Samsung Galaxy SIV benchmarks

Just 10 days left until the big Samsung reveal for the Galaxy SIV and you can feel the excitement with tech enthusiasts. Will this much anticipated phone deliver the innovations everyone is expecting?

Faryaab Sheikh has twitted a picture of an Antutu benchmark showing a Samsung Glaxy SIV with an Exynos 5410 quad-core 1.8GHZ processor, 5 inch full HD screen, 2GB of RAM, a 13 megapixel camera and of course Android 4.2

Nothing here is unexpected but it is nice to see rumors from different sources match up. 

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$0.99 Lytro alternative for the iPhone

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I remember first hearing about the wondrous Lytro camera before it was even released. I was amazed at what they had done and the promise of the incredible technology. Unfortunately the cost of the generation 1 camera is so high (Starts at $399) that I couldn’t justify getting it just yet.

Imagine my surprise when I found a $0.99 app called tap2focus which simulates the light-field focus technology using clever and simple techniques. You tap the first area of focus and it takes a picture, you then repeat this process for other areas you may want to focus on later and built this refocusable image. In reality it is taking multiple pictures with different focus points and storing them in its own format which brings up the appropriate picture when someone clicks on the picture. You can email the picture to anyone that has the app or share it via a weblink (works on smartphones, tablet and PCs).

Of course this isn’t real light field photography and has many quirks (like keeping the camera absolutely stable) but it could be fun for iphoneography.

I think this is a novelty app that you will use a couple of times then forget about but it’s great to see developer thinking outside of the box. If you have $0.99 to spare and like iphoneography, download it and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Most popular content this week March 3 2013

Evernote hacked

Earlier this weekend, my beloved Evernote emailed its customers advising them that they had detected  acking attempts and they had reset all of the user passwords as a precaution. They were adamant that no user information was accessed. 

Unlike LinkedIn (whose stolen passwords were easily decrypted), the Evernote passwords are stored hashed and salted which means decrypting them is a long and tedious job (which will likely make it unpractical).

They also promised to released software updates that will make changing the password easier. I can confirm that the updated MAC and Windows versions are now available for download.

Here is the email users received:

Evernote’s Operations & Security team has discovered and blocked suspicious activity on the Evernote network that appears to have been a coordinated attempt to access secure areas of the Evernote Service.

As a precaution to protect your data, we have decided to implement a password reset. Please read below for details and instructions.

In our security investigation, we have found no evidence that any of the content you store in Evernote was accessed, changed or lost. We also have no evidence that any payment information for Evernote Premium or Evernote Business customers was accessed.

The investigation has shown, however, that the individual(s) responsible were able to gain access to Evernote user information, which includes usernames, email addresses associated with Evernote accounts and encrypted passwords. Even though this information was accessed, the passwords stored by Evernote are protected by one-way encryption. (In technical terms, they are hashed and salted.)

While our password encryption measures are robust, we are taking additional steps to ensure that your personal data remains secure. This means that, in an abundance of caution, we are requiring all users to reset their Evernote account passwords. Please create a new password by signing into your account on evernote.com.

After signing in, you will be prompted to enter your new password. Once you have reset your password on evernote.com, you will need to enter this new password in other Evernote apps that you use. We are also releasing updates to several of our apps to make the password change process easier, so please check for updates over the next several hours.

As recent events with other large services have demonstrated, this type of activity is becoming more common. We take our responsibility to keep your data safe very seriously, and we’re constantly enhancing the security of our service infrastructure to protect Evernote and your content.

There are also several important steps that you can take to ensure that your data on any site, including Evernote, is secure:

  • Avoid using simple passwords based on dictionary words
  • Never use the same password on multiple sites or services
  • Never click on ‘reset password’ requests in emails — instead go directly to the service

Thank you for taking the time to read this. We apologize for the annoyance of having to change your password, but, ultimately, we believe this simple step will result in a more secure Evernote experience. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Evernote Support.

Apple's iphone 5 AV adapter doesn't provide full HD

The developers over at Panic were playing with the Apple AV adapter for iPhone 5 (and iPad mini) and realized something was “not right”. They started investigating and discovered that the device wasn’t outputting full HD video (1080p). The signal was of lower quality and had artifacts in it. So they set out to find out why.

It turns out the adapter isn’t outputting the highest quality HD signal you would expect so they cracked the connector open and discovered that it contains a SoC (System on a chip) with dedicated RAM. The team isn’t sure what’s going on but they believe the device is actually performing an AirPlay like function which would explain the degraded quality.

