Sunday, September 29, 2013

My Hands On Review Of The Galaxy Note 3

Earlier this week Samsung started sales of the Galaxy Note 3 in 149 countries worldwide and I managed to pick one up. If you have been following us on twitter or facebook then you would have seen me having some fun with the device. So without further ado let me start today’s topic which is the my first impressions of the Galaxy Note 3. I’ve been playing around with the device for about 5 days now and to be honest I’m still a bit blur in the features section of the device. It seems that every day I am learning about a new feature. I have to say that there is literally a massive amount of new features which Samsung is bundling with the Note 3 and in order to utilize the device to its full potential you’ll need to dig up all of the hidden features and learn them up. Most of the new features which are present in the Note 3 are related to either the S Pen or accessibility. The feature which I like the most is the new Action Memo which replaces the old popup S Note on previous generation Note devices. The new action memo is like the most powerful thing in the phone. You can just scribble out some notes and save it, and when the time comes you can click the special button on the top and you can toggle a bevy of functions like call this number, search the web, etc. I’ll be going more in depth with this in an upcoming article all about the S Pen. Also the handwriting recognition engine on the Note 3 is just amazing it can detect my poor handwriting pretty accurately. I wasn’t quite happy about the new multi window as most of the new functions to it like running two same apps at once is only available to Samsung apps. With the new Pen Window feature I’m actually pretty impressed with it as you can really multitask more efficiently with it. But there is a slight downside which is currently there is only a limited amount of apps which support it and most of those apps are simple ones like calculator, contacts, etc. 

Friday, September 27, 2013

Some Interesting Facts About Multitasking | Infographic

Hello guys today here i'm going to talk a little bit about multitasking, which is something most people are familiar with. The 21st century has been all about the digital era with multiple screens at our fingertips. Basically what i'm trying to say is that now you are not only just looking to your monitor but you are also prone to look on the screen of your smartphone or tablet. Recently i came across this infographic about students multitasking while studying. As a student and an avid blogger i'm always juggling between these two and after reading through this inforgraphic, it does make some sense why i always don't seem to study much when i'm close up to the computer. The infographic basically says that students who use social networks won't get good grades and multitasking among students is pretty much a myth with just a slight 2 percent of the population being able to do so. Well i'm no different then what the infographic says, i'm constantly looking at my twitter feed on one monitor and looking through my reader and email on the other monitor and sometimes i can feel the pain of multitasking during live events when the news starts overflowing. 

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Unboxing Of The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 GT-N9005

Tomorrow Samsung will be starting the sales of the Galaxy Note 3 in 149 countries in the world. Well today i have the unboxing of the Galaxy Note 3 GT-N9005 which is the international LTE model. This unboxing is by our friends over at the Daily Note II & 3 youtube channel. If you would like to see more videos about the Note 3 you can check out his channel because his videos are very in depth and he covers up a lot topics.

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Cyanogenmod Has $7 Million To Build A Better Version Of Android, My Thoughts

Specifically when talking about custom ROMs the first things which comes to mind is CyanogenMod. They have been here for quite a while and is among the most popular ROM makers around. They have ROMs for a lot of devices and they have quite a number of dedicated developers backing them up. Well, yesterday CyanogenMod announced that they have raised $7 million to fund CyanogenMod.Inc in making a better version of android and yes they are now a company. Their main goal is to become the third mobile OS in the market and in their blog they even stated a point which is they are so big in android that their estimated active users are about 8 million and they say that if they are considered a mobileOS then they would be the third largest mobileOS outpacing Windows Phone.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

My Thoughts On The iPhone 5S, is 8MP Really Enough ?

On September 10, Apple introduced a duo of iPhones which is the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S. If you would like to read my thoughts on the iPhone 5C click here. The iPhone 5S will be replacing the outgoing iPhone 5 which has been already discontinued. The iPhone 5S is continuing Apple’s tradition which all started with the iPhone 3GS where devices ending with the letter ‘S’ will be merely internal upgrades with minor cosmetic upgrades. Apple’s release cycle are also similar to intel’s approach on their processors release cycle. The launch of the iPhone 5S thus confirms Apple’s way and routine of releasing iPhones and I also think that there are getting themselves comfy in the month of September to reveal new iPhones. Moving back the topic in hand today which is the iPhone 5S.

