Monday, 30 September 2013
Tuesday, 3 September 2013
So, how's your 2013 Nexus 7 holding up?
The new Nexus 7 is a great tablet, when it's working. Since its release the tablet has seen a fair share of reported problems. CNET takes a closer look.
The new Nexus 7 is the best Android tablet yet and surpasses the iPad Mini in performance, screen clarity, and, at $229 undercuts, Apple's mini slate by a full $100. However, as with many consumer electronics products, Google's latest has experienced its fair share of launch technical difficulties.
I'll detail some of those difficulties below, but first it's important to note that not every Nexus 7unit is experiencing these problems. I reviewed the tablet in July and my review unit has yet to play host to any of these particular problems.
There was a bit of the expected wonkiness you sometimes get with Android tablets, but the vast majority of the time my experience was problem-free. That said, CNET New York's Nexus 7 test unit has experienced frequent random restarts.
So which problems are getting the most attention? Below are the three most prolific:
- GPS doesn't work:GPS either doesn't work at all or works for about 10 to 30 minutes before it no longer functions.
- Random reboots: The tablet reboots itself at random intervals.
- Phantom touches (aka the "keyboard issue"): The touch screen registers taps in random parts of the screen, whether your fingers have actually touched areas in question.
One CNET reader willing enough to share his story said he's gone through four different Nexus 7 units. The details of each unit's issues are pasted below:
Unit 1 - No GPS functionality in any app including Google Maps. 1/3 of the screen had a pink hue
Unit 2 - No GPS functionality in any app including Google Maps. Keyboard would phantom type garbage at random and not register key taps most of the time.
Unit 3 - GPS would function for 30 minutes max, then no lock. This unit would also randomly reboot every 30-40 minutes.
Unit 4 - Current Nexus 7 unit, back to no GPS functionality. Google support says factory reset yet again. This time it bricked the tablet at the X logo screen as others have reported. Android "No Command" hard failure.
How has Google addressed these problems?
Google last week released a software update addressing both the GPS issue and the phantom touches. However, each of the updates has been met with mixed results. On Google's Mobile Help Forum, some users are reporting that the update completely fixed the issues; others have seen only marginal improvement. Still others report no change at all.
Google last week released a software update addressing both the GPS issue and the phantom touches. However, each of the updates has been met with mixed results. On Google's Mobile Help Forum, some users are reporting that the update completely fixed the issues; others have seen only marginal improvement. Still others report no change at all.
I used the app known as YMTT (Yet Another MultiTouch Test) to look for phantom taps. I found none.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
When asked for comment, Google pointed me to the following forum posts concerning the GPSand touch screen/keyboard issues, respectively. Google mentioned to me that the GPS and keyboard issues had been fixed, but clearly not for all if some of the comments are to be believed.
Still, it's difficult to determine exactly what percentage of units in the wild are actually suffering from these problems. Building consumer electronic products is not a perfect science and in my experience there are always going to be a certain -- usually small -- percentage of units that have deal-breaker snafus. Despite the indubitable bad luck the reader above had, it's unclear whether the problems are as widespread as they appear to be.
I'll definitely keep an eye on the issues, but I also want your feedback. How has your experience with the 2013 Nexus 7 been? Let me know in the comments below.
reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-57600681-251/so-hows-your-2013-nexus-7-holding-up/
Monday, 2 September 2013
Candy Crush: You play, you're hooked. Now what?
If you count yourself a Candy Crush Saga holdout, you've probably been warned by friends not to start playing. Because once you do, you won't be able to stop.
Odds are that someone you know has a love or hate relationship with Candy Crush Saga, the seemingly never-ending game that's become the fixation of people everywhere.
The game is the undisputed leader in the casual-gaming sector, witnessing more than 600 million active game sessions each day from mobile devices alone.
The runaway craze in Facebook gaming was released on the social network in April 2012 and became the fourth most popular Facebook game before it landed on iOS and Android in late November of last year. The mobile releases opened the game up to people who wanted to play without connecting through Facebook.
