Category Archives: Android

Do specs matter – In particular processors?

You looking at your 2 year old smartphone and wondering why should you buy the newer model. It claims to have a new snapdragon 801, or 800 or if you’re lucky the snapdragon 805, bigger battery, better screen and high mega pixel camera and so on.

But do these improved specs matter? Depending on what and how you use your phone, they may make no difference whatsoever. But a more powerful processor can make a world of difference depending on your smartphone usage.

Newer processor aren’t all about being more powerful unless you’re into gaming. They have many other benefits too. Battery consumption generally improves as the newer processors can handle more tasks more efficiently and also run at a lower clock speed for more mundane activities.

But another aspect of more powerful processors on board relate to improved camera prowess. Historically cameras are all about decent optics with big bulky lenses, pixel size and speed. This is still true for now, but as technology improves processors can start to remove the need for complex optics since brute computing power undertaking at lightning speeds will be able to produce similar results without the bulk. So a snapdragon 800 processor will not be able to offer the same camera trickery as the newer snapdragon 805. So it photography is your thing , then this may be worth noting. Obviously, well written camera firmware and software is another vital part.

However, if photos are merely uploaded to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram or anything similar, then a cheap Moto E phone will suffice and all internal specs will be irrelevant to you.

So do you worry about the specs?

Is this the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 – photos

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GSMArena has acquired photos purporting to be that of the upcoming Note 4. They seem to take a design clue from the Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Either way if these photos are legit, the Note 4 doesn’t seem to be that appealing or that much different from the Note 3. In fact, I prefer the fake stitched leather of the Note 3.

Fortunately, we are only a few weeks away from Samsung officially taking the wraps of this phablet.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha – full specs and details

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Brazilian site Tecmundo has revealed the above photo of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha which will have a a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 1080×720. Inside there will be 2GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage and in some markets a 64GB version of the phone will also be available, although based on past history this version will not arrive in the UK. The smartphone will have a 1860mAh battery and USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 4.0. It will contain a 12 megapixel rear camera and a 2.1 megapixel front facing camera.

The specs also show a heart rate monitor and a fingerprint reader will be included in the Galaxy Alpha. The processor is supposed to be a octa-core Exynos chip, with four cores running at 1.8 GHz and the other four at 1.3 GHz. The article claims the phone will be priced at R$2,399, or about $1,048 and will be released sometime in the second half of September or the first half of October.

This is meant to be Samsung’s answer to the iPhone but what do you all think about this ?

Source – techmundo.com

LG G3 – review – one month later

Stop, wait a minute I have owned the LG G3 for more than 2 weeks. In fact it’s just over 4 weeks now which is vintage in my life span for a phone. In fact, I can see myself owning the G3 for a while longer.

So what are my reasons for liking the G3 so much. A short answer is that it is really lovely to use. Here are my key takeaways –

1) Screen – yes it’s a 2.5K screen and who cares really. What matters is that the screen takes up nearly 80% of the front. Being all screen is a huge wow factor. First comments from friends are “that’s a real beast of a phone “. Having such a decent screen is a joy to use. To browse the internet. To admire my photos and edit them easily. YouTube now plays videos at the G3 screen resolution.

2) Gaming – guess what having such an all screen phone with tiny bezels makes it even more enjoyable to immerse oneself into all games. Attached to my Moga Pro Power game controller and it is a match made in heaven.

3) Double Tap/Tap to Lock or Unlock – double tapping to turn on or off just works. It really should be mandatory on all large phones. Or phones without a physical home button. The tap lock code feature is also neat and just works.

4) Rear hardware buttons – now that I’ve been using the G3 a month, there is no way I would want a phone without buttons on the rear. It really is simple to use. Firing up the camera from the off position is as simple as pressing and holding the volume down key.

5) LG QuickRemote software – it has a DVD Eject button as standard. Sounds simple but check your DVD hardware remote. It probably won’t have an eject button. Other manufacturers infra red software that I’ve used from HTC and Samsung do not have this option. LG is the first to have as this button as standard. Useful for me as my DVD eject button no longer works.

6) QSlide apps. Again a better implementation than others as not only can these be resized but you can also adjust the transparency. I just wished there was more apps to select.

7) LG’s multi screen mode is neatly integrated too.

8) LG software and launcher – there is everything to love about what LG has implemented. Customisable if you so wish from the icons, themes and even keyboard.

9) The built in keyboard is one of the best I’ve used. Adjustable height but more importantly accurate and fast.

10) Good quality sound via headphones and acceptable clean sound via the loudspeaker.

11) Camera. As easy as abc and takes good shots in most conditions rather than good shots only is bright sunlight. It is also fast and a pleasure to use.

12) LG Accessories. LG offer a number of cases and accessories for the G3 and they are all excellent. The LG Qi wireless charging stand is simple. At night I rest my G3 on the stand and by morning it is always showing battery at 100%. It just works. If I compare this to the official Samsung S5 implementation, the S5 qi cover and charging was a total nightmare and not worth the effort. The QuickCircle case is one of the coolest cases I’ve used in a long time. It just works really well for example – if you press down the volume down key to launch the camera, the camera fires up and you look through the circle and tap to focus and take shot. Simple and just works. Then there is the Slim Guard cover. This like the a QuickCircle case replaces the rear battery cover and provides a more rugged finish with a rubber outer edge.

