Category: Recommended Products

10 things an Android fan would say about Your iPhone

Yesterday I posted up an article listing 10 things you’d expect to hear from an Apple fan about Android devices. Today I thought Id turn the tables and list the kind of things the Android user base would say about iPhones.

The software has no customization options

Android users seem to constantly praise the amount of customization options available to them, whilst the iPhone in comparison is left with very little flexibility in this area. It’s very true that Android has always been the more customizable operating system, but sometimes having a single, solid design is much easier and quicker, especially when you just want something to work for the sake of functionality.

iPhones are too expensive

Brand new iPhones are expensive – there is no denying that. If you were to look at the top high-end Android smartphones the pricing wouldn’t be that different. Manufacturers like Samsung often sell their latest flagship Android smartphones for very similar prices to new iPhones. If you want to pay less for a smartphone, then you’re going to be sacrificing on quality somewhere. With that being said, it is practically impossible to get a cheap iPhone unless you buy second hand.

There’s no variety – they all look the same

Because of the huge number of manufacturers working to produce Android smartphones, there is always a huge variety of new smartphones on the market every year. Compare it to the iPhone ecosystem and you’ll notice that Apple has a lot less to offer in comparison. Sometimes simplicity is the best way to be though. This year we’re expecting to see the iPhone 6S, the 6S Plus and the 6C and that’s more than enough variety for some people.

Only being able to install from the iTunes App store sucks

On Android, you can install apps from the internet, whilst non-jailbroken iPhones can only have their apps installed from the iTunes store. Yes, iPhone users may be missing out on some applications, but being limited to the iTunes store offers a great degree of security. iOS applications have to go through a screening process before they even get uploaded to the app store.

Having no microSD storage must be a pain

Being able to add extra storage on the fly via a microSD storage card does sound like a nice commodity but in 2015 finding a flagship Android smartphone with this feature is becoming harder to do. More manufacturers are dropping microSD compatibility to make room for more internal hardware, and to make up for that, internal storage is usually increased to up to 128GB. 128GB is more than enough storage for most smartphone users.

iPhones have worse internal hardware

Comparing the iPhone 6’s specs with the Galaxy S5’s specs on paper will make it sound like the S5 is far superior to the iPhone 6.

The iPhone 6 comes with a Dual-core 1.4 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM whilst the S5 comes with a quad-core 2.5GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. It’s clear to see which one sounds better, but performance tests show that both devices perform equally well. This is mainly to do with how the operating system is compiled on iPhones – iOS has been optimized a lot more.

iPhones have smaller batteries

Here’s another area where the paper stats are different to real life results. The iPhone 6 has a 1,810mAh battery whilst the Galaxy S5 has a 2,800mAh battery. Does this mean the S5 has a considerably longer battery life? Perhaps, but it’s not as huge as the numbers would make you think. Less powerful hardware means less of a strain on battery life.

Personalizing your iPhone is practically impossible

Making your own iPhone truly feel like your own, the personal device is apparently impossible as far as some Android owners are concerned. With iOS 8, you can install your own keyboard, set up different personal settings and if you want to take it a step further, jailbreaking your iPhone opens up new opportunities for personalization.

Apple Maps is terrible

Well … Okay, this is true. Apple Maps just doesn’t quite cut it. Fortunately, Google Maps can be picked up on iOS too – it’s certainly not exclusive to Android devices.

iPhones Break Easily

It’s not that iPhones break easily, but it could be argued that they break easier. If you’re going to be dropping your caseless smartphone from head height anytime soon, you may want to stick to an Android phone. I’ll leave the video to do the talking.

Image credit: Samsung.com; Devianart, Bleson

August 18, 2015
10 things an Apple fan would say about Your Android

There’s a certain bitter rivalry between iPhone and Android fans – so much so that getting an iPhone user and an Android user in the same room together alone is probably a bad idea. Below I’ll be listing 10 of the kind of things you’d expect to hear from an Apple fan in regards to your Android smartphone.

Android is Too Complicated

Apple seems to pride itself on it’s simplicity and the iOS operating system is supposed to be easy to use, easy to adapt to and super straight forward. If you were to compare an old Android operating system like Gingerbread to iOS then this argument would certainly be valid, but Android has become a much better OS since.

In fact even Samsung’s TouchWiz, one of the most bloated Android UX’s to date now looks super clean and it’s fairly straight forward to get used to.

iTunes is Better than Google Play

iTunes used to be the place to get music, games apps and more entertainment but it’s now rivalled with the Play Store which also provides great deals on apps, games, eBooks, movies, music and more.

