All-In-One Converter; good enough to take on Google?
Rarely do you see an app come along that can go toe-to-toe with a Google equivalent and come out on top. When I first saw this particular app, I have to admit I was very skeptical what it could provide that Google Unit Converter does not already do – and in the form of an app-less service, no less.
And honestly, All-In-One Converter really doesn’t hold up. There are some spelling errors, a force-close error within the Currency menu, and Google simply offers more options, in an app-less environment, that can be typed into the search bar that’s at the top of nearly every Android device’s homescreen.
In one area, though, All-In-One Converter managed to surprise me. It offers many of the same features as Google Unit Converter, and adds one more; clothing sizes. Brilliant, really. Since different regions of the world have their own sizing charts, it stands to reason that one might need a converter for them. The clothing unit converter has options for both men and women, including shirts, coats, suits, skirts, pants, dresses, sweaters, even swim suites [sic].
The shoe size converter isn’t quite a converter so much is it an answer to the question “what size do I wear?” Essentially, one measures his or her foot in length and the app spits out what size that is in various parts of the world. Unfortunately, this doesn’t take into account width or gender. Pants-size only goes up to a US 40 (which, in a country that’s suffering from an obesity problem, is rather…optimistic, we’ll say). One thing I note that is blatantly missing is a bra-size calculator, which, for anyone that is, or has ever shopped with a woman knows, is often a confusing endeavor.
The app is free and ad-supported, and there is a paid “Premium” version which removes the ads. The ad usage within this app is rather odd; they are placed in the middle of the screen, between categories of conversions. It really breaks up the app. I feel like placing the ads at the top, bottom, or both of the screen would be a much more aesthetically pleasing design choice.
At the end of the day, it comes down to whether or not you need a dedicated app to house all your conversions. If you’re comfortable simply typing them into the Google search bar, I would recommend doing that. If you need a dedicated app, you can do a lot worse than All-In-One Converter.
What I like:
- Clothing conversions!
What I dislike:
- Redundant with Google’s app-less solution.
- Spelling errors.
- Currency currently forcecloses.
Google Play Store – All-In-One Converter
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Tronsmart Titan 10A/90W 5-port USB charger charging station: review
Being a mobile enthusiast is a fun hobby. I find technology vital to staying connected while it helps me be efficient and on task. With that comes the need to charge a wide range of devices. And I can honestly tell you that with different charging specs on tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, speakers and cameras that having the right charger can mean the difference between destroying a battery and staying powered up.
I have been using the Tronsmart Titan 90W Charging Station with five ports to charge up all of my devices lately and I can tell you that I love it. Chargers are more commonplace than any other accessory, but high-quality chargers are a rare breed.
Design
The Tronsmart Titan is a 90W charger with enough power to charge five devices at full speed all of the time. The five port charging station is relatively big for a charger with a decent amount of weight, but really isn’t an issue for me. I don’t like desktop chargers that are so light that they shift around with light movement. It measures 6.25 x 3.25-inches while being about an inch thick and comes in a matte plastic finish with four rubber feet on the bottom.
There are five full USB sized charging ports in the front, with good spacing between them, so you don’t have force fit the five cables right next to each other. The center of each port is colored green which is a thoughtful addition as it makes it easy to see each port against the black plastic.
Each USB port is rated at 18W for a grand total of 90W, and each port comes with smart technology that allows you to charge your latest devices at the fastest speeds, including Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0.
The back of the charger holds the power switch so you can turn the charger on/off and not worry about vampire energy drain which can end up costing you a lot of extra money.
What are Energy Vampires?
Check out this excerpt from energy.gov:
Take, for example, the seemingly innocuous cell phone charger. As cellphones have become a staple of modern life, so have the devices that power them. To ensure that they’re able to be in constant contact, many Americans carry chargers in their bags, have them in their cars and even their office. So it shouldn’t come as much surprise to find that many cell phone users have one or more chargers constantly plugged in at their home. What most people don’t realize is that these chargers are continually drawing power, even when no device is connected to them. In fact, the average charger is consuming .26 watts of energy when not in use, and 2.24 watts even when a fully charged device is connected to it.
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By themselves, those watts won’t cause a huge increase in your energy bill. But if you add other common devices to the equation, you’ll begin to see why energy vampires are often responsible for adding 10 percent or more to your monthly utility bill.
Usage
I normally don’t think twice when it comes to chargers, but with my recent switch to Nexus devices with USB Type-C, and to unlocked smartphones, having the right charger has never been more important to me. The Tronsmart Titan touts VoltIQ technology which is the brains behind controlling the charging speeds depending on needs. Once you plug in your devices, the VoltIQ smart tech automatically identifies the voltage settings and adjusts charging speeds accordingly to make sure your device does not overheat and overcharge.
I really have no complaints when it comes to using the Tronsmart Titan. It charges all of my USB devices at the proper rate, and it is safe for the most sensitive devices like those with USB Type-C. I use it with my Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X, Nuu Z8, Samsung Gear S2, Huawei Watch, LG V10, and NVIDIA Shield. It comes with me on all of my business trips in place of bulky individual chargers, and helps me minimize vampire energy drain with a simple flip of the power switch.
Specifications
Input: 100-240V (Max)
Output: 5V/2A, 9V/2A, 12V/1.5A (Max)
Total power:90W
What you will get
1 x Tronsmart UC5F Desktop USB Charger
1 x 5 Foot AC Power Cord
1 x Welcome Guide
Summary
Overall the Tronsmart Titan 90W 5-port USB charger is everything I could want in a desktop charger. It’s smart, safe and charges my devices at the quickest possible speeds. You can find it on sale now at Amazon.com for just $37.99. I highly recommend it.
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Line Ninja; The simplest, hardest game you’ll ever try [Review]
Concept:
You’re a ninja, and you have exactly two goals in life; dodge giant spikes, and collect ninja stars.
Mechanics:
If you run into a spike – even if it’s the flat, not-pointy side – you die. If you manage to run into the red ninja stars – which are as large as you and pointy on all sides – you score a point. How this is possible when the spikes are only pointy in one spot but ninja stars are pointy in all spots, I do not know; but that’s how it works.
