Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2013 09:26

the galaxy S4 looks a lot like the micromaxx canvas a116 hd which is selling (if you can find it here!) for 14,000.
S4 will likely weigh in at a hefty 33K range

http://gizmodo.com/5990481/here-are-the ... alaxy-s-iv

if MMX hadnt been a clown in first taking orders to get money and then ordering the real production lot, they would have taken the wind out of samsungs sail here already by selling lakhs of canvas HD to the slobbering masses.

pradeepe · Post by **pradeepe** » 14 Mar 2013 10:02

pandyan wrote:
Singha wrote:triz in their labs. This is allegedly the source of their 3d eye tracking technology.
if i understand correctly, triz is really a brainstorming/structured problem solving methodology.

Leaps gesture recognition technology and ability to integrate with any hardware is mighty impressive.

One more gesture recognition and 3D modeling startup:
http://www.zeroui.com
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57510 ... -creation/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2013 11:30

http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/in ... -20121130/

photos inside amazon phoenix warehouse...scale and inventory which perhaps only boeing and airbus main assembly can match.

BhairavP · Post by **BhairavP** » 14 Mar 2013 11:40

The Razr Maxx and Razr Maxx HD have that massive 3300mAh battery.. a colleague has the Razr Maxx, and that thing lasts for three days with normal use.

manish · Post by **manish** » 14 Mar 2013 12:02

YellJee's attempts to hit below the belt during the GSIV Launch:

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Mar 2013 12:07

Is that Noo Yoik? One of my friends told me today that she saw these LG billboards making fun of Sammy.

manish · Post by **manish** » 14 Mar 2013 12:11

Raja Bose wrote:Is that Noo Yoik? One of my friends told me today that she saw these LG billboards making fun of Sammy.

Apparently yes - said to be right on Times Square per Engadget - LG trolls Samsung's Times Square billboards with Optimus G '4' ads

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 14 Mar 2013 12:24

Mort Walker wrote:
hanumadu wrote: Even if you could, you probably cannot derive the full benefit. Some of the device features like pure view may need API support from the OS. That could be another reason for GB going with M$ - promise to incorporate APIs that Nokia needed for hardware specific to it.

Arraye yaar. It was a joke.

ok saar

Raja Bose wrote: Personally I think Chacha missed the bus with ChromeOS and Google Docs back in the [2009, 2012] window but who knows, maybe they can succeed yet.

Google docs did add some nice features from the time it was introduced and it is also easy to use. But MS Office and Open Office made much greater progress mean while. Even if you use Google docs to create your own documents, you will still need MS Office to open documents created by others. Its much easier to pay some money for MS Office rather than deal with the hassle of Google docs or Open Office. I think open office is a much better software than google docs. I wonder how much they can improve google docs with a purely browser based (html and javascript) solution. Another problem with Google docs is the need to be always connected.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 14 Mar 2013 12:33

^^^^
You can enable offline mode in google docs. Chrome works with packaged locally installed apps.

Google docs has a fighting chance in the enterprise. Whether it will become a consumer hit is left to be seen. There is nothing called a missed bus. If the product and usage scenario is superior, eventually it will win out. Lets see in 2 years what progress they make.

SwamyG · Post by **SwamyG** » 14 Mar 2013 12:47

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24002213

Weren't gurus calling tablets a fad?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Mar 2013 13:12

SwamyG wrote:https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS24002213

Weren't gurus calling tablets a fad?

SG mian its not a fad - tablets have their use. But tablet:PC is not the same as PC:Minicomputer - at least evidence till date has not supported the argument that is it the same. What I feel might happen is more tweener products like Mickey's Surface. What has amazed me is how ChipZ is working behind the scenes to maintain its dominance. I was really skeptical about them in 2009-10 and thought ChipZ would get out-maneuvered by young kids like Nvidia. But it looks like the old codger has some tricks up his sleeve which it may whip out to teach the brash youngsters who is boss.

Anujan wrote: Google docs has a fighting chance in the enterprise. Whether it will become a consumer hit is left to be seen. There is nothing called a missed bus. If the product and usage scenario is superior, eventually it will win out. Lets see in 2 years what progress they make.

That's why I feel Chacha missed the bus there. 2012 and before Google Docs had some unique selling points and strengths vs the old native MS Office. Now it doesn't except for the fact it is free in its basic version. In enterprise, unless Chacha comes up with some major sales innovation to push Google Docs apart from a noticeable technological superiority , it will not be able to compete with Mickey's Office - right now the Docs offering is lagging both on tech and sales front. And word on the street is after launch of Office365, Chacha lost out on a bunch of lucrative contracts in industry and gobermint (after all, any self-respecting babu is a badged Word, Excel and Powerpoint warrior skilled in the arts of discussion till concussion). Chacha should have moved before Mickey had a chance to deploy Office365.

sampat · Post by **sampat** » 14 Mar 2013 13:18

Google drives enables offline Google docs and works quite well. Many universities have ditched ms office in favor of Google docs/emails.
Google docs also has integrated search for references on Google scholar, which, perhaps makes it more appealing to universities besides the price point.

