Phone, Tablet and Gizmo Thread #0x02

archan · Post by **archan** » 12 Nov 2013 20:25

So - now that I am in the land of the free, I decided to make a quick trip to the local BestBuy. General impressions:

1) Surface Pro 2: screen is great, though could be cramped for productivity. It is wide. Not being a matte is not such a problem as the lights above were being reflected but not extremely distracting. Better than the old glossy laptop screens. Display is sharp and it feels snappy. I am not sure if I have warmed up to the concept though. It feels like a broken laptop to me.

2) Nexus 7: Feels solid, lightweight and thin. Performance is pretty good when using Google Earth and zooming in on a NYTimes webpage. Smooth. The Galaxy Tab 7 next to it had choppy zoom on the same webpage!

3) Galaxy Note 8 and 10: amazing screen, videos etc. Pricey of course.

4) Ipads still rule the roost. Went looking for a hard case for my brother's Galazy Tab 3 8.0 but even on the Samsung Accessories aisle, they had stuffed iPad Air cases. Over 90% of accessories appeared to be for iPad.

5) Surprise find: What I thought was the Vaio Pro turned out to be the Lenovo Ideapad Yoga Pro 2. I immediately wanted to buy it. It was the core i5 version for $999. The only fear was that out of the two display units, one had a bad graphics card or screen - had red lines all over it. Reading up a bit shows that it has color issues with the high res screen they are using. I guess it is early days for Lenovo with the qHD screen. But it is a great alternative to a Macbook Air and the screen folds all the way back to become a tablet. The best thing is that it is still thin enough for me even in tablet mode. Build quality felt pretty solid to me. Wonder if I should take the risk. Too bad they didnt have any Vaio pros on display.

6) I wish this guy was available now to check out.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 13 Nov 2013 07:09

spell check for tamil on appil and andy
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/techno ... epage=true

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 13 Nov 2013 08:19

Motor Oil just cannot catch a break.... Motorola X sold only 500,000 units

member_20292 · Post by **member_20292** » 13 Nov 2013 11:14

Was supposed to be an excellent phone....Mot X. Why arent people buying non samsung Android phones?

vina · Post by **vina** » 13 Nov 2013 12:18

Ok boys. Some advice please. Now with too much at stake if one of my hard disks on my dabba goes Paki, I need a decent backup and recovery solution.

So do I do this full nine yards RAID with Firewire (outdated already no ?) kind of thingy or go the nice clean easy way of a Airport Time Capsule from Phroot ? I like Phroot's solution, easy to use and setup etc and time machine runs unobtrusively, looks good and will get the job done.

Question is, I will periodically need to back up that Airport Time Capsule as well, won't I , since it is not a RAID 5 cluster , but rather a single disk solution ? Or is that level of back up like I get from an Airport Capsule fine for a small business like mine and wanting RAID 5 taking paranoia to the extreme ? After all, for me to be shafted, both the disk in the Capsule and those on my dabba needs to go Paki at the same time no ?

Anyone here has experience with Airport Capsule and used it here in India with Airtel DSL broadband ? Anyone use it with direct fiber to home kind of connection ? Setup and stuff works fine here ?

Danke.

vina · Post by **vina** » 13 Nov 2013 13:12

pandyan wrote:you dont need to get fruit's time capsule..just get a regular external hdd (WD or iomega) and hook it to your mac as a backup system. fruit's time machine soln works very well and I had to replace my hdd once and whole system was restored in a couple of hours.

i wouldnt worry about RAIDing the external hdd as you already have one original + one backup. if you really need more redundancy, then it needs to be stored offsite/cloud solution. (mac+external hdd + cloud).

Ok. Thanks. I was thinking of the Phroot Time Capsule coz, it serves as file and print server as well, in addition to back up and of course wireless router. Pretty attractive to have that file and print server in such a small form factor and all functions considered , price point as well.

Sachin · Post by **Sachin** » 13 Nov 2013 17:34

Gurus. I have a Samsung Duos, and after the recent OS upgrade (done through Wi-Fi) the Wi-Fi connectivity has gone kaput. The phone identifies my Wi-Fi router and the security schema in place (WPA2). But when I punch the password, it says that is incorrect. This is when my two laptops connect to the same Wi-Fi with ease. After the upgrade even GPRS was down for some time. But after 2-3 days, it started working after a restart.

Any tips on whether this is a common problem and can be fixed quickly?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 13 Nov 2013 17:39

used to have same problem when I used it. giving the password repeatedly worked sometimes, but mostly it needed a reboot.
you could also delete that wifi router detail from the phone and let it discover freshly.

negi · Post by **negi** » 13 Nov 2013 19:24

Sachin sir I assume you have tried reboot of your phone, so next option would be to just reset the router or even disable the security momentarily to see if it helps. Btw does you phone latch on to other wifis in public places ?