Which one is truly better now only comes down to personal preference.

iOS Gets More Apps

For the most part, this is something that has remained true for most of Android’s life. Even now, when app market share has never been more even, apps like Fallout Shelter and Telltale Games story titles are getting released to iOS months before the Android versions.

iOS Gets Quicker Updates

Once again, this is something that iOS does take a winning point for. iOS usually gets a yearly update and iPhones can be updated as soon as the update is available. For Android, the update rollout process is very complicated and lengthy as the update gets pushed from Google, to the manufacturers and then to the network carriers.

iPhone is a Better Brand

This is hardly a point worth arguing about but you may hear it being brought up every now and again. Some iOS fans have a sense of pride when using Apple’s products, but it’s hard to call it the better brand. Apple is certainly known worldwide, but so is Samsung, especially thanks to their recent marketing efforts that have cost them billions.

iPhones are Safer (Viruses, Malware)

It is possible to get malware, adware and dodgy apps on your Android smartphone, mostly because Android’s app screening process is a lot simpler than Apple’s. Apps on the iTunes app store must be checked out and tested before going live.

The trouble is that iPhones aren’t without their vulnerabilities though. In fact, recently a text message was discovered that could shut down the recipient’s iPhone remotely. Something similar has been found for Android recently too, so it’s clear that both operating systems have their security flaws.

Each New iPhone is Significantly Better than Last Year’s

Whilst all manufacturers point out how their new smartphones are significantly better than last year’s model, Apple seems to do an extra special job at convincing Apple fans how important this all is. Mentions of 40% performance increases and 20% extra battery capacity are usually thrown around near a new iPhone launch, but the same stuff happens on Android.

The iPhone Camera is Amazing

For a long time, the iPhone was the smartphone camera king, but this is no longer so true. Android manufacturers are now being very competitive with their camera offering and, as a result, most Android flagships like the Galaxy S6 and the LG G4 produce results that can rank up against the iPhone 6’s camera.

iPhones have Retina (or Retina HD) Displays

A retina display is the term Apple has adopted to explain the high resolutions on their iOS devices. Recently Apple has adopted the Retina HD term, which has an even higher resolution than the standard retina.

Whilst a retina HD display is quite decent, it doesn’t actually compare very well to Android flagships. In fact, most Androids have far superior screen resolution. For example, the iPhone 6 pixel density is 326 pixels per inch, whilst the LG G4 has a pixel density of 538 ppi and the S6 has a pixel density of 577 ppi.

Siri is Amazing

Apple fans just can’t get enough of Siri. Videos get posted online all the time about various interactions with the personal assistant and it just seems that Siri makes every Apple fan’s day better. Personal assistants on other mobile operating systems may not seem as ‘cool’ or personal as Siri, but they’re still great at helping people out with everyday tasks.

Image credit: Apple.com

August 16, 2015
5 Things we Hate About the Galaxy Note 5

It’s easy to list off a number of great things about a brand new smartphone but today I’m going to be trying my best to round up the things worth hating about the Galaxy Note 5 instead. There are certainly areas of the new Note 5 to get hyped up about, but it’s also not without some disappointments.

No Removable Battery

The brand new Galaxy Note 5 has a unibody design just like the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. As a result, Samsung has ditched the removable battery that was seen on older Note models. If you pick up the Galaxy Note 5, getting extra battery life won’t be as easy as packing a spare battery.

You’ll now need to think about purchasing an external charger or external battery pack or battery case if the longevity of your smartphone usage is something that matters to you. You do get fast charging on the Note 5, but you’ll still be out of juice at the end of each day if you’re a power user.

No MicroSD Card

Following on from the new design theme, the Galaxy Note 5 will also not have a microSD card slot. If you’re huge on saving movies, music or other collections of files on your smartphone, no microSD card compatibility may be a bit of a deal breaker.

If you pick up the 64GB or 128GB versions of the Note 5 it shouldn’t be too much of a concern, but the 32GB version may not be enough to store your apps, entertainment and media collection.

It’s Not Cheap

Picking up a new smartphone is never cheap and the enlarged Note 5 is even more expensive than the Galaxy S6 was when it first came out and that device has now seen some price drops from some retailers.

Whilst the Note 5 is all new and fancy, you’ll have to pick it up for around $250 on a 2-year contract. The Note 4, on the other hand, is starting to become decently priced and that device is still a great smartphone.

iPhone 6 Plus with a Stylus

The new design for the Galaxy Note 5 may be liked by some – it has a great unibody metallic casing, a nice sturdy frame and a sleeker look than previous Note smartphones. The trouble is that the Note 5 now looks more like an iPhone than any Samsung device before it.

If you’re the kind of Android fan that detects Apple with a passion then the design similarities between the iPhone 6 Plus and the new Note 5 may get to you.

