58 Things You Won’t Find On The iPhone 5s

September 10, 2013 17 Comments

Last updated: March 6, 2014

The iPhone 5s is popular, but it’s not the most advanced smartphone. It is missing over fifty important features that are found in other smartphones.

Size matters: Phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 dwarf the iPhone 5s

A Large Screen Experience – The screen on the iPhone 5s is only 4 inches, while the best Android smartphones have screens that are 5.0 to 6.4 inches. Not only are they much bigger, they are also better. They have almost twice as many pixels and up to 44% higher screen resolutions. Large screens are better for everything. It doesn’t matter whether you’re surfing the web, playing a game, watching a video, or using Facebook. Another activity where large screens excel is reading a book, even though the Moto X only has a 4.7″ screen, it can display 27% more words than the iPhone 5s. That means less scrolling and less page turning. As long as you can easily fit these phones in your pocket, you’ll enjoy the benefits of a larger display. The same people who say 5” or 6” screens are too large, have no problem using the 7.9” iPad mini. The iPhone 6 is sure to have a larger screen, so you better get ready for one.
Even though the Moto X only has a 4.7″ screen, it can display 27% more text [Photo courtesy of GottaBeMobile]
A Quad-core Processor – The best Android phone have third-generation quad-core processors that allow your smartphone to multitask better. Quad-core chips have been available on Android devices since 2011. Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 sold in some countries now have eight-core processors, yet the iPhone 5s still only has a dual-core CPU.

Apple raves about 802.11ac in their AirPort and MacBook ads, yet chose to leave support for it out of the iPhone 5s
802.11ac Wi-Fi Support – Not all Wi-Fi speeds are the same. The best Android phones support 802.11ac, which is 3 to 10 times faster than the Wi-Fi technology the iPhone 5s uses. This is important because your phone is connected to Wi-Fi most of the time at home and in the office. 802.11ac results in much faster downloads, faster page loads and less buffering when you’re streaming video.
Wireless Charging – Many Android users don’t have to plug in their phones to charge them. The Samsung Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, HTC Droid DNA, LG Nexus 4, LG Nexus 5, LG Spectrum 2 and many others include wireless charging support.

Wireless charging and faster wired charging are two more features that are missing from the new iPhone 5s
An Affordable Unlocked Price Option – The official unsubsidized price for the “low-cost” iPhone 5c is $549 to $649. You can buy an unlocked Nexus 4 for less than half that price, and it has better specs than the iPhone 5c. Even the unlocked state-of-the-art Nexus 5 sells for only $349. Unlocked Android phones with similar specs to the iPhone 5c sell for around $180 in China without a carrier subsidy.
An Overall Better Display – Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Samsung Galaxy S4 now match the iPhone 5s’ “A” overall display rating, and badly beat the iPhone 5s when it comes to black level, contrast ratio, color saturation and more. In fact, BGR says the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has the best display of any other phone in 2013. The Samsung Galaxy S4 also outperforms the iPhone 5s on the important GMB color checker. The Moto X and LG G2 also beat the iPhone 5s on white and gray-scale accuracy.
Accident-Resistant – We all drop our phones, so it’s important they can survive drops and exposure to moisture. When it comes to ruggedness, SquareTrade says Android phones like the Moto X beat the iPhone 5s in drop tests. “When it comes to breakability, Apple takes a step back with its latest offerings,” SquareTrade said. “The iPhone 5S fared worse than its predecessor, the iPhone 5, in our slide test and the iPhone 5C suffered from increased smash-ability in our drop test as well as reduced grip-ability.”
Fast Charging – Many of the best smartphones now include a fast-charging technology from Qualcomm that helps them charge up to 40% faster than regular phones. Phones with fast-charging support include the HTC Droid DNA, HTC One S, HTC One SV, HTC 8X, Google Nexus 4, LG Optimus G, Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx HD/RAZR HD, Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Lumia 820 and the Samsung Galaxy S III. Future Android phones will include support for Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 feature that charges up to 75% faster than conventional USB charging technology. You can learn more about Quick Charge here.
Up to 3 Times More High-Speed Memory – Experts say the iPhone 5s still only has 1GB of memory, while the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 comes standard with 3GB of DDR3 memory running at a higher clock speed. This makes a phone boot faster, launch apps faster and multitask better. How much faster? The game “Asphalt 7” loads in only 18.5 seconds on a phone with 3GB of memory. The same game loads in 45.0 seconds on the same phone with 2GB of the same type of memory.
Samsung makes it easy for anyone to swap batteries in their phone or add more memory
An Easily Removable Battery – Has there ever been a time when your battery was running low and you wished you could just pop-in a fully charged spare? Most Android phones make this possible because they have batteries that can be easily swapped in seconds. This is important because all rechargeable batteries have a limited life span and need to be replaced after 2-3 years. Apple goes to great lengths to prevent you from opening the iPhone 5s. This includes the use of special glue, and screws that require special tools to remove. Even if you have these tools, you still need a heat gun, suction cup and a special prying tool to open your iPhone 5s and remove its battery.
Multi Window Support – Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Note 3 make good use of their large screens by letting you split the screen so you can use two apps at the same time. Not only can you view any two windows at once, you can also drag things from one window to the other. This is a really useful feature the iPhone 5s doesn’t have.
Gesture Support – Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note II and Galaxy Note 3 support a wide range of different hand gestures. For example, you can wave your hand over your phone to accept a phone call, move calendar events, or move between pictures, pages or music tracks.
NFC-based Digital Payments – The new iPhone comes with a ‘Passport’that can hold digital boarding passes and coupons, but it doesn’t allow you to buy things. NFC wallet support like you’ll find in most Android phones lets you to purchase things at one of 300,000+ PayPass cash registers. Once you try this feature you’ll be hooked.
True High Definition Video Support – Most high-definition videos are either 720p or 1080p, yet the iPhone 5s only has a 640p screen. This makes no sense whatsoever. All flagship Android devices now have 1080p support.
Android phones like the Sony Experia Z can be used underwater without a special case.
A Fully Water-Resistant Case – I have several friends that have ruined their iPhones by dropping them in water. That wouldn’t be a problem with a water-resistant Android phone. Phones like the Cat B15 go further by surviving 6 foot drops, submersion over 3 feet in water, and the ability to run in temperatures as low as -4F to as high as 122F. The enclosure on the new Sony Experia Z1 has an IP code rating of 58, which is even better.
Simultaneous Voice and Data on All U.S. Carriers – Android phones like the Verizon Galaxy S III or Galaxy S4 allow you to check Google Maps while you talk to someone on your phone.This isn’t possible with the iPhone 5s because it doesn’t support simultaneous voice and high-speed data on Verizon or Sprint. Apple could have easily supported this, but decided not to add the extra antenna required to do so. More info.
Interapp Data Exchange – Google realizes Android can’t be best at everything, and allows you to choose which apps you want to interact with. That means you can share data via Bluetooth, Google Drive, Dropbox, Email, Facebook, Gmail, Google+, Read It Later, SkyDrive, Text Message, Twitter, Wi-Fi Direct, WordPress Blog and countless other apps. This isn’t possible with most third-party iOS apps.
The Lumia 1020 has clear advantages over the iPhone 5s in this daytime shot with better colors and more detail
A Very High Megapixel Sensor – The best Android smartphones come with 13MP to 20.8MP sensors, while Nokia’s PureView cameras have a 41MP sensor. The iPhone 5s uses an 8MP sensor. Although it’s true that megapixels aren’t the only thing that matters, when you compare your 8MP iPhone photos with a good Canon D-SLR or a Nokia PureView photo, in most cases you’ll see a difference. In photo shoot-outs like this one you can see the Nokia’s 41MP sensor outperforms the iPhone 5s in almost every example. The author of the shoot-out above says “the Lumia 1020 is still the undisputed champion for a smartphone camera in terms of raw image quality. Colors were punchier, white balance was decent, images were sharp and there was plenty of detail. Toss in the ability to “crop to zoom” unlike any other device and the Lumia 1020 has a lot going for it.”
The Nokia 1020 also beats the iPhone 5s in low-light with crisper text, more accurate colors and less noise
The Best Cloud-based Services – Third-party cloud services are more reliable, provide more storage, and are much more flexible than iCloud — because they don’t lock you into an Apple-only world. If you shop around, you’ll find up to 50GB of free cloud-based storage, much better photo sharing services that automatically upload every photo and improve their quality, and store an unlimited number of photos at full-resolution (e.g. Google+). Android office apps like Google Drive are also much better than Apple’s offerings. They support more formats, allow you to share more easily and collaborate with others at the same time. They also automatically save every change you make to the cloud, so you can access everything from any mobile device or computer — not just Apple products. Android calendar and contact apps also have advantages and are much more open. Sure, some of these products are available to iPad users as well, but most iPad users stick with Apple’s inferior pre-installed cloud services.
Samsung’s Easy Mode
Simple mode of operation – All Samsung mobile devices have an “Easy Mode” that provides a much easy experience for first-time smartphone users. The icons are bigger and the layout is much simpler.
USB 3.0 support – The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 includes USB 3.0 support. This allows you to transfer files between your phone and computer up to 10 times faster than a traditional USB port. But that’s not all, USB 3.0 also includes a higher power mode that allows your device to charge in almost half the time of a USB 2.0 device when connected to a high current charger.
Reliable data cables – Apple’s Lightning cables get a 1.5 star rating in the Apple Store due to breakage, fraying and corrosion.
Touch-to-Share – Most newer Android phones can share media by touching one phone to another. This allows you to share photos, videos, contacts and Web pages, as well as information between apps.
Auto-save all photos to an SD card – When you first insert an SD memory card on popular Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S4 it asks if you want to automatically store all of your photos on the SD card. This allows you to take thousands of photos and keep them all without taking up any of your internal memory. This is not possible on any iPhone.
Data Security – There is a myth that the iPhone is more secure than Android devices, but it’s simply not true since 2008 the NSA has been able to access almost everything on an iPhone. They can even turn on your iPhone’s camera and mic without you knowing they are watching and listening. The NSA can also access all of your data, photos, texts, contacts, location data, voice-mails and more. If the NSA has access to all of this today, it’s just a matter of time before sophisticated hackers gain access to some of this. None of this is possible on an Android phone running Android 4.x software. That’s why all of the three new military-grade encrypted phones being sold to address NSA snooping concerns all run Android.
Easily add more storage
Storage Up to 128GB – There is no way to expand the memory on the iPhone 5s, yet most Android phones can easily be expanded (up to 128GB) by adding a microSD card. That’s double the amount of storage available in an iPhone 5s. This allows you to store every photo you’ve ever taken and every song you’ve ever purchased on your mobile device.
Better Multitasking – Apple places restrictions on third-party apps which run in the background. In most cases, they are suspended and not allowed to communicate with other apps. Android supports true-multitasking without any of the above restrictions. This makes it possible to do things which cannot be done on iOS.
Now you can have a phone that is as original as you are
More Customization Options – Android phones like the Moto X provide far more customization options than the three metal cases available on the iPhone 5s. Their MotoMaker website lets you choose from 18 separate front and back colors, pick an accent color, screen wallpapers and color-coordinated cases. You can even have a bamboo back. When you’re done customizing your Moto X, they assemble the customized device here in the USA and ship it for free in 4 days or less. Over 2000 customization options are available.
Powerful Front-facing Speakers – Android phones like the new HTC One have two front-facing speakers that get much louder than the single speaker in the iPhone 5s. How much louder? The speakers on the HTC One put out 93 decibels, while iPhone 5s’ sound output is only 66dB. That’s a dramatic difference. This isn’t just important for music, it’s also important when you have a conversation on your speaker.
Ability to Set Default Software – One of the most powerful Android features is the ability to change the default software the OS uses for different tasks. For example, if you want to the Dolphin browser to open any URL (instead of the stock Android browser), just pick the app you want to use. Want to use a different app for turn-by-turn directions or media playback? Pick one, and it will use that app every time. This is an incredibly powerful feature. You can even replace the stock keyboard on your phone with a better third-party keyboard like SwiftKey3. Apple doesn’t allow this.
You can talk to Android phones like the Moto X from across the room and they respond
Hands-free voice control that is always ready – Android phones like the Moto X (and all devices with Android 4.4 and Google Now running) allow you to perform voice actions from across the room. Demo video. This is possible because they use a low-power core which is always listening for a key phrase. Of course you can disable this feature if you like. Siri only works after you press the home button and in most cases you are limited to voice control of the built-in iOS apps only. Android phones allow you to make a call to a contact or a business, get directions or travel time, send messages, set a reminder, schedule an event, ask questions, play music or movies, set alarms, see when the next meeting is, ask Google what music is playing, open an app on your phone and more.
LTE Advanced Support – Phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 have Category 4 LTE support, which allows your device to transfer data at faster speeds. The iPhone 5s only supports Cat 3, which is slower. Some Android phones also support advanced LTE features like Carrier Aggregation and LTE Multicast, which Verizon recently demonstrated at the Super Bowl with a Galaxy Note 3.
HDR Video Capture – Phones like the new HTC One have video cameras that have the same real-time HDR processing that is found in most phones today. This makes it possible to have images with bright light sources and dim backgrounds.
Flash Video Support – Flash may be a dying format, but there are still millions of Flash videos around and iOS can’t play any of them. This includes almost every TV show and most popular movies. All Android devices running 4.0 (and earlier) can play Flash videos out of the box. If you have an Android device running Android 4.1 (or later) you can enable Flash support by following these easy instructions.
Gorilla Glass 3 screens are impossible to scratch
The Most Scratch-resistant Screen – The Samsung Galaxy S4 was the first smartphone with a Gorilla Glass 3 screen. Other phones like the LG Nexus 5 and Galaxy Note 3 have it as well. This screen is much more durable than the older Corning Glass used on the iPhone 5s and impossible to scratch with car keys — or even a knife. Watch this video to see just how durable it is.
Standard Cable Support – All Android smartphones have standard micro-USB jacks, so you can connect to any Android charger, USB keyboard or a television without purchasing an expensive cable. Apple uses proprietary connectors — so they can sell you cables for $20 to $50. If you want an extra charging cable for your iPhone 5s, it will cost you $19 and is hard to find. You can buy an Android power cord almost anywhere for as little as $2.
The iPhone can’t measure temperature, humidity or barometric pressure
Important Sensors (Temperature, Humidity, Pressure) – Like all Android phones, the iPhone 5S has a gyroscope, accelerometer and a compass/magnetometer. However the iPhone 5S is missing important sensors found in phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 which measure temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. The later is important, because it can improve GPS accuracy and tell your phone whether you are inside or outside. The Nexus 5 also has a “Hall Effect” sensor that you won’t find in the iPhone 5s.
Screen Sharing – Most Android devices are capable of sharing the information on their screens wirelessly. This is done several different ways. Some devices support Miracast which is a peer-to-peer standard that uses Wi-Fi Direct to transmit video and surround sound audio. In addition, many Samsung Galaxy devices support Group Play which lets you share your screen with a group of friends on the same Wi-Fi network at the same time. You can also use Group Play to listen to the same music.
The most usable screen space – Not only is the iPhone 5s screen a fraction of the size of many Android phones, it has much less usable screen real estate in relation to the overall size the device. For example, the LG G2 and Galaxy Note 3 both have over 74% usable screen space, while only 60% of the iPhone 5’s screen area is usable.
Damage Resistance – Apple mobiles devices are more breakable than than other mobile devices according to SquareTrade. Android phones like the Moto X are more damage resistant.
High-resolution Audio Support – High-resolution audio is going to be pushed heavily at the 2014 CES show. CEA research suggests nearly 40% of consumers are willing to pay more for high-quality CE devices. That’s why Android phones like the LG G2 and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 support high-definition 24-bit/192kHz audio.
An AV Adapter with 1080p Support – Another big downside to the iPhone 5s’ use of a proprietary “Lightning” cable is that its Digital AV adapter (which connects to the HDMI jack on your TV) doesn’t support 1080p today. It’s capable of supporting 1080p, but Apple has chosen to hold back support for this feature.
Android devices like the Galaxy Note 3 can record and playback Ultra HD video
Ultra HD 4K Encode/Decode – The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Acer Liquid S2 can both record and playback Ultra HD video with four times the resolution of standard 1080p HD video. This may not seem like an essential feature today, but it is useful because you can easily tell a difference between a standard 1808p HD video and an Ultra HD 4k video — even when both are played on a 1080p display. The differences will be even more apparent as consumers get 4k TVs in their homes. Phones with a Snapdragon 800 processor like the Galaxy Note 3 can also decode DTS or Dolby Digital 7.1 channel audio.
A 16:9 Display – Apple said the iPhone 5 was closer to 16:9, but the movies still need to be letterboxed.
Voice-over-LTE Support – Phones like the Samsung Galaxy S III support VoLTE today. Once the carriers roll-this out next year voice will be sent over the fast 4G network and voice-quality will dramatically improve. VoLTE has twice the frequency-range of 3G and HD-level audio. More info.
The Galaxy S4 kills the iPhone 5s when it comes to talk time (17.5 hours vs. 10.8 hours)
A Powerful Battery – The iPhone 5s only has 1560 mAh battery. Phones like the Acer Liquid S2, LG Optimus G Pro, Motorola DROID MAXX and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 have batteries that are at least twice as powerful as the battery in the iPhone 5s. The Samsung Galaxy S4 retained its title as winner of highly-regarded UK consumer association battery tests. These tests didn’t include the Droid MAXX which has even better battery life. The battery in the Droid MAXX lasts two full days, while the battery in the iPhone 5s only lasts one day at best. This is one of several reasons Consumer Reports recommends the Droid series over the iPhone 5s.
A True Full-screen Mode – Android 4.4 supports a new ‘Immersive mode’ that allows apps to take over the entire screen if needed. That means you won’t see any controls on the top of the bottom of the screen. On the iPhone, this isn’t possible.
Eye control – Phones like the Samsung Galaxy 4, Galaxy Note 3 and LG Optimus G Pro let users control video playback (and others things) with their eyes. This feature uses the front facing camera to recognize when the device owner is looking at the phone’s display during video playback.
Samsung phones like the GS4 double as smart TV remote, with built-in IR blaster and ‘WatchOn’ software
An Infrared Transmitter – Phones like new HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, Sony Experia product line and LG Optimus VU II have built-in IR-transmitters so you can use your tablet to control devices in your home like your TV without using Wi-Fi and special apps. This is a very useful feature.
DLNA Support – Most Android phones include DLNA support. That means they can stream media to over 10,000 devices. Chance are you have several DLNA-certified devices in your home and you don’t even know it. Most TVs, game consoles, media streamers and Blu-ray players are DLNA-certified.
Dual-SIM Support – Most popular Android phones are available in dual-SIM configurations. This includes the Samsung Galaxy phones including the Note 3, HTC phones like the HTC One and Sony Expedia phones. This is essential in many parts of the world and not something that the iPhone 5s supports today.
A pressure sensitive stylus is a valuable addition to phones like the Galaxy Note 3
Full Stylus Support – Although you can use a stylus on an iPhone, you don’t get the same level of expression you get on a Samsung Galaxy Note II or Galaxy Note 3. Both of those phones have 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, and comes with useful apps that work with the bundled stylus.
No high-speed wireless data transfer between mobile devices and computers – AirDrop does not support data transfers between iOS 7 devices and Macs. You can share data between Macs, or devices, but not between the two. There are many different ways to transfer data wirelessly between Android devices and computers.
Easy repairs – The iPhone 5s is harder to repair than most other Android smartphones. For example, the iPhone 5s gets a repairibility score of 6, while the Nexus 4, Nexus S, Moto X, Galaxy Note, Note II, Note 3, Galaxy SII, S3, S4 all get higher scores — meaning they are easier to repair. More info.
A 2MP Front Camera – All of the best Android smartphones have 2MP or higher front-facing cameras. Apple still uses a 1.2MP front-facing camera for “selfies.”
1080p Video Conferencing – Apple’s front-facing “FaceTime” camera is only capable of 720p video recording. Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy S 4 (and others) shoot 1080p HD Video @ 30fps.
The Thinnest Case – Apple makes a big deal about the thinness of their mobile products, but the iPhone 5s is not the thinnest smartphone. The Motorola Droid Ultra and others phones are thinner.
Dual Wi-Fi Antennas – Smartphones like the Moto X have two antennas dedicated to LTE, which is supposed to deliver faster data speeds and better reception. The Droid MAXX and other Android phones also have MIMO Wi-Fi antennas. The iPhone 5 only has a 1×1 MIMO antenna.

