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sullina · 4 months

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i think one of the biggest steps we, as a society, will be able to take towards sustainability (of, like... everything) is to eliminate the concept of manufactured obsolescence. For big stuff like houses and buildings, but also smaller stuff, especially electronics of all kinds.

And this got a bit long, but the TL;DR (too long; didn't read) is: capitalism is evil and gonna destroy the entire planet unless we abolish it as soon as possible.

There's no real reason why any kind of computer/tablet/phone/etc. can't last more than like 3 years max. It should be highly illegal for companies to push updates onto our electronics that purposely slow them down, or to stop support of "old" operating systems that aren't even 5 years old yet, in favor of getting a new phone with a new operating system for no reason other than to sell people a new phone.

Same goes for storage, kinda. I have an SD card that's about as big as a SIM card and can store 250GB of data. There's no reason why my phones internal storage is only 25GB, except to push "cloud storage" onto people for companies to secretely mine that data to push more advertising onto us. And why is it always ads, anyway? Like, at least offer me a service, but they're not doing that.

And not just phones, but literally everything. There's no reason why a fridge or an oven or an automatic feeder or ANY kind of smart device should need a wifi connection to just do the one thing it's supposed to do. None. These things worked just fine in the part when we didn't have any internet of things type bullshit, there's no reason to make these things worse except to squeeze more money out of people. (I am aware that "smart things" can be incredibly helpful for disabled people to live an independent life. However, in those cases as well, there's no reason why "no internet" should be a fatal point of failure, and there's no reason why something like a thermostat needs to have an internet connection to recieve voice commands. I mean it needs to know like... 3 or 4 words: an activating phrase, "higher", "lower", and numbers. It cannot be complicated enough to require regular updates via internet.)

and non-electronics as well.

Just take clothes.

So many clothes are made out of "polyesther" or "polyacryl" or something else with the word "poly-" at the start, which usually just means "plastic". And I'm sure there are some uses for plastic clothes like if someone has complicated allergies to a bunch of natural fibers, but there's no reason to have more than 80% of all clothes available on the market be either pure plastic or half plastic. 1) it's absolutely atrocious for the environment, because these clothes leech microplastics into waters like no tomorrow while only lasting like 5 years at best 2) they're just terrible quality-wise. I used to wear a plastic jacket in winter, and i would either sweat to death with it closed without even exhausting myself, or freeze like hell with it open. Neither of which are ideal. Then i got a cotton sweater to wear in winter and i didn't sweat, but i wasn't cold either. I was comfortably warm without getting sweaty, because the sweater let my skin breathe. Plastic can't do that. 3) Vegans can yell about this one all they want, but "vegan leather" is also just plastic. there's no such thing as "vegan leather", but ACTUAL leather may harm an animal (though with as much beef that's sold all over the world, there's no way there's a shortage of cow leather), but it's only gonna "harm" ONE animal. Not every single animal on earth due to byproducts of the manufacturing process and the fact that it never fucking goes away. And real leather is so durable. Like, sure, you kill one animal and get its skin for leather (but also its meat for food and everything else, i don't even know how much), if you care for the thing you made from its skin, you're set for literal generations, because it doesn't break after like 5 years. And if that thing does eventually break, you can still break it up and use the leather for new, smaller, things. And once those things break, too, to the point where the leather can't be reused, you can throw it away, knowing that it will decompose soon, instead of sticking around forever.

And I'm sure there's plenty more things, but it all ends up leading back to money and capitalism. Capitalism tells companies to get money. More money. More money. Get absolutely obscene amounts of money.

and of course the first question that regular people always ask is "but why?" But here's the thing: the "why" isn't important in capitalism. There's no reason behind the hoarding of wealth, because the hoarding of wealth is the reason.

and remember the saying "When the Last Tree Is Cut Down, the Last Fish Eaten, and the Last Stream Poisoned, You Will Realize That You Cannot Eat Money"?

Yeah, capitalism doesn't care about the fact that you're cutting down the last tree, killing the last fish, and poisoning the last stream. As long as you're making money, the damage you're doing is irrelevant. There's no cost too great for making money, as long as that cost isn't money.

#capitalism #sustainability #rant

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gold-saber · 7 years

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Click

July 2013

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

Idly, Karissa Bradley flicked the safety of her pistol off, then on, and back again. It wasn’t loaded, but the simple motion kept her intently focused. Not on the action, but rather, on the simple sound it created. Even when the sound had passed below the scope of human hearing, those waves could still be measured and detected, if one had the ability to do so. Which, as her code name of Sound-wave implied, she did. A very simple version of echolocation, but it served her well enough as an early alert system.

Sure enough, she ‘heard’ the ultrasonic waves bounce back to her, followed shortly by the sound of footsteps. She’d heard the owner of this particular set of footsteps often enough to know exactly who it was.

“Got what I asked for, Jack?” She inquired as the charcoal haired Illuminati agent rounded the corner. With a quick glance back down the hall he’d come from, he approached pulling a sim card holder from his pocket.

“Yeah, I got the data you wanted. What do you want this shit for anyways?” He asked, holding out the card. Karissa snatched the card from his hand and tucked it in her pocket so he couldn’t swipe it back.

“What I’m going to do with it, is none of your business. I have my work, you have yours. And I do appreciate you doing yours. Makes mine so much easier.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say ‘Sound-wave’. You coming to the next Office Party?” Jack drawled, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

“Pass. Drunkenness is all well and good, but I prefer to not make a fool of myself around my co-workers.” She answered, turning to leave. Jack chuckled.

“You’ve got to come to at least one. You haven’t truly lived till you do.”

“I’ll take that under advisement.”

He laughed, turning back down the hall the way he’d come.

Karissa glowered after her fellow agent, before retreating to her office. There wasn’t really anything secret in the Illuminati. Cassini could see everything she did anyways. But she really didn’t want Jack sticking his nose into her cases. She plugged the SD card into her computer, and activated the virus scanner. While the program ran, she pulled up another file. One that she’d been compiling in her free time.

Everything she’d been able to dig up on the Templar Agent, Michael Smith. Her sister would say it wasn’t healthy to be putting this much effort into investigating a rival agent, even if he’d managed to best her in a fight. But the humiliation of the loss continued to eat at her. And the more she learned about him, the worse it got. He hadn’t even been an agent for a year! He’d barely had any training, and she’d been utterly beat. How?!

She snarled at the screen, jotting down the address of his family. Maybe she’d learn something that’d calm her frustration.

Seemed like an ordinary enough family. Mom, two kids, mac and cheese for dinner. Empty spot for the eldest, though it was unlikely any of them knew he was hopping around the world on a regular basis. Even their conversation was boringly mundane. Karissa gnawed on her lip as she watched. This was a waste of time. Why’d she let herself do this? The only thing even marginally interesting she’d turned up was the handful of wards her drone Spock had found scratched around the base of the house.

She gave an aggravated sigh, and started to go. Until she heard another heartbeat. She froze, zeroing in on the source, shutting out all other sound. There, hiding in the brush, on the far side of the drive. Someone was crouching near one of the wards. She could hear the scratch of a pencil on paper, making quick short strokes on the page.

“Another one for the evidence book.” a man’s voice mumbled as he shut a notebook with an almost imperceptible thump.

Muffling the sound around herself, she crept closer. She’d only made it a few steps before the figure started to move as well, heading back towards the road. Once the steps hit the pavement they turned sharply to the right. She kept pace with him for half a block easily enough. Whoever he was, he were real good at moving stealthily. If she’d been anyone else, it’s unlikely she’d have been able to keep track of him.