Those who play are hooked. When asked to pick one word to describe how she feels about Candy Crush Saga, my brother's girlfriend, Aubrey, who is on level 379, said, "addicting."
Like more than 132 million other people each month, Aubrey plays the puzzle game developed by King, a gaming studio poised for an eventual public offering. She picked up her new hobby, which she describes as more productive than watching television, in December of last year and now plays between 30 minutes to one hour each day. She has no plans to stop playing -- unless she comes across a level she can't beat.
Candy Crush Saga Level 181. Task: Bring down all the ingredients. Click to enlarge.
(Credit: Screenshot/Jennifer Van Grove/CNET)
For the uninitiated, Candy Crush Saga is a match-three game, like Bejeweled, where players match candies to score points and complete a level. Each level is part of an episode and comes with its own particular challenge like: clear all the jelly or bring down all the ingredients (Candy Crush-speak that only makes sense to those that play). Players can combine regular candies to make special striped candy, wrapped candy, and rainbow candy for amplified movements. Lose a level, and you'll lose a life. You only get five lives at a time, so you'll have to wait up to 30 minutes for another life should you exhaust all of yours -- unless you buy more or a Facebook friend steps in to grant you more.
Seemingly simple in nature, the game has a quality about it that compels people to keep on playing, especially if they're having a hard time beating a level. For some, this reporter included, a challenging level can get under the skin and drive them to pay to purchase additional moves or lives. Craftier, die-hard types will fudge with the date and time on their smartphone or tablet to get around the time constraint and fool the game into granting them more lives free of charge.
The game is so popular that fans post game-themed art to Instagram, bake elaborate character and candy-inspired cakes for birthdays and weddings, and, in some of the most extreme instances, add strangers as Facebook friends for help.
"In Hong Kong the game is extremely popular. We've heard reports of people talking to strangers in the subway and asking them to become friends on Facebook just to give them lives," Tommy Palm, King's "game guru," told me. "It's really changed how people interact."
Popular with people of all ages, Candy Crush Saga is more popular with women than it is with men. It was designed to be so.
"The focus of many of the traditional games has been to younger male audiences and the competition there is fierce," Palm said. "So when it comes to females...they haven't traditionally had so many games made for them, and many are now finding how fun and entertaining games can be."
King uses a target audience of females ages 25 to 55 to test its games before release. If these women respond well to a game, King has found that the game will go on to be a smash hit with all audiences. With Candy Crush, King knew it had a sensation on its hand before it ever released the game on Facebook. And at this point, the studio, which has been around since 2003, has established a recipe that often leads to success, as it did previously with Bubble Witch Saga.
But Candy Crush seems to be in a league of its own.
"Candy Crush Saga is designed to be a habit, not a game," Jamie Madigan, who chronicles the intersection of psychology and video games and holds a Ph.D. in psychology, said. "We know from studying how habits are made that they are often born out of routine...So if you pick the game up over your morning coffee every day, or play on your lunch break, or play as part of your getting ready for bed routine, it will become a habit."
A habit is a kind way of putting it. For some, the candy-crushing habit has evolved into a life-wrecking compulsion.
Earlier this year, UK Rehab, an addiction treatment provider, launched a dedicated residential rehab program specifically designed for Candy Crush addicts. The program, which costs a minimum of $5,000, was created after the center fielded a number of calls from worried parents and spouses. Lee Bandoni, a spokesperson for UK Rehab, said that center receives as many as 100 inquiries per month and that three to five people go in for Candy Crush Saga rehab every month.
"The youngest problem we've seen is [a kid] about 12-years-old who was skipping school...and the oldest is late 60s. It's a very new problem, but it's growing at an alarming rate," Bandoni said.
A Candy Crush addict, as loosely defined by Bandoni, is someone who spends four to five hours a day playing the game, lets the game override personal relationships, makes excuses to avoid social situations, and locks him or herself away in order to play. Essentially, it's a form of video game addiction, a debated condition in the mental health community.