It’s Big

With a 5.7 inch display, the Note 5 certainly isn’t easy to handle for some. A lot of users are happy with the large display on phablets like the Note 5 but for some it’s just too large. I’ve known some people that just can’t get their head around the idea of owning such a large phone and if you fit into that category it may be best for you to pick up the slightly smaller Galaxy S6 with a 5.1 inch display. Even today’s flagship smartphones are a lot larger than they used to be. Remember the 3.5 inch iPhones anybody?

Admittedly these points aren’t hugely overwhelming – there isn’t much to hate about the Galaxy Note 5 honestly, but if you have to have something to complain about, these are some great examples.

Image credit: Samsung.com

August 16, 2015
The Different Android Display Types Explained
There is a variety of different Android display types that are used in the industry, although not much is done to explain the differences.

Different Android display types

There are a number of different Android display types that you may see being used on smartphones. For example, the Samsung range usually uses super AMOLED displays, whilst other manufacturers may opt for LCD IPS.

In the past, both OLED and TFT have been used for smartphone displays but these are far outclassed by AMOLED and IPS LCD so it’s rare to see either of the aforementioned being used. We’ll be talking a little about AMOLED and IPS LCD below as these are the most commonly used different Android display types.

Super AMOLED

AMOLED is an upgrade to OLED, a display type that uses electric charges to produce a light for the display. No backlight is required for an AMOLED or OLED display so this gives it a few advantages over the IPS LCD display.

Firstly, the AMOLED uses less battery power because of the lack of a backlight. You can also create slimmer smartphones that use AMOLED displays because of the same reason. The standard AMOLED had some issues with producing as color accurate results as the IPS LCD, but the Super AMOLED now has a great, accurate color reproduction.

The contrast on a Super AMOLED is far superior to an IPS LCD display as well. Outside viewing may be a little worse on the IPS LCD because without a backlight the displays are often slightly less bright.

IPS LCD

In older years, TFT, a version of the LCD display was used for smartphones. The trouble was that TFT had a slow response time which lead to sluggishness and what felt like delayed touch response. In simple terms, interacting with the screen would take longer for the results to show on a TFT display than it would on an IPS display.

TFT also had a terrible viewing angle. With IPS, you can view the display at all sorts of angles, making it easy to view your smartphone no matter where it is. IPS displays are still backlit which means a couple of things. Firstly, a backlight causes the display to be bulkier – you have to have extra room inside to fit the touch screen, the display panel and the backlight.

Secondly, having a backlit display does end up taking more battery power, which is a concerning point for smartphone manufacturers, especially when battery life is so important.

The plus sides of an IPS LCD display is that the images often seem a lot sharper thanks to the backlight, the color reproduction is often a lot more accurate and the viewing angle can beat AMOLED although it’s not very noticeable.

As it stands, the Super AMOLED seems to have more pros over the IPS LCD, but it won’t be long before IPS+ displays are on the market and at that point we’ll be looking at two different Android display types that both work incredibly well.

Different Android display resolutions

The resolution of a display is used to explain the number of pixels that are fit into a display. Usually, a resolution is displayed like this – 1080 x 1920, where the first number is the width and the second number is the height. The number explains how many pixels there are.

When it comes to the different Android display types, there are a number of different terms that are often used to explain the resolution of a display without having to show the actual numbers. Below, the most commonly used display resolutions are listed.
- 720p – 480 x 720
- HD – 1080 x 1920
- Quad HD – 1440 x 2560
- 4K – 3840 X 2160
In 2015, most flagships phones sit between HD and Quad HD and any display with this kind of resolution will produce some crystal clear results. Anything below HD and you’re stepping into a quality that isn’t absolutely amazing. This is something that should be considered when buying a new smartphone if display quality is important to you. Choosing between IPS and AMOLED is unnecessary for the most part unless you’re super interested about finding out which smartphone has the very best display on the market.

Image credit: Sony; Samsung; LG
August 13, 2015
This simple device can convert any flat screen TV to touchscreen

With each passing day we witness technological innovations that revolutionise the way we interact with the world around us. The internet has been a boon to these innovators who leverage this mode to their advantage and develop products that offer a great value to the consumers. Internet also helps these innovators to collate the necessary resources for the purpose of the development of their products and the latest in line has been crowd funding that has been allowing innovators to get the required funding and focus better on the product development.

Another innovative product that has received a highly positive response from the ‘crowd’ is the Touchjet WAVE; a highly innovative idea that uses simple technology. The brilliance of this product is not the technology it uses but rather how it uses the technology. The product has been listed on indiegogo.com, a crowd funding website and within a day it has been able to generate over US$ 131,000, against a target of US$ 100,000 with still 29 days to go! So what makes this product so special and what value does it deliver that it has received funding from over 700 people in 1 day? Let’s find out.