She quickened her pace when she heard the click of a key. The man was already turning the ignition when she caught sight of the truck. She couldn’t leave the brush line, or she’d risk blowing her cover. But she couldn’t let this guy get away without something she could use to track him down. His proximity to the ward she’d found, as well as the comments he’d made, couldn’t be ignored.

She had Zat out of his holster in a moment, and bowling ball tossed him down the street. With a click he activated, lifting off the ground and shooting to the truck. Picture of the license plate, tire tread pattern, and a spectrum scan of the paint were quickly logged, just as the car shifted into gear and started pulling away. Zat wouldn’t be fast enough to keep pace once he picked up speed, so she pulled the drone back. The data she’d got should be enough for her to track this guy down, and figure out what he was up to.

If he was trying to scratch through the veil of secrecy of the Secret World, then he needed to be monitored. And if he was getting to close, well…people go missing all the time.

#writing #the secret world #secret world legends #raven knock

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tamboradventure · 7 years

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The Best Travel Gadgets for 2017

In this month’s travel tech column, Dave Dean, our resident travel tech guru, all around cool dude, and found of the tech website Too Many Adapters, rounds up the best travel gadgets for 2017.

Working out what to pack — and more importantly, what to leave behind — is a major hassle for travelers, whether you’re gone for a week or a year. Tech gear, in particular, is a problem: models and features change all the time; it’s fragile, expensive, and tempting to thieves; and it can easily distract from the experience you’re trying to have. Even worse, a lot of it just doesn’t work very well once you get out on the road.

I’ve been writing about technology for travelers since 2011, and have tested more useless gadgets than I care to remember. Occasionally, though, something stands out: a phone that’s particularly durable, a laptop that’s surprisingly good value, a little accessory that genuinely improves your trip.

Here, then, are my 2017 recommendations for quality tech gear that makes your trip simpler and easier, without destroying your bank balance or luggage allowance.

Smartphones

A smartphone is easily the single most useful piece of technology a traveler can buy. In fact, since it replaces everything from a flashlight to a camera, a guidebook to a music player and much more, many people can (and do) get away without packing any other gadgets.

You can spend under $250 for a good budget model, or close to $1000 for a top-of-the-range version. There are benefits to spending more, of course, but not everyone needs the extra features that come with the higher price tags. These are my top picks across the range:

Budget – Motorola Moto G 5 Plus. Motorola has been making good, inexpensive smartphones for several years, and the Moto G 5 Plus continues the trend. For around $230 (less, if you get the model with Amazon ads), you’ll have a phone that does all the basics well. It’s also water resistant. The battery should last all but the longest travel days, and there’s a “TurboCharger” that gives six hours more use in just 15 minutes and you can even stick in a micro-SD card so you’ll never run out of storage space. It’s easily my top budget pick right now.

Mid-Range – OnePlus 3T. OnePlus keeps turning out mid-priced phones with high-end specs, and the 3T is the best so far. For under $500, you’ll get a smartphone with more storage, RAM, and raw performance than devices costing far more. It has dual SIM slots, so you can easily switch between your home SIM and a money-saving local SIM card; all-day battery life; and a fast charger that takes it from 0 to 60% in half an hour.

High-end – Apple iPhone 7 or Samsung Galaxy S8. Android owners with big bank accounts should pick up the Samsung Galaxy S8. It’s the sexiest smartphone on the market, with a curved “infinity” display that makes every other phone look old and boring. The S8 crams a larger screen into a smaller space than the competition, and it has plenty of storage and RAM plus a micro-SD slot for ensuring that you never run out of space. Along with its great performance, it is water and dust resistant and has one of the best cameras you’ll find on any phone. For Apple lovers, the iPhone 7 gets almost everything right, with exceptional performance and build quality, a fantastic camera, and of course, access to everything in the App Store.

Tablets and e-readers

Don’t want to do every tech task on your phone? While I’ve stopped recommending any of the smaller tablet computers — when your phone has a 5.5” display, there’s little point also carrying a 7” tablet — the larger models are a different story.

Apple: iPad. The standard iPad is best for most travelers. It’s dropped in both weight and price recently, and you now get a useful, lightweight 10” tablet (Wi-Fi-only version), with enough storage, for bit over $300. It’s perfect for watching Netflix, browsing the email, and staying up to date on Facebook! (You can get one with a SIM card slot as well, but it’s a lot more expensive and only worth considering if you don’t have an unlocked smartphone and want to stay connected all the time.)

Android: Asus Zenpad 3S 10. The Asus Zenpad 3S 10 gives you a faster, cheaper tablet, with great graphics and more storage space. It has a fast-charging option (especially useful for those huge tablet batteries) and a micro-SD slot to add even more storage when you run out. It’s a premium tablet, sleek and lightweight, and well worth the money.

E-reader: Paperwhite. If you enjoy a good book, consider an e-reader as well. I’ve been using one of Amazon’s Kindles for years, and recently upgraded to the Paperwhite. With its non-glare screen, weeks of battery life, and built-in light that doesn’t strain your eyes or annoy others in dark rooms, it’s easy to recommend. Not carrying physical books saves weight and space in your bag, and in countries where English-language books are hard to find, being able to download a new one with a couple of taps is a godsend.

Laptops

With phones and tablets having more power and storage each year, there’s less need for most travelers to carry something else. If you’re planning to do more than light work from the road, though, there’s still no replacement for a good laptop.

Windows: Asus Zenbook UX330UA. The best value for money by far is the Asus Zenbook UX330UA. The company has been making very good, lightweight, $700 laptops for a few years, and the latest model continues the tradition. It gets all the basics right — 8Gb of RAM, a 256Gb solid-state drive, excellent battery life — while having more than enough power, and weighing well under three pounds. It doesn’t make silly compromises like cutting out USB ports or SD card readers, and you can even hook it up to a TV in your Airbnb apartment to watch your favorite shows.

Mac: MacBook Pro. The Air, which used to be the perfect travel laptop, hasn’t been updated in so long, it makes no sense to buy it. The 12” MacBook is also due for an update, and with a relatively slow processor and just a single USB-C port that’s also used for charging, you’re quite restricted in what you can do with it. If I were considering one of these, I’d likely choose to save a bunch of money, and just buy an iPad Pro and Bluetooth keyboard instead. That said the older version MacBook Pro has dropped in price and only weighs 3.5 pounds and comes with old fashioned USB and SD card slots. The new model, while sleek and light, is pretty expensive and doesn’t come with these features. I prefer non-Apple products but if you were looking for a powerful Apple computer, the older Macbook Pro is the best choice.

Accessories

There’s no need to fill your backpack with gadgets, but a few well-chosen accessories go a long way. Better Wi-Fi, easier charging, simple photo backup, and drowning out noisy kids (and noisier adults), improves any trip. Here are seven accessory recommendations to do exactly that:

Multi-USB travel adapter – This is my single favorite travel accessory right now. It’s small and light, and it lets you charge up to four USB devices from a single power socket. It’s great in hostels and airports, comes with clip-on adapters that let you use it in 150 countries, and costs under twenty bucks.

Travel power strip – If you’re also carrying devices like laptops and cameras that need charging from the wall, use one of these little power strips instead. With two North American sockets, plus three USB ports, you can power everything at once. Just remember to pack a universal travel adapter as well.

