Let's Talk Tech
Whenever you put a question in your article title, you’re trying to lead someone to a conclusion before they even read the article.
We just got the scheduled video link, the press releases, and all the affiliate links from creators are swarming. Samsung Unpacked is coming! The Galaxy S24 is coming! A NEW era for Mobile AI is coming!!!
But is it though? Really? Continue reading “Is Samsung Betting AGAINST Generative AI?”
I hate synthetic benchmarks and hype-beast clickbait.
You really get a sense that the tech hobbyist scene is dying generation-ally. The commentary on products is niche-ing down to cater to a smaller and smaller group of “tech dudes”.
More people than ever are USING tech, but fewer really seem entertained BY the tech. I digress.
I’ve read through three different hot takes now about Qualcomm’s new X Elite chip, comparing a couple of Geekbench scores against other chips from AMD, Intel, and Apple. They look at a couple number scores, and then draw a conclusion before any of these components have actually shipped in products to consumers. It’s kinda the worst flavor of arm chair tech reviewing.
(Get it? ARM chair? It’s a silicon pun.) Continue reading “WHOA! The Qualcomm DESTROYS the Apple M3 in a BLOODY Fight of BRUTALITY! SMASHED! WRECKED! BOOM!!! 🔥🔥🔥”
I’ve been pretty vocal on folding tablets. I’m conflicted on the segment, and I believe that (even with a few years in the market) we’re still looking at a public BETA test for this concept.
I was (and still am) a big fan of the Surface Duo, but folks seem to forget that I gave a “niche of a niche” verdict for the Duo 2. I prefer Dual Display, but there was a SMALL segment of consumers who I believed would be a good fit for that device.
There’s a specific philosophy that needs to be addressed comparing something like a Pixel Fold with a Duo. They both have a hinge that folds the device in half, but they represent VERY different solutions.
The Pixel Fold is a traditional tablet, offering a larger unbroken canvas to work with. The Duo is a multi-tasking monster, delivering a more direct path to using two apps at once.
Getting my bias out of the way, after three months, two flights, and a road trip, how has the Fold treated me?
Pretty well. There’s a lot of potential here. Continue reading “Google Pixel Fold Three Months Later: A Long Term Review, Android 14, and a Road Trip”
Google officially revealed new phones, a second gen watch, and a whole slew of chatter about AI!
Numerous outlets are pushing out the press releases, and listing all the new specs. I won’t bore you with all those numbers here. It’s a great time to share some reactions to the keynote from my notes, and my posts on social media during the event. We can speculate on the direction Google might be treading with this announcement.
You can catch the replay of the Made By Google event here:
Now, in order of appearance… Continue reading “New Pixel Day Reactions! Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel Watch 2, and What Should Google Do Next?”
There’s a WORLD of difference between showing how a phone SHOULD work out in the field and actively trying to break that phone. If you try to break a phone, you will eventually succeed.
Torture tests are dramatic and fun to watch, but they don’t deliver much practical information to consumers. We should try to help inform consumers on what the expected “range of durability” might be for a product, not just show a dramatic failure clip.
Nowhere is this more precious right now than on folding phones.
Looking at the view counts on the videos and articles from top reviewers, we can be pretty sure those discussions are only reaching a tiny fraction of the overall smartphone buying population. Consumers are not turning to techies like they used to for education on current tech trends.
It seems more people are “taught” what to think about consumer electronics by the ads they consume from the marketing departments of the manufacturers making these products.
As companies work to make hinged phones more exciting, we should be concerned about how those phones are portrayed in advertisements. We need a “sweet spot” of lifestyle footage to help prime the correct expectations for customers. Showcasing the products in appropriate situations helps inform how those products should be used.
Manufacturer ads are a necessary resource for consumer education.
Continue reading “Folding Phone Durability: Educating Consumers and Setting Expectations?”
It’s a surprisingly sleek brick and it has a lot of ports to play with.
The folks at Monoprice sent their 20,000 mAh power bank for me to test and review.
Monoprice has a new trio of power banks featuring Power Delivery Quick Charge 3.0 and an LCD read out for remaining battery capacity.
Available in three configurations, a wired only 10,000 mAh battery, a wired only 20,000 mAh battery, and the version I’m reviewing, which takes the 20,000 mAh battery and adds wireless charging to the mix.
This version of the battery is capable of charging up to five devices at the same time. Continue reading “Monoprice 20,000mAh Power Bank with Wireless Charging – Less than a pound of power (goes a long way)”
Got a comment from DZ
I’m kinda disgusted by the hucksters pushing these as “AR Glasses”. Anyone buying these simple video glasses expecting AR capabilities is going to be pretty angry at the company and the social media accounts pushing them. I can only assume that this company is trying to grab as much money as possible before the bottom drops out and they disappear with the cash.
Hey DZ,
It’s dicey right?
We have to start this off asking a MAJOR question:
Putting my bias up front, I’m not particularly impressed with tablet conversations fixated on basic use and “hand feel”. I don’t think that’s good criteria to judge the value of a premium purchase. If a tablet costs as much or more than a game console, it needs to do more than just stream some Netflix and “feel nice”.
Tablets have incredible processors, and GPUs, and RAM, and storage, and batteries. In a remarkably thin shell, we’ll find performance that often rivals similarly priced Chromebooks. These products are terrific general compute platforms, and it seems like such a waste to relegate them to the lowest level use.
Tablets are “solutions in search of problems”, but they can solve a LOT more of those problems than many people realize.
Tablets can DO stuff, and these two are great examples of “doing stuff” slates. They make for an interesting comparison because they’re so different. Continue reading “Pixel Tablet vs Robo and Kala: A Totally UNFAIR Fight!”