That's nice. Don't expect the iPhone 5 to do much more than that either. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by henners88
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That's nice. Don't expect the iPhone 5 to do much more than that either. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by henners88
Here you go:Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
Fineslate T01 7" MULTITOUCH tablet, with Capacitive: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics
My bad, it was £69, I forgot that I used a £10 voucher towards it, but even so it's a bargain. It arrived today (next day, despite me only paying for economy!) and I've stuck it on charge and powered it up to check it works, but can't do much else as it's a prezzie.
First impressions: it's surprisingly solidly built, the screen is bright and clear although obviously not particularly great resolution. Judging by the power-up noise the built in speaker is pretty dire but then to be fair I don't know of any tablet with decent onboard sound. There's a micro-SD slot at the bottom, as well as mini-HDMI and USB ports.
Like I said, I'm not expecting miracles at that price, but it seems like it'll be perfect for browsing and light recreational gaming. I'll let you know in the next few weeks how it fares in real life testing. :)
PS, the courier's just emailed to say my S3 is on a van wending its way towards me :D :up:
Looks good! I read some Amazon reviews and they're all positive, but I'll wait for your more unbiased, hands-on review. No hurry, I've got ample time, and I'm gonna do a bit of my own research too. It's surprisingly packed for only about 70 pounds. It seems to be JUST the thing I was looking for. Cheap, runs Android ICS, lets my non-techy parents view photos from their camera, and keep in touch via Skype. They're always at home, so battery life is no issue either. Perfecto. Thanks Dave.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
Congrats! :up: Don't forget to get the free 50 GB on Dropbox and the Eurosport free account.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
Why would you care what other people think? Do people's opinion matter this much to you? I'll buy a pink shirt if I really like it, no matter how much everyone else tells me that it looks fruity as hell. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I'm not ashamed to buy a 70 pound cheap tablet even for myself, when my friends have iPads and Galaxy tabs. I bought the blue Galaxy S3 even though everyone from here, the media and the annoying shop assistant told me the white one is better.
There'll be always detractors bashing everything. Who cares? Just buy what you like and enjoy. ;)
I've just blown all the money I would have spent on an iPhone on a bicycle instead, Apple were too slow :p
Even if they do that, why care?Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
The resizing of more widgets is handy, but to be honest I don't see the changes in the other features. My daughter has one of the older iPods and side by side the video on both is great. As I said, I remain unimpressed after all the hype.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
To each their own in this case then. For me, the widget resizing, maps and Chrome syncing are impressive and very handy features, especially the Chrome syncing helps out a lot for the line of work I am in. Chrome for ICS is also the fastest web browser I have used on any handheld device, and I have tried them all.Quote:
Originally Posted by airshifter
I wasn't jumping with joy for ICS or JB either. They are both nice OS'. I don't have a problem with iOS 5 or 6 either, it works well too. Android just fits my needs better.Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
I prefer Android and its devices more for their versatility and for letting me do things that Apple restricts, for ex. customizing and rooting (which you call hacking henners). :D IMO you should be able to do whatever you want with a device bought from your money, and Android lets me do that, lets me make my phone truly how I want it, without any major complications. There is a whole world of possibilities out there with a rooted phone.
I also understand many people could give a flying rat's behind about all these things and prefer something which works and is simple. I don't have a problem with these people. One of my friends owns about 6 latest Apple products. I don't go to his house and question him about it. It's not my business what he does with his money.
But if someone asked for my opinion about a mobile OS, or there's a discussion about it somewhere, such as on a public forum, I would recommend Android. :)
[youtube]fHkhp6BwnGo[/youtube]
I found this video of Google Now from Android 4.1 JB in action. Even though voice rec currently is far away from what the companies would have you believe, this is hands down the best in the business right now.
I tried most of these on my Galaxy S3's S-voice and Siri on a friend's iPhone 4S. Both of them obviously crap. They were nowhere near the accuracy and speed of Google Now. Surprisingly though S-voice faired better than Siri, getting a lot of them right.
Same here :up:Quote:
Originally Posted by henners88
So how is Samsung tocuhwisz in Android 4.* compared to on the S2? I dont a have a S2 myself but have used theQuote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
model occasionally and i have to say that i prefer the look and feel of HTC Sense (have only used v2.2.2).
Well we couldn't resist so opened it early! Keep in mind these impressions are after only a day's use so I can't form any impression about battery life or stability.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
The sound, which I said was pretty weedy on startup, is actually a lot better than I'd expected. It's not fantastic quality, but it does produce a tidy bit of volume good enough for listening to video clips without headphones. The screen is properly responsive, some of the earlier cheapos had awful resistive screens or rubbish capactitive, but this is fine.
