850MHz

Rootz-Wiki ICS

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:25:10 -0700

Who doesn’t love a good leak? First we had the leak for the i777 GSII and I727 Skyrocket, and thanks to Rootz Wiki and active dev Design Gears, we have what we have been waiting for since the Galaxy Note released, Ice Cream Sandwich, Specifically Android 4.0.3.

It is the official at&t build, so bloatware is present along with Touchwiz, and the Premium Suite of S-Pen capable apps are not included. But really, who uses the S-Pen for anything other than Draw Something?

@DesignGears also said on twitter that this leak can be rooted by flashing Clockworkmod Recovery and flashing a superuser.zip. http://twitter.com/DesignGears/status/187375163652833280

Samsung Galaxy Note AT&T LTE Version in Ceramic White If...

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 11:35:17 -0800

Samsung Galaxy Note

AT&T LTE Version in Ceramic White

If you don’t know about this device, it is a variant of the Galaxy S II that just surpassed 20 million units sold. It features a 5.3” AMOLED Display with 1280x800 Resolution. These HD displays that are now the norm on Android devices are a significant leap for smartphones.

The AT&T Note features a 1.5 GHz Dual Core Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, eschewing the 1.4 GHz Exynos processor used in the International Note(and alot of the other GS2 variants) that released in October. Although the Exynos is a powerhouse and benchmarks higher on most all accounts over the Qualcomm, AT&T’s version has LTE, which the current Exynos chipset does not support. AT&T’s GS2 variant the Skyrocket has the same LTE/Qualcomm chipset, which performs more than adequately in both applications. This phone is smooth, and fast.

The Note has a few issues. Most people can not use this as a daily driver phone. It’s sheer size is almost comical in person. Software wise, it is running Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, which was hard to go back to after running 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on a Nexus S. The improvements in ICS are numerous and intuitive, and going back to a Touchwiz UI layered Gingerbread is difficult to get used to. As stated above, the Note nonetheless performs smoothly and snappy.

The Note also features an S-Pen Stylus like device, hearkening back to the days of Windows Mobile 5 and Palm Pilots. You can use the Memo Pad included to jot down notes or a grocery list, or hit the button on the S-Pen and tap the screen to take a screenshot, and draw over the screenshot and add a mustache to your enemies face. This is not for everybody, and most of the time if you are used to an Android Smartphone, you don’t recall the fact that it is even in the device. It isn’t worthless, but it also isn’t necessary.

The size is polarizing, and not for everybody, but the Galaxy Note is unquestionably an awesome piece of hardware and for the right person, a great device.

Google Latitude Update Google released an update for Google...

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:54:32 -0800

Google Latitude Update

Google released an update for Google Maps on Android that brings new functionality to Latitude. You can now get Foursquare style points for check-ins either from the Google Maps app or from the Google+ app on Android.

Although you cannot view your points on Google+ currently, it makes sense that Google could implement it into the app in the future. With the far reach of a company like Google, it doesn’t seem to far fetched to see them offer check in specials much like Foursquare currently does. Google needs to find ways to monetize on projects like Google+, and this could be a step in that direction.

Click the Photo for more Information. Motorola has detailed...

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:12:00 -0800

Click the Photo for more Information.

Motorola has detailed their future release schedule for their Ice Cream Sandwich rollout. The list, which includes Tablets and smartphones, has a few phone we knew were getting the update, including the Droid Razr and newly released Droid 4.

Happily for people who purchase older Android devices and expect to be passed by within a year, the Motorola Atrix 4G is on the list along with its budget replacement the Atrix 2.

Kudos to Motorola for coming out with a list that illustrates their plans succinctly. A few other manufacturers have made announcements and backtracked soon thereafter.

Motorola and Verizon have created fatigue among smartphone buyers with their unrelenting rollout of replacement devices, but it’s nice to see them still remember that a year old phone is worth their resources to keep customers happy.

CTIA is right around the corner, October 11-13 in San...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:29:19 -0700

CTIA is right around the corner, October 11-13 in San Diego.

Samsung is going to be hosting an event to unveil something new, with the help of Google. This teaser video has recently popped up, showing an unnamed device that has curved glass, similar to that of the Nexus S(which is stunning in person).

At this point it isn’t much of a secret that this is probably the next Nexus phone, believed to be called the Prime. The rumor has been that this is headed for Verizon, and that Verizon passed on a proper Galaxy S II device because of this very device.

