Sony really isn’t having the best of times at the moment and it looks as though it is going from bad to worse. It seems as though the password reset system has now been exploited by those who had the original details from the previous hack. I love my Nintendo Wii…
From Euro Gamer- “Eurogamer has seen video evidence that verifies reports that Sony’s PlayStation Network password reset system suffers from an exploit that allows attackers to change your password using only your PSN account email and your date of birth – information compromised in the PSN hack of 20th April.
Sony today made PSN sign-in unavailable for a number of its websites, including PlayStation.com and the PlayStation forums. All PlayStation game titles are also unavailable.
Crucially, the website users are directed to by password reset emails is now down.”
Infinite Dreams is promising to reduce the price of Sky Force for iOS down to free if it reaches 5,000 fans on Facebook. This page has all the details and it is certainly a novel way to gain fans…
“Infinite Dreams decided to drop the Sky Force price to 0$ in case of reaching 5000 Facebook fans milestone. It’s up to gamers how fast the game will be available for FREE to download on your device.
All you have to do is visit Infinite Dreams Facebook fan page and become their fan. Then invite your friends to join the party and watch how the price go down. If the ‘like’ counter shows over 5000 fans, Sky Force will be discounted to 0$ on Apple App Store for 48 hours.”
What do you think about using your Smartphone as a payment device? Many services will be available soon, using NFC and SMS services. Would you use your Smartphone and network contract to pay for other services?
More than 3 million Galaxy S 2′s have been pre-ordered to date in a very short space of time and that is remarkable given the number of different Android smartphones on the market. Something seems to be lifting the S 2 above the competition and it can’t surely be just those dual-core processors nestling within the super slim form? No, it can’t because people, on the whole, do not care if there is a billion gigabyte processor or an elastic band powering a phone so long as it works and can grab their attention.
The Galaxy S 2 grabbed my attention the first time I saw it and from the time I got one in my hands, it doesn’t seem to want to let me go. It isn’t, at first glance, radically different to the big screened Android competition, but there is something here that is different and I will try to understand what that is by the end.
I won’t be continually comparing it to the iPhone 4 or other Android competitors because I want to judge the S 2 on its own merits. A comparison against other devices will follow in a couple of days.
In the box
The box is standard Samsung; a black square affair that offers little indication of what is inside. When you open it the S 2 fills the entire top from left to right and top to bottom. This is not a small phone, but then again it sort of is. More on that later.
You get an AC microUSB charger, a microUSB sync cable, 1650mAh battery and a set of in-ear headphones with some extra buds. That’s your lot which seems a little tight considering the price of the phone. Would it have killed Samsung to bundle a screen protector like Sony Ericsson does? I guess the Gorilla Glass is a good reason not to, but it would still be nice to see.
First Impressions
Opinion is divided on the Galaxy S 2 and with good reason. On the one hand you have a phone that feels impossibly thin and which looks stunning in an understated way. On the other hand the backing has received criticism with some claiming that the phone is poorly built. There is without doubt an obsession with lightness going on here which is apparent when a 4.3″ screen comes in at only 116 grams. That is super light considering the specs and the form factor is one of those ‘How did they fit everything into this phone?’ moments.
To call it poorly built is disingenuous in my opinion. There are no rattles and it feels quite solid despite the lack of depth. The back plate is unbelievably bendy when you take it off, but once put in place again it fits like a glove. I think that some people expect metal and glass to make a phone look expensive, but are they the best materials for a smartphone? No they are not. Give me a good build quality and severe lightness and depth any day.
Care seems to have been taken to produce a phone that will survive the modern smartphone user. The Gorilla Glass is made from Gorillas (?) so must be tough and the back plate is easily replaced should it get scratched. Consider the minimal weight and much of the energy should be dissipated over what is a large area if the phone is dropped. It appears to be practically designed with minimal time taken on the aesthetics, but it still comes out the other side as a swan rather than an ugly duckling.
