Category Archives: Android

Google’s new video standard VP9

May 20, 2013Android, Tech NewsVP9Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

With mobile internet expanding faster than mobile operators and ISP’s can cope with. The surge in online video demand has put a strain on networks which leaves them no choice but to implement bandwidth caps.

CNET reported that Google is hoping to make help ISPs significantly ease the strain of video on their networks by pushing its new V9 video technology standard that should save about 50% of bandwidth. Google is promising developers that adopting the new standard will be easy and is promoting it as a free, open source alternative to rival codec H.264.

Saving bandwidth can’t be a bad thing so long as quality is not compromised.

Google Hangouts – Easter Eggs discovered

May 20, 2013Android, Tech NewsHangoutsGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Google Hangouts has six hidden “easter eggs,” including ponies, dinosaurs, and the ability to change the background of the chat window. Google employee Moritz Toxdorff posted the above image on his Google+ account, which explains how to use them. All you need to do to experience the magic is type in your desired code into the chat window, and press enter.

Easter Eggs are great, and these ones are no exception.

Fitbit and the Samsung S4

May 20, 2013Android, Tech NewsFitbit, S4Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Fitbit has announced that they now support Bluetooth 4.0 syncing to the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Fitbit mentioned that every new phone that adds Bluetooth 4.0 sync support, requires custom development. While many of the new phones coming out have Bluetooth 4.0 hardware, many of them don’t have the necessary software for third party apps (like ours) to access this hardware.

Fortunately, Google has announced that they will be standardizing support for Bluetooth 4.0 in an upcoming Android OS, hopefully jellybean 4.3.

Apart from a number of Apple devices, Fitbit also supports the S3, Note 2 and Note 10.1 .

Perspective – Apple sales vs Samsung figures

May 19, 2013Android, Apple, Tech NewsiPhone 5, S4Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Samsung earned industry praise for estimating that it will ship 10 million Galaxy S4 to carriers in its first month on the market, six months after the same journalists voiced disappointment that Apple had sold only 5 million iPhone 5’s in its first 3 days.

Just a little perspective.

And a bit more.

The Apple iPhone is launched as being available in 16/32/64gb. Guess what. From day 1 you could order whatever size you wanted. The Samsung S4 was launched as available in 16/32/64gb. Guess what. From day 1 only the 16gb was available.

Just a little bit more perspective.

iOS or Android or Blackberry or Windows Phone

May 19, 2013Android, Apple, RIM, Tech News, WindowsNon BiasGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Have you ever visited a website that has the word mac, or Apple, or android, or windows or Blackberry used in its title, or that promotes one operating system over another. It is rare to find a site that isn’t biased towards one system or one manufacturer.

Why does this happen? Fact of life. Advertising. Appealing to get more views and more advertising. PR companies send free phones to a lot of these websites, with NDA agreements and such like. If a manufacturer is spending thousands or more on advertising you are not going to slate their new phone.

That’s why Gavin’s Gadgets is so non biased. Look around. No advertising. And any devices reviewed have been bought from my pockets so far. I genuinely love tech and everything with a pulse. That is anything with a on / off button that does something techie. Even my vacuum cleaner is a gadget. It’s a Sebo. It has sensors that detect thickness of carpet or floor covering and raises or lowers the height from the floor. It flashes as it adjusts the height. Hoovering is so much more fun.

So what operating system do I use or prefer. Well believe it or not I currently have every operating system in the house and love them for what they are. I also am not afraid to move to something else if it is better. I want the best or the best compromise for a certain situation. I am also not afraid to mince my words if I don’t agree with something.

Currently my phone of daily choice is the HTC One. My backup phone for when my daily adventures may be more rough and tumble due to the outdoor weather environment of Dartmoor, is the Nokia Lumia 620. In fact I have a weak spot for this phone and the operating system. iPad Mini for tablet viewing and for work I have a Blackberry Curve.

My phone and tablet choices change quite a lot, but I have to say I don’t dislike any platform. I like to find the positive attributes of each platform, and apply them to a given situation.

