The Technology of Today International: April 2013

Monday, April 29, 2013

The Daily S4, Your One Stop Place To Learn More About The Galaxy S4

Over the weekend Samsung has launched the Galaxy S4 in about 50 countries and i'm pretty sure some of you and the people around you have bought it. I also had my hands on with the device yesterday, if you want to read about my experience with it for the first time click here. Well so if you are not a tech savvy person and you don't quite understand the features of the Galaxy S4, i have an answer for you. You can Google Search the features or even browse through our blog to find out more or if you're smarter you'll look into youtube to find some videos. It is not everyday that i'm recommending something but today i will recommend to everyone out there what i see as the best place on the internet to learn about the Samsung Galaxy S4. It is the Daily S4 Youtube and is a branch channel from my very own friend Mike. His vision for the channel is that users will define what topics they want him to do a video about via email or in the comments of his video. You can already see his success in his previous channel, the Daily Note II which has close to 40K subscribers and chances are if you're searching about the Galaxy Note II on Youtube his video will be in the #1 position. So what ar you waiting for subscribe to these channels below also you can share this channel to the people around you which want to learn about the Galaxy S4. Additionally, you can also head over to our Samsung Galaxy S4 news flow page to see articles related to the Galaxy S4.

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Samsung Ativ First Hands On, The Only Windows Phone 8 Device With A Physical Windows Key

Yesterday while i was at the Samsung shop trying to get my hands on with the Galaxy S4, i stumbled upon the Samsung Ativ S which just went on sale in my country earlier this month. So if you read my article last yesterday you would have known that while waiting for my turn to play the Galaxy S4 i was taking pictures as well as playing with the Samsung Ativ S. When i saw the device on the opposite of the tablet i actually thought it was an S3 but when i looked closely i only realised that it was the Ativ S so i took out my camera and took a few shots. Overall there was not much for me to play on the device as unlike Nokia or HTC there is nothing special in the Ativ S. I was consistently scrolling through the app drawer and the homescreen in search of something to use. One thing i was not used to was the physical home button because i was pretty much used to the standard Windows Phone 8 hardware which only included capacitive buttons. Finally the device i can say really looks like the S3 and as usual to all Windows Phone 8 devices the UI is consistent and fluidity is present too. To check out more of the photos i've taken click here.

Pretty much the only Windows Phone 8 device to date which has a physical home button

Sunday, April 28, 2013

My First Hands On With The Samsung Galaxy S4

This weekend was the global launch of the Galaxy S4 and pretty surprisingly the device came to my country on the first wave, i was actually expecting it to come on the second week. But nonetheless, today i had my first hands on look at the device. After weeks of reading and watching Youtube videos about the device i finally had my hands on of the device an my overall word in this first hands on is that i am really disappointed with the device. Well there is quite a story to this encounter, so without further ado. I went out to the shopping mall in the evening to both buy some groceries and ate dinner and most importantly taking my first hands on look with the device.

After eating dinner i rushed to the nearest electronics store; i did not first choose to go the the official Samsung shop because in the past i went there first and it was crowded to the roof. So i went to three electronic shops which had Samsung tables showcasing Galaxy devices but they all did not have the S4 there. So then i quickly went to the official Samsung shop and from a distant i saw a big crowd outside the store and i knew they wanted to test out the Galaxy S4. Upon reaching there i found out that there were only 2 Galaxy S4's and everybody was crowding on that table just to take a look at the device. So i waited along with the people and handily let everybody try out the device first as i am going to take quite some time due to taking photos. While waiting i notice on the opposite of the table there was a device which looked like the Galaxy S4 but it wasn't it was the Ativ S, i actually very excited to have seen the device because it was only recently announced in my country and prior to the launch of the S4 i was looking up and down for it. In the next article i will be talking about my thoughts of the device so stay tuned. Jumping back to the story i waited for about 15 mins and in that time i took pictures of the Ativ S for about 5 mins. In that other 10 minutes i ~~stared into the thin air waiting~~ was looking at people using the two Galaxy S4's and one of the user was using the device beside of me and as usual while waiting i'm listening to what they talk. So while the user was using the device i did pop in to tell about the new features as the user was pretty clueless about the new features and just frantically tapping the screen; pretty weird is that all of the salesperson was on the other tables and were not here to attend the customers. Time passed pretty fast and it was my turn to play with the device, so first i started scrolling thorough the device and then i took out my camera to take all of the pictures of the key aspects of the device. While taking photos of the device i noticed a small square box on the side of the screen, so i decided to click it and it turns out to be something like the assistive touch on the iPhone. So i asked the salesperson what does that box do and he replied 'its like the iPhone touch thing', i gave him the stun face. After completing the picture taking process which took about 10 minutes i played the device for about another 10 minutes and there were quite a lot of people waiting to play with the device at that time, and at one point the user using the second Galaxy S4 in the shop asked me about the new features of the device so i was holding up the device and started talking about the device and also simultaneously everybody began crowding around me as i was doing a short speech about the device. Then after that short speech i continued playing with the device and all of the sudden the device started freezing and lagging i was really quite angry at that time that the device was lagging and i even wanted to make a short video but i did not bring my tripod stand along so i shun the thought away. After that as i was going to leave i took a few more photos comparing the Galaxy S III with the S4. I jumped into the conversation of the person which was asking the salesperson about the S4 and said a mouthful and after that the person said 'how come you know so much one ?' the i replied 'i write a blog about tech news' then he sarcastically replied 'i know la you are a spy from other companies surveying the device'. Continuing to taking my last shots comparing the S3 with the S4 i finally understand TheVerge's review of the S4 in which they said about the plastic. While i was holding both device in my hand while my other hand was holding the camera, i took quite a number of shots because the devices were hot and they kept on slipping of my hand and the hot slippery plastic did not feel good at all. Overall this first look at the device has been pretty bad, i also came to know that the device also went out of stock and a new stock will only come in 2 weeks time. That was pretty dire to hear. I will try again 1 month from now to have another look at the device, maybe at that time things will turn out better. Here are some images of the Galaxy S4 i took but to see all the images click here.