A new rumor hit today from the Boy Genius Report with an alleged October 27th release date along with this:

BGR learned that the Galaxy Nexus will be a Verizon Wireless exclusive in the U.S. and will run Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It is equipped with a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD display with a 1280 x 760-pixel resolution, 1GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 5-megapixel camera capable of recording 1080p video, a 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat and a 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 processor.

Certainly people are excited for this device after feeling lukewarm after the iPhone 4S device announcement. BGR’s claimed specs are certainly possible, but we will know for sure in less than a week.

The iPhone 4S

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:40:00 -0700

What it is:

Apple’s new smartphone that will take over as the Flagship device for Apple.

Apple has sold more iPhone 4’s than all of the previous iPhone’s combined, and they hope to repeat that success with the 4S.

What’s in it:

On the outside, we have an iPhone 4. On the inside, however, the 4S is completely revamped. It is now a World Phone, meaning one SKU for every carrier. This opens new carrier opportunities, and the little company that can here is print, which joins at&t and Verizon in the US. Qualcomm provides the GSM/CDMA Chipset that will be in every 4S, which theoretically will allow you to buy an unlocked version(currently you can buy a no contract iPhone 4, but it is carrier locked). Whether that comes to fruition, we will have to wait and see.

The CPU/GPU are also greatly upgraded, with Apple claiming graphics performance increased 7x. A Dual-Core A5 processor is also on board, but no real mentioned of the RAM was mentioned, and it is believed to be the same 512MB found in the iPhone 4. This will not only make it more speedy in everyday tasks, but should help contribute to improved battery life because of increased efficiency.

The Camera is also greatly improved, with the sensor jumping from 5 megapixel to 8, and also increasing in speed. Anybody with an iPhone 4 knows that it takes a while for an HDR image to take, and the time between shots is greatly reduced. The Aperture is a large F/2.4, which in theory will allow more light into the lens and make for much higher quality photos. The sensor combined with the dual core processor will allow you to shoot 1080P video, with continuous autofocus.

Also newly introduced is the 64GB model($399 on contract), to go along with the standard 16GB($199) and 32GB($299). Each size comes in the standard colors; Black, and White which we can assume we won’t have to wait half the year to get.

(Taken from The Verge)

Why You Should Care:

Whether you love using an iPhone, or prefer Operating Systems with dessert names, you have to thank Apple for making everyone else innovate. The reaction the 4S has received in the days following it’s announcement has been all over the map. If Apple hadn’t released the iPhone in 2007, we wouldn’t be where we are right now and with the options we have available to us as consumers.

The camera may be enough to finally get you to drop that point and shoot for good. The iPhone 4 takes a solid photo in its own right, but based on specs alone, the 4S should take shots that aren’t just good for a phone, they will just be good. Add to that the better video camera quality, which again was extremely solid on its predecessor in both video and audio quality, and you have a device that will be solid in all ways for you.

(Taken from The Verge)

The Battery life is also improved, increasing the talk time to 8 hours. Android devices can’t get the kind of battery the iPhone 4 can get generally speaking, and the 4S should be even better.

(Taken from The Verge)

Siri, the voice search/ai/sorta creepy built in system, along with a proper notification tray in iOS 5, could make for a great experience. iOS has the ability to be simple enough and recognizable enough for anybody to pick up and understand, but also be able to dive deep into the device and really make it work for you. This is a testament to the type of devices Apple has created, and some people knock them for making a device that seems to be made for a non-techie user.

Why You Shouldn’t Care:

The Screen Size is still 3.5”. With the way these companies can package devices now, and how thin they have become, 4.3” devices are no longer the behemoths they once were. Samsung is making 4.5” devices more the norm, and HTC even has some 4.7“‘s kicking around. People want a larger screen, and although the Retina Display still holds up after a year and a half, it would be nice to see a larger screen. There’s always next year though.

Siri could be useful for people, and there are positives to it’s inclusion on this device, however, can you imagine using something like that often? Drones of hipsters walking around with their white Apple buds in their head, talking to their phone asking it questions that they only a week ago were googling. It’s fairly common knowledge Android has had a version of this type of Voice Search, albeit less powerful and decision filled on it’s returns, and people don’t seem to use it very much either.

Conclusion:

Had they simply called this device the iPhone 5, it would have received less negative press. But you can’t look at this device, launching with a thoroughly reworked iOS 5 and specs that will more than adequately allow you to complete any task you would need to accomplish on a smartphone and simply scoff at it and think of a device like the Galaxy S II simply because it has a slightly faster clock speed on it’s processor.

