By Rich W Woods
The Amazon Fire Phone is the most well designed first generation phone I have ever seen. It is really something that you would expect to come out of Apple. How well designed a phone is is a matter of opinion. Comparing it to first generation models is a clear cut case.
That being said, this is my review of the Amazon Fire Phone:
By Rich W Woods
The Amazon Fire Phone never ceases to amaze me. The 4.7″ phone fits perfectly in the hand and it is beautifully designed with a glass back. It is what the iPhone 4 would have been with a 4.7″ screen. The 13 MP rear camera takes beautiful pictures although the camera angle could be a little wider. The lock screen is too beautiful to describe in words.
What I am writing about here is Firefly. It is another innovative part of the Amazon Fire Phone and no, it is not just for buying things.
Continue reading Amazon Fire Phone: Firefly, It’s Not Just for Buying Stuff
By Rich W Woods
There are a lot of myths about cell phone (or tablet) batteries. The most common myth is that in order to preserve your battery, you must let the battery drain as much as possible before charging it. The other common myth is that when you finally do charge it, you must charge it all the way.
This is not true; however, there are a few things you can do to preserve your battery.
Continue reading Battery Myths Debunked: How to Get the Most Out of Your Device
By Rich W Woods
I am going to go out on a limb and say that the Amazon Fire phone is the most innovative phone since Nokia released the Lumia 1020 with a 41 megapixel camera in July of last year. It has always been my opinion that PCs should be optimized for work, tablets should be optimized for movies, books, and games, and phones should be optimized for music and camera. In other words, tablets and phones should be optimized for consumption.
This is what Amazon excels in. This is a first impressions post, so I’ll leave the more in depth features for a later date.
By Rich Woods
Amazon announced the Fire phone on Wednesday as expected and the phone was mostly as it was leaked to be. Amazon is becoming a full ecosystem now that they have a phone to match the tablet and the Fire TV.
By Rich Woods
On Thursday night, all Bing apps for Windows Phone received an update through the Windows Phone market. Anytime Microsoft apps or phone settings get updated it can feel exciting because it usually means that they’re getting ready to roll out an update and we all know that Windows Phone 8.1 is coming soon.
Although all of the Bing apps were updated, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of major changes, which means that the update was most likely to make them compatible with the new update. The one notable change was that they took the word “Bing” out of the names of the apps. For example, “Bing Finance” became “Finance”, “Bing Weather” became “Weather”, etc.
“Bing Weather” becoming “Weather” was an interesting change because Windows Phone already has a native weather app that is based on The Weather Channel.
With Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia, one could wonder why Bing apps aren’t the native apps for Windows Phone. It would only stand to reason that “Here Maps” would be replaced by Bing Maps (now “Maps”) and Weather would be replaced by Bing Weather (now also “Weather”). Nokia’s ESPN app would be replaced by Bing Sports (now “Sports”).
The problem with replacing the native apps with Bing apps is that native apps cannot be updated the same way that third party apps are. Unlike Apple, when Windows Phone updates come out, the hardware manufacturer has to slap a firmware update on top of it and then the carrier has to add the crapware updates on top of it. This is why Microsoft Office Mobile gets updated for the iPhone and Android Phones but it doesn’t get updated on Windows Phone. This is also the reason that Skype gets updates on every platform except Windows Phone before it gets updated on Windows Phone.
With the “Preview for Developers” app, Microsoft has allowed customers to get the latest updates by opting for it. This helps, but it is not likely to reach the masses. One of the biggest complaints about iOS 6 was that users actually had to open the AppStore and tap “Update All” to update their third party apps. Apple fixed this in iOS 7 when they started automatically updating apps. It’s not likely that the same people that can’t be bothered to tap “Update All” will go to Microsoft’s web site, sign up for a developer account, download the “Preview for Developers” app, and click a checkbox to make sure they get the latest updates for their phone operating system.
