Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 15 Mar 2013 07:23

Light field cameras next (may be )

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 15 Mar 2013 07:50

We've not seen the full spec on the S4 yet. JK Shin mentioned world wide LTE roaming. If this is true, then its a big deal.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 15 Mar 2013 08:03

Raja Bose wrote:Someone here mentioned GSIV will have a non-Pentile display. Apparently, not.

Yes. But it apparently has a different pixel arrangement than the S3's screen. Here is an article about it:
http://www.androidauthority.com/galaxy- ... on-171154/

Only problem is that the source is from tallel than mountain birathers and may be completely fake.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 08:53

Just saw the hands-on video of the GSIV gestures/Smart Scroll/Air gesture stuff. Sorry but that is exactly the kind of bling bling 'gestural' crap which is annoying and useless and has been designed by some babu manning an Excel spreadsheet. They feel as cheap as the back cover of the GSIV. Gestures when integrated properly make the world of a difference - a really good example of that (which is also a good example of how to write a great patent) is the gesture of turning your phone to face down on a table to silence a call. But shoehorning 500 combinations of gestures with no thinking going into the UX and utility is just ridiculous.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 15 Mar 2013 09:01

Sammy has thrown everything at the wall to see what sticks. It is sad because that is one monster of a hardware and they have the sales muscle to get it on all carriers all over the world.

They could have sat down and listed 10 top annoyances, awkwardness and time sinks of using smartphone and tried to address them. Mine would be

1. Phone breaks
2. Phone runs out of battery
3. Phone gets lost
4. Phone rings at most inconvenient moments

and so on. The only interesting thing that they have done with this phone is to integrate fitness app/pedometer into the phone.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Mar 2013 10:01

It's fascinating to see smartphone takniki imperatives regress back to the same ones that dominated the market mindshare before the iPhone first came out, i.e. a feature arms race. Amazing what one Mahdi managed to do.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Mar 2013 10:07

his reign of minimalism chic was short lived though before the orcs and uruk-hai again surged out of the Dark Gate and stormed through rivendell.

LED torches, folding knives, gas burners, laser pointers, 0.22 mm guns, sirens, pepper gas sprayer, toilet paper dispenser, air fresheners, toothpicks are soon coming to a smartphone near us.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 10:08

Suraj wrote:It's fascinating to see smartphone takniki imperatives regress back to the same ones that dominated the market mindshare before the iPhone first came out, i.e. a feature arms race. Amazing what one Mahdi managed to do.

That's becoz most folks who know UX, design and how to meld it into engineering etc. and can appreciate the nuances, do not make it to the top roles like CEO. And the ones who make it to those roles are typically folks who have been pushing paper or selling stuff for a long time. The Mahdi thru luck, chutzpah and providence was someone who knew and appreciated design and also managed to get to the top post. You need to have this combination to make products like what the Mahdi enabled. There is no dearth of talent in the lower ranks who can pull it off in most of these companies (Sammy included) but what is missing is someone at the highest level who has the knowledge, will and clout to allow such stuff to happen.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 15 Mar 2013 10:59

Their main problem is that Smartphone development seems to have reached a plateau. Apart from improving hardware, there is little Sammy can do except wait for Chacha to release the next version of Android. That is why they spend their time and money developing 10000000 gestures and gimmicks that few people will actually use. They also desperately want to be different from everyone else while using the same OS.

Only good thing is once in a while they actually end up developing something useful, like SmartStay.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Mar 2013 11:02

the NOK 620 chassis hw is looking increasingly attractive if someone can root it with a android image lol.

the whole thin bezel, giant screen circus has reached its ultimate evo in the S4 and N2. we arent getting any bigger paws or better eyes.

perhaps appl is just waiting for the high tide to crest on this craze before reaping benefits from the backlash and launching a counterattack...I would.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 11:51

Singha wrote:the NOK 620 chassis hw is looking increasingly attractive if someone can root it with a android image lol.

Android won't run as smoothly on that HW like WP does so it may become unattractive.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Mar 2013 12:07

what does Droid need that WP does not? I thought all OS es had basic needs like roti, kapda, makan, wife/gf, ...

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 15 Mar 2013 12:12

Samsung Electronics announced the fourth generation GALAXY S 4 with 5-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels at 441 ppi. It weighs 130g and is 7.9 mm thick. The phone will be powered by a 1.9 GHz Quad-Core Processor or a 1.6 GHz Octa-Core processor.Running Android 4.2.2 OS, the Galaxy S4 has a 13 megapixel auto focus camera with flash and zero shutter lag.