Mort Walker · Post by **Mort Walker** » 13 Nov 2013 23:35

pandyan wrote:
archan wrote: Vaio Pro turned out to be the Lenovo Ideapad Yoga Pro 2
vaio pro and yoga pro 2 are good systems; but, try them before buying. also, does it have international warranty? parts can be expensive.

dell is launching a new 10/11" tablet end of this month. their 8" tablet is getting pretty good reviews

Yes. The Dell Venue looks like a good alternative to the Surface Pro 2. Dell has a lot of corporate clients and business accounts, so it is possible for them to sell a bunch of these, if they don't screw it up.
Dell Venue 11 Pro HD Windows Tablet

niran · Post by **niran** » 14 Nov 2013 08:31

Sachin wrote:Gurus. I have a Samsung Duos, and after the recent OS upgrade (done through Wi-Fi) the Wi-Fi connectivity has gone kaput. The phone identifies my Wi-Fi router and the security schema in place (WPA2). But when I punch the password, it says that is incorrect. This is when my two laptops connect to the same Wi-Fi with ease. After the upgrade even GPRS was down for some time. But after 2-3 days, it started working after a restart.

Any tips on whether this is a common problem and can be fixed quickly?

delete the connection first then reboot 2 times, point to note saar, it is two times reboot.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Nov 2013 08:35

why is that . does PBUH need two circumbulations to feel satisfied with the devotee's offering?

niran · Post by **niran** » 14 Nov 2013 08:51

^^^ you tell me saar, i is lowly moronic consumer onree, you is eyetea wetea onree,
but that was the way moi got rid of the similar problem when updated SII and SIII and noteII

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 14 Nov 2013 09:52

I have a better soln. dump the duos. since I shifted to lumia have never had a issue with updates to the phone or apps and my wifi reach rivals that of my thinkpad to far corners of the house...where duos and ipad have not a hope to sensing anything.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Nov 2013 10:06

^^^I own NOK and GOOG too....no worries

One guy here recently brought a house in Berkeley using proceeds from selling NOK.

----

KJo, whatever you do, don't move to Motor Oil in IL or CA or anywhere else - came across some very disturbing andar-ki-baat about them today which makes them a high risk employer.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Nov 2013 10:08

Singha wrote:I have a better soln. dump the duos. since I shifted to lumia have never had a issue with updates to the phone or apps and my wifi reach rivals that of my thinkpad to far corners of the house...where duos and ipad have not a hope to sensing anything.

Looks like Singha saar has replaced anmol mian as the resident Mickey Fanboi

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 14 Nov 2013 10:13

Tablet gurus, what is a good 7 to 8 inch tablet? There are the nexus 7 (2012 and 2013). How about Asus memo pad HD7?

vina · Post by **vina** » 14 Nov 2013 11:04

hanumadu wrote:Tablet gurus, what is a good 7 to 8 inch tablet? There are the nexus 7 (2012 and 2013). How about Asus memo pad HD7?

PHROOT MINI ! With retina of of course!

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 14 Nov 2013 11:04

I am trying to get one as cheap as possible. I have the Fire HD 7 and planning on returning it. The default pdf reader on kindle tablets does not allow highlighting. I have quite a few pdf documents, that I would like to be able to high light. And also the app selection in amazon store is not much. I was trying to root it and install stock android on it, but there are no ROMs/drivers yet for latest kindle fire hd 7.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 14 Nov 2013 11:05

vina wrote:
hanumadu wrote:Tablet gurus, what is a good 7 to 8 inch tablet? There are the nexus 7 (2012 and 2013). How about Asus memo pad HD7?
PHROOT MINI ! With retina of of course!

I am just a phata abdul only saar. Need something cheaper only.

vina · Post by **vina** » 14 Nov 2013 11:08

pandyan wrote:Interesting. timecapsule is definitely a good option with all these features. External HD + router on its own would easily cost 2/3rd of timecapsule's list price ($299 for 2TB). Looks like a good deal.

Only problem is the security risk in having a fileserver that acts as a internet base station.

Sekooritee of the file server is not such a biggie for me . But yes, you can access the files from a remote location via the Mac per what I read! What makes it sweeter is the 15% discount I can manage to patao as friends & family of Phroot Employee.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Nov 2013 11:09

hanumadu wrote:Tablet gurus, what is a good 7 to 8 inch tablet? There are the nexus 7 (2012 and 2013). How about Asus memo pad HD7?

iPad Mini, Nexus 7 and a distant 3rd Kindle Fire HDX. iPad Mini mainly if you want access to good content, otherwise Nexus 7 which in its current avatar is superb. Now if you are patriotic SDRE then go for Kindle Fire HDX.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 14 Nov 2013 11:19

I have Kindle DX for PDF reading without eye strain - yet to load PDFs (as predicted by Negi bhai

).

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Nov 2013 11:21

^^^Thats an e-ink display, Kindle HDX is LCD saar.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » 14 Nov 2013 11:29

Marten wrote:RBmullah, did you say patriotic because the center is in Chennai?

I thought it was in Bangalore, Kerala. Perhaps they have it at both places or maybe the Kindle folks are in JJ territory and AWS or retails store folks are in Kerala?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Nov 2013 11:33

Marten wrote:RBmullah, did you say patriotic because the center is in Chennai?