If this is truly what is happening then the question is why? It could be that the new smaller lightning connector doesn’t have enough pins to output full HD so they are using an Airplay like protocol.

It will be interesting to see what others now do with this information. Will Apple even respond?

What we know about the Samsung Galaxy SIV (S4)

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What we know about upcoming Samsung Galaxy SIV

The body

When you look at the Galaxy Note 8, it uses the same polycarbonate body as the Galaxy SIII which means the SIV will likely keep the same plastic based phone case as its predecessor.

The screen

Most rumors peg a larger the Samsung Galaxy SIV screen than its predecessor (likely a 5”). Additionally many analysts believe Samsung will ditch AMOLED screens and move to the Full HD experience SoLux display.

It seems pixel density is the new device cold war and Samsung is certainly feeling the pressure to increase the pixel density on its upcoming flagship device. The iPhone 5 has a pixel density of 326ppi while the newly released HTC One has 468 ppi. It is safe to assume the Galaxy SIV will be somewhere in between.

The Camera

Slightly more important than pixel density is camera quality. Users are now demanding better picture quality and this was one of the reasons I decided the Nexus 4 wasn’t worth it for me. HTC is pushing the industry to innovate by including an “ultrapixel” camera in its flagship HTC One. In addition to improving the actually camera and lens structure, one of the manufacturers has to start leveraging the incredible power these devices have to add bleeding edge algorithmic computing. Merging a quality camera, lenses and software will be the only way to deliver the quality pictures consumers are expecting.

The only rumors I have read so far on the Samsung Galaxy SIV is that it will come with a 13megapixel sensor. It’s important to remember that Samsung has a Galaxy branded point and shoot camera which may be an Ace up its sleeve. Hopefully they leverage that team to deliver an incredible camera experience using a larger camera sensor, a better lens setup and good software.

Android version

I am fairly confident predicting that the Galaxy SIV will launch with Android 4.2 since the launch event is in March. We expect Key Lime Pie to launch at Google IO in May and Google tends to keep the first release of a new OS in house for its Nexus devices.

I just hope the upgrade of the Galaxy SIV to Key Lime Pie won’t take a year. We can also assume Samsung will skin Android with its TouchWiz interface. Samsung is moving towards touchless control so it is conceivable this tech will end up in the new Galaxy SIV. It is tech that would allow you to control certain functions of the device without having to touch the it. I can imagine this tech use for the camera app, navigating the launcher, waking up the phone, etc.

The Power 

No major speculation disagreements here. Everyone agrees we will see a larger battery than the S3 to provide almost all day battery to the power hungry LTE beast. But I don’t expect Samsung to deliver a massive multi-day capable battery.

I also expect Samsung to build in wireless charging. Nothing too sexy here.

The Brains

The internet was ablaze a few months ago about the possibility that Samsung may power its upcoming Galaxy SIV with the new Exynos Octa (8 core processor) but I believe it is more likely that we will see it powered by a quad-core 1.7Ghz Snapdragon 600 which has integrated LTE.

My dream device

As an iphone user that has to upgrade his phone in October of this year, I am particularly interested in what Samsung releases. If the device is well designed and includes the innovations I want, it may convince me to jump from IOS to Android for my everyday smartphone.

My wish list is:

  • 5 inch full HD screen with a pixel density above 400ppi
  • A much larger camera sensor and better software to deliver incredible pictures
  • A quad-core LTE powered device
  • All day battery even with moderate use
  • 802.11 n/ac WIFI chip

Most of this is possible and likely. The second point is the only one I am not sure of. 

 

It's the ecosystem stupid

Search the internet for Google’s Pixel Chromebook and you’ll see something very strange, reviewers absolutely love the device but recommend that consumers don’t buy it.

Why? What is going on here? Is this opposite-land? Why would a reviewer love a product then recommend you not buy it? It all comes down to ecosystem. In years past, the hardware was more important that the ecosystem (form over function). Now our perceptions and expectations have changed. As consumers, we understand that we are buying an entry ticket into an ecosystem.

When we see an incredibly beautiful, well designed terminal (like the Pixel) that only provides access to the very limited Google apps (and nothing else), we can admire its beauty but it is useless and certainly not worth the $1300 price tag.

We saw the same thing with the Nokia Lumia 920 which is a beautifully designed phone but flopped because it was powered by Windows Phone which has a small and insignificant ecosystem.

What is an ecosystem? It is all of the ancillary services and products you can use when buying a particular flavor of device. An iPhone is beautiful but worthless without apps and accessories. What really drives value for my iPhone is the million plus apps and the thousands of accessories I can buy to improve my usage experience (battery cases, lenses, fitness gear, etc).

