Category Archives: Tech News

Android App Permissions – Google simplified them but was that enough?

Android, Tech News

A few days ago, I reviewed USB Audio Player Pro app for android. Link to review https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/01/08/usb-audio-player-pro-app-on-android-what-a-difference/

Reader Ziontrain made the following comments –

“One should also note that this program is likely collecting your personal information. Accirding to google play, the permissions required to install this program (“USB Audio Player Pro”) are:
“This app has access to:
– Photos / Media / Files
(Uses one or more of: files on the device such as images, videos or audio, the device’s external storage)
– Device ID & call information
(Allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active and the remote number connected by a call)”

One can understand the first permission. But the second one? Uh no – not necessary at all.”

Following Ziontrain’s comment a debate ensued. So it was decided to contact the developer and discover why the following permissions are used. And this is the reply from developer, Davy Wentzler of eXtream Software Development.

“Hi Gavin,

Thanks for the purchase and review!

We use the READ_PHONE_STATE permission so we can mute audio if you’re in the middle of a call. This is according to Android API requirements and nothing special. Top apps like Neutron, PowerAmp, Pandora, Spotify, etc all need the permission. Of course we don’t query your phone number, you are invited to come over to our office and inspect our code! 🙂

Kind regards,

Davy
eXtream Software Development”

So nothing sinister just Google still not really having clear enough explanations of the permissions used by various apps.

And one last point. If you use a Gmail or email people who use a Gmail account, Google probably has a 6 foot high stack paper mound of data on you already.

Where is your Smartphone when you sleep? And what do you look at first?

Tech News, , ,

Is it a rumour or is it a fact that people are glued to their phones?

When you go to bed at night, where is your phone? My Samsung Note 4 (or whatever phone I might have) is slow charging on my bedside table.

In the morning, or if I awake during the night I will use my phone to check the time. The first thing I do with my phone is turn the alarm off. I then check email, rss news feeds, update my website as required, check Google+, Flickr and my weather station stats. I then tweet a chart of the weather station stats with an update on current and forecast conditions.

After stage one above, I will then check for app updates on Google Play and Samsung Galaxy App stores. I will then manually check for any software updates for my phone and smart watch. During breakfast I will also go online and check my bank balance.

Because I like taking photos, I have a habit of nipping out to get some groceries at the local store, only to end up taking over an hour as I decided to snap some random shots. Or I might be driving somewhere, stop the car, jump out and capture the current view. While driving, I also use that time to listen to podcasts.

If its the weekend, I will use my phone to listen to my music and play some games. I also use my phone to control my lighting, TV, DVD Sound system on a regular basis. Occasionally I will use my phone as a torch flash light.

So what about YOU 🙂 ?

Qi Wireless Charging coming to MacDonalds UK – phone thefts to rise?

Tech News

“At CES 2015, Aircharge announced an expanded partnership with McDonald’s UK to add 600 wireless charging hotspots at more than 50 McDonald’s restaurants in London and elsewhere.

The expanded rollout comes after a successful initial market test between Aircharge and McDonald’s UK aimed at delivering additional value to customers, while also benefitting the McDonald’s operation. According to a report from one McDonald’s location, customers were clamoring to access the Qi wireless charging service, prompting many to wait up to 30 minutes so they could.

The Aircharge charging spots were specially designed to be water resistant and easy to wipe clean – perfect for a public environment like a restaurant. And because they’re using Qi, many consumers already have devices that are ready to charge. There are already more than 70 Qi-enabled smartphones on the market.”

My only concern is mobile phone theft with phones being swiped while charging. Would you charge and eat? And iPhone users might feel discriminated as Qi charging has never been implemented by default.

Source – http://qiatces.com/post/107420396289/consumers-are-loving-it-mcdonalds-to-add-600-qi

Apple’s competitors laughed when it used a 64 bit processor in the iPhone – look whose having the last laugh

Tech News

I recall clearly some of the media backlash or negativity around Apple uses a 64 bit processor in its new iPhone. Move forward many months, and Android devices are starting to trickle through with a 64 bit processor.

However one of the key companies Snapdragon appears to be having major issues with its new Snapdragon 810 64 bit processor.

“Korea Times insists that the Snapdragon 810 issues are real, further detailing them.

“Problems such as overheating at certain voltages and performance degradation caused by memory controller problems have been reported, and its clock rate, an index representing a processor’s performance, was estimated to be lower than its predecessor, the Snapdragon 805,” the publication writes.

“An uncontrollable limitation of processing speed to prevent overheating has been pointed out. According to the mobile chipset benchmark Geekbench, the Snapdragon 810 had a serious ‘throttling’ problem that forcibly limits the graphic processing performance when it overheats.”

JP Morgan is also citing the same issues.

If the issues cannot be solved then it is likely that new smartphones could be delayed. Let us hope this is not the case!

Source – JP Morgan/Phone Arena

Headphones that connect via the iPhone/iPad lightning connector

Apple, Tech News

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Above is a photo of the new Philips’s Fidelio NC1L Lightning-connected headphones. The NC1L features a 24-bit DAC and adds active noise cancellation which is powered by the Lightning connector. This will retail for around $300.