Charging cord – I always pack a long USB cable for my phone, plus a small spare in case it breaks. The extra length is super-useful when the power socket is halfway up a wall… which it always seems to be.

Noise-isolating earbuds – Screaming kids, snoring dorm mates, honking horns. I shut them all out with these noise-isolating earphones. Music and podcasts sound great, they drown out almost everything (and everyone), and there’s even a little carrying case to keep them protected and untangled. When I left them on a plane in Bangkok, I went straight out and bought the same model again.

Rugged USB stick – Whether you’re backing up trip photos, storing a bunch of TV shows, or just sharing files with friends at the hostel, a USB stick always comes in handy. Go for this rugged version — it’ll stand up to a lot more abuse and costs about the same as more fragile models.

Travel router and portable battery – Multipurpose gadgets are ideal for travelers, at least when they’re done well, and this HooToo travel router definitely is. It boosts Wi-Fi networks and lets you share them among all your devices, has a 10,000mAh battery to keep everything charged up, and lets you plug in a USB stick or portable hard drive so you can copy files from your phone or tablet.

UE Roll 2 portable speaker – There are thousands of travel speakers out there, but most of them are terrible. If you like to share your songs with the hostel or around the campfire, do yourself a favor and grab the UE Roll 2. It’s slim and light and waterproof, with amazing sound for its size and up to nine hours of battery life. There’s nothing better out there for the money right now.

GRAYL ultralight water purifier – I’ve used a bunch of water purifiers over the years, and the GRAYL is the one I’ve stuck with. It’s lightweight, super-simple to use, and gets rid of pretty much every nasty you can think of, plus it functions as a normal bottle in places where the water is safe to drink. My girlfriend used it every day on a two week trip in Mozambique, and never got sick. If you want safe water everywhere you go, while cutting down on plastic use, go for the GRAYL.

***Whatever you decide to take, consider carefully how much you’ll really use it — less is more when it comes to travel, and tech gear is no exception. The less stuff you have to get damaged or stolen, the less time you’ll spend looking after it and worrying about it.

Once you’ve made your decision, protect anything fragile with a case (they’re a lot cheaper than buying replacements), and make sure anything you really care about is covered by your travel insurance. Test everything thoroughly before you leave home, so you know exactly how it works and can deal with any problems while you’ve still got time and a shipping address.

Dave runs Too Many Adapters, a site devoted to technology for travelers. A geek as long as he can remember, he worked in IT for fifteen years. Now based out of a backpack long term, Dave writes about travel and tech from anywhere with half-decent Internet and a great view. You can also find him talking about the life of a long-term traveller at What’s Dave Doing?

The post The Best Travel Gadgets for 2017 appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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#IFTTT #Travel Blog – Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

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hellotechsgeeksfan · 4 years

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I seem to be reviewing quite a lot of things that these is I've had these for a while and I've just been lazy to get round to it this is kind of a fun thing that I wanted to share this will be going on sale no doubt on eBay at some point this came all the way from South Korea and what is it well this is the Samsung galaxy folder this is then there's a second one actually a Samsung Galaxy Folder this is the original one and well you can guess there's a folder phone as the name suggests but with a touchscreen and the physical keyboard I don't know what it is I'm maybe I'm harking back to less complicated times with cell phones but I am thinking about my old Motorola RAZR but I quite like a folder and me just like to look at them I'm not saying that you'd be using this as your daily driver although this one I'm yeah I think to be pretty cool you could use as a second phone so the specs well it is a quad-core processor.

I think it's Samsung's own quad-core processor it has 1.5 GB of ram this particular model has 8 GB internal memory and you can put an SD card up in it says up to 256 GB I'm just looking on their website the screen is 3.8 inch is not particularly large and the resolution is 800 x 480 which might not sound a lot but when you're talking about 3.6 inches it's actually pretty sharp so it's and not bad at all it looks pretty decent to me and the only thing I can't remember is it, Jillson, I don't think it is I don't think it is Dual-Sim, of course, the back comes off and the battery is user-replaceable which is always a handy thing camera is the main camera is eight megapixels and it was it say about the front camera two megapixels for the Selfie Camera so I mean it's not particularly high end but again it's a bit of fun I got this on EB as I see it came from a sailor in Korea and this one came in just about a hundred dollars which were pretty decent and not including the atom mix and I like this cover is kind of like a rubberized material pretty grippy and yeah I mean I just think it was cool and it feels like we're made and of premium material of course with the 8 GB of internal memory is not particularly much and does only come with a 5.1 Android and I didn't check recently for a let I just see here if there's anything I system update none of that is confirmed okay I don't think this is anything device registered checking for an update let's see because it's been a while ladies' updates already been installed.

Okay so no update they're let me just press the back button and yeah so it's Android 5.1.1 which is Lollipop so I don't know what will ever get an update I don't know I don't think that's the point, to be honest with you it's just a bit of fun which I quite like so I did do just for your and for my interests I did do an and the score was not particularly high it was nearly 28,000 but again like I said about the retail samurai that score really and it really ultimately means nothing because actually this the phone feels pretty decent when you're using the touchscreen which of course it has a touchscreen and I never noticed any not I was using it for a lot of things but I didn't notice any major hiccups or delays anything like that it didn't start it's been working fine and unfortunately for my eyes, I am the screen maybe.

I just without my glasses maybe just a bit small without wearing you know a pair of magnifiers just been made the home button there interestingly the T2 the V key world T2 its am the I know that Samsung has its own a version of this the T2 has a dual-screen the inside one's not touchscreen but the outside one is but I believe it's incredibly expensive it's probably around like at five-six hundred dollars and like this phone really only available in the Far East and people Asian people quite still like folder phones so this is where they're still popular and I mean I quite like as well I don't think it looks pretty good coal quality is decent and know that people will be so there I'm just going through my email you know that you're gonna read my email but I mean you can really do everything and here I'm controlling from the up and down button but so you can control stuff from you’re the physical buttons as well I'll be honest with you I did try and type let's see so we have a dedicated on so let me show you this first of all, there is a dedicated camera button here and you just go it be careful because of your hand maybe over the camera so you can either.

You can take a fall or I think you can take a fall or with their hardware button as well what you can and so you have two options touchscreen or the hardware button will ever take your fancy so yeah I was going to show you whereas so you can set the buttons to something this Sam one opens up the I thought this was I'd set it to SMS but it's opening up the would you call it the place door I wanted to try and let me see this is the multiple and God lots of stuff all in here so you can see I can easily go through these and you can use a combination of the physical buttons and the touch screen to get your way through this thing and it looks it's plain fun I like if I didn't need the money I would keep her I wouldn't sell that I'm slightly close all of these my god I have no wonder so I had all of these open and it was still working pretty decent so what is not easy to do is to compose a message using the keyboard because of it takes a while to get used to right okay let's put this one yeah and enter the message right so you can do on the on-screen keyboard or you can use the hardware keyboard and it does this one you can see it's not easy to see on this but it does have some Korean language and it takes a wee bit of time remembering to use a physical keyboard.

But I think that practice you could do it and some people like for me I'm not seeing that III can't do it but I was playing around with it and the more I played around with it the more I kind of remembered how to use a keyboard and it's not something you're going to do all the time but there you go you have the option to do it and again this would be your major your primary phone this could just be whatever secondary phone battery life is pretty decent and the battery life the battery size let me check and I'm looking at is my saw here somewhere where is it it's an 1800 mAh battery and really it seems to on standby at least as last few days, I think the battery is pretty decent so not as power-hungry obviously the size of the screen is you can see it's not sucking the power from your body so it can last you know a decent amount of time again.