The S 2 is big, of that there is no doubt, and this offers many advantages. The large screen offers a mini-tablet experience for movies, games and complex apps and data entry is improved thanks to the larger than average keyboard. However, I have quite big hands which means I can usually hold a smartphone in one hand and use my thumb to interact with every area of the screen. On the S 2 it is a bit of a stretch to reach the top right hand corner which arguably shouldn’t happen on a ‘phone’. The problem is that we can’t have it both ways and the choice comes down to what is desired the most- a larger screen or complete one-handed use? I would go for the larger screen because, even at 4.3”, the S 2 feels good in the hand and the advantages are clear. It is the ultimate slab; so thin and light yet so large. We are one step closer to those devices Federation crew members used to walk around with on Star Trek and it is happening much quicker than the creators of the show probably expected.
There are few surprises in the button placements and the general form, but simplicity has been employed throughout. The on/off button is placed on the right hand side which takes some getting used to, but is absolutely perfect for right-handed people who hold a phone in their left hand. The positioning is ideal for the forefinger and soon becomes second nature in use. The headphone jack is at the top, the microUSB on the bottom side and the volume keys on the left so no real surprises there. The front buttons are slightly unusual in that there are just menu and back keys flanking the main home button. There is no search key, which I am guessing few people use anyway, and so making the main home button bigger makes a lot of sense. The menu and back keys are virtual and only light up when pressed which feels slightly strange at first. It all works well though and I have no real complaints, but I admit that I am someone who always prefers hardware keys if possible.
In use
So the hardware is pretty good in the hand and on the eye which is half the battle for many people, but how does it perform in the real world? I will go through each feature as normal, but not in huge detail. It’s all about the experience for me and I really do not care, or understand, if the camera struggles in specific areas or if the processors are pumping out a million tasks a second. It’s all about how it works for me.
Camera
I have been extremely impressed with the camera. The lack of a dedicated camera button is a shame because the camera itself works very well indeed, but the onscreen button is large enough to hit without thinking and it works well enough. The interface for the camera software is standard and access to taken photos, settings (which are high in number) and the zoom controls are logical enough for most to use them when a capture worthy moment arises. I was impressed with how quickly the camera starts up which is something that is often overlooked. The moment occurs and you want to catch it- there is nothing worse than a long delay starting the camera function up which is sadly something that happens on many smartphones.
I took my children out to a place called Nymans Gardens to test out the camera and a selection of photos is shown below. I played around with the effects, but on the whole left every setting at the maximum possible and the results were excellent. Photos were snapped in an instant and every single one was usable. I ended up taking 91, but won’t bore you with all of them. The photos below are scaled down, but should give a good idea of what the S 2 snapper is capable of. The last one shows how good the flash is as well (taken in complete darkness) which again is near the best, but not quite Nokia standards.
Video capture is rated at 1080p and 30fps and the results are pretty good. It is still obviously a smartphone video camera, but up there with the best available. Sound capture is quite good, but lacks the crispness found in some Nokia cameras. Again though, from a user experience point of view you are unlikely to be disappointed. A quick example is below-
As an aside, there is also a 2 Megapixel camera on the front for video calling which is a more generous specification that it may seem.
Screen
The dimensions will take most of the headlines because 4.3” is pretty big for any smartphone. Strangely this size is starting to become standard on high-end smartphones and all of the work is being done to reduce the depth rather than the footprint.
I do like this screen a lot for a variety of reasons. Size is a major factor for watching movies and navigating through the often muddled Android interface, but the colour presentation is just superb. It feels so alive and the viewing angles are as acute as you could hope for. Take it outdoors in the bright sunlight and you will still be able to see everything you need to and indoors it just shines. The touch side feels just right and is neither over sensitive or difficult to use and the resolution, at 480 x 800 pixels, looks crisp and clear for reading and every other activity.