While this is a simple concept, sometimes the implementation is inconsistent. As far as I can tell, as you’re traversing this mono-directional tunnel lined with spikes, there is a chance that any spike may, in fact, spawn as a ninja star. As such, you may come across a stretch with multiple stars in a row…or no stars at all. I have had runs where I got five stars right off the bat, and I have had runs where I never found a single star before meeting my end splattered against a spike. As such, it’s tough to gauge if you’re actually doing well…or if you just had a lucky run.
Random Aside:This game has a very Flappy Bird feel to it. The utter simplicity of the game leads to me to wonder why Flappy Bird gained such immense popularity but, as of the time of this writing, Line Ninja only had 10 downloads. That struck me as odd.
Price:
Free. No in-app purchases, though it is ad-supported in the most clever way possible. See, the whole game revolves around you tapping the screen to make the ninja jump back and forth between sides of the tunnel; single taps, throughout the entire game. No swipes, or scrolls, or anything like that. So when you’re tapping through once you’ve inevitably run headlong into a spike wall going a bazillion miles an hour, the game has a tendency to fling an ad your way and, in your hurry to restart your inevitably short, frantic life, you will inadvertently tap on an ad – generating not only an ad appearance, but an ad tap.
Like I said; clever.
Music:
The best about this game, for me, is the delightfully retro musical stylings of Azureflux. Playing this game in silence is a boring endeavor; but playing with the music cranked brings me back to the days of Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis; absolute nostalgia. If you need one single reason to download this game, it’s for the music. Give it a listen.
Things I like:
- The MUSIC.
- The minimalist style. My only gripe is that the ninja is a little too detailed compared to the rest of the game
Things I didn’t:
- The inconsistency of the scoring.
- Jump trajectory is not as predictable as I’d like.
- Lack of variety in game mechanics.
Google Play Store – Line Ninja
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Zombie vs. Gunman; a pleasant surprise in the vein of PvZ. [Review]
The Plants vs. Zombies formula is simple; protect your lanes from onrushing zombies using units of varying utility. Zombie vs. Gunman, at face value, is yet another game hoping to piggy-back on this blueprint. The setting is different – half, at least – with cartoony, era-ambiguous soldiers replacing the plants that’ve spawned half a dozen games.
The first thing that catches your eye – ear – is the music. Simple, ominous and brassy and sets the tone well. The menu screen (below) is well designed and minimalist, and would fit right in with any Triple-A title – except for the damned artwork. To be perfectly honest, it’s bad. It is. Every bit of the game is detailed and shaded – heck, there’s even lighting effects – but the quality of the actual linework, the style it’s drawn in, is objectively poor. It’s simple but not in a good way. Simple in the way that South Park is simple – works for a satirical comedy show, not so much for a game that, in every other way, takes itself seriously.
Look at that! The menu screams “Take me seriously!” but the art screams “Oh my God, they killed Kenny!” Not okay. A basic game of this particular branch of PvZ goes as follows:
- Zombies attack one or more of your “lanes.”
- You use Gold (which zombies inexplicably drop when they die) to summon soldiers in one of eight spaces along each of your lanes.
- The soldiers then dutifully march their way toward the zombies, stopping to fire once they’re within range.
- Kill zombies, tap to collect gold.
- Rinse.
- Repeat until they’re all dead (again).
There are a couple fun little quirks added to this game that aren’t present in Plants vs. Zombies, such as your soldiers running out of ammunition and literally needing to be poked in order to remember to reload. It adds a bit of babysitting to the game that wasn’t present in PvZ once you established your plants. Unlike PvZ, when you “recall” a unit from the field you are refunded the full cost of the unit an may re-deploy them immediately. Very handy for those times when the zombie hordes are bearing down on your frontline and you want to save them a very painful death.
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Zombie vs. Gunman also has an RPG element to it, in which you utilize “Medals” (which replace Stars from PvZ) to upgrade your units in various ways – Health, Range, Damage, Bullet Penetration, etc. These medals are accumulated through good performance in each level, though attaining a 3-medal rating is nigh impossible in the later levels – you must finish the mission while losing exactly zero soldiers. These medals can also be bought in the form of micro-transactions which are by no means required to complete the game, but do make it significantly easier.
The sound design is decent, not great. There are a couple sound effects lifted straight from other sources (the reload effect, for instance, is a DOOM favorite) and some of the fun sounds are drowned out by other, less important ones. There a few minor grievances here as well, such as the “Empty” sound and the “Reload” sound being 100% identical.
There are some random text errors, or perhaps mistranslations, that keep the game from feeling polished. This is a running theme throughout, with only the menus feeling truly complete. Sound effects and graphics both feel rough and in-progress.
Throughout my experience with this game, I had a recurring thought – Zombie vs. Gunman is one strong animator/graphic artist away from being a very good game. A professional sound designer wouldn’t hurt either, nor would a proper translator, but the game really suffers in the graphics area.
Wish List:
- More unique upgrades for the units.
- More than three unit slots to begin with.
- Better graphics/animations.
- Better sound design.
- Play Games integration.
- Professional translations.
What I liked:
- Fresh-ish take on PvZ’s proven formula.
- Lots of nifty little details.
- UI design is quite well done.
- RPG-style progression.
What I didn’t like:
- Steep, steep difficulty curve.
- Graphics and sound design feel unfinished.
- Minor translation errors.
- The name. Seriously. Zombies vs. Soldiers or something would be better.
Google Play Store – Zombie vs. Gunman
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Nyko Cygnus Bluetooth Controller review: A great companion for your Android gaming needs
I don’t know about you, but I’m not generally a fan of gaming on a touchscreen. Like many gamers out there, my gaming roots are based on using a controller. The touchscreen is fine if it’s a strategy or puzzle type of game, but fuller 3D games (first-person shooters or racing games) are just not ideal to me without a controller.
Nyko is such brand that makes accessories to up your experience on just about any gaming device (even the Nvidia Shield). It reached out to us about the company’s latest crack at a Bluetooth Android controller, the Cygnus.
