Technology Android

[THEV1LL4N]

Does anyone see the confusion that lies ahead for some consumers that don't know a great deal?

They might get confused between the '5S' and the newer 'S5' as people refer to them by the casual names and don't really say 'Apple iPhone' - they'll say the 5S and the same for Samsung - they won't necessarily refer to it as the 'Galaxy S5'.

 

[masta247]

I think people in the US are slower with tech in general (vast majority). Apple hatred is much weaker now in Europe as people already know new Iphones suck balls and the mainstream moved towards Samsung, so now lots of people are hating on it and being very supportive towards Sony or even LG (The G2 is a great phone btw.). Reading GSMArena for example which is dominated by Europeans you'll see people going crazy about the Z1 and G2, hating on the Note 3. Iphone talks are nonexistent there though as nobody considers it anymore.

The Z1 is the best phone from Sony but imho it's not as good as the G2 or Samsung's flagships overall, but it's almost there. They improved their screens, the camera is great (but its software is a little screwed) and it's waterproof and shatter resistant.
The G2 is probably one of the best Android phones right now (or the best next to the Note 3 which is a phablet). It looks very good too. The new Nexus is said to be based on it and that's very good for LG and Google. Too bad the Nexus looks like crap, but I'm sure it's Google's fault as the G2 looks much better.

 

[dilla]

Well, the iPhone 5S doesn't really suck balls. If we're going off of benchmarks and hardware, it is the most powerful phone on the market. Of course something released with Android soon would overtake it, but it's no different in a flip situation when the iPhone overtakes the most powerful Android phone at the time of its release.

What seems to be holding the iPhone back is the OS. iOS blows. But not the iPhone. If you were to run an app on the iPhone, it would run just the same. It would even have more features than the Android analog. And I think it's safe to say that seeing the iPhone's GPU power, games run much better on the iPhone than they would even on a G2 or S4.

So hate on the iPhone all you want, but the hardware power is there. iOS just didn't need iOS 7; it needed something more radical of a change.


I went to Best Buy yesterday and messed around a bit with the Mini, the iPad 4, and the Nexus 7. I don't think I personally could read books on the Kindle app or just regular PDFs on a 7 inch screen. I tried viewing websites on the 7, like Anandtech, and tried reading it all and it seemed fine, but at the back of my mind I think I was wishing for more screen space so I didn't have to zoom and scrolling horizontally as much.

In my mind, the Nexus 7 is the only Android tablet to get. Any bigger and I feel the iPad has the better screen and hardware than the Nexus 10, or the Note 10.1. I'm not sure how I feel about the Mini now, but it is an inch bigger than the 7, but it lacks the Retina display that it so badly needs. Apple has this iPad event on October 22nd where the 5 is supposed to be unveiled, and probably the Mini 2 as well. If it comes with a Retina, I feel the price will jump up. You know Apple will either keep selling the Mini at $329, or maybe $299, and then have the Retina Minis are $349 or possibly $399. At $399, I am really just better off with either the N7 for cost reasons or the iPad 5 for $100 and a proper size screen and all. I think the Mini 2 and the 5 are to share the same internals. But I'm not sure.

I have not messed with Cydia in quite some time for iOS, but I was told that the modifications I could do on Android, I could do with Cydia. It's an extra step along the way, but that's fine so long as I can replicate the extent to customize my experience on the iPad as I can on any Android device.

I'm back on the fence again. The 7 has great hardware and an amazing price, and I don't see myself getting the Mini over the N7, solely because of the price difference. But the iPad 5 is another story. I wouldn't mind shelling out $500 for a full size screen to watch test prep videos, read magazines/newspapers, and PDFs of textbooks and view documents. It's something I feel having a smaller screen, like the N7 or even the Mini, would be a chore to read and view these things on.

I also tried the S Pen on a few of the Samsung devices, like the Note 3 and the Tab 3 and all that. I had no tutorial so I just dicked around for a bit and got frustrated and quit. I'll give it another shot later, because I can see potential with it. But I don't think it will be a selling point for me to go after the Samsung tablets.

