Technology Android

[masta247]

The Nexus 10 is the best 10 inch Android tablet and is also priced well. The value for money isn't as great as with the Nexus 7 but it's also pretty awesome andi it's the best choice if you want a 10 inch tablet. It also has the best screen in the whole tablet market.

Yeah there are only some speculations so far, such as the one just mentioned by Coonie:

http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-rumored-to-have-two-hi-res-android-tablets-on-the-way-20130729/

The second device, the SM-P600, also sports a similar 2560×1600 resolution but on a smaller 10-inch display. And unlike the P900, the P600 is rumored to be running on a quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, giving it clock speeds of up to 2.3 GHz. There is also no S-Pen stylus included with the tablet. The size of the tablet suggests that it could be a successor to the Nexus 10, which sounds reasonable considering the recent announcement of the new Nexus 7, which is manufactured by rival companyASUS.
Like many rumors, there is no word on when these devices would be revealed. However, it is likely that Samsung will time the announcement with the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Berlin next month.

 

[Pittsey]

So....

Is it best holding off until Christmas. It's not for me, I still have the Transformer Prime, and she's not too fussed when she gets it.

 

[masta247]

^ Depends. The current gen Nexus 10 is very good, the next one will be newer and probably somewhat better when it comes out. It mostly depends whether it's more important to buy now or in a few months, but the updated version. If you want it now you'd still get a very solid 10 inch tablet that is very fast too. Surely the performance upgrade won't be as huge as with the new Nexus 7. But who knows what else Google and Samsung might have in store.

Also:
http://androidcommunity.com/nexus-10-expected-from-samsung-in-the-near-future-20130725/

Arriving as a bit of good news for those who may have been worried, Google’s Sundar Pichai has confirmed that a new Nexus 10 is in the works. The details are on the light side and are coming by way of the Twitter account ofWSJreporterAmir Efrati. That tweet simply mentioned that a new 10-inch Nexus 10 was coming from Samsung.
It was also said the tablet will be arriving in the “near future.” But as we often see — the definition of near future can vary widely from person to person. That being the case, those who happen to be fans of the 10-inch form factor can at least take comfort in knowing a refresh is in the works. Quite possibly we can hope for an announcement in the fall.
As to what we can expect to see remains uncertain though. Based on what we saw with the Nexus 7 and one could speculate improvements in terms of the processor and display. The current Nexus 10 is sporting a display resolution of 2560 x 1600 and remains available for $399 (16GB) or $499 (32GB) from the Google Play Store. And while we aren’t sure we would suggest making a purchase now, the tablet remains a solid device — and happens to be one thatwe reviewedback when it was originally released.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

So now Anandtech confirms that 4.3 brings TRIM to all Nexus devices:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7185/android-43-update-brings-trim-to-all-nexus-devices

If your phone/tablet performs better after the 4.3 update, it's because of this. Full performance increase should be seen after a week or so (granted you charge your phone overnight and this implementation of TRIM works properly).

Personally I ran some benchmarks and found my tablet's performance to be better, but the improvement wasn't great on paper. However storage chip's performance was this tablet's weakest link from the start (especially on my 8GB version).
Writes aren't so painfully slow now though, but it's likely to get even better once I remove some junk and let TRIM run a couple more times. Random write benchmarks slow down the storage memory significantly so I'll wait a few days before re-running them.

How do I run TRIM? Or is it something that happens automatically?

 

[masta247]

How do I run TRIM? Or is it something that happens automatically?

It happens automatically when you leave it idle and charging overnight (or with over 80% battery).

TRIM turns on when the battery is over 80%, tablet is idle and screen is off for at least an hour. It stops when you do something or tablet does something and stops idling - It runs no more than once in 24 hours so once something stops it it won't run for another 24 hours. You won't know if it's running or not. It needs a couple of times like that and performance should be better.

 

[dilla]

It happens automatically when you leave it idle and charging overnight (or with over 80% battery).

TRIM turns on when the battery is over 80%, tablet is idle and screen is off for at least an hour. It stops when you do something or tablet does something and stops idling - It runs no more than once in 24 hours so once something stops it it won't run for another 24 hours. You won't know if it's running or not. It needs a couple of times like that and performance should be better.

And how long does it run for?

