Month: February 2018

Smartphone Spotlight: HTC U11
With a stunning 3D liquid glass surface, the purest audio you can find with active noise cancellation, all wrapped in a beautiful water resistant package, HTC U11 sets a new standard of what you can expect from a Android smartphone.

The Great
- Super LCD5 capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- HTC Sense UI
- upgradable to Android 8.0 (Oreo)
- Octo core Snapdragon 835
- 24 hour fast charging battery
- Solid build quality
- water resistant
The Not
- Edge Sense is half-baked
- Poor lighting on the screen
- Poor audio
- No headphone jack
- Smudges
The Conclusion

Its has everything you need, want and desire in an android and a cleaner os interface then all the others. Its pretty and powerful and packed with gimmicks. Its more then just its gimmicks at Only $649, its a premium smartphone at a slightly reduced price.

Shake it, Squeez it

The HTC U11 reinvents HTC’s design language with a bold new glass-backed chassis in a range of shimmering colors. It’s got a hugely impressive spec list, unique design, innovation in the form of squeezable sides and a great camera, and since launch it’s got that little bit better, thanks to the addition of Amazon Alexa. It’s the first smartphone to include Edge Sense, a new shortcut function that lets you squeeze the sides of the phone to jump quickly into the camera, take a photo, or launch your favorite personal assistant. It is the key design element and unique selling point is that the phone is squeezable. The firm calls this feature ‘Edge Sense’ and it’s achieved by pressure senors on either side of the phone.

The Meat and Potatoes

Aside from gimmicky new features, the U11 is a solid flagship phone with top-tier processor — Snapdragon 835 and one of the fanciest and finest cameras on an phone. The new Ultrapixel shooter features always-on “HDR Boost” post-processing, similar to the Google Pixel’s HDR+ trickery.

Smuggen

I have noticed The stunning glass rear is highly susceptible to fingerprinting and crumbgiming The pearlescent glass on the back. Don’t get me wrong the phone is gorgeous right out of the box in every color option (in red, black, blue, white and silver), but being a smudge magnet, which canceled out and allure.

The Final Thought

It’s a powerhouse and monster, it’s spine-tingling to look at, it’s water-resistant, it’s big-screen. The HTC U11 checks all the requirements that one should have on a top of the line android. With HTC’s clean, near-stock Sense UI, and you’ve got a viable android device. You won’t be picking this one up for its gimmick or sound but in comparing to the android field you’ll be chooseing the HTC U11 for the capable interface, power and beauty.
February 16, 2018
Smartphone Spotlight: Samsung Note 8
The Samsung Note 8 is the largest and most power full smartphone in the Android field. Boasting a 6.3 screen with laptop power specks. Plus you get a cool pen

The Great
- 6.3″ Quad HD Super AMOLED
- Qualcomm Octa-Core 2.35 GHz (Quad) + 1.9 GHz (Quad)
- 3,300 mAH, Non-removable
- 12MP dual pixel OIS main camera
- 6gb RAM
- Note8 S Pen – Black
- 33 hour fast charging battery
The Not
- Previous models have exploded
- Two handed Device
- No Upgrade to Oreo yet
The Conclusion

This phone is everything a smartphone should be and so much more. The speakers are insane, the screen is beautiful, power galore, Its everything an Android can be. As long as it doesn’t randomly explode and competition is always just a month away.

On Another Note

Due to the Note 7 randomly exploding in many peoples hands, on airplanes, in pockets the best Note you could buy was the Note 5. You could try any number of the other “phalblet” androids on the market but they were just large low quality screens on a weak phone. The Note 8 rewrites the script, it is no longer the niche phone only supplied on demand it is the go to android for those that care. Lets Look at some of the highlights on this mambojambo.

Power +

Samsung popped 6gb of ram in, that is the most we have seen in a smartphone by far. The iphone x is only packing 3gb for comparison. Power users will absolutely benefit from the 6GB of RAM. The Note 8 also has loads and loads of processing power with the Snapdragon 835. This is one very fast chip however The Exynos chip is faster. In the Uk Models you can get the Samsung Exynos chip. This may be the move for all you Tim the ToolMan Taylors of the Android world.

Return of the S pen

there is a cool attachable stylus, with the Note 8’s larger 6.3-inch ‘Infinity Display’ you need it. The Note 8 acts like a big bevel-less glass poster-board for all you handwritten notes and masterpiece sketches. The S pen makes it very easy to craft documents, sign PDF’s and draw on your screenshots. Add in superb Note-taking and it expands with convenient off-screen memos. Mastering and using the S Pen will ensure Note 8 users get their moneys worth.

