Corner Geeks

Corner Geeks 34: Asus Vivo Tab 8 & Nokia XL

thewheat — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 11:41:41 +0000

ASUS VivoTab Note 8

ASUS website
As an alternative to the Surface Pro 3 more for drawing stuff due to stylus
8″ screen (1280×800)
iPad mini sized but full Windows 8.1
US$250 (32GB)
Charges via micro USB
No full USB port:
- only has 1 micro USB port
- requires USB OTG cable (similar to phones) to provide full USB port
Atom processor can be a bit slow (not as bad as previous netbooks) but good value for full fledge device

Nokia XL

Specs on GSM Arena on Nokia XL
Nokia website: Nokia XL
Low end Android with a custom skin including Nokia software (e.g offline Here maps)
Plasticky but nice

Corner Geeks 33: Scottevest

thewheat — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 10:36:25 +0000

Scottevest

www.scottevest.com
Tech-enabled, pocket-filled clothing
Carry your stuff and tech gadgets in your clothing without being too bulky (from bottles of water to iPads)
Up to
- 2 pocket hats/boxers
- 10 pocket pants
- 19 pocket shirts
- 42 pocket vests

Corner Geeks 32: The Intel Party and iBattz Experience

thewheat — Fri, 29 Aug 2014 23:05:22 +0000

Intel Android Devices

80+ Intel Android Devices
Intel XDK: Design, debug, build, and deploy HTML5 web and hybrid apps across multiple app stores, and form factor devices.
Free hoodie + Acer Iconia Tab 8
Android NDK: Toolset that allows you to implement parts of your app using native-code languages such as C and C++.

iBattz

Mojo Battstation Optimus 20400
- 20400mAh
- 2 USB ports: 2.1A and 1A
- Passthrough
- 2014 Best in Show from iLounge.com
- Bought at AV Electronics
Beware cheap powerbanks using cheap components / full of sand
Android apps for viewing charge rate:
- Current Widget
- Galaxy Charging Current Lite
Related: “Buying Guide for USB Battery Packs / Powerbanks“

Corner Geeks 31: The Post I/O Experience Part 5 – Android Wear

thewheat — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 11:04:10 +0000

Android Wear

Android wear UI is not customizable
Pairs with Android phone via Bluetooth (requires Android 4.3+)
1 day battery life
Notifications appear on watch
- Swipe left to dismiss
- Swipe right to take further action (e.g. open in phone)
- Reply with voice (only for certain apps)
- Requires 2 hands
Availability (in certain locations):
- Currently available: Samsung Galaxy Gear Live / LG G watch
- Moto 360 available in the summer of 2014
Samsung Gear live (vs the G Watch)
- smaller screen (1.63″ Super AMOLED vs 1.65” IPS LCD)
- higher resolution (320×320 vs 280×280)
- smaller battery (300 mAh vs 400mAh)
- extra Heart Rate Sensor (common sensors: Compass, Accelerometer, Gyroscope)
- has a Bluetooth / Wi-Fi antenna
- cheaper in US (US$199 vs US$229) (Australia: $1 more expensive, AUD$250 vs AUD$249)
LG G watch
- possible charging contact corrosion should be fixed
- can charge while wearing (using the cradle), not ideal but possible

Corner Geeks 30: The Post I/O Experience Part 4 – Chromecast, Chrome OS, Cardboard

thewheat — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 11:05:12 +0000

Chromecast

Chromecast Website
Ability to pair with devices that are not on the same network using ultrasonic sounds
Plex

Chrome OS

Android Apps ported to Chrome OS
- Requires extra work to be functional (not automatic)
- Submit an app to be ported to Chrome OS

Cardboard

Cheap virtual reality using a phone, lenses and a foldable cardboard headset
Cardboard Developer Website
Android App
Chrome Experiments for Cardboard
Google I/O Session: Cardboard: VR for Android
DIY 3D Virtual Reality Goggles: Cardboard implementation many years back

Corner Geeks 29: The Post I/O Experience Part 3 – Android L, Android TV, Google Fit, Android Auto

thewheat — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:46:06 +0000

Android L

Preview for Nexus 5, Nexus 7 2013
Android Runtime (ART): replacing Dalvik
Project Volta: aims for better battery life. ArsTechnica investigates Project Volta
Android Enterprise features
- Personal and Enterprise information into different segments on the phone
- Samsung contributes KNOX security technology to AOSP and will be in Android L

Android TV

Android TV Website
Google Content (movies & music) on the big screen using voice commands
Game focused: has hardware game controllers, similar to Ouya
Controlled using swipes with Android wear or voice commands on an regular Android device
Can cast screen/content from Android devices to Android TV using Google Cast
Play Store available to install apps

