Nexus 4 smartphone review

May 192013
 

Nexus 4About a week ago, I bought the Nexus 4 smartphone via Google’s website. After much consideration, I decided the Nexus 4 sounded like the best option for the following reasons:

  • It’s inexpensive. I bought the 8GB model for $299 + two-day shipping + tax.
  • It’s unlocked and not part of a contract, allowing me to use a range of company’s prepaid services via swapping out the micro-SIM card. Even with the cost of going through several lesser smartphones in the past few years, I’ve calculated being on prepaid has still been much cheaper than what being on a contract during that time would’ve ran.
  • The only other prepaid option at the $300 range would’ve been the Samsung Galaxy S II. While it’s a nice enough phone, I didn’t think paying that much for 2011-era smartphone tech was a good idea.

Registration and set-up

The phone arrived pretty quickly, as did the micro-SIM card I ordered from T-Mobile, the prepaid carrier I’ve decided to use. Registering on T-Mobile’s website lets one choose a $30/month prepaid plan that offers “unlimited” 3G/4G data (data capped at 5GB) and 100 minutes per month. If one needs more than 100 minutes, extra time costs 10 cents/minute, which would be $6 for an hour. While the Nexus 4 doesn’t have “true” 4G (no LTE), it’s still much faster than my former Virgin Mobile/Sprint network, so I’m fine with it. I also don’t get many phone calls, so 100 minutes (and any extra time as needed) should work fine.

Setting up the Nexus 4 is just like setting up any other Android phone, including its hardware “cousin” the Nexus 7 tablet. After entering your Google email address and password, you’re prompted whether to restore previously saved apps/some options, which I chose to do. The Nexus 4 went ahead and downloaded most of the same apps I used on my previous phone and Nexus 7 tablet; for some reason, the Nexus 4 also imported the tablet’s wallpaper, which I soon changed.

Porting the phone number from Virgin Mobile ran into some problems. Porting required my Virgin Mobile account number, which forced me to call Virgin to acquire; the number wasn’t available via their online account management system. I finally got the number, after dealing with attempts by their customer service associate to hard sell sticking with Virgin. I then called T-Mobile and let them know I didn’t enter the account number when I registered online, which they soon entered for me. After this, the registration and number porting went through, and I set up the phone’s voice mail. Another reason for calling: when I initially went through T-Mobile’s online registration, the final step threw up an error message stating I hadn’t chosen some (unchoosable) payment option, an error I presume was related to my first account number-less attempt at porting the number from Virgin.

For more setup tips, GottaBeMobile’s Nexus 4 guide has some decent ones.

Android software

One of the Nexus 4′s signature traits is its use of a pure Android installation, without any manufacturer “skins.” Thus, things work quite smoothly, with the Nexus 4 running the newest version of Android. If you’ve used the Nexus 7 tablet, you’ll find the Nexus 4 works similarly. I am, however, still getting used to the size of the phone. With a 4.7-inch screen, it’s definitely the biggest smartphone I’ve ever used.

Protecting the phone

I purchased a case and plastic screen shield for the phone, as I usually do for smartphones. It’s also to address my one hesitation I had about buying the Nexus 4: comments online about the glass back cracking. However, none of the tech sites I usually read, nor Amazon.com’s user reviews, seemed to find it as prominent a problem as the comments made it out to sound. Phones made of glass don’t seem to have slowed down sales of the iPhone 4 or 4S, though Apple did wise up and dropped the use of glass from the iPhone 5. Hopefully, LG/Google will do the same for the next version of the Nexus phone.

Camera and photos

Taking photos works nicely, but some of the pictures have the wrong datestamp, defaulting to December 8, 2002 for some reason. While it’s easily fixed in iPhoto or Flickr, it’s still a concern.

The automatic backup of photos to either Google+ or Dropbox is nice. I’m still trying to figure out which one to stick with, though Google+ doesn’t expire access to most of its free storage space after a few years like Dropbox does. I wish Flickr would improve its Android app; automatic backing up of photos to Flickr doesn’t seem to be an option.