Display and Camera

Both the display and camera is of the finest quality avilable in todays market. This is the first android to support a dual camera. With Two 12MP cameras with optical image stabilization it captures crisp, beautiful photos, with a terrific new bokeh (background blur) effect. Having two rear cameras makes a world of difference for bokeh-rich ‘Live Focus’ photos. The Note 8 has a fully comprehensive, robust and capable camera and photo interface, you are going to love it. Comprise that with its 6.3-inch ‘Infinity Display’ the Note 8 intimately modifies its look and feel. Despite the added .8 inches to the screen its only .9 mm taller then the previous models. More big in a smaller package.

The Final Thought

It has the power. It has the camera, Its got a cool pen. Its battery is safe and everlasting. Its got the perfect screen. Its everything I would put in to the smartphone I imagined. Its still and android even though It makes quite an appearance. Let’s just hope it sticks around this time.
February 16, 2018
Apple’s New Speaker Making an Unwelcome Mark

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple’s new internet-connected speaker is proving to be more appealing to the ears than to the eyes, depending on where the device is placed.

Some people who bought the just-released $349 speaker, dubbed the HomePod, are reporting that it leaves a white ring on the surfaces of wooden furniture.

In an explanation posted Wednesday, Apple said the problem occurs with speakers that, like the HomePod, are equipped with a silicon base to minimize vibration. The company said the marks will often “go away” after a few days if you move the speaker somewhere else.

If they don’t, it recommends wiping wood tarnished by the HomePod with a soft or damp cloth, or cleaning the surface “with the furniture manufacturer’s recommended cleaning process.”

The marks left by the HomePod threaten to stain Apple’s reputation for designing iPhones, iPads and Mac computers that are frequently prized as much for how they look as for how they work. Though it’s still too early to tell whether the HomePod’s blemishes on wood will dampen the device’s sales. If so, that could hamper Apple’s efforts to catch up to less expensive internet-connected speakers from Amazon and Google that had a head start in the still nascent market.

Both Amazon and Google designed their speakers primarily to serve as digital hubs that manage peoples’ homes and lives via voice-activated assistants. Apple, by contrast, is marketing the HomePod as a high-fidelity speaker programmed to learn listeners’ tastes and automatically select songs from the company’s music-streaming library.

In the process, Apple hopes to build upon its 36 million Apple Music subscribers and to establish a toehold in people’s homes that will give it more opportunities to peddle its services. The HomePod also features Apple’s assistant Siri, which is still catching up to Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s eponymous Assistant in responsiveness and versatility.

February 15, 2018
Caavo’s Universal Consolidation Remote Control
Caavo’s powerful control system for virtually every streaming, cable, and satellite box makes for the most in depth smart remote available. Caavo is the first smart home entertainment system to unify all your devices, apps and content into a single experience.

The Great
- unique universal remote control
- supports voice commands
- Consolidates all devices
- Revolutionary onscreen overlay
The Not
- No support for HDR
- remote is not back-lit
- poor customization
- Advanced functions are an issue for some devices
The Conclusion

The Caavo does a great job simplifying the complexity of home theater, I think this is more of the first step then the solution for the masses, this pricey system is doomed for wide adaptation with out HDR support.

One box to rule them all

Caavo, the exciting machine vision-powered universal TV control system is being released February 14th. It’s a powerful control system for virtually every streaming, cable, and satellite box out there. It’s not just a simple remote, though: you plug everything into the large Caavo unit, and it uses machine vision, nay Caavo Vision, to intelligently navigate the interface for all of those boxes behind the scenes.

Unlike all the other remotes that have ever existed that use infrared macros without being able to verify that anything actually happened. The Caavo watches the interfaces displayed on-screen, allowing it to do things like create a single search index and watchlist across multiple services and many devices and intelligently navigate on your behalf. Caavo CTO says“We’re solving the universal remote problem, but we want to go beyond that to search,”

The Setup

Don’t get me wrong the setup will continuously through a multitude of issues and frustration at you. Think you remember all those passwords, think again. Just remember Caavo is still a very new, beta product that looks more elegant than it works. I also learned the hard way that with only one HDMI extender, you are not going to get a Roku, Chromecast and Firestick all in.. Why would one need all three? Please, just stop and shut up.

So Many Wires

You just simply Plug everything . All of your cable or satellite, streaming boxes or sticks, gaming consoles, DVD and Blu-ray players into the eight HDMI inputs and connect one HDMI to your TV. From there, Caavo does the rest. It automatically knows which device to use, searches all your apps, finds what you want, and plays it. It will essentially allow you to use Alexa to control your apple TV… mind blown. You just choose what you want to watch, and you leave it to Caavo to figure out where it may be hiding.

