If you were in any doubt that the camera on the new Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge wasn’t up to scratch, then take a look at this superb camera comparison video showing off the strengths and weaknesses of the respective phones using both photo and video.
During the video, in order to be fairer at times, an iPhone 6S Plus is used, especially for low light shots against the S7.
So take a look at the video below by @SuperSafTV. It is another superb video from SuperSaf, so make sure you check out his other videos too.
Welcome to my review of the Sony XBA-1 in ear headphones.
The Key Specifications
– Type Closed,Balanced Armature
– Driver Unit Balanced Armature
– Sensitivity 108dB (150mV)
– Power Handling Capacity 100mW
– Impedance 24ohms at 1kHz
– Frequency Response 5-25,000Hz
– Cord OFC litz cord neck-chain
– Cord Length 1.2m
– Plug Gold-plated L-shaped stereo mini plug
– Weight (Without Cord) Approx. 3g
– Supplied Accessories Hybrid silicone rubber earbuds* (SSx2, Sx2, Mx2, Lx2), Noise isolation earbuds** (Sx2, Mx2, Lx2), Cord Adjuster (winds cord up to 50cm) x 1, Carrying Pouch x 1
* Hybrid silicone rubber earbuds (SS (Red) x 2, S (Orange) x 2, M (Green – attached to the unit) x 2, L (Light Blue) x 2)
** Noise isolation earbuds (S (Orange) x 2, M (Green) x 2, L (Light Blue) x 2)
The Audio Quality & Experience
The Sony XBA-1 in ear headphones are known to lack bass. That statement is definitely true if you don’t use a £300-£500 DAC/Amp as a minimum to drive them. If you plug these into your smartphone directly they sound fairly neutral and lacking bass. I really didn’t enjoy the sound from these from the start.
However after plugging these into the Pioneer XDP-100R Digital Audio Player these headphones came alive. They suddenly have the ability to deliver loads of bass but strictly only when the bass is present on the track. The mids and especially the treble are able to reproduce some fairly clear sounds with a splash of warm in their sound signature. The soundstage is not expansive. This is likely due to the closed headphone design.
Due to EC regulations new headphones sold in the Europe have the maximum volume level capped to protect your ears. I bought these from a Sony Centre who were clearing old stock for about £45. As these headphones were made prior to the changes you can reach decent volumes.
Conclusion
These sound signature of these headphones will not be welcome by many and probably because they are not being driven by decent hardware. With the correct quality hardware powering these they truly are splendid to listen too. Not recommended for general use.
The Telegraph has reported that Android Pay, Google’s equivalent payment system to Apple Pay, has got the green light and is going live in the UK later this month.
Android Pay will start to accelerate mobile payments from smartphones and remove Apple’s exclusivity with its Apple Pay. Samsung has also stated that its own mobile payments version is to launch in the UK sometime in 2016.
The whole idea of a mobile payment system is simplicity but it looks like everyone will want a slice of the action, so expect more companies to start to want to offer their own take on mobile payments.
Now if you have an android phone, you will need Android 4.3 as a minimum and NFC. Sadly NFC is excluded from many Chinese phones (not all) so it is worth checking if you have the minimum requirements. If you think you won’t be interested in using your phone to pay for goods, you will find this true at first. But 6 months later after using Apple Pay as often as possible, there is no way I would buy a phone that couldn’t support a mobile payment system.
Welcome to my review of the Netatmo Welcome Indoor Camera.
The Netatmo Welcome Indoor camera unique selling point is its ability to recognise faces and then send you notifications to your phone.
See video from Netatmo below showing this in action.
The Key Specifications
– Dimensions – 45x45x155mm
– In the Box – 1 x Welcome camera, 1 x USB cable, 1 x power adapter, 1 x 8GB micro SD card
– Build – Single piece of durable aluminium shell, Matte black plastic piece infrared transparent.
– Hardware Requirements – High-speed Internet connection needed, Public hotspots not supported.
– Connectivity Specifications – Ethernet RJ-45 port: 10/100 Mbits, Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4G)
– Camera – Video sensor: 4MP, Resolution: Up to 1920×1080
– Minimum iOS 8 for iPhone / iPad, Android 4.3 minimum
– Browser Support – Webapp available for the two latest versions of: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer
– Monthly Costs – Nil, Free to Use, App available on the App Store / Google Play.Free access to your camera online.