Android devices have been on such a fast escalation of software and hardware that we forget that sometimes it’s not about the raw specs and more about the total experience. Does the buying public need an all new design to enjoy using the 4S? The 3GS also received some of the same complaints upon it’s release, and we know how that turned out.

The Touchwiz UX Update for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 went live...

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 13:58:51 -0700

The Touchwiz UX Update for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 went live last night.

The Update isn’t to Honeycomb Version 3.2, but rather adds Samsung’s own UI changes to Honeycomb.

They have added some new widgets like the clock and accuweather pictured above, while annoyingly changing the look of the Email widget and leaving the GMAIL widget the same.

The familiar bottom status bar has also changed slightly, adding a screenshot button(great change!) and a fast view settings menu if you tap the clock in the corner. You can already get to your settings on the clock in the bottom right corner, but this gives you a toggle for WiFi, Bluetooth, screen rotation, and others.

The Arrow in the middle of the status bar down low pops up a quick app tray. This contains a Task Manager that allows you to kill apps and free memory, a Calendar, a World Clock, a Memo Pad that allows you to draw notes to yourself with your finger and save, and Calculator, and a Music Player. The positive twist with these is they are all widgets, that functions much like an open app on a desktop computer does. It stays in the foreground, as you scroll screens and even entering and leaving apps. You can also move these Quick Widgets around the screen, again, like a desktop window. No longer do you need to add numbers in your head or with your fingers like you have since you learned that way in Second Grade, you can pull up the calculator, and use it while keeping your current App open.

Samsung also adds a Music and Media Hub.

The Music Hub has individual songs and whole albums available, ranging in prices(Eminem’s Recovery Album is $11.99, Daft Punk’s Tron Album was $7.77, songs ranged from $.79 to $1.29).

The Media Hub has TV shows and Movies available for Rental and Purchase. You can buy an Episode of Tosh.0 for $1.99. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1 is available for purchase for $17.99 and Rental for $3.99.

Both of their Hubs seems to fall in line with other services as far as price and content are concerned, but other services make it easier for you to keep the content on a Desktop and put it onto more than one device.

The Performance on the Tab 10.1 overall seems to be more snappy. Games especially seem to be running more smooth, and Quadrant scores have jumped noticeably as well. The Transformer was scoring around 1700, around 300 higher than the Galaxy Tab before this update. Now it is coming in line with Smartphones who use the same Tegra 2 processor.

The Update has some good ideas, and for the most part you can ignore most of the new things they have included. In a time when we want phones to get away from adding skins on top of Android, Samsung has done exactly that in the Tablet space. You don’t have to apply the update to your Tab, but when they do eventually release the 3.2 update, you will not be able to apply it unless this Touchwiz update is installed. Is their changes enough to differentiate their product, or is this more or less wasted development effort? That’s for you to decide!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 The first thing you notice after you...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 12:01:00 -0700

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

The first thing you notice after you bring the Tab out of its box is its size. It has the same 10.1” screen that other Honeycomb Tablets have, but at 8.66mm thick and 1.25 lbs it is noticeably thinner and lighter than it’s competition. TheTransformer felt noticeably thicker and heavier by comparison, and it comes in at 13mm thick and 1.49 lbs.

The Transformer also had straight edges, that were not sharp enough to cut the hand, but could rub uncomfortably after long periods of use. The Tab has a curved edge all the way around, and that, combined by its weight drop and thinness, makes for the best possible experience with a device like this.

There are some tradeoffs for this awesome form factor though. There is no MicroSD card slot built it, nor is there an HDMI cable on it. Instead, you have to buy a dongle that connects to the 30 pin connector charge port at the bottom to gain access to these things.

The screen size of the Honeycomb Tablets up to this point has been 10.1”(but 3.2 will soon be released on a wider basis, offering 7” screen options). The Galaxy Tab offers the best display of all, with distinct colors and a very bright PLS display. The Transformer has an IPS display, which is a variation of the same screen tech, but this may not be the most interesting comparison between the two tablets.

The Transformer offers a distinctly better keyboard than any other Tablet in this space, one that did carry a higher price tag ($150) but had the build quality and extra battery power to justify. The Tab 10.1’s Keyboard accessory ($69) is nicer than a lot of other Tablet options out there, but falls short of the Transformer. It does offer a nicely spaced layout, along with an audio out 3.5mm jack to send sound to some speakers, and a 30pin connector on the side to charge while in use. They are also planning a Bluetooth Keyboard case, that’s more for use on the go, pricing should be considerably higher on that though.