It depends on your point of view regarding screen technology as to how you would rate this one. Do you need a Retina display (does anyone?) or do you need a large screen that is viewable in all conditions and one that reproduces colours vibrantly? Over the past few days I have used the S 2 to watch movies in preference to any other phone and I have to say that it makes mobile film watching feel much more real than on small screens thanks to the dimensions and colour reproduction.
General Performance
1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and 16GB of internal memory. It is an impressive set of pieces that make up the power puzzle here and you will not be found wanting with any standard task. Even video editing (editor app included) works without a glitch and I have not been able to find any problems here. Start up is quick from the powered off state although it can be frustrating; the screen pops up, but it continues to do stuff in the background and takes about 30 seconds all in all.
You may be asking why a smartphone needs a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. So am I. There are few smartphone processes that can take advantage of such power currently and so the performance enhancements are not too noticeable in normal use, but it’s a bit like buying a home computer. You don’t buy one that can just about cope with your needs- most people buy the best they can in the consideration that it will be able cope with more intensive tasks and those that have not even been invented yet. The S 2 is specced to cope with the future and this is hard to criticise particularly because it will only use what it needs to most of the time.
All in all I have pleased with the general speed of the S 2 and suffered no slowdowns at all. However, I can say that about many other high-end smartphones so you won’t necessarily see a huge jump in speed on the S 2 because so many other phones are so fast. This is not a criticism because its true worth will be shown in time and I fully expect some remarkably complex and clever apps to take advantage of the power here in the next few months.
Media
This is a strong area for the S2, very strong. The processor and large hi-definition screen ensure a smooth video playback experience. It really does feel like a small tablet when watching movies and again the colours seem to jump out of the screen. One very clever trick is the outdoor brightness option which reduces the quality of video output slightly in order to offer a super brightness settings thus enabling use in virtually every weather condition.
Music is also excellent and a decent set of headphones makes a world of difference. It is up there with the very best, but the software interface could be a little more intuitive. It takes longer to navigate through tracks than it should, but this being Android means that there is a wealth of alternatives available. There are also many options built into the software such as effects, some of which are highly realistic, and you will find yourself playing around with various aspects of music manipulation just because it is there.
The external speaker is pretty good as well and a welcome change from the recent HTC efforts. To create a decent noise from a phone so thin is not easy, but Samsung has just about achieved it. It is slightly tinny which is most noticeable when playing music however and could possibly be improved with software alone.
There is an FM Radio, AllShare for those of you with DLNA compatible equipment and a video and photo editor thrown in for good measure.
This phone is designed with entertainment high on the agenda and Samsung appears to have succeeded. The amount of content available is also improving all of the time on Android and Google Movies should be the icing on the cake for this particular phone.
Data Entry
As you may know I am no fan of touch screen keyboards and am still waiting for a large screened Android or iOS device to incorporate a proper font screened or slide out keyboard. Android does a good job though of giving the user a variety of options of which Swype is the most well known. Swype can suffer from the problem of a finger hiding the screen and thus reducing visibility of each letter, but the S 2 alleviates this thanks to the size of the screen. In fact, the screen size helps normal data entry a great deal as well and I found that I struggled less than I normally do on Android phones.
I don’t believe that the stock Android keyboard is better than the iOS keyboard, even with the bigger screen, but I do prefer Swype to both alternatives. Add handwriting recognition and even more options hidden in the settings and most users should be able to find a solution that works quite well for them.
Battery
I haven’t found a smartphone yet that does well in all areas and the battery is usually the biggest culprit on high-end phones, but even this area is relatively positive. It’s a mix of good and bad and in my unscientific tests I would say that it could go as far as 2 days under average usage, but easily down to one if you push it hard. I have read elsewhere that the battery is excellent and I understand why people say that, but I would say that it is about average for a high-end Android smartphone. Then again, most high-end Android smartphones don’t come with a 4.3″ screen hence why it is overall quite positive.
Call Quality
The Galaxy S shone in the call quality stakes and was way ahead of the competition at the time of its release. The Galaxy S 2 is pretty good, but doesn’t quite match the original S for richness and volume. Don’t be disheartened though because it is still up there with the best.