This could be the phone that you'd leave in your car for an emergency it could easily be your travel phone your business phone if you want like a wee bit of fun you can put up you can put in your memory card and you can see here in my hand it's kind of long but it's pretty thin and it's not anywhere near as heavy as the Vicky World T2 it's very light has it's a USB sea captain and let me check yeah no it's not it's a micro USB and is the for charging and one other thing I was going to share here so it has a headphone jack on the side so you can fill up with your music and take it a traveling with you and for people who just want a bit of the bit of difference and this is the thing this is my personal the opinion you know all phones are beginning to look very similar and I mean I like the good-looking phones why I bought the iPhone X because of I thought it looked really good but generally, they're all becoming very much similar to each other and it's just sometimes nice to have a wee bit of fun and this is what definitely what this phone is and who knows you may get into using the keyboard again I don't think I will I don't think I was ever that good keyboard when keyboards where'd the thing I don't know if anybody had a roll eraser which had the very thin but the phone was very thin I wasn't particularly fast using the keyboard then but I really liked I relate that Motorola RAZR I would like one with a touchscreen and I'm not sure that such a thing exists but I really liked so yep I mean what else I got to tell you about this don't have anything else no oh I played some music through my ieg and yeah I thought it sounded really good the Bluetooth was strong no problems whatsoever nothing else really to see about this other than for 1.5 GB of ram the Android Lollipop is doing really pretty good it seems to work really well and I've had.

I haven't noticed any issues the screen let me just show you skin I've got on full brightness but again I'll take it down a bit even on half brightness the screen still looks very nice and I put some flow of there to kind of let's see if you can see yeah it's not easy but the screen is pretty decent so for those of you looking for something a wee bit different the Samsung Folder is something to consider although you could look at the folder too but I think it's certainly with double the price and maybe, even more, these you could get quick cheaper and you know have some folder fun so I just wanted to quickly share this with you and because I'm going to put it for sale on eBay Yuki hopefully somebody will buy and enjoy that's a Samsung galaxy older any questions anything comments in the bottom I will do my best to answer them thank you bye.

#IFTTT #Blogger

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lorrainecparker · 7 years

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HYDROGEN ONE: Princess Leia’s smartphone

We now know a little more about RED’s smartphone, which is, in fact, much more than an Android smartphone. HYDROGEN ONE is the promise of a powerhouse in terms of imaging, a pocketable revolution.

Jim Jannard’s shared some more information about the new product from RED and that gives us a more detailed image of what’s coming in 2018. On a post published on RED user forum after the first news came online and the reactions from people, Jannard wrote this “ So… very interesting day to say the least. I love some of the reactions” and continued by answering to some of the comments made.

The holographic display is, according to Jim Jannard, “incredible. It is multi-view (4-view) as compared to stereo 3D (2-view). Watching shocked faces light up when people see it is really motivating. There is no good way to describe it until you see it. Hopefully we will get some skeptics eyes on it soon… then they can tell you.”

On the same post Jannard adds that “Our display is technology you haven’t seen before. It is not lenticular, which is inferior tech in every way, has been tried many times before and failed for good reason (see Amazon 3D Fire, LG Optimus, etc). Lenticular display dramatically lowers resolution, cannot be turned off for standard 2D content, only works in one direction (usually landscape), has color crosstalk… to name just a few issues. My bet is that other ‘big’ companies will try to re-package lenticular 3D displays with eye-tracking in response to our program. Don’t fall for it.”

Complete trust, hard skepticism

The number of negative reactions to the announcement is huge, and it happens for different reasons. From pure disbelief in the viability of such thing as HYDROGEN ONE, demonstrated by some, to those others that bought the product, because it is from RED, but hate Android – the OS – and claim that they will never use the smartphone, although they will use the remaining functions (Android dependent…), you get an idea of how the public read the announcement. Then you’ve the others…

Jim Jannard wrote in his post that “Today we saw the full range from ‘complete trust’ to ‘hard skepticism’. I have seen this before… many times actually. Makes me smile.” In fact, since the very early days, one decade ago, that RED has gone, according to Jannard, “from scam (announcing the impossible) to delivering the impossible… over and over. Our core customers have seen and participated in this process and have stories to tell. Apparently we have earned their ‘blind trust’ because we have not let them down. We understand that those unfamiliar with our history will certainly not get this.”

Looking through the forums it is easy to confirm that many Redusers blindly ordered HYDROGEN ONE right after it was announced, without even reading the release. Some even bought more than one! The release document itself does not say much, either, but Jannard assures one thing: HYDROGEN ONE will come with a battery… evidently poking fun at a website that said it was unclear whether RED’s smartphone came with a battery.

From Oakley to HYDROGEN ONE

Although the information available confirms that RED’s smartphone is not just a smartphone, more the hub of a modular system, Jannard wrote this in his post: “So why do we feel we can make a difference in the cell phone market? Because we are doing everything different and (we feel) better. That is the only way to enter a market. That was the thinking behind Oakley. It was the thinking when we released the RED ONE. Same formula. Make something significantly better and you have a reason to be.”

Right now, still following the information provided by RED and Jim Jannard, we know the smartphone “also comes with internal storage and an external micro SD card slot. And a headphone jack. A selfie camera and a back camera. These cameras will not produce cinema quality images. No cell phone does. What we will have is a modular system that adds image quality well beyond any other camera short of our professional cameras.”

RED will release many more details and specs about the project as time goes along, and Jannard says that “anytime you don’t like what you see, full refund for any reason spoken here. However… be prepared to be surprised on the upside. It only gets better the more information you have.”

A modular smartphone for a modular system

The early announcement of the product, criticized by many, who view HYDROGEN ONE as “vapourware” has advantages: it allows RED to get feedback, both positive and negative, and adjust its road map accordingly. Browsing through the Reduser forums one immediately understands that most of the comments are positive and there are multiple suggestions, some which sound as if taken from a “science-fiction” compendium, about what HYDROGEN ONE should be. The feeling one gets is that a bunch of kids just got excited with the promise of a new toy they will get on the first quarter of 2018, and they are discussing what they would like to see in it. It’s the mixture of all those reactions, good and bad, that will, no doubt, help to define the final mould for RED’s smartphone.

Is HYDROGEN ONE a viable product? I do not have many doubts about it. On one side, we’ve the fact that this modular product will be part of RED’s cinema cameras system, used for everything from controlling cameras to image monitor, as many smartphones already do. So, there is no reason to doubt that RED has covered those aspects already, even if only in conceptual form, and only needs to put them together to introduce a new tool within its own ecosystem, which will, like a Transformer, able to shape shift into different things, from a DSLR-like camera to a not yet imagined cinema camera.

What many doubt is the ability of the smartphone to be a holographic display. In fact, the industry has been after the holographic dream for some time now, and although you can create a simple holographic-like display with a plastic prism placed over your smartphone, we’re not there yet in terms of the holographic concept as we dream it. But we’re getting closer, have no doubt.

My first holographic experience

On a personal note, which I think is important, my first contact with a holographic experience – bar the classic one from Star Wars – happened in 1991, in London, while there for the worldwide launch of what was considered the multimedia machine for the future: Philips CD-i. In London. I visited the Trocadero, an entertainment complex on Coventry Street, where the first Virtuality machines, pioneers in Virtual Reality, were available to try.