It’s Clear Some of the Most Popular Features in iOS 7 were Copied from Android

Ten iPhone 5s Features Apple Borrowed from Android

Apple also has a long history of borrowing technology from others and claiming it as their own. Many of the new features in the iPhone 5s are already available in Android phones. Some of these feature have been around for a long time. Here are a few examples:

Control Center – The most popular feature in iOS 7 is the Control Center which experts say was clearly copied from Android.
OpenGL 3.0 ES Support – Android was the first platform to support OpenGL ES 3.0, which makes possible a new level of photo-realistic 3D graphics. It uses new texture compression techniques that makes possible amorphic-style lens flares and more realistic looking faces. Android smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (and Nexus 7 tablet) include support for OpenGL 3.0 ES.
60fps Video Recording – Phones like the HTC One, Motorola X, Galaxy S4, and Asus Padfone 2 have video cameras all been capable of 60fps recording and slo-mo video. It’s nice to see Apple finally add this important feature.
A Sensor Core – Every Android phone with the Snapdragon 800 processor has a sensor core that does everything that Apple’s M7 processor does.
Color Choices – Phones from Samsung and Nokia have been available in a wide range of eye-popping color for years.
A Fingerprint Reader – Fingerprint readers have been available on Android devices starting with the Motorola Atrix 4G, which was released back in February of 2011. Pantech and LG have phones with them as well.
Better Carrier Interoperability – The iPhone 5 did away with the dual-mode GSM/CDMA support that the iPhone 4S had. As a result, Apple had to sell three different types of iPhone 5s to support all regions. The new iPhone 5s is supposed to address this issue.
A Larger Sensor with Bigger Pixels – Like HTC, Sony and Nokia, Apple increased the size of their sensor. The new larger sensor has been proven to improve the quality of photos in low-light conditions.
Quick Settings – Quick Settings is another feature Apple copied from Android.
A Gold Color Option – The new gold Samsung Galaxy S4, was in stores a week before the iPhone 5s even went on sale and Samsung has been making gold phones since 2004.

You Can’t Compare the iPhone 5s to All Android Phones!

Several people have contacted me to say it’s not fair to compare the iPhone 5s to the entire Android platform. My point is each and every one of these technologies could have been included in the iPhone 5s. Apple chose to ignore all 50+ of these technologies — even though some of these wouldn’t have added any cost to the iPhone.

But let me get back to their complaint. How does the iPhone 5s stack up to a single Android phone like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3? It doesn’t come close. Most of the advantages shown here are found in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Samsung Galaxy S4 and other flagship Android devices.

Most iPhone Owners Want Better Battery Life, NFC and a Bigger Screen as well

The Bottom Line

Apple has a long history of holding back technology from their customers. They do this to ensure you will buy a new iPhone every year (or two) and this strategy has worked like a charm. This year is no different. Could Apple has easily have added some of these things to the iPhone 5s without increasing it’s price? Absolutely. Would these things have made the iPhone 5s a dramatically better phone? Of course. Who wouldn’t want a faster phone, with a better display, better media streaming, more customization choices and so on. Apple choose to maintain their already industry-leading profit margins. That’s why Apple has almost $150 billion dollars in the bank.

The Android landscape is very different with Asus, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony and others all fighting to increase their sales. Competition is good because it ensures consumers get more for their money. Android is a great example of this. Android device makers release more mobile devices in a single month, than Apple does in an entire year. This has allowed Android phones to jump ahead of the iPhone in many areas.

I’m not the only person who thinks things like a bigger screen is important. There is strong data that many iPhone users feel the same way. For example, CNET does a poll before every iPhone release where they ask what iPhone users want to see. Here are the results from this year’s poll: iPhone users want more powerful batteries, NFC and a bigger screen.

I’m not saying the iPhone 5s is a bad phone. It clearly is not. Its camera is better, its build-quality remains great and iOS 7 and the new cases give it a fresh new look. The purpose of this article is to make you think. I know most of you aren’t going to change your minds after reading this, but you should be aware of the things you’ll be missing when you choose an iPhone 5s over a flagship Android phone. Many of you will convince yourself that none of these things matter to you and will still buy an iPhone 5s — but don’t say you weren’t warned when some of these features appear in the iPhone 6 a year from now.

What People Are Saying About the New iPhone 5s

Four analysts downgraded Apple stock the morning after the launch event sending it down more than $28. The last time Apple launched a phone the stock was trading at $710. That’s $244 higher than it is today. Why they are calling this launch a dud?(1) lack of a “lower-end” iPhone and price points that will be too high to increase penetration in emerging markets (2) no China Mobile agreement, (3) a likely less than expected impact from China Mobile, when/if a partnership is announced — higher than expected pricing, no lower-end iPhone, (4) another “evolutionary but not revolutionary” iPhone product launch, and (5) risk to near term gross margin estimates, given typical lower gross margin on new iPhones (in this case both 5c and 5s, as opposed to only one new launch. Source 1, Source 2

Poor AAPL stock performance continued during the first week of iPhone 5s sales, with Apple stock only gaining 0.5% for the entire week. Even Nokia had a much better week than Apple gaining 2.7%. That leaves Apple stock down over $243 from its price when the last iPhone launched.

One thing everyone agrees on is the price of the iPhone 5c is too high. BGR wrote an article titled: “Wall Street hammers ‘clueless’ Apple over high iPhone 5c price“

Reaction from China about iPhone 5c pricing: ‘I can’t sell my kidney for this much.’ The actual price of the lowest-model iPhone 5c in China is $733 in U.S. dollars.
Source

People also seem to be enjoying the new iPhone 5s parody ad which came out days before the official announcement and nailed Apple lack of new features with statements like “We have found a way to sell the same iPhone a year later changing nothing but the name.” Of course that applies more to the iPhone 4S launch but many of the other comments are completely accurate.

UK CNET readers blasted Apple after the launch for being “lazy and greedy.” “Nothing spectacular in terms of hardware,” says Andrew Dart. “Wrong screen size for 2013,” says Benjamin Bradshaw. “My 7-year-old laptop has a fingerprint reader,” points out Eamonn Gibson. “The new iPhones are a step backwards for Apple, still can’t match the Galaxy S4 or HTC One and with the Google Nexus 5 due out soon they’ll be pushed further down the pecking order,” says Crispin Norman. Source

BGR wrote an article about “How Apple mismanaged the iPhone 5c launch.”Source

There were lots of articles like this one titled “Why Apple’s 64-bit A7 processor matters” which go on to prove that 64-bit support is completely useless in a smartphone today. A 64-bit processor is designed to memory addresses larger than 4GB — yet the iPhone 5s only has 1GB of memory. CNET made some more intelligent comments including: “64-bit designs don’t automatically improve performance for most tasks. In fact, there can be drawbacks: it’s likely that 64-bit versions of programs will be bulkier than their 32-bit equivalents.”

Reactions to iOS 7 have been mixed as well. Some are shocked by the change and don’t like it. Others can’t find things. Most are just surprised by the bright color scheme.

It’s never a good sign when one of the common questions on your forum is “How do I uninstall iOS 7?”

The iOS 7 launch have been far from trouble-free. Articles like this one talk about iOS 7 Problems Plaguing iPhone & iPad Users. Some iPhone users are reporting severe motion sickness while using iOS 7 and others just says it obnoxious or ugly. Most people agree that iOS 7 is taking a toll on battery life as well.

The Onion’s article about Tim Cook was pretty funny: Apple Unveils Panicked Man With No Ideas Speaking of parodies, Conan’s gold iPhone video is pretty funny as well.

Apple reinvents cases to make them look stupider. Source “Which kind of idiot would buy a plastic case for a plastic iPhone?” “Apple’s iPhone 5c Case Looks Like a Cheese Grater Made for a Toddler.” “The iPhone 5c’s case looks a lot like Crocs shoes” and last but not least: “C is Not for Courage: What’s Wrong With the New iPhone’s Colors.”