My Thoughts On The iPhone 5C, Do Users Really Want A Colorful iPhone ?

On Tuesday, Apple held their September 10 event where they announced the iPhone 5C and iPhone 5C. In this article I will be specifically discussing about the iPhone 5C, if you want to read about my thoughts about the iPhone 5S you can read it here. Apple announcing the iPhone 5C was no surprise to anybody which has been reading the news for the past few months leading up to this week. Basically we knew everything about the iPhone 5C and the event was just to make things official, even Phill Schiller said on stage during the event ‘you may have seen this at the internet’.

Well enough about that, the iPhone 5C Is Apple’s iPhone aimed towards users which don’t have too much money to fork out for an iPhone. The device comes in 5 colors and is not exactly that colorful like what the rumors stated. The iPhone 5C is powered by hardware which is about 1 year old now or if you put it in a better sounding way it works like an iPhone 5 but doesn’t look like one. The iPhone 5C is made out of polycarbonate but Schiller did say that the wireless signals of the device will be good due to the metal antenna just below the colorful polycarbonate shell, the antenna will also be acting as a rigid frame for the iPhone 5C. 

Additionally the iPhone 5C will be coming in 5 brightly colored shells which include green, blue, yellow, pink and white. I am still wondering where the black model is but I’m having a hunch that Apple is looking at the market response for the device and if the response is good then they will add more colors to the bunch. The device will be coming in 16GB and 32GB flavors.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

My Thoughts On The Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Earlier this week at the Samsung Mobile Unpacked Episode 2 in IFA, Samsung took the opportunity to show off their third generation Galaxy Note device dubbed the Galaxy Note 3. If you would like to read my thoughts on the unpacked event in overall you can do so here. Moving on to the main topic today which is the Galaxy Note 3, this time around Samsung has upped the anti and they have produced a device which is stylish and has also introduce features which people will use actually use. First up, I’ll be talking about the design of the Note 3, Samsung has revamped their design terms of their Galaxy series of smartphone with the Note 3. This time around they are throwing away the hyperglaze back and ushering in a faux leather back which deep down is still plastic, they also did something a bit cheeky by giving the Note 3 a little of classiness by adding stitching’s on the back cover. Also on the back the camera on the Note 3 elevated out so there will be a slight bump on the back, i just hope that Samsung did think things through so that the lens cover does not get scratched when it is placed flat on a surface. On the sides of the device Samsung again tried to fool the eye by putting an aluminum like look to the side but in reality the side is still made up of plastic. The front of the device is housing a 5.7” FHD Super AMOLED display. The device’s overall look is similar to the Note 2 but just a little bit more squared off. At first I was not quite a fan of the design of the Note 3 but after some time I pretty much liked the design of it. Samsung managed to keep the dimensions of the Note 2 on the Note 3 and the Note 3 is also thinner and lighter.

My Thoughts On Samsung's Mobile Unpacked Episode 2 Press Event

This week was one with full of new device announcement which were presented at IFA in Berlin. Earlier this week Samsung held their Pre-IFA mobile unpacked episode 2 event which saw the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Gear and the 2014 edition Galaxy Note 10.1. In this article here I will be talking about my thoughts on the event overall, there will also be another dedicated article where I will be talking all about the Note 3, you can check out that article here.The Samsung unpacked event this time around is as big as ever and as usual to events these days we already knew what was coming the only device which caught me and other netizens is the announcement of the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition. Previously the rumors suggest that Samsung would announce a 12” Galaxy Note tablet but that didn’t see much light during the event. I was a bit bummed out about the event which only lasted about 1 hour and is pretty short because the Galaxy Note II announcement last year lasted nearly 2 hours.
'3 new devices, the Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Gear & Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition'
The event kicked off a bit late as usual and in the starting a promo video about the design of the Note 3 was shown off for a few minutes. Then Jason Bradley took the stage and did a little intro to the event. J.K. Shin then took the stage and announced the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition. Towards the end of his short speech he showed off the Galaxy Gear which he had worn on his hand the whole time. Then came the demo for the three devices announced and that’s pretty much what the whole event was about nothing much more. You can check out the full length event stream in the video below courtesy of Samsung Mobile