– Data Storage – MicroSD card up to 32GB (8GB class 10 MicroSD card included)
– Faces – Max 16 faces
The Hardware
The Netatmo Welcome camera is a lovely piece of hardware and doesn’t look like a typical camera. This means it gets blended into your environment without people gets paranoid they are being “watched”. In fact, you forget its actually there. On the rear there is an ethernet port, micro SD card slot and micro USB port. The front is minimalistic.
Background Notes for Review
Notes – I originally reviewed this after 3 weeks. Further down is my update after 4 months following a significant firmware update that added lots of new features which are documented along with a tip if you have dogs.
I have been using the Netatmo Welcome for 3 weeks now and overall have been pleased with its operation and results and intend to keep this indefinitely as my home connected security indoor camera. I also have several IP Cameras which were a total nightmare to setup and configure as remote access involved changing my home router configuration. I have now retired these. In terms of other connected devices, I have a Netatmo Urban Weather station which is coming up to 2 years old and a range of lights that are controlled from my iPhone and or Apple Watch. Due to protecting my own privacy, screen shots of the app in operation have been edited to remove views of my home.
The Initial Setup
Netatmo have made the first setup as simply as possible. I setup my Netatmo Welcome camera using my iPhone 6S Plus. I downloaded the Netatmo Welcome app from the Apple App Store and then followed the on screen setup instructions provided by the app. The app asks permissions to share Wi-Fi setup from your iPhone to the Welcome camera and literally within 5 minutes the camera is connected. Points to note. The Welcome camera only operates at 2.4G . Over the next 24 hours a new firmware arrived and got installed on the camera and the app showed me faces and asked me to identify who the respective people were. For each member of your house, a face profile gets created.
The Operation
The concept of the Netatmo Welcome camera is simple. It learns all the faces of people who live in your home/flat and then notifies you when somebody comes home and tells you who they are and also if somebody arrives who is not recognised. When movement is detected, it records a clip onto the micro SD card which can be streamed back on to your phone and or downloaded remotely to your phone as well. When at home you can also play back the recorded video clips.
Other options include a range of privacy and advanced security options. For example if your Netatmo password gets changed, or someone logs into your account you can receive an email. Netatmo will also block your account if there are too many failed attempts occur. In terms of learning faces, you can go into the app settings and speed up the learning process. You can also tell the system when the house is empty and adjust other settings as shown below.
Using the app on your phone is really easy. It shows a live view snapshot when you open the app. You can then hit the play icon to stream live video. Turning your phone landscape provides full screen playback and streaming. Scrolling the screen reveals details of who is at home and or when they were last seen. Scrolling the screen the other way reveals a list of when movement was detected. Tap on one notifications and you can watch or download the recorded movement. Now if your home is broken into and someone steals your camera, you will get a notification that Welcome was switched off. The person cannot access your data and videos without your Netatmo account details. However, this also means if the camera is never recovered, you cannot view the videos stored on the camera either. However, if you sign into My Netatmo on the web you will be able to see a screen shot of each video before it started the recording of the motion.
The video quality is excellent and the camera switches to night mode which provides clear images and video as well.
As I have mentioned I have had the Netatmo Welcome indoor camera for 3 weeks now. In that time, the camera has come offline about 4 times for no apparent reasons and then reconnected a few hours later. I don’t know if its my broadband dropping although that wouldn’t surprise me as the connection does vanish occasionally. I have only had to pull the power cord out and replug back in to restart the camera just once when it became unresponsive. In terms of recognising faces this is now 90% accurate. I have relocated the camera several times to get a better position. To be honest, positioning is crucial. If the camera is recording motion to the micro SD card, it is not possible to see a live view until this has finished.
UPDATE – 4 months later, Netatmo released a major firmware update. This improved its performance and reliability but also added Dropbox support and tags. With Dropbox you can now upload video clips to the cloud instead of using the micro SD card.
Tags are waterproof sensors for doors and windows. Photo above is one of my tags. The Netatmo tags are superb as they detect the motion before the intrusion occurs. That is because they detect vibrations. The Tags’ have an integrated open/closed state sensor, so you can choose to be alerted if you have accidentally left a window or the garage door open. And then you can check directly on your smartphone if all windows are closed.
Tips – I have 3 labradors and the Welcome camera was recognising my dogs faces. So instead of telling the Welcome camera they were not faces, I did the opposite. So now it recognises my 3 labradors and that means I don’t get any false notifications about an unknown face.
