Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 31 Dec 2013 03:08

saip wrote:The touch pen that came with the MS Surface did not work with my Iphone. Anyway, I lost it in India. MS did not provide a storage place for the pen. It used the same charge point to stick to the tablet and when you want to charge you have to remove the pen and attach the charger. Also Pen did not stick to the tablet that well and kept falling off in my bag. On line it costs something like $30.

Today I saw a $3 pen at Target and surprise! This pen works with both Iphone, Ipad and Surface.

The 2 pens are 2 different beasts. The pen which comes with the surface requires a Wacom digitizer, your iPhone does not have that...the Galaxy Note does. The new pen you got is a capacitve stylus which requires a capacitive touchscreen onlee. Former is a proper digital pen with tip pressure sensitivity and precision, latter is a low cost solution where precision is not a requirement.

anmol · Post by **anmol** » 31 Dec 2013 12:01

Awesome:-
NSA captures Windows error reports and

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/20 ... ur-iphone/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 31 Dec 2013 13:34

I am sure google, apple, ubuntu, RIM, symbian and microsoft have all co-operated most obediently to install all the NSA mandated frameworks so that NSA can do all the above mentioned stuff on all the popular desktop, tablet and phone OSes out there. there is no need for NSA to use the stick when ghee comes out with seedhi ungli. for public consumption it might not be recorded that way.

vina · Post by **vina** » 31 Dec 2013 16:40

Man , the Phroot machine rocks. Especially so compared to my old i3 dabba with the fan going krrr krrrr all the time! Noiseless, impeccable build, and blazingly fast. I am loving it. This is the best Unix desktop out there, bar none. It takes the pain out of Linux and makes it great.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 31 Dec 2013 17:44

just cover the camera with a piece of black tape. one never knows when NSA has activated it and is peeking at your stratejee papers lol

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 31 Dec 2013 18:11

lol NSA must be having great time with zillion bytes at disposal. My trip to USA wasn't uneventful but behavior of officials was professional courteous and not outside reasonability in general. This one seems to be next-gen peer certified iron clad thing. One more thing to not notice is how NSA leaks are silent in general about smooth mode eppil products, with few lines here and there but otherwise below the radar - for a lot of non programming people tend to work on smooth mode eppil only!

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 01 Jan 2014 14:01

ArmenT wrote:The results are in. #1 and #2 sold computers on Amazon this holiday season were both Chromebook models from Samsung and Acer. Report also says that 21% of laptops sold this year are Chromebook models, huge improvement from < 0.5% last year.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/ ... in_the_gut

Something does not quite add up (or is poor reporting):

1. Amazon itself is not a huge retailer of notebooks/chromebooks, at least not top 1 and 2 (BBY and WM are). There is a wide gap between 2nd and 3rd player. I suspect Amazon is not even #3.
2. 21% in commercial not overall and a vast majority of it would be in Edu market where Apple sells by the tons and it does not report data to NPD (as far as I know). So, the actual share will be lower.
3. HP was picking up on the consumer side and reported good sales on par or exceeding Acer/Samsung but then had supply issues so may have fallen.
4. When I looked at this market last Sept/Oct, my assessment was more like 7% and growing but interesting if Nov and Dec shifted by that much.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 01 Jan 2014 18:08

NSA need not go to that level of covering camera.. NSA can directly access the cloud storage or device storage itself.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 02 Jan 2014 10:40

Just got the Nexus 5 and I was surprised how color accurate and bright the display is at lowest levels of brightness. Probably one of the best I've seen. Not a perfect phone, but comes quite close. Should GOOG continue with this trend on the Nexus series, then the Nexus 6 may be a real competitor.
See AnandTech's review of the Nexus 5. http://www.anandtech.com/show/7517/goog ... s-5-review

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 02 Jan 2014 18:22

^^Seems like GOOG has completely effed up the Camera app. I've never owned a Nexus phone. Did the previous ones have such a brain-dead camera app too? Very surprising since the camera app is something even Sammy managed to get right. It's a shame really, since hardware wise, they seem to have got the camera right and the phone has no other significant flaws.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 02 Jan 2014 23:46

Part of the reason why the display on N5 looks so good is coz it doesn't have a capactivie touch substrate on top so better transmissivity.