13) Profile – make no mistakes the G3 is big. But it feels so small in the hand. And comfortable. Rear buttons. Double tap. And more make this big phone the easiest to use out of any on the market at the moment.

And a feature that surely should be optional on all android phones

14) Customisable menu buttons. From 3, 4 or 5 menu options and in any order you prefer, from home, back, recent items, multi window , quick memo, QSlide apps and notification panel.

15) Other features from the health app, smart notice and so much more I could continue for a lot longer.

So in summary, LG wanted to create a simple device. In practice it can be that phone but also tweaked to perfection.

Any questions , please ask away.

Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast is live – Please RT

As you know, I co-host a weekly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast bi-weekly. To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.

Episode 21, is now live for your listening pleasure.

This is a much shorter but more costly production via satellite phone.

Aldi – budget supermarket offering it’s own activity tracker wearable for low £££s

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If you don’t mind having a supermarket branded fitness tracker, then Aldi have you sorted.

Provides distance based on steps, monitors your quality of sleep, waterproof for swimming. Custom fit, unisex bracelet and rechargeable battery (with USB)

KEY FEATURES:

✓ 14 DAY MEMORY

✓ CHARGING CABLE

✓ USER MANUAL/WARRANTY CARD

✓ BLUETOOTH VERSION 4.0

✓ EASY-READ LED ACTIVITY MONITORING

✓ WATERPROOF

✓ 24/7 TRACKING

✓ EASY SET UP

So what more do you need?

LG G Watch – corrosion conclusion – review – the unanswered questions

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5 days ago I posted an article explaining that Google support had given me a time sensitive deal which would only be valid for 24 hours to accept a replacement LG G Watch.

I challenged this with a simple request. Would the replacement be of a different design? and or would there be any reason to expect corrosion with a replacement. I really liked the G Watch. But all I wanted was some form of conclusion and confirmation by Google.

So how did this get resolved by Google. A RMA for a refund has been processed. No explanation has been provided. So it could be that the specialist support team knew nothing, knew everything but could not confirm either way or knew the watch would corrode again after the OTA update to fix the charging pins being active whilst off the cradle.

What is odd about the LG G Watch OTA update which is suppose to stop the charging pins being active when not on the cradle, is the Samsung Gear Live watch is about to receive the exact same firmware update OTA and yet it does not have the same issues.

Whatever the reason or reasons for the corrosion, these will remain unanswered for now.

Update – official internal document from LG. Shame Google support knew nothing about this –

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LG G3 – 15 Part Review Summary

To help find all the posts relating to the LG G3 review, I have collated them below –

Part 1 – Review Part 1 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/lg-g3-review-part-1/

Part 2 – Camera Samples – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/lg-g3-sample-photos/

Part 3 – LG G3 Premium Hard Case – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/lg-g3-premium-hard-case-in-tan-review/

Part 4 – Review Part 2 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/lg-g3-review-part-2/

Part 5 – LG G3 Firmware update – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/lg-g3-first-firmware-update-now-coming-ota-full-change-log/

Part 6 – Review Part 3 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/lg-g3-review-part-3/

Part 7 – Review Part 4 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/lg-g3-review-part-4/

Part 8 – Game for the LG G3 QuickCircle case – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/lg-announces-a-game-for-the-lg-g3-quickcircle-case/

Part 9 – Review Part 5 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/lg-g3-review-part-5/

Part 10 – More Photo Samples – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/some-more-photos-from-the-lg-g3/

Part 11 – Action Shots – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/lg-g3-high-speed-camera-action-shots/

Part 12 – LG G3 vs Sony DSLR macro shootout – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/lg-g3-vs-sony-dslr-macro-shoutout-which-photo-came-from-which-device/

Part 13 – LG G3 Health – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/lg-g3-review-lg-health/

Part 14 – LG QuickCircle case – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/lg-quickcircle-cover-case-for-the-lg-g3-review/

Part 15 – LG WCD-100 – Qi Wireless Charger review – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/lg-wcd-100-review-lgs-g3-qi-wireless-charger/

And more posts to follow over the course of the following weeks.

Be careful – Google Play Music device limits changed

If you use Google Play Music you can have up to 10 devices authorised. But the bad news is that in a 12 month period you can only de authorise 4 devices.

And a word of warning – Every time you perform a factory reset or flash a firmware that counts as another device being authorised so you can see it is easy to be requiring to de authorise more than 4 devices in a year.

Samsung has lost its market share in China and India

Its not good news for Samsung as it is feeling the pressure from other companies. Samsung is still making the lion share of profits but they are declining.

According to Canalys, Xiaomi shipped 15 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2014, up from 4.4 million sales during Q2 2013. Samsung, meanwhile, sold 13.2 million smartphones in the country, down from 15.5 million a year ago.

Xiaomi now controls 14 percent of the Chinese smartphone market share, while Samsung, Lenovo and Yulong, the manufacturer of the Coolpad handsets, enjoy a 12 percent market share.

In Indian, Micromax has topped Samsung in a similar story to Xiaomi.

Just shows how fast technology changes and peoples perception of a brand.

Source – BLoomberg