This is the best Honeycomb Tablet currently available, depending on your needs. There are other options available if you need MicroSD slots, or HDMI outputs, but the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has the form factor to compete with the iPad 2 and performance to make it a formidable choice for consumers.

Camera Comparison: Transformer v Tab 10.1

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:15:39 -0700

Low light pictures can be hard. Typically in the past small cameraphone sensors have had a lot of trouble in these situations, creating noise and generally bad looking photos. The Honeycomb Tablets have all had front and rear facing cameras. The iPad 2 added a camera when it was released, and some people were upset to find it wasn’t as good a sensor as is found in the iPhone 4.

Here is a shot of the Limbo Triple Pack for XBOX 360 taken with the rear facing cameras of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (3 megapixel) and the Asus Transformer (5 megapixel):

This is done with the Transformer’s 5 MP Camera. It has a lot of noise, but gets the point across. It certainly isn’t a terrible picture.

Next we have the Tab.

Here we also have noise, but looks like it’s autofocus is slightly better.

Both of these shots have the white balance on 0.

One more shot with the Tab:

Greatly reduced noise, extremely clear shot. The Tab 10.1, unlike the Transformer, has an LED Flash.

Can’t say people will be taking too many beauty shots with a tablet, but despite it’s smaller sensor, the Tab 10.1 has taken nicer shots by our eyes thus far. It doesn’t always pay to have a bigger sensor, sometimes a higher quality one can make all the difference.

The front facing cameras will be used for video chat only, so no comparison shots there, but one interesting note: the Tab 10.1 has a 2 MP front camera while the Transformer has 1.3 MP. Obviously this doesn’t mean much as considering Video Chat quality depends on the connection speed you are performing the Chat on, but interesting that they ended up with different size sensors on the front and back of their devices.

Unboxing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 Metallic Gray

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:18:08 -0700

Unboxing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 Metallic Gray

Honeycomb App Selection Let’s be frank, there aren’t...

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:56:00 -0700

Honeycomb App Selection

Let’s be frank, there aren’t nearly as many Honeycomb Apps as there are iPad Apps. Why is that? It’s hard to say. On one hand, you have a huge iPad installed base, which is an understatement considering Apple is selling more iPad’s than Macbook’s now. They also seem to be able to make a better profit on the iPad, which may have something to do with Android on handsets. People on Android tend not to pay for any apps, and there are a larger percentage of free apps on Android Market.

If you were an app developer, which platform would you choose? The iPad and iPhone have such a huge amount of people developing for it, but if you don’t build a really great app, it’s hard to be noticed in a sea of other good apps. On Honeycomb, if you could build a compelling app, there would be little to no competition for you. The exposure you could get just by the fact that there is so much less Tablet apps in general on the platform could surely make a difference in your download count and your wallet.

Browser performance on the Transformer is great, and having Flash available to view videos in the browser is nice. But people don’t constantly want to be in the browser especially to check something like twitter. They bought a tablet for a different experience. Plume for Twitter on Honeycomb is one of a few Twitter apps made for the Tablets. It’s columns offer some customization, it loads extremely quickly, and is generally a clean experience. It is a nice example of a platform that hasn’t gained much traction on Android phones because of Twitter’s official app and other competition, but is the app of choice by many on Honeycomb.

Pulse is another great app for Honeycomb. You can choose from featured feeds, or plug in any RSS Feed yourself to view your news quickly and cleanly.

Swipe from side to side, click stories to enlarge, and launch the browser if you want to explore the site further.

The last App I want to highlight is the Gamefly App. Even if you don’t use the service, the app has news from the website www.shacknews.com and videos of the upcoming games. It isn’t greatly different from their iOS and Android phone apps, but simple tweaks make it easier to use on the Tablet, and make it much more usable.

I am looking ahead to when Google releases a Honeycomb optimized Google+ app, because Facebook hasn’t provided a Tablet app for the iPad for whatever reason.

In the end, the Honeycomb experience is mostly positive, with a few caveats. There are less apps than it’s biggest competitor, and they have greatly improved the user experience over time. But unfortunately it seems like the platform may not catch on greater until the unifying Smartphone/Tablet Software Platform Ice Cream Sandwich launches sometime this year from Google.