For Marten mullah and others: The Lost Secrets of WebOS

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 03 Jan 2014 00:15

nachiket wrote:^^Seems like GOOG has completely effed up the Camera app. I've never owned a Nexus phone. Did the previous ones have such a brain-dead camera app too? Very surprising since the camera app is something even Sammy managed to get right. It's a shame really, since hardware wise, they seem to have got the camera right and the phone has no other significant flaws.

Certainly the camera app needs work, but there are other camera apps you can get such as Camera Awesome. I didn't have a problem with the Nexus camera app in the past and I don't have one now, but that is me since I use a phone camera in a limited manner. The Nexus 5 camera h/w is middle of the road and could be better, but it is better than the Nexus 4. For the price of $400 unlocked, the Nexus 5 is quite good and camera is acceptable.

BhairavP · Post by **BhairavP** » 03 Jan 2014 11:22

Just flashed my S4 with stock 4.4.2. Much faster without the TW crap.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 03 Jan 2014 12:48

Symbian is finally history.

A good article on Symbian's history and it echoes some of the same points I have made earlier on why Android is essentially the "new" Symbian.

'Android before Android': The long, strange history of Symbian and why it matters for Nokia's future

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 03 Jan 2014 13:01

RB Saar, guess what? I've just acquired a working Datasette model C2N version two (scroll down to bottom of page to see the pic of a version 2 unit).

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Jan 2014 14:09

this from der spiegel so can be considered reliable.

A German magazine lifted the lid on the operations of the National Security Agency's hacking unit Sunday, reporting that American spies intercept computer deliveries, exploit hardware vulnerabilities, and even hijack Microsoft's internal reporting system to spy on their targets.

Der Spiegel's revelations relate to a division of the NSA known as Tailored Access Operations, or TAO, which is painted as an elite team of hackers specializing in stealing data from the toughest of targets.

Citing internal NSA documents, the magazine said Sunday that TAO's mission was "Getting the ungettable," and quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying that TAO had gathered "some of the most significant intelligence our country has ever seen."

Der Spiegel said TAO had a catalog of high-tech gadgets for particularly hard-to-crack cases, including computer monitor cables specially modified to record what is being typed across the screen, USB sticks secretly fitted with radio transmitters to broadcast stolen data over the airwaves, and fake base stations intended to intercept mobile phone signals on the go.

The NSA doesn't just rely on James Bond-style spy gear, the magazine said. Some of the attacks described by Der Spiegel exploit weaknesses in the architecture of the Internet to deliver malicious software to specific computers. Others take advantage of weaknesses in hardware or software distributed by some of the world's leading information technology companies, including Cisco Systems, Inc. and China's Huawei Technologies Ltd., the magazine reported.

Der Spiegel cited a 2008 mail order catalog-style list of vulnerabilities that NSA spies could exploit from companies such as Irvine, California-based Western Digital Corp. or Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. The magazine said that suggested the agency was "compromising the technology and products of American companies."

Old-fashioned methods get a mention too. Der Spiegel said that if the NSA tracked a target ordering a new computer or other electronic accessories, TAO could tap its allies in the FBI and the CIA, intercept the hardware in transit, and take it to a secret workshop where it could be discretely fitted with espionage software before being sent on its way.

Intercepting computer equipment in such a way is among the NSA's "most productive operations," and has helped harvest intelligence from around the world, one document cited by Der Spiegel stated.

One of the most striking reported revelations concerned the NSA's alleged ability to spy on Microsoft Corp.'s crash reports, familiar to many users of the Windows operating system as the dialogue box which pops up when a game freezes or a Word document dies.

The reporting system is intended to help Microsoft engineers improve their products and fix bugs, but Der Spiegel said the NSA was also sifting through the reports to help spies break into machines running Windows.