Although I was amazed by the experience of VR in 1991, something else attracted my attention: Sega’s holographic cabinet, the first ever holographic video game, Time Traveler. The game characters appeared to be holographic projected, but were in fact not holograms, but the result of an ingenious system based on a laser disc player a TV monitor and a curved mirror. The 2D image projected through the surface glass produced an illusion of depth, when viewed from the 240 degree angle of view. So, despite the images seemed to have dimension, they were not viewable from any angle and the magic could not be called a real hologram. Still, in 1991, right after having tried the Virtuality machines, I did spend a few coins to be amazed by Sega’s machine. Now, any smartphone – which were nowhere to be seen at the time – can show “holograms” in a very simple way.

Technology has moved, so it should not come as a surprise that HYDROGEN ONE promises to offer a single product which is a stand-alone, full featured, unlocked multi-band smartphone operating on Android OS, but is also a 5.7” professional HYDROGEN holographic display allowing users to view all traditional 2D content at full screen resolution, view holographic RED Hydrogen 4-View content (H4V), view stereo 3D content and view 2D/3D VR, AR and MR.

The Chinese Takee 3D

Holographic images will have RED’s unique H4V format, which we will know more about in due time, but the question that many people put forward is one: can it be done? Apparently yes, and it’s not even absolutely new. Looking back in time, a smartphone offering holographic images received the 2015 CES Innovation Awards Honoree, at CES 2015, in New York: the Takee 3D Holographic smartphone.

Presented as the world’s first mobile device to integrate Smart Holographic Technology, the Takee 3D features a forward facing camera that tracks the viewer’s head and eyes. Next, the 3D phone’s spacious 5.5” high-definition screen sends separate images to each eye. The result is a 3D Holographic image visible to the naked eye that is both projected out of the screen and appears to go right through the device.

“The biggest difference between our 3D Holographic display technology and legacy naked-eye 3D displays is that holography won’t make you feel dizzy” said Meihong Liu, Chairman and General Manager of Estar Technology Group, “3D Holographic technology can adjust perspective to users’ changing position. It’s closer to the feeling of watching the real scene.”

The Takee 3D Holographic Smartphone supports naked-eye 3D holographic pictures, games, videos and applications. The Anti-Friction coating makes the screen durable and fingerprint resistant, while the matte finish on the back adds extra grip. Constructed of aircraft-quality aluminum and Corning 3rd Generation Gorilla Glass, the Takee 1 is durable yet refined, claims the company.

Holoflex, a foldable smartphone

The first Takee 3D Holographic Smartphone, the Takee1, is powered by the MediaTek True Octa-Core processor. It has 32GB of storage. AudioCauldron 3D Sound technology from Bit Cauldron Corporation provides 3D Sound to match the 3D video, enabling a new level of 3D immersion and a more believable sensory experience. It also supports dual SIM cards (one standard SIM card, one Micro SIM card) to allow calls to and from two phone numbers and calling plans at the same time.

The Takee smartphone didn’t, apparently, excite the crowds, and is now, it seems, discontinued. But technology has moved forward, and we now have the world’s first flexible holographic smartphone, called HoloFlex. Announced in 2016, the HoloFlex was developed by researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University. The device is capable of rendering 3D images with motion parallax and stereoscopy to multiple simultaneous users without head tracking or glasses.

“HoloFlex offers a completely new way of interacting with your smartphone. It allows for glasses-free interactions with 3D video and images in a way that does not encumber the user.” says Dr. Vertegaal.

HoloFlex features a 1920×1080 full high-definition Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (FOLED) touchscreen display. Images are rendered into 12-pixel wide circular blocks rendering the full view of the 3D object from a particular viewpoint. These pixel blocks project through a 3D printed flexible microlens array consisting of over 16,000 fisheye lenses. The resulting 160 x 104 resolution image allows users to inspect a 3D object from any angle simply by rotating the phone.

Europe receives holographic smartphones

So, the holographic dream is closing in. Why can’t RED take a slice of the pie and create their own holographic media machine? That’s apparently what they aim to achieve. The patent document registered by Jim Jannard is a good source of information for many aspects of the HYDROGEN ONE and the whole system, but apparently the answer to many questions is somewhere else: with a company that is mentioned by Bloomberg, in one article from March 2017, as one of the 50 most promising startups you’ve never heard of.

Founded in 2014 by David Fattal, Zhen Peng and Pierre Emmanuel Evreux, the company is a technology spin off from Hewlett Packard laboratories developing a light field display technology platform for naked eye holographic and virtual reality applications. It focuses, today, on the mobile and automotive markets, with first devices expected in the hands of consumers by the end of 2017. The company is based in Menlo Park, CA with operations in Suzhou, China.

The company partnered with Altice to introduce the first holographic handsets to the European market – France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Portugal – before the end of 2017. The company leverages recent breakthroughs in Nano Photonic design and manufacturing to provide a complete Holographic display platform through the use of special hardware and complementary software. The firm commercializes mobile screen able to synthesize dynamic 3D holograms and sense your fingers to let you manipulate virtual objects in midair.

A company named Leia

The company was mentioned on French television back In January 2017, with David Fattal and Pierre Emmanuel Evreux showing the latest prototype. The company is called Leia 3D or simply Leia. Yes, the logical name for a company promising a world of holographic images could not be any other than Leia, in homage to the Princess Leia from Star Wars. After all, it’s that popular scene of the film that has kept us wanting to have holograms. Well, we are on the verge of having them, in multiple flavors, apparently.

Although it is not confirmed that Leia’s technology will be used by RED, there is no doubt that whatever technology is used, it will be very similar. Add to this the fact that RED’s smartphone has, from the images available, a unique look, and it is not hard to believe that Princess Leia would love to have such a phone.

The post HYDROGEN ONE: Princess Leia’s smartphone appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

First Found At: HYDROGEN ONE: Princess Leia’s smartphone

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davidegbert · 7 years

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Samsung Galaxy Book Review

The Samsung Galaxy Book seems to be this year’s successor to Samsung’s Galaxy TabPro S that we reviewed last year. Instead of calling this the Galaxy TabPro S2, Samsung decided to give it a new name, and I kind of like it. Samsung’s Galaxy Book name goes along with Microsoft’s Surface Book and Huawei’s Matebook and that is probably the product category that it really belongs in. The Galaxy Tab name probably resonates more as an Android tablet category for many people. But there’s not much in a name… The Galaxy Book is Samsung’s latest foray into the 2-in-1 full Windows 10 capable tablet PC market, and it has some huge improvements over the TabPro S Samsung released last year. Practically every negative aspect of the Galaxy TabPro S has been addressed and improved upon.

Incidentally, this review is going to be about the 12″ version of the Galaxy Book, but there will also be a smaller, less-expensive version with a 10″ screen. Keep reading to learn more about Samsungs latest “tablet that can replace your laptop.”

Hands-on Video

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Specs

The Samsung Book is available in a few different versions. The one we’re reviewing is a fairly high-end model. First of all it’s got a 12″ Super AMOLED full HD+ (2160 x 1440 pixel) screen and a 7th generation Intel Core i5 7200U dual core 3.1Ghz processor. We’ve also got 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD storage, a 13 megapixel rear camera, and a 5 megapixel front camera. By the way, 203GB of free space is available on the 256GB SSD at first boot. We’ve also got the usual WiFi, Bluetooth radios, and it comes with a keyboard cover/case and the S-Pen. We’ve also got 2 USB-C ports so you can charge the battery and connect something else at the same time. It’s too bad USB-C wasn’t designed to be as forward-thinking as it should have been. The 12″ models have a 39.04W battery with Fast Charging support which lasts about 11hrs. The dimensions are 291.3 x 19.8 x 7.4mm and it weighs 754 grams.