The Final Thought

Being the tech guy that I am, my entertainment system now consists of 10 or so devices with 6 or 7 services and a multiple array of speakers, not to mention the extravagant array of remotes and game controllers. Trying to find that one movie where Jonathan Silver says ” come in Tokyo” while twisting fake radio dials has become a real chore. I just want to watch whatever I want as it pops in my head, optimize the sound and enjoy it right now, too much to ask? not any more. As for the astronomical price, looking at my entertainment wall… I’ve already come this far whats another $400.
February 14, 2018
Uber vs Lyft: Ridesharing App Showdown
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past two years, you’ve likely heard about, seen, or experienced ridesharing apps.

While ridesharing has been around for quite some time, it has just recently exploded, and is really catching on worldwide. The ridesharing revolution began harmlessly enough but has quickly become an essential tool for many to commute to work or school, get home from a night out or simply run errands. Today, the question of choosing Uber vs. Lyft is a debate many face each time they need a ride. To properly compare the two ridesharing apps, we’ll evaluate each based on 4 categories :
- Pricing
- The App/Booking a Ride
- Coverage Areas
- Vehicle Types/Options
Pricing

Uber and Lyft compete heavily on pricing, attempting to lure customers away from each other by constantly offering lower prices than the other. A more in-depth look at the actual pricing we find that for the most part, the companies charge about the same prices, although prices can vary from city to city.

Another pricing factor to consider is surge pricing when there is a very high demand for transportation.

Both companies use some form of price surging – meaning fare prices are raised when rider demand is greater than normal. Uber increases their price about 7X or 8X what the original price would have been, while Lyft tends to increase their prices 2X.

Since both companies charge about the same on a normal day, most use whichever service is closer and can pick them up first. During times of high demand riders tend to get better pricing when they use Lyft.

Winner: Lyft

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NEXT
February 14, 2018
Lenovo Smart Display is the Only Choice
Lenovo Smart Display is the company’s answer to Amazon’s Echo Show. The Google Assistant-equipped smart speaker comes in two sizes: 8-inches ($200) or 10-inches ($250) and does everything the Home does, plus full HD video chat using Google Duo. Until Google launches its own smart speaker with a screen, this is the best one to get if you’re firmly using the Google assistant.

The Great
- HD Display is crystal clear
- camera shutoff option
- Google Assistant enabled
- Two different sizes
The Not
- Limited Functionality
- Sound quality is lacking
- Not suitable for noise enviroments
The Conclusion

Lenovo tries and fails to join the game with its Google-equipped Smart Display. The Lenovo Smart Display fits Google Assistant into an Echo Show competitor with an 8 or 10 inch screen

Finally

So you saw the Amazon show and the eco dot, thought to yourself that is neat but do they work with the nameless Google assistant Ive become accustomed to? No they don’t, but you have an option now, only one option for a Google Assistant with an HD Screen.

Just like you assumed, you will be able to issue voice commands to Lenovo’s Smart Displays. Say the word and you can control your smart home, search the internet, ask for directions or check your calendar, you know the drill. Lenovo’s display will show info relevant to your question on your touchscreen like a map or your schedule for the day.

I’ll call you Carl

Google assistant stand toe-to-toe with Alexa in terms of capabilities. I still feel it needs a distinctive one syllable name. Do I have to assign it? Because I will. Im going with Carl, it doesn’t have to be a feminine name right? This Display does Help Carl catch up to Alexa on the hardware front, its just not as good looking. The Lenovo Smart Display also has a couple of extra touches to help with privacy. The mute button was expected, as all Google Home smart speakers have one. Lenovo’s cam also has a physical shutter you can slide over it. One odd function I find missing is the Lenovo Smart Display won’t be able to make regular phone calls.

The Final Thought

Lenovo’s screen looked good in action doing Carl some justice. However The only thing I am seeing that separates this apart is the ability to turn of the camera, I’ve got to many cameras watching me as it is. The Lenovo Smart Display features either an 8 or 10 inch screen for $200 and $250 respectively.
February 14, 2018
Sam’s Club to Offer Free Shipping for Premium Members

By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Sam’s Club is offering free shipping for premium members and simplifying its membership tiers.

Starting Wednesday, the Walmart-owned warehouse club will give free shipping on online orders for Plus members on 95 percent of the items it sells. Most shipping costs previously were based on the item’s size and weight, the shipping method and the delivery address.