A small device that the company has named WAVE can be clipped on the top of the television. It has an infrared sensor and an HDMI output that needs to be plugged into the HDMI port of the television. The infrared sensor senses the movements of the hands or a stylus that is supplied with WAVE and sends the signal to the Light Processing Unit or the LPU of the device. The data received from the infrared sensor is translated to the taps and gestures that can be understood by the Android operating system.

The device runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat and effectively converts your flat panel television into a giant touch screen. You can operate your television using your hand gestures or a stylus. Likewise, you can also connect your mobile phone wirelessly to the device and control your television from your smartphone. The smartphone can also be connected to the device to browse the internet and t download data and apps or to stream the internet live.

Since WAVE functions on Android, users can download and install over 1.3 million Android apps that are available on the play store. The device also has WIFI connectivity enabled for directly accessing the internet.

On the technical front, the device has a 2.0 GHz Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB Flash drive, built-in optical touch sensor, WIFI and Bluetooth. It has an HDMI Output, an Audio Line out, 1 Micro USB OTG and 2 USB 2.0 ports.

Since the device runs on Android and not on any proprietary operating system, it has large number of applications. The device can be attached to a flat screen monitor and can be used for presentations, app developments, using Android apps or even for playing games.

Touchjet Wave

August 13, 2015
The Harsh, Cutthroat Reality of Competing in the Mobile Industry

In light of recent events with HTC and their struggling attempts to remain a profitable business, I’ve wanted to delve into what it’s really like for smartphone manufacturers and why any big game player like HTC or even Samsung and Apple have the chance to burn in flames at any point in time.

It’s not particularly easy to stay on the top of the smartphone game, and we’ve already seen big game mobile manufacturers fall to the pressures of the market in the past. Both Motorola and Nokia have struggled in recent years – this gives two great examples of how manufacturers that were once at the top of the game can still fall under the radar.

So what exactly makes the mobile industry such a harsh, competitive environment? There are multiple issues but I’d like to talk about the most obvious ones below.

Customer Loyalty is Easily Ripped Away From You

In the mobile industry, whether we’re talking about smartphone manufacturers, network providers or retail stores, it’s very hard for such companies to build a strong customer loyalty. When the time comes for a consumer to pick up a new smartphone, a lot of the decisions are based on price, features and what the best cellular deals are available at the time.

As a result, it’s constantly difficult to keep customers sticking to your own brand because other businesses in the mobile industry are often trying to outplay you by offering better deals and touting that what they’re offering will result in a better experience.

Because the mobile industry is so fast paced and constantly evolving there’s absolutely no way you can stay a successful business within the industry without constantly trying to outplay your competitors in any possible avenue. If you’re a smartphone manufacturer that fails to provide something new and exciting or a mobile network operator that can’t keep up with the latest trending deals then your current customers will leave you.

The Fine Line Between Innovation and Gimmickry

One thing that powers the growth of the mobile industry is it’s fast paced competitive nature. Smartphone manufacturers are now pressured to release new smartphones with better features and hardware every single year. In fact, it’s more common at this point to see big time manufacturers releasing two high end smartphones each year.

To really stand out from every other smartphone manufacturer that’s trying to get a piece of the mobile industry pie, you’d have to try and create your own innovative experiences, software or hardware elements. The trouble with this is it’s sometimes hard to create something that really catches on. Eventually after spending millions on researching and developing new smartphone experiences, you end up with a list of gimmicks that don’t really interest the general smartphone consumer to a great ordeal.

But at the same time, if you don’t try and find something new and exciting for your own smartphone lineup then you’re going to struggle to be a top worldwide smartphone manufacturer, unless you’re willing to throw billions on a strong marketing campaign.

Making Deals with the Devil

Sometimes to stand a chance in the mobile industry you’ll need to make deals with other hardware manufacturers or network operators. For example, if you can’t find a strong network operator to team up with in a region like North America that heavily relies on subsidized smartphone sales, you’re going to have a difficult time shipping enough smartphones.

If you end up making a deal with a company and then the other side doesn’t follow through with the arranged plans then you’re just as worse off. The difficulty here is that it’s important to make these kinds of partnerships in the mobile industry – they can be helpful to get your name out there, get your smartphones sold and provide the tools you need to further develop and innovate your own brand and experience.

As you can see, trying to be a top smartphone manufacturer is not an easy game, and it’s not surprising to see a manufacturer like HTC starting to struggle.

August 6, 2015