One NSA document cited by the magazine appeared to poke fun at Microsoft's expense, replacing the software giant's standard error report message with the words: "This information may be intercepted by a foreign sigint (signals intelligence) system to gather detailed information and better exploit your machine."

Microsoft said that information sent by customers about technical issues in such a manner is limited.

"Microsoft does not provide any government with direct or unfettered access to our customer's data," a company representative said in an email Sunday. "We would have significant concerns if the allegations about government actions are true."

Microsoft is one of several US firms that have demanded more transparency from the NSA - and worked to bolster their security - in the wake of the revelations of former intelligence worker Edward Snowden, whose disclosures have ignited an international debate over privacy and surveillance.

Der Spiegel did not explicitly say where its cache NSA documents had come from, although the magazine has previously published a series of stories based on documents leaked by Snowden, and one of Snowden's key contacts - American documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras - was listed among the article's six authors.

No one was immediately available at Der Spiegel to clarify whether Snowden was the source for the latest story.

Another company mentioned by Der Spiegel, though not directly linked with any NSA activity, was Juniper Networks Inc., a computer network equipment maker in Sunnyvale, Calif.
"Juniper Networks recently became aware of, and is currently investigating, alleged security compromises of technology products made by a number of companies, including Juniper," the company said in an email. "We take allegations of this nature very seriously and are working actively to address any possible exploit paths."

If necessary, Juniper said, it would, "work closely with customers to ensure they take any mitigation steps."

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 03 Jan 2014 19:26

ArmenT wrote:RB Saar, guess what? I've just acquired a working Datasette model C2N version two (scroll down to bottom of page to see the pic of a version 2 unit).

Nice! Did you test it out with a c64?

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 03 Jan 2014 20:07

i read airtel world sim cards.. only available at dilli ncr region.. did not get the idea behind such restrictions.

any other world sim card india specific sim available? purpose to keep my bankers happy with a local contact/reachable phone. how are others doing this?

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 03 Jan 2014 20:30

Folks.. especially parties having Samsung Duos phone. After an attempted upgrade (automatic) of OS, done two months back I find that my phone does not pick up any Wi-Fi signals. Earlier he was smart enough to pick up my local wifi router as soon as I landed home. Now for some reason it keeps on asking for the WPA password. Note, I have three laptops using the same WiFi router and all of them connect pretty neatly. Now the only way of accessing internet is via GPRS which is not very cost effective.

I did check up with the shop who sold me this phone. They said I have to goto a Service Centre, prostrate in front of the engineers, and surrender the phone for 1-2 days. The worthies would then let me know what can be done.

So Gurus, any suggestions in fixing this? I am already in a half-mind to chuck this phone out (and go for a very basic phone). The whole equipment seems to be shaky (application stability wise).

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 03 Jan 2014 20:33

Sammy OS updates usually end up introducing more bugs than they fix.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 03 Jan 2014 21:06

Go for a low end Lumia....much smoother and more reliable than a lot of high end Sammy turds.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 05 Jan 2014 01:27

The Motorola G for $200 USD is being sold unlocked on Amazon and it is a very good basic smart phone. It comes with Android 4.2.2 and is pretty much stock Android from the user PoV. It will get timely updates to the next version of Android promised by Moto.
It got a good review from AnandTech. http://www.anandtech.com/show/7586/moto ... o-g-review

I may buy a couple of these to gift to family members in India.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 05 Jan 2014 02:19

Took the plunge and bought Samsung's Galaxy S4 for my Verizone Wireless. Man the camera is awesome. My old motorola razr camera was pathetic. These gadgets are getting better with their cameras. When we bought iPhone for SHQ, I was might impressed with the screen brightness and photography. Then Nokia's Lumia 825, for my son, showed how much these camera's have come forward.

S4's night mode, is astounding. The pictures it takes in low light, and night are truly breath-taking for a phone. I look at my Canon T1 in disgust these days.