These extreme cases are indicative of the game's hold, innocent or otherwise, over more than 100 million people who seemingly can't stop playing Candy Crush Saga. AppData, which measures the number of people who use games and apps connected through Facebook, had to adjust its counting process for Candy Crush after running into a bizarre problem.
"The growth of Candy Crush Saga was so great that our algorithm was not accurately reporting this top app," Scott Bialous, a general manager for AppData, told CNET.
AppData did some readjusting and found that Candy Crush Saga has 132.45 million monthly Facebook-connected users, which is nearly three times as high as the previously stated number of 46 million people and more than a tenth of Facebook's 1.15 billion monthly active users.
If you count yourself a Candy Crush holdout, you've probably been warned by friends not to start playing, because once you do, you won't be able to stop. Or you've long passed the tolerance threshold for Candy Crush stories in your News Feed.
Despite suggestions to the contrary, King did not consult psychologists to produce a habit or addiction-forming game. Instead, a small team focuses on making sure that the challenge gets progressively harder without getting too hard, Palm said. And at level 455 and counting, Candy Crush could go on forever, as the team works actively to release new episodes on a weekly basis.
Perhaps it's this never-ending quality that partially explains its hold over a growing number of people. Or maybe Facebook is to blame. Candy Crush Saga, when played with a Facebook account, encourages members to turn to their friends for help when they've run out of lives, and inspires competition through level leaderboards.
Whatever the reason behind our fascination with Candy Crush, the odds seem stacked against the game being anything more than a flash in the pan. History shows us that Web and mobile games peak and then fade away. Take Farmville or Draw Something, for instance, two games that road a tidal wave of Facebook attention to fame -- and some fortune -- before taking a backseat to newer releases.
It's a reality that Palm and King are ready to face.
"All games have a lifespan," he said. "We continue working on other products, and keep working on our recipe to innovate and come up with...concepts that will appeal to the same audience that loves Candy Crush Saga."
With King rumored to be preparing for an IPO, the positive outlook is a must, even if the strategy bears striking resemblance to Zynga's less-than-successful strategy. Zynga, once the "It" social game developer on Facebook's block, is now hemorrhaging players, losing money, and trading at more than 70 percent off its initial offering price.
Sunday, 1 September 2013
Google's Project Loon balloons will 'flock' to maintain constant coverage
No drifting away from the pack
Google has explained a little more about how its Project Loon concept will be able to defy the elements and allow for consistent internet coverage to be delivered to those below.
The pie-in-the-sky initiative, which involves suspending armies of Wi-Fi-enabled balloons high above the ground, aims to provide connectivity for those in remote areas.
However, as there are no plans for the balloons to be tethered to each other, what's to stop them just floating away on the breeze? Well, Google has a plan.
The company has performed simulations showing how balloon will be able to sense its proximity to the balloons around it and move with it to ensure the group remains equidistant from each other.
Kind of like a flock of birds....
Spread out nicely
"They [the balloons] look at their near-neighbors and tried to spread each other out nicely," says a member of the Rapid Evaluation team at Google called 'Dan' in a YouTube video posted by the company.
"But as we move forward, we may use methods that take into account everything. So every balloon essentially will have information about what every other balloon is doing. In future, it will probably be a much more sophisticated simulation."
So far Google has tested its theory in New Zealand, which it says proved 'Loon' was "a feasible project not just some crazy science project."
Check out the Google video below to take a look at the company's latest simulations.
Via The Next Web
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Best 4G phones 2013: 10 to choose from
BUYING GUIDE Prepare yourself for next-gen speeds with a top 4G-ready phone
The UK saw its first, belated, 4G network appear for use late last year thanks to EE, which managed to wangle approval from regulator Ofcom to launch an LTE service before the other main providers.
But now Vodafone and O2 have launched their new high-speed 4G networks, or, to put it another way, your mobile may soon give you quicker uploads, downloads and ping responses than your home broadband thanks to these new mobile networks.
The downside is that you're probably going to need a new phone to use this super-super-fast data connection, as many older mobiles don't have the necessary radios inside them to hook into the frequencies used by 4G systems.