The 12″ version is also available in a version with an LTE radio plus 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD, as well as another WiFi version with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD.

There’s also a smaller version of the Samsung Galaxy Book with a 10.6″ TFT 1920 x 1280 pixel screen and a 7th Gen Intel Core m3 dual core 2.6Ghz processor. That version is available with 4GB of RAM and either 64GB or 128GB eMMC storage. It also only has a 5 megapixel front facing camera (no rear), and only 1 USB-C port. It’s also naturally smaller and lighter.

Note that both versions are slightly thicker than the 6.3mm thick Galaxy TabPro S from last year.

Hardware

The Galaxy Book does away with the super flat back that the Galaxy TabPro S had (with its big camera bump) and instead features a single metal backing with very smooth, comfortable, rouded edges. It’s a very nice change.

That Super AMOLED screen is gorgeous. The blacks are so so black that it totally blends in with the bezels of the tablet. Cranking up the screen brightness doesn’t change the blacks either. It’s all completely smooth black all the time. The Galaxy TabPro S had the same type of screen and there’s nothing new about it here, but it’s still great to have. The screen is also very shiny so there’s going to be a lot of fingerprint smudges as well as a lot of glare if you’re trying to use it in a well-lit area.

The included keyboard cover is a huge improvement over what was included with the Galaxy TabPro S. This keyboard feels much more professional. The keys are nicely spaced, they have great vertical movement, and even a nice click to them. The trackpad is much larger than what we had on the TabPro S, too. It’s much easier to use if you’re stll using a trackpad instead of the touch screen or S-Pen stylus. The track-pad works well enough. It supports the Windows 10 gestures for quickly accessing task view (three fingers swipe upwards), scrolling/panning (two fingers moving parallel in any direction), and zoom (pinch or expand two fingers).

On the inside of the keyboard cover there is a little illustration showing the 4 different ways you can fold it into a stand for different screen display angles.

The most upright display angle is the most stable on a desk or table. The flap folders under the back and keeps everything standing up nicely.

Two of the display angles use magnets to adhere the stand flap to the back of the tablet. If you remember, this is similar to how the Galaxy TabPro S’s stand worked, except that had much weaker magnets and a folding design that could easily cause the tablet to fall over while touching the screen. These magnets are much stronger and the folding design is made to transfer the pressure on the touch screen more directly into the table. It’s a very welcome change and much improved over Samsung’s previous design.

The keyboard cover nicely protects the front and back of the tablet, but the edges are prone to gettnig banged up and the flexible material is a bit slippery.

The keyboard attaches to the tablet via magnets and the above 5 pin connector. It’s a different connector than the Galaxy TabPro S, so don’t think that you’ll be able to get the new Galaxy Book keyboard and use it with the Galaxy TabPro S.

We now have two USB-C ports on the 12″ Galaxy Book! This is a great addition since now you can plug in a charger and something else like a secondary display, external drive, port expander, or whatever. Personally I’m still not sold on USB-C as many things are still not universal. I would have rather seen a USB-A port as that’s still more widely used (and the USB-C to USB-A adapters I have sometimes don’t work). Oh, and there’s a 3.5mm TRS audio jack here too.

The top edge has the power button and volume toggle button. There’s no longer a Windows/Start key on the device like there was on the TabPro S.

On the left edge there’s a little drawer where you can install a Micro SD card for expanding storage. The drawer is opened by pushing a small (included) pin into the hole to pop it out. This is another huge improvement over last year’s Galaxy TabPro S. On the LTE version of the Samsung Galaxy Book, there would also be a SIM card tray area in here.

The camera bump is much reduced and the quality has been increased, but it’s still not great. Really you shouldn’t be using a tablet to take photographs anyway, so don’t worry about it. The 10″ version nicely does away with the rear facing camera completely.

S-Pen

The Samsung Galaxy Book is the first Windows 10 tablet to include Samsung’s “S-Pen” technology that’s been widely used on the Note series of phablets. Actually, the S-Pen technology partly belongs to Wacom as Samsung licenses some of Wacom’s digitizer tech to use in S-Pen compatible screens. The Microsoft Surface Pro 1 and 2 also used Wacom technology as have many other Windows tablet PCs of the past. What’s different with the S-Pen is that Samsung has done a lot on the software side and Wacom’s control panel software is nowhere to be seen.

You get a pen-loop thing in the box with the Galaxy Book that you can stick to the back of the keyboard cover. It’s nice that this is optional since some users may not really care about using the pen or carrying it around all the time.

It’s not a super elegant or attractive method of attaching the S-Pen, but it works as long as you insert the S-Pen in the right direction and use the clip to keep it in place. Otherwise it will be loose and probably fall out. Personally, I wish the tablet had an S-Pen silo where it could be hidden inside the edge of the tablet.

Above is the safest way to keep the S-Pen attached to the Galaxy Book. It’s not easy to insert and remove the stylus in this configuration though. The Surface Pro’s magnetic edge is a little better, but I really like the Wacom Mobile Studio‘s little pen holder clip that holds it upright for quick access. The S-Pen is plastic, but the clip at the end is metal, so if you want you can actually stick it to the back of the tablet or on the front bezel where the magnets are, but this isn’t terrible secure as the S-Pen will spin and dangle. Still, sticking it to the bezel makes for pretty easy access while set up on a desk or table.

The S-Pen has one button that you can configure in Samsung’s Settings app. Unfortunately there are very few customization options. You can set the button to launch Samsung’s “Air Command” software or Microsoft’s Ink Workspace, or nothing. None of those options are terribly useful really. I’d like at least a “right click” option to be configurable too. I miss having an eraser on the other end too.

Incidentally, the palm rejection for the S-Pen on the screen takes some getting used to. Many times I’ve rested my hand against the screen to find that pressing buttons with the pen tip doesn’t work. Having the pen within range of the screen’s digitizer does not automatically reject the touch interface if the touch interface is currently active (you’re touching the screen). So you really have to get the pen tip close to the screen first before you rest your hand on the screen to write or draw. Wacom’s tablets, pen displays, and pen computers generally give the stylus priority when it’s within range, but that’s not the case with the Samsung Book.

Software

The Samsung Galaxy Book comes with Windows 10 Home pre-installed. Oddly, it did not come pre-installed with the Windows 10 Spring Creators Update. Windows 10 is probably the most feature-rich operating system especially for tablet PC convertibles (AKA 2-in-1’s). It can easily switch between an interface designed mainly for touch that uses gestures and large active areas for controlling programs and snapping them side by side… and the more conventional desktop Windows style interface that gives you a small start menu in the corner along with infinitely resizable overlapping application windows like you’ve been used to since 1995. This is also one of the most mature tablet operating systems out there since Microsoft unveiled the first Windows tablets in 2002 running Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

The Galaxy Book now gets Samsung driver and firmware updates through Windows Update where as the Galaxy TabPro S had a separate background program for getting those types of updates directly from Samsung. Having the updates integrated with Windows Update and the Microsoft Store is certainly a better experience.