Asus TF-101 Eee Pad Transformer Back...

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:44:00 -0700

Asus TF-101 Eee Pad Transformer

Back here: http://850mhz.tumblr.com/post/6369368485/honeycomb-tablets-which-to-buy-acer-iconia-tab I broke down the cream of the crop of Honeycomb Tablets, concluding that the only 2 current ones that really separate themselves are the Transformer and the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The Transformer, coming in a full $100 cheaper than the equally spec’d Tab and the iPad 2, had a nice IPS display and a Keyboard dock that turned it into more Netbook than Convertible Notebook.

The Transformer is indeed heavier, and harder to hold for longer periods of time. The edges are straight and although they may not cut you, remain sharp. More squared than the iPad 2, who also has a sharper edge, while being slimmer. The Tab 10.1 on the other hand, has curved edges AND is thin, the best of both worlds.

Performance wise, the Honeycomb Tablets are all very close. They all contain the same hardware, but software tweaks do make a difference. This unit is averaging right around 1700 on the Quadrant Benchmark. Compare that to the highest scoring stock device that has passed through my hands, the Atrix, that runs the same processor but drives a much smaller screen, that is hitting over 2000 consistently.

The display is quite adequate, bright enough, and has great color reproduction. The separation between the glass and the display underneath is greater than the aforementioned Tab 10.1 and iPad 2, which on this unit allows some light bleeding. Asus has had this problem from the beginning with the Transformer, and this much time later in their production cycle it’s sad to see the problems persist. It doesn’t necessarily distract from most tasks performed, but when a darker background or a black page is shown, it is undeniably there.

Another issue Asus has had with the Transformer is sound. The speakers on the front outside of the display and units have had an issue where one side is noticeably louder than the other. Luckily if you were the adventurous type, the folks over on XDA-Developers Forum have a fix, but luckier still, this units speakers are working correctly.

After pulling it out of the box and powering it on for the first time, you are prompted to connect to a Wifi Network, Enter your Gmail account information and get started. My unit shipped with an older build of 3.0 Honeycomb, but I was immediately given a notification in the notification tray on the side that there was a system update, which was Honeycomb 3.1, and their latest build was released this past week. Asus has been way ahead of the norm in making sure the Transformer is updated and the bugs in the software squashed.

Going from 3.0 to 3.1 there is a noticeable upgrade in the UI speed, with which there was considerable lag. After playing with the HP Touchpad, you get an appreciation of what a lag free experience that 3.1 Honeycomb and the iPad can offer you.

The front and rear Camera’s are functional, and the rear sensor, although it may not replace your digital camera(who wants to carry a tablet around to take pictures anyway?) it is adequate for shots of your dinner you plan to post on Twitter.

Overall, the Transformer isn’t the best in some ways, but with a $100 less price over it’s best Honeycomb and iOS competition, it is more than capable to change your experience at home and how you consume media and the internet at large, and get you off of that tiny phone screen.

Unboxing an Asus Eee Pad Transformer.

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:37:31 -0700

Unboxing an Asus Eee Pad Transformer.

Google is still doing well, in case you were wondering

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:52:00 -0700

Google is still doing well, in case you were wondering:

Who doesn’t love an Earnings Calls? Impressive, the $9.02 Billion Revenue. Impressive, the $2.51 Billion Net Revenue, up from $1.84 Billion in the same quarter last year.

But the most interesting part of the call in my humble opinion is the fact that there are 550,000 Android devices activated DAILY. Android Market has had 6 BILLION downloads. Staggering.

Spotify Is Here

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 18:46:00 -0700

Today, the popular music streaming service Spotify that has been in parts of Europe since 2008, launched in the United States. The service has somewhere over 10 million users, and has become popular by offering their service with both paid and free ad supported variations. The press that it had received before ever coming here can be best described as glowing.

Getting an invite via Twitter, I signed up for the service on the iPhone 4, downloaded the app, and expected to be off and listening to music. Searched for Alice in Chains, found all of their albums(which is impressive to see) and starred their most recent album to see if it was possible to play it right then. Unfortunately, doing that directly from the app is only available on the Premium or Unlimited Subscriptions.

Hopping on the Windows Desktop app, you find a service that’s easy to navigate, and has a large amount of music. Everything searched for on the first try was found, including entire Albums from Multiple Artists.