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 14 Mar 2013 13:23

^^^^

I was thinking about google drive and docs.
I am a big google fan...and I try to use their products whenever possible. But in this case....
I found them to be quite useless actually. It is tough to create docs and have them SHARED with different users and allow them to EDIT them as well. It is easier to do this with good ol MS word and emailing the docs.

sampat · Post by **sampat** » 14 Mar 2013 13:37

I have not used sharing functions in years but earlier it was quite easy and transparent . you could even see who had made what changes.

One aspect where Google lacks is the formatting capability. Ms office also has better workflow. With sky drive MS office also provides trimmed down office for free and as per my knowledge, you can only edit documents but can't create new one. And of course, nothing beats Ms Excel. So corporates who rely heavily on Excel would never think about moving to open office let alone Google.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Mar 2013 17:49

phew..desi ddm are already spinning rubin's replacement by pichai as a great "victory" for india and iit.
these people never have any common sense.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 14 Mar 2013 20:35

Raja Bose wrote:In fact I would say LG did more justice to the Nexus line than Sammy which kept their Nexus offerings fairly shitty so that their Galaxy line didn't get overshadowed.

Please explain to me how Samsung sacrificed the Galaxy Nexus design in order to preserve the Galaxy line? I would argue the opposite is true with LG. The LG Optimus G, which came out before the Nexus 4, has better performance and doesn't suffer from thermal throttling.

The Galaxy Nexus was released in Nov 2011 and at the time Samsung's flagship was the Galaxy S2 which was released in May 2011. The GNex is better than the S2 in every aspect of performance, display and battery life; but what it didn't have was removable storage and that was forced upon Sammy by GOOG as the Nexus line doesn't have it. The next Samsung flagship phone was the Galaxy S3 which was released in May 2012. Now, the original Note phablet was released in Oct 2011, but was intended to compete with the Galaxy S phones. The original Nexus S was also better than the original Galaxy S as well.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 14 Mar 2013 20:37

Singha wrote:phew..desi ddm are already spinning rubin's replacement by pichai as a great "victory" for india and iit.
these people never have any common sense.

Well it depends. Pichai is an IIT-Kharagpur alumni, but listening to him he doesn't seem to be a MUTU. He seems very sincere. Is his wife from India or gori?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Mar 2013 22:01

Singha wrote:phew..desi ddm are already spinning rubin's replacement by pichai as a great "victory" for india and iit.
these people never have any common sense.

We are becoming like Pakis loudly claiming victory for every little thing. Recall the chest thumping when Sunita Williams got blasted into space? Pathetic.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Mar 2013 22:12

Mortullah, I am not the only one making that assertion - Anandtech says the exact same thing.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6440/goog ... s-4-review

Don't let fanboism blind you to the obvious.

And internally it was quite well known that Sammy assigned their B-team for GN (a trick I guess they learned from chipanda ODMs). The smaller companies are much more sincere when Chacha let's them do the Nexus offering, HTC, Asus, even LG. Despite the Nexus One being a colossal failure, Rubin and HTC really made a nice device. Its problem were bad marketing by Chacha and HTC's low ranking in the pecking order when it gets to sourcing parts from suppliers. And Nexus7 is the best example of what a Nexus product should be. The Galaxy Nexus is the best example of what a Nexus product should not be.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 14 Mar 2013 22:37

^^^It has nothing to do with fanboyism. I use the N4 and Note 2. If Sammy used their B-team for the Nexus S and GNEx, then it was a still a success. Much of the problem with the Nexus phones has to do with Google marketing them and finally selling them on the Play Store. Samsung has plenty of faults, but they are the 800-pound CE gorilla and a lot of other companies don't like them.

BTW, the AnandTech review is known and you should look at:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6425/goog ... -10-review

The Adreno 320 in the Nexus 4 actually performs worse than the Adreno 225 in older devices, possibly due to thermal throttling we saw on the Nexus 4 sample during periods of heavy load.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Mar 2013 22:44

^^^^Read the first page of their review where they explicitly say what I stated. GN was a success?! Compared to what - the NS?