Octa core for a smart phone

The half dozen or so new camera features are where the Galaxy S4 really flexes its biceps. The Eraser Mode detects when someone ruins your shot by walking past, and with a single tap you can remove them from the photo. It's impressive to see this feature work in practice, but it assumes users have had the foresight to switch it on in the first place (sadly, it doesn't kick into gear automatically), and this is probably one step too many for most people taking casual snapshots.

Drama Shot is another nifty feature that shoots 100 consecutive photos in four seconds, automatically combining them into a single composite photo that freezes the action into multiple frames – an impressive feat that used to require you had an expensive camera and advanced Photoshop skills. The Galaxy S4 is pretty quick to spit out results, too, taking only a few seconds to generate each different camera effect.

The touchless operation, which lets you do things such as answer calls, scroll through pages and navigate between open browser tabs using hand gestures (not unlike the ones in Minority Report), is a little hit-and-miss. Since it uses the front-facing two-megapixel camera to capture gestures, it's dependent on good lighting; in the fluoro-lit meeting room we used for testing, it had trouble distinguishing between the gestures for scrolling up and down and moving between browser tabs.
Hands on: The Samsung Galaxy S4.

Hands on: The Samsung Galaxy S4. Photo: Reuters

Smart Pause is more reliable, and it's likely to be one of the features that gets the most usage, as you don't need to do anything extra to take advantage of it. It uses the front-facing camera to detect your eyes while you're watching a video, and as soon as you look away, it automatically pauses it. And vice versa; when you look back at the screen, it starts playing the video again.

As far as specs go, the Galaxy S4 is up there with the best of them. It has a 5-inch 1920x1080-pixel HD Super AMOLED display, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, 4G LTE and built-in Near Field Communication (NFC). It also runs the latest Android 4.2.2 operating system, Jelly Bean, customised with an updated version of Samsung's TouchWiz interface. Even though the screen's a bit bigger, Samsung has managed to shrink the S4 down so that it's just a smidgeon smaller and lighter than the S3. The two generations of Galaxy phones look very similar at first glance, but there's a marked difference when holding the S4 in your hand – it feels like a grown-up, classier version of the S3 thanks to the flatter edges and slight texture on the polycarbonate casing.

We're a little concerned about how the S4 will fare for battery life – something we weren't able to test during our short time with it. Between the eight-core processor, 5-inch full HD display and various gestures and features that use the front-facing camera, we can't imagine that it will be a strong point for this phone, even with its relatively large 2600 mAh replaceable battery.

Is the average punter likely to use even a fraction of these new features? Probably not, but brushing the gimmicks aside, the S4 is nevertheless a solid upgrade based on the pin-sharp screen, powerful performance and updated camera. Provided the battery life doesn't stink, we'd say Samsung has yet another sure-fire winner on its hands. An Australian launch is expected toward the end of April on the Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Virgin Mobile networks. Pricing has not yet been announced.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobi ... z2NadNWFVh

vina · Post by **vina** » 15 Mar 2013 12:29

How good is the camera on tablets ,specifically iPad vs the Samsung tablets. Are they a good enough substitute for a point and shoot digital camera , for stuff like shooting videos at kid's school dances, singing classes etc (auditorium/ fluorescent light lit conditions). Don't really want to go and buy a camcorder, if I can get a iPad for the kid who has been pestering me for one. Killing two birds with one stone kind of thing I hope.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 12:39

Singha wrote:what does Droid need that WP does not? I thought all OS es had basic needs like roti, kapda, makan, wife/gf, ...

Its just like US Army grunt vs IA jawan saar - its not a question of needs but rather performance. Android even in its basic avatar back in the days started out as an OS which had a much wider range of capabilities across a wide range of HW which could be programmed somewhat easily but at the cost of consistently good performance especially at the user facing layers. Android was not a user-centric design, its design process has a lot of similarities to Symbian's. OTOH iOS and WP were both written from scratch with fewer capabilities, across a very curated set of HW, really good programmability but consistently higher performance especially at the user facing layers. iOS and WP were both user-centric designs and their design processes are quite similar.