Other comments focused on the fact that Apple’s new Touch ID fingerprint sensor is far from flawless. For example, “Apple cautions that the Touch ID sensor is not perfect and will give inaccurate readings in some cases, especially when a finger is moist. This is due to the capacitive “image” the sensor array captures. Moisture or other conductive debris on a finger could give false readings.” Source

Just one day after the iPhone 5s became available, Apple’s TouchID defeated with fabricated fingerprints and Apple’s claims that a live finger was needed to unlock an iPhone were proven to be false. One of the experts who defeated the fingerprint reader said “We hope that this finally puts to rest the illusions people have about fingerprint biometrics. It is plain stupid to use something that you can´t change and that you leave everywhere every day as a security token“, said Frank Rieger, spokesperson of the CCC. ”

Another claims “Apple Missed the Best Use for a Fingerprint Scanner.” This article goes on to say “The truth is, Apple didn’t give the iPhone 5s the one feature that could actually help get a stolen phone back—one that goes perfectly with a fingerprint scanner. What is it? Requiring a fingerprint scan—or even a passcode scan—to turn the iPhone off.”

A Time magazine article pointed out that “Secure fingerprint scanners aren’t necessarily secure.” When the author was with a Fortune 500 company he “worked with a security team looking into biometric authentication tools (consumer-grade fingerprint-scanning technology has been around for over a decade in consumer tech — it’s hardly as “innovative” as Apple’s Phil Schiller suggests). When I left in 2004, the company was still looking for something secure enough. As security analyst Bruce Schneier aptly puts it in an op-ed for Wired, “Your fingerprint isn’t a secret; you leave it everywhere you touch.”

Apple’s fingerprint scanner could have unintended consequences, and may even limit the constitutional protection of the Fifth Amendment. Source

And of course there were many headlines like this one about the 5-6% drop in Apple’s stock price: Apple Stock (AAPL) Dives After Analysts Downgrade iPhone Maker – ABC News

A common theme seen in many posts is “Apple is boring and I miss Steve Jobs.” Here an excerpt: “As I watched the live stream, I kept telling myself maybe Apple will surprise me again. Maybe there will be “one more thing” to wow me. Maybe… But there wasn’t and it made me sad. Today I visited Apple’s site and decided to watch the video for the 5c. The first sentence out of Jony Ive’s mouth was: “The iPhone 5c is in many ways the distillation of what people love about the iPhone 5.” Distillation… really? Come on. It made me wonder if I used to sound like a pompous know it all when I was at the height of my Apple fan-girl period.”

Of course not all of the news about the iPhone 5s is bad. Most of the stories are very positive. For over ten years I was a die hard Apple fan, I bought two iPhones and two different iPads. Back then, they were the clear choice for someone who wanted the best mobile devices. That was then, this is now. I’ve had a hard time seeing much innovation over the past two years. That could change in the future, but I will not be buying an iPhone 5s.

– Rick

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts, Mobile Technology Tagged with Galaxy Note 3, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S, Samsung Galaxy Note III

Can a Chromebook Pixel Compete with a MacBook Pro?

June 15, 2013 3 Comments

Last updated on December 4, 2013

Before the Chromebook Pixel, Chromebooks were all about value

Chromebooks offer the best value in a laptop today

Beyond Budget

Until recently, Chromebooks were budget laptops that sold for as little as $199. Although they were great values, their hardware didn’t compare with high-end laptops from Apple and others. Google changed that when they released the Chromebook Pixel. It’s specs aren’t just comparable to a MacBook Pro, they exceed it in several areas. But hardware isn’t everything, we’ll see how it stacks up in the software department as well. We’ll also compare it with Windows, iOS and Android devices.

Apple's claims that the MacBook Pro is the highest resolution notebook is simply not true

The MacBook Pro is no longer the resolution king

Why You’ll Love It

An exceptional display

exceeds

ClearType

The Chromebook screen looks noticeably better than other PC displays

The Chromebook Pixel’s screen looks noticeably better than most PC displays

No waiting – The days of waiting for your laptop to boot are almost over. This is an instant-on device. When you lift the screen the Pixel is usable in less than a second. That’s impressive, but where it really kills PC laptops is the time it takes to fully boot from a cold start. The Chromebook only takes 8 seconds to get to the sign-on screen and 8 to 10 additional seconds to fully load the browser home page. This may not sound fast, but it’s literally 10 times faster than the boot time of my new SSD-powered Lenovo laptop.

One terabyte cloud-based storage – Although my Chromebook Pixel only came with 64GB of local storage. You can easily expand the storage to match a MacBook Pro by adding a 64GB SD card. These cards cost as little as $29. However, with the Chrome operating system, local storage isn’t that important. Where the Chromebook Pixel really shines is in the area of cloud-based storage. Google gives every Pixel user one terabyte of storage for three years. That’s 1029 GB or more than 200 times more storage than Apple users get. I’m trying to fill up my 1TB Google Drive, but it’s not easy.

A Chromebook is much more secure than a PC (Image courtesy of Nilesh Patni)

A Chromebook is more secure than a Mac or Windows laptop (Image courtesy of Nilesh Patni)

Almost immune to viruses and malware – When a Chromebook boots, it checks to make sure the operating system and firmware haven’t been tampered with. As a result, it’s not possible for keyloggers or other malware to run in the background. All data is encrypted, so no one can read your files. Each webpage you visit runs in a restricted environment, so visiting a site that’s been infected can’t affect anything else on your Chromebook. Apps you install run in Chrome’s sandbox as well, where they are isolated from the rest of the OS. Although browser extensions are allowed, you can’t install Java plug-ins or other software that opens up security holes.

The touchscreen on the Pixel is very useful for some things

The touchscreen on the Pixel is useful for some things

A responsive touchscreen and trackpad – The Chromebook Pixel comes with a touchscreen that is responsive and doesn’t affect picture quality. Although not all software supports touch, there are times like using Google Maps when it is extremely useful. However, most of the time you’ll be using the glass trackpad on the Pixel. It’s the best trackpad I’ve ever used and supports multi-touch gestures, such as two-fingered scrolling.

4G LTE support – Like a MacBook Pro, the Chromebook Pixel has dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi support. But Google goes much farther by including a 4G LTE modem, which is capable of download speeds up to 100Mbps. This is really useful when you’re not in-range of an open Wi-Fi network. For now I’m using the free 100 MB/month plan, but I’m considering upgrading to Verizon’s 1GB data plan, because it only costs $9.95 a month.

It’s lighter and thinner than a MacBook Pro – Although no one is going to confuse a Chromebook Pixel with a MacBook Air. It’s thinner (16.2mm vs. 19mm) and lighter (3.35lbs vs. 3.57lbs) than a 13″ MacBook Pro. This is surprising because Apple is very good at making very thin and light products.

A better auto-update system – The Chrome operating system (OS) handles software updates much better than any other OS I’ve used. Whenever a new security patch (or OS update) is available, the Chromebook Pixel automatically downloads and installs it in the background. No user-intervention is required. On major updates, the entire OS and browser are updated together, but they won’t be active until after you restart. Chrome keeps two copies of the OS around, so it can revert to an earlier version if something goes wrong. The best part is you won’t be constantly bothered with update requests like you are on Windows, iOS and Android.

Google’s office apps are better than anything you’ll find on iOS or Android

Better office apps – Google office apps have improved and are now better than most of the office apps you’ll find on iOS or Android. Some people even prefer Google Docs and Google Sheets to Microsoft Word and Excel, because of their value and real-time collaboration abilities.

Great sounding stereo speakers – Even though the speakers on the Chromebook Pixel are hidden under the keyboard, they sound better than most other laptop speakers. I’ve got one small beef however, when you hold your fingers above the keyboard it acts as a filter and changes the sound slightly.

Extra features – The Chromebook Pixel has a lot of nice extras like an integrated HD camera and noise cancelling mics, an anodized aluminum case, and a backlit keyboard that responds to ambient lighting and type of usage. I also can’t say enough about its keyboard, which feels wonderful and isn’t noisy as most laptop keyboards. Another nice extra is the twelve free GoGo Inflight Internet sessions Google gives you.

Trouble in Paradise

Although the Chromebook Pixel’s hardware stands out in many areas, the Chrome operating system and app ecosystem seems a little rough around the edges when compared to Windows, iOS or Android. Here are some of the limitations in software and hardware which I’ve experienced so far.

Only a limited number of Chrome apps work offline

Over-dependence on the Internet – Although a few Chrome apps work offline, you need Internet access to take full advantage of this product. LTE support helps in places without Wi-Fi, but there are many places that don’t have access to any Internet. Apps like Google Music are useless when you are offline. Chrome could cache media files you’ve played recently but it doesn’t. Although you can download songs for offline use, you can only do this twice (see the screen capture below) — even though Google’s PC-based Music Manager has no such restrictions. Google desperately needs to adopt a strategy like Dropbox, which keeps track of the changes locally, and syncs them after you get a data connection.

Chrome has download restrictions that PC-based apps don't have

Some Chrome apps have download restrictions PC-based apps don’t have

Intel inside is no longer always a good thing

Disappointing battery life – You can thank Intel for the relatively poor battery life of the Chromebook Pixel. You barely get 4 hours on LTE and although some claim 5-6 hours on Wi-Fi, I’m not seeing anything close to that. To add insult to injury, the i5 processor doesn’t feel as fast as the processors in the newest tablets. Heat is another serious issue. The metal case on i5-powered Chromebooks gets warm quickly, and the fan kicks after only a few minutes of video playback. Just how warm? I measured 120-128 degrees Fahrenheit on the bottom on the Pixel’s aluminum case. I’m confident all these issues would go away if this product had a Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processor instead.

Few great apps – Chrome’s dirty little secret is the fact that most of the so-called Chrome apps are not really apps at all, they’re shortcuts to existing web pages or browser plug-ins. This is my single biggest disappointment with Chrome OS. The few popular apps that are available in the Chrome Store are often missing important functionality found on other platforms. For example, Google Music on Chrome is missing EQ and advanced settings found on Android. Spotify for Chrome is missing many features found in their iOS mobile app. Google needs to encourage developers to create real apps, which don’t feel like they are running in a browser. There is some hope in this area. Last summer Google announced Chrome browser-based “Packaged apps” that look and behave like native apps. Packaged apps are closer to apps that are native, since they can run offline, display in a borderless browser that resembles an app window and can use APIs to gain access to a device’s hardware and other functionality. However, the creation of packaged apps isn’t happening nearly as fast as it needs to. Here are some of the best packaged apps that are available today.

Notice how many more settings Google Music has on Android

Microsoft Office compatibility issues – Although Google Drive is supposed to open documents created with Microsoft Office, it doesn’t always work. I tried to open a presentation created with PowerPoint 2010 and could not. Even after I manually imported the slides, there were issues with font sizes and the screen background didn’t look the same.

Limited internal storage – Although it’s great that Google gives you one terabyte of cloud storage, the entry-level Chromebook Pixel only ships with 32GB of internal storage. This makes it hard to store a large collection of photos, music and movies locally so you can access them offline. Maybe this isn’t a problem yet, because I’m told you still can’t download movies to a Chromebook for offline viewing.

Chrome was not designed with touch in mind like Windows 8 was

Designed with touch as an afterthought – The touchscreen on the Pixel is nice, but touch seems like an afterthought on Chrome. Some apps don’t work well when you try to only use the touchscreen. Chrome doesn’t have a touch-friendly user interface like Windows 8, with its large tiles. Due to the high resolution screen, buttons on some web pages are hard to accurately click with your finger. Android has special logic to detect this, and zooms in so you can easily select the right thing.

Not entirely intuitive – Chrome has some Windows-like user-interface concepts and some Android-style interface concepts, but is not near as intuitive as it should be. It also wasn’t obvious how to access app settings, update the OS, or do other basic things like right-click.

The trackpad is nice, but missing dedicated buttons

Trackpad issues – One of the things I miss on this product is a right-click button. To get right-click commands to appear, you have to press with two fingers on the trackpad — which is louder than a dedicated button would be. You probably won’t notice this in a normal office environment, but it’s annoying in a quiet room. There is a good workaround however: You can touch the trackpad lightly and it still works.

Limited I/O – I was surprised the Chromebook Pixel doesn’t have an HDMI out or a USB 3.0 port like Samsung’s Chromebooks have. It’s also crazy that you cannot plug-in a fast Ethernet cable when you are in environments with poor wireless connectivity. I purchased a USB-to-gigabit LAN adapter and DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter to address these limitations.

The Chromebook Pixel bests the MacBook Pro is many areas

Can It Compete with a MacBook Pro?

In terms of hardware the answer is yes. The Chromebook Pixel’s screen is better than the display on the Retina MacBook Pro. Both laptops use Intel i5 processors and the Pixel goes way beyond any Apple laptop with 4G LTE support, a terabyte of cloud storage, great sounding speakers and faster boot times. It’s also thinner and lighter than a 13″ MacBook Pro. Were this product falls short is mostly related to its operating system and applications, which can’t compete with Mac, Android or iOS devices today.

Is It Worth the Money?

Based on the issues listed above I wouldn’t recommended you pay $1299 to $1449 for a Chromebook Pixel. As good as the Retina-quality touchscreen is, it simply costs too much for what it does. For less money you could buy a Samsung Series 9 Ultrabook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro and do much more on it. You’ll have a much better selection apps, fewer hardware-related issues and better battery life. Chrome OS is good for some things, but it’s not ready for prime time in some areas.

Hope for the Future

Although I’ve made it clear Chrome hardware and software needs work, I’m not giving up yet. I’m planning to keep my Pixel, because I’m enjoying learning the Chrome OS and I hope the software will improve in the future. By giving thousands of Chromebook Pixels to top developers, Google wants to encourage programmers to create new and improved Chrome apps. I hope a year from now we’ll see better Chrome apps available. I would also recommend a Chromebook to anyone who is looking for a computer for web browsing, email and writing. The next computers I buy my children and parents are likely to be Chromebooks.

Google wanted to make a statement with this product that a Chromebook can be every bit as good as the best laptops. Influential tech writer Kevin C. Tofel of GigaOm affirmed this by saying “The hardware is on par with, if not better than, the MacBook Air I owned prior.” On this metric, I consider the Chromebook Pixel to be a success.

– Rick

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts, Mobile Technology, Reviews Tagged with chrome, chromebook, laptop, pixel, retina, ultrabook

10 Amazing Technologies That Are Coming Soon

February 23, 2013 2 Comments

Last updated: January 5, 2014

You won’t believe how much technology is going to change in the next few years. I’m not talking about incremental changes like faster processors or better screens. I’m talking about major new changes in the way you interact with your computer and mobile devices.

1. Perceptual Computing

Right now the only way to interact with most personal computers is using a keyboard and mouse. In the future, your computer will respond to sight, sound, smell, touch, temperature and more.