The resolution is the only letdown, as expected, it's 800x480 pixels which is the same as many 3.5" phones. It's actually not as bad as you might think for reading averagely sized text, and it's got a nice tone for photos, but don't expect fine detail in pictures or the ability to ready tiny writing - although obviously it supports all the normal zoom methods. I haven't tried the HDMI out as it's a micro connector (my adaptor's shipping). The sole front-facing camera works, that's about all you can say. Pictures are acceptable in decent light, and certainly good enough for Skype purposes.
The OS fair zips along. The missus has installed some quite hefty apps and it copes well. She hammered it yesterday and the only glitch was that Dolphin Browser froze once, but then it used to do that occasionally on my Desire so I don't know if it's a fault with the app or the hardware - time will tell. 4GB of memory is divided into just under 1GB of pure internal storage, and just over 3GB on a virtual external card - but it's a doddle to transfer between them and most apps install to the SD card anyway. We popped in a spare 4GB microSD card (and contrary to one review I'd read it doesn't stick out) which she's busy filling with photos and music. I'll be staggered if the manufacturer supports any upgrade to Jellybean but I'm sure it won't be too hard for a reasonably tech-literate person to install once there's a stable release.
Wi-fi connected flawlessly and actually seems to have better stability than my old HTC. It charges quickly (the supplied charger is a bit iffy build quality but it's your standard 5v mini USB job) and appears at this stage to have decent if not spectacular battery life.
Is it fantastic? No. Is it a solidly built decent spec bit of kit? Certainly. Obviously a Nexus is going to be better quality, have better support and have more onboard memory, but I honestly can't see it being worth double the purchase price. Give it a few weeks and I'll let you know how it fares out in the real world :)
I also prefer the look of the sense UI on HTC phones, but as far as functionality goes, IMO touchwhiz is better. I say this because I tried the HTC One X before going for the Galaxy S3, and even for its impressive hardware, the sense UI seemed to bog ICS down a bit. Transitions and swipes were not as smooth as they are on the Galaxy S3. Also, video recording was a bit jittery, but that could be down completely to how HTC handles its camera app. I also find that the touchwhiz UI is less intrusive on the S3 than it was on the S2. People complained and probably Samsung listened, or maybe I just like Galaxy S3 way too much. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by BleAivano
Coupled with a lot of extra features AND the most important one of them all, expandable memory, Galaxy S3 was a clear winner for me over HTC One X.
Those are great first impressions, Dave, and a very well written hands-on review I might add. I am still amazed that tablet packs so much for only 70 pounds. The only thing that bothers me though is probably the hardware, but then again, I forget I'm buying this for my parents, who could give two *bleeps* about hardware. Just for swiping through photos, using newspaper apps, basic apps and using Skype, I think 70 pounds is very reasonable.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
The only reason I might even look at other more expensive tablets is if I wanted to give them some Google Maps GPS functionality as well. But they never go outside the city, and even if they do, they take a flight or a train, so that is again a moot point.
What should be interesting is how it handles a fully loaded microSD card, let's say bigger than 16 GB. Their holiday photos are never gonna get that far, but it's nice to have an option, especially if he would want me to load the tablet with any of his favorite old movies and music.
Have you tried Chrome on it yet? :D
Can't we all agree that the likes of Siri and S-Voice etc are all completely useless and manufacturers should stop putting their efforts into something which is ultimately pointless
I'll have to try the Chrome. TBH I don't use the browser enough to justify much playing with it, as it works fine as it shipped. But being I like Chrome on the home PCs, I'll have to give it a shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
As for the widgets I'm not sure if that was really an OS function or if they just released a lot of widgets you can resize when they released ICS updates. A few of my widgets would allow size changes when I had Gingerbread.
I can't at all agree with that. The Google voice recognition on my Droid works very well, and saves me a lot of time sending texts and making sticky notes. Though the integration to phone commands isn't as good using a different system, I use the voice input on a regular basis with the Google searches.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
While they're far away from what is advertised by the companies, I believe it's a step in the right direction. Both Siri and S-voice are beta voice rec software anyway working on a learning AI model, so they'll only get better as they learn. I believe the ultimate goal is accurate audio transcription, which would save a lot of people a lot of time, but for that to happen, the AI would have to be at least on par with human intelligence, which I don't see happening anytime soon. But they should get close in the next decade or so.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark
From what I have seen of Google Now and its deep integration with Google's search engine, it seems at least a generation ahead of both Siri and S-Voice.
I've tried Chrome on my S3 and hated it, which is weird because I love the desktop version. It just strikes me as an unfinished project, and I've found Dolphin more functional and a bit quicker. Having synched bookmarks was nice, but it took seconds to export/import them from one browser to t'other.Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainRaiden
Just another word on the cheap tablet: the stock keyboard is beyond awful. The missus has installed Go Keyboard and spent a worthwhile few minutes tweaking it (eg changing the height of the keys, and making the arrow keys permanently visible) and it's completely transformed the experience for the better.