Sammy is the 800lb gorilla in CE which is why they are most likely to deliberately throttle a product they perceive as cannibalizing one of their flagship offerings since they can withstand the repercussions. As for not liking them....no company 'likes' another company, they are all tempirary partners of convenience.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 14 Mar 2013 23:02

There was nothing technically wrong with the Galaxy Nexus. It was a great phone. But Sammy timed it to be upstaged by the GS3 in a few months. And with the kind of advertising they did for GS3, many people simply chose to wait for it rather than get the Nexus. So yes. Sammy was guilty of throttling it. LG seems to be better, but that's only because their own Optimus line is nowhere near as popular as Sammy's Galaxy line. Nexus phones are more popular and well-known than the Optimus. Even so, look at the recent trolling they did of the GS4 ad. They chose to advertise the Optimus G, not the Nexus 4.

And the biggest problem which all nexus phones face in the US is that they aren't available across all carriers at discounted rates. Chacha tried to reduce the impact of this by selling the Nexus 4 unlocked at very low prices. But what they really need is for their own munna Moto to make the Nexus phones, market them like how Sammy and HTC market their own phones and make them available with all carriers at 200 bucks with a 2 year contract just like the iPhunwa and every flagship Android device is.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Mar 2013 23:32

^^^That is what I mean when I say Chacha is gonna go vertical with Moto (patents were more of an BS excuse, the main use is as a hedge against the likes of Sammy).

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 14 Mar 2013 23:40

Sammy is the 800lb gorilla in CE which is why they are most likely to deliberately throttle a product they perceive as cannibalizing one of their flagship offerings since they can withstand the repercussions.

Now, I think you're making this up since you personally don't like Sammy. Where is the evidence of throttling the GNex or Nexus S? Availability was a big issue, but that was due to stupidity GOOG did in the US when they entered in to an exclusive with VZW in Dec 2011.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 14 Mar 2013 23:44

nachiket wrote:There was nothing technically wrong with the Galaxy Nexus. It was a great phone. But Sammy timed it to be upstaged by the GS3 in a few months. And with the kind of advertising they did for GS3, many people simply chose to wait for it rather than get the Nexus. So yes. Sammy was guilty of throttling it. ...

The GS3 came out a full 6 months after the GNex. The GNex was sold by GOOG, the S3 by Sammy directly. Sammy upstaged themselves by selling the Note 2, 5 months after the GS3 came out.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 14 Mar 2013 23:52

Raja Bose wrote:^^^That is what I mean when I say Chacha is gonna go vertical with Moto (patents were more of an BS excuse, the main use is as a hedge against the likes of Sammy).

I don't understand why they went with LG for the N4. They could have tasked Moto with it.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 14 Mar 2013 23:55

nachiket wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:^^^That is what I mean when I say Chacha is gonna go vertical with Moto (patents were more of an BS excuse, the main use is as a hedge against the likes of Sammy).
I don't understand why they went with LG for the N4. They could have tasked Moto with it.

Moto in the US has an exclusive with those blood suckers called Verzion Communications. GOOG learned their lesson on the GNex with VZW and Sprint. Never again with non GSM carriers.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Mar 2013 23:58

Mort Walker wrote:
Sammy is the 800lb gorilla in CE which is why they are most likely to deliberately throttle a product they perceive as cannibalizing one of their flagship offerings since they can withstand the repercussions.
Now, I think you're making this up since you personally don't like Sammy. Where is the evidence of throttling the GNex or Nexus S? Availability was a big issue, but that was due to stupidity GOOG did in the US when they entered in to an exclusive with VZW in Dec 2011.

Mortullah, itna garam kahe hotay ho

I have personally worked with Sammy teams in this area so I don't need to depend on wishful thinking - this is the way they operate and that's the truth whether you like it or not. Let's stop blaming Chacha for Sammy's crap - Chacha's leverage on Sammy is way less than its leverage on HTC/Asus/LG. Just becoz Sammy is successful right now doesn't make them some nice fluffy benevolent company - these guys are cut-throat, super aggressive and least bothered about niceties or ethics. Another reason why I think they will part ways with Chacha and go vertical. Sharing is not their forte and they take no prisoners. This last part is not specific to Sammy but to every Korean company.

As for not liking Sammy, I love them - they put extra khota sikkas in my pocket every year.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Mar 2013 23:59

nachiket wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:^^^That is what I mean when I say Chacha is gonna go vertical with Moto (patents were more of an BS excuse, the main use is as a hedge against the likes of Sammy).
I don't understand why they went with LG for the N4. They could have tasked Moto with it.

Becoz LG already had a competitive platform - Chacha did with LG for N4 what it did with Asus for N7, basically rebadging one of their offerings with some design tweaks into a Nexus product. Moto requires some serious reorg and realignment before they are competitive enough to push out compelling stuff. This X phone might be their 1st test.

