Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Nov 2013 09:23

I have total confidence that Samsung will CRE (cap rollback eliminate) or render useless any cleanups and leanness that kitkat brings to the table.
then they will stick it on a phone with a weak processor and 512mb mem, put a shiny 5" 1080p power hungry screen on top, wrap in a aluminium band and call it "samsung galaxy cheetah"

archan · Post by **archan** » 02 Nov 2013 09:43

Raja Bose wrote:
archan wrote: This is probably a demand issue. I've had a matte touchscreen on Lenovo X220 convertible tablet / laptop for two years plus.
Is it a resistive touchscreen? Just poke it with a random plastic object like the back of a pen and see if touch registers.

I think it is capacitive. It has a pen which works well for handwriting. Multitouch works well with fingers. It has some issues near the edges though.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 02 Nov 2013 11:02

Used the Nexus 5. It is a shade bigger than Nexus 4, feels lighter. Hand-feel is good, not as fantastic as Moto X (which by the way is the best phone I have held hand feel wise).

Has rectified 2 biggest complaints I had with Nexus 4 -- The glass back and lackluster camera. The screen is gorgeous and ultra sharp. Though I couldnt spot much of a difference between Nexus 4 and Nexus 5. I could barely tell the difference when they were side to side. I wonder if they could have dialed the pixel density back and saved on battery.

The phone is speedy. Kitkat from a user perspective is more of a refinement. Google Now is more readily accessible, phone indicators are more contrasty and sharper, dock has been re-worked. After a few hours, you stop noticing the difference between Jellybean and KitKat.

The build quality is great -- but is not in the same league as HTC One or Iphunwa.

For the cost though, it is the best phone you can buy, period. There is no doubt about that. If you are not going to subsidize your phone by a carrier and want a smartphone, this is the best phone you can buy.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Nov 2013 15:21

http://www.wpcentral.com/redbusin-india-windows-phone

redbus.in releases windows phone app

--
my prediction is in 12 months time all important indian service provider apps will have WP8 version. same would be true for other places where WP8 is gaining share like south africa, uk and russia.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Nov 2013 20:03

WP8 tablets are in their infancy here. mostly just cheap android tablets and ipads rule the roost - for now.
I have two friends whose cheap android tablets got shattered glass after their kids played rough with it. the quality of glass and plastic felt really sub-par compared to the ipad. I can guess the batteries would not be so great either.

lenovo and asus probably could make good wp8 tablets if they seriously want to pursue it. dell not so sure.

archan · Post by **archan** » 04 Nov 2013 12:54

Wonder whenwill Opera and Firefox for WP be released. Scrolling on IE is a bit tedious. Don't trust Maxthon (is it Chinese?) or UC.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Nov 2013 15:51

520 doesnt have a flash for its camera. looking at eyesight of parents and ease of use with big icons, if they dont mind the big screen the 625 will work. if they want a smaller phone then 620 and 720 will do.

all of them have GPS and you can download and keep updating maps. bigger the screen it helps with maps though.

sampat · Post by **sampat** » 04 Nov 2013 21:30

Singha wrote:520 doesnt have a flash for its camera. looking at eyesight of parents and ease of use with big icons, if they dont mind the big screen the 625 will work. if they want a smaller phone then 620 and 720 will do.

520 doesn't have front facing camera so you can't do video calls. I got my mother 620. The only dislike is that Lumia doesn't show miss call or new message indicator in idle mode. You have to do manual check for missed call by waking phone from idle/sleep mode.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 04 Nov 2013 21:32

^^^you mean it lacks an indicator light?

sampat · Post by **sampat** » 04 Nov 2013 21:40

Raja Bose wrote:^^^you mean it lacks an indicator light?

yes, I guess none of the modern phones have indicator lights anymore.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 04 Nov 2013 23:45

^^^Sammy does.

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 04 Nov 2013 23:49

^^use cyanogen mod flavours of android for this feature

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 04 Nov 2013 23:54

iPhunwa doesn't have the indicator light either. Instead, the whole screen comes to life and shows the incoming message (text/whatsapp/FB messenger) or missed call. Not battery friendly or privacy friendly for that matter. Sammy phones have a multi-color LED indicator, so you can tell what kind of message you have received just by looking at the color of the flashing light. One of the few things that Sammy got right with their phones.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 05 Nov 2013 00:16

On the Iphone5 how does one delete the yahoo mail account and add the gmail account? I misfortunately added the yahoo acct on the phone when prompted to add an email account upon clicking the email icon.
I want to delete that yahoo account and add the gmail account. Alternately does it allow both email accounts? I dont want the email app from gmail.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 05 Nov 2013 01:11

Just go to settings -> mail/contacts/calendar -> yahoo! and then choose to delete it. then use 'add account' in the same place to add your gmail account.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 05 Nov 2013 01:29

Thanks will do so.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 05 Nov 2013 09:37

Lilo wrote:
SaiK wrote:before google gets to indic names, someone patent all generic indic sweet names.
Saik ji,

No.
Google will never use Indic names.

<RANT>Although its filled with desis in their ranks one never finds a Google doodle on their main website Google.com (not the country specific google.in) anything to do with Indic or non western cultures in general.