An example of an OS which had high performance and lots of capability across a wide range of HW but suffered from poor programmability is Symbian. That latter shortcoming caused its death since it could never spawn a developer network on the scale of the App Store despite the fact that even today none of the mobile OSs come close to the performance and power efficiency of Symbian on mobile HW. So ease of programming is critical to a CE device platform now (part of the oft-repeated YumBeeAye term 'Ecosystem'). Coding in Symbian C++ was one of the most painful coding exercises invented by mankind - a lot of their APIs date back to the Psion period in early 2000s. The ability of a platform to propagate not only rests on its capabilities but also how easily those capabilities can be used by the mango developer.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 12:42

vina wrote:How good is the camera on tablets ,specifically iPad vs the Samsung tablets. Are they a good enough substitute for a point and shoot digital camera , for stuff like shooting videos at kid's school dances, singing classes etc (auditorium/ fluorescent light lit conditions). Don't really want to go and buy a camcorder, if I can get a iPad for the kid who has been pestering me for one. Killing two birds with one stone kind of thing I hope.

Compared to smartphones, tablets typically lag behind in the camera department (its one of the places manufacturers trim the BOM). In darkish auditorium conditions with fluorescent lights and glare from odd angles, iPad camera may not work as well as expected. It definitely won't be of camcorder quality. In well lit conditions, it should work fine especially if main purpose is to watch videos on a PC screen/YouTube upload.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Mar 2013 13:21

in bright sunlight the ipad takes very good photos. images anyway look pretty good on the ipad.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 15 Mar 2013 13:22

vina wrote:How good is the camera on tablets ,specifically iPad vs the Samsung tablets. Are they a good enough substitute for a point and shoot digital camera , for stuff like shooting videos at kid's school dances, singing classes etc (auditorium/ fluorescent light lit conditions). Don't really want to go and buy a camcorder, if I can get a iPad for the kid who has been pestering me for one. Killing two birds with one stone kind of thing I hope.

If you are trying to shoot something at a distance, then you probably need optical zoom. Digital zoom which is the only kind of zoom available on cell phone cameras makes the picture grainy.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 15 Mar 2013 18:00

Raja Bose wrote:Just saw the hands-on video of the GSIV gestures/Smart Scroll/Air gesture stuff. Sorry but that is exactly the kind of bling bling 'gestural' crap which is annoying and useless and has been designed by some babu manning an Excel spreadsheet. They feel as cheap as the back cover of the GSIV. Gestures when integrated properly make the world of a difference - a really good example of that (which is also a good example of how to write a great patent) is the gesture of turning your phone to face down on a table to silence a call. But shoehorning 500 combinations of gestures with no thinking going into the UX and utility is just ridiculous.

This is typical Sammy, throw everything you've got including the kitchen sink and see what sticks. Some features may be nice, others - who knows? I predict it is only going to get worse with Sammy.
One thing is that Sammy has added a thermometer as another sensor. On one site either Gizmodo or Engadet they mentioned the SGS4 feels laggy compared to the HTC One. We'll have to wait and see when the actual device is released.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 20:50

Google drops CalDav support except for select developers, wants others to use its proprietary API

he he....Chacha claimed CalDav is better than Exchange Active Sync since its an open standard. Now is it claiming that its own proprietary Calendar API is better since CalDav is an open standard?

anmol main, take note.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 15 Mar 2013 21:16

Raja Bose wrote:Google drops CalDav support except for select developers, wants others to use its proprietary API

he he....Chacha claimed CalDav is better than Exchange Active Sync since its an open standard. Now is it claiming that its own proprietary Calendar API is better since CalDav is an open standard? anmol main, take note.

Edit: read the article, Google is working with Microsoft... so this shouldn't affect WP.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Mar 2013 21:16

Shiver my friends shiver.....this datacenter in blr is the largest in asia and third largest in the world at present.
http://forbesindia.com/blog/business-st ... r-the-top/

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 15 Mar 2013 21:57

Android was supposed to be tailored, especially by OEMS for performance and power. Instead they sit on their mush, develop useless apps and complain.

There are two ways of developing OSes. Either assume a single reference design and optimize. This means we curb our imagination about what kind of devices will be useful. A case in point is: according to all metrics 7inch tablets are selling more than 8.9 and above. IPad mini is killing normal iPad irrespective of what Mahdi said. Or you develop an OS focused on APIs for developers and let people customize and optimize.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Mar 2013 22:02

Singha wrote:Shiver my friends shiver.....this datacenter in blr is the largest in asia and third largest in the world at present.
http://forbesindia.com/blog/business-st ... r-the-top/

