Showing 1 - 10 of 14
Google Android refreshes itself
Life, James Hein, Published on 07/06/2017
» Android 8 -- or O -- will be coming out soon, with the beta already available for lucky Nexus and Pixel users. Google is introducing "Fluid Experiences" that include picture in picture, Notification Dots, autofill and smart-text selection. The first will allow you to have an app open but with also, say, a small window running a YouTube video, just like TVs can do. Notification dots show that you have an app notification. A long press will bring up the item, which is useful. You have all seen autofill on forms and for passwords; this is finally appearing in Android. As has been the case for the last few versions, Google is also focusing on maximising security, optimising boot times and app performance, and intelligently limiting background activity for apps to save battery life. These are all welcome enhancements.
Samsung's woes continue
Life, James Hein, Published on 19/10/2016
» Where to start this week? Samsung's woes just keep on going. The latest versions caused fires within a day in a couple of cases, including a fire on a plane when the unit was off. The Korean giant has now recommended that all Note 7 users turn their phones off and not use them. This will mean a whole new replacement program of some kind. Not sure where this leaves Samsung though their S7 and S7 Edge units all seem to be fine and going well with customers. It will now be interesting to see what happens to the Note range and what the next version will look like. It has cost Samsung around US$2.3 billion, so far.
Xiaomi sale nets B11bn
Life, James Hein, Published on 22/04/2015
» In a recent Asian sale the Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi sold more than 2 million phones and a range of other electronic devices including over 200,000 MI Bands (like a FitBit). Leveraging off new deals in India they did all of this and more in a 12 hour period. Xiaomi was also smart enough to apply localisation features and add software relevant to the local markets to their phones, something others have often failed to do well. The total received for the sale over the period was around 11 billion baht across India, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Xiaomi Redmi ticks all the boxes
Life, James Hein, Published on 18/02/2015
» So after a few weeks use of the Xiaomi Redmi 5.5-inch phone, which cost me about 6,500 baht shipped, for the price this seems an excellent product. It has a removable battery, supports a Micro SD card up to 64GB and comes with a 13MP camera. It supports 4G and connects quite well to Wi-Fi networks. It has a 720 x 1280 pixel screen which gives a pixel density of about 267, so it is not as sharp as units three times the price but still works well. Battery life is quite good, supporting all day use driving Android 4.4. With a quad core CPU it is snappy enough for most tasks. GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct round out the functionality with even FM support included. The price-per-function ratio is therefore very high for a 4G device. For the majority, this kind of phone will be fine for making calls and usual smartphone functionality. Best of all it uses a non Samsung-ed version of Android minus all those add-ons I find annoying. As usual shop around and make up your own mind.
New camera is weighing on my mind
Life, James Hein, Published on 24/09/2014
» I've had it for a while now so I finally decided to upgrade my SLR camera. After some research I decided on a Nikon D5300. Nikon, because that's the brand of the lenses and other camera accessories I already own; and the D5300 because it's lightweight and has all the latest features found in mid-range models. If I was going to match my old D200 I probably would've gone for the D7100 which has more knobs that I will ever need and is also a lot heavier.
A sexy new way to pay
Life, James Hein, Published on 05/02/2014
» Forget PayPal, what you really need is at least as The Register in the UK quaintly puts it "pay by bonk". Using the system, you knock your smartphone against another smartphone or device in a store to transfer funds from one account to another. A new payment system is also being planned at Apple, who wants to lead the near field communications (NFC) race. It will no doubt heavily feature the iTunes store (i.e. you pay money into your iTunes account and then use that to purchase items in the real world). This could essentially work like an iTunes-based debit card. Remember, however, that these NFC payment systems are also subject to those of a more unsavoury nature passing close to you and grabbing some cash for themselves. It is early days yet, but I expect that this will turn into a real issue. As for me, I bought myself a woven stainless steel wallet that acts as a Faraday cage. You could also just wrap it in tin foil, I suppose.
Smartphone makers throw a curve
Life, James Hein, Published on 16/10/2013
» The internet is an amazing resource. Boasting around 40 billion pages and with exabytes of data, it contains a huge amount of information provided by a multitude of sources. One problem is that a lot of this information is unverified or consists of personal observations and opinions. Despite this, there appears to be a growing trend that the first result received when performing a Web search is the one used to find the answer to a question.
Microsoft's masterful marketing
Life, James Hein, Published on 10/07/2013
» When it comes to marketing, companies like Microsoft are masters. They recently announced that the Windows 8 store now has over 100,000 apps and that the installed base of Win 8 has now passed Vista. They also claim that the eight months it took for the 100K apps is faster than for Apple's iPad and Google Play at 18 and 24 months respectively. More interesting figures to me is that Windows 7 still has over 44% of the market and XP is still a bit over 37% with Windows 8 at a tiny 5.1% and Vista on 4.6%. Mac OSX, if you add up versions 10.6-10.8, comes to about 6.6%. So after all the hype and a year on, Win 8 is sitting just under Mac OSX and a very long way behind both Win 7 and Win XP, the latter still being a favourite of systems administrators everywhere.
There's one born every minute
Life, James Hein, Published on 26/06/2013
» One of the latest acronyms in the IT world is BYOD, or bring your own device. In the US apparently nearly two-thirds of mobile workers pay for their own devices and of those a third says it affects their choice of employer. These figures come from global connectivity provider iPass. If these figures are accurate then the BYOD is a growing trend. More than 80% of those polled claim they are more productive at home. I'm not so sure about this figure, but the office did at least poll ahead of coffee shops and public transport.
Samsung bites into big Apple
Life, James Hein, Published on 05/06/2013
» No prizes for guessing the fastest selling smartphone in South Korea. The Samsung Galaxy S4, of course _ it has sold 10 million units since the April launch. You will remember that the iPhone 5 sold five million units in its opening weekend but the S4 will be seriously attacking Apple's market share over the next month or so.