Android has proven to be a valiant competitor to the iphone because it has managed to build an interesting ecosystem for its users. Even with Google’s might and the power of Samsung the giant, Android fragmentation has meant that the ecosystem [on Android] isn’t as big as the IOS one. By strictly controlling design and limiting device releases, Apple creates a huge pool of users per device which easily become profitable markets for accessory/ app makers.  This means consumers get more options per iPhone model than most Android devices (even the Samsung Galaxy S3).

This is why product like the Lumia 920 and Google Pixel aren’t well received. There will always be a core group of fanboys that will drink any coolaid but this small market isn’t highly profitable. This is why blackberry spent a lot of time and money to ensure it had 70,000 apps at launch. They wanted to show prospective customers that they had a healthy ecosystem. Blackberry understands that without this ecosystem, even a wonderful device is doomed for failure.

I am an iPhone user since 2007 and when I consider moving to Android, one of my major stumbling blocks is the huge investment I have made in the Apple ecosystem (particularly apps). I think the Samsung Galaxy SIV (S4) or the next Google Nexus will be incredible devices that I will likely want but having to re-buy all my apps in another ecosystem is something that will hold me back (unless the next iPhone is a dud). I am convinced Google would win many iPhone users if it offered some kind of trade-in program. 

Why working from home may harm your career

When you hear about non-traditional work arrangements, you probably think about a hot tech startup where employees come to work on Segways wearing Hawaiian shirts but most companies now offer some type of non-traditional work arrangement. The most common is flex time and work from home. These arrangements benefit the employees & employer.

The employee gets a comfortable home work environment that is distraction free and saves dozens of travel hours. The employer gets a more productive employee and considerably reduced secondary costs (office, phone, internet, etc).

Although Work From Home is mutually beneficial, research has shown that it does have one major negative repercussion: a negative perception of those using these non-traditional arrangements (particularly Work from Home). It seems these employees aren’t given the same amount of credit as the traditional office bound employees. This seems to be a natural (sometimes unconscious) bias suspecting that employees who are not in the office are not working “as hard” or “as long”  as their traditional counterparts. 

A university study entitled “Why Showing Your Face Matters” found that employees working with non-traditional arrangements typically receive lower performance evaluations, smaller raises and fewer promotions than the office bound control group. These negative impacts exist even if the remote employees work harder and longer than the control.

If you are an employee working from home, there are steps you can take to improve your situation:

  • Stay In touch – Stay in constant communication with colleagues, customers and supervisors. Regularly email, Instant Message and call. By always staying available and in touch, people understand that you are “actually working”
  • Get face time – Make it a point to periodically come into the office and when there, use this time to meet with your boss and do visible work you can’t do from home.
  • Build alliances – Identify influential people (working from the office) that can help your cause by being supporters. Keep these people update about what you are working on. These people can be excellent references during peer reviews (for evaluations).
  • Prove your dedication – Work from home employees tend to start working earlier and finish later (since there is no commute time). Highlight this fact by sending emails or leaving voicemails during these extended periods. Think of these as tangible proof of your dedication.

As an organizational leader that has managed thousands of remote employees, I hope the above recommendations help you and your career. These are proven strategies that work and I recommend you take them seriously.

How Apple will compete with Google Now

Apple is the company everyone loves to hate right now and it seems every investor has turned its back on this mighty tech giant. The biggest complaint I hear is that “Apple is being out innovated by its competitors”. And I somewhat agree. IOS was revolutionary in 2007 when it was first released and it is the reason we all have fantastic smartphones in our pockets (Android, IOS or Windows phone). Since its triumphant launch, we really haven’t seen any major changes that would drive the next evolution in smartphones.

ValueWalk has uncovered an interesting Apple patent for “situational awareness”. This is a promising technology that would allow Apple devices to perform actions automatically based on the current situation (could be location, time, etc).

The patent says “The electronic device is ready to perform the anticipated function without input from the user by using sensors to sense environmental attributes,” and  “The sensors can include an ambient light sensor, a force sensor, a temperature sensor, an ambient noise sensor, and a motion sensor.”

This is fantastic news and the kind of innovation Apple customers have been asking for. If done right, it may be a irrecoverable blow to Google Now but I doubt Google is sitting and waiting. The next 12 months will be very interesting for customers.

iPhones are more reliable than Samsung phones

A study undertaken by FixYa found that an iPhone is 300% more reliable than a Samsung device. Before anyone starts to discredit the findings, it is important to note that they looked at 722,558 problem reports mixed with data from Statcounter. The data is solid and paints an interesting picture.