Well on to my thoughts on the event, I actually was not so happy about the sheer length of the event but the rest of the event was pretty well planned out. One thing which came to me by surprise is that Samsung actually has a pink colored device at launch. The Note 3 demos were more centric towards the S Pen and I have to say when the dude on the stage said that the Note 3 came with leather on the back I was like saying, why would you do that ? Also at first I didn’t quite like the thought of the design but after they elaborated more in it then I started liking it. The design of the Note 3 to me is a winning run because it throws away the curved and round shape of the Note 2 and has a bit more professional look to it with more angular edges. Additionally prior to the event I was hoping that Samsung would not make the Note 3 just a bigger S4 then it would just be a smaller Galaxy Mega. But seemingly things went my way and the design of the Note 3 has its similarities to the S4’s design but overall the Note 3 has a radically different design in hand.
'the Note 3 takes design cures from the S4 but has its own style'
 That’s all for my brief talk about the Note 3, for a more in depth look into what I think about the Note 3 click here. Next is the Galaxy Gear which is Samsung’s take on a smartwatch, the watch according to Samsung has technology from the next decade and I stand to agree on it. The Galaxy Gear has an AMOLED screen which means that the battery of the device can be conserved when showing the clock. At first I was pretty hyped up about the Galaxy Gear and then when I talked to my friends about the device, they pointed out a flaw in the Galaxy Gear. It is the overall device which is not water resistant by any means and whether it can survive the daily tear and wear is another thing. One thing which I was thinking is that why would they put the charging pin point on the downside of the watch’s display which will be the side facing your hand, so theoretically if you sweat then the contact points will be affected. Well you’ll just have to take this thought lightly because I have yet to see the device. Samsung took a bold new move by showing of vivid and bright colors on the Galaxy Gear and Galaxy Note 3. One thing I’m concerned about the color of the Galaxy Gear, the device comes in 6 different color and the straps all have ridges on them. The problem with ridges and bright colors is that over time it will collect dirt and dust due to the surface and your hands moving over the strap every now and then. According to Samsung the watch will last you 25+ hours so for you road warriors out there this is not something which you’ll be carrying out. The way you answer on the Galaxy Gear is something which I can say Samsung really thought of, you just basically raise the Gear to your ears and then automatically the call will be answered; but the first look videos which I saw the past few days noted that the speaker of the Galaxy Gear is not that loud so you would have to stay clear of the crowd to answer calls with the Galaxy Gear. Overall the durability of the device is the main problem with the Galaxy Gear and as usual the first gen devices are mostly more clunky due to the lack of knowledge towards the category. So, I’m hoping that Samsung would improve on the battery life and the overall durability of the Galaxy Gear next time around.
'Samsung is showing off their innovative mind with the Galaxy Gear'
The Galaxy Gear will be launching alongside the Galaxy Note 3 on September 25 and will be able to connect to the Galaxy S4, S3, Note II and Note 3; however non Galaxy devices can’t connect to it yet. Additionally Samsung is also highly advertising the Galaxy Note 3 and the Galaxy Gear which makes a perfect duo and both of the devices will work seamlessly together. Finally is the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 which is the second gen Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. This time around Samsung did things right by putting a high res display on to their tablet. The design of the Note 10.1 2014 is similar to the Note 3. Overall the features of present in the new tablet is identical to the one on the Note 3 but just in a bigger scale. I also came to notice that Samsung has revamped their tablet UI and placed the app drawer icon on the bottom opposed to their usual step of putting it on the top right which is hard to reach. Well that’s about it for my thoughts on the event, stay tuned for next week where I will have another article about my thoughts on the Apple’s Sept 10 event.
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