All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion

Exactly. The problems with his reviews are that they're 100% non-objective opinion and there's VERY few details.

 

Got my S3 Mini swapped for an S4 Zoom.

Question now is do I swap the S3 for an S4 Active or a Mega 6.3...

 

Just came across this app that checks the accuracy of locational data from you device. Was reading through ESRI and ArcGIS stuff, then got side tracked and found my way to the ESRI Github...

 

AT&T used apps very similar to this for network maintenance and tower location information, also good for testing equipment calibrations for cell-triangulation.

 

Do you have a third phone with a more manageable form factor in your arsenal? If not, you'll be stuck with two devices that are uncomfortable in one-handed scenarios going with the Mega. That combination is likely to lose its novelty in less than a month.

 

For those who are interested, Adorama is selling the new Nexus 7 (2013) 16GB and 32GB models with free shipping, and no sales tax for all states except NJ and NY, I believe. Very, very tempted to get one...

 

Ok, let me explain.

I got an S3 and S3 Mini from work - the reason for being given two handsets is so that we have one for our personal SIMs as well as our work SIMs.
However, I had the Galaxy Nexus anyway, so I used the S3 as my work phone and the Nexus as my personal one.
Then I bought myself an S4, so used the S3 and the S4.
Now we've been given an S4 Zoom in return for one of the handsets we'd already been given (our choice, so naturally I gave back the S3 Mini).

So I now have an S3 and an S4 Zoom from work and an S4 of my own.
But we've been told that shortly (maybe next week) we'll get either a Mega or an Active, possibly our choice, it's not 100% clear.


So I'll have an S4, an S4 Zoom and one of the others.
To be honest, I'm more tempted by the Mega than the Active because it's a bit different - I can't really see the point of getting the Active when I already have the standard S4. Plus I kinda like the idea of using the Mega as a sat nav.

But to make the most of the Mega, especially using it as a sat nav, I'd need to have one of my SIMs in it. Same sorta story for the S4 Zoom - without a SIM in it, I may as well use the Galaxy Camera instead. So it makes no sense having those devices if I don't have SIMs in both of them.
It almost seems like the answer is to stop using the S4 but that doesn't make sense because a) I really like it and b) it's a much higher-spec handset than the Mega or the Zoom.

 

In that case, I'd get the Mega. As you've stated, the S4 and S4 Active are too similar. The ideal setup would be to get a twin SIM card for your personal plan and use it in the Mega but not all carriers offer one.

 

Sadly none of the networks here offer that.
I'd love it if they did but not at option

Maybe I could get a second SIM from work...
I doubt it though.

 

Just picked up the 32GB from Best Buy, it's fantastic. Nothing offers what this tablet has for the same price range. Great screen, fantastic performance...yes, yes and yes.

 

Agree completely, I was glad to see Joanna do the laptop reviews, her previous experience at laptop mag definitely shown in the reviews she did.

Dana Wolman (sp..on phone so annoying to check) is another former Laptop Mag reviewer and her reviews on engadget are also excellent IMO.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

 

The SoC in new Nexus 7 is essentially an underclocked Snapdragon 600

 

This was done most probably to prevent heat issues, and have a great UI experience at no throttling expense. A good move IMO.

 

Just my quick thought on the ASUS VivoTab Smart that I currently own.

Honestly, after my initial impressions on the Atom and how it ran on the first minutes and hours, I was disappointed. And after reading the reviews, I was even more disappointed with this tablet, thus my thought on switching to the Samsung.

But, after refreshing Windows and installing all the updates and updating all the drivers, that has changed in just 2 days. I'm currently writing this on it, with a youtube video playing on the other window (multi tasking) with no lag, at all. Speaking of youtube, youtube runs absolutely fine on the Atom CPU, giving that you don't play full screen 1080p videos, then it just hands sometimes.

The screen looks great. But after tweaking with the GMA CP, I managed to put the colors more vivid and bright, which made the screen as I would like it to be, so no complains about it now. Auto brightness works great, and the brightness itself at 350 nits is bright enough to look even in direct sunlight with glasses on.