Amazing. How do these things happen under the radar in desh ? A massive data center and a 20k fiber optic network ? How do these entities find the source of such capital expenditure ? I wonder how many more such TFTA things exist behind the SDRE exterior.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Mar 2013 23:06

must be a lot of "deep pocketed players with long investment horizons" backing such ventures while publicly maintaining a bearish posture.
netz ODC power bill monthly is around 50L I have heard. thats just for internal use ... a mix of internal datacenter and lab space for various eqpt.
there is a vast "wolfenstein" type network of 2nd level basements housing generators , HVAC eqpt and other kit to keep it all humming. in one dark corner there is a key issuance room for employee lockers that reminded me of a the keymaker in the matrix...its a dark windowless room in the basement, with every sq inch of wall covered with keys...and a almari full of folders listing the current owner of each locker...a paper based system. only the keymaker knows the key to this vast indexing system.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 15 Mar 2013 23:16

stoopid question - i remember reading here that goog is dropping ms exchange server support. why is my mail account in iphone for gmail, added via exchange still working?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 15 Mar 2013 23:34

Raja Bose wrote:Google drops CalDav support except for select developers, wants others to use its proprietary API

he he....Chacha claimed CalDav is better than Exchange Active Sync since its an open standard. Now is it claiming that its own proprietary Calendar API is better since CalDav is an open standard? anmol main, take note.

Well well. Goog cut EAS and now has it's own proprietary standard and allows WinPhone as part of the white list. WTF?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 23:36

^^Did I say open and commercial don't mix?

Gus wrote:stoopid question - i remember reading here that goog is dropping ms exchange server support. why is my mail account in iphone for gmail, added via exchange still working?

I think they will support till 31st July or something.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 15 Mar 2013 23:38

Could it be because M$ sued Moto over Active sync? Its not that Chacha doesnt want people of other platforms using its services. They have the best maps app for IPhunwa (and a sucky one for Android).

Android maps app is a pile of flashing buttons and menus everywhere.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 23:43

Motor Oil got sued for patents related to technology in Mickey's EAS, becoz it didn't license them. Chacha had tried to hit back by trying to sue with some of Motor Oil's patents but those were standards-essential (unlike EAS which is not) hence, Chacha was prevented from blocking access to them. Chacha has a EAS license, Motor Oil could have used that. Now ofcourse Chacha is trying to be like Mickey. Very evil onlee

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Mar 2013 23:48

Marten wrote:Surat,

Why this anti-sickular kolaveri da ?

Marten wrote:it's hardly under the radar. kB is part of a massive setup in blr, by local standards. Nearing a thou blades used by our folks. Hardly Goog, but pretty set of h/w churning out massive amounts of data across two DCs.
Ps, edited the post for clarity and anonymity.

I'm just surprised at the number of great things happening in the background in various areas. Yes, the amount of administrative and sarkari incompetence is inexcusable, but I'm heartened every time I read about the good things happening.

James B · Post by **James B** » 16 Mar 2013 02:05

Galaxy S4

It seems Samsung spent a lot of resources on software as well.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 16 Mar 2013 02:28

Design wise the S4 is boring, but just about every component within it has been upgraded. It is a solid device made of carbon fiber which is in fact slightly smaller and lighter than the S3. Samsung deserves kudos for the microSD expandable storage and removable battery.
However, I'll hold off final judgment until the reviews are out and I can get my hands on one.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 16 Mar 2013 03:06

Marten wrote:Oi... Sorry for that, boss. just got done with three week audit activity, and beer has its side effects. Heh

Now that you know, how about fixing it?

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 16 Mar 2013 04:48

Anujan wrote:Android was supposed to be tailored, especially by OEMS for performance and power. Instead they sit on their mush, develop useless apps and complain.

It's much worse than just useless apps. The vanilla Android available in Nexus devices is easily the best performing version by far. TouchWiz, Sense etc. are all piles of goo unless backed by uber-TFTA hardware like HTC One or S3/S4.

The TouchWiz version of Android 2.3 that Sammy developed for the Galaxy S was one of the worst ROMs I had ever seen. Numerous random force close errors, phone freezing right when you receive a call (so that you keep hearing the ringer without being able to pick it up or reject it), laggy, jerky animations, etc. etc. They had taken a perfectly good OS and FUBARed it.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Mar 2013 09:00

the sony experia series is generally overpriced but looks sharper and stylish than the samsung specboxes. so does HTC and LG seems to follow sony styling.

I think the galaxy wave has run its course....S4 presents no compelling reason for other high end smartphone users to upg and might not sell that well. and they will get a cold reception if they 16-core this dog and attempt a refresh on same lines come christmas!

they need new ideas as does apple.

manish · Post by **manish** » 16 Mar 2013 09:36

When being better doesn't equal victory: Samsung's curious overshadowing of HTC

And in more germane terms, there's presently no rhyme or reason why HTC has continually outgunned Samsung in terms of design prowess, yet continues to bleed cash while its Korean rival mints it. Actually, there is a reason. It's called marketing.