However Indians are daily bombarded with little known Western personalities, explaining primacy of western cultural meme's in painting,architecture and other assorted liberal arts and science and their role in establishing the "current" "globalized" "culture" especially on the Google.in site.
More funnier is news outlets like TOIlet HT etc going to town bragging like idiots about a rare Indian specific doodle on Google's Indian specific google.in site (which is anyway absent on their main site).</RANT>

So RB ji can rest easy on trademarking his Rosogulla OS name.

Did you check nukkad?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 05 Nov 2013 10:33

generally true not in case of 620 and 625. 620 is the smallest screen, 625 is the biggest screen but not HD so bit pixely for those who need good image quality.

archan · Post by **archan** » 05 Nov 2013 10:51

So Fairfax BB acquisition deal fails and BB is getting rid of their CEO. I was telling someone a couple days ago that the deal is not done yet but they were swayed by our media which had already portrayed that ohh an eye eye tiaan ij going to own blackberry onlee!

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 05 Nov 2013 20:06

RB, will this be your new phone? Rumored lumia 929. Not too big, 20 mpx camera, 1080p, latest processor, 2x lossless zoom, with out a hump, big or small, only 10.5 mm thick and looks good too.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 05 Nov 2013 21:02

^^^No way! I have enough problems carrying a 4.5" one and becoz of the size I can't carry it on runs, so there's no way I am upgrading to some 5.0" monster. In fact if this trend continues, I might go to an iPhunwa in the future. A whole bunch of folks on Sunday asked me to take their pics with medals+GHQs/SHQs and all of them had iPhunwa with iOS7 (after all this is SF)...the iPhunwa Camera UI sux..the camera button is this blank circle....wtf is wrong with Sir Jony?

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 06 Nov 2013 05:16

^^Actually, its not much bigger than Lumia 928 in overall dimensions even though the screen is bigger. There is a market for a high end 4 inch phone, but it seems no body is interested in it.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 06 Nov 2013 06:45

4" is a bit hard to use for reading web content. 4.5"-5" is the middle ground between size and readibility. but for petite women 4" works and thats why iphone is wildly popular with women.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 06 Nov 2013 09:43

^^^Or you might ask him for a Brazilian iPad

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 06 Nov 2013 10:16

Suraj it worked. Thanks

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Nov 2013 02:47

Reminds me of old Nokia ads - excellent ads but poor product promotion

That being said since I love anime, I love this ad.

negi · Post by **negi** » 08 Nov 2013 03:22

Raja Bose wrote: I love anime

Sahi hai

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Nov 2013 04:19

^^^I put my money where my mouth is...2 of us invested in a anime startup in SFO some years back....RoI was good.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 08 Nov 2013 04:27

ramana wrote:Suraj it worked. Thanks

You're welcome, ramana.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 08 Nov 2013 08:29

Marten wrote:... a brazilian somethingelse ...

Marten ji,

good one there.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 08 Nov 2013 08:55

my favourite lumia ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM17SsaAEZA

the skeleton egg, cycle jumpoff and the guy running backward are just great. as is the sharp urban fox in the end.

archan · Post by **archan** » 08 Nov 2013 18:59

Amreeqa trip next week. Any thoughts on the Surface Pro 2? Buy or skip?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Nov 2013 19:00

^^^use it first hand and then decide.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 08 Nov 2013 19:28

archan wrote:Amreeqa trip next week. Any thoughts on the Surface Pro 2? Buy or skip?

Thought you were a ifone addict.

archan · Post by **archan** » 08 Nov 2013 19:50

What made you think so?
I do have a iphunwa 3GS as a second phone though these dins I'm playing with a Lumia 920. My main phone is a skyrocket Galaxy SII which is slowly showing signs of age.
Sometimes I wonder if a Nexus 7 would be worth it for everyday web browsing instead of Surface. How is the pocket ability and battery life of those?

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 08 Nov 2013 20:32

SwamyG wrote: Did you check nukkad?

SwamyG ji,
Some how missed your above post made on Nov 5 th .. Anyway gave another similar opinion in nukkad yesterday

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Nov 2013 20:57

For web browsing/YouTube onlee, go for Nexus 7.

If you want to carry just one device for both tablet and laptop like tasks, go for Surface 2 Pro. In terms of industrial design and build quality, Mickey has really hit the ball out of the park for Surface 2/Surface 2 Pro...even Ive would be envious.....ironic considering Mickey was a pure software house and that too not known of good UX including design just a few moons ago.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Nov 2013 21:19

XBOX, WATCH TV: INSIDE MICROSOFT'S AUDACIOUS PLAN TO TAKE OVER THE LIVING ROOM

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 08 Nov 2013 21:29

my old printer (hp c4400) - value should be now negative.. the black cartridges at costco for dual pack is $74+tax. I remember paid only about 60 bucks for that printer. now, comes the next gen printers - from 89 bucks to 220 bucks top of the line at costco itself.. and the cartridges from 60 bucks to all the way to 100 bucks. crazy! i am tired of kids printing off items like crazy.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 08 Nov 2013 21:34

Printing, whether its inkjet, laser or 3D all depend on consumables to make profit. The printer is sold at or below cost.