The fact that the keyboard doesn't attach and is actually a bluetooth counterpart, is a 50/50 bittersweet choice. On one hand, its perfect for presentations where you can have the tablet attach it at the projector and be sitting at the end of the room without constraints, but when the keyboard is solo, it's very light and prone to falling when on your lap. It seems that the keyboard is made out of aluminium, so it feels absolutely great to write, with its extremely sturdy keys.

The tablet's construction is also great. Around the same as the new Nexus 7 2013, because of the soft touch back that I personally love. I actually prefer this soft touch back to the aluminium on the TF line, it just feels safer in the hand.

And the battery life is great. I took it out of the charger yesterday at 11AM, and it lasted me until 12AM of today, with youtube, heavy browsing and some gaming, so it's exactly what I needed in terms of endurance.

All in all, I think this tablet is a success, with excellent full Windows 8 support, snappy response on everything I do and absolutely no lag even though it's an atom (warning, I said lag, not full 60 frames per second as Chrome, unlike Metro IE10's 60 FPS, runs pretty poorly), so I'm very happy with this tablet.

Just thought of sharing my thoughts if anyone was interested in an ASUS.

@HAL, that battery issue was fixed with a software fixed apparently, refreshing windows did the trick.

 

Pity the Nexus 7 is made by ASUS, seems like a tremendous value for the money.

 

And what's wrong with that? The previous-gen Nexus 7 was, towards the later half of its production cycle, quite well-made IMO. Never noticed any sort of build issues with other Asus tablets either.

 

Not to sound uppity, but have you owned other ASUS tablets? I had some serious problems with my Transformers (TF201, TF700t), and my N7.

 

Nah, it's a valid question. Other than the N7, no. A good friend of mine does have the Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700T) that I've used for a bit of time, and I've played with the VivoTabs in-store.

 

You are right about the Nexus 7's production process being refined towards the end of it's life. My early N7's had the display lifting issue, along with a few button issues (power button stopped working). My TF201, as well has having extremely slow NAND, had the same issue my TF700t had... just by gripping it like normal, the display would show quite noticeable backlight bleed. Contacting ASUS, they told me that was normal IPS operation... right.

 

Getting right after you've sold loads isn't really good enough though.

They have to have learnt lessons from it and get it right straight away this time otherwise it will start to reflect poorly on Google as well.
If they haven't, it'll be a PR blunder.

 

i was even maybe considering getting it for my wife as a birthday gift but after reading all of your comments i am wondering if i should. Also i hate to buy an android anything unless i have to....they make computers look like a good investment that won't devalue very quickly -_-

I personally would be more interested in a windows tablet/laptop with an i3 something when broadwell comes out due to having more versatility but the cheapness of an android based tablet is soooo tempting. More so for just an ereader, light browser, some gaming, and movie watching......let us just say a media tablet to make it short ^^.

Thought i really wonder why a nexus tablet can cost only 230 bucks when a phone with similar specs costs like 400-500. I am a little confused on that part though -_-

 

Wth?
What kind of moronic forum software automatically changes 'P R' into 'Google Page Ranking' *facepalm*

It's hard to say so early on if the new Nexus 7 will be decent or not.
The fact the previous one was problematic doesn't automatically mean this will but it's still an ambitious piece of hardware given the target price.

No offence but it kinda seems like you're in the wrong thread then...

Firstly, they're not the same - the $230 model has no cellular capabilities.
Secondly, it costs money to miniaturise, screens in particular become harder/more expensive to manufacture as you make them smaller.
Lastly, Google basically sell the Nexus hardware at cost, they make their money from the OS, they don't care about making a profit on the phones and tablets themselves. Phone manufacturers, on the other hand, make money selling phones.

 

Yea but Asus has to make money on it so i am sure it is still the same price as if asus was the only maker.

Also how does Google actually make money off the OS?

 

No.
Asus will be contracted to produce a tablet of a particular spec for a particular price. Yes they will have a profit margin in there but it's one that, if they take the contract, they have little-to-no control over.