The company has a good foundation in building controllers for full-on consoles, so with the Cygnus, it wanted to bring full-sized control to demanding Android games. Let’s check out if it delivers.
Design
The Cygnus is…a controller. Most of us know how a full-sized controller looks/handles. I would say that Xbox owners would most feel right at home here, the design has a close resemblance to what Microsoft offers.
That isn’t a bad thing; the design works. But what caught me off guard (in a good way) upon unboxing the Cygnus is the feel. I love the material that Nyko chose. It’s a rubbery plastic with the softest finish, from head to toe. This means that it’s very grippy – something you want when your hands are sweating up a storm during those intense gaming moments.
What’s also great is that the handles are made even more grippy with pronounced ridges on the sides.
This design feature works as fabulously as you’d guess. This controller does not escape your grip.
The controls are all pretty much laid out just like the Xbox controller. You have your left and right thumbsticks, a directional pad, and four action buttons on the right. The thumbsticks have a ridged texture around the edges for added friction.
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Front and center are the Start, Back, and Home buttons. On the top we see the familiar bumpers and triggers, four in total. You’ll also see a micro-USB port. However, it isn’t for charging the controller (which runs on 2 AA batteries). The micro-USB support allows you to run a wired connection with the gaming device (i.e. if the controller is out of battery, or use on a PC).
Usability
Nyko says that the Cygnus is gaming-ready for Android. It uses the standard Android HID (Human Interface Devices) protocol, which essentially means that its functionality is compatible with loads of Android games that are optimized for controller use.
It’s easy to set up and pair. Simply hold down on the Home button for 2 seconds to make it discoverable (you’ll see the LED lights cycle quickly). Then find it on the gaming device’s Bluetooth settings.
The bottom LED remains lit to signify that the link is active.
As far as usage, the controller worked as advertised. Gaming was as responsive as it should be and the connection stayed active for the duration. All the design cues that address grip make for a nice in-hand experience in practice. The Cygnus is a pleasure to use.
However, I will say that I wish Nyko had engineered some phone attachment mechanism on the controller. As is, it’s not reasonable to game on a phone (unless you’re casting it to a bigger screen).
Final Thoughts
Nyko built a very solid Android gaming controller with the Cygnus. If you regularly game on Android, you should definitely think about a companion like this to enhance your experience. Bear in mind that it can also be useful for VR headsets.
The Cygnus retails for $25, and can be found on Amazon or Nyko’s online store. Head over the product page for details.
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Take back TV with Sling TV for Android: review
I recently became one of the many who finally decided to cancel my expensive cable television service. Companies like Cox, Time Warner and Comcast are some of the largest in the world because of their high profit margins. They have instilled a need in us for a service that is more of a luxury than we realize. From a non expert on cable TV service, I find it absolutely ridiculous that I only have access to one TV service in my zip code. The lack of direct competition allows these companies to charge us ridiculous fees for service.
According to research from Leichman Research Group the mean monthly spending on cable TV is $99.10! That total cost works out to almost $1200 dollars a year for service where you use a fraction of the channels. And you would think with 83 percent of households with a pay TV service, the cost would come down, but it has done the opposite. Since 2010 the average cost has gone up 39 percent. In theory TV should be paid for by commercials and advertisements. Netflix doesn’t have any ads and does fine offering thousands of shows and movies for just $7.99 per month.
And the channels you’re most likely interested in like NBC, FOX, ABC and CBS are all broadcasted free over the air and can be watched in full 1080p if you use a $20-30 antenna from Amazon.com.
While there was a slight adjustment phase from having access to over 200 channels, I have learned there are fantastic video streaming alternatives that cost a fraction of the price of cable.
That’s where Sling TV comes in and I have been using it for over two weeks now.
Sling TV description
Sling TV provides live TV from over 20 channels, with big names such as ESPN, HBO, Food Network, HGTV, TBS, and more.
Sling TV is not free with pricing starting at $20 per month, but it does allow you to stream video to a whole host of connected devices. You can stream to smartphones, tablets, streaming boxes like the Chromecast and Fire TV as well as PC and Mac OS computers.
Sling TV highlights:
• Watch college and pro sports like basketball and football, NCAA, NBA, Monday Night Football, Pretty Little Liars, Star Wars Rebels, Girl Meets World, Angie Tribeca, Shadowhunters, Portlandia, Todd Margaret, PewDiePie’s Broken Podcast, & others. Top shows, kids shows, movies & more.
• Fast-forward, rewind & pause on most channels. Watch up to 3 days of replay on certain channels. No DVR needed!
• Stream & control your viewing experience via mobile & more with your Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV stick, Roku, and Xbox One, Android TV – and Sling TV is now part of T-Mobile’s #BingeOn!
• Go mobile & watch live streaming TV and On Demand at home or on-the-go on your phone, tablet, laptop, or on your TV using Google Chromecast (one device at a time). Stream live television like sports with ESPN, football, basketball, NBA, NCAA, kids shows, movies & more.
• Add on the HBO Extra, featuring streaming shows like The Leftovers, Silicon Valley, Game of Thrones & Girls, plus classics like The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, blockbuster movies, original television programming & more.
Setup and usage
The first thing you need to do is create an account at Sling TV. Sling offers a free seven day trial with access to it’s standard package, but you will need to provide a credit card that will automatically be billed at $20 a month after the trial phase. You are free to cancel at anytime before that though so you’re free to give it a try to see for yourself what disconnecting from cable TV service is all about.
Once I signed up for my free trial I headed on over to the Google Play Store for the U.S. app version of Sling TV. Sling TV is still relatively new and is working through technical issues. The app wouldn’t install on my smartphone no matter what I tried. Although it did install without issue on my Samsung Galaxy View and NVIDIA Shield tablet.
I contacted Sling’s customer chat service and the representative directed me to the international app which was downloadable on all of my Android smartphones. She assured me that it was no different than the U.S. version and in my two weeks of use, I couldn’t find any significant differences.