Where are our Finish friends from Nokia you ask? They were third in line. The least reliable were found to be Motorola devices, which is interesting considering all of the rumors of an unbreakable phone (called the X-phone).

The most common complaint for iPhone users was battery life. The most common Samsung complaints were related to the microphone and speaker.

Blackberry outsells Samsung Galaxy S3 and iPhone 5

Canadian retailer Glentel, who operates 330 stores, says the Blackberry Z10 is out selling the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 5. They haven't provided any actual sales numbers but this may be the kind of lifesaving trend Blackberry needs right now. 

We should get more concrete sales number from Blackberry March 28 when it reports it's forth quarter results. It will be interesting to see how our American friends react to the new Z10 when it is finally made available "down south" in March.

Many have said this is the make it or break it device for Blackberry.

 

Samsung Galaxy S4 event March 14

We knew it was coming and Samsung has finally confimed that it will unveil the Samsung Galaxy S4 at an even March 14 in New York.

I can't wait to see what Samsung's new phone will bring to market

Can I trust Huawei mobile phones?

Big media loves stories that vilify someone because it sells papers or grabs eyeballs. Over the last couple of months, information security (or insecurity) has provided dozens of opportunities for media to create heroes and villains. 

One of the countries that are constantly vilified is China and many consumers looking for their next cell phone are wondering if they should buy a Huawei cell phone or not. Every once in a while, I get an email from a reader wondering what the risk is of buying a “Chinese made mobile device”. 

It is important to remember that Huawei is a 30 billion dollar plus company and that it is unlikely that they would risk their entire business just to “bug” your cell phone. Could they? Sure but so could any other foreign company including LG, Sharp, Samsung, etc. These companies could build deep logic intelligence into their devices chips but it is safe to assume that someone would eventually detect these types of data flow and cause havoc for that company. 

If you handle data worth stealing, you are probably already sensitized to proper security hygiene and take appropriate security measures. Remember that you can be spied on by malware that can easily find its way on your phone software (and they really don’t need to build it into the out of factory device).

For the average consumer, you shouldn’t disregard a good phone from a foreign manufacturer just because you’re afraid it may be an espionage tool. I doubt a foreign country is interested in pictures of yesterday’s supper, your movies rendez-vous SMSs or your email to your doctor about your bunions.

 

Videotron's netflix competitor is now live

I wrote about Videotron's new movies on demand service a couple of days ago and the site is now live and offering 1 month of free service.

You can read my original article here.

Si vous cherchez une option francophone à Netflix, consulter le site ici et bénéficier du premier mois gratuit.

Novatel MiFi 2 hotspot coming to Bell Canada in March

Wifi hotspots are excellent tools for road wariors. We have learned that Bell Canada will be offering the [fairly] new Novatel Mifi 2 (touch based WIFI hotspot). This hotspot offers all day functionality (11 hour battery) and is easy to configure via its touch interface. We know that Novatel will be improving the touch interface (compared to the AT&T version) but we don't know what those changes will be. 
Price and available hasn't been announced yet but our American friends can pick this model up for $50 with a 2 year agreement so Bell's offer should be materially similar. 
Read the press release here.

Review of AliExpress.com

What is AliExpress

AliExpress.com is an ecommerce website owned by Alibaba which promises to link buyers directly with sellers from Chine. AliExpress.com sells everything from clothing to electronics to pet products. You can find sellers selling single items and others selling items in packs (10-10000).

One of the interesting features of AliExpress is the fact that all payments are held by the site until the buyer confirms that he has received the item. This was a major issue with Alibaba.com and the internet is littered with horror stories of customers getting scammed.

As a test, I bought this 360 degree leather case from AliExpress (for $US6.98) and compared it to a similar care I bought from Best Buy Canada (for $CA30.00). Although the brands were different, the cases were exactly the same. Same quality, usability and look.

I placed 3 single-item orders about 4 weeks ago and have so far received 2 of them (within the promised timeframe and with items as described). The 3rd one is still within the mentioned shipping delay period. All items came properly packaged and clean.

What you need to know before you buy

Although AliExpress holds all payments in escrow until the buyer confirms receipt of the goods, some buyers seem to complain that the refund process can take up to a month. This may seem long but Paypal isn’t any better.

You are buying goods directly from China so remember that the Quality Assurance process isn’t the same as in North America. I don’t mind buying small non-critical items but I wouldn’t buy things like baby products, safety products or other related items from China (since Canada has much stricter requirements).

