Technology catch-all thread

[StrangeSox]

Have you tried using google tracks/mytracks? It works decently for hiking.

[Y2HH]

@BS, I think you may have ended up being right about that new Sony phone becoming the new standard bearer of high end Android phones...the GS4 looks more like a comparison of iPhone4 to the iPhoen4S.

 

I may have to take a look at the Sony phone, despite it being ... bleh ... Sony, and then waiting to see the new Motorola X and the iPhone 5S (which I assume is what it will be).

[Jake]

Have you tried using google tracks/mytracks? It works decently for hiking.

 

From the way it screws up, I can tell it is the GPS at fault...just doesn't collect enough data points. The map gets too many straight lines based on lack of data points. So I am planning on just getting a Garmin GPS watch which are pretty well regarded and I'll get other fun features like heart rate, cadence, etc. I would be interested if Samsung could demonstrate a better GPS than standard.

 

When can I buy the S4 anyway?

[StrangeSox]

google tracks let you set your sampling rate but a dedicated device is probably better if you really want to log that stuff.

[Jake]

google tracks let you set your sampling rate but a dedicated device is probably better if you really want to log that stuff.

 

Doesn't seem to exist on iOS

[chw42]

@BS, I think you may have ended up being right about that new Sony phone becoming the new standard bearer of high end Android phones...the GS4 looks more like a comparison of iPhone4 to the iPhoen4S.

 

I may have to take a look at the Sony phone, despite it being ... bleh ... Sony, and then waiting to see the new Motorola X and the iPhone 5S (which I assume is what it will be).

 

The Sony phone is great...except the speakers are awful and the screen's viewing angles suck. Other than that, it's a very good phone.

 

In all honesty, out of the three big phones that have come out this year (Xperia Z, HTC One, S4), the best phone out of the bunch in terms of just hardware is probably the HTC One. Great screen, great speakers, great build.

 

I really don't like HTC though. Sense sucks and they lock bootloaders.

Edited March 15, 2013 by chw42

[chw42]

I thought I read somewhere that the S4's touch screen will work even if you have gloves on.

 

You can hover over the screen with your hand.

[chw42]

It will.

 

But this poses more of an issue with me than not, as this also means your pocket can activate touch, etc...I've never seen the need, even in cold weather, that I can activate my phone with gloves on. It seems counter to the idea behind non-accidental touch.

 

Seems like a "feature" to add simply to have a feature to add, but I don't think it's a good one. I hope others don't follow suit on this idea and keep it the way it is, I don't need my phone doing random things in my pocket because any sort of touch can activate things.

 

How will your pocket activate touch? I'm fairly sure it's only active when the screen is on. Anything otherwise would be a huge waste of battery. Unless you accidentally turn your phone on in your pocket (not likely), I don't think it can happen.

[Jake]

Looking at all of these Android phones that have come out recently, they all have some big negatives.

 

Samsung S4 - Touchwiz (LOTS of negatives wrapped into this one), plastic backing

 

HTC One - no expandable storage, doesn't come with 4.2 (and has poor reputation for rolling out updates), Sense interface, low-ish power battery

 

Sony Xperia Z - waterproofing makes screen look like s***, bigger-than-need-be design, doesn't come with 4.2, questions about proprietary software add-ons, questions about Sony in general

 

One of the lessons here is they should quit f***ing with the standard Android OS

[chw42]

Looking at all of these Android phones that have come out recently, they all have some big negatives.

 

Samsung S4 - Touchwiz (LOTS of negatives wrapped into this one), plastic backing

 

HTC One - no expandable storage, doesn't come with 4.2 (and has poor reputation for rolling out updates), Sense interface, low-ish power battery

 

Sony Xperia Z - waterproofing makes screen look like s***, bigger-than-need-be design, doesn't come with 4.2, questions about proprietary software add-ons, questions about Sony in general

 

One of the lessons here is they should quit f***ing with the standard Android OS

 

Buy a Nexus.