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Initially I experienced severe connection issues to the TV service. But after about 20 minutes of waiting, everything seemed to sort itself out. I most recently watched the NFL Pro Bowl on ESPN followed by Armageddon on AMC. There aren’t any options for local stations like NBC and ABC, but those are free over the air. For the last two weeks I have tried streaming video to my smartphone over the AT&T network and it worked great. T-Mobile even added Sling TV to its Binge On program that allows for unlimited video streaming.
Unlike cable TV, you cannot watch video on multiple devices at the same time. Which means if you’re apart of a family that likes to watch a lot of TV, Sling may not be the best option for you. But if you’re okay with sharing, especially if you have a subscription to Netflix and/or Amazon Prime Video, Sling TV might be a great option for you if you enjoy live TV.
I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s and am used to channel surfing. Kids these days, are fortunate enough to live in an age with DVR’s and commercial free services such as HBO On Demand as well as Netflix. There’s something about having commercials every few minutes to break up a TV show, and there is something to just mindlessly browsing through stations. I don’t always know what I want to watch and having live TV is something I need. Even if there’s nothing of interest on TV, I still love to browse through the channels and Sling TV brings that to me. While Netflix is great, I really don’t have the attention span to sit for hours at a time without breaks.
In my two weeks of use, I have experienced the occasional streaming lag, but other than that everything has worked great.
What I liked
- Available channels, especially ESPN
- Live TV just like cable TV
- Pricing
- Compatibility with a wide range of devices
- Portability
- Fantastic alternative to high priced cable TV
What I didn’t like
- Occasional lag
- Early software bugs
Summary
While there are some bugs to work through, Sling TV is a great alternative to cable TV. With cable TV subscriptions costing about $100 a month, it doesn’t make sense to continue to pay for a service where you use a fraction of the channels. Don’t continue to pay for TV just because that is what you’re used to. It isn’t necessary to have cable TV like it is to have water and electricity, and with the available alternatives you should strongly think about your options.
At $20 a month, Sling TV is a bargain compared to service from Comast, Cox, Uverse and Time Warner. As long as you have a data connection through your mobile provider or a WiFi signal you can watch live TV from anywhere. Sling TV even has promotions where you can get $50 off a Fire TV or a free Roku player with the purchase of three months of service up front. You can try out Sling TV for seven days free if you’re interested in disconnecting from that expensive service. Just think about the savings of $1000 per year you would get by making the switch.
Learn more at Sling TV
Google Play Store Sling TV app
Google Play Store International TV app (use this app if the main one will not install)
The post Take back TV with Sling TV for Android: review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Keep the music going with Don’t Pause! (App Review)
It’s 5:15 PM. You’re in your car after a hard day of your boss screaming at you. You’re driving home and you have your phone connected to your stereo through bluetooth, a metal album on and you’re singing as loud as you can. To say you’re into this song would be an understatement.
And then it happens. Your mom sends you a text, your pleasant little tone plays and completely takes you out of the moment. This could have been avoided.
You could have downloaded Don’t Pause!
Don’t Pause!
Don’t Pause! is a simple app with a ton of options. It solves the problem I just laid out above. If you don’t want to be taken out of the moment when you get a text or an email, you may want to investigate it. Don’t Pause! will set your notifications to vibration, and won’t dip your music when when the notification comes in.
Your phone will vibrate in your pocket, your music will keep pumping, and you’ll go on about your business. Once you’re done listening to music, your notifications go back to normal. Easy.
Customization
There are plenty of options to customize your experience with Don’t Pause! The first option in the list is the ability to remove the notification that stays in your notification tray when Don’t Pause! is active. Unfortunately for me, it doesn’t work. When I check the option to remove the notification, it never actually goes away.
Even when I stop the app from monitoring my music, the notification remains. The option is there for phones with lesser amounts of RAM so the background process isn’t killed, but it would be nice if the option to get rid of the notification actually worked.
If your phone is vibrating between songs, the “Only Silence Notifications” option may work out for you. If you decide to stop the app while you’re still playing music, you may want to check the “Default Ringer” option. This will return your ringer to its previous state even though the music is still playing. If you leave this unchecked, the phone will remain on vibrate even though you’ve stopped the process.
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Pro users will have access to a couple of features for a small fee of $1.34. Under the “Enhancements” tab we have a couple options for when you want Don’t Stop! to autostart. Here we have options for “Start on USB”, which starts the process when a USB cable is plugged in, “Start on Bluetooth” which starts the process when your phone connects to a bluetooth device, “Start on Boot” which makes sure the process starts when your phone starts up, and “Detect Headphones” which will start the process when your headphones enter the 3.5mm jack. All pretty self-explanatory, and all work as intended. You’ll also have the option to disable advertising.
Widgets
Under Widgets, we have three options. The first two options are 1×1 icons, and the third option is a 2×1 widget.
All three of them do the exact same thing, turn the service on and off. These are handy if you don’t want to keep the notifications in the tray, and want to quickly start the service. The 1×1 widgets are the exact same thing. They are the same icon, serve the same purpose and show up exactly the same on the home screen. I honestly have no idea why there are two.
The widgets are frankly ugly. They look very low resolution on my Nexus 6P’s 2560 x 1440 screen. You can see outlines at the edge of the icon where empty space should be, and the text under the widget cuts off so you only see “Don’t”. They’re poorly made, and need some work if the developer wants to be taken seriously.
Functionality
When the app is running, it functions great. I had Josh Noriega and Derrick Miyao send me a few text messages to test the app’s functionality, and I wasn’t interrupted once. The phone vibrated every time just as intended, and never stopped or faded the music I was listening to.
If you bring up the volume bar while listening to music and try to raise the ringer volume, it will default it back to vibration. You’ll have to actually stop the process to do that. I wanted to see what would happen if I forced the volume up in the settings (Settings App > Sound & Notification > Ring Volume) and it shot my phone into Do Not Disturb mode. Definitely a weird result that the dev needs to fix, but it won’t affect many users unless they do the exact steps I did (which is unlikely).
Verdict
I really like Don’t Pause! I don’t regret buying the pro version since it was pretty cheap, and opened up some options that make the app pretty powerful. The options you get with the free version are enough to get by on.
I do worry about users missing alerts. I have an Android Wear smartwatch which will still alert me to notifications when they come in when the process is running. You’re going to have to keep an eye on your phone if you don’t because you certainly won’t hear any notifications with Don’t Pause! on.