 

[masta247]

Actually the chipset inside of the Iphone 5S is about as powerful as Snapdragon 600 while having only 2 cores, so single threaded performance is higher (which is important for the web browser for example, so in turn browser based benchmarks will run way faster as well). The point is the Iphones are outdated hardware if it comes to how they look and feel. They have tiny displays and gigantic bezels that look like it's still 2010. Even mid-end Android phones have better looking and better use of space on their front panels. Because nobody ever said that Iphones lack power or cameras inside are bad - they're really good enough since the 4S.
But now we have Android phones such as the LG G2 which basically uses almost whole of its front as display while Iphone 5S uses 40% of its front for freaking plastic bezels and the display is 4inches with weird proportions that's not even able to display 720p content and has smaller overall area than a 4inch Android phone's screen (Because of different aspect ratio). We have Android phones that offer great productivity and have much bigger screens while not being that much bigger or heavier themselves, with other great selling points while the Iphone is stuck in the past and all that Apple is refreshing is things that are in no dire need of refresh.

The Nexus 10 has superior screen compared to the new Ipad, but Ipad's UI makes the screen shine compared to stock Android's dark UI that looks like crap on LCDs. That's why Ipads might look better in stores. I'd wait for a refreshed Nexus 10 if you're considering a 10 inch tablet. It should be out within a month or two.

The difference is a 7 inch tablet is much more convenient imho. A 10 inch one offers more screen estate but to me it's useless as it's too big to carry around comfortably. You can really get used to a 7 inch tablet if it comes to screen size - it's much easier to handle too since you can type easier and navigate around quicker. But I'm a user of a 7 inch tablet so bigger ones look just awkwardly oversized and too big to carry around while I can do the same in a more convenient way on a 7 inch one.
That said, having a 5inch screen on my S4 and a Macbook Air I use my tablet less now. But I wouldn't use a 10 inch tablet at all since having to carry it around I'd just take my Macbook with me instead.

Now you might not think it's a serious proposition but you can wait and see those new get Windows 8 tablets, really. There are 8 inch tablets coming up running on Intel's Bay Trail Atoms (which have real deal GPUs, the same architecture as Haswell and much improved CPUs) that should cost in the 300-400$ range and are going to run full Windows 8.1. I don't like Windows 8, but you can run all kinds of desktop programs on your tablet.
Whatever happens, I guess the holiday season will be the best time to buy a tablet as there will be a Nexus 10 refresh, new Ipads and entirely new gen Windows tablets and if you'll decide the Nexus 7 is still the best one for you, it's still around and is quite fresh and best value for money and will run Android 4.4 at that point.

 

[masta247]

Soo.. Lenovo is buying HTC. Another company going down that they're resurrecting and taking advantage of. I think it's very good for the market, as Lenovo is a major smartphone maker for Asia offering pretty good products for cheap. I think they can do good things with HTC, deliver decent and affordable phones and at the same time they can make money on it.

 

[dilla]

I'm not seeing anything on HTC being bought yet. Just did a quick Google search and there's nothing.

I used a Windows 8, I think, ultrabook at Best Buy yesterday. It was weird. I didn't know when to use the touchscreen and when to use the mouse pad. The touchscreen seemed easier to use because Win8 is all tiles.

I used the Surface Pro, but I just don't like Windows anymore. When it comes to the UI on a mobile device of any kind, I do prefer Android, and that also for tablets. App drawer button on the top right, a thing on the bottom right for time and date and accessing menus and settings. And then just a screen with all my apps there. But the thing is, there are a lot of root-only apps that I don't think I could get on iOS if I got an iPad, including WiFi Kill and DroidSheep.

I have thought a little about the Nexus 10, but I don't think it sold very well. I don't have numbers, but I don't hear many people talking about their N10, which just leads me to believe that as great as it may be, people found the iPad 4 better as a large screen tablet or the N7 as better value or having the ideal size screen.