- Already got a 4G-ready phone? Find out which is the best 4G network
Luckily for you, though, the mobile networks are falling over themselves to stock new 4G-ready phones and updated versions of popular current models, with some of the best handsets from the top makers supporting our new LTE bands.
And we've done the hard work for you, so sit back, relax and check out the best 4G phones compared.
iPhone 5
The iPhone 5 is a tricky one so we're going to get it out of the way early doors. Now the iPhone 5 does support 4G, but the trouble is it does so on only a select number of frequencies.
Those chosen frequencies do appear in EE's 4G spectrum so if you fancy getting Apple's latest smartphone then you're in luck - but you choice is limited to just the one carrier.
Both Vodafone's and O2's networks don't support the required frequencies for the iPhone 5 to function on 4G - so if you've currently got this handset and are with one of these carriers you've got two options.
Either you can ditch your trusty iPhone and take your pick from the selection of 4G Android and Windows Phone handsets that are available, or you can shift over to EE. The choice, as they say, is yours.
As for the phone itself, the iPhone 5 isn't an enormous update over the previous models, but Apple doesn't need to change things to appeal to its eager fans. It's still the mobile phenomenon it always has been.
HTC One
This is HTC's best phone yet, and that's saying something. The HTC One is 4G-ready from the offset, so can be bought on any of the networks peddling the super fast connection.
The HTC One earned rave reviews for its metallic chassis, superb low-light camera performance and the general smoothness of HTC's updated user interface, with the new HTC Sense social features also going down a storm.
This phone and a 4G data connection would make most people very, very jealous indeed.
Samsung Galaxy S4
This year's Galaxy S series update was not without controversy. Its launch event was a bizarre music hall experience that some said was rather sexist, the phone's full of so much bloatware and additional Samsung software it's been complained about on TV, but none of these whinges have stopped the Galaxy S4 shipping in record numbers and making it the most popular Android phone around today.
It's not just good marketing either, the Galaxy S4 is an excellent handset in its own right and while it may be trumped by the HTC One it's still worth a look.
The only model sold in the UK comes with a 4G-friendly radio inside it, so once you've got it, you've got the 4G power on EE, Vodafone and O2.
Nokia Lumia 925
Nokia's latest Windows Phone 8 model isn't to be sniffed at just because it's not running iOS or Android, it's a decent handset with some great features and a premium build which goes hand in hand with the premium price you'll pay for 4G.
It's main attraction, and you may have spotted it in the TV adverts, is its 8.7MP camera which Nokia boasts produces the best low light pictures around - and we're inclined to agree.
The Windows Phone interface is slick and provides something very different from the Apple and Google offerings, plus support for all the key UK 4G bands means the Lumia 925 is future-proofed connectivity wise.
BlackBerry Z10
If you want something a little more avant garde, BlackBerry's new Z10 is also an early member of the UK's 4G phone club.
The first phone to run the company's new BB10 mobile OS, the Z10's software is a little quirky in places, but the powerful, feature-packed web browser and 4G connectivity makes it a decent contender for those after something fast and a little different.
Plus, with a relatively modest 4.2-inch display, it's one of the more pocketable modern smartphones and less of a slab than other big name models. Don't ignore it just because it's BlackBerry.
Sony Xperia Z
Sony's current highest-end Android model is the Xperia Z, which stuffs a lovely 5-inch display into a slim chassis, into which it's also somehow managed to include a quad-core chipset, 2GB of RAM and a 13MP camera.
It's one of the most impressive Android models around today, and is also ready for your next-gen mobile data connection thanks to featuring the required miniature internal coat hanger needed to pick up an LTE radio signal.
It operates on all known 4G bands, so you'll be free to switch providers and juggle SIMs at will.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
If all these fancy smartphones are just too big for your dainty little hands then fear not, for 4G also comes in smaller packages and one of those is the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.
Borrowing the styling from its big brother the S4 Mini comes in at a cheaper price point but still packs a decent punch for a mid-range mobile.
A bright screen and capable camera make the S4 Mini an attractive proposition and its broad 4G prowess means its available from EE, O2 and Vodafone.