Windows Phone 8.1 should be due to arrive any minute as they promised it would arrive in the first half of April. Joe Belfiore tweeted that Windows Phone users can “rest easy through the weekend” and “check back in early next week” but it can’t hurt to keep checking.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @rwoods716 and like us on Facebook at “For the Love of Tech” for all of the latest news, reviews, and product comparisons. I would love to hear from you. Tell me how we can make this site better by leaving a comment or posting on our Facebook page or sending a tweet. Got a tech question about how to fix your broken PC or smart phone? Just ask. Need help deciding which tablet is right for you? Happy to help. Drop me a line.
By Rich Woods
About a month ago Apple released the beta of iOS 7.1 to developers and I immediately installed it on my iPad 2 and my iPhone 4S. Seeing significant performance improvements from iOS 7.0.4, I then installed it on my brand new iPad Mini with Retina. A couple weeks later I posted a review of both iOS 7.1 Beta and the iPad Mini with Retina. Since then, I’ve traded in my iPad 2 and my iPhone 4S to Gazelle. After all, the point of buying the iPad Mini with Retina was so it could replace both my iPhone and my full size iPad.
It was promised that the iOS 7.1 beta would come in stages as the iOS 7 beta did and just a few hours ago, iOS 7.1 Beta 2 was released by Apple.
First, they’ve taken away one of my favorite features of the iOS 7.1 beta, which was the darker keyboard. They did keep the darker dock, which I had originally noticed as a bug in the iOS 7 beta that I was sorry that they didn’t keep around.
There are many notable differences from the original iOS 7.1 beta to iOS 7.1 beta 2, just as in the six versions of iOS 7 beta that there were, the biggest changes came between 1 and 2.
One thing that I’ve noticed that is definitely new is that when I fired up Maps I saw pins of what seemed to be every place I’ve asked for directions to for just about as long as I’ve been using iOS. This seems to be a useful feature for finding previous locations.
There’s also a new “Button Shapes” setting. Instead of just seeing words that you can tap on the screen, they will again appear as buttons if you wish. It seems there are some new stock wallpaper options as well.
There also seems to be some design changes in the Game Center as well. I don’t know just yet if they’ve fixed the bug that makes it impossible to actually record a high score that I wrote about in The Bug in the iOS Game Center that No One Talks About.
There is one more fairly important change. In fact I’m not sure if it is a change or if it is just something that I’ve never noticed before, but under Privacy settings, there is a new setting that would force apps to ask permission to access your Motion Activity. Another minor feature that has been added is in the Control Panel. It now shows what app is playing the audio feed that you can control from the Control Panel. The last thing that I’ve noticed is that the timer now has a meter that shows how far into your time you are.
I will continue to post more reviews and comparisons. It’s been a big week. We’ve seen an Android update to 4.4.2 (I must have missed 4.4.1 somehow). This really wasn’t worth writing about since the model is major.minor.bugfix. No real changes there, although over at Google, they treat minor updates like major ones.
Microsoft pushed out loads of updates to every Windows device imaginable on Tuesday. My Surface Pro got 13 updates including a firmware update. My Surface RT got 24 updates including a firmware update. Even Windows Phone got an update.
So stay tuned and make sure to follow me on Twitter @rwoods716 and like us on Facebook at “For the Love of Tech”.
By Rich Woods
My first smart phone was an iPhone 3GS. I found it in the street but it was in mint condition. I hooked it up to wi-fi and almost immediately I found myself hooked into this amazing new world of mobile technology. My next phone was the Samsung Captivate. It was the original Galaxy S. I often referred to the “Android Market” – as it was called before the Google Play Store – as a “ghetto AppStore”, but after a year or so, it did end up catching up to Apple on most major apps. After a year and a half with Android, I finally purchased an iPhone 4S, knowing how well the iOS platform works.
