Corner Geeks Podcast Feed (mp3) episodes:

• September 13, 2014Corner Geeks 34: Asus Vivo Tab 8 & Nokia XL

  ASUS VivoTab Note 8

  ASUS website

  As an alternative to the Surface Pro 3 more for drawing stuff due to stylus

  8″ screen (1280×800)

  iPad mini sized but full Windows 8.1

  US$250 (32GB)

  Charges via micro USB

  No full USB port:

  only has 1 micro USB port

  requires USB OTG cable (similar to phones) to provide full USB port

  Atom processor can be a bit slow (not as bad as previous netbooks) but good value for full fledge device

  Nokia XL

  Specs on GSM Arena on  Nokia XL

  Nokia website: Nokia XL

  Low end Android with a custom skin including Nokia software (e.g offline Here maps)

  Plasticky but nice

  ...more

  

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• September 06, 2014Corner Geeks 33: Scottevest

  Scottevest

  www.scottevest.com

  Tech-enabled, pocket-filled clothing

  Carry your stuff and tech gadgets in your clothing without being too bulky (from bottles of water to iPads)

  Up to

  2 pocket hats/boxers

  10 pocket pants

  19 pocket shirts

  42 pocket vests

  ...more

  

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• August 29, 2014Corner Geeks 32: The Intel Party and iBattz Experience

  Intel Android Devices

  80+ Intel Android Devices

  Intel XDK: Design, debug, build, and deploy HTML5 web and hybrid apps across multiple app stores, and form factor devices.

  Free hoodie + Acer Iconia Tab 8

  Android NDK: Toolset that allows you to implement parts of your app using native-code languages such as C and C++.

  iBattz

  Mojo Battstation Optimus 20400

  20400mAh

  2 USB ports: 2.1A and 1A

  Passthrough

  2014 Best in Show from iLounge.com

  Bought at AV Electronics

  Beware cheap powerbanks using cheap components / full of sand

  Android apps for viewing charge rate:

  Current Widget

  Galaxy Charging Current Lite

  Related: “Buying Guide for USB Battery Packs / Powerbanks“

  ...more

  

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• August 09, 2014Corner Geeks 31: The Post I/O Experience Part 5 – Android Wear

  Android Wear

  Android wear UI is not customizable

  Pairs with Android phone via Bluetooth (requires Android 4.3+)

  1 day battery life

  Notifications appear on watch

  Swipe left to dismiss

  Swipe right to take further action (e.g. open in phone)

  Reply with voice (only for certain apps)

  Requires 2 hands

  Availability (in certain locations):

  Currently available: Samsung Galaxy Gear Live / LG G watch

  Moto 360 available in the summer of 2014

  Samsung Gear live (vs the G Watch)

  smaller screen (1.63″ Super AMOLED vs 1.65” IPS LCD)

  higher resolution (320×320 vs 280×280)

  smaller battery (300 mAh vs 400mAh)

  extra Heart Rate Sensor (common sensors: Compass, Accelerometer, Gyroscope)

  has a Bluetooth / Wi-Fi antenna

  cheaper in US (US$199 vs US$229) (Australia: $1 more expensive, AUD$250 vs AUD$249)

  LG G watch

  possible charging contact corrosion should be fixed

  can charge while wearing (using the cradle), not ideal but possible

  ...more

  

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• July 30, 2014Corner Geeks 30: The Post I/O Experience Part 4 – Chromecast, Chrome OS, Cardboard

  Chromecast

  Chromecast Website

  Ability to pair with devices that are not on the same network using ultrasonic sounds

  Plex

  Chrome OS

  Android Apps ported to Chrome OS

  Requires extra work to be functional (not automatic)

  Submit an app to be ported to Chrome OS

  Cardboard

  Cheap virtual reality using a phone, lenses and a foldable cardboard headset

  Cardboard Developer Website

  Android App

  Chrome Experiments for Cardboard

  Google I/O Session: Cardboard: VR for Android

  DIY 3D Virtual Reality Goggles: Cardboard implementation many years back

  ...more

  

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• July 25, 2014Corner Geeks 29: The Post I/O Experience Part 3 – Android L, Android TV, Google Fit, Android Auto

  Android L

  Preview for Nexus 5, Nexus 7 2013

  Android Runtime (ART): replacing Dalvik

  Project Volta: aims for better battery life. ArsTechnica investigates Project Volta

  Android Enterprise features

  Personal and Enterprise information into different segments on the phone

  Samsung contributes KNOX security technology to AOSP and will be in Android L

  Android TV

  Android TV Website

  Google Content (movies & music) on the big screen using voice commands

  Game focused: has hardware game controllers, similar to Ouya

  Controlled using swipes with Android wear or voice commands on an regular Android device

  Can cast screen/content from Android devices to Android TV using Google Cast

  Play Store available to install apps

  Google Fit

  Google Fit Website

  Google’s ‘me too’ fitness platform

  Google’s response to Apple’s HealthKit / Samsung’s S Health

  Android Auto

  Android Auto Website

  In-board car dashboard powered by your Android device

  “Dumb” dashboard monitored, all powered by external Android device

  Google’s response to Apple’s CarPlay

  ...more

  

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• July 20, 2014Corner Geeks 28: The Post I/O Experience Part 2 – Polymer

  Polymer

  Polymer Project website

  Polymer Elements

  Polymer Core elements: a set of utility elements including general-purpose UI elements (such as icons, layout elements, and toolbars), as well as non-UI elements providing features like AJAX, signalling and storage.
  