Hain? What center?

No I meant patriotic becoz its designer is SDRE wimmens. Ditto for Kindle Paperwhite.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 14 Nov 2013 11:38

RB, e-ink == no I strain or so eye hope. Is LCD same?

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 14 Nov 2013 11:40

Thank you maulaners. RB being so emphatic about the new nexus 7, I am leaning towards it.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 14 Nov 2013 19:06

Kindle is Lab126 Cupertino few blocks down the road from FruitCo onlee. They have another facility next to Motor Oil which is allegedly building non state phones.

LCD glare eye strain is more but people are willing to mostly compromise.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 15 Nov 2013 01:08

Two other features of tablets - touch and web-browsing tend to break my concentration because entertainment (and other addictive stuff like BRF

) is just a couple of swipes away. Good for stimulation when you are stuck in your thinking or writer's block kind of situations.

I would rather do my browsing (and posting on forums) at the desktop where as read forums on an iPod. For reading long [non]fiction material, I prefer the paper medium itself. But e-paper is a close second. I wish somebody makes a two-in-one, but I don't think it is going to happen as the market for e-ink is at least three orders of magnitude smaller than the {ph,t}ablet market.

Looks like I will have to nurse my two e-paper kindles for a long time with no hope for replacements.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Nov 2013 02:44

The Nexus 7 2013 model is indeed pretty good. I've had it since mid August, and use it regularly. Excellent screen and very smooth. I agree that iPadmini has better content (iOS in general does) but I find Nexus 7 still a good choice for the bang for buck, compared to even the latest retina iPadmini. It's definitely way better than the previous generation mini with the much lower res screen. I use mine almost daily.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 15 Nov 2013 03:07

Raja Bose wrote:^^^I own NOK and GOOG too....no worries One guy here recently brought a house in Berkeley using proceeds from selling NOK.

Must be an employee with a lot of ESPP when the stock was low for a long time

. I bought some hoping Windows Phone would take off and sold most of them when the devices unit was sold for a decent profit. Should have kept them. I still would have rather GB went boom or bust with devices.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Nov 2013 03:19

^^^Device unit is not sold yet

GB actually is moving in the right direction (up) while Motor Oil despite screwing up earlier has still no indications of any recovery visible in the horizon. Apparently the 500,000 sales of Moto X is too high a number and actual sales are way lower - it doesn't speak well for their chances.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 15 Nov 2013 03:37

Raja Bose wrote:^^^Device unit is not sold yet GB actually is moving in the right direction (up) while Motor Oil despite screwing up earlier has still no indications of any recovery visible in the horizon. Apparently the 500,000 sales of Moto X is too high a number and actual sales are way lower - it doesn't speak well for their chances.

You think the deal won't go through? Or will GB start making devices again at some point of time? Will it be the share holders or will it be regulatory hurdles? Can GB renege on the deal after share holder and regulatory approvals if the Q4 results are good (highly unlikely though)?

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Nov 2013 04:35

Deal will most likely go thru but shareholders haven't approved yet, no? Well the GB left over after the acquisition won't make phones just like Motorola Solutions doesn't make phones - it will be a combination of Nokia Networks (including Motorola's network infra business) and NAVTEQ. I am predicting that at some point in the future NAVTEQ will get spun off (not the least due to Michael Halbherr's desire to get rich) and sold (Apple or Samsung or Microsoft?) which will cause NOK to go up again.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 15 Nov 2013 05:41

Thanks Bosemullah for the insight.

--Added Later--
Any idea how much MS was willing to pay for Navteq?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Nov 2013 05:57

Moto g specs look impressive for the price.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Nov 2013 06:14

pandyan wrote:
Raja Bose wrote:^^^I own NOK and GOOG too....no worries One guy here recently brought a house in Berkeley using proceeds from selling NOK
uncle would take 40% cut on the profits though..did the guy save enough to pay the taxes

Yes, he made a killing and his name rhymes with a certain fizzycist whose effect is used in RADAR.

Raja Bose · Post by **Raja Bose** » 15 Nov 2013 07:21

Mortullah, take note....hope this guy administers a swift kick to the carriers' mush if they try delay tactics or refuse.

FCC Chairman to carriers: Unlock phones or else!

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 15 Nov 2013 08:07

Err, how does this change anything ? The article says the FCC wants carriers to:

* provide a clear, concise and readily accessible policy on unlocking
* unlock mobile devices for legitimate owners of those devices once their service contract has been fulfilled
* notify customers when their devices are eligible to be unlocked and/or automatically unlock those devices for free
* unlock devices or provide an explanation of a denial of any unlock requests within two days
* unlock devices for military service men and women upon deployment

How is that any different from now ? Even today AT&T unlocks iphunwa after contract period. In some cases like mine, they do it <1 year into contract. Title implied FCC wants carriers to have all phones unlocked at the outset, contract or not. Now that would be true unlocking.