The Desktop app also directed me to download the iPhone or Android app to Sync the Local Files and the music from the Service that had been selected, which after synced, would allow me access to all music on the app, on the go over WIFI or 3G. The app also offers an offline mode, which I have not yet tested. It is definitely user friendly to those of you who aren’t the most technically inclined. As long as your Computer and iPhone/Android device are on the same WIFI Network, syncing is a breeze. Unfortunately, Spotify doesn’t offer a web client to compliment the service, which seems like a given in this day in age.

Although the free service seems to be usable, seems like the Premium service is a needed add-on to get the full compliment of the features available with the service.

Spotify seems to be the competitor in the Streaming music category that everyone thought it would be, albeit with a few shortcomings. Launching with a proven formula, with a nice Desktop app and mobile apps, makes the service good on Day 1. But Rdio, Mog, Rhapsody, and the others are all good in their own right, and it makes this an exciting time for the Music Lover.

New Look Android Market Incoming

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:28:00 -0700

New Look Android Market Incoming:

The Android Market has had one major revision in the past couple years. It was aimed at making apps easier to discover, and having a clean UI to navigate.

Google is here again with a Market update that aims to repeat that, plus add Movie Rentals(starting at $1.99) and Books to the mix.

The UI does look to have changed quite a bit, hopefully offering a more intuitive way to search through top app choices and the “Editor’s Choice” pages they have added.

This is set to roll it “in the coming weeks” to devices with 2.2 or above, and like the last release, will automatically show up.

Dev-Team Blog: jailbreakme times 3

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:30:18 -0700

Dev-Team Blog: jailbreakme times 3:

devteam:

Once again, @comex has resurrected http://www.jailbreakme.com for your jailbreaking ease and pleasure!

@comex developed what is now the third installment (and his second) of jailbreakme.com, the easiest way to jailbreak your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad (including the iPad2!). No…

Things Found In Google+

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:19:00 -0700

The Native Chat used in Google+ is Google Talk. Google Talk is already integrated into all Android Handsets, as well as Gmail, and it’s as easy as accepting an invite or just opting in to start.

Huddle is Mobile Only. If you have the Google+ App you can be involved in a Huddle, which is a group chat with a Circle you choose to invite. If you do not have an Android handset, and still want to join in on the action, you just add your phone number in the settings, and you can Huddle chat through SMS! That may not be the best solution for everybody, but it allows people without smartphones to be included.

Apparently up to this point, there is no way to adjust your Stream. If you have a popular post that is receiving comments or +1’s, it will automatically bump back on top of your stream. If you wish to not see a certain post, it is as easy as clicking the button on the top right of every post, and hitting Mute Post.

Last thing to touch on right now is Circles. Preset Circles are Family, Friends, Acquaintances, and for some reason the last one is escaping me. That’s because it has been deleted! Right Click on any circle to edit or delete it.

The How, Why, and Huh? of Google+

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:18:39 -0700

Google+ is here. We have been waiting for Google’s entrance into the Social Networking scene(beyond failures called Buzz and Wave).

Some of you may have only noticed something different by visiting the google.com homepage either on PC or smartphone, noticing that both have a slightly tweaked look.

Managing to type this without mentioning the word Facebook is nigh impossible, in a world where the site has over Half a Billion users, was not easy. But obviously this is the Network that they are directly competing with here. Facebook has had major privacy issues in the past. They have a habit of adding features or changing things and then completely changing the settings you have selected to how you want the public and even close friends to view the content you have on your page.

This has been a major issue. What Google is attempting to change is the fact that everybody can see everything from the minute they become your friend. They have employed “Circles” to help separate your friends. You can have Inner Circles, broken up into smaller groups within, and even Outer Circles, people you rarely want to see anything you have to offer, but are still friends with. You set the Circles, you control what content is viewed by whom, you and only you control your own Privacy. This is how it should be.

The Photo here from Engadget’s Brian Heater shows the Stream of Google+. Notice his Circles on the left side. He can share to everyone by clicking the top bar, or click into individual Circles to post to them specifically, or start a “Hangout”, etc.

What is Hangout? It seems to be something that Skype(Microsoft) may not take too kindly to. It is a video chat that people from a particular circle can join at any time. People are always looking for something outside of Skype to do video chat with multiple people with. Early indications are, this works very well.

“Huddle” is a make-shift chat room you can create for one of your Circles. The example Google gives you is a group of people deciding on which movie to see. Hop on your Google+ app on your Android Phone, start a Huddle, and chat with everyone instantly on the way to the Theater.