Gesture recognition technologies are moving from game consoles to computers and getting more advanced along the way

Sight – Your next computer or mobile device will automatically unlock its screen after recognizing your face. But that’s just the beginning, it will have a front-facing 3D camera that can recognize gestures and track all ten of your fingers. This will allow you to interact with things on the screen without needing a mouse. Imagine using your fingers to open a virtual door in a video game. This, and much more will be possible. These cameras can detect whether you like what you’re smiling, and use that to insert emoticons automatically. It’s even possible to track eye movement and use that to move an onscreen cursor. Eventually these cameras may even be able to tell whether you like what you’re seeing, and change what you are viewing when you don’t. Pretty cool. This technology will first be available as low-cost add-on for your personal computers, but eventually will be incorporated into tablets and smartphones.

Status: Some Android phones and Dell computers support face screen unlock today. Creative sells a 3D camera that does many of the things described here when used with a new Intel SDK. Samsung’s Galaxy S IV will be the first smartphone to use eye movement to scroll.

Soon you’ll be controlling your computer, television and home appliances with your voice

Sound – Your next laptop could have voice-recognition capabilities that reduce the need for a keyboard and mouse. You’ll be able to use your voice to log-in and do many other things. Of course your computer will talk to you as well. Later this year, some Android smartphones will start listening all of time — even when your phone is in standby. That means you will be able to interact and control your phone from across the room without pressing a single button. Worried about privacy and battery life? Don’t. This feature will use very little power and you can disable it at any time.

Status: Dell already sells computers with voice-recognition support. They let you interact with Google, Facebook and Twitter using your voice. Phones like the Samsung Galaxy S III automatically take a photo when you say the word “smile.”

In the future your phone could tell you when you have bad breath

Smell – Small sensors are available today which are capable of detecting odors. Some are used for breathalyzers, others sniff out poisonous gases. They can even detect bad breath. Although you won’t find them in a mobile device, special sensors can even detect some types of cancer. In the future your devices may emit odors on command as well. This feature could be used for games, movies or e-commerce.

Status: A odor emitter accessory is available for the iPhone today in Japan. Smell sensors are also available but no commercially-available smartphone has incorporated them yet.

Touch – Intel says we’ll be able to purchase touch-enabled ultra thin notebooks this year for less than $599. I hope Apple eventually adds touch-screen support to their laptops as well. Touch technology also allows you to feel vibrations on your screen. This technology is found in most Android mobile devices today, but should migrate to Apple mobile devices and PC computers soon.

Status: PC laptops and all-in-ones with touch-screens have been around for a long time however, many of them have been expensive.

Temperature, Location and Human-like Faces – Future laptops will have the same technology we take for granted in our mobile devices today including GPS systems, temperature sensors, a compass, barometers and accelerometers. They will also have avatars that look like humans. Imagine actually seeing the person behind the Siri-like voice and hearing a much more realistic sounding voice. Here’s a preview of what I’m talking about [scroll ahead to about 8:40].

2. Computational Photography

The cameras in our mobile devices will continue to evolve beyond higher megapixels. Larger sensors will take photos with reduced noise, greater dynamic range and better low-light performance. Future cameras will also have more internal processing and manipulation capabilities. This advanced computational photography will include HDR video, strobe-motion photos, higher-dynamic range photos and 3D image reconstruction.

Your phone will soon let you change perspective after a picture has been taken

Camera arrays are another exciting technology you’ll see soon in smartphones soon. Their use of multiple lenses will allow you to do amazing things which are not possible today like fixing an out of focus photo after you’ve taken it, or changing the focal point from one object to another like Lytro does today (dynamic aperture control). See this feature in action here.

Status: The Nokia Lumia 920 and new HTC One have larger sensors than other mobile cameras. Examples of computational photography found in today’s cameras include HDR photos and panoramic photos. The Samsung Galaxy S III goes beyond face-tracking and can detect whether people are smiling or not. It can also recognize who is in a photo.

3. Faster 4G LTE Data Speeds

There are some new buzzwords which are going to make 4G a lot more confusing. Next-generation mobile processors like the Snapdragon 800 have Category 4 modems with are capable of download speeds up to 150 Mbps. That’s 50% faster than the limits of today’s CAT3 4G devices, although some tests have shown it’s over 2x faster.

Another term you’re going to hear about is LTE Advanced, where multiple radio channels and advanced antenna techniques are used to increase data speeds as high as 1 Gbps. Although this is a theoretical limit, expect real-world speeds up to 10 times faster than today’s LTE phones. The LTE Advanced standard is expected to be released later this year, but don’t expect see support for it right away.

4. Ultra HD

Ultra HD displays have 4x the resolution of current 1080p

If you think HD looks good, you’ll love Ultra HD even more because it has four times the resolution of current 1080p high-definition displays. Few people will be able to afford an Ultra HD TV by 2015, but there is a chance you will be able to afford a 4K Ultra HD tablet by then. In addition to a 3840×2160 pixel display, you need both hardware and software that supports the new HVEC (H.265) video compression standard if you want to play 4K video.

Status: Panasonic demonstrated a 4K tablet at CES last month, but it won’t be available anytime soon. Nokia and Qualcomm demonstrated Ultra HD playback on mobile devices at CES as well. Those chips will start appearing in products in the second half of 2013.

5. Gigabit Wireless

One of the new technologies I’m most excited about is gigabit wireless (802.11ac). How much faster is it than current 802.11n Wi-Fi speeds? Gigabit wireless is capable of maximum speeds over twice as fast as the current 450 Mbps limit. Of course real-world speeds are lower (about 150 Mbps), but they are still twice as fast as 802.11n speeds.

5th generation Wi-Fi is coming which is capable of gigabit speeds

Why you need this: If you want to stream one (or more) 1080p videos at once over Wi-Fi without buffering, you need gigabit wireless. I sometimes turn off Wi-Fi on my phone when I’m areas with fast 4G because Wi-Fi is slower than 4G. That won’t be the case in the future.

What you’ll need to buy: In order to experience gigabit Wi-Fi speeds you’ll need to replace your current Wi-Fi router with a new 802.11ac router like this one. Keep in mind the standard is not finalized, so you’ll want to update your firmware after that occurs. You’ll also need a laptop or mobile device which supports gigabit Wi-Fi. You’ll see phones with gigabit wireless support available in the second half of this year.

Car-to-car Wi-Fi is coming – Another Wi-Fi standard to watch for is 802.11p which allows cars to form a mesh network and communicate using Wi-Fi technology. Cars with this technology will be communicate with other cars and warn each other of upcoming hazards. Don’t expect to see cars with 802.11p this year however.

6. Eight-core Mobile Processors

Samsung and Huawei have been announced 8-core processors for mobile devices. Although this sounds impressive because it’s twice as many as you’ll find in a mobile device today, the jury is out on whether these first generation 8-core processors are really faster, or just a marketing gimmick. There are two problems with first gen 8-core CPUs: First, all cores do not run at the same speed. The first 8-core CPUs have 4 fast cores and 4 slower cores. Second, initially only 4 cores can be running at any given time. As a result, it appears the main benefit with these will be improved battery life, but it’s unclear whether it will be better than current quad-core processors which can scale down both voltage and frequency.

7. 64-bit Mobile Processors

Although the world reacted with amazement when Apple announced the iPhone 5s had a 64-bit mobile processor, ARM announced 64-bit mobile processors were coming nine months before Apple’s announcement. ARM claimed 64-bit processors would provide up to 3 times more processing power than today’s chips and be able to address much larger amounts of memory. This could help mobile processors to enter new markets like servers and high-end PCs. Back in January of 2013 I predicted “Although there doesn’t seem to be a strong reason to use these chips in smartphones today that doesn’t mean someone won’t try it as a marketing gimmick.”

8. Smaller, Faster, More Power Efficient Chips

– Before the iPhone 5s, Apple was still using a 45nm processor, while the best Android phones have been using 28nm processors for years. Intel already has 22nm chips for PCs and Intel, Early in 2014 Intel plans to release a 22nm mobile processor. Samsung, Qualcomm and others are working on 14nm and 20nm processors as well. It’s been said these new chips will be 60% more power efficient and 60% faster than today’s 28nm chips. 10nm processors might be available as soon as 2015.

9. Smarter TVs

– Samsung and others have announced smarter TVs that have face recognition, voice recognition, personalized home screens and more advanced remote controls. This is sometimes referred to as the “Your TV” concept. Expect more integration between social media. Also soon set top boxes may become optional as this technology either moves to the cloud or is embedded into your TV.

10. Curved and Flexible Screens

– Curved screens aren’t new to smartphones. At least four phones have had them — going all the way back to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Samsung Nexus S. Expect to see more curved screen smartphones to be released this year — along with curved screen TVs. Flexible screens have been demonstrated by Samsung and others for years and could be available before the end of 2014. They will be much more resistant to cracking than the screens we have today.

– Rick

Copyright 2013-2014 Rick Schwartz. All rights reserved. Linking to this article is encouraged.

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts, Mobile Technology, Photography Tagged with 3D camera, Computational Photography, perceptual computing, technology

The True Cost of Owning An iPhone 5

January 4, 2013 Leave a comment

The Huffington Post recently did a story on the true cost of purchasing a smartphone from your carrier. Although that article was based on the iPhone 5, other carrier-offered smartphones cost similar amounts.

You can save thousands a year, by purchasing an unlocked phone and using it with a prepaid phone plan. You will be surprised just how much these plans have changed. They now allow the best smartphones and use the major carrier networks. More info.

– Rick

Filed under Blog Posts, Infographic, Mobile Technology Tagged with carrier, iPhone 5, Mobile, Smartphone

How to Upload Photos Directly from Your Camera to Facebook or Instagram

December 26, 2012 7 Comments

Last updated: January 5, 2013

This article has had over 20,000 views. Thanks for reading it.

The Canon EOS 6D is one of several new Wi-Fi enabled cameras

Most Instagram photos are poor quality because they were taken with a smartphone. You can now take great-looking photos from a Wi-Fi-enabled camera and upload them directly to the Internet without using a laptop. I’ll describe how this is done using a Canon EOS 6D, but the process is similar with other Wi-Fi cameras. The Canon EOS 6D is pricey, but you don’t have to spend a lot of money on a camera to do the things I’m describing. Wi-Fi enabled cameras like this Samsung model start around $150. Canon has affordable Wi-Fi cameras as well.

Canon’s EOS Remote running on a smartphone

Getting the Right Software

Start by downloading the free EOS Remote app from Google Play. After you’ve installed EOS Remote on your smartphone or tablet, you need to activate Wi-Fi on your camera and connect it to your mobile device. The next section describes how this is done.

Making Your Camera a Wi-Fi Hotspot

The first time you setup your Canon EOS 6D camera as a Wi-Fi hotspot you’ll need to follow these steps:

Press the Menu button on the EOS 6D and use the main dial to select the wrench icon with three dots next to it.

Set Wi-Fi to ‘Enable’ and then move down to ‘Wi-Fi function’ and set a nickname for your camera (e.g. Canon 6D). Press the ‘Q’ button to tab down to the letters and the main dial to select them.

Enter the desired name and press the ‘Menu’ button when you are finished. Press ‘Set/OK’ to proceed.

Now move the main dial to the second position labeled ‘Connect to smartphone’ and press Set. Then press ‘Set’ again to make the camera an access point and press ‘Set’ for OK.

Press ‘Set’ again for ‘Easy connection.’ Then press ‘Set’ for OK.

Now go to Settings > Wi-Fi on your tablet and select the nickname you entered for your camera.

You’ll need to enter the encryption key that appears on the camera display into your tablet and touch ‘Connect.’

Now launch the EOS Remote software on your tablet and touch the name of your camera on the tablet display. Then press ‘Set’ on the camera twice to save your settings.

This might seem like a lot of steps, but most of these only need to be performed once. After you’ve setup Wi-Fi, all you need to do is press the ‘Menu’ button and use the main dial to select ‘Wi-Fi function.’ Then you select ‘Connect to smartphone’ and ‘Connect.’ That’s it. If that choice isn’t available, first select ‘Exit’ and ‘OK’ and ‘Connect to smartphone’ will appear.

Once your camera is connected to your mobile device, you can use your smartphone or tablet as a remote control and viewfinder. You can also view all of the photos on your camera on your tablet at full resolution.

You can view, save or delete photos on your camera using your tablet

Viewing Photos from the Camera on Your Tablet and More

Now that you are connected to your camera, there are many things you can do. Here are several examples:

Touch ‘Camera Image Viewing’ in the EOS Remote app to view all of the images on your camera.

Touch a photo to view it and swipe to the left to view the next image.

Touch the trash can icon to delete a bad photo.

Touch the icon on the far left to save your favorite photos to your smartphone or tablet. Keep in mind that these are reduced-quality images, so you should not delete the originals on your camera.

Now we're ready to upload our photo to Instagram

We’re now ready to upload our photo to Instagram

Uploading Your Photo to Instagram

After you’ve completed the preceding steps, you are now ready to upload a photo to Instagram (or another social media site). You’ll probably only need to read this section if you haven’t used Instagram before.

After you’ve saved the photo you wish to upload, you need to go to Settings > Wi-Fi on your tablet and select the wireless access point you use to access the Internet. Then touch ‘Connect.’ Note: This step is not required if you’re using a smartphone.

Now touch the Home button and go to All Apps > Gallery

Open the folder with the same name as your camera (e.g. Canon EOS 6D)

Touch the photo you wish to upload. Then touch the share icon near the top of the screen.

If you don’t see Instagram, touch ‘See all’ and select Instagram from the list.

Now crop your photo, add a filter and touch the icon in the upper right to save your changes.

Now enter a description and hashtags for your photo and touch the green checkmark to upload it to Instagram.

Follow me on Instagram @rickschwar . You can see higher-resolution pictures taken by the Canon 6D on Google+ as well.

More Fun With Wi-Fi

This is just one of many things you can do with a Wi-Fi-enabled camera. You can use similar steps to upload a photo to Facebook or other sites. You can also do the following:

Transfer images between cameras

Remote control your camera

Send photos from your camera to a Wi-Fi printer

Upload photos to a Web service without using a mobile device (requires direct connection to a computer)

Send images directly to a DLNA-certified TV

Please refer to the documentation that came with your camera to learn how to do these things.

Here are some other fun things you can do with a Wi-Fi-enabled camera

Here are some other cool things you can do with a Wi-Fi-enabled camera

Closing Thoughts

If you don’t already have a Wi-Fi-enabled camera, you should make sure your next camera has this feature. It’s nice to be able to upload great looking photos without using a computer.

– Rick

Copyright 2013 Rick Schwartz. All rights reserved. Linking to this article is encouraged.

