Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 29 Jul 2013 06:00

Suraj wrote:I ordered the new Nexus 7 . Looked good in the reviews, and will see how it's like in person. Anyone get their hands on it already ? Apparently it was on sale in some stores around town, but is sold out now. I ordered straight from chacha.

Nexus 7 was always good as a tablet, its Achilles heel is the content (not apps) available on Google Play. If they fix that, there is no reason it cannot thrash the iPad Mini black and blue in sales.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 29 Jul 2013 06:43

i bought two nexus 7s for kids. they are happy.. the only problem i had was the usb cable. games and organizing their schedules is now even fun.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 29 Jul 2013 06:59

Suraj wrote:I ordered the new Nexus 7 . Looked good in the reviews, and will see how it's like in person. Anyone get their hands on it already ? Apparently it was on sale in some stores around town, but is sold out now. I ordered straight from chacha.

Sun-Mullah

I got my grubby paws on it. It is fantastic. Basically I would even use the word "perfect". The screen is better than print, the speakers are fantastic, the tablet is snappy, sleep power draw is next to nil so it retains charge for quite some time. It feels a lot lighter than Nexus 7 even though its only 50g lighter and it feels a lot more comfortable to hold even though its only a few mm narrower and a few mm thinner. The USB out is also a slimport so you can connect it to HDMI in through a slimport adapter.

There are only 2 issues IMHO. The build quality should hold up under use. Old Nexus 7 had glass lifting issues and a few issues with USB connector. The second issue is that it doesnt have expandable storage. It is important to some. Barring these two, it is the best value for money on a 7 inch tablet period. If you already have a Nexus 7, the equation changes though. I would wait for 1 more year and buy the fare next year.

BTW, Please go and buy a chromecast. I have one, it is mindblowingly awesome. Almost feels like a piece of hardware that didnt come from Chacha but from fruitco.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 29 Jul 2013 07:01

Raja Bose wrote: Nexus 7 was always good as a tablet, its Achilles heel is the content (not apps) available on Google Play. If they fix that, there is no reason it cannot thrash the iPad Mini black and blue in sales.

What content specifically? Outside Massa yes. Inside massa they have pretty much everything covered.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 29 Jul 2013 07:32

^^^Selection of movies and music. I still have my Google Play credit partially unspent from last year.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 29 Jul 2013 08:26

yeah.. for some of the games that i want to buy, (i can't put my credit card on kids's account).. so it is difficult to buy as parent and install it, cause more games are driven by email id as account. now, the kids want their own account as they age.

but then, the free world is plenty.. so no worries

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 29 Jul 2013 09:03

Raja Bose wrote:Nexus 7 was always good as a tablet, its Achilles heel is the content (not apps) available on Google Play. If they fix that, there is no reason it cannot thrash the iPad Mini black and blue in sales.

I don't use the content vontent stuff much when it comes to my iPhunwa. I picked fruitco for my phone solely for the superior integration with workplace IT and accumulated usage inertia, or else I'd have gone for Nexus 4. My tablet will be primarily my for my movie collection off my NAS or copied locally for when I travel out of town, video chatting with family in desh, and my daytrading-during-boring-meetings platform

Anujan wrote:I got my grubby paws on it. It is fantastic. Basically I would even use the word "perfect". The screen is better than print, the speakers are fantastic, the tablet is snappy, sleep power draw is next to nil so it retains charge for quite some time. It feels a lot lighter than Nexus 7 even though its only 50g lighter and it feels a lot more comfortable to hold even though its only a few mm narrower and a few mm thinner. The USB out is also a slimport so you can connect it to HDMI in through a slimport adapter.

Thank you! Just the kind of review I hoped for. I'm reading very positive reviews all over, and after calling B&M shops around and finding it sold out, I just decided to get it online. Hopefully chacha won't sit on their asses when it comes to delivery - currently reports as 'shipping by July 31st'.

I haven't ever used the older Nexus 7 for comparison, but have used the iPadmini. I don't like either iPad or its mini me that much. I love iOS on my phone but somehow the 'blown up phone' feeling of it on iPadwa turns me off. I prefer Android on tablets, with all the UI features it provides. I find the de-widgeted simplicity of iOS fine for phones, but prefer some more immersion at tablet level, if that makes any sense. It's personal sentiment of course - the lady has no such issues, and is perennially glued to her iPad watching TED talks, Japanese shows or playing candy crush.

Anujan wrote:BTW, Please go and buy a chromecast. I have one, it is mindblowingly awesome. Almost feels like a piece of hardware that didnt come from Chacha but from fruitco.