Speaking of your Google+ App, you can set it to automatically push all the photos you take to your account from your phone.

The release is a Beta in the same vein as Gmail, Invite only, very limited release. They say it’s not ready for full release, and because of their Social Networking missteps in the past, it is probably in their best interest to hold it back for now, and let Journalists and Tech luminaries get their first crack at it and give their feedback first.

The ideas put forth by Google here are interesting, but until we get our hands on time with Google+, it is hard to tell if this can be a Social Networking swan-song. Are people willing to visit Facebook AND Google+? We, and probably a majority of people using Social Networks, would probably like to settle on one, and this may prove hard for Google.

Personally, Google+ looks like exactly the Social Networking website I want to be apart of. Maybe someday soon there will be an invite out there for us.

This is the newly announced Nokia N9. It is a device...

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:08:26 -0700

This is the newly announced Nokia N9.

It is a device that’s a long time in development, and the hope of an entire country.

It’s also a dead platform, and the end result of a huge shift in a company that introduced many of us to the world of mobile phones years ago.

This physical design will be host to Microsoft’s Window Phone 7, which all indications point to a Fall 2011 release. As for this particular release, it houses Meego 1.2 with Nokia’s own Swipe UI (swipe.nokia.com). This phone forgoes physical buttons, instead featuring Swiping panels that go from a home screen to an app tray to a sort of all encompassing social media/messaging bin that aggregates all activity you have between you and your friends into one stream.

On Android, we are used to have many more screens, filling them up with widgets and folders. This endeavors to make the experience more tidy. There is no power button to wake the phone up from a period of inactivity, instead, you tap the screen 2 times to bring it back to life. This seems to be the way all smartphone OS’s are headed, and Nokia is the first to go all in with the buttonless design.

As for the hardware, the N9 is a mixed bag. Around back we have an 8mp camera sensor capable of 1080p video through the Carl Zeiss lens. With Nokia’s track record with phone camera’s, there is no doubt going to be an amazing point and shoot.

Back around front we have a 854x480 3.9” Curved Glass AMOLED Display. The Processor driving this is a rather dated(by today’s smartphone standards) Texas Instruments OMAP3630. This was first used in the Motorola Droid X that debut a year ago on Verizon Wireless. The Droid X has already received a Dual Core update with the same Tegra 2 SOC we have seen in the Motorola Atrix.

Nokia is the king of the Pentaband Radio, so we know this will work on both T-Mobile AND at&t here in the States.

Meego can provide a rich experience with which we haven’t seen on a Nokia Smartphone ever, and it doesn’t need the cutting edge Dual Core processors to do it. When you go from a standard 1ghz single core QSD-8250 Snapdragon to a Dual Core 1ghz Tegra 2 on Android, there is a noticeable difference in how quickly apps launch, and how smooth the experience is overall. But a platform like Windows Phone 7 up until this point, has a clean and smooth experience on that same Snapdragon Silicon.

Nokia just has one problem. This isn’t the platform they are going forward with. They are fully committed to Windows Phone 7, and most in the Industry believe this was only released to keep the stable of Nokia Engineers on payroll happy, because all of the work to get it to this point had already been completed.

Conventional Wisdom also says that although in Window Phone 7.5 Mango, the fruits of the Nokia/Microsoft joint effort will not be seen, but the Swipe UI we see here on this Meego device may make it onto a future Nokia Windows Phone release.

For a dead platform, people are surprised that Nokia seems to have delivered such a solid device. But Nokia wasn’t finished there, they also leaked(on purpose or by accident, although it sure looks purposeful to us) some footage of their first Windows Phone device. It is basically an N9, codenamed Sea Ray, although the LED Flash has been moved on the backside. The timing of this “leak” has to be to slow the highly positive press surrounding the N9 announced and the excitement over just how good Meego looked.

Over the years, nobody has disputed that Nokia can build seriously great hardware, but since the release of the iPhone and the subsequent and meteoric rise that iOS and Androud devices have had, people have grown disillusioned with Nokia’s ability to build a solid Software Platform. Unfortunately, when it seems they have finally proven all the critics wrong, and build something that can compete, it is the last Meego device we will see. No matter how well the N9 sells, or how great of a phone it looks to be, Meego is dead, and Nokia is moving forward with Windows Phone.

Photo and Links Courtesy of Engadget