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts, How-to, Mobile Technology, Photography Tagged with camera, Canon EOS 6D, EOS, Facebook, Instagram, Samsung camera, technology, Wi-Fi

How to Save Almost $1000 a Year on Your Mobile Bill

December 16, 2012 11 Comments

Last updated: July 12, 2013

Verizon’s Share Everything Plan costs a typical family of four $230 to $250 a month

Cell phone service seems to get more expensive each year in the U.S. Verizon charges $40 a month for each phone — plus another $50 to $100 per month for data for their Share Everything family plan. That means a family of four who uses 2GB of data each will pay $3000 a year for their mobile phone service. Even a modest plan with only two smartphones, one basic phone and 4GB of shared data costs $180 a month. This doesn’t include the upfront cost of the phones and all of the taxes and surcharges which carriers add each month. The true cost of owning an iPhone 5 has been calculated to be at least $1800 a year! By switching to a prepaid plan, you can save almost $1000 a year — and end up with unlimited data. Families can save even more. Even if you live in Europe and don’t pay as much for cell phone service, there are some compelling reasons to purchase an unlocked phone and go prepaid. Read on to learn why.

It's now possible to use smartphones like the Nexus 4 with prepaid plans

It’s now possible to use the most advanced smartphones with prepaid plans

Which Phone Should You Buy?

Carriers like Verizon offer prepaid plans that cost $50 to $80 a month, but they come with really bad phones. If you think this doesn’t sound like a great deal, you’re right. There are other companies who offer prepaid plans that cost a fraction of what Verizon charges, but they also include bad or outdated phones. You don’t have to compromise on the quality of your phone in order to go prepaid. You can buy any smartphone you want and use it with prepaid plans from AT&T, T-Mobile and others. You just need to make sure your phone works on the type of network your carrier has. The phone I’ll be using as an example in this article is much better than your current phone and costs less.

Prepaid phones like this should be avoided

You should purchase an unlocked phone if you want the most flexibility. Even though they cost more upfront, you’ll save money in the long run. With an unlocked phone, you don’t have to sign a two-year contract and can switch carriers at any time. Previously, you had to pay around $600 for an unlocked phone, but now you can get an unlocked Nexus 4 for only $299. The Nexus 4 has the fastest mobile processor on the planet, along with a 4.7” 1280×768 display, 8MP camera and 2GB of RAM. It’s also the first smartphone which runs Android 4.2. If you’re an iPhone person don’t worry, we’ll talk about a prepaid plan for unlocked iPhones below.

Update: Since the Nexus 4 has been sold out much of the time in the online Google Play store, it’s good to know that all T-Mobile locations are now stocking it.

Update (7/12): Sprint launches new guaranteed for life unlimited data plan. More info

What is an Unlocked Phone?

An unlocked phone is a phone that’s not locked to a single carrier

Choose your carrier and phone independently, as long as those carriers work on a GSM network

Unlocked GSM phones include a SIM card which is programmed with your information

Insert your SIM card into another unlocked phone without losing your contacts

Unlocked phones like the Nexus 4 run on any GSM Network. That means you can jump between AT&T, T-Mobile and other pre-paid providers. Phones like the Nexus 4 and iPhone 5 can also be used with international SIM cards while traveling. Cricket Wireless offers the iPhone 5 and MetroPCS offers the Galaxy S III, but these phones will cost you more than the Nexus 4. If you’re looking for a more affordable phone, get a Nexus 4 or a Samsung Galaxy II.

Other unlocked phones include the LG Optimus 4X HD, Huawei Ascend P1, Samsung Galaxy Beam, Nokia 808 PureView and Sony Xperia P.

Why Choose an Unlocked Phone Over a Prepaid Phone?

Better selection of available phones

Change GSM carriers without changing phones

More of the best new phones are available

Better for overseas use

More customization options

Which Plan Should You Choose?

Being off-contract lets you choose from a wide range of different prepaid plans from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, as well as companies like MetroPCS, Straight Talk and TracFone. Although there are many different prepaid plans available, it seems most people prefer one of the following two plans:

Recommended Option 1 – T-Mobile Prepaid 4G
One of the best is T-Mobile’s $30 pre-paid plan. It’s perfect for people who don’t make a lot of voice calls, but use lots of data. It has unlimited data, unlimited messaging and 100 voice minutes a month. Although they say this plan has unlimited data, they start throttling after you use 5GB of data. Most current unlimited data plans throttle data as well, you just probably don’t realize it.

Why 100 minutes won’t be a problem for most people
The T-Mobile plan is perfect for my kids, because they don’t talk much on their phones, but send over 1000 texts a month each and use lots of data. Although the T-Mobile plan only has 100 minutes, that’s per person, so it’s 400 minutes for a family of four. Extra minutes cost 10 cents each, so it’s not a big deal if you go over a little. 10 cents a minute is much less than carriers typically charge for overages (it’s more like $0.45 a min). If you are a sales person the $30 a month T-Mobile plan is probably not right for you, however T-Mobile has a $50 plan with unlimited talk.

T-Mobile has one of the best pre-paid plans because it's inexpensive and works with premium phones

T-Mobile has one of the best values in pre-paid phone plans

Recommended Option 2 – Straight Talk
Consumer Reports recommends Straight Talk’s prepaid plans, which are available from Walmart. Consumer Reports says surveys show people are happier with Straight Talk, than with normal contract mobile service from any of the major carriers. Straight Talk has several plans, including $45 a month for unlimited talk, text and data. That’s half the price of Verizon’s cheapest unlimited plan. I’m told that Straight Talk uses AT&T network.

You can even get a prepaid plan for the new iPhone 5

Big News: Walmart’s now offers the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4 with unlimited Straight Talk plans for $45 a month.

Recommended Option 3 – Cricket prepaid for the iPhone
There are prepaid wireless plans from Cricket Wireless and others, however Virgin’s $30 unlimited prepaid plan looks good to me. Virgin has three different plans, which all come with unlimited data and text messages. For $35 you get 300 minutes of talk time. For $45 you get 1200 minutes, and for $55, you get unlimited minutes. More details why your next iPhone should be prepaid.

How to Activate Your Phone on a Prepaid Plan

Before activating your phone, you need to determine what size SIM your phone uses. The new Nexus 4 and iPhone 5 both have microSIMs. If you’re not sure about your phone, check the manufacturers website, or check Google. Next, you need to decide which plan you wish to use. I’ll detail the activation process for T-Mobile, but all plans are similar. You should order a SIM when you order your phone. T-Mobile charges $1 for their SIM Card Activation Kit.

After your phone and SIM arrive you’re ready to activate your phone. Everything you need to know is listed here. I suggest you watch their video and make sure to have the account number from your current mobile provider ready before you start. Activation should take you 10-15 minutes or less.

The true cost of a smartphone is much higher than your think

The true cost of getting a smartphone from a carrier is much higher than your think

How Much Money Will You Save?

Although the freedom to switch carriers without a penalty, or buy a new phone whenever you want is great, the main reason to go prepaid is to save money. Just exactly how much will you save? AT&T’s cheapest Nexus 4/iPhone 5-compatible plan with similar features to the T-Mobile plan described above (450 minutes, 5GB of 4G data and unlimited messaging), costs $109.99 per month per person.

The annual cost for a smartphone running on T-Mobile’s pre-paid plan is only $361. That’s a fraction of what you’re paying your carrier today.

How Much You’ll Save Over a Several Traditional AT&T Plans
Annual cost of a smartphone running on the least expensive AT&T plan with 3GB of data: $828
Total yearly savings per person with a T-Mobile’s prepaid plan: $467
Total yearly savings for a family of four: $1868

Annual cost of a smartphone on a AT&T plan with 5GB of data: $1320
Total yearly savings for a single person with a T-Mobile’s prepaid plan: $959
Total yearly savings for a family of four: $3836

How Much You’ll Save Over a Traditional Verizon Plan
Annual cost for a family of four on Verizon’s Share Everything plan with 2GB of data per person: $3000
Total yearly savings for a family of four using T-Mobile’s prepaid plan: $1556
Savings for a family of four over an older Verizon Family Plan: $1316

What are the Downsides?

As far as I can tell, the risks of switching to a prepaid mobile plan are small, as long as you buy a good unlocked phone like the Nexus 4. The Nexus 4 does not officially support LTE, but I don’t see that as a deal breaker. Read why below. A Consumer Reports survey says prepaid phone users are actually happier than non-prepaid phone users. T-Mobile might not be the best carrier, but I’ve come to the conclusion that all U.S. carriers are bad for one reason or another. Verizon may have better 4G coverage in some areas, but is that really worth almost $1000 for each member of your family? I don’t think so.

Reasons why the lack of LTE on the Nexus 4 may not be a problem for you
LTE support isn’t offered in all cities and countries yet. Even if it is available in your city, you still won’t get it a lot of the time. If the lack of LTE bothers you, you should buy another unlocked phone with LTE support or switch to AT&T, which supports HSPA+, which is capable of speeds that are almost as fast as LTE (up to 21 Mbps). Another factor you should consider is the percentage of time your phone will be out of range of a broadband Wi-Fi connection. I spend the majority of my time either in the office or a home where there is access to fast Wi-Fi.

An Unconventional Way to Save Even More

I recently read an article about someone who used a 7″ tablet instead of a smartphone for an entire month. At first this sounds crazy, but you can buy a cellular-enabled Nexus 7 for only $299 and add it to an existing carrier plan for only $10 to $20 a month. You can make calls with a Bluetooth earpiece just like a normal phone. You would be using this device on Verizon’s, AT&T’s or Sprint’s network, so your coverage would be no different than a normal smartphone. Obviously this wouldn’t work for someone who didn’t carry a backpack or briefcase where they could store the device, but it’s not as crazy as it sounds. If I was someone who didn’t make many voice calls, I would seriously consider this option.

If This Is So Great, Why Haven’t I Switched Yet?

Once my wife’s contract is up, we may switch to T-Mobile’s $30 prepaid plan. If she likes it, I’ll switch the rest of my family members over. I have several friends who have already switched and they are happy. Besides, if we don’t like T-Mobile, we can switch to AT&T (or another prepaid carrier) after 30 days without a penalty. If a better phone comes out in three months, we can use it without paying a penalty. We’ll pay more up front for an unlocked phone, but we’ll quickly make up the difference in 3 to 5 months (depending on the phone). You should look into switching too. Even if you have a less expensive Family plan, you’ll still save over a thousand a year if you switch. Imagine what you could to with all of that money.

Where to Read More

– Prepaid or postpaid?: The fight for your cell phone dollars
– One-third of U.S. smartphone sales in Q1 were prepaid

– Rick

Copyright 2013 Rick Schwartz. All rights reserved. Linking to this article is encouraged.

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts, Mobile Technology Tagged with AT&T, iPhone 5, Mobile, Nexus 4, Prepaid, Share Everything, Straight Talk, T-Mobile, technology, Verizon

Seven Mistakes That Could Jeopardize Google’s Mobile Future

December 11, 2012 8 Comments

Last update: May 26, 2013

Five years ago few thought Google could ever challenge Apple when it came to mobile technology. Now Android is leading the way in many areas. Google got where they are today thanks to a well-executed strategy and lots of help from Apple, but mistakes they are making now could jeopardize the future of Android.

The top three U.S. Big Box retailers produce almost 600 billion dollars in revenue

Traditional retailers are still important. The top three big-box retailers produce almost $600 billion in revenue a year

1. Largely Ignoring the Traditional Retail Channel

E-commerce sites like Amazon.com might be the future, but big-box retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Costco produce 12 times more revenue than Amazon does today. Apple understands the importance of retail and sells huge quantities of smartphones and tablets through this channel. Google has met with companies like Best Buy before, but most retailers don’t like them because they sell devices direct to consumers for less money than the retailers need to make a good profit. Google also doesn’t spend millions of dollars on retail end-caps, marketing and product training like Apple and Samsung do. I believe Google needs to hire someone who understands how to work with traditional retailers and expand their presence in brick and mortar stores.

One explanation why Google has been ignoring traditional retailers could be they are planning to open their own stores. Although Google originally denied this, there is now evidence they may be going ahead with this. I suspect we’ll see them start with only a few stores however. It would take years and lots of money to expand their reach into most major U.S. cities.

2. Having One of the Worst e-Commerce Sites

Many Google products are not available from major retailers. If you want to buy a product like a 16GB Nexus 10, there is only one place to get it today: the Google Play website. Although Google Play works well for app sales, it gets failing grades in the area of physical fulfillment of products. Their first launch of of Nexus One was understandably a disaster, but the company has had years to fix these problems and they have not done so. All three of their recent Nexus launches were horrible in every way. Even the e-commerce areas of their Google Play website were unable to support the traffic. That’s really surprising. I haven’t seen a site fail so badly since the early days of the Internet. I believe Google needs to fire the people in charge of their current e-commerce and fulfillment operations and start over, or farm out the business to someone like Amazon, who understands how to do e-commerce right.

3. Making Better Apps for Competitive Platforms

Some of Google’s apps are now longer better on iOS than Android. Examples include Google Mail, Google Maps and YouTube, which all have advantages on iOS currently. While this could be temporary, it makes no sense to favor a competitor’s platform over your own. More details.

Update: Since this article was first written, Google has improved their Maps and YouTube apps, so I believe their Android apps now have advantages in some areas.

Overdependence on the cloud can be a bad thing

4. Forcing Consumers to Use the Cloud

It’s clear Google wants everyone to use the cloud, but shipping one of your flagship smartphones with only 8-gigabytes of local storage was a poor decision. Especially in light of the fact the Nexus 4 doesn’t have a memory expansion slot, like the Samsung Galaxy S III, and many other Android phones. An 8GB Nexus 4 has less than 6GB of free space available out of the box. Since my apps alone occupy over 3GB of space, that leaves only enough room for a single movie download. Even if you don’t download movies, you might still have problems. Popular games like Modern Warfare 3 and 9MM use almost 2 GB of storage space. Sure you could delete a few large apps to free up space, but you shouldn’t have to.

Google expects us to store our movies, music, photos and documents in the cloud, but what if we want watch a movie on a plane, or we need to access an important file at a location with no cellular or Wi-Fi access? This could be a big problem. Apple downloads its media and doesn’t stream it like Google does. Google does allow you to download (or pin) media from Google Play, but you need free space on your device to do so.