Also my 15-yr wanted to buy Asus T100 Transfer book (Windows

. For the price, $375 bucks it is good....but in my opinion too small and crappy keyboard. But he likes it and wanted it so that he can take it to the school for typing notes. He also has Nokia with Windows, so he can sync up things between his phone, T100 and laptop. Methinks he spends too much time on these gadgets. More harm than good. But the schools give homeworks that are easily and done faster with these gadgets.

niran · Post by **niran** » 05 Jan 2014 10:48

Sachin wrote:Folks.. especially parties having Samsung Duos phone.

this is a warning for ye all, never ever spend yer hard earned moolah on anything Duos i.e. double sim
thingy stay away as one would run away from leprosy infested sputum on the streets.
the cons-
they are slow then grow slower then hitches, witches and the phone goes kaput.
usually it is the wifi chip which gets fried first
second the charger cum USB slot stops have seen one 3 months old DUOS USB slot completely detaching from the phone.
if you wanna invest in korean samosa then hi-end onree.

Sachin saar, there is onree two options
-go prostrate to lord injeenear samosa
-download one of the open market ROMs install and check it yourself.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 05 Jan 2014 16:45

niran wrote:-download one of the open market ROMs install and check it yourself.

What is this ROM stuff? Can you provide more info?

BTW, yesterday I chanced to go past a Samsung Phone repair center. First I thought it was the Railway Reservation Counter. There were around 4-5 counters (with numbers etc.). And around 80 chairs for people to sit. It was fully packed (at 12:00 noon). People came in, took a token and waited for their turn. The counter would highlight the next token to be taken up there. And all this for phone repairs !!!!

.

I did try to see if I can my Samsung Duos fixed up quickly. This whole setup made me beat a hasty retreat. But it for sure taught me a less on the quality of this phone

.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 05 Jan 2014 17:26

like I have already posted before, samsung only cares for the US / EU / richer E.asian market..look what they sell in US market - S3, S4 and note - nothing else.
all the lower end from grand/quattro/core/xyz are for turd world only and feature sub-par chipsets and screens.
take something as standardized as GPS chipset - a must have for maps and exercise tracking - my duos used to whine about woods/trees/buildings half the time and not get signal and other half it would lose signal and end up not tracking half my run! same price range my lumia720 never has any issues.

atleast nokia has put good hw even in a 8k phone like the 520..no wonder its their bestseller.

and on top of it, android is no good on lower end HW and to make worse the samsung sw - a killer combo on low end turd world hw.

I suggest either get a high end android phone like nexus4 or S3 minimum or look at other options like lumia or get a higher end xolo/karbonn/micromaxx that atleast does not have turd world level HW like samsung. Gionee and lenovo also have some good android phones and more VFM than the big-S . sure android has 50000000000000000000000 apps in the app store vs only 100000 in lumia but do we really have time to sift through all that

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 05 Jan 2014 19:43

Singha wrote:like I have already posted before, samsung only cares for the US / EU / richer E.asian market..look what they sell in US market - S3, S4 and note - nothing else.
all the lower end from grand/quattro/core/xyz are for turd world only and feature sub-par chipsets and screens.
take something as standardized as GPS chipset - a must have for maps and exercise tracking - my duos used to whine about woods/trees/buildings half the time and not get signal and other half it would lose signal and end up not tracking half my run! same price range my lumia720 never has any issues.

atleast nokia has put good hw even in a 8k phone like the 520..no wonder its their bestseller.

and on top of it, android is no good on lower end HW and to make worse the samsung sw - a killer combo on low end turd world hw.