Here’s a few of the photos I’ve taken with the Nexus 4:

Downtown Milwaukee, May 2013

IMG_20130518_160227

IMG_20130518_160553

Conclusion

Overall, I’m enjoying the Nexus 4, and so far, I’m glad I bought the phone. I’m hoping the phone’s strong, mid-to-high-range specs (glass back/lack of LTE aside) make it last longer and have fewer problems than the previous two prepaid smartphones.

Those looking to buy a new unlocked or prepaid smartphone would probably be well served by the Nexus 4, keeping in mind the above mentioned caveats about the glass back/LTE. If buying a phone on contract, however, I’d also look at the HTC One, iPhone 5, and Galaxy S 4.

Google’s services: what else might go on the “spring cleaning” chopping block?

Mar 222013
 

google_logoRecently, Google’s announced a competing service to popular note-taking app Evernote, called “Google Keep.” With the recent news of Google shutting down Reader, there’s some concern about the longevity of other Google services with their “spring cleaning” bouts. Thus, I thought I’d give my guesses on which Google services might eventually bite the “spring cleaning” dust. My guesses are based on the assumption that Google’s core services/business interests consist of: search; advertising; social media data-mining (Google+); and Android (and other mobile services). Please note I have nothing against the items below—just guessing what Google might suddenly lose interest in someday…

Blogger/Blogspot

Google doesn’t seem to have done a huge amount with Blogspot over the years. While it’s still one of the most popular blog hosting services online, I wonder how well it really fits with Google’s current business models, or if they’ll decide it’s not worth trying to compete with WordPress.com, Tumblr, etc.

Google Keep

We already have Evernote and a myriad of other note-taking apps for Android and iOS—I don’t see the point in Google trying to introduce Keep, especially given it doesn’t really tie into the above-mentioned businesses. I suppose they could try to make it a part of Android or Google+ somehow, but it still seems like another future “spring cleaning” “yard sale” candidate.

Chrome OS/Chromebooks

Yes, there’s currently plenty of TV advertising for Google’s Chromebook netbooks (running the Chrome web browser-based ChromeOS). Still, with the shift away from netbooks in favor of tablets and smartphones running Google’s own Android (and Android being a huge success/the most successful Linux variant among the general public), offering a new netbook line running a non-standard OS seems like a long shot. (The general public didn’t care for Linux on their netbooks, wanting instead XP…) There’s reports, however, of schools being interested, plus Chromebooks might be useful for where just a web browser is needed (public libraries, etc.). Chromebooks’ reliance on the “cloud” (Google’s services) might also keep up Google’s interest, or at least keep them from giving up on quite as quickly.

Orkut

Orkut was a previous attempt at a social network by Google, but it never took off in the US. Orkut gained popularity in India and Brazil, however. While I wonder why Google didn’t just try to work at reviving/revamping Orkut for the US market instead of creating Google+ from scratch, I can see Google someday shutting down (or selling off) Orkut and migrating users to Google+.

Google Groups

Originally a Web-based Usenet archive service called “Deja News,” Google bought Deja, then tried to turn it into some mix of Usenet and customized discussion forums, before…ignoring it in recent years. With Google+ around and Usenet unpopular nowadays, I could see Google selling off or shutting down Google Groups.

Google Voice

A voice mail/phone number re-routing service? Sounds like another “cleaning” candidate to me…

Google Reader being shut down on July 1, 2013; my suggested alternatives

Mar 132013
 

google_logoEarlier today, Google announced that it’s shutting down Google Reader, its RSS newsfeed service that, while lacking “Web 2.0″ “social” flash, was still fairly used by plenty of people. Presumably, Google assumes people will flock to their Flipboard-like program Currents, if not Google+.