Samsung also includes some special software integrated with Windows 10 on the Galaxy Book. First up is Samsung Flow. This is an app that hooks into the “Windows Hello” biometric log-in system to use a Bluetooth-connected Samsung Galaxy S6 (or newer) smartphone fingerprint reader to log-in. If you don’t have a Samsung Galaxy S6 or newer smartphone, you’ll have to use a PIN, password, or picture password to log in.

Samsung Flow also has some other great features though. It can load all of your phone’s notifications into a window on the Galaxy Book, and Samsung has enabled reply capabilities for some of them like SMS and WhatsApp. The software also enables you to use a Samsung Galaxy S smartphone as a hotspot without having to turn it on through the phone. So there’s some really nice integration there.

There’s also a “Book Settings” app that controls certain special features. It’s too bad this couldn’t have been integrated with the normal Windows 10 Settings app.

There are other Samsung customizations integrated with Windows 10 on the Galaxy Book. Seen above is a Battery Life Extender option that shows up in the “Extras” section of the native Windows 10 Settings window. You’ll also see a “Pattern Log-in” option and AMOLED settings here.

The AMOLED settings area lets you customize the color balance, saturation, and sharpness of your display. There’s also a new “Smart dimming” feature that turns on the camera to attempt to detect your face before dimming to save battery. If it does detect your face and understands that you’re currently looking at the screen, it won’t dim.

We mentioned Samsung “Air Command” earlier and above is what that looks like. It’s a few extra S-Pen stylus features that you can access with the button on the S-Pen. Smart select is a type of screen capture utility that also does animated GIF recording and lets you record or capture only a specific part of the screen. Screen write is another screen capture utility that also lets you write on the image with a number of pen tools. The “Create Note” and “View all Notes” buttons go to the “Samsung Notes” app, which is a very basic note taking app. It doesn’t seem to syncronize with anything, so really you’re better off using the much more powerful, free, and platform agnostic Microsoft OneNote.

Office 2016 Home & Student Edition is pre-installed as a trial. If you already have an Office 365 subscription, of course you can simply log-in to activate Office instead of using the trial. All of those programs run beautifully and have no match in terms of functionality on Android or iOS platforms. There are also a few games pre-installed on the Start screen. Candy Crush Soda Saga, Asphault 8, Fallout Shelter, March of Empires, Royal Revolt 2, and Microsoft Solitaire Collection are all there. It’s easy to uninstall them with a tap-and-hold to the context sensitive menu.

Adobe Creative Suite 2017 runs beautifully with the 7th generation Intel Core i5 CPU, and Photoshop does support the tilt sensitivity in the S-Pen stylus. Interestingly, it only recognizes the tilt angle when the pen tip is touching the screen. That’s different from Wacom tablets, pen computers, and pen displays which normally recognize the pen tilt angle when the pen is hovering over the screen. I don’t think that’s an actual problem, just something different from what I expected. An actual problem would be that the tilt direction is not quite recognized correctly. Incidentally, Corel Painter 2017 also supports the tilt sensitivity, but not by default. You’ll have to go into the Preferences and change the tablet preference to “RTS-compatible device” and “Windows Multi-touch”. It would seem Samsung has not included Wintab drivers to support older pressure sensitive drawing programs, but the newer APIs seem to be working well at least for pressure sensitivity. Tilt sensitivity direction is way off in Painter 2017 and doesn’t work at all in Adobe Illustrator 2017.

Camera

The 12″ Samsung Galaxy Book now has an improved 13 megapixel rear camera along with a 5 megapixel front facing camera. The resolution is plenty for high-definition Skype video calls or capturing something that you want to save in OneNote, but taking photos or videos with this tablet out in public is not recommended. The image quality is not so great, plus it’s a giant faux pas to hold up a big tablet in front of you to take a photo.

Regardless, here’s a few sample images from both the front-facing and rear-facing cameras on the Samsung Galaxy Book.

Compared to Galaxy TabPro S

The Galaxy Book’s screen looks exactly the same as the Galaxy TabPro S’s screen and that’s a good thing. They’re both gorgeous. You can see that the Galaxy Book’s keyboard has much better spacing between the keys. It feels a lot better to type on as well. Also note the much larger track pad.

On the left above you see the Galaxy TabPro S’s keyboard stand which adhears via magnets at the top edge. On the right you see the redesigned keyboard stand for the Galaxy Book which is much more stable and much more secure.

The Galaxy TabPro S on top is slightly thinner than the Galaxy Book though the new keyboard cover is a bit thinner on the Galaxy Book versus the older TabPro S’s keyboard.

Battery Life

As always battery life is a relative term depending on what kind of CPU intensive programming you’re going to do along with your screen brightness, but Samsung says you should get about 11 hours of constant video watching on one full charge. Obviously if you do a lot of editing HD video, or batch processing hundreds of RAW photographs, the battery life is going to suffer a bit, but in using the Samsung Galaxy Book, we have found no need to carry the charger around during the day. And if you do find the battery running low, Samsung’s USB-C fast charging will get you fully charged up after only 3 hours of charging.

Pricing

The 12″ Samsung Galaxy Book is available with 4GB RAM & 128GB SSD for $1129.99, or 8GB RAM & 256GB SSD for $1329.99. There’s also a Verizon LTE version of the 12″ Galaxy Book with 4GB RAM & 128GB SSD for $1299.99.

The 10.6″ Samsung Galaxy Book is available with 4GB RAM & 64GB storage for $629.99 or 4Gb RAM and 128Gb storage for $729.99. Remember, the 10.6″ model has a TFT LCD screen instead of Super AMOLED. It also has an Intel Core m3 processor and only a front-facing camera, too.

Conclusion

In all aspects, the Samsung Galaxy Book is an improvement over last year’s Galaxy TabPro S. The keyboard is much better, the stylus is much better, the trackpad is much better, the stand is much better, 2 USB-C ports is much better, having a MicroSD card slot is much better… the Super AMOLED screen is about the same, but much better than most other Windows 10 tablet screens. Pricing wise, the Galaxy Book is about on par with other comparable 2-in-1 Windows 10 tablet PCs like the Surface Pro 4 once you factor in the price of a clip on keyboard. Samsung even smartened up about the range of models they’re making available, too. The Galaxy TabPro S was only available in one configuration. With the Galaxy Book, you’ve got 5 options with prices between $629.99 and $1329.99 to fit your budget. It’s great to see Samsung stepping up their Windows 10 tablet game this year and the Galaxy Book is a worthy competitor.

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

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The Best Travel Gadgets for 2017

In this month’s travel tech column, Dave Dean, our resident travel tech guru, all around cool dude, and found of the tech website Too Many Adapters, rounds up the best travel gadgets for 2017.

Here, then, are my 2017 recommendations for quality tech gear that makes your trip simpler and easier, without destroying your bank balance or luggage allowance.

Smartphones

Tablets and e-readers

Laptops

Accessories

The post The Best Travel Gadgets for 2017 appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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fadingfartconnoisseur · 7 years

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The Best Travel Gadgets for 2017

In this month’s travel tech column, Dave Dean, our resident travel tech guru, all around cool dude, and found of the tech website Too Many Adapters, rounds up the best travel gadgets for 2017.

Here, then, are my 2017 recommendations for quality tech gear that makes your trip simpler and easier, without destroying your bank balance or luggage allowance.

Smartphones

Tablets and e-readers

Laptops

Accessories

The post The Best Travel Gadgets for 2017 appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

via Travel Blogs http://ift.tt/2p9Gth6

#IFTTT #Travel Blogs

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vidovicart · 7 years

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The Best Travel Gadgets for 2017

In this month’s travel tech column, Dave Dean, our resident travel tech guru, all around cool dude, and found of the tech website Too Many Adapters, rounds up the best travel gadgets for 2017.