It suffers from "I don't know what good it is"-itis from my perspective. My bravia tv (which I don't use much) can connect via wifi to my NAS, stream netflix, jootoob etc. Plus, by the time I bothered looking at the chromecast ads, its netflix streaming freebie was sold out, so I shrugged and walked away...

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 29 Jul 2013 09:51

Chromecast is not a STB like Roku/AppleTV/XBox in terms of functionality but seems to be more in the league of one of the wireless display dongles.

I am curious....how is Chromecast different from a WiDi dongle?

WiDi is P2P (WiFi Direct) but does Chromecast require a WiFi AP (i.e. it works in infrastructure mode onlee)? Or is it just the price?

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 29 Jul 2013 10:05

Suraj wrote:Anyone get their hands on it already ? Apparently it was on sale in some stores around town, but is sold out now. I ordered straight from chacha.

Yes, I played with one yesterday morning as my brother managed to get his mitts on one. Apparently there were some for pre-release sale in Best Buy. Looks and feels pretty nice.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 29 Jul 2013 10:15

Raja Bose wrote:Chromecast is not a STB like Roku/AppleTV/XBox in terms of functionality but seems to be more in the league of one of the wireless display dongles.

I am curious....how is Chromecast different from a WiDi dongle? WiDi is P2P (WiFi Direct) but does Chromecast require a WiFi AP (i.e. it works in infrastructure mode onlee)? Or is it just the price?

Curioser - How is it different from a laptop permanently connected to the tv? I have a spare laptop and rather than pay for cable, I just use it as a glorified monitor. Netflix blah blah is computer accessible anyway.

vina · Post by **vina** » 29 Jul 2013 13:38

Gentlemen, a question. SHQ now wants to listen to Myoosic while in the Gym (primarily Bollywood sound hit sound tracks) and she asked me how. I said Zimble onree, download from iTunes, then pat comes the reply, the iPod Shuffle you gave me long ago, broke , so, can the songs you download via iTunes play back in my Blackberry which my aapish gives me ?

Well, I dont think so, but the BB can play Mp3 format with the Apple DRM. Is there an equivalent of an iTunes Store in India for the Bollywood songs that lets you download mp3 format music (on a pay per song basis, rather than the entire album) that can play on BB ?

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 29 Jul 2013 13:39

download mp3 from web and copy it over to BB

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 29 Jul 2013 18:54

Have you tried Amazon MP3? I dunno how great their Bollywood song collection is though.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 29 Jul 2013 20:21

why would not these devices support ogg?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 29 Jul 2013 22:51

Raja Bose wrote:Nokia Lumia 1020 Review

Even the most biased fanbois (aka Engadget and TheVerge) are admitting that this type of phunwa makes P&S cameras don Paki jernail uniform. HW commoditization ensures these technologies trickle down in price point and that has never failed till date.

I'll reserve judgement until I get one to try out. I'm working on that right now.
Initial reports indicate a shutter lag of 2.5 s using the native camera app and 6 s for the pro cam app. Compact cameras in $300-$400 range are less than 1 s shutter lag, but again I don't know if these reports are correct and my guess is that this is wrong.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 30 Jul 2013 02:29

^^^try it and post your review here or in photography dhaaga.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 30 Jul 2013 06:40

^^^It may be a while before I get one. Probably 6-8 weeks.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Jul 2013 06:44

those are huge lags. make it tough to use for flow-mode opportunity shots.
a more powerful CPU and battery might help or maybe a second battery for the camera only.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 30 Jul 2013 07:22

^^^I think its a WP software issue....down the line they will probably move that control onto a dedicated ASIC (GB did that once during its Symbian days too).

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 30 Jul 2013 07:28

krishnan wrote:Belkin seems to have good home modem/router with wireless, their wifi has good range

I have a Belkin too and adding my positive vote for the same in addition to krishnan garu.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 30 Jul 2013 07:30

mine is a netgear one.. doing good so far.. earlier i had the d-link.. not bad.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Jul 2013 07:30

my dlink dir300 is unable to project its signal up a flight of stairs around a couple corners and into two bedrooms upstairs if the wooden doors are closed. is this kind of situation there in the newer models also of any brand?

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9 ... NXodXfywkN

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 30 Jul 2013 07:33

The newer models have beamforming. I believe that helps.