 

[masta247]

Depends, I kinda oversimplified my last post. TRIM just runs for a short while, indexes files on the drive and marks unnecessary ones, it takes seconds, maybe minutes. However, afterwards the garbage collector kicks in tidying what TRIM told it to tidy up. To simplify it all the whole process is basically called TRIM-ming though, even though there's more happening under the hood.
On SSDs on PCs it can take hours if it's really bad (undoing months of abuse) and may take a few runs, each is likely to get much shorter as it cleans up mostly what the previous one missed.
If it's all good and your disk hasn't been written to much since the last TRIM it's likely to finish in seconds. No idea about Android yet but you don't have to worry, it does its job by itself when you're not using your device and when you stop the trimming by unlocking it it'll just continue next time it gets a chance, after 24 hours.

 

[dilla]

Well, if 4.3 had come out earlier, I could have done it to my TouchPad before selling it to see the performance boost.

Oh well.

In about a week my buddy's Nexus 7 will be here. The first-gen, of course, so I'll get some play time with it, hopefully.

 

[Pittsey]

TRIM is a welcome inclusion. I found myself having to reflash roms on my original SGS because after a while the performance of the phone had suffered so much, it would need to be started again.

 

[dilla]

TRIM is a welcome inclusion. I found myself having to reflash roms on my original SGS because after a while the performance of the phone had suffered so much, it would need to be started again.

I flash a nightly every other day or so. So either I'm just piling on the useless files or I'm clearing them out with every flash. Probably not the latter because I don't do clean wipes.

 

[masta247]

Office for Android is out, looks really great but because Microsoft are always looking for ways to fuck up you need paid Office 365 subscription, Android phone (its not for tablets) and it's US only.... :
http://www.gsmarena.com/microsoft_releases_office_mobile_for_office_365_android_app-news-6495.php

Samsung beats Apple in customer satisfaction surveys:
http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-edges-out-iphone-5-in-customer-satisfaction-survey/

 

[dilla]

Office for Android is out, looks really great but because Microsoft are always looking for ways to fuck up you need paid Office 365 subscription, Android phone (its not for tablets) and it's US only.... :
http://www.gsmarena.com/microsoft_releases_office_mobile_for_office_365_android_app-news-6495.php

Samsung beats Apple in customer satisfaction surveys:
http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-galaxy-s-iii-edges-out-iphone-5-in-customer-satisfaction-survey/

Oh, look. M$ is shooting itself in the foot using software the way Apple does to itself with its hardware.

Man, Ballmer is not gonna rest until M$ is in ashes. Taking over Xbox operations, fucking the Surface tablet in the ass and then rumored to have admitted it was a flop.

Bill Gates probably can't hear the chaos, though. Not in his fort made of $1000 bill stacks.

Looks like QuickOffice it is for me, then. I don't know if iOS has a free Office suite to compete with. Well, I have QuickOffice HD for tablets, which of course I pirated, so not like I'm gonna pay for it on iOS either.

 

[dilla]

Few more reviews trickle in. Legit reviews, not bubblegum, general reviews, like Engadget's.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013...ew-meet-the-new-standard-for-android-tablets/

 

[Pittsey]

I'm going to get my son one for Christmas. If only Android had a better range of educational apps.

 

[dilla]

I'm going to get my son one for Christmas. If only Android had a better range of educational apps.

It's still lacking in the apps department. All these medical school apps are on iOS but I have a hard time finding them on Android.

 

[Pittsey]

Moto X anyone?

 

[masta247]

"The Motorola Moto X a will be available on the five largest carriers in the USA - AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and US Cellular. It will cost $200 for the 16GB version and $250 for the 32GB units, both with a two-year contract"

Good joke. Soo.. after this event the Moto X's status went from a great deal and the N7 of smartphones to the most overpriced mid-end phone in history, and also kinda bulky and targeted at silly kids. I can't believe the amount of hate Moto got in comments during their event.
It was supposed to be priced like this or 50-99$ higher, but with no contract. Customization means you can pick colors for front (between black and white) and back (among like 17 gay colors and black). Funny. I can buy any colored back cover for Samsung phones for like 20$ and they're replaceable.

IT COSTS 100$ MORE THAN THE S4 AND HTC ONE also it's US only. At least they know it wouldn't sell outside of the US but I'm concerned about their research if they think it'll sell in the US. I can't believe it's a Google company and this is under Google's leadership. And I was so positive about it before the announcement. This phone is barely on par with the Xperia SP which is slimmer, looks better, has sd slot and a bigger replaceable battery and costs less than half of this.

 

[dilla]

So glad I stayed out you guys' cum-swapping fest about the announcement of the phone.