Play Store Link: Don’t Pause!
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Gear S2 follow up review
Smartwatches aren’t a new concept but, similar to tablets, they experienced a period of growth before the market stalled as other technology endeavours – Virtual Reality and Drones come to mind – came to the forefront. For wearable OEMs, building an Android-compatible smartwatch that is capable of achieving the same level of success as the Apple Watch has proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Thankfully, Samsung may have finally stumbled upon a recipe for success.
The company’s first Gear smartwatch ran on a customised version of the full Android OS, but since then, we’ve seen the Korean OEM take a different approach to wearables through its own Tizen OS. Built from the remains of Nokia and Intel’s failed MeeGo OS, Tizen is made by Samsung and Intel and over the past few generations of the Gear smartwatch range, we’ve seen the platform evolve considerably. Now, in the Samsung Gear S2, we have a flagship wearable that showcases just why Samsung opted to use Tizen instead of Google’s Android Wear OS.
After holding off on my purchase since it launched last October, I finally succumbed and replaced my Moto 360 2nd Gen with the Gear S2 at CES earlier this month. Below you’ll find my follow up review to Josh’s initial review of the Gear S2, which you can read and watch here.
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Design
When designing wearables, companies seem to take one of two approaches: aim for the sporty look that is unmistakably a smartwatch or aim to blend in with the luxury watch segment.
Some aim to straddle both approaches and with the Gear S2, Samsung has done just this; for those wanting all the rugged features without trying to blend in, the Gear S2 is exactly this, complete with its silicon band. For those who want a luxury smartwatch, the Gear S2 Classic has a leather strap for a traditional quartz look with the addition of some very smart features.
The original version is the model I’ve been using and although the Gear S2 Classic was my original choice, the sportier look of this version actually appeals more. One of the biggest benefits of the silicon band is that it barely shows any use with age, whereas leather has a habit of looking worn with minimal usage. The leather straps on both my Moto 360 and my Huawei Watch showed wear after a little passing of time, with the Moto 360 being the worst offender. It’s nice not to have to worry about this.
The silicon bands use a proprietary connector to connect to the stainless steel body and this means you can’t really change the design of the watch. The lack of traditional connectors means Samsung has been able to remove the lugs that are present in a more conventional design, which some people like but I find disconcerting.
The main body of the Gear S2 is made from stainless steel with a Home and Back button on the side, which let you interact with the OS in many different ways and a heart-rate sensor on the back. The key feature that sets the Gear S2 above many competitors is the unique rotating bezel around the display, which rotates with a reassuring click and is used to interact and navigate throughout the smartwatch.
The Gear S2 sports a 1.2-inch Super AMOLED display with 360×360 resolution that offers 302 pixels per inch density. It’s an excellent display, is vibrant and easy to read and even in direct sunlight, it still remains usable. A particularly nice feature is that while the display doesn’t support auto-brightness, you have the option to set a minimum brightness level and the display brightness will automatically increase to a higher level depending on the amount of ambient light.
Overall, the Gear S2 certainly isn’t perfect – there are plenty of people that will find the inability to connect to traditional watch straps quite frustrating – and the buttons do take a little getting used to, but the rotating bezel is a fantastic idea and truly sets the Gear S2 apart from other smartwatches.
Hands on: Samsung Gear S2 vs Gear S2 Classic
The smartwatch feels pretty nice on the wrist, has a noticeable, but manageable, amount of weight and fits in with almost everything you’re wearing. It manages to be unassuming yet functional and compared to some very odd choices on previous Gear smartwatches, the latest from Samsung finally gets it right.
Hardware
A question many people have asked me is whether the Gear S2 has a GPS antenna and the answer is somewhat complicated, as it depends on which version of the smartwatch you have. The Gear S2 is available in Wi-Fi and 3G variants and if you opt for the latter, it’ll come with an e-SIM and speaker, GPS and a larger battery (300 mAh vs 250 mAh).
The lack of GPS may be considered a downside by fitness fanatics, but the Gear S2 somewhat makes up for it as you’re able to add songs to the 4GB internal storage and play them directly to your Bluetooth headset. This allows you to leave the tethered phone at home (unless you need GPS-mapping) and Wi-Fi support means you can continue to use the Gear S2 as a standalone device.
One of the biggest improvements with the Gear S2 over past Samsung smartwatches is that it is now compatible with any Android smartphone running Android 4.4 or later, and will soon be able to connect to the iPhone as well. When used with non-Samsung devices, you are required to install a number of Samsung specific applications to get everything to work but the experience is almost identical to when paired with a Galaxy smartphone.
Like other wearables, the Gear S2 does have a fitness-focus of sorts, with S-Health proving quite the capable fitness coach. This begins from the home screen where a widget tells you different metrics (example, how much water or caffeine you’ve consumed) and your activity levels.
Samsung Gear S2 unboxing and first impressions
When you’re working out, S-Health is able to record your heart rate and display it in a rather cool graph and of course, all the data is synchronised right back to your smartphone as well. The Gear S2 smartly measures your activity levels and gives you helpful prompts to get moving when you’ve been idle too long; as someone who often spends long periods at a computer, the prompts to move – which are usually around an hour after you’ve been idle – act as a rather useful reminder to take a break.
Performance
Under the hood, the Gear S2 is powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor (of unspecified variety) and 512MB of RAM. Those specs may look somewhat perplexing on paper but are in line with the current generation of wearables, and it’s more than enough to keep the experience running along nice and smoothly.
Previous Samsung Gear smartwatches have displayed a certain degree of lag with use, but despite adding music to the storage, apps to the smartwatch and having lots of unread notifications, the Gear S2 is seemingly infallible. The ability to marry the hardware and the software means Samsung has been able to deliver a smooth, carefully thought-out user experience that doesn’t require the latest hardware. As a result, Samsung achieved a level of optimisation – akin to Apple – that other Android Wear OEMs can only hope for.
Software
Powering the entire Gear S2 experience is the Tizen OS and while it does have some negatives, I personally believe it’s definitely a good thing, for the simple reason that it provides a welcome difference in an otherwise somewhat-stale market.