 

And you will be able to flash custom ROMs on the One and S4, I have no doubts about that. It might just take longer for it to happen.

Edited March 16, 2013 by chw42

[Jake]

Buy a Nexus.

 

And you will be able to flash custom ROMs on the One and S4, I have no doubts about that. It might just take longer for it to happen.

 

Any Nexus updates forthcoming? No LTE, expandable storage, large internal storage options, and a few other things available for that ATM.

[ptatc]

From the way it screws up, I can tell it is the GPS at fault...just doesn't collect enough data points. The map gets too many straight lines based on lack of data points. So I am planning on just getting a Garmin GPS watch which are pretty well regarded and I'll get other fun features like heart rate, cadence, etc. I would be interested if Samsung could demonstrate a better GPS than standard.

 

When can I buy the S4 anyway?

I've been using Garmin products since the mid-90's for all my runs. The only time it has problems is on forest trails when the sky is really blocked out.

[chw42]

Any Nexus updates forthcoming? No LTE, expandable storage, large internal storage options, and a few other things available for that ATM.

 

You don't want expandable memory. I know that sounds weird, but there are good reasons that Google decided to only ship phones with internal storage (other than the fact they want you to use their web services). The issue with SD cards is that it can be a hell of a lot slower than internal, depending on what cards you buy. If you've ever used an Android phone with an SD slot, you will understand how messy it can get. Some apps fail to scan the SD card, even some music apps and you end up trying to figure out how you can get your music to show up right. I would love some extra space on my Nexus 4 and put a ton of videos and movies on there, but I'd much rather have it in the form of a 32 GB internal rather than an SD card slot.

 

I honestly don't think not having LTE is a big deal. You're getting 42 Mbps HSPA+, which usually means anywhere from 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps on a consistent basis with T-Mobile (should be around the same for AT&T, not sure though). People say HSPA+ has bad latency, but it's not really bad (70-100 ms pings), it's just not as good as LTE's ping times. Now I've never owned an LTE device, so I may be blind in terms of just how awesome it is, but I don't feel like I'm really missing out. Unless you get 50 Mbps on Verizon, I don't think LTE is that much better.

 

And it's looking like Motorola will come out with a Nexus-esque phone at Google I/O and they'll sell it at a fairly cheap price. I may be looking to buy that when it does come out as well if it's as mind-blowingly awesome as some say it will be.

Edited March 16, 2013 by chw42

[nitetrain8601]

Looking at all of these Android phones that have come out recently, they all have some big negatives.

 

Samsung S4 - Touchwiz (LOTS of negatives wrapped into this one), plastic backing

 

HTC One - no expandable storage, doesn't come with 4.2 (and has poor reputation for rolling out updates), Sense interface, low-ish power battery

 

Sony Xperia Z - waterproofing makes screen look like s***, bigger-than-need-be design, doesn't come with 4.2, questions about proprietary software add-ons, questions about Sony in general

 

One of the lessons here is they should quit f***ing with the standard Android OS

 

I fail to see the problem with Touchwiz still. *shrugs* With that said, the build quality of the S3 did feel very plasticy and flimsy. The S2 felt a whole lot more firm. HTC is a problem because of the battery. I'm not sure how the Xperia is going to turn out.

[Jake]

I fail to see the problem with Touchwiz still. *shrugs* With that said, the build quality of the S3 did feel very plasticy and flimsy. The S2 felt a whole lot more firm. HTC is a problem because of the battery. I'm not sure how the Xperia is going to turn out.

 

Most reviewers find that Touchwiz drastically slows down performance compared to other similar smartphones, but this can always be a case of #firstworldproblems. My favorite take on the Touchwiz UI was that Samsung's philosophy is "more is more"

 

If I go Android, which I probably will this summer unless something really cool comes from Apple in the meantime, I think I'll be looking between the HTC One and S4. Lots of time for that opinion to change, especially as more people get their hands on the above two phones and more of their respective flaws or strengths come out.