Although RSS lacks “social media,” it’s still a useful function. While Twitter and Facebook have their uses, I can’t hover over my Twitter feed all day, lest I miss some interesting news item that flashes by, buried admist a bunch of other random posts. I also don’t want to manually check every site I go to to see if something’s updated. RSS takes care of both of these needs—new items are automatically listed in an RSS feed, are waiting for me to read at my own leisure, and kept in an organized manner that won’t see news items buried among posts about cat videos/baby pictures/etc. However, since RSS isn’t as advertising lucrative for companies (and it has a slightly geeky tone versus Facebook/Twitter), I can see why it’s being killed by Google. Cue the obligatory “RSS Is Dead” headlines by some tech/mainstream news outlets…

At this point, of course, comes the “what does Anthony suggest to replace Google Reader?” portion of the post. In my case, I need something that works on both my Mac Mini (in OS X) and on my Android smartphone and tablet, so my previous suggestion of Liferea (for Linux) and other stand-alone newsreaders won’t suffice. From a brief online perusal, possible alternatives include:

  • NewsBlur: open source-based RSS service, with apps available for Android and iOS devices. A free level of service is offered, while an unlimited service level costs US$1/month.
  • Netvibes: I’ve suggested Netvibes in the past as a replacement for the also-shuttered iGoogle portal page. However, it’s a bit more complicated than the others, although it offers Android/iOS functionality.
  • Feedly: Feedly is a fairly popular service that offers iOS and Android apps. It displays feeds in a slightly fancier format than the above two services, but seems more toned-down than Flipboard/Currents.

The above services offer web browser access (Feedly requires a Chrome/Firefox plugin), but aren’t open to third-party RSS newsreaders like Google Reader’s service. Which would mean my copy of Reeder for OS X (among the myriad of third-party software tied into Reader) might go unused, though Reeder stated they plan on making their reader fully independent of Google Reader.

I’ll let you know what happens with my RSS situation in the future…

Anthony looks for a new prepaid smartphone

Mar 032013
 

LG Optimus V with a screen protectorAs the subject line states, I’m looking to once again upgrade to a better smartphone. But first, a look back over my history with smartphones:

  • Fall 2009: I bought my first-ever smartphone, a first-generation Palm Pre running WebOS. While things initially went well enough (despite wondering if going with WebOS over then-version-1.x-era Android was worth it), the phone eventually became a headache. Several months before the Sprint contract was up, I decided to just pay the $50 early termination fee and go with…
  • Summer 2011: …an LG Optimus V on Virgin Mobile. Advantages over the previous Pre were: Android being by that point a much more polished (and popular) operating system, and thus I didn’t have to root it to make it fully useful; the build quality was much better than the cheap plasticy Pre; and going prepaid with Virgin Mobile was much cheaper than being on a Sprint contract (even with Sprint offering a small discount because of my place of employment). The downsides were that the LG Optimus V was too low-end specs-wise, plus was stuck on Froyo.
  • Summer 2012: I decided to upgrade to the HTC One V, another Virgin Mobile phone. The One V, introduced as the low-end model in the HTC “One” line of phones, was better than the LG Optimus V—a bigger screen, better camera, and it came with Ice Cream Sandwich. The main downside is that it’s still very much a low-end phone—it feels sluggish/slow at doing various functions (blame the single-core processor).

And so, here I am, having decided to look for a newer smartphone. Only this time, I’m seeking something that’s fairly high quality off the bat, since I’ve decided being cheap on buying a phone isn’t such a great idea. However, I still want something prepaid, as I’ve determined it’d still be much cheaper than anything on contract, even with the higher cost of buying an unlocked or prepaid phone. I’m also looking to switch to T-Mobile, as they offer a prepaid plan for about what I pay now ($30/month), but with “unlimited” 4G (throttled after 5GB). While this prepaid plan has only 100 minutes of talk time a month (plus 10 cents/minute for anything over), I get very few phone calls, so it shouldn’t matter. The speed boost with T-Mobile’s 4G network over currently being on Virgin Mobile’s 3G service (via their parent company Sprint’s network) would also be nice. And if you’re wondering, I’ve checked: T-Mobile’s 4G service is available here in Milwaukee, but not Virgin Mobile’s 4G offerings.