While Samsung is seemingly committed to Android on its smartphones, its televisions and even its fridges, the company seems to be keeping a cautious distance to Android Wear. A particular reason is that while its been able to customise Android on all of the above, the Android Wear guidelines result in a mostly homogenous experience across all devices.
In comparison, Tizen provides Samsung the flexibility and control that is sorely missing from Android Wear and the Gear S2 is justification for Samsung’s decision to use Tizen. There’s a lot to like about this experience (and some less than pleasing elements) but Tizen has allowed Samsung to deliver a unique smartwatch experience and in turn, Samsung has shown that having control over both the hardware and the software can yield great benefits.
The rotating bezel forms a fundamental part of the experience and allows you to navigate through the various menus and screens. The software feels a lot more intuitive and easy-to-use than other options and the back and home buttons feel like natural elements once you get used to them.
While Android Wear solely relies on voice input, Tizen adds a T9 keyboard for the times when voice dictation isn’t the most ideal option. Typing on a small screen is certainly not comfortable, but having the ability to choose the most appropriate input for your circumstances is a welcome choice to have.
The bezel allows you to swipe between screens and options but you’ll still swipe up to dismiss notifications and tap the screen to select particular options. Then there’s the back and home buttons that allow you to return to the previous screen, go the home screen or open the apps drawer and finally you can also swipe down to access a quick settings menu. Despite all the various inputs, Samsung has somehow managed to make them all work together to provide a unique user experience that feels completely natural.
One of my favourite parts of the Gear S2 is how it handles notifications; when you’re on the home screen, rotating to the left brings up all your unread notifications with each on its own screen. Tapping into it, you can scroll through the entire notification using the bezel and the circular display makes for easy viewing. I’ve read a relatively long email on the Gear S2 with no problems and then even sent a short reply – which is hidden behind the menu on the right – using the T9 keyboard. Granted, it was a 5-word reply!
It’s not all positive however but the negatives are very much determined by what parts of the smartwatch experience are most important to you. For instance, the Gear S2 comes with support from barely any third-party applications; if you’re a fitness fanatic, apps like RunKeeper aren’t supported. There’s no Google Maps support either and although Samsung has made its own Maps for Gear app, navigation on the Gear S2 is still a moot point. If you rely on Google for reminders and contextual notifications, you won’t get them on the Gear S2 and apps with a large userbase like Evernote and RunKeeper are also completely missing.
Widgets are also pretty limited with most displaying information from Samsung’s own apps and the lack of third party applications isn’t likely to change anytime soon. After all, developers can choose to develop for Android Wear or Tizen, and they’ll obviously pick the former, thanks to a larger number of devices and potential customers.
The apps that are present on the Gear S2, like Yelp and Uber, show just how clever the rotating bezel can be, but for me personally, I use my smartwatch for notifications, fitness tracking and as a watch. I don’t need a ton of third-party apps and widgets, which will eventually and inevitably lead to performance lag and poor battery life. Instead, the battery life alone is one reason I’m more than happy to accept the limited Tizen experience.
Battery Life
The Gear S2 is powered by a 250 mAh battery (or 300mAh if you buy the 3G variant) which may not seem particularly large but is more than enough to deliver excellent battery life. There’s no doubt that battery life is every wearable’s kryptonite, but the Gear S2 breaks the mould of current generation wearables.
Most OEMs quote the maximum battery life a smartwatch can attain and most fail to deliver on their remarks but the Gear S2 is a complete surprise in this department. The Apple Watch is quoted as all-day battery life but is actually only capable of 18 hours so you have to charge it every night. Similarly, most Android Wear watches can last into a second day with minimal usage but will run empty in the middle of the day so you’ll have to charge it every night.
Samsung’s past Gear smartwatches have also needed a charge most nights but the Gear S2 doesn’t. In fact, it’s the first fully-functional smartwatch I’ve used that can easily last several days; to provide some context, this excludes fitness-dedicated trackers and refers solely to full smartwatches. I will say that I’ve not spent extensive time with the Pebble range – including the Pebble Time Round which Josh highly recommends – and it’s worth keeping this in mind as they are quoted as offering excellent battery life.
During my time with the Gear S2, I’ve found that if you keep Wi-Fi switched off when it’s not being used, reduce screen brightness to between 2 and 4 and use the Gear S2 solely for fitness tracking and notifications, the battery can easily last 2 full days and, depending on usage, even last a full third. The longest I’ve gone without charging it is 3 days, 4 hours and 41 minutes.
When the Gear S2 does run low on battery, the included magnetic charging dock lets you charge it to full in one hour and if you need a quick top up, it can add around 15% in about 10 minutes. While you may wish to charge the Gear S2 every night, especially if you’re using it quite heavily, you can get along pretty comfortably if you do forget to charge it.
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Gear S2 – the verdict
The Gear S2 costs $299 for the original version we’re using here, with another $50-60 for the cellular version, or $349 for the Gear S2 Classic. At this price, it’s equal to the current crop of Android Wear smartwatches and definitely offers a rival experience.
Now Read: Best Android Wear watches
Like smartphones, certain features on a smartwatch will appeal to particular people and for me, the battery life on the Gear S2 alone makes it worth its price tag. Yes, the limitations are quite high, but I’m more than happy to take the rotating bezel and excellent battery life, instead of third party apps and a stale experience.
Over the past two years, I’ve been able to experience almost all the smartwatches that have been offered to the market and the Gear S2 is the first that I’ve actually found useful. For me personally, the homogenisation of Android Wear worked initially but now there’s very little to separate the Huawei Watch from the Moto 360 2nd Gen and the Asus Zenwatch 2 apart from the hardware. No matter which one you choose however, you can expect to charge it pretty much every day.
Let’s hope that Google loosens the reigns of Android Wear just enough to allow other OEMs to deliver truly unique experiences like the Gear S2.