Storing all of you media the cloud can also be problematic because Google Drive and all other cloud-based systems occasionally go down. Google claims 99.948% uptime, but that corresponds to 7 minutes of downtime a month, which is a big deal if a Google service is down when you’re trying to access data from it. That’s why you should always try to carry essential files on your device (or ‘pin’ them so they are accessible).

Less than 1% of all Android users were running the newest version of Android on 12/3.

Only 1.2% of all Android users were running the newest version of the OS on January 3rd

5. Allowing Others to Seriously Weaken Your Platform

Carriers and handset manufacturers unintentionally hurt the Android platform by insisting on customizing the software on their mobile devices. This causes OS fragmentation, support issues and customer frustration, because users have to wait so long to get bug fixes and new features. Apple has a “take it or leave it” attitude with carriers, and forces them to limit customization, so users can download updates on the first day they are available. This is one of the strongest advantages iOS has over Android today. Google has made progress on this issue with their line of Nexus phones, but even those devices have carrier bloatware and don’t always receive OS updates when they are first available. Just how bad is OS fragmentation on the Android platform? As of January 3rd, only 1.2% of all Android users were running the newest version of Android, while over 60% of Apple users were running the newest version of iOS. 59% of Android users are stuck using an OS that is now over two years old. Google decided to call Android 4.2 Jelly Bean so they could say that 10% of all Android users run that version, but that’s far from a solution. Google must address this issue in 2013.

Android 4.2′s calendar bug is evidence that Google is rushing products to market before they are ready

Android 4.2′s calendar bug was evidence that Google was rushing products to market before they were ready

6. Releasing New Products Before They Are Ready

Lately it seems Google is trying to do too much at once, and is releasing new technologies before they are ready. For example, proper testing would have exposed the December bug in Android 4.2. That issue was fixed in a software update, but there are other Android 4.2 bugs like the Auto-brightness bug, which should have been caught. In addition, key Android 4.2 features like Miracast steaming don’t work on the Nexus 10 and other devices. Google’s haste has also broken some of the biggest advantages of Android 4.1 on some devices and has some saying Android is becoming too complex for its own good. Not all of Android’s issues are software-related. Some of Google’s newest Nexus devices were released without a single accessory (e.g. dock, case, etc.) This caused frustration among some users. There is simply no excuse for this type of poor planning. Google needs to slow down and take the time needed to do things right.

7. Eliminating Some of Android’s Biggest Advantages

Hardware choices are good, but Google should strongly encourage manufacturers to make Android devices with Android’s signature features like slots for removable memory, removable batteries, standard micro USB and micro HDMI ports. Expandable storage, standard ports and removable batteries are some of the key selling points of the Android platform and the reason why many people are switching from iPhone to Android devices. Removing these advantages from Nexus devices and allowing manufacturers to remove them from their devices seriously weakens the Android platform.

Final Thoughts

Google has come a long way in the past five years, but it seems like their phenomenal success is going to their heads. Apple may be down right now, but stupid mistakes like these are what allowed Google to steal so much market share in such a short time period. I hope Google can address some these issues before it’s too late.

Do you agree Google is making some big mistakes, or am I just overreacting? Let me know in the comments section. Thanks.

– Rick

Copyright 2013 Rick Schwartz. All rights reserved. Linking to this article is encouraged.

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts, Mobile Technology Tagged with Android, Android 4.2, Google, Mobile, Nexus 10, Nexus 4, technology

It Was One Year Ago This Week…

November 29, 2012 6 Comments

Last updated: January 31, 2013

It was one year ago this week when I started this writing adventure. I did it because I love new technology and feel knowledge should be shared with others. I had no idea at the time how popular this would become. Since 2012 has been a great year for this blog, I’d like to pause for a moment to give thanks, but first a little history.

Time flies when you’re having fun

Growing Slowly at First

As you can see from the chart below, the first eight months this blog was in existence I toiled in relative obscurity, getting around a thousand views a month. Then something big happened. In July I more than doubled my views from the previous month — thanks to strong traffic on articles about United, AT&T and the smartphone of the year. Traffic in September was twice that of July, thanks to an article about the new iPhone 5. In August traffic was over five times that of July, thanks to the articles on the new iPads. Traffic once again more than doubled in November and December. Every day for the past four months I expect the visits to this site to taper off, but so far there is no sign of that happening. In fact, last week was my biggest week ever in total views. My Nexus 10 Tips and Tricks article has already received over 250,000 views!

This blog has seen an incredible increase in traffic over the past four months

Quality Over Quantity

It’s nice to get some attention, but traffic in itself means little to me. Most of the popular blogs get more than 10 times the traffic I get. What matters to me is the quality and timeliness of my posts. Based on some of the comments I’ve been receiving lately, it appears I’m doing a decent job in this area.

As you can see from the updated chart, weekly traffic continues to hit new highs as well

What People Are Saying About Mostly-Tech

“Great tips! I’m new to your blog, but I’m really starting to like your writing style. No real fluff, just facts! Thanks for the info about the ‘PC’ keyboard setting, I just activated it for my Nexus 7, I would never had known it was there if it wasn’t for you! Keep up the good work!”

“As always, superbly organized and comprehensively researched, Rick! I’m looking forward to reading to your side-by-side comparison of the newly announced Nexus 4 and the iPhone 5…”

“Finally an excellent, well-researched, unbiased, well-written comparison piece which states *facts*. You could teach the guys over at Engadget a thing or two…”

“Rick, having seen and subscribed to dozens of blogs and having been involved in blogging myself, I can assert that it’s because you churn out some of the best articles in the arena of Android, iOS and Windows. Your blog is now in my list of RSS feeds!”

“Well researched article, Thank you very much for your hard work. You are pointing out right facts without fanboism…”

“Rick, this is a quick note to thank you for your fantastic blog! I discovered it yesterday and, frankly, can’t tell why I didn’t notice it earlier. Keep up the good work!”

“Excellent and comprehensive comparisons, Rick, especially after only having had used the Nexus 10 for just a day!”

“You’re awesome, Rick! Many people and I have been trying for months to get TalkBack developers on the Google-monitored Eyes-Free mailing list to tell us what’s changed between 4.1 and 4.2 and we got nothing. But you did it on a holiday!”

“I think the article is great at informing casual users about everything related to beaming. The only article about the topic I found, very useful and clear as well. Cheers”

“I am a new reader and found your blog very entertaining + informative.”

“Hi Rick, I just stumbled onto your blog, I think yours is one of the most informative, unbiased, and interesting blogs that I have come across…”

“GREAT article thanks! Without bias and highlights issues on the #nexus10 with constructive arguments.”

“Everybody should definitely check this out. It’s incredible article, I spent a long time reading it and did many things that it said!!! As others have noticed the keyboard option is awesome…” [Post appeared in Android forums about a Mostly-tech blog article]

Recently bought a Nexus 10, my 1st tab, and your 50 tips have been brilliant. Thanks for taking the time to help so many people. Cheers.

Your nexus-10-tips-and-tricks is a great forum [post] with very useful information. So many times forums are full of garbage that the user needs to wade thru, but yours is wonderful!

Of course I get my fair share of hate mail as well. You can read those in the comments sections.

What to Expect in 2013

I’m not sure what the future holds, but I plan to continue to write about mobile technology in 2013. I'm also planning to expand into some new areas including music technology, photography and video. Hopefully some of you will join me. Even if you don’t, I’m happy you stopped by. Here's to a great 2012, and an even better new year.

– Rick

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts Tagged with accolades

More Great Tips & Tricks for the Nexus 10

November 28, 2012 76 Comments

Last update: October 17, 2013

This article has had over 110,000 views! Although it was written for the Nexus 10, many of these tips apply to other Android tablets as well. Enjoy!

Because my original Nexus 10 tips and tricks article was so incredibly popular, I’ve decided to write a follow-up. This time I’m including a few outside sources, however I assure you these tips will be every bit as good as the original ones and there will be no duplicates.

Improve lag and choppiness – Some other Nexus users have found a simple fix to lag, choppiness, and stuttering performance that occurs when swiping across the home screens, opening the app drawer, typing on the keyboard, scrolling in the browser or even simply unlocking the device. I haven’t experienced too many problems like this, but still recommend you make the following change to see if it improves things. First, locate Google Currents in All Apps and open it. Tap “Settings” (the three dots) and uncheck “Enable Background Sync.” Reboot your Nexus 10. Source: TalkAndroid

Ad-blockers can be useful utilities

Unblock ads – There are several good Android ad blockers, but most require a rooted device. Adblock Plus is free and removes ads on a stock Nexus 10. Important note: One of my readers reported some serious problems after installing this app (see the comments section of my original tips article if you want details). For this reason, I’m recommending everyone hold off on installing this app until the company releases an update which addresses this issue. Source: Phandroid

Maximize your battery life – To increase the battery life of your Nexus 10, try these suggestions:
– Turn off your tablet when you go to sleep and charge it all night.
– Set your screen brightness at 50% or lower. To do this go to Settings > Display > Brightness
– Uninstall power hungry apps – Go to Settings > Battery and look at the top battery users . On my Nexus 10, Yahoo Weather consumes as much power then the screen and the OS combined! To uninstall go to the All Apps folder and drag the problem app on top of the Uninstall label at the top of the screen
– Turn off your GPS when you don’t need it. To do this go to Settings > Location Access and set ‘Access to my location’ OFF. If you do this, any app which requires the GOS including Google Now will not function correctly.
– If you rarely use Bluetooth or NFC, make sure both are off. To turn off NFC, go to Settings > More…
– Check the Sleep setting (under Display) and make sure it is set to 1 minute or less.

Tether your tablet to your phone for free – As long as you have an Android smartphone, there’s no need to purchase a tablet with cellular support, or pay extra to use your phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot. Just download and install FoxFi on your phone and check ‘Activate WiFi Hotspot.’ Then go to Settings > Wi-Fi on your tablet, and connect to ‘FoxFi14.’ Now you’ll sharing data with your mobile phone. Make sure to keep tabs on the data usage shown in the upper right hand corner of the FoxFi app, and do not use this app if you sometimes come close to using all of your available mobile data. I cannot be held responsible for any extra data charges you incur because of the use of this app. Other caveats: The free version of FoxFi now has a usage limit that requires you to restart FoxFi at some point. You can purchase the full version key to unlock this. Currently WiFi mode does not work on most phones with Jelly Bean and most HTC phones (except for HTC One). However, Bluetooth mode works for all phones.

Import contacts from other sources – If you have contacts stored in Outlook, Yahoo or another source, export them as a comma-separated value or CSV file. For contacts from Apple’s Address Book, expert as vCard. It’s not essential, but is a good idea if you open this file using a spreadsheet and make some edits on your computer to clean up things. Now you’re ready to import your contacts. Open Google Contacts on your computer and click on ‘More.’ Select ‘Import’ and select the file you exported. After your contacts have been imported, you should go to ‘More’ again and select ‘Find and merge duplicates.’

Scrubly cleans your contacts for free

Clean up your contacts and add photos to them – If you have problems with duplicate contacts or contacts with missing info, you should go to Scrubly.com. Scrubly is a free service for people with less than 250 contacts. In addition to cleaning your contacts, Scrubly will import photos, birthdays, company, job title and more. Make sure to link Scrubly with your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, so it can pull from those sources as well. I’ve used this service and was very impressed, but if you don’t like it, you can revert back to the way things were.

Send SMS texts directly from your tablet – There are several different ways to send SMS texts from your Nexus 10, but one of the better ones is an app called Tablet Talk. This app uses Bluetooth to talk to your Android smartphone. This app is nice because the person you’re texting does not need to install any special software and all texts are sent using your mobile number. With Tablet Talk you can have a text conversation on your tablet just like you would on your phone. This is a paid app ($3) but I think it’s worth it. Install it on your tablet first and then connect to your Android phone via Bluetooth. Once you do that, you can download Tablet Talk on your Android phone for free. Tip: If you’re having problems connecting your Nexus 10 with your phone using Tablet Talk, make sure the Tablet Talk app is open on your phone first and then press the orange button in the lower-left hand corner of the Tablet Talk app on your Nexus 10. If you live in the U.S. and don’t want to mess around with Bluetooth, Google Voice allows you to easily send SMS texts as well and it’s free. The only negative is the fact that your texts will come from your Google number, and not your normal mobile number. Update: Mysms is now my favorite app for this purpose because it’s available in a tablet-optimized version for Android and can send texts to iOS devices, Windows phones, Macs, Chrome devices and Windows PCs. The tablet-optimized Android version is $2, while most other versions are free.

Kingsoft Office is one of the best free office apps

Install an office app – At some point you’re going to need to open a file which was created with Microsoft Office. There are many apps that do this. Consider Kingsoft Office (free), Quickoffice Pro HD, OfficeSuite Pro, Documents To Go or Google Drive (which replaced Google Docs). Most of these apps also create Word or Excel-style docs as well.

Try another web browser – Chrome is good, but there are other good third-party browsers as well. Check out Firefox Browser for Android, Dolphin Browser, Opera (Mobile or Mini web browser), Puffin Web browser Free and xScore. Each have advantages over the others. You can read more about them in Google Play.

Speed up animations to make your tablet feel snappier – There’s another quick way to make your Nexus 10 feel snappier. By speeding up (or disabling) the animated fade-in effects you see when switching between tasks, you’ll see a boost in performance and faster screen transitions. Start by unhiding “Developer options” as described in Tip #11 here. Once in “Developer options,” scroll down to the “Window animation scale” and “Transition animation scale” options and set both to .5x. You can even turn each of these off and transitioning between apps and pages will be almost instant. If you ever want to go back, remember the defaults for both of these settings are 1x. Source: Cult of Android

Learn how to use your camera – Because there is no information about using the camera in the Nexus Guidebook, I’m adding some info here. You’ll find the ‘Camera’ app in the All Apps folder. Long press its icon and drag it to one of your home screens. To take a picture using the rear camera, press the big blue button. You’ll hear a sound which indicates you’ve taken a photo. To view the photo you’ve just taken, swipe to the left. Swipe back to the right to return to the camera. To switch to the front camera, press the circle to the right of the blue button. Then click on the camera icon with the arrows under it. In a few seconds you should see yourself on the view finder. The +/- controls are for exposure. To make a photo less bright press -1, -2 or -3. Next to that is the Settings button. From here you can access presets for things like action shots, night photos and sunset photos under ‘Scene mode.’ ‘Store location’ tags your photo with GPS info. Next to that are the white balance settings for different types of light. Next are the flash settings, To turn off the flash, touch the lightning bolt with an ‘x’ next to it. Press the Back button when you’re finished. To switch to the video camera, press the camera button to the left. From top to bottom, the buttons are ‘Photo Sphere,’ Panorama, Video, and Still Camera. Here is the most comprehensive guide to using the Android 4.2 camera that I’ve seen so far.