Personally, I view it as complete saturation of the airwaves. According to an Asymco report from November, Samsung is spending somewhere in the region of $12 billion on advertising, commissions and sales promotions to market its Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets. Based on Fortune's observations, that's more than Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Dell, HP and Apple each spend.

Meanwhile, HTC announced back in October that it would be slashing its already meager advertising budget by 15 percent. In all practicality, this has effectively killed the brand in North America. When's the last time you saw an HTC ad on a show that anyone cares about? What if I asked you the same question of Samsung?

As the Galaxy S 4 launches with a substandard plastic exterior, a chintzy thatched motif and a host of features that we've already seen in a device that's already available, HTC's One is dead in the water. It has (essentially) zero mind share. Outside of the technology sphere -- those who follow the latest releases as sport -- it's as if the year's most supremely engineered Android phone doesn't exist. Heck, it's almost as if HTC doesn't exist.

You may argue that the One actually isn't superior to the Galaxy S 4, and if you wanted to run down a bill of materials between the two, you'd probably be able to construct a reasonable argument. But its design is something worth gawking at. It feels like the future, sculpted from anodized aluminum and boasting some of the world's most advanced components. It'll sell for the same or less than the Galaxy S 4, but I can guarantee you -- yes, right now -- that Samsung's entrant will outsell HTC's by orders of magnitude.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 16 Mar 2013 11:02

^ I have been saying this for loooong time. With good marketing they can find buyers for even polished turd.

One of the reasons Samsung (005930) has all but crushed its rival Android vendors has been a series of first-rate advertisements backed up by its Death Star-sized marketing budget. Per The Wall Street Journal, new research from advertising research firm Kantar Media shows that Samsung spent $402 million in 2012 marketing its smartphones in the United States, topping even Apple (AAPL) with its similarly enormous $333 million U.S. marketing budget for the iPhone. No other smartphone company studied by Kantar even came close to matching Samsung and Apple last year: HTC (2498) spent $46 million, BlackBerry (BBRY) spent $39 million and Nokia (NOK) spent $13 million. And given that Apple and Samsung are currently the only two smartphone vendors turning a consistent and sizable profit at the moment, we shouldn’t expect that either company will ratchet down its advertising budget anytime soon.

With Samsung's total annual marketing budgetn... even if they are selling big screen TVs or washing machines, it helps their smartphone sales too. Samsung can bombard people with so many ads that no one will remember HTC's ads, in fact IMVHO they should not waste even those 46 Million...

So it makes perfect sense for HTC to slash marketing budget.

That is why Elop took Microsoft's Billions. That is why Nokia makes more money than every major firm other than samsung which sells android. That is why Google should be shitting pants, and that is why they are focusing on ChromeOS... because Samsung form most people does not sell Android phones.... but "Galaxy Phone" with "Galaxy OS".

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 16 Mar 2013 11:25

HTC should get into better distribution deals. If they dont this time, their future is bleak.

Lets see if Nokia can remain afloat, we will know that only after a few quarters.

Google should be shitting its pants -- why exactly? How much money do they make on android? And this galaxy OS that you speak of -- does it have youtube, search and maps? Then all is well.

They have a castle called Maps, search, gmail and youtube. Around it a moat called Chrome and in it a few crocodiles called Android. Killing a few crocodiles does not mean the castle is falling any time soon.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 16 Mar 2013 11:34

Why did Phil Schiller have to go and put up a brave face and give an interview along the lines of: "Samsung? Why should we be afraid of Samsung?" If Mahdi were alive, he would have never allowed such an interview. Instead he would have put up a pic of samsung S4 during his next iPhone unveil and made some fun of its plastic body, useless gimmicks, screen and battery life.

Phil Schiller sounded like "Scared? Us? Ofcourse not!" and now that has set the tone for everyone from ABC to CBS to ask "Is this the toughest competition to iPhone yet?" and WSJ is printing articles on how Apple is suddenly on the defensive. Suddenly that has become the Meme -- Apple is on the defensive!!

Even now, in terms of hardware design, iPhone is better designed than any Android phone. Nobody talks about that! Bawarchi is not Mahdi, does not know to shape the conversation. Instead believes in putting competition's products on equal footing as FruitCo. They lost half the battle right there.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/smartph ... e-18742432