The Dual Camera mode is really the best feature on the S4

One handed operation on the Galaxy S4 for me is no problem

Pretty surprisingly the stock keyboard on the Galaxy S4 feels very nice to type on

A hands on with the Galaxy S4 (left) wouldn't be complete without comparing it with its predecessor, the Galaxy S III (right)

Friday, April 26, 2013

Outlook.com App For Android Updated With A New UI, The Update I've Been Waiting For

Last year in July Microsoft announced that the successor to the hotmail email service which is outlook.com. Additionally with the introduction of outlook.com it became my main email due to the very nice design of the page and the fact that i can finally have my name on the email without numbers of special character. A few months after they released an android app which immediately got bad review due to the design which is identical to the hotmail app. Well this is a truly funny and weird story, yesterday night just before i head to sleep i decided to install the outlook app for android because my i have not done it yet due to the very bad design of the first iteration of the app by Microsoft. So i installed the app and signed in and at the first glance i noticed that the splash screen has changed but i did not realize the there is a new UI because on the app page the screenshots are still pointed at the new design. After passing through the sync settings etc i jumped into the app and i was shocked about the new design of the app. Then this morning i received an email from the outlook team about the new design of the android app. It its pretty weird that the screenshots were not updated though. Overall i really enjoy using this app and the app is as good as the android Gmail app. Well this app has just been updated so the ratings of the app is still very low.

Outlook.com App For Android

Samsung Galaxy S4 Unboxing | SHV-E300

unboxing of the korean samsung galaxy s4

Well, today is the launch for the Galaxy S4 in Korea and my friend michael has picked up the Galaxy S4 from LG U+. He picked up the 32GB version of the device for quite a hefty price. This particular version of the S4 has the same hardware as other versions but unlike the international version which could not combine 8 cores with LTE the korean version comes in with an Exynos 5 octa 8 core processor with support for LTE too. Additionally this version also comes with an extra battery as well as the extra battery charger. Well watch the unboxing video below and if you want to learn more about the Galaxy S4 subscribe to the Daily S4 youtube channel, i'm sure you won't regret hitting that subscribe button.
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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Draw Something 2 Announced, Popularity Revival ?

Well after quite a few weeks of being rumored, Zynga has finally announced the sequel to the one time hit game Draw Something which was extremely popular for a short period of time last year. This time around Zynga is giving the game a refresh by giving in some new tools for the gameplay. Gone is the old design of the app and replacing it is a much more modern and popping out interface which take similar design cues from the instagram app. But with all of the new things being added by Zynga this time around the core gameplay and objective of the game is still there which is to draw something from the words provided and asking your friend's to guess it. Currently the game is only in the App Store but it might soon be available for download in both the Google Play Store and Windows Phone Store. Check out the screen shots below showcasing the app.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

SWYPE Is Finally Hitting The Google Play Store, No More BETA Versions

Today i was pretty much shocked about hearing that SWYPE has finally hit the Google Play Store and is finally out of the Beta era. This to me was totally unexpected. Moving back to the main point, SWYPE has finally hit the Google Play Store and V1.5 is the version there. Well if you have been here for sometime now you would have known that i'm an avid SWYPE user and i've been using the keyboard since i started using my Nokia symbian phone. I've used numerous keyboards including the recently announced Swiftkey 4, the android 4.2 keyboard but they all just won't do. It seems that only SWYPE will do me. Well this version which is hitting the Google Play Store adds a HOLO theme which is very matching in the world of android. I'll consider doing a written review of this keyboard when i'm ready.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Happy Earth Day, Enjoy Nature To Its Fullest Today

(credit earthday.org)