Get a stylus for more control – Although the Nexus 10 doesn’t have the same level of sensitivity of a Galaxy Note II, a stylus will give you more control and make it easier to take shorthand notes. Make sure to check out the reviews before you buy any stylus and never buy the cheapest one available, because you probably won’t be happy if you do.

You can quickly send photos or videos to another device using Wi-Fi Direct

Transfer files quickly using Wi-Fi Direct – Wi-Fi Direct lets you send any type of file from your Nexus 10 to another Wi-Fi Direct device like a Samsung Galaxy S III. To send a photo or movie over Wi-Fi direct from your tablet to your phone, go to the ‘Photo Gallery’ app and select the file you wish to send. Then touch the item so the Share button appears. Next, select an app from the list which you know has Wi-Fi Direct support. I use the ‘OfficeSuite Wi-Fi Direct’ app. If you don’t have that, try Wi-Fi Shoot. Now, select the device you want to send your file to from the list of available devices. Photos only take a few seconds to transfer. Sending a 200MB movie took less than 5 minutes. Note: The receiving device may be sluggish while a file is being sent to it. On the sending end, you can swipe down on the Notification bar to see the transfer progress of the file. After the file transfer is complete, select the app on the receiving end that you want to view the file with. The file sent/received notifications cannot be cleared manually. They will go away after you restart your devices.

Long press a notification for app info – If you long press a notification, an “App info” button will appear and you will be able to find out more about the application that sent it. You can clear its cache, data, stop it, uninstall it or disable sending notifications. Source: Android Geeks

You can speak into your Nexus 10 and it will translate just like the Droid commercial shown here

Speak and translate – You may have seen the new Droid RAZR M commercial where the girl speaks into her phone and it speaks the words back in a different language. You can do that with your Nexus 10 as well. Just launch Google Translate. Touch the microphone icon, and speak the words you want translated. Touch the speaker next to the translated words to hear them back.

Fix problems with some apps – If you find an app that is giving you trouble, try wiping its cached data. To do this, go to Settings > Apps, then pick the problem app from the list which appears and tap the ‘Clear cache’ button. If that doesn’t fix the problem, you want to try the ‘Clear data’ button as a last resort. But keep in mind if you do this you could lose stored data like photos. Source: Android Geeks

Scribble and your tablet translates for you

Scribble and translate – You can scribble on your tablet’s screen and Google Translate will translate the words into to any language.

Try these tablet charging tips – For best results, power off your Nexus 10 and let it charge all night. If you do this, you should be able to get through an entire day of normal use without running out of power. On peak usage days, charge your tablet for an hour during lunch or early afternoon.

Turn your tablet into a media server – Although the Nexus 10 is not pre-loaded with a DLNA media server like Samsung’s AllShare Play, there are free alternatives this work even better. Download and install Twonky Beam. It will let you access media on your tablet from your Xbox 360, Sony PS3, Roku box, connected TV — or any of the 13,000 other DLNA-certified devices. [Disclosure: I used to work for the company who makes this software]

Enable auto-fill on third-party browsers – Although Chrome has an ‘Autofill forms’ setting, there are other apps which give you more control over this. Install Dolphin Browser and the Autofill Form add-on for it.

Lower your screen brightness even more – If you sometimes like to use the Nexus 10 in a room with all lights off, you may find that the screen is still too bright even when brightness is turned all of the way down. Apps like Screen Filter allow you to adjust the brightness of the screen as dark as you like.

Yopu can beam media from your phone to tablet

You can beam media from your phone to tablet (or vice versa)

Beam something from your phone to tablet – If you have another Android device with NFC support like a Samsung Galaxy S III you can beam browser pages, YouTube videos, contacts and more from your phone to your tablet (or vice versa). Start by finding the media you want to beam and make sure both devices are unlocked. Next place your phone on the Nexus 10 as shown in the photo. In a few seconds you should feel each vibrate and hear a sound. Touch the screen after you see the image get smaller and the words ‘Touch to beam’ appear on the screen. If you’ve done it successfully, the image will continue to get smaller on the screen until it disappears. More info. In case you’re wondering where the two NFC sensors are on your Nexus 10. One is on the back to the right side of the camera near the top. The other one is by the front camera.

Transfer files from your Mac to your tablet – If you’ve got a Mac, you’ll want to download and install the Android File Transfer app. Then plug your tablet into your Mac and the transfer app should automatically launch. Now can copy or move files by simply dragging and dropping them into the folders on the Nexus 10.

Control your computer’s mouse with your tablet

Control your Mac or PC using your tablet – When I first read about this tip, I didn’t think I would like it, but I was wrong. This may sound like a gimmick, but it’s really useful. First install WiFi Mouse on your tablet. Next, download mouse server software and install it on your computer. Launch the WiFi Mouse app on your tablet and touch ‘Auto Connect.’ You should now be able to control your mouse using your tablet. You can even right-click, but in order to type using your tablet and have that text appear on your computer you’ll need to upgrade to the full version. Source: Redmond Pie

Disable notifications on a single individual application – If you want to turn off notifications for a single app, follow these steps: First swipe down the notification bar. Then long press the notification until a box appears that says, “App Info.” Touch that and then uncheck the “Show Notifications” checkbox. Then touch OK to approve the change. Source: Droid Life

Boot into Safe-mode to troubleshoot problems – If you are experiencing a problem with your Nexus 10 and you want to determine whether they are being caused by a third-party app, press the power button for seven seconds until your tablet reboots. Then press and hold both the volume up and down keys until you see the words ‘Safe mode’ appear in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. If the problem goes away when you’re in safe mode, you should reboot your tablet and start removing recently installed apps until the problem goes away. Source: How-To Geek

Upload your music to the cloud – Since the Nexus 10 has a limited amount of internal storage and is not expandable, you should upload all of the music on your computer to the cloud. Google Music allows you to store up to 20,000 songs for free. Using the Google Music app, you’ll be able to access all of them as long as you have a Wi-Fi connection. To upload your music, download Google’s free Music Manager software to your computer.

Canon users can preview photos and change camera settings using their Nexus 10

Canon DSLR users can preview photos and change camera settings using their Nexus 10

Control a DSLR with your tablet – DSLR Controller is a popular app that allows you to fully control your Canon EOS DSLR from your Nexus 10 with only a USB cable. Use your tablet to control, Live View, Image review, Auto Focus, Manual focus, Zoom control, HDR, Timelapse, Wi-Fi Passthrough, Shutter speed, Aperture, ISO speed, White balance and much more. It’s $8, so make sure your camera is on its supported device list before you buy. If you have a Canon camera like the 6D with Wi-Fi support, check out Canon CameraWindow and EOS Remote. Both of these apps are free.

Download USA-restricted apps & media anywhere – If you have rooted your Nexus 10 and want to free access territory-restricted apps and media, download and install Droid VPN and follow these instructions. I do not recommend that you root your tablet for this reason alone, because it may prevent you for getting OS updates directly from Google. Also, as one of my readers points out in the comments section below, this tip may only be helpful on content that does not require a credit card, because Google Play restricts purchases by country. Source: One Click Root

Sync your tablet with iTunes – It’s easy to copy music or videos from your iTunes library to your tablet. However, I recommend that you don’t move everything – unless you have a 32GB Nexus 10 with lots of free space. You can find detailed instructions how to do this here. Source: CNET

Here are just a few of the free wallpapers available on Google Images

Upgrade your screen background and save battery life – Upgrade your screen background and save battery life – Most of the stock Wallpapers that come with your Nexus 10 tablet are not great. They use bright colors and do not take advantage of the full resolution of your display. Although you can download wallpaper apps, your best bet is to find some images you’ve taken with your DSLR camera or do an advanced search on Google Images. Enter a description in the first box, if you’re not sure what your looking for try “HD wallpapers”, “high resolution images” or ‘2560×1600 wallpaper’ in the first box. Select ‘Larger than 4 MP’ as the image size. If you want the best quality available, search for images above 12 MP. You’ll see a wide range of images to choose from. Click on a few that you like, and make sure to click ‘Full-size image’ on the right-hand side of the screen.
You’ll find there are a lot of decoy images, which are smaller than they are supposed to be. If it doesn’t say 2560×1600 or larger under ‘Full-size image’ you should go back and select another image. If can’t find anything good on Google Images, try Google+ Communities or Picasa Web Albums. There are some good dark Nexus 10 backgrounds on this Google+ page. Now right-click on the large image and select ‘Save image as…’ Move all of your saved images into a folder called ‘New wallpapers’ and copy that into the ‘Pictures’ folder on your Nexus 10 using a USB cable. You could select your images from the Gallery, but you’d be asked to crop them and that would lower their resolution. Although the Nexus screen is 2560×1600, I’ve been told that the size of the wallpapers that Google includes with the Nexus 10 are 3966×2560. That’s because they pan when you change home screens. I use an app called ‘Simple Image Wallpaper Free’ which displays your wallpaper at its full resolution, doesn’t require cropping and doesn’t pan when you move to another home screen.

If all this seems too hard, try a wallpaper app from Google Play like Wallbase, Interfacelift or Wallpaper Wizardii. Just make sure to select images which are 2560×1600 or higher, (3966×2560 is even better if possible).

Transfer files wirelessly from an iPad to your Nexus 10 – You can send or receive, photos, videos, music, contacts or notes over Bluetooth from any iOS device to any Android device. In order to do this, you need a jailbroken iOS device, and the AirBlue Sharing app which you can purchase for $5 from Cydia. See it in action here. Source: Redmond Pie

Here are some nice Live Wallpapers (Lonely Tree, Mystic Halo, Ocean HD)

Install a better Live Wallpaper – All of the Live Wallpapers that come with the Nexus 10 are poor quality. You should install a good Live Wallpaper like Light Grid, Mystic Halo LW, Blue Skies Free, PanoPlanet, or Ocean HD ($1.99). My current favorite Live Wallpaper is Lonely Tree. It really shows off the Nexus 10’s screen with its 60fps motion and extreme detail. If you watch carefully, you’ll notice the clouds, tree branches, snow all move independently. Avoid most wallpapers in Google Play which claim to be HD. Most do not look good on the Nexus 10’s display. Once you’ve installed your new Wallpaper, go to Settings > Display > Wallpaper > Live Wallpapers and select the one you wish to use. Then touch Set Wallpaper and press the Back button to return to the Home screen.

Stop Google from reading your email – Google Now is able to do some cool things by scanning your Gmail. If this bothers you and you want to turn it off, open the Google Search app, go to Settings > Google Now and uncheck “Show cards based on Gmail.”

A tablet-optimized website

Bookmark some tablet-optimized websites – More websites are starting to update their layouts so they look great on the Nexus 10. Checkout sites like Engadget, Google News, TNW (The Next Web) and BGR to see great examples of this.

Maximize your screen’s contrast – Because the Nexus 10 uses a different screen technology than the Samsung Galaxy S III or iPad, you can’t set the brightness as high if you want the best contrast between black and white. I recommend that you set your screen brightness at 50% to 60% — unless you’re outside.

Quickly review your photos and delete the bad ones – Within the Gallery app, touch where it says ‘Grid view’ to change to ‘Filmstrip view’. In this view, you can swipe right to move from photo to photo, or swipe down to delete any photo you don’t like. If you accidentally delete a photo, touch ‘Undo’ in the lower-right hand corner, but do this quickly because this option goes away after you go to the next photo.

Expand your storage with an external Wi-Fi drive – Companies like Kingston have solid-state drives that add 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of additional storage to your tablet. These drives are small and communicate over Wi-Fi.

Transfer files, photos or contact info using Bump – Bump is a free app which lets you transfer files wirelessly between any two devices (Android or iOS) — even if they don’t support NFC. To use, open the ‘Bump’ app on both devices and select the file (or files you wish to transfer). Then tap the two devices together and press the blue Connect button on both of the devices. You can bump photos to your computer by going to http://bu.mp and bumping your spacebar with your device. Bump works with videos, docs, spreadsheets, presentations are more.

Stream full high-definition movies directly to your tablet using VUDU

Stream a high-definition movie directly to your tablet from VUDU – You can now stream or download an HD movie or TV show from VUDU . The Nexus 10 is one of only four devices that support VUDU currently. All you need is the free VUDU app and a VUDU account. Vudu has a number of advantages over Google Play including on-the-go access to your UltraViolet Digital Collection of Blu-ray movies. [May not be available to Nexus users outside the U.S.]
Fix auto-brightness problems – Android 4.2 has an auto-brightness setting, but it doesn’t work very well. You should download Lux Auto Brightness to fix this problem. Lux automatically adjusts the brightness of your display based on your environment. When you go into a dark room, Lux will automatically lower the brightness of your display after you unlock your screen to make reading more enjoyable.

To setup Lux you need to go through their setup wizard. I suggest you leave the factory default settings as is. After you do that, you’ll need to go back and launch the app again and touch ‘Press to enable Lux.’ Lux will adjust every time you unlock your screen. Although there is a dynamic setting, it doesn’t work as well, because it’s possible for your finger to occasionally block the light sensor when you hold the tablet in Portrait mode. If you sometimes use your tablet in a totally dark room, I suggest you go to the settings page and set ‘Night Mode’ alpha to 10.

A Bluetooth keyboard allows you to type much faster

Get a Bluetooth keyboard – You can hook up a wired keyboard to the USB port on the Nexus 10, but a Bluetooth keyboard is much more convenient because its wireless. One of the best keyboards for the Nexus 10 is the Logitech keyboard for Android devices. It’s only $51 and is easy to setup. Just turn it on and press the Connect button on the button of the keyboard. Then go to Settings > Bluetooth on your tablet, touch Search for Devices, and select the Logitech keyboard. Next, type the number which appears on your tablet and press the Enter key to pair it. Now anytime the Bluetooth keyboard is on, you can type on it instead of your tablet. This keyboard comes with a carrying case which doubles as a tablet stand.

It’s easy to increase your Wi-Fi signal strength

Improve your Wi-Fi signal strength – If you have a few spots in your residence where you’re not getting a strong Wi-Fi signal, you should consider purchasing a $40 Wi-Fi booster like this one. It’s easy to setup and designed for use with tablets. Just plug it in and wait for its LED to turn green. Then press the WPS button on the extender and your router and you should be ready to go. The new Wi-Fi network will be called the same as the old one, but end with “_EXT”. Make sure to select that network when you’re having signal strength issues. After connecting to a Wi-Fi Extender, I’m getting speeds that are almost 4 times faster than I was before.