BlackBerry Q10
If you want traditional QWERTY BlackBerry hardware to accompany your futuristic 4G data speeds, there's only one choice (well actually there's two now thanks to the BlackBerry Q5) -- the Q10.
The phone looks like your usual old BB with its chunky keyboard and landscape display above, but comes with the updated BB10 OS for adding a bit more style to proceedings.
The phone also includes NFC support, for transferring mobile data rather more slowly over distances of a couple of centimetres, should that ever really become a thing people want to do. Oh and it'll work on EE, O2 and Vodafone - phew.
Nokia Lumia 820
The Nokia Lumia 820 may not be the newest phone on the block, but its strong spec sheet and hardy design coupled with its wide ranging 4G capabilities means Vodafone, O2 and EE all stock it.
The weight and dimensions of the Lumia 820 are among its core strengths. It feels heavy enough to take a knock or three, but light enough that you don't notice it in your pocket.
Likewise, if you're one of the people that think phones are getting a little too big these days, you'll appreciate the smaller 4.3-inch AMOLED screen.
HTC One Mini
Another "mini" 4G handset to break into the ranks is the HTC One Mini, arriving on EE and O2 - but currently shunned by Vodafone.
Would we recommend the One Mini? Absolutely. We love the aluminium shell, the UltraPixel camera and BoomSound speakers.
You also get to play with the latest version of Android as well as all the cool apps like the Music Player, which show lyrics to songs as they're playing.
iPad mini 2 release date, news and rumours
UPDATED All the latest details on the next iPad mini
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| Apple might clear things up on the next iPad mini |
The iPad mini has been on sale since November 2012, so when will we get the iPad mini 2?
It seems like Apple was surprised by the iPad mini demand - it shifted three million units of the new iPad 4 and iPad mini in three days alone. so it will be looking to make something that can really wow the crowds with the follow up.
The likely scenario is that the iPad mini 2 will have an even sharper display of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels packed into the same 7.9-inch space, which will bring it closer to the impossible sharpness of the Nexus 7 2013.
When retailers start to price cut that can sometimes mean they're making way for a newer model, and as Cult of Mac notes, in the US that's just what Wal-Mart, Best Buy and MacMall are did on Wednesday 3 April, reducing prices of the iPad 3 and iPad mini prices by about 30%.
It seems a little bit early to be bringing the cost down as, like last year, the iPad mini 2 will launch in October, before being released onto shop shelves later that month, or perhaps spilling into November.
And could the iPad mini 2 also have the A5X processor under the hood? It seems likely, but as GottaBe Mobile reports, it's unlikely that Samsung will be the manufacturer of whatever part appears in the device.
And don't forget about iOS 7 - that's the new platform for Apple, and no matter what version of the tablet launches later this year, the iPad mini 2 will be on the latest version of iOS.
iPad mini 2 release date
With production of the sharper screens projected to start by the later half of 2013, the iPad mini 2 release date is almost certain to land in the run up to Christmas.
According to analysts, the iPad mini 2's production has already begun, with leaked documents and factories already revving their engines to bring the new device to market. The price drops are continuing too, so the likely October / November iPad mini 2 release date seems nailed on.
To corroborate this, BGR cites a pair of reports that agree with the late 2013 release date, in time for the Christmas rush. Indeed, Apple Insider reckons that development issues have caused the new iPad mini to be delayed along with the cheap iPhone and iPhone 5S, but will still hit the all important Christmas rush.
Bloomberg has more recently cited 'sources' saying that the release is imminent, but there is one horrendous idea being bandied about: that Apple will simply 'refresh' the iPad mini (the iPad mini S?) and save the new, Retina-powered device for 2014.
Say it ain't so...
iPad mini 2 casing
Images of what could potentially be the casing for the new iPad mini 2 leaked online in February. The photos come courtesy of the Chinese Weiphone forum, showing a silver rear casing for an iPad mini.
Most immediately noticeable on the casing is that the Apple logo and text is a sky blue color, rather than the typical black.
