Let's Talk Tech
Samsung created the phablet market as we understand it today with the original Note. The Note has become their Bleeding Edge platform, superseding even the Galaxy S line in cramming high tech guts into a phone. The Note 4 also brings the new design language we saw first on the Galaxy Alpha. Does the whole package live up to the extremely high expectations the Note line has created? Let’s take a look!
comScore released their quarterly smartphone rankings for the period ending in September.
Android showed a modest increase to 52.1% of the overall market. Apple lost ground, and now represents 41.7% of the pie. Microsoft gained another .2%, and now sits at 3.6%, while Blackberry shrank a little more to hit 2.3%.
While Apple might have lost market share, overall the smartphone market is a growing market, and looking at individual manufacturers, Cupertino still reigns. Remember the iPhone owns 41.7% of the market, with the next closest competitor being Samsung who also saw growth to 29%. LG continued their growth trend hitting 6.9% of the market while Motorola was down to 5.4% and HTC dropped to 4.4%.
comScore also examined what apps were most popular, and while Google dominated the list, Facebook ran away with the top spot as the most used app on any phone. You can check out the full app list below.
For all the tech that travels through our house, my wife tries to steer clear of experimenting too much with her personal kit. Occasionally I can convince her to take a gadget for a test drive. For the last three months she’s been using the Samsung Galaxy S5, and now it’s time for her to share her thoughts.
What was the last phone you used before picking up the Galaxy S5?
I’m a Samsung person. I own the Galaxy S4 Active and before that the S2.
What are some of your favorite things to do with your phone?
I love the RunDouble App. It’s the Couch to 5K training app. It auto plays my music (any playlist I want) and will use GPS to track me. I use my phone as a stop watch. I love using it to control our Chromecast (No more wrestling the remote away from you). I read way too much Reddit on it.
I tend to live out of my phone these days. I just need it to work. I never want to wonder if an app will work, that it will open quickly and work easily. I don’t have to worry about it being laggy or slow. I use an iPhone for work (full disclosure – it’s an iPhone 4S GASP!), and I’ve always preferred my personal phone to it. Continue reading “Real Person Review: Mrs. GadgetGuy Spends Three Months with the Galaxy S5 on AT&T”
The Note series have always boast “BIG” specs, and the Note 4 is no exception. With all of the space to cram in high end guts, how has the speaker fared? Let’s take a listen!
Compare the Note 4 speaker to the iPhone 6+ and the HTC One M8.
Shop the Galaxy Note 4 on Amazon.
To entice select Android owners to try screen casting through Google Play compatible devices like the Chromecast, Google realized people might want to stream things other than Youtube videos.
If you have a Nexus 5 phone or a Nexus 7 tablet, opening the Google Play Movies & TV app might present you an offer for a free copy of Gravity. Fantastic film to stream onto a good TV.
No word on how long this deal might last, so you might to jump on it sooner rather than later. Just no one tell Google that after I grabbed the film from my Nexus 7, I immediately fired it up on a Note 4 to stream to my Chromecast OK? Cool?
***UPDATE***
If you do not have a Nexus, apparently you are offered a copy of Shaun the Sheep: The Big Chase… Not quite as nice as Gravity, but that’s still better than nothing right?
(via Slickdeals)Â
Email is one of my biggest time wasters when it comes to getting my work done, and I’m pretty terrible at organizing it consistently. Any tools that can actually help me clean out my inbox are greatly appreciated, and that’s what Google is aiming to do with this new Inbox app. At the time this video was shot, it was an Invite only public BETA, so let’s take a look!
Kyocera went BEAST MODE in building the Brigadier, and they’re only the second company to use Sapphire Crystal for their display. After using the Brigadier for a couple months, let’s chat about the experience of using this rugged little brick…
Announced on today on the Google Android Blog, version 5.0 of their newest operating system will be called Lollipop. Featuring the new Material Design we’ve all been drooling over. With thousand of new API’s, it’s also built to be developer friendly, and to integrate with a number of new services and devices.
Of course the first devices to run Lollipop will be Nexus phones and tablets. We also finally have confirmation that the Nexus 6 is the 6″ Motorola we’ve seen leaks of, and will feature a QHD screen, front facing stereo speakers, a 13MP camera, and a turbo charging feature which provides six hours of run time after only 15 minutes of charging.
On the tablet front HTC is behind the new Nexus 9 with a brushed aluminum shell and an 8.9″ screen with an optional keyboard folio dock case.
Nexus 9 will be available for pre-order October 17, while Nexus 6 will follow later in the month in time for the holidays. Pricing, availability, and carrier info to come soon. You can see Google’s teaser vid below!