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 15 Mar 2013 00:13

Raja Bose wrote:Mortullah, itna garam kahe hotay ho I have personally worked with Sammy teams in this area so I don't need to depend on wishful thinking - this is the way they operate and that's the truth whether you like it or not. Let's stop blaming Chacha for Sammy's crap - Chacha's leverage on Sammy is way less than its leverage on HTC/Asus/LG. Just becoz Sammy is successful right now doesn't make them some nice fluffy benevolent company - these guys are cut-throat, super aggressive and least bothered about niceties or ethics. Another reason why I think they will part ways with Chacha and go vertical. Sharing is not their forte and they take no prisoners. This last part is not specific to Sammy but to every Korean company.

As for not liking Sammy, I love them - they put extra khota sikkas in my pocket every year.

Koi garam nahi hota hai (starring Mort/Bips/Sush and SHQ with belan). Work culture is one thing, but they do make a bunch of components in the electronics division which you have to give them much credit for. GOOG does deserve a kick in the pants. Until the Play Store, they made it difficult to buy any hardware.

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

Raja Bose wrote: Moto requires some serious reorg and realignment before they are competitive enough to push out compelling stuff. This X phone might be their 1st test.

See what may be coming:
Leaked Motorola device tips Google influence

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 15 Mar 2013 00:17

The Chromebook Pixel: Google must think we're fools

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 01:02

Mort Walker wrote: Koi garam nahi hota hai (starring Mort/Bips/Sush and SHQ with belan). Work culture is one thing, but they do make a bunch of components in the electronics division which you have to give them much credit for. GOOG does deserve a kick in the pants. Until the Play Store, they made it difficult to buy any hardware.

Watch out for Lalmullah - he might already be present as kabab mein haddi in that sandwich.

Its not only Sammy's work culture but their way of doing business. Now from Sammy's perspective, is it wrong? - Not at all. In fact nothing would make me happier than to see an Indian company become like Sammy. Instead all we have is gyaan bhaashan and BS peddling from the likes of Narayan Murthy while they merrily make hay from real estate instead of kicking some serious funding into startups. Chacha is getting serious about owning HW only now once it saw what happens when you depend on OEM partners completely. Mickey given its longer history with OEMs saw that even earlier which is why they moved into stuff like the Surface. Working with OEMs is like partnering with Massa - you never know when you will get nuked by your partner.

Mort Walker wrote:The Chromebook Pixel: Google must think we're fools

I have a feeling that the same retards who did the Nexus Q (basically Rubin's ex-Danger pals/ex-Kin folks from Mickey) did the ChromeBook Pixel too. It reeks of the same disconnect from reality. The author touches on that point too.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 15 Mar 2013 01:14

^^What is surprising is that there was no one in Chacha who could point out to them that the whole thing was ridiculous and nobody would buy it.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 15 Mar 2013 02:55

Raja Bose wrote:
SaiK wrote:well, what is wrong with hiring good talents?
SaiKollah, good talent is not defined by school pedigree or GPA. In the end you are hiring an individual so you have to look beyond paper qualifications. Otherwise it is no better than arranged marriages of yore where how gori the bride was determined whether she would be a good wife or not.

or now-a-days looong biodatas of brides/grooms (including degrees from stan/haavad/ale) as if that would make them better life partners.

nachiket · Post by **nachiket** » 15 Mar 2013 06:33

The GS4 has been unveiled

It has a 5-inch FullHD (1920x1080 pixels) screen. It is powered by Android 4.2.2 aka Jelly Bean. It has a 13MP main camera and 2MP front camera. The CPU is either 1.6GHz Octa Core Exynos 5410 or 1.9GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon Fusion Pro. It has 2GB RAM. Internal storage is 16GB/32GB/64GB with support for microSD card. Battery is rated at 2600 mAh. It weighs 130g.

It also has floating touch.

Specs are pretty much as expected. As are the looks (slightly bigger version of S3). The octa-core processor sounds like overkill. Are there apps designed to take advantage of even quad-core processors yet?

It has the IR blaster like the HTC One to turn the phone into a TV remote.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Mar 2013 06:51

Moto phones somehow still seem stuck in the original razr era...The curving smooth girlie hips design idiom has escaped their design so far.

Anujan · Post by **Anujan** » 15 Mar 2013 07:08

Saw the sammy event. What a pile of nonsense!! Mahdi single handedly was more engaging, electrifying 1000x cheaper and 1000x more effective in advertising important features and setting the tone of the product.

This looked like poorly planned and executed Oscar awards.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Mar 2013 07:10

Someone here mentioned GSIV will have a non-Pentile display. Apparently, not.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Mar 2013 07:16

Yawn..nothing wow about phones anymore. Just more cpu. Bigger screen. Lots of useless features. Higher mp camera

Atleastthe nokia 920 claims to have a better low light cam and a more visibld screen in bright sunlight..the two biggest holes in current phones and nobody seems serious about fixing these real problems.