Monday, December 19, 2011

Finally - Samsung Galaxy Nexus available in Australia

I finally got my Galaxy Nexus first thing this morning and thought I'd list down my first impressions.
First of all, I must say that the marketing and release of this phone here has been largely disappointing. Non existent to be more accurate.
I purchased the phone from Optus on the $59 plan (+$6 for the fone). It is currently available online at optus website. I was surprised when I went to the optus shop and the sales rep had absolutely no idea about the phone and told me I could not get it yet.

Anyway, I have the Nexus now and so far so good. I have been waiting for this phone since it was rumored to be called the "nexus prime". Starting with the box it comes in, its physical size represents well what you are about to unveil. The device looks very large with the screen taking the majority of the front face.
I charged the Nexus for about an hour or so, taking the "charge til full then unplug and drain for first use" approach. I've been using all the features extensively testing it out and so far so good for the battery life (will know for sure in about a week or so) currently running 9 hours.
The screen is amazing and the high resolution makes everything look clear and crisp. Simply scrolling through the menu's was seemed so fluid in comparison to other android devices I've used prior.
I tested out some HD videos from YouTube and the soft buttons disappearing for the full viewing experience is beautiful for a phone.
The camera is impressive and taking advantage of the zero shutter lag is always a fun feature to play around with. The built in panorama is a neat feature as well.
I also tested the face unlock and of course the first thing I tried was to test its limitations. And yes it works surprisingly well, but don't confuse its use for real authentication and not basic identification.
Other than this, I'm glad that Google has vamped up the keypad and now I don't feel the need to get a third party one. I'm currently using the Nexus to type this blog and it has been the smoothest experience for phone typing I've had. (The extra real estate helps).
There is a lot more to mention, especially in regard to ICS and the advantages it brings in itself. But for now this will do.
In summary, I'd have to say that if you're looking to upgrade your handset consider the galaxy nexus ( yes it is available in Australia already for general public )
Its a fluid experience and you  won't be feeling the need to upgrade any time soon.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Youtube Leanback

I Just started using the Youtube TV app on my Asus Transformer, available on the Android Market Place. After this, simply go to http://www.youtube.com/leanback on your PC to login to your account. The Youtube TV App should already be able to control the content playing on your PC (or other) automatically.

In the video, I just tested going back and forth through 2 video's.



Through my brief use so far am yet to find any annoying bugs but would like more sorting options within the tabs available. For example under the "Subscriptions" tab it would be good to include subscription filters of some sort. All in all its exactly what I've wanted.

Previously I was using Asus' built in Splashtop desktop remote app for this. It works pretty good and requires installation on the PC. My main use was to switch to the next video. The issue with this approach is that the resolution on the screen drops down to the Asus' resolution.
Using the Youtube TV app merely is a control and has the ease of no extra software required to be installed on any device you have the browser open on.

If you watch a lot of Youtube and have a compatible Android device, try this out.

It worked on my other PC and off my Android phone. Let me know how you go if you try this.

Ro.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Initial Blog

First test of this and this will be used to see integration to a custom Domain