My dream smartphone doesn’t exist yet but it is getting close. My key ingredients for this phone would be practically unbreakeable, water and dust resistant,a 5 inch 1080p screen, week long battery life with auto charging via light, stunning audio quality and speakers and pureview 808 camera quality or higher, all in a 9mm body with expandable memory and replaceable battery.

Problem is that if a company manufactured the perfect smartphone as described above, nobody would really need to buy another. And that is why you will never get to this stage as companies need you always to have and want an upgrade path.

Three UK Customer Support – Where is the HTC One update? Their advice was crazy

May 19, 2013Android, Tech NewsHTC One, Three UKGavin Fabiani-Laymond

I have phoned Three UK customer support trying to get some sort of eta regarding the HTC One firmware update from 1.28 to 1.29.

I didn’t want to root and use a custom rom, as I really wanted stock and some apps when rooted don’t play ball.

So I phoned Three UK support, since on twitter they had announced the update was live and would appear over the air. Sadly that advice was wrong. So I phoned Three UK just to get some estimates. After chatting for a while, the guy turned round and said, you sound technically minded, just unlock the boot loader, add a recovery, do a nandroid backup, root and flash the updated rom. Unbelievable advice. So as the call was recorded, I had nothing to lose.

I setup an account at HTC Dev, followed the instructions to unlock the boot loader, and continued with all of the above. Fortunately, on the HTC One forum within XDA Developers there is a guide to flashing and some helpful people. I borrowed a windows laptop. I then had to download a lot of different files and the custom rom. I got stuck a few times but thanks to my twitter buddy Paul and a few people on XDA I managed to complete everything. Actually now it will be so much easier to flash anything.

So what’s the difference. I’m still using as the base on the custom rom stock HTC One, but the latest firmware. This improves the camera so much. New widgets, and lots more tweaks. I am using a custom rom called Android Revolution which is very good. I can turn the phone back on just by pressing volume down. No more stretching for the power button. I have system toggles in the notification area. The battery life is much better so far.

This has really transformed my HTC One into a more friendly to use, powerful machine.

Samsung S4 news

May 18, 2013Android, Tech NewsS4Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Samsung announced that by the end of next week they will have sold 10m Samsung Galaxy S4 phones. They also short changed the same amount of people by not being transparent about the free user memory and what the memory card can and can’t be used for.

The S4 health accessories are now available to pre order from Clove Technology . These include the bands, scales and heart monitor.

Samsung announced on BBC Watchdog it would potentially be releasing a software update to free up some internal memory space. Watch this space!

Apex Launcher Themes – 16 options

May 18, 2013Android, Tech NewsApex LauncherGavin Fabiani-Laymond

The beauty of android of iOS is the ability to customise it. This can be done without rooting just by using a different launcher which has optional themes. I personally prefer Apex Launcher Pro.

Below are 16 screen shots and a note of the theme name. Let me know your favourite.

First up is the default theme.

Next up is Crystal HD

Cube Theme

Next is DCikonZ theme

Next up is iDroid

Inspire

iPhoned HD

Jellybean HD

To make sure these all display, the next 8 will be in the next article.

Smart Remote for the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4

May 18, 2013Android, Tech NewsHTC One, S4Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Both the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One have an IR Blaster. If the included software is not powerful and feature packed enough there is now an app that covers all your remotes, called Smart IR for HTC One or Smart IR for Samsung S4.

With Smart InfraRed Remote for your HTC One or S4, you can add, create and customize any number of remotes, combining controls from any of your existing remotes. Imagine a single remote on which the CHANNEL UP button controls your Set Top Box from your TV provider, the VOLUME keys control your home theater system and the arrow keys control your TV’s menu. If your mobile rings the remote mutes your TV etc. If the app detects a sudden increase in volume, like big explosions it can automatically lowest the volume. This is the first app available making use of the IR Blaster and consequently costs more than most apps at £6.42.

The links are as follows: HTC One Smart Remote and Samsung S4 Smart Remote

Smart Remote can control your TV, Set Top Box, Lights, Projectors, etc.. Virtually anything that has an Infrared Receiver can be controlled by Smart Remote with the correct remote codes. DSLR camera support apparently is in the pipeline.

There is one difference between the S4 and HTC One, the S4 due to a hardware limitation is not able to do automatic learning of codes.