Some people got butt-hurt when it was called merely a "mid-range" phone. That's exactly what it is.

A phone from 2011 for $199. And only one carrier gets the customized colors.

Is this the week every major company shoots itself in the foot? Even BMW took it up the ass with that i3 unveiling. Piece of shit. This should make studying for finals real easy for me the next three weeks. And hopefully, if I pass everything, reward myself with an N7, or the new iPad Mini which has its own rumormill spooling up for an October release, or just a fuck-ton of spare cash I can save.

If I fail, then I'll still get those things and cry when I look at them because I don't deserve them.

 

[masta247]

If anyone buys the Moto X I'd want to know what made him do so - pay the premium over highest end devices to get a mid-end phone.
The popular slogan seems to be "it goes for experience over specs" but excuse me, what experience? It does nothing any other mid-ranger can't do. Voice activation when idle? Ooh, so cute. Samsung does that since it came up with S Voice and it's a feature amongst 198231 others that they're not even boasting about, that probably 99,9% of users never even cared to try. What else does the Moto X come with that provides better experience? Oh right, nothing. It's just like any mid-end phone running Android.
It's said to run stock Android but it doesn't, it's modified Android that looks like stock and the phone comes with an outdated one to remind people that it's not a Google Experience device.

I mean, I'd be all for it if it went for 250$ off contract, that's what it's worth, that's what the rumors pointed to, that'd make this phone a great deal and I'm sure it'd still allow them to make lots of money as they use sub-par parts.
The most negative ones mentioned 299$, quite fair, although that's as much as the Nexus 4 which packs more expensive hardware and at its release packed ahead of its time hardware for 299$.
But the price they want for that phone ? That's fucking unbelievable. I still can't believe that they're serious. They ruined a major opportunity and made a bitch move with that pricing and tying to US carriers. That's so un-Google.

It makes me wonder about the next Nexus phone. It'd be weird to watch it make Motorola look even more silly. Because seriously, if something like Moto X became the next Nexus phone and they even wanted 300$ for it people would go crazy mad.

 

[dilla]

If anyone buys the Moto X I'd want to know what made him do so - pay the premium over highest end devices to get a mid-end phone.
The popular slogan seems to be "it goes for experience over specs" but excuse me, what experience? It does nothing any other mid-ranger can't do. Voice activation when idle? Ooh, so cute. Samsung does that since it came up with S Voice and it's a feature amongst 198231 others that they're not even boasting about, that probably 99,9% of users never even cared to try. What else does the Moto X come with that provides better experience? Oh right, nothing. It's just like any mid-end phone running Android.
It's said to run stock Android but it doesn't, it's modified Android that looks like stock and the phone comes with an outdated one to remind people that it's not a Google Experience device.

I mean, I'd be all for it if it went for 250$ off contract, that's what it's worth, that's what the rumors pointed to, that'd make this phone a great deal and I'm sure it'd still allow them to make lots of money as they use sub-par parts.
The most negative ones mentioned 299$, quite fair, although that's as much as the Nexus 4 which packs more expensive hardware and at its release packed ahead of its time hardware for 299$.
But the price they want for that phone ? That's fucking unbelievable. I still can't believe that they're serious. They ruined a major opportunity and made a bitch move with that pricing and tying to US carriers. That's so un-Google.

It makes me wonder about the next Nexus phone. It'd be weird to watch it make Motorola look even more silly. Because seriously, if something like Moto X became the next Nexus phone and they even wanted 300$ for it people would go crazy mad.

Moto was destined to fail. The Droid was it's last rise to the surface for a last, large gasp of fresh air before it went belly-up and died. Google tried to rescue it, but only for moral reasons, but the manufacturer died in its arms. I hope the patents were worth it for Google, because I honestly couldn't tell you the name and specs of a single Motorola phone released the last two years. That's how little of a shit the world gives to those devices. Glad they got out the tablet game, too. Can you imagine their product next to the N7, even they they'd both be Google tablets?

I think it's clear that Samsung might have the nod for the next Nexus phone as well. The Galaxy series is just too good to give up on. Nexus and Google Play Edition can be used interchangeably now, right? The S4 and HTC One are essentially Nexus devices, right? Even if it doesn't boast the "Nexus" moniker, the S5 Play Edition will be the phone to get. Stock Android, off-contract, etc. It would be great.

I don't know what sucks a bigger bag of dicks: the Moto X or the US variant of the Galaxy Nexus, specifically the Verizon and Sprint versions.