Free shipping and faster delivery have been key areas as retailers try to adapt to shoppers’ shift online. Online leader Amazon is reportedly planning a new service to pick up packages from businesses and deliver them to consumers. Meanwhile, Target late last year bought grocery delivery startup Shipt to speed up same-day deliveries.

Sam’s Club is also converting its three membership plans into two. Sam’s Plus will still carry a $100 annual fee, while the Business and Savings plans will convert to Sam’s Club memberships with an annual fee of $45. The company is trying to better compete with rival Costco Wholesale Corp. by focusing on the more affluent customer. It’s added more fresh produce and other higher-quality products.

“We are creating a new Sam’s Club for our members,” said CEO John Furner. He says the chain is targeting suburban families with children who have annual incomes between $75,000 and $125,000 — which closely tracks Costco’s core customers.

Last month, Sam’s Club started closing 63 U.S. clubs and said it would convert up to a dozen of them to e-commerce fulfillment centers so it can be faster with deliveries. The idea is to get the fulfillment centers closer to the customers’ homes.

Making Change at Walmart, a campaign backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, estimated at the time that the closures could affect about 10,000 jobs. Sam’s Club executives said that it’s too early to tell how many workers who lost their jobs at the stores will get new positions.

February 14, 2018
Bose SoundTouch 300 Delivers again.. for a Price
The Bose SoundTouch 300 is a soundbar for your televesion, capable of a gorgeously wide sound field, which benefits both music and movies. The speaker is capable of reproducing both dialog and incidental effects with crystal clarity. The system offers easy-to-use music streaming via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

The Great
- Superior Sound
- Easy Set Up
- Expandable with wireless Bose speakers
- Versatile connectivity
The Not
- treble EQ cant be modified
- Needs remote to function
The Conculsion

Great ” larger then life” Sound, If you have no intention of buying a sub woofer, though, don’t buy this sound bar. Sound fine on its own, but you’ll miss the deep ravid notes that the optional Acoustimass 300 sub can bring — for an extra $699.

Bose knows how to delivering big sound from small packages. Once again they hit us with the SoundTouch 300, a slim soundbar that produces plenty of bass depth and solid clarity in the highs. You can stream audio via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, features HDMI ARC and optical outputs. Its a baseline sound bar option that can be expanded to an all out theater sound experience.

The Design

The design is elegant and sharp as it looks looks graceful and stylish. Inside the beautiful exterior, the SoundTouch 300 uses four full-range drivers and a single centered tweeter, all front-facing, and bass ports on the rear panel, aided by a pair of “phase guides,” one on each end of the bar. There are 3 Icons across the front, one to show you are connected to your home network, one indicates when audio from the SoundTouch app is played, the last is when you have audio playing from a connected TV.

Whats that on your Head?

It uses AdaptIQ, that is the system Bose employs to adjust the soundbar’s output to your room’s dead areas, as well as reflective surfaces. You connect a adapter by connecting it to the speaker’s back panel and pressing the AdaptIQ button will start the measurement process. Then with this headband receptor on your head and sit in various places in your room. The system go through a series of 10 seconds of frequency sweeps in each spot while the headset measures the reflections from the sweeps.

The Final Thought

Through the SoundTouch 300, the audio is crisp and full of low-end, though the bass response sounds slightly thin with out the sub woofer. Its a great standalone sound bar but not for $699, Only purchase this if you are going to double down for the remote speakers and the sub woofer.
February 14, 2018
Hum X for the Non Car Guy
The Hum is a device that plugs in to your cars computer port giving you the ability to decode engine lights, get vehicle health reports. The Hum is simple – just plug it in to add connected car features to your drive. Even better, you can easily access Hum features on the go using the Hum App.

The Great
- Easy setup
- Intuitive app interface
- Engine light Diagnostics
- Automatic maintenance checks
- 4g LTE with Wifi
- Emergency Assistance
- Stolen Vehicle Assistance
The Not
- Cellular coverage is needed for emergency services
- Added monthly cost
The Conclusion

The Hum can tell you whats up with the engine alert, call for help, keep you from getting bent at the mechanic, plus add a 4g LTE wifi to your car…bonus. You will want consider your needs against the cost of the service.

Whats an Alternator?

For us non car guys this is great. When my car starts acting funny or breaks down and its not out of gas, most of us are pretty clueless. Despite the fact that we spend an average of 5 years behind the wheel over our lifetime, most of us aren’t very “connected” to our cars. The hum is connected to the cloud to send and receive data for emergency and convenience purposes, as well as to keep tabs on car maintenance, mileage, and other performance aspects.