Create your own photo albums – You can use a file explorer app like ES File Explorer to make new photo albums inside of the Pictures folder. This is done by going to the Menu and selecting New and Folder. If you do this, your newly created albums will appear when you open the photo Gallery app. You can also delete any albums you don’t want by pressing Select and then touching the items you wish to delete. When you are finished touch the trash can.

Get cut and paste to work every time – Several people have written to tell me they are having problems with cut and paste, so I thought I would try to help with this. To select a word, touch and hold on a word until the highlight and arrows pop up. When you do this on a text document, you’ll be presented with the following choices at the top of the screen: Select All, Copy, Cut and Paste. Drag the two blue region selection handles around the desired text and select Copy (or another one of the available commands). Then touch where you want to insert the copied text and hold until the word Paste appears. Press Done when you’re finished.
If you do this on a Web page or most other screens, you’ll be presented with the following choices: Select All, Copy, Share, Search Web or Find. If the handles are orange and you don’t see Select All, Copy, Cut and Paste at the top of the screen, you should long-press the selection and Copy, Select All and Share will appear in a pop-up menu. Once you cut or copy the desired text, you’ll be able to paste it — after you long press where you want to insert it. If the paste option goes away, just touch one of the region selection handles again and it will reappear.

Left your wallet at home? No problem. Use your tablet to buy lunch.

Use your tablet to buy things without a wallet – Since most U.S. carriers block Google Wallet on their smartphones, Nexus devices are the only way for most of us to use NFC to purchase things. Before you go to the store you need to run the Google Wallet app once to link it to your credit card and enter a PIN for security. You do not need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network in order to Tap and Pay. Just tap the back of your tablet near the camera on the cash register. You do need to be connected to setup a card or switch between default payment cards however. You can use Google Wallet in-store anywhere contactless payments are accepted, at over 300,000 merchants across the United States. Learn more about Google Wallet here.

Use NFC to change settings – Another nice application for NFC is automatically changing settings when you move your tablet from one location to another. You can purchase low-cost sensor tags like these that can be placed anywhere and programmed to do many different things using an app like NFC Task Launcher. For example, when I set my tablet on my desk, it turns Bluetooth on so my keyboard works, changes Wi-Fi to a nearby 5GHz access point and turns up the system volume. When I go into to my bedroom, and touch my phone on the night stand it changes to my Wi-Fi extender network, and turns Bluetooth and system volume off.

Simply tap your Nexus 10 to enjoy your music playlist through your home stereo speakers

Stream music directly to your stereo speakers – Even though the speakers in the Nexus 10 are much better than other tablets, they are not as good as the ones that come with your stereo. By purchasing Belkin’s low-cost HD Bluetooth Music Receiver you can stream music wirelessly from your Nexus 10 (or the cloud) directly to your stereo up to 30 feet away. This works with Google’s Play Music app as well as other great free music services like Spotify, Songza and Pandora’s Internet radio app. Setup is made easier because it uses the Nexus 10’s NFC chip for “tap-and-play” pairing. I want this.

Get 50GB of free cloud storage – You can never have too much storage. That’s why I use SkyDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive and MediaFire. MediaFire isn’t as flexible as the other storage lockers I mentioned above, but it’s the only one that gives you 50GB of FREE storage. You’ll need to first go to their website and create an account, then you can download the MediaFire app from Google Play.

Changing your download directory – Several people have asked how they can change the default Download directory. You can do this with Dolphin Browser by going to Menu> More> Settings> Privacy & Personal Data> Download Directory.

– Rick

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts, How-to, Mobile Technology Tagged with Android, Android 4.2, Nexus 10, Tablet, technology, Tips, Tricks

What Is The Best Smartphone of 2012? (Q4 Update)

November 27, 2012 7 Comments

Last updated: January 5, 2013

Since this article was first written, an updated version has been posted here. Check it out. A lot has changed.

These were the top six phones back in September. Only four make the cut this time.

A lot has changed since I last compared smartphones back in September. Back then, the top six smartphones were the Apple iPhone 5, LG Intuition 4G, LG Optimus G, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S III and the Sony Xperia V. Surprisingly, four of these phones retained their place on the list of finalists, but they were joined by four new phones which were introduced earlier this month.

The Runners-up

To create the list of candidates for smartphone of the year, I made a spreadsheet containing the specs for the best smartphones on all platforms. I then separated the chart into finalists and runners-up – which you can see below.

Click on the chart below to make it readable

Blue text indicates the winner in each area. Red text indicates areas of weakness

In case you’re wondering why none of the phones above made the list of finalists, each of these have a deficit in one or more areas. I want to stress that many of the above phones are good phones. Some, like the Huawei Ascend D1 Quad XL, LG Intuition 4G, Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX HD, Nokia Lumia 920, Sony Xperia T, Sony Xperia V, and Samsung Galaxy Nexus are great phones, but they are not the best phones of 2012.

The Finalists

Each of eight phones below have significant advantages over the phones in the above chart. Our finalists are Apple’s iPhone 5, HTC’s Droid DNA, HTC’s Windows Phone 8X, HTC’s One X+, LG’s Nexus 4, LG’s Optimus G, Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 and the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Here are the best smartphones of 2012

You can see all of the key specs for the top eight finalists below. Items which appear as blue-faced text show the winner in each area. Items which appear in red-faced text indicate an area of weakness compared to the other phones in this chart.

Blue text indicates the winner in each area. Red text indicates areas of weakness

Before we try to pick a winner, let’s go through each component, starting with the processor.

The Processor

The processor is like the engine in your car and plays an important role in its speed. Today, most of the best smartphones have quad-core processors running at 1.5GHz or higher. Having four different cores allows your phone to do more things at once without slowing down. Quad-core processors are also more efficient and have better battery life than some dual-core CPUs. When it comes to the fastest processor speed, the HTC One X+ wins, with its overclocked 1.7GHz quad-core processor, However, it’s running a year old Tegra 3 processor while the Droid DNA, Nexus 4 and LG Optimus G are running a more advanced Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. The Exynos 4412 processor in the Galaxy Note 2 is also overclocked to 1.6GHz and comes close to the S4 Pro in performance. It’s worth mentioning while the S4 Pro-based phones win when it comes to processor, the Galaxy Note 2 and HTC One X+ also perform very well. Apple is clearly behind when it comes to the CPU alone. It has a much slower processor speed and it’s a dual-core processor, instead of quad-core processor. Although the iPhone 5 has a processor clock speed that is 70% slower than the HTC One X+, it does pretty well in some graphics-related benchmarks. You shouldn’t read too much into mobile benchmarks however, because they rarely translate into real-world performance.

Winner: Tie: Droid DNA, Nexus 4, LG Optimus G

The HTC One X+ has the fastest processor speed (1.7GHz), but uses an older quad-core CPU

Memory and Storage

Both the Samsung phones and the iPhone 5 are available in 16, 32 or 64GB sizes. Five of our finalists have 2GB of RAM, which can speed things up when multiple apps are running. But, only the Windows Phone 8X, Galaxy Note 2, and Galaxy S III can have their memory expanded because they have a memory card slot.

Although this category is close, the LG Optimus G wins because it is the only phone here that starts with 32GB of memory and has 2GB of RAM.

Winners: LG Optimus G

The Droid DNA has the world’s first 1920 x 1080 display

The Screen

When it comes to overall specs, the 5.0″ inch screen in the HTC Droid DNA is second to none. This screen is an inch bigger than the iPhone 5’s, but easier to hold than the Galaxy Note 2, because it’s not as wide (70.5mm vs. 80.5mm). The Droid DNA easily beats the iPhone 5 in both total pixels (1920×1080 vs. 1136×640)) and resolution (441 PPI vs. 326 PPI).

However, the iPhone 5 does have a high-quality screen which does well in areas like color accuracy and brightness, but it get beat by the Galaxy S III in areas like color gamut. Color gamut is the range of color a display can reproduce. IHS says the iPhone 5′s display only reaches 72% of the NTSC color gamut, while the SIII sits at 100%.

Winner:
Size: Samsung Galaxy Note 2
Resolution: Droid DNA
Color accuracy: iPhone 5

The LG Optimus G is the only phone here with a 13MP camera

The Camera

When it comes to megapixels, the current leader is the LG Optimus G which has a 13-megapixel camera. Although all of the other phones here have 8 megapixel cameras, the cameras in the Apple iPhone 5, HTC One X+ and Samsung Galaxy S III are quite good, but each have issues. For example, the camera in the iPhone 5 has issues with noise in low light situations and over-sharpening which adds distortion. The Galaxy S III beats it in both of these areas. The camera in the iPhone 5 often beats the others when it comes to color accuracy in good light. When it comes to front cameras, the iPhone 5 and Nexus 4 are the worst performers here.

Winner: LG Optimus G

You can beam almost anything from phone to phone using NFC

Connectivity

When it comes to connectivity, every phone here has 4G LTE support, although the Nexus 4 only supports this feature in some areas.

When it comes to Wi-Fi support, every phone here but the HTC One X+ and LG Optimus G support dual-band 2.4GHz/5.0GHz Wi-Fi. The 5GHz band is not near as susceptible to interference from cordless telephones, microwave ovens, baby monitors, Bluetooth devices and wireless keyboards. It’s also a much less crowded band which should be used when possible.

Every phone here except the iPhone 5 has support for Near Field Communications or NFC. NFC allows two devices to communicate when they’re moved close together. This allows you to buy things at over 300,000 MasterCard PayPass-enabled terminals as well as beam, music, photos, web pages, contacts, maps, YouTube videos and more, from one phone to another. NFC is a very important feature which will one-day change the way we shop and transfer data from phone to phone.

Winners: Tie: HTC Droid DNA, Windows Phone 8X, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S III.

The new iPhone 5 is incredibly thin and light

The Case

When it comes to the case, the iPhone 5 does well. It’s thinner and lighter than all of the other finalists here and constructed entirely out of aluminum and glass.

Winner: iPhone 5

The Galaxy Note 2 has an incredibly powerful battery

The Battery

When it comes to the battery, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 easily wins. Its battery has over twice as much power as the battery in the iPhone 5.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Note 2

The Operating System

When it comes to the operating system, you can make strong arguments for iOS 6, Android 4.2 and Windows Phone 8. You can read more about how Android and iOS compare in my other blog posts.

Winner: Tie: iOS 6, Android 4.2 and Windows Phone 8

And the Winner is…

Back in September, the best smartphone award went to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. This time around it’s not so easy to pick a winner. Best is a subjective term. What I’m really talking about is the smartphone with the best overall hardware specs. Based on that definition, neither the iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S III can be considered the “phone of the year.” Both are great phones, and both are extremely popular, but they are not the best phones available today. So what is the gold medal winner? For me, it’s a toss-up between the Droid DNA, LG Nexus 4 and LG Optimus G. The Droid DNA wins when it comes to the display. The Optimus G wins on paper when it comes to storage and its 13MP camera — however not all reviewers love its camera. And last, but not least, the Nexus 4 is the only phone here which runs Android 4.2 and has a new-gen quad-core processor — however you shouldn’t buy it if you live in the U.S and LTE support is essential to you.

What About the iPhone 5?

Some of you are probably wondering why the iPhone 5 wasn’t a more serious contender because it’s so popular. As you can see above, the iPhone 5 lags is almost every area. It just can’t compete with phones like the Droid DNA, or even the Samsung Galaxy S III, which is much older. I’m not the only one who feels this way. Consumer Reports recently said the iPhone 5 is the worst of the top smartphones. They ranked it below the LG Optimus G and Samsung Galaxy Note II, as well as older phones like the Droid RAZR MAXX, Droid RAZR HD, Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One S. You can read more about this when their February issue hits the newstands and Internet.

How to Pick Out the Perfect Phone

In the end, your definition of the perfect phone depends on what’s most important to you. This article should help you narrow down your options to only a few phones. Since most of us are on two-year contracts with a carrier, you need to determine which of the phones you are intereted in are carried by your carrier. I suggest you then read the full reviews for each phone you are considering. Finally, it’s essential that you go to a retail store and actually try the phone before you buy it. Happy shopping!

– Rick

Follow me on Twitter @mostlytech1

Filed under Blog Posts, Mobile Technology Tagged with Android, Galaxy Note, iPhone 5, LG Intuition 4G, LG Optimus G, Samsung Galaxy Note II, Samsung Galaxy SIII, Smartphone

← Older posts

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Ten iPhone 5s Features Apple Borrowed from Android

You Can’t Compare the iPhone 5s to All Android Phones!

The Bottom Line

What People Are Saying About the New iPhone 5s

Beyond Budget

Why You’ll Love It

Trouble in Paradise

Can It Compete with a MacBook Pro?

Is It Worth the Money?

Hope for the Future

1. Perceptual Computing

2. Computational Photography

3. Faster 4G LTE Data Speeds

4. Ultra HD

5. Gigabit Wireless

6. Eight-core Mobile Processors

7. 64-bit Mobile Processors

8. Smaller, Faster, More Power Efficient Chips

9. Smarter TVs

10. Curved and Flexible Screens

Getting the Right Software

Making Your Camera a Wi-Fi Hotspot

Viewing Photos from the Camera on Your Tablet and More

Uploading Your Photo to Instagram

More Fun With Wi-Fi

Closing Thoughts

Which Phone Should You Buy?

Which Plan Should You Choose?

How to Activate Your Phone on a Prepaid Plan

How Much Money Will You Save?

What are the Downsides?

An Unconventional Way to Save Even More

If This Is So Great, Why Haven’t I Switched Yet?

Where to Read More

1. Largely Ignoring the Traditional Retail Channel

2. Having One of the Worst e-Commerce Sites

3. Making Better Apps for Competitive Platforms

4. Forcing Consumers to Use the Cloud

5. Allowing Others to Seriously Weaken Your Platform

6. Releasing New Products Before They Are Ready

7. Eliminating Some of Android’s Biggest Advantages

Final Thoughts

Growing Slowly at First

Quality Over Quantity

What People Are Saying About Mostly-Tech

What to Expect in 2013

The Runners-up

The Finalists

The Processor

Memory and Storage

The Screen

The Camera

Connectivity

The Case

The Battery

The Operating System

And the Winner is…

What About the iPhone 5?

How to Pick Out the Perfect Phone

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