I suggest either get a high end android phone like nexus4 or S3 minimum or look at other options like lumia or get a higher end xolo/karbonn/micromaxx that atleast does not have turd world level HW like samsung. Gionee and lenovo also have some good android phones and more VFM than the big-S . sure android has 50000000000000000000000 apps in the app store vs only 100000 in lumia but do we really have time to sift through all that

In the small guys like Xolo karbonn micromax Gionee --- Xolo is coming out with some excellent hardware that I have seen myself. The X900. But the camera sucks . I dont have any experience of Gione.....am in the market for a phone and 7inch tablet, both should be cheap+good HW quality (including GPS)+run cyanogenmod

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 05 Jan 2014 19:49

do any of them use branded components like sony sensors or carl zeiss lenses I doubt it. so sure , camera quality will lag behind the brands who can afford to pay for the right stuff and have sw development budget to match for camera module.

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 05 Jan 2014 20:12

^^^ Xolo Karbonn Micromax are basically Huawei, ZTE ...and yes, Huawei ZTE have the potential to be decent quality because of the volumes they sell in China.

I saw the Lenovo tablets too. They are solidly in the cheap and happy zone. They are not able to give the butter smooth HTC/Sammy experience, and they sell with a price point thats commensurable.

Now, if someone can explain to me why HTC doesnt sell......

Anyways, Maybe my next phone will be a Nokia Lumia 720 or 625. I know that Nokia drive and GPS is better than Sammy...but dont you like Google Maps Singhaji? GMaps is pretty good too.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 05 Jan 2014 21:22

Singhaji,

The Nexus 5 is available in India now for Rs. 29K. Nexus 5 in India
For Android I would stick with Nexus or the new Motorola phones if available. The Google Play Edition phones are good too, but too expensive.

My choice with phones and tablets has been Android and iOS not because of the vast number of apps, but those that matter to me for engineering and scientific use. They just aren't there for WP.

chandrasekhar.m · Post by **chandrasekhar.m** » 05 Jan 2014 21:48

Are the new Blackberry Z10/30 as good as I hear?
I hear it can even run any Andriod app and the new BB OS and hw are great.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 05 Jan 2014 21:49

Stay away from Bibi if you are looking for some long-term support. They are on life support.

chandrasekhar.m · Post by **chandrasekhar.m** » 05 Jan 2014 22:14

^^^ But if their phones can run any Android app, supposedly have security that NSA cannot break and given their history of making quality hw, all that's left is marketing, isn't it?
If they make the right pitch, wont some of the Android users ditch Sammy, HTC and go over to Bibi?
Their CEO was talking about Bibi shining by 2016.

rajkumar · Post by **rajkumar** » 05 Jan 2014 22:50

SaiK wrote:i read airtel world sim cards.. only available at dilli ncr region.. did not get the idea behind such restrictions.

any other world sim card india specific sim available? purpose to keep my bankers happy with a local contact/reachable phone. how are others doing this?

Get one of your friends or family to get another contract ism and send it to you. I have done this and I pickup the Rs 400 monthly sub from Vodafone India in Delhi. I have also given this number to my Indian bank and they are happy with it and the number never expires!!

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 06 Jan 2014 01:09

chandrasekhar.m wrote:^^^ But if their phones can run any Android app, supposedly have security that NSA cannot break and given their history of making quality hw, all that's left is marketing, isn't it?
If they make the right pitch, wont some of the Android users ditch Sammy, HTC and go over to Bibi?
Their CEO was talking about Bibi shining by 2016.

er...who told you that?

Think about it....why would Android users ditch Sammy, HTC etc and go to Bibi? What is the value add here?? And not to mention unless Chacha gets in bed with Bibi and allows access to his services then its not even a good Android experience since Bibi doesn't have any core service assets left. Bibi is now dhobi ka kutta - na ghar ka na ghat ka.

oh, forgot to post here but Sammy is hiring tons of folks for doing mapping stuff and working on their maps platforms in the Silly-con valley and willing to pay top dollar. Their game plan of reducing dependency is going as predicted.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 06 Jan 2014 02:26

RB,

As SwammyG pointed out like the Asus T100 Windows Tablet for $375 is a good deal. Certainly it has its flaws, but is very affordable and good for 12-14 months. This is what I predicted that will happen to the MSFT Surface where Windows OEMs will eat MSFT's lunch in the tablet market. There are a lot of choices with Windows and Android. With iOS it's only AAPL.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 06 Jan 2014 03:30

Mort Walker wrote:RB,

As SwammyG pointed out like the Asus T100 Windows Tablet for $375 is a good deal. Certainly it has its flaws, but is very affordable and good for 12-14 months. This is what I predicted that will happen to the MSFT Surface where Windows OEMs will eat MSFT's lunch in the tablet market. There are a lot of choices with Windows and Android. With iOS it's only AAPL.