This is just one of several headphones that were announced by a number of companies at CES 2015 that would work via the lightning port on an Apple device. The lightning port in theory and hopefully in practice should be able not only to power the noise cancellation circuitry but also provide a much higher quality audio output then just using the headphone port.

Whilst I do not have an iPhone I most certainly would love to try one of the new headphones and see if the connection via the lightning port makes a large difference.

Of course the negative side to buying a headphone this way is it is tied to the Apple ecosystem.

So would you buy one of these bespoke headphones?

Source – appleinsider.com

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Apple raked in $500,000 or Half a Billion Dollars – side effects

Apple, Tech News

Via Apple.com

“Apple announced that during the first week of January alone, customers around the world spent almost half a billion dollars on apps and in-app purchases, with New Year’s Day 2015 the single biggest day in App Store sales history.”

Developers made $10 million. Monumental success.

What would be interesting to know is how that $500m was split between the major developers and independents and the position the apps were in the charts. I also wonder if it is just the top 100 apps that make most of the money.

And clearly this shows a few things. More people were buying Apple devices and then spending money on apps. Also, TV scheduling was dreadful so people had more time to play with their new toys.

USB Audio Player PRO app on android – what a difference !

Android, Reviews, Tech News

USB Audio Player PRO (Google Play link) is one awesome app if you are into using your android phone as a high quality audio music transport system.

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The developers provide the following description of this app as follows –

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The above may sound rather technical but all it does is provide astonishingly good playback in to a connected USB DAC. Let me explain further. I use my Note 4 in this setup. I’ve copied my music from iTunes on to a large micro sd card. The music has to be stored on the device and there is no compatibility with Google Play music. If you wanted to use music stored on your network this is possible via Samba shares, windows or a NAS. 

Connected to my Note 4 is a HiFiMeDIY Sabre Android USB Dac which then connects to a Cayin C5 Portable HiFi headphone amplifier. But the key part of this chain is the USB DAC. So prior to using USB Audio Player PRO app for android,  I was simply using either Google Play music, deezer or the Samsung Music app to feed the USB DAC. As I discovered it wasn’t a totally smooth affair. So I installed the trial version of this app which is time limited but still offers plenty of time to evaluate and test the app will work with your phone.

The app contains it’s own custom driver that only works when the app is running, hence why you cannot use other apps to playback the music. The player controls are rather basic as shown in the first screen shot above.

There are a number of settings as shown below.

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Selecting music is fairly straightforward but note that there are no fancy options or the ability to create new playlists. 

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With the setup I am currently using I had to increase the buffer size from 100 to 200 milliseconds. And that was it 

So what’s the end result? It’s night and day better. Beyond anything I ever thought possible and a total revelation. I wish I had used this app before. Using this app you will listen to a track and hear stuff you never heard before. The punch, accuracy,  detail and every aspect of the music is transformed. It is so good I can plug any of my headphones directly into the HiFiMeDIY Sabre Android USB Dac without using the headphone amplifier,  although with the headphone amp it becomes even better.

And one last point. I’m not using FLAC music files,  just good old mp3 at a recording bit rate of 320 bits.

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Has the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smashed all iPhone records for the last quarter of 2014?

Apple, Tech News

Via Appleinsider.com

“According to the latest research from UBS, it believes Apple sold a massive 69 million iPhones in the just-concluded December quarter — a sum that would obliterate the company’s previous all-time record.

Using its proprietary UBS Evidence Lab iPhone Monitor, the investment firm told investors on Wednesday that it now expects Apple to have sold a total of 69.3 million iPhones in the December quarter. That’s beyond Wall Street consensus of 65.5 million units for the three-month span.

To put the estimates in perspective, Apple’s previous all-time record came a year ago, when the company sold a massive 51 million iPhones in the holiday 2013 quarter. An increase of 18.3 million units would amount to nearly 36 percent growth in iPhone sales from the year-ago quarter.”

There is no doubt in my mind that Apple has destroyed all previous sales records. The Telegraph reported yesterday that according to its research android users migrated in their droves to iOS. A position mirrored across Europe. And being honest the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus is a VERY competent handset.

If you are likely to shop on Amazon please help with the running costs and use my affiliate link – details here. Thanks in advance ☺

Garmin’s $600 Fenix 3 Sapphire Smart Watch – will this watch steal Apple’s crown ?

Tech News, Wearables

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Garmin have just launched the Fenix 3 Sapphire sport watch at CES and boldly stated they do not fear the upcoming Apple Watch.

The watch is a multi sport fitness watch with trackers, gps, displays notifications,  water resistant to 100 metres, includes sensors for altimeter , barometer, and a compass. It also has functions for alarms, stopwatch and similar actions. Battery life varies from 16 hours if using the gps to 50 hours.

Personally I like this type of watch. Limited functionality but stylish. But will it sell. That is a different story.

Source Cult of Mac