Anindya · Post by **Anindya** » 30 Jul 2013 07:52

Has anyone configured or used a Huawei e587 or E589 in India, as a hotspot? If so, what has been the experience?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Jul 2013 12:05

I am planning to get the product to solve my range problems hopefully.

http://www.flipkart.com/d-link-dir-605l ... 8f7be9a916

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 30 Jul 2013 12:08

See if you can put it in repeater or bridge mode. Then you can chain the two routers together, essentially using the second router as a repeater for the first

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Jul 2013 12:17

a perfectly natural engineering soln to string up a few wires and power cables around the house to get things to work smoothly..but..
the markin of the house does NOT tolerate random ethernet cables or power extension cords hanging around or snaking along windows and railings...my father used to be a GOD of this free-flow mode of operation...our bedroom was a mass of jury rigged wires all over the walls and roof for various reasons. my mother somehow tolerated it, but SHQ will not. father used to give lessons to local piumbers, masons and electricians who wandered in and couldnt get things to work.

whenever guests come, my UPS, power strip, modem, wifi router,chargers, power adapters are all unplugged and hidden away and I have to glue it together back again

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 30 Jul 2013 12:40

^ has anybody tried powerline ethernet adaptors? can't find any sold locally.

my el cheapo belkin drops to 'limited connectivity' now and then and have to reboot.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 30 Jul 2013 12:43

Taliban Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan likes only build quality of the highest tolerance.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 30 Jul 2013 12:55

^^^Well he knows it is blessed by The Mahdi

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 30 Jul 2013 16:23

That pic is from Apple WWDC!!

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 30 Jul 2013 16:34

We are scaling up our production lines and are moving to 12" fabs. As a gesture, TSMC invited us to visit the fab. Dont have actual pics but this is how it looked

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Jul 2013 16:57

could pass off as next episode of star wars - deep inside the bowels of the nuova death star

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 30 Jul 2013 17:45

Raja Bose wrote:^^^I think its a WP software issue....down the line they will probably move that control onto a dedicated ASIC (GB did that once during its Symbian days too).

According to DP Review and other photography sites, the Nokia 808 Pureview did not have those sort of shutter lag times. They faulted it for the inaccurate AF. The Lumia 1020 has much better AF.

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 30 Jul 2013 20:46

Anujan wrote:... I probably wont get it, my old Nexus 7 is good enough, I also have a Nexus 10. I think that 7-8 inch tablets are here to stay. I am the old fashioned type who still likes a laptop -- I am sure most others do too. So the future would be something like a Macbook air, 7-8 inch tablet and a phone.

Just found today that older nexus 7's especially one's which have their storage fuller like mine get performance boost from 4.3 update to android which incorporates TRIM functionality.

nifty way to force trigger it on a Nexus 7 running 4.2

Google unveiled its latest iteration, Android 4.3 last week and as expected announced that the nexus line-up will start receiving the update soon. The rollout has been in a phased manner which means only some Nexus (Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and Samsung Galaxy Nexus) owners have received the Android 4.3 update so far.

However if you are itching to get your hands on the Android 4.3 for your Nexus 7 3G, it turns out there is a way to do that. KYMI reader has sent us quick steps on how you can get the OTA update.

First check for update
If you don't have any update then Go to setting s>apps>and clear data in downloads, download manager and Google services framework
Now shut down the device
After turning it off, now turn it on
Then go to settings>about device>update and check again
Now you should be able to see the Android 4.3 update
(KYMI reader, @ShArQ1 notes that if it doesn't work, try 2-3 times)

Mihir · Post by **Mihir** » 30 Jul 2013 21:26

Mort Walker wrote:I'll reserve judgement until I get one to try out. I'm working on that right now.
Initial reports indicate a shutter lag of 2.5 s using the native camera app and 6 s for the pro cam app. Compact cameras in $300-$400 range are less than 1 s shutter lag, but again I don't know if these reports are correct and my guess is that this is wrong.

Saar, that's not shutter lag, but the time it takes to unlock the phone and take the first shot. Any half-decent camera will have a shutter lag of less than a second.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 30 Jul 2013 21:32

Sony is readying a camera called honami with a 20mp count and large sensor.

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 30 Jul 2013 22:48

Neela ji?

You formulate depositions and recipes for Intel?

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 30 Jul 2013 23:12

SaiK wrote:will you specify your router name here?

linksys....

negi · Post by **negi** » 30 Jul 2013 23:24

vina wrote:Gentlemen, a question. SHQ now wants to listen to Myoosic while in the Gym (primarily Bollywood sound hit sound tracks) and she asked me how. I said Zimble onree, download from iTunes, then pat comes the reply, the iPod Shuffle you gave me long ago, broke , so, can the songs you download via iTunes play back in my Blackberry which my aapish gives me ?

Well, I dont think so, but the BB can play Mp3 format with the Apple DRM. Is there an equivalent of an iTunes Store in India for the Bollywood songs that lets you download mp3 format music (on a pay per song basis, rather than the entire album) that can play on BB ?

Sir SHQ hai ; gift her another shiny i device what's up with this jugaad thingy in such matters ?