remove features that aren’t used by enough of his users or that cause undue server strain.

Major Updates

A major version number update indicates that the app has some significant changes to its features, UI or both. This is the big release for an application.

Earlier this week, Instagram released version 2.0 of its popular iPhone app. The new version added a significant number of new features, including live filters, tilt-shift in camera, higher resolution photos and enhanced filter options.

Major Update or a Whole New App?

The big question for lots of mobile developers is when to issue a major update — as in a new version number — and when to release a whole new app.

With traditional software, developers can charge for software and offer special upgrade pricing. For example, when I bought Adobe Creative Suite CS5.5, I was able to get a discount directly from Adobe because I owned an earlier version of Creative Suite.

Likewise, when my favorite lightweight image editor Acorn was updated to version 3.0, its developer was able to offer it as a whole new version and charge for it accordingly.

This isn’t the case with most mobile app stores. Apple doesn’t allow developers to offer upgrade app pricing. In other words, if I want to update my iPhone app to version 2.0, I have to either give everyone who purchased 1.0 or higher a free upgrade or release a brand new version of the app.

Both strategies have their pros and cons, and it’s important for developers who charge for their mobile apps to take both scenarios into account.

Pros and Cons of Releasing an App Update:

• Pro: Existing users will be happy that they don’t have to pay.
• Pro: Promoting the app and the update won’t require changing any links to the App Store.
• Con: The development costs for the new version need to come from brand new customers.
• Con: Users are forced to update the app (unless they explicitly choose not to).

Pros and Cons of Releasing a New App:

• Pro: The developer can get paid for their work.
• Pro: Users are not forced to upgrade the app. They can continue to use the old version indefinitely.
• Con: Users might revolt or be disinterested in buying a new version.
• Con: Migrating settings might be difficult or untenable.
• Con: Promoting the app and letting new users know about the upgrade might be difficult.

Most mobile app developers do not release a new version of their app and instead update the existing version. However, some developers have managed to release a new version of the app and have done so successfully. Before selling to Twitter, Loren Brichter released Tweetie 2 for iPhone as a brand new app, and thus a paid upgrade. Some users did complain about the charge, but Brichter held his ground and the app was a massive success.

A common workaround that many developers have successfully used is to offer their app for free for a limited time, in order to allow existing users to upgrade for free, and then to start charging the usual sales price. Some developers also offer the app at a discount for the first few days both to promote a new release and as a gesture of good-will towards existing users.

In-App Purchase as an Update Tool

For developers of games and other types of extensible apps, a common upgrade approach is to release new level packs via in-app purchase.

PlayFirst, Inc’s Dash series of games frequently releases updates both to the main application, as well as additional level add-on packs. This is an easy way for the developer to extend the game without forcing customers to buy and download a new version.

Likewise, music apps and document and utility managers can offer add-ons that add support for new features.

Keep in mind, the in-app purchase approach doesn’t work with all apps. It’s a very different type of business model, but for game developers, can often be the best way to approach extending a game.

Apptooth (www.apptooth.com)  is a leading developer of mobile applications and games for the iPhone, iPad, Android and all other major mobile platforms. Apptooth programmers have engineered over 240 apps to date yielding over 40 million downloads, with plenty more to come. Apptooth offers design and development services for iPhone, Android and more. Please feel free to get in touch with us to find out how we can help your app stand apart in a crowded marketplace.

Like us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/apptooth and have first access to our upcoming mobile applications and games and receive the most recent App, iPhone, iPad,  Mac, Android and Apple  news and updates.

So now let’s talk about the iPad 2. The new model has a camera, two of them actually, one to make video conferencing possible, the other to take snap shots of the landscape while you’re out and about. This is useful sure, but not great. The qualities of these cameras are not what they should be. While the iPhone cameras are surprisingly good, the ones in the iPad can’t quite match the pixel count of my first digital camera from the mid 90s. I suppose something is better than the nothing offered by the original. On the other hand it just feels like the cameras were intentionally omitted from the first edition in order for Apple to have a bigger selling feature for the sequel. I mean honestly what else are they offering?

The new device has some marginal physical improvements. It is slightly thinner and lighter, and may even have slightly longer battery life. It also has a slightly faster processor. However, I don’t think the small size difference is enough to put it on a par with the Kindle as a book reader, nor have I heard any complaints about the first edition being too slow or lacking in battery. The new case is cool, so cool in fact that it should have been included as standard equipment. Not only was the case designed for the tool, but the tool was designed for the case. The interactive on/off makes it a must have accessory.