After a year and a half with my iPhone 4S, I decided that I wanted a Windows Phone. I have an iPad and a Nexus tablet, so I wasn’t going to be missing the apps, but the camera on the Lumia 1020 is second to none. After using the Lumia 1020, I never looked back. After all, the camera on this thing is nothing short of amazing and switching between mobile platforms is not nearly as big of a deal as everyone seems to think it is.
When it was time for my wife to upgrade, she decided to go with the Lumia 1020 as well and was the first person I had met that was disappointed with the Windows Phone platform. I shortly realized that this was because she doesn’t use a tablet the same way that I do.
The Windows Phone platform is certainly taking off and they are definitely succeeding in getting people to switch. Although the initial reaction seems to always be good, I think that if they don’t make a major change to the platform within the next year, Microsoft will have a big problem with people switching back.
Let’s start with the obvious: the apps. When I first got Windows 8, I said that it reminded me of the old Android Market. A ghetto App Store that would later evolve into a thriving app economy as the Google Play Store has. So here we all are a year later and we just got Vine, Instagram, and Temple Run 2 is just around the corner. It’s really too little, too late with these apps.
When the Windows 8 platform first came out, the big headline app was Angry Birds: Space. The only problem with that was that it was really the tail end of the Angry Birds franchise. No one plays Angry Birds anymore. Does anyone really care about Temple Run 2, Vine, or Instagram at this point? Especially when your phone has a camera so good that an Instagram filter would only serve to ruin your perfectly good pictures?
Windows Phone needs games like Device 6. Innovative and creative games that were designed to take advantage of the platform. Games like Halo: Spartan Assault, which brings amazing touch screen controls to a top down shooter version of the Halo games that is second to none.
But what about the OS? Am I the only one that feels like Windows Phone is just missing something? It just doesn’t “flow” like iOS does. Can you really tell me that my phone has a 41 MP camera and I have no way to natively print my photos? Can you really tell me that Microsoft has a mobile phone OS that ships with Microsoft Office and there is no way to natively print my documents? Can you really tell me that if someone sends me a Word document through Skype (which is a Microsoft service) I can’t even download that file to my phone, even though my phone has Office on it?
Windows 8.1 is quickly becoming known as the brand of the product that fixes Windows 8, so when Windows Phone 8.1 finally comes in the spring, this needs to be that fix. We’ve seen a few updates since Windows Phone 8 hit the market. It would seem that – like Android – the process for rolling out an update is that Microsoft creates an update for Windows Phone, the handset manufacturer has to strap on a firmware update on top of that, and then the carrier has to strap on a crapware update on top of that. Apple doesn’t have to deal with those types of delays because they make their own hardware and there is no crapware on their phones.
The other thing that would be nice to see from Microsoft is a true ecosystem. Anyone who owns an iPhone, an iPad, and a MacBook knows what I’m talking about. If you don’t have all three, you don’t quite get it. It’s something that Microsoft is starting to get the concept of with Windows 8 but they still have miles to go.
The point is, while the Windows ecosystem is new and exciting, the clock is ticking. Most cell phone contracts are 2 years and some carriers allow customers to upgrade after just 20 months. In fact, all four major carriers are offering newer, more expensive plans that will allow customers to upgrade their phones once a year.
Not only does Windows 8.1 have to solve all of the problems of the platform, but once it’s released, it has to be available to everyone. It’s not good enough to put it out on the new phones while the customers with existing top of the line phones still don’t have the latest updates.
I’ll be eligible to upgrade my phone in the beginning of April. Windows needs to get their stuff together. Apple’s iOS is a mature operating system. There is no room in this market for newbies anymore. Microsoft has convinced a lot of people to switch to something new for two years. They’ve done a great job at people loving the OS when they first adopt it, but I’m here to say that six months to a year into that two year contract you kind of start to get tired of the “the apps are coming” and “the updates are coming” lines. Mine is not the only two year contract that will be up soon. If they don’t start finding ways top keep the experience fresh for two years, folks are going to switch back.