Verizon Hum consists of an ODB-II dongle, a Bluetooth-enabled speaker/control unit that clips to your car’s sun visor, a USB charging cable for the speaker with a cigarette lighter adapter, and a companion Android and iOS smartphone app. Hum costs $14.99 per month. The equipment comes at no extra cost with the service but the The HumX system is priced slightly higher, with a $150 retail equipment price , and additional vehicles cost $12.99 each per month.

Does It Work?

With 4 roadside assistance calls per month, per vehicle, not per account, check. They work, get a battery jump, tire changed or a tow. The Bluetooth speaker, Hum’s Bluetooth speaker clips directly to your visor and communicates between the OBD-II reader and your app.

The speaker also allows you to talk hands-free when driving, and provides one-button access to help in the event of an emergency. Side Note, if your car has Bluetooth you have to manually switch between both, so I’ve disregarded the speaker and just use the one built in to my car. The HumX’s silver speaker also acts as a Wi-Fi hotspot, which allows you to connect up to 10 devices at any one time and provides access to the internet in the car. 1 years ago, mind blowing, today? what doesn’t have its own internet connection these days?

The diagnostic updates when a light appears on your dashboard are great. It tells me what and why the issues is, and how to fix it. It gives me easy-to-understand alerts, then I just breakout my tool box, a.k.a wallet. In the event something serious is going on you can use Hum’s Mechanics Hotline to obtain personalized, unbiased advice and repair estimates from certified, independent mechanics.

New Drivers?

The application offers navigation, keeps track of your trips, and handles 100 percent of the tracking for the driver Safety Score. It also allows you to set up a geo-fence and get an alert if your car travels outside of any designated area. These features are a true blessing for some parents with new drivers. Track your teens trips, where and when they go, get a real sense of there driving habits and if they ever go missing you have a great tool to help.

The Final Thought

If you have an unreliable car its worth the small investment. If you have kids, get the HumX to power there devices with internet otherwise stick with the Hum+.
February 14, 2018
A Plus + to the Bose Soundlink Revolver +

Bose SoundLink Revolve+ is the best-performing portable Bluetooth® speaker from Bose, is engineered to spread deep, jaw-dropping sound in every direction.

The Great

Portable
Waterproof
360-Degree Sound,
Multiple speaker party mode
16 hour play back battery life

The Not

No connection ports
No digital assistant capabilities
Lacks volume

The Conclusion

Despite no Siri or Alexa built in this is still the best Bluetooth speaker you can get. Sound quality, durability, versatility is what you want in a portable speaker

I Liked the Last Soundlink

I’ve been a fan of the Bose Soundlink mini since it’s conception. When it was first released if filled a big void in tech we all had been experiencing. I need a wireless speaker that connects to my smartphone and sounds good. Boom, we got the Soundlink mini. I took mine everywhere, boats, golf carts, strapped to my bike , it upped the game and brought the party. I gave the Soundlink to everyone having a birthday, graduation, weddings, holiday, they all got a Soundlink mini. So I’m excited to say the least to get the new Soundlink resolve plus

Out of the Box

When you open the box, you are greeted with sleek cylindrical shape of the speaker and the reality of the build quality. This speaker weighs almost two pounds and is built like a tank. The body of the speaker is one piece metal construction with a plastic base and rubberized buttons on the top. There are six buttons on the top of the speaker; power, Bluetooth, Aux, volume up, volume down and a multi-purpose button. The battery needed charged right out of the box but the speaker turned on after a few minutes of being connected.

Yep it Sounds Like a Bose

The sound coming from this speaker is so immersive and full, stereo sound is a non-issue. There is an app for this speaker, Bose Connect but its pretty lackluster, only offering volume and connectivity options, oh and you can use it to rename the device and select the voice language. It also gives you the option to pair multiple Soundlink together for a party mode.. this will come in handy later. I’m convinced the attitude at Bose is “we know how your music is supposed to sound” and you’re going to like it. It’s got Great Dynamic Range for a portable speaker. The mids and highs are crisp and clear, and the bass is good. It could get louder, I know it would start to loose quality at a much higher volume, but sometimes you just got to crank it up. Like most Bose speakers, the bass is not heavy. This is the first speaker I have ever used that emits sound in all directions equally. Every time I listen to it I’m so impressed and glad it’s there to crank the mood for any situation.

The Final Thought

The Bose SoundLink Revolve+ is an extremely well-rounded product that deserves the praise it has been getting. I never leave home with out it and I’ve found my go to gift of the next 5 years.

February 14, 2018