Today is a day in which everybody from all parts of the world come together to celebrate a momentus day which is Earth Day. Actually last week i kept this date on tab but seemingly today it slipped off my mind but with the help of the trusty Google Doodles i was reminded that today was Earth Day. To keep track, this year is the 43rd year which 192 countries around the world celebrate Earth Day. Unlike Earth Hour which lasts one hour and its main purpose is to save energy, Earth Day is meant to be a day where people all around the world hold out events or talks in the vast nature and enjoying it. In the same context, a few weeks ago via our Facebook page i announced a new segment called Eco Tech and i actually wanted to make the debut article be pushed out today but due to some technical difficulties while researching the topic i was unable to do say. Finally i would like to wish everybody out there a Happy Earth Day and enjoy the best of Nature today.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Google Chrome Is The Best Browser In The World

Today i'm going to talk about Google Chrome and chances are that you are using this browser to read this article. We are currently in the era in which smartphones are growing rapidly and Android is still overpowering the world. Well just so happen that Google has a lot of successful products and android and Google Chrome are one of them. Ever since i started using the computer a few years back i've been using Chrome, well in the start when Chrome was still not that popular i was using the ever so trusty preinstalled internet explorer by Microsoft. But ever since i switched to Chrome i never stopped using it but there was like one period of time which i was using Opera Next to test it out but that didn't last long. But all in all there are a lot of reasons why Chrome is the best browser out there. First up is that Chrome does not quite lag in even the most oldest hardware which is a very big plus. Also Chrome was one of the first browsers to integrate Adobe Flash player into the browser itself so no need to install it separately and even update is separately. Throttling down to the old days where IE was used by the masses Google introduced chrome with the tabs being the one highlighted and not the window it is on. Similar to Android Google also enables you to customize your browser to your preference but it is limited to a few things but if you compare to other browsers the customization of chrome is really phenomenal. Additionally Google Chrome is not only a browser but it also acts somehow like a Browser+ because with the Chrome Web Store you are able to download applications, themes and extensions which widens the horizons of your browser making it so that you don't need to leave your browser to like say open the calculator. I'll cover the Chrome Web Store in another article which will include some of the top picks for extensions to add to your browser. The thing which i really like about Chrome is how much it integrates with your Gmail account. There is something called Chrome Sync which you can sign in to your Google account and save all the settings in your browser and even save the autofills and passwords. So if you migrate to a newer PC or go to someone else's PC all you need to do is sign in to your Gmail and you'll feel yourself at home because all of the settings will be preloaded. Finally is an addition, well which browser do you know has a Task Manager of itself; well Google equipped Chrome with one. Well this is the end of the article and i hope to see you in the next one.

Download Google Chrome For PC & Mac

Friday, April 19, 2013

The Verge Is Your One Stop Place For News

DISCLAIMER: This article is not by any stretch and advertisement article, solely personal thoughts

Earlier this week i wrote and article about the history behind the formation of this blog and this article will continue the story of how i digest the daily news.

In my daily rounds i go to various websites but the site which i go to time after time is theverge.com. If not mistaken i found theverge when i was googling about an article and soon after that i fell in love with the design of the page and the content being pumped out is also very good. Previously i was following CNET, but what made me change my #1 news source is the content. To me TheVerge is really a never ending road of very good content. The thing i like about TheVerge is the very top section of their main homepage which houses a few big thumbnails which have been give some filter service. Additionally the reviews which they pump out are very detailed and non bias by any stretch. Also every now and then they have some exclusive content like the Google Glass one which was published about 2 months ago. But what i really look up to from theverge is actually their video segments and their pictures which look magnificent. One of my favorite video segment is '90 seconds on the verge' which is aired every weekday on their website. Also continuing gaining my attention is Top Shelf and the Vergecast. The response of the readers are there are also very phenomenal and the forum is just awesome!. The thing which i always tend to do is watch their livestreams of events which are always the best. Like most news sites they pump out quite an amount of articles and these articles may sometimes be long but another thing which i like about TheVerge is their quotes which goes straight to the point. Again i am praising them for the design of their things are really unparalleled compared to other big site like techcrunch, engadget, cnet, etc. All an all i would like just say that TheVerge is the best place for you to consume nearly any news but if you want a site which does tons of news you can always resort to CNN.com. Try reading any one of their articles and i'm sure you'll feel what i feel.

theverge.com

theverge.com when it launched in November 1 2011 (
wikipedia)

Glovebox, The Best App Launcher For Android

Samsung Galaxy Note running the Glovebox Launcher

Glovebox as defined is a sealed container that is designed to allow one to manipulate objects where a separate atmosphere is desired. Ok, that's not what i'm going to talk about today but its pretty similar and surprisingly the concept is there. Glovebox in the Google Play Store is an app launcher which works similarly like the ubuntu app launcher in which you swipe from the left side of the device and a panel comes out and you can slide your finger up or down to launch the specific app. Why do you need it you ask well if you're like me and you own a big phone or you feel that you can't reach all corners of your phone then this app is perfect for you. The app can replace your back button which in my cases has helped me because i'm a left hander and the back button on the phone is on the very right bottom which in one handed operation is not easy to manipulate. Jumping down to the basics of this app which is to launch apps just by swiping either left or right from your device from virtually anywhere and even works in games and landscape mode. You should give it a try as at first i did not quite like it because it was not easy to use but once you get the hang of it there is no turning back.

Glovebox Launcher For Android

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