Samsung Note 4 – crazy action shots of my dogs

Android, Reviews, Tech News, ,

I took my 3 labradors walking on Dartmoor early this morning. They run like the wind on Dartmoor. So I thought it would be an idea to see how the Note 4 managed to capture some action shots or my dogs. Normally if you take a 100 photos you should end up with a third that are usable. The rest on previous phones are a little blurry. But nonetheless previous phones like the LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy K Zoom have managed to take some decent motion photos.
So when I got home somehow I had 350 photos 🙂 But the crazy thing was most were excellent. I counted 11 blurred shots. So now I am trying to decide which ones to keep and will publish these tomorrow.

In the meantime this is just an example.

image

The exif data for the above shot is ISO 80, f/2.2, 1/594 , flash off.

Part 2 is live. Click here.

Part 3 tomorrow.

Samsung Penvatars – new from Samsung for the Note 4 and Note Edge

Android, Tech News

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“When you use the S-Pen with your Samsung Galaxy Note 4 or Edge, by default you will have noticed that when you hover your S Pen stylus slightly above the screen, a pointer appears. Not the most exciting thing according to Samsung who is hoping to spice things up with its new Penvatars.

Penvatars is the name Samsung has chosen for its upcoming app for S-Pen devices that will allow you to customise these pointers.

The screen shot above features Marvel Comics character.

Personally, I turn the pointer off in settings as it drives me mad. So this app is pointless for me but would you like something like this?

Source – @SamsungMobile

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

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

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.