As for phones, the main choices I’ve looked at so far are either the Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S II, or the Samsung Galaxy S III. While the Nexus 4 is the newest of the three, was nice to look at in person, and is fairly inexpensive, two things bother me about it: how long shipping times from Google are running, and the phone’s glass back. While I use a case for my phones, reading reports online about broken Nexus 4 backs has made me a bit wary.

The Galaxy S II (released in 2011) and III (released in 2012) are both quite popular models of smartphones. While the S III is the newer and higher-end model, of course, it’s also more expensive than the S II. Buying the prepaid S II would run about what the Nexus 4 runs, while the prepaid S III from T-Mobile is, well, quite expensive. Despite its age, however, the S II still seems to be sufficiently modern/popular. One big factor: Samsung plans to announce the Galaxy S IV at the end of next week (March 15). While the on-contract S II and III prices have dropped accordingly beforehand, there’s no indication if or when their prepaid counterparts will do the same (or when the S IV will even be available prepaid). Thus, I’m not sure if buying anything now is a good idea, or if I should wait to see what happens. A brief web search, however, suggests it took many months for the S III to turn up prepaid since it was first released.

Of course, I’ll report here on whatever I decide…

The best and worst of 2012 in technology

Jan 022013
 

Mac Mini (late 2012 version)Continuing down the 2012 “best and worst of” list, next comes technology…

Best

  • My article on KeePassX was published in the January 2012 issue of “Linux Journal” magazine.
  • NBC live streamed the Olympics, via using the default global Olympic feeds. (However, see “worst” below.)
  • I moved to a newer smartphone, the HTC One V.
  • I also moved to a new laptop, an HP model that resembles a MacBook Pro in appearance.
  • After years of being with the Ubuntu family, I switched to Linux Mint for my Linux purposes.
  • Apple’s usual new refreshments to its line of hardware and software, including the Mac Mini, speaking of which…
  • After years of being on Linux, I finally went back to the Mac in November, buying a Mac Mini.
  • I also purchased a Nexus 7 tablet, which I’ve found quite useful on trips to family over the holidays.
  • SOPA and PIPA were defeated, thanks in part to major online protesters of the issue (including Wikipedia). Said major online venues also forced mainstream media (whose corporate backers favored SOPA/PIPA) to actually mention SOPA/PIPA.

Worst

  • Google announced that iGoogle will be shut down in 2013. Never mind that unlike some of their other little-used services, this one actually still has a sizable user base. I’ve since switched to Google’s homepage as a default browser homepage, plus use several other sites to read newspaper comics.
  • NBC’s Olympics strategy, as usual, left much to be desired, though streaming it online is an improvement over previous years. However, requiring a cable subscription to use it (and not offering a for-pay option for those without cable) wasn’t a good thing. Their streaming service also wasn’t without problems.
  • Ubuntu announced they’d be developing their brand of Linux more privately. Their newest versions have also integrated Amazon.com results into the default search system. This on top of Ubuntu’s other changes in recent years (the infamous Unity in particular) has led many, including me, to seek other alternatives, such as Linux Mint.
  • Windows 8. Yeesh. I’ll stick with Linux/OS X thanks.

2012 saw plenty of positive elements for technology. despite the likes of SOPA/PIPA. Tablets have become even more widespread in 2012, with the Nexus 7 becoming a surprise hit (plus the usual iPads, Nooks, and Kindles). There was more growth in mobile devices and mobile Internet aspects, including the ever-popular smartphone and its apps. Even Flickr got some attention late in the year with the help of a well-received revamped iOS app (and due to Instagram making a few unpopular changes). 2013 should bring plenty of interesting new tech news, starting with next week’s CES convention.