Do you think you could read magazines using the Zinio app on the N7 without straining your eyes? I prefered to read the magazines on my TouchPad with the device vertical. I didn't like the horizontal mode that much.I feel like the screen size would have me constantly zooming in and out and scrolling side to side to read every part of the page.

I did just use my friend's iPad Mini for about an hour. For some reason, one inch made all the difference for me between the 7 and I think I liked it back again.

Fuck me. I probably don't even need this thing until mid-next year anyway. I may just wait it out again for another and sit on the money. Unless the iPad 5 or Mini 2 blow me away.

Sidenote, they say that the iPad Mini was actually created with physicians and other healthcare professionals in mind. The size of the Mini is such that it fits perfectly into your white coat pocket. I'm sure it does, but I don't know when I would ever need it.

I think I'm after a tablet to have something to fuck around on.

 

[masta247]

There's lots of news on it already:
http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/10/08/lenovo-htc/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/lenovo-linked-with-htc-acquisition/
http://www.gsmarena.com/lenovo_may_strike_an_acquisition_deal_with_htc_next_year-news-6947.php

Seems the deal will get finalized early next year.

The Nexus 10 wasn't as popular because it was twice the price of the Nexus 7 and people preferred the N7 overall. I did too. The N10 is the best 10 inch Android tablet though and hardware on it is at least as good as on the Ipad. I didn't like the design though, but I think the new gen Nexus 10 might be pretty awesome so I'd wait for a refresh.

I'm pretty sure you'd be just fine reading magazines on the N7. I haven't had any trouble doing anything. The resolution is high and the screen really is big enough, you'll get used to it. The Ipad Mini has a different form factor that isn't good for movies and videos, makes the device less portable (you can't fit it in your jeans' back pocket or jacket's pocket anymore because it's too wide) but is a little better for magazines and 4:3 pictures.

 

[dilla]

I would never put my tablet in any of my pockets. It would only go into a white coat pocket which is rather large and loose-fitting.

And what is the form factor of the Mini that makes it so different from the 7 when it comes to watching videos? It fit nicely in both hands. My friend had a Smart Cover that propped the tablet up for viewing videos or scrolling through PowerPoints.

If I were to read books, it would be in two formats. One format would be the epub format, which would be viewed using the Amazon Kindle App, which worked great on my TouchPad. These would basically just be books I pirate, which would mostly be novels. Just text. The second format would be PDF files of textbooks which I would view on Adobe, or something, but would have plenty of diagrams and pictures. These would most likely be scans, so almost-photos.

I'm having second thoughts on every thing now. After using the Mini, I realized I may not need a tablet as much as I thought I did. Perhaps the price had something to do with it, too. Even $229 for something I may not use as much is a bit too much. At least my TouchPad was $100, and there were long periods of time where I hadn't used it and the battery had died.


I never pay for my apps either, and Android is relatively easy to pirate for. iOS is a bit trickier. And I usually delete the game after a day or two, because I get bored of it. So even apps aren't going to be that big of a draw. It'll be a glorified ereader and a media viewer. I could see myself putting music on there as well. So I guess I have the uses for it, but those uses will be done once I've taken my boards, hopefully by May of next year. Then it would just be for music and movies, not lecture videos and education PDFs. AND novels, of course.

But there is a supposed use for tablets as clinical students. I may have to ask some students ahead of me if they felt a tablet was useful or necessary or not.

 

[masta247]

The Nexus 7 has a 16:9 form factor (same as HD videos and HD TVs) so all videos and movies display on the whole screen. The Ipad Mini has a 4:3 form factor (same as old school "Letterbox" TVs, but most cameras take pics in this format) so you're watching videos with black bars on top and bottom and you're unable to watch youtube in HD for example because the pixel count is short of 1280 required for 720P. Meanwhile the N7 does fullscreen 1080P with no wasted space.
The Ipad Mini is much wider because of this too, but not taller than the N7. This makes the N7 possible to operate with one hand, while making it hard to hold the Ipad Mini in one hand unless your hands are big.