If Asus were to produce the same hardware off their own backs, they would also have the development costs for the OS and would likely price the tablet closer to the going market rate for such specs - LG were an example of this, as well as supplying Google directly, they sold the Nexus 4 to UK networks/retailers but the price to buy the handset through them was nearly 50% higher than buying direct from Google because LG were charging the networks/retailers more than Google were selling the handset for.

Advertising, same way they make their money from everything else they produce.

 

ads? you mean by google ad purchases? I have never seen an ad in android.


The os development? Isn't it just stock android? All they have to make is the firmware right?

 

It's built into vBulletin 4.1's auto-correction feature, which is useful in some cases... and not so much in others.

Android routes people through Google's web services and Play Store. Google takes a cut of whatever is sold on the Play Store, and Google's web services generate ad revenue that forms the bulk of Google's revenue.

 

web services? You mean google search? Shrug that is just my default so i guess you can say that ^^

 

Also, regarding the camera, here's some sample shots on a foggy night from just now.

ASUS VivoTab (a bit washed out because my hands were shaking)

Spoiler

My Note 2

Spoiler

Canon PowerShot G10

Spoiler

I'm really impressed by the amount of light it captures, coming from a tablet. But as expected, the G10 is the most true-to-life, but still, I'm very impressed with the tablet's camera.

 

That tablet camera does pretty darn good. A bit of lens flare, but otherwise it takes a good picture. The Note 2 is the winner in my book. The Canon Powershot may be a better camera on paper, but it doesn't allow in enough light to make the photo really visible...true to life be damned.

 

A large proportion of 'free' apps on Android are ad-supported, of which Google takes a cut.

Google is an advertising company first and a technology company second - the internet is just their medium of choice to sell ad space.

Yes it is stock but that's just because it's a Nexus. If Asus produced the same hardware themselves, they would most likely add some custom elements.

Also, unlike a Nexus device which Google handles all updates for, they would have to take any future Android releases, make sure the drivers were correct for the hardware, add their stuff, test it and release it to customers - with a Nexus tablet, all they do is build the hardware and Google does all the OS stuff for them.

I understand the purpose of auto-correction but that one's a real stretch - P R isn't exactly a unique pair of initials.

 

TThat's what I was thinking. The note has a really nice shot. The tablet isn't unusable but man is that yellowed. I am surprised the PowerShot didn't increase the issue unless maybe he had it set to get a true night shot

 

I don't buy ASUS products as they have a propensity of making subpar quality products. And as I recall the initial batch of Nexus 7 screens came apart. My friends Nexus 7 purchased 9 months ago screen went yellow and had a dithering issue.

And I've had to deal with a lot of older ASUS tablets, and they were problem ridden (lag, wifi issues, OS stability). It's the same reason why I got my Tab 2 over the Nexus 7.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks to the CMOS sensor tho. Another plus on this tablet was the camera, and man am I happy. Will do daylight pictures tomorrow.

I found this option called "denoise" and if it means what I'm thinking, this camera is a win. I must note here tho that, the G10 was set in my dad's personal profile on ISO 80, so the pic will be even better when in night mode.

Mostly thanks to me shaking, but it's yellowed because of the amount of light trying to get captured from around the scene, so it just needs some tweaking.

L

ASUS seems to have learnt tho. If this initial batch of N7s is a hit, it means they changed their standards and are no longer the hit and miss ASUS that they used to be. But for now, I'm loving my ASUS tablet and wouldn't even think on changing to a Samsung one, mainly due to the terrible back plastic used in the ATIV Smart PC Pro line.

 

Another night, another app modded to make it less ghey.

Really!? Is it just their mobile products or is their notebook line included in that? I've heard only good things about the G750 but then again, I've only been given a small herd to hear from.

Me thinks it was lens flare from your unsteadiness combined with being at the wrong angle against those lights when shuttering. Lens flare does tend to cause the photo to take on the ghost color from the flare's color temp. But still, true-to-life is overrated. If that Canon is only taking in that little light at ISO 800, you shant hold your breath at night mode which is usually ISO 1600.