Strangely the speakerphone is rich and vibrant with only a hint of distortion when the volume is cranked all the way up.
Signal
No problems here at all. HSDPA in my house, even on Vodafone, and full signal everywhere on 3. Again I haven’t been scientific about this, but suspect the radios built-in are pretty good. GPS also latched on quickly which is not always the case on some Android phones so no complaints from me.
Software
It’s Android through and through, but with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface over the top. Highlights include Google Navigation (of course), various hubs and some nice tweaks to the way the home screens can be managed. The edit function works very similarly to iOS and you can even take a screenshot on the device by holding the power and home key, like iOS. I will come back to the iOS similarities tomorrow when I compare this phone to the iPhone 4, but so far I have been mightily impressed at how well the minimal buttons and large screen present the Android operating system.
Like the Sony Ericsson Arc, it makes Android a much more pleasant mobile OS to use thanks to the hardware and the extra software is both useful and at times worthy of immediate deletion.
Other Stuff
I like Samsung Klies which can be used to transfer media to and from the S 2 wirelessly. It is slightly clunky to set up the first time and not the easiest to use, but once I understood the quirks I enjoyed the experience of not having to directly connect to a desktop.
Polaris Office is installed for Office document handling and does a good job. I prefer it to Documents To Go primarily because it feels more like a part of the OS rather than a standalone solution.
There is so much more that I could cover, but I would be here all day and I don’t think more words about apps and tiny features would add much to my impressions of the S 2.
Conclusion
The Galaxy S 2 is good. It’s very good and has almost no failings at all. It is the flagship Android phone of the moment- if a fleet of Android phones were sailing across the Atlantic to fight a fleet of floating iPhone and BlackBerry’s, the S 2 would be leading the way. It is big, bold and very impressive in so many ways.
It is admittedly similar to the Sony Ericsson Arc, but from a design point of view I feel that the S 2 wins and the power under the hood is likely to keep it ahead of the pack for some time to come. The Arc is easier to hold, especially next to the ear, and minimises the effect of a large screen better than the S 2, but the camera and media quality are ‘just’ about better on the S 2.
I said at the start that this phone has already shipped more than 3 million units. I can now see what. It appeals on multiple levels; geeky Android users who get strangely excited when they look at a specs sheet and the man and women in the street who hold it and feel something special. It is special, of that there is no doubt.
I have written a few ‘Day in the life’ articles in my time and every time I write about what my smartphone can do in a day the number and complexity of the tasks increases. As they increase, so does the amount of time I use my phone during the day and many of the uses are now happening in the background without me thinking about them.
6:30am: Wake up and download latest Podcasts for trip to work.
7am: Drive to work with TomTom running to check the traffic and any diversions. At the same time Podcasts will be playing through an FM transmittor to break the monotony of the journey.
8am: Check emails and the latest Tweets, calendar appointments etc.
Morning: Occasional use of email, Twitter and the internet.
Lunch: Read a bit of an eBook or check up on TUAW and a variety of other sites. Maybe send some links to my email for addition to 247.
1pm-5pm: As previously, checking emails and social networks.
Evening: Check notes and emails from the day for 247 content, Word with Friends and some minimal game playing.
11pm: Read a bit of an eBook, maybe watch a TV episode or part of a film and finally get some sleep.
My smartphone is there all of the time and seems to be getting more usage than ever before, but with less effort. Smartphones are bloody brilliant!
Today’s comment of the day comes from Paul on the subject of privacy. An interesting perspective- “I think it was Bruce Schneier who said it’s important to separate the idea of privacy and secrecy.
It’s no secret that everyone uses the toilet, but it’s something we do mostly in private.
It’s no secret that most people have a bank account, but the details of how to access the account are secret, and most people choose to keep the details of their account private and secret.
It’s no secret that people occasionally change job, but they keep it private and secret from existing employer to protect their position.”