Here, then, are my 2017 recommendations for quality tech gear that makes your trip simpler and easier, without destroying your bank balance or luggage allowance.

Smartphones

Tablets and e-readers

Laptops

Accessories

The post The Best Travel Gadgets for 2017 appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

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hellotechsgeeksfan · 4 years

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Alright here's my review of the Samsung Galaxy Folder-you can't get this phone focusing piece of junk you can't get this phone in North America it's I had to order this from Japan this one I got from my buddy because you fell in love with my phone when I got it I got I've had this for about I want to say Oh two weeks now and I absolutely love it I used to have an s8 before this but as all s8 they're all round screened and frankly that round curved screen bull crap I really don't like it and I don't like it because what happened to my girlfriend's phone and why I'm at this right now she dropped her essay and it was Annek Otter box case a full Defender Series case dropped it from literally maybe two three feet in the air landed like this and fell the corner of her S8 because the screen is curved right there in this area was cracked breath not cracked like shattered almost like a puncture screen still works it's just she didn't want to crack screen so I priced out how much it would have been a fixer s8 and that s8 they quoted me close to $450 just to replace the screen so I gave her my old s8 because I wanted the folder to because I just I love flip phones and this is an Android 6.1.

I believe operating system flip phone and it is phenomenal so let's get into the unboxing alright this is literally brand new just got in the mail came from Japan took three days to get here the shipment FedEx I'll leave a link in the description of one I ordered from the seller I ordered twice and in both days they were shipped and I received them in three days FedEx all right let's crack her open here also I should point out that it was shipped with a where is it I don't know where it is hey it's a Yui you plug so they ship it with an adapter a real janky looking adapter that I would not use on anything so I just throw that away and use a micro USB all right this is the phone kind of dirty out of the box but yeah all right so.

Look Brown off that phone outcome on any time now there should be all right this is the phone how you get her this thing is dual sim and micro SD I got this little protective film on here I'm not gonna open this up because just like I said this is my friend's phone we'll just use mine I'm just showing you no boxing actually, you know what screw it we'll put up some plastics already literally coming off all right there it is out of the box brand-new I have all this protective plastic shipping film on it so you know you don't scratch or anything the back cover comes off raised or guess you a piece of junk not over.

There I focus there Oh anyways it has right here you could pry up to install your own battery one second here I'll just all right okay that's the back open you got your dual SIM card slots there and your SD card slot and that's pretty much it you have to put in your own battery which who can remember last time anyone's ever done that it's great I love it alright let's stick that back back on there let's just focus on like so click click click make sure your heads not there all right you got your volume button no Bixby button which is frickin awesome.

You got your the hell is that I don't know what this is there's no button on this side so all you got your volume buttons no headphone jack they do include an adapter it's micro USB here for charging and your camera and your flash and your speaker one the thing I don't like about this phone what I really don't care is when you open it and you have the camera going the cameras down here so you have to point it like this and it's horrible but yeah otherwise, it's a really good phone that's the gist of it now let's open up the rest of the box containing all right all right you got your Japanesey box there you got a pair of headphones which as I was these are micro USB headphones which is strange but that's what it is we've got your EU plug that I don't know what who would want to use that I'd just put mine in the closet you got your battery and you got your micro USB cable so just like every other phone let's just shove those in there real quick all right and that's it and now when you boot up these phones for the first time you're greeted with the typical Android operating system boot-up screen you know enter your Google information also make sure you have your SIM card in the right way and yeah you'll boot up it'll be greeted this is mine customized obviously but yeah the keyboard layout live lights up and your screen it is touchscreen there you go say you can just like regular Samsung or a regular Android and it's a dollar app swipe down here you can't see nothing because the saturation is horrible you go to settings oh my gosh Mrs. Bennet poor well I'm gonna start shooting it in less light here just alright go down to about phone it is software information Android 7 focus a piece of junk shop these automatic folks and crap there we go alright it is Android 7.11 so yeah I will say when I first, put it up this phone it started up did all the fancy stuff and then during the boot it actually updated to had a Samsung update you got some buttons here on your keyboard, you got your messenger these are assignable.

By the way, this is my text messaging more app which I use Google boom boom this is my Whatsapp I have a set of Whatsapp what the hell okay apparently now it's at the Google what the is this go away I don't want to do no Google Drive back up off steeped it Frick and there you go alright I have that set to Whatsapp back boom Whatsapp and this is your camera obviously dancing that's because my fingers in the way that's your camera qualities alright I guess I don't know I don't really use my phone for a camera I use it for just regular phone stuff see I'm not I don't have Facebook nor do I have any hardcore text messaging craze or anything I just use a phone for what it is a phone and this is your dual micro SD card thing in there this button so if you have two micro SD cards you could the switch or something I'm not too sure you got your apps button to show you what apps are currently running those at home in the back and yeah your power your n call answer call or you can just flip it open flip the clothes which are extremely gratifying being able to do that again Bluetooth is a little bit iffy on here too but it works Wi-Fi I find something very very annoying with the Wi-Fi on this phone whenever I closed my phone I was connected there it was blues connected to my Lawrence wife I closed my phone and open it for a little while probably won't do it now because it didn't do fast enough it will disable Wi-Fi to save battery life it'll automatically reconnect when you open it takes some time like a couple seconds but it's just annoying knowing that when my phone is closed like this, I'm not connected to Wi-Fi even though I should be texting on this the phone is you can either use the on-screen a keyboard like a typical Android device or you can use the keyboard which I've been practicing a lot because I prefer it that way so let's just send a picture yeah I'm trying to see how I can demo this on here no no no no no no no --gel maybe have some notes now screw it anyway so it's pretty straightforward let's go to Chrome let's type in an address here so yeah this would be well its regular t9 everyone knows how t9 works you type in the letters the numbers corresponding to the fricken this crappy ass frickin no good.

Crappy never buy a Nokia camera there's Nikon camera they suck autofocus is absolute garbage please thank you sakes anyways t9 I like it the backlit keyboard goes off after so many seconds 10, I wish it would stay on for as long she had this open but it doesn't the closed-end open is the best part I don't know what else really does just say it's an Android flip phone it's great I love it I love the fact that I'm not gonna have to buy a case for this because it's a flip phone there's no screen out here it's just shiny metal has a small LED right there right in that area, I'll blink when you get messages it's a great phone I love it it's better than -8 and I'll probably never be upgrading unless Samsung eventually does release a folder 3 or something but this is great and yeah like I said it's a phone it does what it needs to it's all people that are texting every five seconds of their life to respond the social media tweets and like that this wouldn't be the phone for them but frankly for me does the job great and I really don't even use it that much because I have my tick watch and I do everything based off of my taste off of my tick watch so because I get my messages and everything I might pick watch from my phone so I can call from and everything but yeah so if you're looking for an Android flip phone and you dot on social media hardcore or any garbage like that you're just looking for a good saw a decent phone for a good price these were 262 Canadian shipped with FedEx and it took three days to get and I think that is a really good price for what you're getting so yeah that's my quick little mash up review I guess you would be of the full samsung folder to get it while you can this beautiful phone the guy I had it from had a couple left available so yeah works on LTE networks in Canada I'm on TELUS works perfectly this is gonna be on local SaskTel or work perfectly they've told me any LTE network so yeah have a good day.

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