With the Gear S2, the rotating bezel alone is unique enough to keep this wearable on my wrist and the battery life is an added benefit. In an industry full of similar devices, the Gear S2 remains unassuming, but makes just enough of a splash to capture your attention.Let’s hope that Google loosens the reigns of Android Wear just enough to allow other OEMs to deliver truly unique experiences like the Gear S2
HAVIT Bluetooth 4.1 wireless sport headphones: review
The days of wired headphones are limited with more options of Bluetooth headsets. I’ve been using the HAVIT Bluetooth 4.1 wireless sport headphones for the last two weeks and honestly had low expectations. They are currently priced at just $26.99 with free 2-day shipping at Amazon.com, and with my experience in headphones, you normally get what you pay for. But in rare cases, you sometimes get so much more than you were expecting, and that’s what I got with the HAVIT wireless sport headphones.
Design
At first inspection, the HAVIT wireless sport headphones don’t really look “sporty”. They are not brightly colored nor do they look small. You get two earpieces which are about the size of a two U.S. Nickles and are connected by a single cable with a rubber coating. The two earpieces are made from plastic, and the right earpiece is the one that contains the brains – the volume up/down buttons, on/off switch, charging port and Bluetooth connection button. The left earpiece is identical in design, it just doesn’t have any built in controls.
On the right earpiece you will also find the tiny holes that house the dual microphones that allow you to make wireless calls. There is absolutely nothing fascinating about the design, but they are actually very well built. The buttons are in logical places, seams match up quite nicely, and the charging port is accessible and out of the way from any potential sweat that may harm the headphones if you were to wear them while working out.
And although they look large, there are small protruding earpieces which fit directly into your ear canal. And those earpieces are actually rather light weight.
Usage
Honestly I wasn’t expecting much when it came to sound quality. But with my first listening attempt with Charlie Puth’s Marvin Gaye, I was instantly surprised at how great these Bluetooth headphones performed. In the YouTube video of Charlie Puth’s song, it opens up with a drum scene and my ears could instantly feel the drum roll. And then the music comes to life with a full range of bass, decent mids, and clear highs.
Bluetooth music suffers to its wired counterpart when it comes to sound quality, but the gap is getting much smaller as time progresses. What helps sound quality dramatically is the type of seal you get with the earpieces. The HAVIT wireless sport headphones block out almost all outside sound with the silicon tips it provides out of the box. They’re extremely comfortable and can be worn for hours. I know they can because I wore them on a two and a half hour flight last week. With the great seal and improvement in Bluetooth technology, the sound is actually really great and most importantly these headphones are fun to listen to.
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I also was not expecting much in terms of call quality. The microphones are built into the right earpiece so you won’t have a mic hanging down in front of your face which is nice. In my recent experience with wireless headsets, I haven’t had much luck with superior call quality.
Until now. HAVIT uses Bluetooth 4.1 and CVC 6.0 noise cancellation technology which actually works well. While walking my dog and while hanging out with her at the dog park I took a few calls to give this tech a try. I asked my test subjects if I sounded loud and clear, and all four of them answered with a unanimous yes.
My only real complaint with these headphones is the volume doesn’t get as loud as I sometimes need. Gyms can be very loud at times with music blasting in the background, weights clanking, and with people talking. It can sometimes push my volume needs a little beyond what most people would listen to, and to a level that probably isn’t good for my ears. But when I work out I need to block out all outside sound. There were times when I could still hear outside noise which sometimes left me desiring more volume.
Other than that, the battery life is great at five to six hours of use, build quality is better than I expected, and the light-weight is a great factor when wearing these. They feel no heavier than my custom in ear monitors and are comfortable to use.
Specifications:
Bluetooth version: V4.1 + EDR
Operating Range: 10M
Talk time: about 6.5h
Charging length: about 2h
Music Duration: about 6h
Voice prompts: Support
Channel: two-channel stereo
Support Agreement: A2DP / HFP / HSP / AVRVP
Functions: answer / end / reject / redial, mute, volume control / switch songs, multi-point links, music, noise cancelling
Charger Port: Micro USB
Summary
For $26.99 the HAVIT Bluetooth 4.1 wireless sport headphones are an absolute steal. I definitely was not expecting much with the price I paid, but was happily surprised that the headphones offer exceptional sound with a high quality build. Materials were nothing to write home about, but everything else was worthy. If you are on a budget, or if you don’t want to waste money on a good set of headphones to use at the gym or on a run, I can highly recommend the HAVIT Bluetooth 4.1 wireless sport headphones. Especially when they are priced at just $26.99.
Check out the HAVIT Bluetooth 4.1 wireless sport headphones at Amazon.com.
The post HAVIT Bluetooth 4.1 wireless sport headphones: review appeared first on AndroidGuys.
BLU Vivo XL review
BLU, the Florida-based device manufacturer, boasts a robust smartphone portfolio with a common aspect all these phones share being their budget-friendly nature. Continuing to add to their lineup, BLU unveiled two more affordable smartphones last month at CES 2016, with the cheaper of the already low-cost phones being the BLU Vivo XL. Of course, very affordable devices has been the point of focus for a lot of Android OEMs over the past year, so does BLU manage to stand out with their latest offering? We find out, in this comprehensive BLU Vivo XL review!
Design
The Vivo XL is certainly one of BLU’s flashier options to date, with a patterned finish on the removable back cover, with gold being the color version of this particular review unit. Whether you like the look depends entirely on your personal opinion, and there is another touch more subtle color option available as well, but it has to be said that the glossy plastic backing and matte finish edges allow for an excellent feel in the hand. However, the plastic rear cover does seem to be prone to scratches, so you may have to depend on a protective case to keep the device in a pristine condition. Luckily, the Vivo XL does come with a case in the box.
Taking a look around the device, the power button and volume rocker are on the right side, and all the buttons offer a reasonable amount of tactile feedback. Capacitive navigation keys are found below the display up front, but in a rather strange move BLU switched the positions of the back and the Recent Apps keys. This might take some getting used to depending on what device you’re coming from. There is also a multi-colored LED at the top left above the display, and the headphone jack and USB-Type C port are found up top and at the bottom respectively.