After you get over the color distraction, the more important point is a more subtle difference from the current mini, in that the casing appears to indicate a thicker device that the existing model.
The iPad gained a little extra girth when Apple upgraded it to a Retina display, so a thicker casing in these alleged iPad mini 2 shots seem to point to some Retina presence in this model.
We've since seen more in the way of iPad mini 2 casings, with a couple of new casings contradicting the earlier reports, with the first from new Apple-tipster-on-the-block Sonny Dickson thinking it will maintain the form factor of the original iPad mini.
Another, more likely faked, prototype has appeared, shorn of the usual iPad markings and regulatory notices as above, but does seem to corroborate the notion that Apple is keeping things the same with the new iPad mini.
It seems that there's a chance we could see two iPad mini versions coming when the device is launched later this year; a refreshed iPad mini that just gets a little speed bump, and the iPad mini 2 with a Retina display... here's hoping that it causes competition in the market and pushes prices down. We all want that.
iPad Mini 2 display
The grown up iPad 4 has a Retina display, and the next mini really needs Retina tech or something similar to allay the annoyances of those that eschewed the first iPad mini.
It makes sense that the biggest criticism of the current iPad mini so far is its relatively low 1,024 x 768 resolution. Critics wonder why a Retina display wasn't incorporated into the first iPad mini to begin with, but it seems it was largely to do with the speed of the product's announcement.
Some said Apple went with a lower resolution so it had some low hanging fruit to grab for the next upgrade. Production problems surrounding the iPad mini might also be the culprit - something that may well be holding backan iPad mini 2.
The forthcoming iPad mini 2's retina display is said to have a resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels, doubling the current iPad mini's 1,024 x 798 screen and packing more pixels than the iPad 4's 264 ppi. In May 2013, NPD DisplaySearch predicted a 2,048 x 1,536 pixel display which will have a pixel density over 300ppi.
There are reasons not to worry about the iPad mini 2 coming with a thicker case to accomodate the Retina display. As we saw with the iPad 4, could a better iPad mini 2 display also mean a bulkier product? Not it, as rumours suggest, the screen is a tough Sharp IGZO display. Other rumours point at several manufacturers being involved.
The more recent trend of rumour-mongering is to claim that Apple still doesn't know whether it's going to whack a Retina display on the new iPad mini, with the first such notion appearing in July, in order to make the iPad mini even sleeker and bezel-less.
This was corroborated then refuted later in the same month, with developers noting that the code in the new iOS 7 platform didn't contain any mention of a higher-res display for the iPad mini.
However WSJ sources think this is total nonsense, with Samsung joining Sharp and LG in making the new screen for the iPad mini 2... which would make more sense if Apple is going to make enough of the things.
Our take is simple: we'll bet the house on the iPad mini 2 having a Retina display. Anything less and Apple would be too far behind the current trend for super-clear devices to have a hope of selling anywhere near as many units.
iPad mini 2 specs
In addition to an Apple A6X processor, an 8 megapixel camera is also expected to sit on the rear of the device.
Any other information on the specs of the upcoming tiny tablet have been few and far between, with the main focus on the display and case. However the battery will need to be boosted to accomodate the new Retina display, and we'd therefore expect an uprated GPU to help things out.
iPad mini 2 price
When the iPad mini was first released, reports said the steep price point of $329/£269/AU$369 was due to manufacturing difficulties. Indeed, well into early 2013, iPad minis were not shipping quickly.
The new GF DITO touchscreen technology that helps make the mini so small is reportedly one of many production hurdles.
AU Optronics (AUO), the company that produces the current iPad mini LCD panels, was also having yield issues with the mini screens at first, so a Retina-like display could have caused additional production headaches.
However, AUO claims it smoothed out production problems surrounding the current panels, already resolving the light leak issues that held up fabrication.
Would a retina display iPad mini 2 also push the price upwards? There may also be retina and non-retina variants to keep the basic price low, which would satisfy a number of consumers while still maintaining the Apple tradition of keeping all its Christmas products shiny and new.
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