[Jake]

You don't want expandable memory. I know that sounds weird, but there are good reasons that Google decided to only ship phones with internal storage (other than the fact they want you to use their web services). The issue with SD cards is that it can be a hell of a lot slower than internal, depending on what cards you buy. If you've ever used an Android phone with an SD slot, you will understand how messy it can get. Some apps fail to scan the SD card, even some music apps and you end up trying to figure out how you can get your music to show up right. I would love some extra space on my Nexus 4 and put a ton of videos and movies on there, but I'd much rather have it in the form of a 32 GB internal rather than an SD card slot.

 

I honestly don't think not having LTE is a big deal. You're getting 42 Mbps HSPA+, which usually means anywhere from 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps on a consistent basis with T-Mobile (should be around the same for AT&T, not sure though). People say HSPA+ has bad latency, but it's not really bad (70-100 ms pings), it's just not as good as LTE's ping times. Now I've never owned an LTE device, so I may be blind in terms of just how awesome it is, but I don't feel like I'm really missing out. Unless you get 50 Mbps on Verizon, I don't think LTE is that much better.

 

And it's looking like Motorola will come out with a Nexus-esque phone at Google I/O and they'll sell it at a fairly cheap price. I may be looking to buy that when it does come out as well if it's as mind-blowingly awesome as some say it will be.

 

Didn't see that part of your post, will definitely be worth looking into like any other one. I hear that RAZRMAXX (sweet name, Motorola) has a pretty impressive battery so we can probably count on that being a part of the next one they roll out.

[chw42]

Didn't see that part of your post, will definitely be worth looking into like any other one. I hear that RAZRMAXX (sweet name, Motorola) has a pretty impressive battery so we can probably count on that being a part of the next one they roll out.

 

The Maxx can get you 30 hours with 6-7 hours of screen time. Nexus 4 gets me about 20-25 with 4-5 hours of screen time.

 

Rumor has it that Motorola will let you customize the hardware on the X-phone. Not sure how plausible that is (how will they meet the demand?) since you can't really mass produce custom units, but maybe that's why some CFO from a Canadian carrier was calling the phone a "game changer".

[BigSqwert]

@BS, I think you may have ended up being right about that new Sony phone becoming the new standard bearer of high end Android phones...the GS4 looks more like a comparison of iPhone4 to the iPhoen4S.

 

I may have to take a look at the Sony phone, despite it being ... bleh ... Sony, and then waiting to see the new Motorola X and the iPhone 5S (which I assume is what it will be).

 

Yeah, right now it's the sexiest looking one IMO and I love the waterproof idea since I'm doing a lot more outdoor activities. The specs might be a smidge below the HTC and Samsung but that won't make a difference for the things I use my phone for. And I like that their skin is very close to stock android as opposed to the others.

 

Since I have a few more months before my contract is up I'll see what else pops up. I'm hearing the next Nexus phone will be announced at Google I/O in May. That may be the way to go.

[Jake]

Yeah, right now it's the sexiest looking one IMO and I love the waterproof idea since I'm doing a lot more outdoor activities. The specs might be a smidge below the HTC and Samsung but that won't make a difference for the things I use my phone for. And I like that their skin is very close to stock android as opposed to the others.

 

Since I have a few more months before my contract is up I'll see what else pops up. I'm hearing the next Nexus phone will be announced at Google I/O in May. That may be the way to go.

 

This is probably just semantics, but remember that it is more "resistant" than waterproof. I'm sure you can sweat all over it and I even heard it you could run water from a faucet over it, but I wouldn't try to swim with it if you're a triathlon type of person or something.

[Soxbadger]

I had problems with cheap microsd cards on my galaxy3, but I got a better one and its worked great.

[BigSqwert]

This is probably just semantics, but remember that it is more "resistant" than waterproof. I'm sure you can sweat all over it and I even heard it you could run water from a faucet over it, but I wouldn't try to swim with it if you're a triathlon type of person or something.

It's been tested to work after being submerged for 30 minutes. I don't plan on swimming with it but it's nice to have that piece of mind if it fell in a river or the kid drops it in the toilet.