By Rich Woods
Nokia released an update yesterday to its Pro Cam app that combines both the Smart Cam and the Pro Cam. The update includes some new features as well, such as a self-timer that has previously been missing ever since the change from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 8.
Also included in the update is a new feature that is similar to the burst mode in the new iPhone. With this feature turned on, the phone takes a series of pictures, and then gives you suggestions with captions that include “Remove Moving Objects, Change Faces, Best Shot, Action Shot, and Motion Focus. You can pick whichever option you want and work with the photo from there.
I’ve personally been waiting to see a self-timer. When I bought my Lumia 1020, it came with the free camera case which has a hole in it to screw in a tripod. When I went out and bought a tripod, I tried to set up a picture so I could take a photo of my family with myself in it. I was very disappointed to find that there was no way to set a timer on the Lumia. Now there is!
Another thing included in the update is support for RAW photos which is something that pro photographers have been talking about for a long time. Most pro photographers have said that they would much rather work with a camera that uses RAW files than JPEGs no matter how many MPs are in it.
Finally, the options to share the photo have been greatly expanded. Still no native printing of photos, so the best way to print your photos is still to upload them to SkyDrive and print them from your desktop or to download the Walgreens app and have your local Walgreens make prints for you.
There is so much news this week and there is much more to come. We’re going to take a look at everything that Nokia announced and everything Apple announced, we will compare the ONLY new Windows RT tablets on the market, and the Microsoft vs. Apple series will continue. Follow me on Twitter @rwoods716 and like us at “For the Love of Tech” and don’t miss a thing!
By Richard Woods
The most popular phone in America is clearly the iPhone. It doesn’t matter what the latest market share report says. Go in public and see what everyone is using. They’re all iPhones. So let’s ask the question: why do people keep buying iPhones?
Of a number of answers, brand recognition is one and the fact is it’s just a really nice looking phone. The average consumer wants their friends to know what kind of phone they’re using. They want the Apple logo on the back. So what do they do? They head out to the Apple Store, buy a brand new iPhone, take it home, and snap on a case that covers up that beautiful looking phone.
But everyone still knows what an iPhone looks like even when it has a case on it, right? The camera in the top left corner is a dead giveaway. Every other phone on the market has a rather generic camera. Somewhere in the center there is a lens and that’s how you can tell the difference between an iPhone and “something else”.
Except for one. The Nokia Lumia 1020 has a recognizable camera in the center of the phone. In fact, the entire Lumia line is recognizable with the Zeiss Pureview branding on it. When I am using my phone, obviously all anyone can see is the other side of it, but when people see that they see that it’s a Lumia. That’s why the design is ingenious.
Another thing that’s ingenious of the design of the Lumia line is the different colors that they are available in. It’s the brand recognition of the iPhone with the personalization of a case. The Lumia 1020 comes in black, white, and yellow but the only one that they are marketing is the yellow one. In fact, they market the yellow phone with the black case, because it shows how many different ways you can personalize this phone.
I’ve been using the Lumia 1020 since the week it came out and it seems like more and more people are asking me if that’s “the phone from the commercials”. People are asking to see my phone again. It’s a feeling I haven’t had since I first got my Samsung Captivate about three years ago.
When I switched from the original Galaxy S to the iPhone 4S, no one was asking to look at my phone anymore. Smart phones weren’t anything special anymore as everyone had an iPhone and everyone had at least used Android. Windows Phone is different. It’s cool, exciting, fresh.
Unfortunately, with the sale of Nokia to Microsoft the Lumia line is now in question. The Lumia – all the way from the low level 520 to the phamera 1020 – is an amazing line of phones. It’s not entirely popular but it’s gaining momentum; however, it’s not likely to keep up that momentum if people don’t know that it’s still going to be around a year from now.
Hopefully Microsoft will tell us soon what to expect from the future of Windows Phone. It’s a great product, but as history would tell us the best product is not always the product that lasts.
For the Love of Tech 