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Galaxy S4

Samsung Galaxy S5 secrets revealed

technologyEdward Kiledjian
galaxy-s5.jpg

With an expected release around April, sites around the internet are buzzing with claimed spec leaks for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphones.

So far, we believe Samsung will release 2 version of the Galaxy S5:

  • One in typical plastic sold for around $800 off contract
  • One with a premium metal body that will release for around $1000 off contract

Leaks also indicate that we will see a Samsung Galaxy S5 mini and an S5 zoom

Spec wise:

  • We expect a 2K QHD (sub 6") screen
  • We expect 2 processors (Exynos 6 for international markets and Qualcomm 805 for North America)
  • We expect a 16 megapixel backside illuminated rear camera and a 5 megapixel front selfie camera
  • Android Kitkat (v 4.4)

We also know that Samsung will spend less time on goofie features (like golf swing mode in the camera app) and more time strengthening the value add functionality (to compete with Motorola's MotoX). Its important to remember that the MotoX is inferior (spec wise) to the Samsung Galaxy S4 but most reviewers, who played with both, prefer the Motorola MotoX because of these smart situation aware features and its always listening mode.

Spiderpodium flexible smartphone stand review

technologyEdward Kiledjian

Breffo really chose a great name when they called their universal flexible smartphone stand the Spiderpodium. Why you ask? It looks like a spider and holds your smartphone on a podium... Anyway its a great name...

spider_podium5.png

As you can see, it has 8 flexible legs  that bend easily yet stay in place very solidly. The product is covered with this soft touch grippy rubber material. It is wonderfully delicate with your smartphone (won't scratch it) and provides enough friction to hold it in place on plastic, aluminum, wood, glass and stainless steel.

Spiderpodium holding up my iPhone 5s on the fridge's handle.

Spiderpodium holding up my iPhone 5s on the fridge's handle.

When you look at the different suggested designs on the box, you get a little intimidated. I did anyway because I was never good in art class. At first I kept getting frustrated because I couldn't reproduce the perfectly sculpted recommendations provided by the manufacturer so for the first couple of days it sat on my work desk waiting. Eventually I realized that I just needed to mold it as best I could and it became immediately useful.

Holding up a blackberry while it is being charged by an external battery

Holding up a blackberry while it is being charged by an external battery

The more I used it, the more uses I found for it. I started using it to

  • hold up my smartphone (playing Netflix) while on the treadmill in the gym
  • hold my smartphone on the headrest of the car to entertain the little one during a short drive
  • hold my smartphone while using facetime video conferencing
  • hold my smartphone on the shopping cart at the store

The slit in the middle of the base plate is used to slide a charging cable through.

At first you wonder how strong this product is. Can I trust it to securely hold my $800 iPhone 5s? The answer is yes. I mounted it to the screen of the elliptical trainer and watched a movie the entire time I was exercising. The machine was shaking (the gym probably needed to adjust it), nevertheless the Spiderpodium held my iPhone snugly and securely.

spider_podium3.png

I wanted to test how securely it could hold my device for an extended period and hung an iPhone 4 (didn't want to risk my iPhone 5s) with a Mophie battery pack from the fridge door for 24 hours and it didn't budge.

I then performed the same test in the car (hanging it from the rear view mirror) for 24 hours in colder -5 degree Celsius temperature overnight and again it had held the device in place.

Negatives

There is no "easy" way to carry the spiderpodium so I kept it in the pocket of my everyday use jacket. It is small and thin but you still notice it's there. Even though its an extra thing to carry, It went everywhere with me for 2 weeks.

This thing is reliable secure but sometimes it bent when I poked my smartphone to stop a video or answer a call. Its not a major issue but a slight annoyance when it happened.

What about the knockoffs?

When I do these types of reviews, I am often asked to compare the original (usually more expensive) to the Chinese knockoffs you can buy on sites like dhgate and aliexpress.

 

To answer honestly, I ordered one which is why this review took longer to publish. It took the Chinese seller almost 3 weeks to deliver my "Universal car bike mobile phone spider stand holder for iPhone 5s 5c 5 4s s Galaxy Note 3 Note2 S4 S3 S2 Portable Mount."

Differences between the original Breffo Spiderpodium and the Chinese knockoff I bought for $6:

  • The knockoff has a less grippy rubber material and didn't hold it as securely
  • The kockoff had similarly rigid legs but after 3 days of use, one of the legs became limp and could hold itself anymore

I understand the need to find a bargain but in this case, the Chinese knockoff proved to be less than adequate to securely hold an expensive smartphone.

Verdict

At first I thought this was a useless gimmick but the more I used it the more uses I found for it. It is now part of my standard every day kit and will definitely come on all my business trips.  My rating for the spiderpodium us 8/10 and a recommendation of buy.

Source: breffo

8 reasons why I chose an iPhone over Android

technologyEdward Kiledjian
Creative Commons Image - Flickr Lai Rayanne

Creative Commons Image - Flickr Lai Rayanne

My carrier contract was recently up and I had to chose a new device to crown as my daily driver (aka main everyday phone). Although my last device was an iPhone 4s, I have used most Android devices released in the last 12 months and was fond of the features they provided to a tech geek like me.