 

[dilla]

Well, I had a shot at winning one today, but failed three times. Finally found those Android Kit Kats with the codes and everything. Bought 3 for $2. All of them were fucking $5 codes. No N7.

 

[Casey]

That's what I don't get about the iPad Mini. It's too wide to use one-handed and media looks like shit cos it's not 16:9. Bizarre.

Also Coonie you may want to check around as you might already be able to save a few bucks on an N7. UK price started at £199 for the 16GB and on Amazon UK you can get it for £183 now. I got mine in LA for $220 but there's a possibility you may find some places that sell them for not much more than $200 now.

 

[Casey]

Anyhoo..... I just bought a Chromecast. Just waiting for the confirmation that the seller is happy to ship it over here to the UK (You can't buy it here... I got it on eBay US). New toy to fuck around with. Should be fun.

 

[dilla]

About the Mini, any idea if they plan to change that aspect ratio for the Mini 2?

I'm back looking at Android again. I asked a good friend of mine that has a Mini and prefers Apple, but I still can't call him a fanboy. He works at the Genius bar at the Apple Stores, and he's always been rather knowledgeable about electronics in general. I asked him about the limitations Apple puts on the iPad/iPhone using iTunes, and forcing people to use it. It turns out there will be an issue for me in getting non-traditional files types on to the iPad.

Like I said, I have PDFs and MS Office docs, which work fine on any mobile platform. But a lot of my test prep videos are in FLV and F4V (or something like that) and those are the videos I plan to watch 300+ hours of for board prep. Seems like iTunes won't let me put that on the iPad. My friend told me the way around that was to install some streaming program, leave my MacBook on with the external with all the videos plugged in and use my mobile data or WiFi to stream the video to my iPad. What the hell? He didn't seem too upset by it either as he explained. As if he had accepted that that was the way it was going to be. Fuck that. I thought if I used a jailbreak app, I would have full access to my iPad like I would with Android, where I could drag and drop anything on to it and just go.

That changes a lot of things, and essentially makes me want an iOS device less. I guess I still need to iron out my issues with the 7" screen size for watching videos and reading textbooks on it.

As far as the prices go, I am always checking Slickdeals for N7 deals, but none really make it to the front page. The few that did were mostly 2012 N7s, and they were $150. They may have been refurbished too.

$229 is not bad, but I feel it has been enough time since it was released, it was due for a price drop by some stores, especially since the iPad is being released soon and they want to combat that with a price reduction.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Well, I had a shot at winning one today, but failed three times. Finally found those Android Kit Kats with the codes and everything. Bought 3 for $2. All of them were fucking $5 codes. No N7.

You're actually very lucky to have won 3 out of 3. I have won 0 from 3 codes.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Anyhoo..... I just bought a Chromecast. Just waiting for the confirmation that the seller is happy to ship it over here to the UK (You can't buy it here... I got it on eBay US). New toy to fuck around with. Should be fun.

It's on Amazon (but for three times the US price).

 

[Casey]

It's on Amazon (but for three times the US price).

I ended up getting it for £39 including shipping. Not too bad.

 

[Pittsey]

It was £25 shipped at Amazon last week. Although you'll probably get a bit of import tax on it. I think they stopped shipping them as they weren't supposed to be sending them outside of the US.

 

[Casey]

It was £25 shipped at Amazon last week. Although you'll probably get a bit of import tax on it. I think they stopped shipping them as they weren't supposed to be sending them outside of the US.

I know. I meant to do it then but I didn't realize it was a mistake and they'd pull it. When I went to do it, they'd just stopped shipping them internationally again. So I got one from eBay instead.

 

[Casey]

Allegedly the new homescreen UI in KitKat.

 

[masta247]

Looks good. I like the slight redesign even though those icons look a little cheaper. Although to be frank.. it looks like Google did what Apple did with iOS7, just not as gay, lol.