We have no end of problems with Crome here, so many things users phone in and say "it's not working"... "Try using a different browser" ... "Ah, that's better!"
Well, that's because it isn't a finished product. Chrome for ICS is still in beta. I'd guess once Google's ironed out most of the flaws, it should be quite good. Even in beta form it's the fastest browser on any mobile OS out there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
Good to know! Not so bad if the stock keyboard is awful. Plenty of better keyboards on the Google play store anyway. How has it been performing on a daily basis, usual apps, widgets etc? How's the battery life, what's the performance like when swiping through pictures on a microSD card?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave B
About Chrome, funnily enough I don't use it on the PC myself. I find Firefox to be way better for PC browsing and the way it handles add-ons, especially different time zones with Foxclocks in the add-on bar, very handy.
But on the phone, Chrome beats other browsers, on any OS, quite easily as far as pure speed goes. In a browser test done by a tech website, it was at least 30% faster in opening websites than its nearest competitor, which is a lot. It also handles flash heavy websites on the phone very well. Very handy to have a fast browser when away from Wi-fi and in a 3G zone.
Competition is a good thing.
Google's Android smartphone market share quadruples Apple's iOS - Aug. 8, 2012
I've just upgraded from an HTC desire HD which was on Android 2.3 (and was running along very nicely after a couple of years, to an HTC One X on 4.0 (I think) and have to say I'm incredibly happy so far. I far prefer the HTC sense interface to the Samsung, and other than the battery life being better on the S3 I could see no other upside, so went for the HTC, which I think is a nicer looking and feeling piece of kit. The screen is fantastic, the speed of loading is brilliant (as it should be). I haven't loaded all my apps on yet as we haven't got boradband connected at the new house yet and I don't want to cream my data allowance, but what I have used is an improvement on the previous phone. I have seen some reports of poor HTC phones, but they only seem to be the lower than top-spec models, I think my desire could comfortably go on for another year or 2 before things overtake it.
Other plus's, the camera is very nice, still and HD video, the music player is great (although I was quite happy with the sock player on the Desire too) and I got a pair of Beats audio headphones thrown in free also, so now I can look like a w****r whilst sat on the train and then walking onto work in my suit. don't really care cos it sounds brilliant and has consigned my Ipod to staying home sitting in the dock as I no longer need it on the move when i've got 32GB of space on the phone with a very decent player.
as for Android 4 (ICS) I love the improved way it handles my contacts, links, merging, editing etc, so my previously clunky contacts list has been edited back into one nice set, the basic architecture and interface is familiar but improved (things like setting your own photos as wallpaper for the multi front pages actually works properly now). my only bugbear is the speed of the 3g, but thats not a phone issue thats an Australia issue, when I can get a ful 3g connection in a not too busy area its really very quick, but that is not often enough, but seeing as the most I do with the phone is at home, and broadband will be installed next week I'll be back on wifi and all will be well. next is to have some fun and see what sort of compatibility I can get with my Android (Asus transformer prime) tablet, the common apps seem quite happy updating between (books etc) and I'm heading into dropbox for common music and photo storage to see how that works out for me, albeit I'm a cloud newbie
Still very happy with my 4S, only thing I would change is to have got one with more memory, but might upgrade if there are 'cheap' ones going about after the 5 is released.
Will also probably be buying an iPad in the next few months, or might put the extra cash towards a new laptop.
What you got? 16Gb?Quote:
Originally Posted by J4MIE
Yeah 16Gb, should have got at least 32 as I have about 10Gb of music, 3Gb of apps and the videos it takes are huge sizes (but great quality).
You can buy my 64GB as soon as the iPhone 5 gets here ;)
It's a deal Pino, I'll come round to pick it up ;)
Or I will bring it to you in Sweden on February ;)
You can have my 32GB for the mazuma price :p
You can have my best pizza and lasagna included in the price :p :
Keep the offers coming in ;)
Mark, how good is your pizza? :p :
Frozen!
Ach, that's not good enough! I have recently discovered Sainsbury's make your own large pizzas, they are amazing :D
At the Pity Me branch? Yes they are indeed awesome.
I just wonder what the size of the new iPhone is going to be. I thing everything else is going to be close to what's in the market right now. I find both One X and Galaxy S3 to be great devices but somehow they seem just too big to me. You need both hands to reach to all corners of the screen. TBH I don't even know if they would feat in all my pants :laugh: .
All reports say the phone will be the same width (or very close) to the current iPhone but will be taller to accommodate the new 16:9 4" display. (Current phone is 4:3 3.5")
I've read some rumours that they are considering different size versions of the phone (sounds made up). If that's true some company might sue them because they invented differented sizes for the same product :laugh: . I find the 3.5" - 4" range the 'normal' size for a phone. What's over that falls more in the 'jumbo' phones category.