 

EDIT: And they've already released an Android 4.2.2 version ROM (Cyanogen) for this phone.

Edited March 16, 2013 by BigSqwert

[chw42]

This is probably just semantics, but remember that it is more "resistant" than waterproof. I'm sure you can sweat all over it and I even heard it you could run water from a faucet over it, but I wouldn't try to swim with it if you're a triathlon type of person or something.

 

The Sony phone is also built to withstand lots of drops.

 

I know I gave Sony lots of s*** for glass on the back, but it appears their glass is very very strong unlike the glass on the back of the iPhone 4/4S and Nexus 4.

 

There was some video where a few guys were basically dropping the phone from chest height for fun. Nothing happened after 3-4 drops.

[chw42]

It's been tested to work after being submerged for 30 minutes. I don't plan on swimming with it but it's nice to have that piece of mind if it fell in a river or the kid drops it in the toilet.

 

EDIT: And they've already released an Android 4.2.2 version ROM (Cyanogen) for this phone.

 

The Z isn't going to be sold on-contract in the U.S., at least there hasn't been any indication yet.

 

AT&T will offer the ZL though, but it's not water-resistant.

[Y2HH]

You don't want expandable memory. I know that sounds weird, but there are good reasons that Google decided to only ship phones with internal storage (other than the fact they want you to use their web services). The issue with SD cards is that it can be a hell of a lot slower than internal, depending on what cards you buy. If you've ever used an Android phone with an SD slot, you will understand how messy it can get. Some apps fail to scan the SD card, even some music apps and you end up trying to figure out how you can get your music to show up right. I would love some extra space on my Nexus 4 and put a ton of videos and movies on there, but I'd much rather have it in the form of a 32 GB internal rather than an SD card slot.

 

I honestly don't think not having LTE is a big deal. You're getting 42 Mbps HSPA+, which usually means anywhere from 10 Mbps to 25 Mbps on a consistent basis with T-Mobile (should be around the same for AT&T, not sure though). People say HSPA+ has bad latency, but it's not really bad (70-100 ms pings), it's just not as good as LTE's ping times. Now I've never owned an LTE device, so I may be blind in terms of just how awesome it is, but I don't feel like I'm really missing out. Unless you get 50 Mbps on Verizon, I don't think LTE is that much better.

 

And it's looking like Motorola will come out with a Nexus-esque phone at Google I/O and they'll sell it at a fairly cheap price. I may be looking to buy that when it does come out as well if it's as mind-blowingly awesome as some say it will be.

 

I agree on the expanded memory issue, it's just not that necessary, and adds complexity/non-standard directory structure, except for a minor few applications, such as photography or video, most of which your phone isn't necessary for anyway aside from a select few "check this out" circumstances. People offload data onto drobos, or pc's/macs, not their phones.

 

HSPA+ is ok, but it's not LTE. This is the same as when people said their DSL was fast enough and they didn't need cable or fios. You don't until you have it, then you won't want to go back. I had hspa+, and while its theoretical speeds are great, you never get them. My slow speeds are now on par with perfect HSPA+ speeds, without the latency. It's good enough for now, but the fact is, they're building out LTE networks now, and HSPA+ networks are stagnant, and no new work/expansion is going into them. It's time to move on.

Edited March 17, 2013 by Y2HH

[Y2HH]

How will your pocket activate touch? I'm fairly sure it's only active when the screen is on. Anything otherwise would be a huge waste of battery. Unless you accidentally turn your phone on in your pocket (not likely), I don't think it can happen.

 

I've been in plenty of circumstances where I put my phone in my pocket with the screen on still...I simply don't put it into sleep mode, because it will do that on it's own. You can also accidentally press any number of hard keys that activate the screen while it's in your pocket, and I don't need my pocket having the ability to touch/mess with things. It's just another feature to add for the sake of adding a feature. I actually don't want my screen to be touchable through cloth for this reason, so I don't see it as a positive feature, or even a useful one.