 

That seems rather presumptuous.
The first batch being ok doesn't automatically mean they've fixed all the problems - they will have been lots of the original Nexus 7s that were ok but that doesn't give you the full picture.

 

Of course, but I'd rather call myself hopeful or positive, rather than presumptuous, as we still don't really know how the 2013 Nexus 7 will be. After the initial impressions, then we can judge whether they truly fixed their problems or not.

 

I wish they would of moved the power button on the Nexus7 away from volume buttons. I'm forever accidentally turning the screen off.

 

Google ASUS charger port and tell me you've heard good things about ASUS notebooks. I used to work for a tech shop that was an ASUS ASP, and I'd say 50% of repairs were bad DC jacks.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

he said 80 iso not 800 unless that was a type-o

I do have to agree. I loved ASUS when i used to have desktops so when i went to my first notebook the G51j i was pissed at the low quality. BIOS issues, BSOD, and a lot more. I refuse to buy an ASUS anything unless it is a motherboard....as long as those are still good. I remember my P4-800D MB or whater was still like 200-300 bucks 6 years later because it was an awesome motherboard. But laptops and 100% built ASUS products (tablets/laptops/phones) I refuse to touch unless they are highly rated. Never again.

Even with my R4 i have issues but not like the Asus G51j and the likes -_- At least the G51j was a steal of a price back than :/ I got to turn it back on for folding on my 920xm ^^. If i could only get a little better cooling to hit 4GHz :/ Anyways i have digressed (sp? I think that is the first time i have ever actually typed that word -_- man my spelling skills blow).

 

Interesting. I will have to see if the same design flaws are present in the new G750 ROG. But the same power jack problems plague the Alienwares as well. I have had my motherboard replaced 3 times because the AC jack eventually won't hold the round plug in anymore. My neighbor's R4 just suffered the same thing in Jan, and my friend's R3 last year...ok, to be fair, it seems to be only with the m17x line. But still.

 

not staying in and the soldering breaking off are two different things. I could deal with a plug that falls out but dealing with a completely broken jack...is well unusable.

Off topic....radji....you should upgrade that graphics card -_-

 

Oh, it wouldn't have problems staying in some of the time. The plug would not stay in the jack at all. You'd try plugging it in and the plug would immediately fall out so there was no way to charge it without holding the plug into the jack by hand all the time. I tried tinkering with the jack to make the prongs inside clamp down stronger, but that didn't help. So in some ways, it is just as bad as the DC jack's solder breaking.

And yes, I know I need to replace my GPU. Just don't have the feria. Once I do, I will spring for a Nvidia 680M. No need for a 780M with my aging R2.

 

go with whatever is cheaper. If you go dual definitely get Nvidia but if only one card than just get AMD and save some money...the 7970 vs 680 is ~ the same (give or take the test).

Also this is why this was made....you should learn how to use it. Everything can be fixed with it

Spoiler

Now on topic my GS4 is in-route so i hope to get it in a few days ^^ I hope i can get LTE in my house but if not whatever...just got to keep the worst internet in the world

 

^ Don't derail the thread. Alternative Randomness OT exists for a reason.

This is exactly why I stayed with the Atom ASUS. I'd get around half of the battery life with the i5.

 

Says the guy posting about a Windows tablet in the Android thread...

 

Title includes "Tablets", whereas I've been slammed to not post anything tablet in the Windows thread.

 

if someone slammed you they are dumb....i suck at english and i can even understand the title -_-

All Things Android - Apps, Phones, Tablets - Discussion


All Things Android- in an example Apps, Phones, Tablets

 

At least I was talking about Tablets, tho not directly related to Android, and not about duct tape and desktop GPUs.

 

That's a speed tape, which is used for some quick and not very critical repairs in aviation.

 

Tablets have nothing to do with Android unless they're at least running portions of the OS. This thread is dedicated to Android software and hardware running it. I can, however, understand that you'd rather post here given your history with this thread and the amount of quality activity it's seeing. It would take a lot to disrupt this thread in any serious fashion but the appropriate place for discussion of your Windows-based VivoTab would be the more general tablets thread. As far as I know, there's no thread discussing Windows itself along with all devices running it.