Both Surfaces seem to be sold out pretty solid right now so I am not sure which prediction is coming true?

Anyways, for Mickey it doesn't really matter if 1 unit sold by XYZ OEM cannibalizes 1 unit of Surface becoz they sell the hardware pretty much at cost and the money is made off the software which the OEM pays for anyways when they sell one of their own units. There are pretty solid reasons why they did the Surface - that hasn't changed which is why they continue to make new versions. One of the reasons is the same rationale as why India had to do the 1st Mars orbiter which would not send back "anything new" as per its critics.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 06 Jan 2014 03:55

Mort Walker wrote:RB,

As SwammyG pointed out like the Asus T100 Windows Tablet for $375 is a good deal. Certainly it has its flaws, but is very affordable and good for 12-14 months. This is what I predicted that will happen to the MSFT Surface where Windows OEMs will eat MSFT's lunch in the tablet market. There are a lot of choices with Windows and Android. With iOS it's only AAPL.

My son would argue it is just not a tablet. Because the detachable keyboard comes for the price and he uses the keyboard for most of his typing. We missed the Thanks Giving sale for $299. Surface with full blown Windows 8.1 and keyboard is upwards of 800 bucks. We already have an iPad + iPhone + Mac ecosystem. So thought to build the Windows ecosystem as well - Lumia 825 + Asus T100 Transformer + Laptop + Desktop.

By the way, I like the Dish Network's Hopper thingie.....all said and done it allows me to watch live TV on my Mac. Nothing like Arnab shouting in the bedroom?

RightWireless zindabad onlee. Modi and Rajiv Malhotra are names that even my 9-yr knows/rattles thanks to the internet. Sorry for getting politics in here. After all technology is a tool and all that onlee.

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 06 Jan 2014 03:58

Raja Bose wrote:
ArmenT wrote:RB Saar, guess what? I've just acquired a working Datasette model C2N version two (scroll down to bottom of page to see the pic of a version 2 unit).
Nice! Did you test it out with a c64?

Yes, did it earlier today and it works fine! Luckily SHQ had some cassette tapes (still in wrapper) stored somewhere, so I didn't have to run around looking for one.

chandrasekhar.m · Post by **chandrasekhar.m** » 06 Jan 2014 05:22

Raja Bose wrote:
chandrasekhar.m wrote:^^^ But if their phones can run any Android app, supposedly have security that NSA cannot break and given their history of making quality hw, all that's left is marketing, isn't it?
If they make the right pitch, wont some of the Android users ditch Sammy, HTC and go over to Bibi?
Their CEO was talking about Bibi shining by 2016.
er...who told you that?

Think about it....why would Android users ditch Sammy, HTC etc and go to Bibi? What is the value add here?? And not to mention unless Chacha gets in bed with Bibi and allows access to his services then its not even a good Android experience since Bibi doesn't have any core service assets left. Bibi is now dhobi ka kutta - na ghar ka na ghat ka.

oh, forgot to post here but Sammy is hiring tons of folks for doing mapping stuff and working on their maps platforms in the Silly-con valley and willing to pay top dollar. Their game plan of reducing dependency is going as predicted.

My mistake, I just assumed based on what I remembered about their security system from a while ago, that it was NSA proof. Looked at Der Spiegel now, and learnt NSA cracked them too, though they had to spend a lot of effort. Security doesn't really put them apart from others then.

Is Sammy looking for any specialised domain knowledge or skills for all these jobs? Or generic coding ability and knowledge of algos+data structures is enough? I will check their website too. Thanks for the info.