BT has released BT Engage Meeting Mobile which allows the scheduling and control of video meetings direct from an Android or iOS device. In the right hands it could be hugely powerful.
BT Engage is your perfect companion to the BT Engage Meeting Manager web portal. Now you can schedule, view, cancel, start, monitor, or control your video meetings right from your iPhone or iPad, wherever you are, whenever you prefer. Whether it’s SD, HD, or immersive video systems from any major vendors, you can schedule or control your video meetings using the same simple interface on your mobile device.
MGI has produced a report about big data which sounds like quite a dull subject, but a look at the PDF attached to this article is well worth it. There are some fascinating facts such as the fact it costs a mere $600 to buy a hard disk that can store all of the world’s music, 5 billion mobile phones were in use in 2010 and 30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook every month.
Apple has proposed a new standardised SIM format that is even smaller than the current micro SIM that it uses in the iPhone 4 and iPad. I can understand why this might be needed considering that phones are getting smaller all of the time, but am wary of the next step which could well be towards embedding SIM cards. Not an idea I am fond of.
From Reuters- “The move by Apple to work with operators is symptomatic of warming relations as Apple, no longer a new market entrant, depends on mobile carrier subsidies to help it maintain high volumes of iPhone sales.
A spokesman for European telecoms standards body (ETSI) confirmed Apple had made the proposal for the new standard for SIM cards, but decision on starting the standardization work, which can take more than a year, was not yet made.”
German security researchers have discovered that 99% of Android handsets can leak personal data via the Google cloud services. It appears that the login tokens are often issued in plain text (yes, seriously) and this leaves them open to anyone snooping on a Wi-Fi connection.
From BBC- “Armed with the token, criminals would be able to pose as a particular user and get at their personal information.
Even worse, found the researchers, tokens are not bound to particular phones or time of use so they can be used to impersonate a handset almost anywhere.”
Tamoggemon has released Editor for webOS which is claimed to be the first text editor available for the platform.
“Palm’s webOS devices can be used as USB sticks – loading text files, html pages and all kinds of source code onto them is easy. But once the text is on the box, it stays there – editing it is impossible.
Tamoggemon Editor is the first text editor for webOS. Use it to work with all kinds of plain text files while on the go – all webOS 2.0 devices are supported.
Editor is fully multitasking capable. Open multiple files in cards, and switch between them effortlessly like you would switch between applications.
As a bonus feature, Editor also supports a flexible Find&Replace facility which makes bulk changes of files really easy.
The product is available on App Catalog as of this writing. A single user license costs 1.99 USD.”
How many SIM cards do you use? Many laptops now have a 3G module built-in, tablets are often 3G enabled and obviously Smartphones and 3G dongles use SIM cards. For comparison, I have three that I use ( 2 Smartphones and my iPad) and one more provided by my company for my laptop. Thanks to Jah.
There is one problem that still remains with the iPhone and iPad and that is their reliance on the desktop for specific tasks. Wires are still a part of life with iOS and in comparison to Android it feels too tied to other devices to create a true mobile experience.
There are, however, things you can use to make an iPhone (and iPad) feel more independent and here are just a few examples-
The first example is hardware related and a problem that all smartphone owners suffer with- the need to connect to a wire to charge the phone. For those of you in the UK, HMV is currently selling the Logic3 Power Sleeve (for iPhone 4) for only £9.95 in store. You charge it up and take it with you and when you need to charge your phone just slip it into the cradle. It charges the iPhone much faster than my Mac Mini via USB does and has proved useful on multiple occasions so far.
Photo organisation is one area where the iPhone is poor to say the least. To manage your photos you have to sync your phone with iTunes or at the vest least connect to use iPhoto or a similar tool. PhotoSync takes away a lot of this pain and will let you synchronise photos wirelessly between a desktop and the iPhone. Unfortunately due to restrictions by Apple you cannot specify folders on the iPhone so you are still left with a slightly limited experience, but one which is way better than the default settings. Phanfare ($29 / year) is another option which covers many bases. You can save all of your digital photos online and access them directly from an iPhone. It will sync with iPhoto and any photos or videos that you take on your iPhone are automatically uploaded and stored on the service. If you are serious about looking after your photos, this is a very good option.