After considering all my options, 3 phones made it to the Edward smartphone finals:

  1. Apple iPhone 5s
  2. Motorola Moto X
  3. Google Nexus 5

Here is why I chose the iPhone

  1. Consistent Functionality - The iPhone may not have as many bells and whistles as an Android device but you can be 100% certain most features work as you'd expect. Case in point is device rotation detection. On the iPhone, device orientation is detected perfectly every time and changes are almost instant. Most android devices take a while to detect any change in orientation (sometimes up to a couple seconds) and otherwise rotate when you don't want it to.
  2. Keyboard - I love Swiftkey on Android and install it on every Android device I buy. I make sure that it goes through my GMAIL, Tweets and blog to customize its auto-correct database specifically to my writing style. But it still makes mistakes. Lots of mistakes (same thing with the default Android keyboard and Swype).  These replacement keyboard really speed up text entry when they work but are a pain when they keep getting the predictive auto-correct wrong. In my testing, I've found that the iPhone provides consistently better auto-correction.
  3. App Sandboxing - Android is such a great environment because apps can go in and make changes to the operating system default configurations. This is what allows apps to take-over default functionality from built in apps. And then once in a while something goes wrong and the only way to fix your device is to restore to factory default and restart from scratch. I have had apps "break" SMS/MMS functionality. One app broken my APN config which stopped all data functionality (until I finally figured out what had happened). 
  4. The Camera - Even hardcore android fans admit the iPhone camera is superior to every Android device. Android devices have fantastic hardware so the culprit is likely the Android camera software functionality and we have heard rumors that Google is working to release an all new improved camera sub-system (which may even have RAW support). I'm hoping this finally closes the imaging gap with the iPhone but for now, the iPhone's camera reigns supreme.
  5. Quality of apps - Android has an incredibly healthy ecosystem of apps and the top-tier ones are beautiful, well designed and superbly functional. Then you have everything else. Many of the apps on Android feel unfinished with ugly UI and operational issues. I own Pocket Casts on IOS and Android. The one for IOS works perfectly every time, refreshes the catalog quickly and downloads automatically. The Android one has a design that is close but not as beautiful. It doesn't always automatically download my podcasts (even though it is configured to do so) and just doesn't feel as good. This is the same experience I have with other cross platform apps.
  6. Accessory compatibility - Samsung has done an excellent job bringing cool new accessories to its devices but there are simply more add-ons for the IOS platform. Many fitness trackers (like Nike Plus) are iPhone only. The amazing Bluetooth enabled Jot Script stylus works with IOS and brings the one feature that makes handwriting notes on Android impossible (palm rejection) to the IPad.
  7. No maintenance - My Android device requires constant maintenance to keep it humming. As an example when you uninstall an Android app, it often leaves behind orphaned files (which have to be cleaned up). There is no maintenance required on an iPhone, IOS takes care of everything in the back end for you automatically.
  8. Support - Android has a fantastic online community full of people ready to help you but Apple has hundreds of stores staffed with employees who can help me with almost any issue. I can walk into an Apple store anywhere in the world and without an appointment an Apple "Genius" will fix my issue within minutes and send me on my way

My issues with the iPhone

Even though I chose an iPhone, its not all rosy and perfect.

  1. I love the customizable "home screen" and replacement launchers on Android
  2. I love the tight OS integration of Google Now. Sure most Google apps seem to work as good or better on an iPhone than on most Android devices but the one think I love right now is Google Now integration into the OS (especially on the always listening Moto X).

Verdict

I really wanted to justify getting an Android instead of an iPhone. As a tinkerer, there is so much more that I could do with an Android device but at the end of the day, I wanted a device with minimal fuss, with a great camera and apps that would simplify my life. Apple won this round again but I remain incredibly interested in the Android community. If I had to pick one android device that really excited me, it has to be the Motorola Moto X. It is the one Android phone where the designers wanted to create something that augmented your life through simple and clean features. I love it and that would be the Android phone I would buy today if I decided to switch.

 

Android 4.4 Kitkat rolling out to Nexus 7 & 10

technologyEdward Kiledjian
Flickr. Creative Commons image by  medithIT

Flickr. Creative Commons image by  medithIT

As excited as we were for the release of the Nexus 5, we were more excited to see Android 4.4 (aka Kitkat). One benefit of a Nexus device is super fast updates and now we learn that the Nexus 4,7,10 devices will be getting the update shortly. Additionally the update for Google experience phones HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4 will receive their updates in a couple of weeks.

Can't wait for the automatic update, go to Settings > About device > Software to check.

Nokia 1020 camera beats Galaxy S4 which beats the iPhone 5s

technologyEdward Kiledjian

PhoneArena conducted an interested blind photo test to determine which camera produced the best most pleasing pictures. By removing brand bias, they wanted to see which device the public would chose rather than just voting as a fanboy for their preferred device.

Nokia based on Windows Phone may not offer all the comforts of the other established ecosystems but that incredible PureView 41MP camera blew its competitors away. 62% of voters actually chose the Lumia 1020 picture as the best. The Samsung Galaxy S4 came in at a distant second with 20% of the vote and the iPhone 5s came in 3rd with only 11% of the vote. The other 3 competitors were left picking up the crumbs: LG G2m iPhone 5c and the HTC One.

PhoneArena blind smartphone caamera challenge results

PhoneArena blind smartphone caamera challenge results