The Special Stuff
The Netatmo Welcome camera supports third apps and that extends to IFTTT. This opens up a whole world of different sequences that can be achieved. See screen shot below.
You can also add Welcome tags to the system, sensors for doors and windows. The other aspect I like about the Netatmo Welcome Indoor camera is once bought, there are no other costs. Its free and it has no monthly charges either.
As I mentioned already, Netatmo allow you to sign into to your camera via a web browser which uses their web app. Using a web browser, if you have other Netatmo products, you can access all the different connected devices in one go.
Conclusion
The Netatmo Welcome Indoor camera recommended retail price is £199, although if you click the link below it is available for a lot less. It provides piece of mind with its face recognition and notifications with zero ongoing costs once purchased. Add to the fact it supports third party app integration and it becomes a decent investment. It also doesn’t look like a typical camera so blends into the home environment.
And now after using it for over 4 months the added new features of tags and Dropbox integration really add to its value.
Sometimes you just fancy a quick game to play and one of my favourite casual games to play on iOS is Pako Car Chase Simulator .
There are several reasons why I like this game. Firstly there are no in app purchases which makes a change. And no adverts as well.
Secondly you’re in control of a selection of vehicles in a closed area and have to survive for as long as possible. There are a choice of 15 different locations each of which has its own vehicle, most of which are so different from the previous location. Locations include trailers park, airport, the moon, suburbia and vehicles can be anything from a limo to a camper van.
Online leaderboards for each locations are available as well as many achievements to unlock. If you feel so inclined you can tweet or Facebook your scores.
And when you crash and it’s game over, you can restart the next game instantly. In terms of compatibility Pako is optimised for iPhones from the iPhone 5. It is also a universal app and playable on the new Apple TV!!
This is a slightly different call of help. Gavin’s Gadgets is now in its 4th Year and is about to breach the allocated space barrier provided by WordPress. The solution is always simple. Pay more money to WordPress (again) 🙂
So if you enjoy visiting Gavin’s Gadgets and appreciate the near lack of advertising, which is rather unique in today’s world, then please think about helping in one or two different ways.
The easiest if you’re living in the UK, is to visit Amazon UK via my affiliate link below. That way I earn a few pennies every time you need to buy something without it costing you anything extra. You need to go through my affiliate link every time you want to buy something as it doesn’t remember previous visits.
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In the world of technology, Apple Keynotes are big events watched by millions around the world. It is a time when Apple woo us with new hardware and software with the added incentive that you can order everything you see straight away.
So what are we expecting in a few weeks?
On the hardware front the rumours are suggesting a new iPhone. Actually it will be the shape and size of the original iPhone 5, with the new model likely to be called the iPhone 5se. So Apple will bring back the 4 inch screen iPhone again, but with bumped up internals. Expect to see a faster processor and Apple Pay too.
A new iPad is also expected. The latest rumours suggest that it won’t be called the iPad Air 3. Instead it will be called the iPad Pro 9.7 inch complete with Apple Pencil support and its own smart keyboard. If this rumour is true, I would be very excited to see this iPad, but sadly expect a high price.
Another rumour is regarding the Apple Watch. Some are suggesting this will receive a slight hardware improvement along with new Apple Watch straps. I would be surprised if Apple update the watch internals but you never know they might surprise us all.
In addition, the latest versions of all its iOS and MAC software will receive software updates and some new features.
@GadgetsBoy on twitter retweeted details of information provided by Hotwire PR as to which phone was most popular on twitter along with the associated tweets.
The above photo taken last night on my iPhone 6S Plus ranks as my favourite photo so far of 2016. If you click on the photo you will be able to see the full size version too. The photo was a cool 73.29 seconds long exposure, using Nightcap Pro app.
The photo is of Sharpitor, Dartmoor. Sharpitor is one of a number of tors that feature on Dartmoor. A tor, which is also known by geomorphologists as either a castle koppie or kopje, is a large, free-standing rock outcrop that rises abruptly from the surrounding smooth and gentle slopes of a rounded hill summit or ridge crest. In the South West of England, the term is commonly also used for the hills themselves – particularly the high points of Dartmoor in Devon and Bodmin Moor in Cornwall.
It just goes to show that when software and hardware work in harmony nearly anything is possible. I really love this photo!
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 