Google Fit

Google Fit Website
Google’s ‘me too’ fitness platform
Google’s response to Apple’s HealthKit / Samsung’s S Health

Android Auto

Android Auto Website
In-board car dashboard powered by your Android device
“Dumb” dashboard monitored, all powered by external Android device
Google’s response to Apple’s CarPlay

Corner Geeks 28: The Post I/O Experience Part 2 – Polymer

thewheat — Sun, 20 Jul 2014 01:40:43 +0000

Polymer

Polymer Project website
Polymer Elements
- Polymer Core elements: a set of utility elements including general-purpose UI elements (such as icons, layout elements, and toolbars), as well as non-UI elements providing features like AJAX, signalling and storage.
  Docs | Demos
- Paper Elements: Polymer’s paper elements collection implements material design for the web. They’re a set of highly visual, highly interactive elements that include things like controls, layouts, hero transitions, and scrolling effects.
  Docs | Demos
Polymer Designer: Designer is a drag and drop tool for prototyping apps using Polymer. Save your experiments as Github gists.

Corner Geeks 27: The Post I/O Experience Part 1 – Goodies, Android One and Material Design

thewheat — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:20:31 +0000

Watch the Google I/O 2014 Keynote on YouTube

Goodie count

LG G Watch / Samsung Gear Live
Moto 360 (maybe)
AndroidTV
Intel Hoodies and Intel Android Tablet
Cardboard
- Play Store app
- Chrome Experiments for Cardboard
T-Shirts and stuff
Not freebies but bought goodies
- Windows 8″ tablet & SCOTTeVEST Revolution Jacket

Android One

Reference hardware for OEMs
High quality affordable smartphones
Stock Android & Automatic Updates from Google
4.5″ Android device, dual SIM, FM radio, micro SD card slot
Under US$100

Material Design

Google’s holistic approach to design (Google Design guidelines)
Material Design introduction

Corner Geeks 26: The Pre I/O Experience

thewheat — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 12:51:45 +0000

mfirdaus the Google Play developer is going to Google I/O 2014 along with some GDG Brunei folks
He wants free goodies especially the Moto 360 and probably Glass as well

Links

Corner Geeks 25: The Windows Phone Experience

thewheat — Fri, 03 May 2013 11:16:18 +0000

Lumia 520 for AUD$176
- Specs don’t really matter because it’s a pretty good experience
- 512MB RAM which limits some heavier apps but still a pretty smooth experience. Much better than cheap Android phones
Good Polish unlike Android back in the day that had a lot of rough edges
- In between iOS and Android but closer to iOS
- Find my phone
- Sky Drive Integration
  - Save Photos automatically
    - can’t seem to enable only on WiFi so may be hazardous to your 3G data
    - doesn’t upload screenshots
  - Office Documents synced in the cloud
- Office
  - Can create and edit Word and Excel files offline
  - Can view Powerpoint files
- Bluetooth transfer data migration
- Consolidated settings (like iOS) but also and in app
- Glove usage! (probably a Lumia feature)
Good Features
- People Hub
  - Combines all social streams (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) into one stream
  - Like Twitter lists but for all social networks supported
  - Photo Stream of all updates with photos
- Bluetooth image sharing!
- Has Android like intents/sharing of data to other apps. E.g. from photo app, can share photo to apps like WhatsApp / Email / any app that supports receiving images
Gripes
- App selection still small. No official Dropbox app, no instagram
- Search page is not a web page. E.g. Search in browser address bar brings you out of the browser to the search page, and clicking a link in the search page goes back into the browser
- Sharing Intents inconsistent
  - But doesn’t seem to work for all things… Can share photo (.jpg file) from camera to WhatsApp but cannot share screenshot (.png file) to WhatsApp. Can’t share URL to WhatsApp.
  - Perhaps more of a non-mature app ecosystem rather than Windows Phone fault. App developers need to program their apps right
- Notifications could be better
  - If app is a Live Tile, then you can see the notification number
  - If app is not a Live Tile, there is no easy way to know what app caused the notification (iOS has it best with badges)
- No quick toggles
  - Have to go into settings to turn things on and off similar to iOS (e.g. enable/disable data / WiFi)
  - Hard to toggle vibrate
- Can’t disable screen rotation. Less sensitive than Android which is good.
- No file explorer or file system like Android
- No auto-sign in like Android for Google sites
- Switching apps shows “Resuming…” quite a bit. More to do with how Windows Phone handles apps. Could be due to limited memory of 512MB and may not occur with higher end devices with more RAM
- No Bluetooth tethering (available in iOS and Android)

Links