Podcast management is terrible on the iPhone, but not so with Instacast. For $1.99 / £1.19 your entire Podcasting experience will be changed forever and it really should be snapped up by Apple for a future upgrade.
For notes I have to recommend EverNote and Awesome Note as a combination that never needs to touch a desktop computer. It’s all so seamless that I can’t imagine not using either now.
There are many restrictions imposed by Apple, some with good reason, that limit how mobile an iOS device can currently be, but have a look around and you will find many more apps that can help to get around these restrictions.
The other day while I was checking my calendar (Week Calendar) on my iPod touch, I reminded myself that this app would be great if there was an iPad version. I mean, I’ve been using the iPod version for quite awhile and knowing that one did not exist, I fired off an email to the developer asking if and when they had any plans to do so. Thirty minutes later I had my answer. Yes! It was awaiting approval from Apple and it would only be a few days before it was available. I was so excited. Too excited. Two days later it hit the AppStore. after using it for a short while, I decided to write down some thoughts about this program.
The first thing I noticed was the similarity in looks to the native calendar app. Many of the familiar elements were there across the top and across the bottom. From the calendar selector to the view sensitive date selector on the bottom of the page. But there are a few tweaks. I appreciate the thoughtful tweaks and details like the page marker and the nice use of larger fonts that take what Apple gave us and add much needed usability.
Week Calendar HD has four views: Day, Week, Month and Year. Information can be pulled from either the native app or synched with Google calendar. (This is the main reason I use it). You can create several calendars or even subscribe to other calendars such as holidays, sporting events etc. Each calendar display can be color coded so you’ll know exactly what calendar(s) you are looking ator hidden if desired. Each view has a contextual navigation bar across the bottom so yo can navigate to the day, week, month, or year needed. There is also a Today button on the bottom left that, when pressed, will take you back to the current day. It is a very clean and straight forward layout that is easy to use without having to think about where different features are located.
The Day view is divided in to two panels. The one on the left lists all the upcoming events for the month in an agenda format. Tapping on any appointment will display the appointment details. Tapping on any day will bring up that day on the right panel. The right side panel displays the day broken up by hour time slots; working hours shaded differently than non-working hours. There is a red line that marks the current time of day in the calendar.
The Week view gives you a nice quick overview of your week. The day names run across the top with the current day highlighted in blue. As with the day view, there is a red line showing the current time of day. If you have appointments that are not displayed there are small arrow indicators that inform you there are hidden items. The block style for appointments can be customized from a simple flat color block. to a more modern shiny one.
The Month view looks very much like the default iOS app and works pretty much the same. The weekends are shaded while the current day is highlighted in blue. Tapping on an event will bring up the details of the event. Double tapping on a page with bring up the day view. I would like the choice to switch between a text label (iOS) and the button type (WC). But this is a very minor thing in my opinion.
The Year view is one of the views that I hardly use but it is a useful tool for advanced planning. The current day’s date is displayed in blue. Any day with an event will show yellow and get progressively darker with each event added. If you have five events per se, then the day will be an orange color. It’s a nice little addition that I thought was a nice solution to that particular need.
If you are looking for an alternative calendar for your iPad that syncs up with Google calendar, check out Week Calendar. It is a great program that may not have all the bells and whistles as some of the other solutions, but in keeping with an idea of sophistication with simplicity, Week Calendar is awesome. It just works. It’s well worth the cost of $3 and is available now on iTunes.
Today’s comment of the day come from Azmi on the subject of smartphone lust- “This is actual torture! You cannot keep up with the trend and they always release a device better than the one you have or even pre-ordered! Having the best and latest devices is a synonym of the word impossible! Especially if you are into smartphones.
Many times I think of going back to an old phone that I used to have like two years ago just to get some peace of mind!”