BLU has also done a great job with keeping the bezels around the display and the top portion and bottom chin quite thin, making for a more manageable handling experience than its 5.5-inch display would suggest. Build quality hasn’t always been particularly good when it comes to devices that fall in the sub-$150 category, but that is also something that is slowly changing, especially with the Vivo XL. Despite its plastic construction, the device certainly doesn’t feel cheap, and the solid construction allows for a great feel while holding the phone.
Display
The Vivo XL comes with a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a 720p resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 267ppi. The pixel count may not be the highest out there, and while a higher display resolution would have been nice, 720p does make sense at this price point – the main advantages of the display are clearly shown off in the battery life department. The display experience is actually also really good as well, with the AMOLED panel allowing for high contrast and punchy, saturated colors. Overall, the display of the Vivo XL is certainly one of the best we’ve seen in this price range, despite its lower resolution.
Performance and hardware
Under the hood, the Vivo XL comes with an octa-core MediaTek MT6753 processor, clocked at 1.3GHz and backed by the Mali-T720 GPU and 2GB of RAM. The performance of the Vivo XL has been good for the most part, with the device handling tasks with ease the majority of the time. However, there were some instances where the phone would generally feel sluggish, particularly when opening or switching between applications via the Recent Apps screen.
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As far as gaming is concerned, the device is able to handle casual games with no trouble, but you will see some frame drops with more graphically-intensive games. That said, the Vivo XL is still a decent option for mobile gamers on a tight budget.
16 gigabytes is the only in-built storage option available with the Vivo XL, but you do get expandable storage via microSD card by up to 64GB to alleviate any concerns. The device also comes with a standard suite of connectivity options, as well as dual-SIM capabilities. You also get full 4G LTE support on the T-Mobile network, and nearly full support on AT&T. We were able to test this review unit on T-Mobile’s extended range LTE network (band 12) and experienced excellent connectivity. If you are on AT&T however, you may be missing out on LTE coverage in some rural areas, with the device lacking band 5 support.
See also: Best dual-SIM Android phones (January 2016)
The single rear speaker of the device offers a decent audio experience, but a bump in volume and a reduction in the distortion would have certainly been appreciated. That said, it is still about average for the price, and will certainly get the job done in most situations. BLU made the switch to USB Type-C with the Vivo XL, which is a very welcome, but slightly inconvenient move. You will now have to remember to carry around the charger if you need to top up the battery on the go, but the adoption of the latest standard is certainly good to see, especially with a budget smartphone.
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The good news is that having to carry around the charger may not be required at all, with the 3,150mAh unit of Vivo XL offering excellent battery life, aided by the lower resolution display and power-efficient processing package. On average, the device would comfortably last a full day of use, if not more, with around 5.5 hours of screen-on time, and that can also be pushed to up to 6 hours with slightly lighter usage. Of course, if battery life does prove to be a concern, the battery is removable, and you always have the option of carrying around a spare.
See also: Best cheap Android phones (January 2016)
Camera
The BLU Vivo XL comes with a 13MP rear camera with phase detection auto focus and an LED flash, along with a front-facing 5MP unit. The camera performs just about as expected from a device that falls in the price range, and does quite well in ideal lighting conditions, resulting in images that are very sharp and with a lot of detail, as well as with a respectable amount of dynamic range. However, with noticeable aliasing in some images, occasional color reproduction errors, and poor low light capabilities, this camera certainly won’t outperform those found on more expensive smartphones.
As far as the camera app is concerned, the interface is quite simplistic, with ease of use being the focus here. There is a Professional Mode available though, that allows for more granular control over aspects like ISO and shutter speed. There are also a slew of other modes and features built in, but taking pictures in the normal Auto Mode is what works more than well enough in most instances.
Software
On the software side of things, the BLU Vivo XL is running Android 5.1 Lollipop out of the box, with a custom skin on top. The software experience BLU offers with their smartphones has been quite fragmented across the board, but in the case of the Vivo XL, a much improved and more polished iteration is to be found. Of course, staple Android features like an app drawer and lock screen notifications are missing, but the overall experience still feels much better than what is seen with some other devices BLU’s portfolio.
In other changes from stock Android, the Quick Toggles in the notification dropdown have also been completely done away with, in favor of an Apple-esque Control Center. Many of the system UI elements are also strong deviations from stock Android, which may be disappointing for some enthusiasts. There are a few third-party apps pre-installed as well, but all of these can easily be uninstalled.
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As far as software updates go, BLU has been attempting to do a better job in offering timely updates for their smartphones, but we’ll have to wait and see if and when an official update to Android 6.0 Marshmallow will be made available for the Vivo XL. That said, if running the latest versions of Android is important to you, BLU smartphones may not be the way to go anyway.
Specifications
| Display | 5.5-inch AMOLED display with 1280 x 720 resolution 267 ppi |
| Processor | 1.3GHz octa-core Mediatek MT6753 |
| GPU | Mali-T720 |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Storage | 16GB, microSD expansion up to 64 GB |
| Camera | 13MP rear camera 5MP front camera |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth v4.0, Hotspot, Type C-USB, FM Radio, VoLTE |
| Battery | 3,150mAh, non-removable |
| Software | Android 5.1 Lollipop |
| Dimensions | 155.2 x 76.6 x 7.5mm 154 grams |
| Colors | Solid Gold, Chrome Silver, Midnight Blue, Rose Gold |
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Pricing and final thoughts
The BLU Vivo XL will be available for $149 from Best Buy, with the color options included being Solid Gold or Midnight Blue. If you have made up your mind about picking up this device, you may want to do so before January 31st, with BLU running a three day sale that brings the price of the device down to just $99.
So there you have it for this in-depth look at the BLU Vivo XL! The Vivo XL may have its issues low-end processing package, and mediocre camera. The device does also get a lot right though, with AMOLED technology more than making up for the low resolution, its excellent battery life, and the fact that users will have access to the 4G LTE networks in the US, which are all great reasons to pick up this budget-friendly phone. As mentioned, you also get to take advantage of a sale following its launch, so if you have decided to to buy this phone, now would be the best time to do so. What are your thoughts? Is the Vivo XL worth the money? Let us know what you think in the comments.
More BLU smartphones
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AIVAnet 