Some buyers have complained that the item received isn’t exactly what was advertised on the sales page. So far I haven’t experienced this problem but be aware that some customers complain about this on the internet. Make sure you really examine your product and file a complaint ASAP if it is materially different.

Carefully read the sales page for the items you are interested in to confirm delivery times. Most sellers list an order handling and a separate shipping delay window. While some vendors promise to ship an item within 2-10 days, I saw some pushing it 30-45 days. Most of the time, you will find a reasonable seller so pay attention to that. Then make sure the shipping delay is also reasonable.

How to read between the lines

 

  • Any seller offering a wide range of unrelated products is likely a trading company (aka not the manufacturer) which means delays may be longer and you are likely not getting the best price.
  • Make sure you ask all of your questions before committing to the purchase and carefully time the sellers response. A quick and complete response means you are likely dealing with a good vendor that will work with you to solve any post-sale issues.
  • Be careful of counterfeit items. I did a quick search and found a bunch of sellers offering “waterproof” iphone cases claiming to be the Lifeproof brand. I emailed their customer support and was told these are likely counterfeit. Maybe they are the authentic ones and the main brand is making huge profits but would you trust it? I also found hundreds of knock offs for Montblanc, Nike, etc. Be careful 

Verdict

The site itself seems to be well designed and my overall experience has been positive but there are crooks on it looking to scam buyers. You will find really good deals and I recommend you use the site but be careful. Start by making small purchases. Do your research and only buy from sellers with lots of positive ratings. 

What's the best smartphone? What smartphone do I use?

A question I regularly receive from readers is "What smartphone do you use?"

In December, I wrote an article entitled "Time To Switch From IOS To Android?" I recommend you read it as it explains some of issues with IOS and the incredible leaps made by Android. Right now I am using an iPhone 4S as my primary everyday smartphone and I am relatively happy with it.

My existing contract expires October 2013 and I will use this opportunity to re-evaluate all of my options (both mobile service provider and device). I think the Nexus 4 is a good device but there are too many missing elements for me (read this article). If the Samsung Galaxy S4 or next Nexus deliver what I expect them to deliver then this is likely the year I switch my primary device to one of them. 

When looking at these devices, I want a solid, stable and efficient operating system (and manufacturer skin). I want strong internals (RAM, processor, storage). Most importantly thought, I want an extremely strong photo/video offering. I find myself using the phone's camera more and more and am extremely disapointed by everything in the market right now (including the iPhone 5).

I'm not only looking for an increase in megapixels but I want clean, crisp, low noise images that would rival any point-and-shoot. I want super fast camera response (so I don't miss an important moments) and want decent performance even in low light. I want amazing hardware married to amazing software.

My real decision will be in October and I will share it with you here. If I had to chose the best smartphone today, I would say the iPhone 5 is slightly better than the Android bunch but not by a lot.

Google Maps for IOS offline mode

Over the last week, I received a couple of emails from readers asking if there is a way to cache maps for offline use on Google Maps for IOS (iphone, iPad and iPad mini). 

There is no doubt that this (and countless other features) will eventually find its way into the IOS version but as of today, it is not a supported feature. If you plan a short route while connected, that route will most likely remain cached during that trip but that is it. 

There are many other Google Maps for Android features that have not found their way to IOS yet. I am sure the Google team in working non stop to improve the app so stay tuned.

Netflix competitor for French movies and content

 US Netflix users are blessed with fresh and interested content ready for their instant consumption. As a Canadian however, I am presented with old content not worth the $8 a month. It seems Videotron (a Quebec based triple-play provider) has decided and fill the gap.

Videotron will be launching a video on demand service, with French content, [this week] for $9.99 a month. Many of the important details (like platform support) are still missing but we do know that they have agreements with the main content owners. It is safe to assume that this service will be available for the most common mobile devices (ipad, iphone, Android, PC and Mac).

I know many Europeans may get excited by this news but it seems the service will only be available to residents of Quebec and Ontario (at launch).

 

Nexus 4 in stock and available at FIDO

Fido is my cell phone provider and I am happy to see that the Nexus 4 is now back in stock and available to all FIDO customers (current and new).

When I wrote this article: 

  • I did not see the Nexus 4 on the main Rogers webpage yet.
  • I did not see the Nexus 4 on the main Bell webpage yet.
  • I did not see the Nexus 4 on the main Telus webpage yet.
  • I did see it on the main Videotron webpage.
  • I did see it on the Wind Mobile webpage. 

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