It’s holiday season and lot of us are looking to buy or gift a mobile device. It has been a tremendous year for OMAP™ fans everywhere and a lot of awesome hardware is available today to include in your must have holiday shopping list. I thought I will take a stab at listing out my favorite cool new OMAP powered products for your shopping list or just wish Santa will bring you one of them!

Smartphones:

Yep the smartphones from last year have been outsmarted yet again. Here are my OMAP powered picks:

 

Samsung Galaxy Nexus (OMAP4460): If you are looking to get a fix of latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in time for the holidays this is the only way to go. Simply awesome Samsung hardware & the latest unadulterated Google Android software are tough to beat combination. Though I have not played with the device nor tested it’s camera - the choice of 5MPx camera sensor is a bit of a let down for any flag ship device in 2011. If you are not in it for the camera - then the Galaxy Nexus is hands down the best smartphone you can own this year.

 

Motorola Droid RAZR (OMAP4430): This is my personal favorite. Simply awesome crafted hardware - it’s true to it’s name RAZR. As well as handles 1080p video recording and 8Mpx stills that you tend to expect from a flagship smartphone in 2011. The device is blazing fast for all you can throw at it and has LTE support on Verizon USA. In addition Motorola has promised a upgrade to Android 4.0 in 2012.

 

Motorola Droid 3 (OMAP4430): If you need to have a traditional QWERTY - then the Droid 3 has one of the best keyboards on a smartphone.

 

Motorola Droid Bionic (OMAP4430) : In addition to being all you expect 2011 smartphone  - the droid Bionic takes the smartphone experience to the next level with Motorola’s Webtop application & lapdock accessories.

 

LG Thrill (OMAP4430) : The world is 3 dimensions - so why should our smartphones capture and render anything less that that. The LG thrill is one of the first 3D smartphones with 3D video capture & glasses free 3D playback. It does come with some limitations - the device's 3D display suffers from low viewing angles i.e., you need to hold it a specific way to enjoy the 3D effects.

 

Nokia N9 (OMAP3630) : The device does not earn the credit of having the leading edge OMAP technology - but, its a beauty in it's own right. The Nokia N9 is simply stunning piece of industrial design, runs MeeGo/Linux Operating system. The UI and the device are simply put "beautiful". The only let down is that Nokia has pulled the plug on MeeGo platform and any future updates to Nokia N9. However, Nokia N9 is the smartphone I would recommend to open source enthusiasts and linux hackers.

 

Tablets:

Kindle Fire (OMAP4430): For $199 it's a bargain for what it does. The key selling point of the device is how beautifully it ties to Amazon services, Amazon's android app store, Amazon prime with thousands of videos, mp3 & last but not least ebooks. This is the tablet I would recommend to all for this season.

 

Nook Tablet (OMAP4430): I have been a fan of the Nook Color (see below) but the Nook tablet take it to the next level. With Dual core OMAP4 SoC, better battery life, lesser weight, integrated new tablet centric apps like Hulu, Netflix are built in. However,  there is no official support for any market place. And I personally find the Kindle a better device for most people as it gives access to broad range of amazon services.

 

Blackberry Playbook (OMAP4430): The Playbook is a decent device especially for enterprise, blackberry owners. If you are happy with the built in applications, lack of native mail/calendar client, & the rather small blackberry app store choices then it might be a good buy. Most retailers seem to be offering deep discounts on the Playbook this holiday season to making it a sweeter deal.

 

Archos G9 (OMAP4) : Finely spec'ed device with great media codec support. The G9 is pretty awesome bang for the buck. I am looking forward to the Turbo versions with 1.5Ghz Dual core and 250GB disk space.

 

Ebook Readers:

 

Nook Simple Touch (OMAP3): eInk displays provide a book-like reading experience and Nook Simple Touch gets you started at a very low price with great usability & performance. It also supports a open ePUB format that most libraries and ebooks are available in.

 

B&N Nook Color (OMAP3621) : The Nook color is still my favorite color ebook reader - or should I say tablet. It's easy to convert to a fully functional Android tablet (See: Cyanogenmod). Well you don't need to give up on your ebook's as you can install Amazon's Kindle app as well as B&N Nook app and get best everything Amazon, B&N and Android has to offer.

 

Hackable Development Boards

Yeah this is a special category for hardware hackers & enthusiasts.

PandaBoard: Low-cost way to get access to cutting edge OMAP technology in a open-source package. With over 70 community projects, 1100 community members & 9 linux distro you can scratch your geek itch this holidays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

 

Full Disclosure: I work for Texas Instruments in the OMAP team. The post has been composed with public information & expresses my personal views.