  Docs | Demos

  Paper Elements: Polymer’s paper elements collection implements material design for the web. They’re a set of highly visual, highly interactive elements that include things like controls, layouts, hero transitions, and scrolling effects.
  

  Docs | Demos

  Polymer Designer: Designer is a drag and drop tool for prototyping apps using Polymer. Save your experiments as Github gists.

  ...more

  

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• July 16, 2014Corner Geeks 27: The Post I/O Experience Part 1 – Goodies, Android One and Material Design

  Watch the Google I/O 2014 Keynote on YouTube

  Goodie count

  LG G Watch / Samsung Gear Live

  Moto 360 (maybe)

  AndroidTV

  Intel Hoodies and Intel Android Tablet

  Cardboard

  Play Store app

  Chrome Experiments for Cardboard

  T-Shirts and stuff

  Not freebies but bought goodies

  Windows 8″ tablet & SCOTTeVEST Revolution Jacket

  Android One

  Reference hardware for OEMs

  High quality affordable smartphones

  Stock Android & Automatic Updates from Google

  4.5″ Android device, dual SIM, FM radio, micro SD card slot

  Under US$100

  Material Design

  Google’s holistic approach to design (Google Design guidelines)

  Material Design introduction

  ...more

  

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• June 17, 2014Corner Geeks 26: The Pre I/O Experience

  mfirdaus the Google Play developer is going to Google I/O 2014 along with some GDG Brunei folks

  He wants free goodies especially the Moto 360 and probably Glass as well

  Links

  Google I/O website (Google.com)

  Google I/O 2013 (Wikipedia.org)

  Google I/O 2013 Round up (gigaom.com)

  Google I/O 2012 (Wikipedia.org)

  Google I/O 2012 Round up (gottabemobile.com)

  WWDC 2014 video stream (apple.com)

  WWDC 2014 Round Up (imore.com)

  ...more

  

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• May 03, 2013Corner Geeks 25: The Windows Phone Experience

  Lumia 520 for AUD$176

  Specs don’t really matter because it’s a pretty good experience

  512MB RAM which limits some heavier apps but still a pretty smooth experience. Much better than cheap Android phones

  Good Polish unlike Android back in the day that had a lot of rough edges

  In between iOS and Android but closer to iOS

  Find my phone

  Sky Drive Integration

  Save Photos automatically

  can’t seem to enable only on WiFi so may be hazardous to your 3G data

  doesn’t upload screenshots

  Office Documents synced in the cloud

  Office

  Can create and edit Word and Excel files offline

  Can view Powerpoint files
  

  Bluetooth transfer data migration

  Consolidated settings (like iOS) but also and in app

  Glove usage! (probably a Lumia feature)

  Good Features

  People Hub

  Combines all social streams (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) into one stream
  

  Like Twitter lists but for all social networks supported
  

  Photo Stream of all updates with photos

  Bluetooth image sharing!

  Has Android like intents/sharing of data to other apps. E.g. from photo app, can share photo to apps like WhatsApp / Email / any app that supports receiving images

  Gripes

  App selection still small. No official Dropbox app, no instagram

  Search page is not a web page. E.g. Search in browser address bar brings you out of the browser to the search page, and clicking a link in the search page goes back into the browser

  Sharing Intents inconsistent

  But doesn’t seem to work for all things… Can share photo (.jpg file) from camera to WhatsApp but cannot share screenshot (.png file)  to WhatsApp. Can’t share URL to WhatsApp.

  Perhaps more of a non-mature app ecosystem rather than Windows Phone fault. App developers need to program their apps right

  Notifications could be better

  If app is a Live Tile, then you can see the notification number

  If app is not a Live Tile, there is no easy way to know what app caused the notification (iOS has it best with badges)

  No quick toggles

  Have to go into settings to turn things on and off similar to iOS (e.g. enable/disable data / WiFi)

  Hard to toggle vibrate

  Can’t disable screen rotation. Less sensitive than Android which is good.

  No file explorer or file system like Android

  No auto-sign in like Android for Google sites
  

  Switching apps shows “Resuming…” quite a bit. More to do with how Windows Phone handles apps. Could be due to limited memory of 512MB and may not occur with higher end devices with more RAM

  No Bluetooth tethering (available in iOS and Android)

  Links

  Lumia 520 Review – The Verge

  Lumia 520 – GSM Arena

   

    

   

  ...more

  

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