Still no Retina display, what’s up with that? Is it just me? Does anyone else get the feeling that Apple is holding out on us? Maybe they were concerned that a better display might make the poor camera resolution too obvious. It could be that the new technology spread across that much real estate would be cost prohibitive. Yes, let’s go with that. I prefer to think that Apple is continuously improving the product while maintaining the cost point, rather than believe that they rationing out the technology in order to sell the same thing to a captive customer base over and over.

No change in the memory structure. Since the first iPod came out in 2001, every new device has come with more memory for the same price if not less. Flash memory prices continue to plummet across the board but Apple seems to be pocketing the difference on this one. And still no ports. I was hoping to see a USB or maybe an SD slot. I suppose that would just make it too easy for aftermarket accessory makers to cut into Apple’s proprietary and very lucrative add on market. Apple would much rather see their customers collect a drawer full of 30 pin dongles with their logo stamped on them.

So after all the negative points, is the iPad worth buying? Yes and no. If you already have the original, you would not really be gaining that much by investing again. Wait for the next generation, it won’t take long. If you are not one of the millions who have already jumped into this new world of mobile computing, what are you waiting for? As with any technology, the longer you wait, the more you will get for your money. Still when I think back on all the time and money I spent learning basic programming on an old Apple IIe in the early 80s, I don’t regret a dollar or a minute of it.

Here is another point to ponder; Apple now has competition in this market. They may be a little late getting out there but Android based machines have been scrambling to earn your consideration, and they are offering some pretty impressive hardware. However I have not yet seen anything with comparable features that can match Apple’s price. Who would ever have thought that Apple would be the low cost leader at anything?

In the time it took me to find my glasses and grab a jacket my wife had already bought the tickets and was waiting for me at the door. I asked, “How did you do that?” She said, “It’s all in the apps.”

In the old days when a computer was a big beige box connected to a monitor on the desktop I remember wandering through computer stores looking at all the software. I knew that the magic box was useless without an application program to run on it. Once I got it connected to the internet, I did most of my software shopping from home. Browsing web sites, looking for the programs that would make my machine come to life. In the modern world a computer can be a small hand held device that somehow doubles as a phone, or a note pad, or even a big box attached to a monitor on a desktop. The hardware has always been less important than the software. After all the hardware is just a delivery system. Application programs are what really make things happen. As the evolution of hardware has allowed us to shrink these devices small enough to fit in a pocket, the evolution of software has condensed application programs into Apps.

An App is a simple one button access key into any one of about a million different directions. First you have to decide where you want to go. With all the possibilities, that is not as easy as you might think. Next you load the app into your device. This part is actually easier than you might think. That’s it, just push the button and you are there. Broadcast your innermost thoughts to the world on Twitter. See what your friends are up to on Facebook.  Kill a few minutes playing your favorite game. Catch the latest news, weather, and sports, whatever. You’ve all seen the ads, there’s an App for that. Believe it! If you can’t find the app you’re looking for, then the world is waiting for you to create it. The greatest challenge for app developers today is not creating the app, it’s generating the idea. Not that there is any shortage of ideas, the app market is booming all over the place.

A few years ago Apple a new operating system called iOS. They were looking for a simple easy to use navigation system that would allow the user to access some basic programs using just fingers on a small touch screen. App buttons seemed like a logical way to link them up. It wasn’t long before other smart phones running on Google’s operating system started using apps also. These little finger buttons are just the right size and shape to fit on a pocket sized computer. Apple and Android apps are built using different formats but from a user perspective they are nearly identical. Most popular developers offer their apps in both formats in order to reach customers on both devices.

Paradigm shift, the micro computer. Microprocessors and integrated circuits made it possible for the average home hobbyist or adventurous soul to try their skills at basic programming. There were a few who took the challenge seriously.  In the mid 70s, a couple of Stevens built a computer and started a company called Apple Computers. The business model was slightly different than all the other little upstart computer companies at the time. While other makers would gather components, put them in a box stamped with their logo, and light it up with a license from Microsoft. These guys used their own parts and their own operating system.

Apple never quite reached number one in the computer business but they kept a respectable market share and continued to grow as many others did not. Windows based systems had the advantage of more software. Most developers would rather write software for the more popular systems.  Windows became the system of choice for business as well as most home users. It soon became clear that Apple Computers. would never expand its market share beyond the very loyal customer base that it currently held.

