Category Archives: Android

Samsung Galaxy K Zoom – one month later

Android, Reviews, Tech News

Well, it’s been a month nearly with the K Zoom. It’s my vintage device and my main phone still.

I still have some of the small issues mentioned previously, but it’s unique enough that no other phone tempts me. Well, that’s not true. Every new phone is tempting 🙂 but the camera on the K Zoom keeps me on track.

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Finally, I’ve given touchwiz the boot. I’ve installed Apex Launcher Pro. I own Nova Launcher too but Apex is better when it comes to theming, although the difference between the two is very close. The above screen shot is using 2 Netatmo app widgets, and the 1theLucent theme. I have 2 other screen shots. One for the camera widget and the other my calendar. What I like about Apex Launcher is with the phone on any home screen, just say “Ok Google” and Google fires up listening for your commands. This is done with needing to add the Google search widget to the home screen and makes the user experience really slick.

I have a feeling that I’m enjoying the K Zoom so much it could be my main driver for quite a while longer as there is not much to dislike if photography is your thing.

Because I’m using Apex Launcher and customised the number of row and columns the camera widget looks better as shown below.

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So it’s happy days for now.

Episode 18 – Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast is live – Please RT

Android, Apple, Reviews, Tech News, Windows,

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 18, is now live for your listening pleasure. Time travel included.

LG G Watch vs Samsung Gear Live – specs compared and my views

Android, Tech News, Wearables

Available to pre order on the US Play Store are the LG G Watch and Samsung Gear Live, both running android wear. Below is the Gear Live specs –

Display – 1.63" Super AMOLED (320 x 320)
Processor – 1.2 GHz Processor
Google Services – Google Now, Google Voice, Google Maps & Navigation, Gmail, Hangouts
Additional Features – Notification (SMS, E-mail, etc.)
Heart Rate Monitor, IP67 Dust and Water Resistant
Changeable Strap, Colour Options -Black and Wine Red
Connectivity – Bluetooth® v4.0 LE
Sensors – Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass, Heart Rate
RAM – 512MB
Storage – 4GB Internal Memory
Dimensions and Weight – 37.9 x 56.4x 8.9 mm, 59g
Battery – Li-ion 300mAh

So all fairly similar to the Samsung Gear smartwatch running Tizen OS. But if I had to chose between the two, I would pick the Live version due to the longer potential of the app support. However, I would the infra red blaster and camera that comes with the Samsung Gear, although most people wouldn't care about those features.

Just as a side note, the LG G Watch also announced has a larger display at 1.65 inches vs the Live at 1.63 inches, but the LG has a lower resolution at 280 x 280, instead of the Samsung Gear Live at 320 x 320. Also the LG has a bigger battery at 400maH but does not have the heart rate monitor of the Samsung. So if fitness is your thing, then I would opt for the Samsung Gear Live.

So what do you think of these new watches? Are you going to be getting one, or are you holding out for the Moto 360 which will be available later in July.

I don’t wear a watch, so not sure why I would get one, plus why pay ÂŁ159 for the LG or ÂŁ169 for the Samsung for a device, when you have a phone in your pocket that does everything anyway? Plus the Samsung is saying battery life only 1 day. So it will constantly need charging.

Play store links

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=samsung_gear_live_black&hl=en

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=lg_g_watch_black&hl=en

Google Play Services 5 – what does it include ?

Android, Tech News

Google Play Services 5.0 includes a number of key attributes. Below is a summary that will be integrated into each phone –

Services for Android wearables — Your apps can more easily communicate and sync with code running on Android wearables through an automatically synchronized, persistent data store and a reliable messaging interface.

Play Games services — Build a great gaming experience with Quests, which allow event-based challenges for players to complete for rewards, Saved Games (a snapshot API allow synchronization of game data along with a cover-image and description), and Game Profile (providing experience points for players).
App Indexing API — Surface deep content in your native mobile applications on Google search and drive additional user engagement.

Google Cast — Use media tracks to enable closed-caption support for Chromecast.

Drive — Sort query results, create offline folders, and select any mime type in the file picker by default.

Wallet — Build a “Save to Wallet” button for offers directly into your app; use geo-fenced in-store notifications to prompt the user to show and scan digital cards. Split tender allows payment to be split between Wallet Balance and a credit/debit card in Google Wallet.

Analytics — Get insights into the full user journey and understand how different user acquisition campaigns are performing with Enhanced Ecommerce, letting you measure product impressions, product clicks, and more.
Mobile Ads — Use improved in-app purchase ads and integrations for the Play store in-app purchase API client.

Dynamic Security Provider — Offers an alternative to the platform’s secure networking APIs that can be updated more frequently, for faster delivery of security patches.

Developers announce their support of Google’s new platforms

Android, Tech News

Hot off the press from Google I/O day 1, Runtastic has announced their apps will support Google Fit, Google Glass and Android Wear integration.

Gameloft has announced that 9 of their games, Asphalt 8: Airborne, Despicable Me: Minion Rush, Gameloft optimized GT Racing 2, Dungeon Hunter 4, Ice Age Village, Modern Combat 4, My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic, Wonder Zoo and World at Arms, will support Android TV.

So watch out in app purchases will now come to a TV new you!

Google releases Gmail API – full info

Android, Tech News

Google has announced a new Gmail API to replace the IMAP protocol. According to Google, while IMAP is great for standard email clients wanting to connect to an email server, the function is was designed for, it is no longer adequate for new features Gmail makes available or the way services have evolved. I wonder how this might impact future email clients though.

One of the differences for Gmail compared to IMAP is the addition of Labels, which Gmail uses instead of folders. The new Gmail API is designed to work with those labels in providing full RESTful access using OAuth 2.0 authorisation and the ability to support CRUD operations.

Another change is in the fact that this is a standard Google API that enables simple HTTPS calls to query or call Gmail. This means developers can use a variety of standard web languages and frameworks to access. As a standard Google API, it also means normal Google search queries can be used to only pull a subset of messages instead of accessing all messages as IMAP required. The new API also adds more granularity to functions accessed, like only giving an app “compose” access so it can send a message and not read access to a user’s messages.

The above should help improve speed of access.