Another Paradigm shift, this one a game changer, the iPod. In 2001 Apple introduced the iPod; it was clean, small, and elegant. The idea of a portable MP3 player was not entirely new. Many people had been using questionable file sharing services to quietly build their own music collection. Apple had a better plan. They signed all five major record companies to join a new music download service they called iTunes witch legitimized and simplified the whole process. This time the closed house business model was working for them. By 2005 iTunes was selling 500 million songs a year and growing strong. Apple Computers was no more, Apple Inc. was born.

In 2007 Apple jumped into a new market with the introduction of the iPhone. Again the idea of a smart phone was not new. Of course it was well made and had many cool features but the thing that made this phone different from any other was the introduction of Apps. Customers could not get enough of these little widgets. Weather it is a useful time saving program or a useless time wasting game, it has become a necessary part of every iPhone owners day. The App market has grown faster than anything Apple has ever done. The total number of Apps on the market continues to grow so fast that any number put in this article would be meaningless by the time you read it.

Now four years old the iPhone has new competition. Using the strategy that worked so well for Microsoft, Google has spread their operating system across many different hardware platforms. A growing number of smart phone manufacturers are using the Android OS. Android also has a large collection of apps. However by coming late to the party they have given Apple a substantial head start in sheer numbers. Consumers lean toward the more popular systems, so who will win this popularity contest? In the end it will all come down to the apps.

About a year ago Apple introduced the iPad. Filling its own niche in a mobile computing world this device has created a whole new target to shoot for. Again the hardware builders are scrambling to create Android based clones. All of these new toys are fueled by apps. Apple is still running a tight ship with solid controls and approval process before any app can be released on their systems. Android on the other hand is wide open. If you can create an app that can run on their software, throw it out there. Most of the more popular apps have been released in both formats. In the old computer battles of twenty years ago Apple eventually provided a way to run Microsoft software on their systems. I have to wonder if there will one day be a similar method crossing the app lines, and if so witch side will provide it. There should probably be an app for that.

Since the first Ipad launch last year there have been many imitators but none have had the runaway success of the Apple tablet. According to a report by ABI Research the Ipad has 93 per cent of the tablet market, having sold millions.

That sort of brand awareness for the tablet market guaranteed the Ipad 2 good sales and when the refreshed drinks tray was launched in the US the opening weekend had seven figure sales. Though some might argue that the drawback to having such a gargantuan market share is that it can only go down.

However everything so far points to the Ipad 2 ruling in the UK after its launch, with it being available on Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile and the Three network. Yet it is a product not much changed from its predecessor.

The Ipad 2 specifications only really differ from its predecessor’s thanks to its dual core 1GHz A5 processor, a gyroscope, HDMI out and dual cameras. The front-facing camera is VGA while the rear-facing camera is a mystery because no megapixel number is given. But Apple says it can capture HD 720p video.

In the meantime the competition has been organising itself to grab some of this juicy new market that the experts expect to cannibalise the netbook and possibly even notebook sectors. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Motorola’s Xoom have been touted as the anti-Ipads to watch and both run the Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system.

The Xoom has a 1GHz dual-core processor, supports Adobe Flash and Air and it has a better display because it is larger at 10.1-inches and its resolution is better at 1280×800. The Ipad 2 display is 1024×768. The Xoom also has a 10-hour battery life, a 5MP rear-facing camera for HD 720p video capture and a 2MP front-facing camera for video calls, a barometer, an e-compass and an accelerometer.

Samsung launched its 7-inch Galaxy Tab last year but announced this year the 10.1-inch and 8.9-inch versions. The company has denied poor sales of its 7-inch product but the suggestion that it has not fared well must be heartening for Steve Jobs because he had claimed that all 7-inch tablets would be dead-on-arrival.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a 1GHz dual core processor, its 10.1-inch display has 1280×800 resolution and it comes with 16GB, 32GB and 64GB storage options. It will also have WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, a rear facing 3MP camera with flash and a 2MP front facing camera. The 8.9-inch version’s specifications are exactly the same as the 10.1-inch. But just to confuse things there are two 10.1-inch models. The only difference is that one has a thickness of 10.9mm and the other 8.6mm. At 8.6mm the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is 0.2mm thinner than the Ipad 2.

Steve Jobs made great play of the Ipad 2′s 8.8mm thickness so the Galaxy Tab’s thinner profile is bound to be played up in the marketing material. As will the fact that the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab is lighter, by all of 6g, than the Ipad 2. Weight reduction was another important selling point for Jobs.