The best and worst of 2012 in animation

Dec 312012
 

BraveNext on the “best and worst of 2012″ rundown is animation.

Best

  • Pixar’s “Brave” and Disney-proper’s “Wreck-It Ralph” were both enjoyable films. Oddly, “Brave” felt more like a Disney film, while “Ralph” felt like a Pixar one.
  • Seth MacFarlane’s take on “The Flintstones” is apparently dead in the water. Thank goodness. The last thing I need is to see the “modern Stone Age family” have pointless flashbacks once every 3.7 seconds, among other “Family Guy”-isms.
  • “Total Drama: Revenge of the Island” was amusing this season, albeit with a shorter run than normal. Favorite character: Sam, the video game geek. Don’t agree with the choice of the American-broadcast-version’s winner, Lightning, however.
  • You can now Google “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” using (among others) cartoon characters!
  • More DVD releases from the Warner Archive program, including the primetime “Flintstones” specials and (announced for 2013) the final volume of “Animaniacs.” Speaking of the latter show, it’s also now back on TV after being off the US airwaves for a decade, with The Hub (home of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic”) picking up reruns of the series as of late December.

Worst

  • “The Looney Tunes Show.” I’ve tried giving it a chance, but ultimately decided to bail. The Looney Tunes being shoved into boring sitcom plots more at home with “Seinfeld” (a show I never liked) and with zero slapstick, fourth-wall-breaking, unfunny jokes, etc. isn’t “Looney Tunes.”

For 2013, I look forward to the aforementioned “Animanaics” DVD set, plus the debut of the also-announced-this-year “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” cartoon on The Hub. I also plan to see “Monsters University,” the next Pixar movie (a prequel to “Monsters, Inc.”).

 

Merry Christmas, everyone (and new Nexus 7 owners)

Dec 252012
 

Google Nexus holidayHope anyone actually reading this is having a nice Christmas (if one celebrates said holiday) or a nice day off work (if one doesn’t celebrate said holiday). Thought I’d throw this post up to keep some new material coming while I’m celebrating the holiday with family…

To give those who might be receiving a new Nexus 7 today for a present, here’s a link to my initial reactions to the Nexus 7:

Anthony buys the Nexus 7 tablet

Also of interest might be a link to some holiday-themed Nexus wallpaper created by Google itself, posted to its Nexus Google+ group. (An example accompanies this post.) The wallpaper shows some of the same creativity behind their Google Doodles:

https://plus.google.com/+Nexus/posts/TdSWAiaPSTJ

 

Anthony buys the Nexus 7 tablet

Nov 022012
 
Nexus 7

Creative Commons licensed photo by Android Developers.

While I still plan on buying the aforementioned Mac Mini quite soon, I thought I’d also note that earlier this week, I purchased the Nexus 7 tablet. I’d been considering buying it for quite awhile, as I’d been wanting a replacement/upgrade from my Nook Color, and finally got around to it this week.

As various reviews online (and the clerk at Gamestop claiming he was “jealous”) have stated, the Nexus 7 is a very nice tablet, much moreso than most of its Android tablet brethren I’ve seen. Unlike the Nook Color, it’s not tied to a customized app store, and thus I have access to the regular Google Play app store.

There’s also some push of Google’s media “ecosystem” present as well. Several public domain ebooks are included, as well as a handful of randomly chosen songs and one free “copy” of the original “Ice Age” movie. I would’ve preferred the $25 Google Play credit they were offering up until the end of September, however, though the selection of media does show off nicely Google’s offerings.

Since I already have an Android phone, I installed on the Nexus some of the phone’s apps, including Twitter client Tweetdeck, security app Lookout, and note-taking app Evernote.

Comics look great, and both Comixology and DRM-free comic reader Perfect Viewer work well. Video files from my computer also play nicely. Ebooks also look good, with apps for Amazon’s Kindle store and Barnes and Noble’s Nook store available to install, thus providing access to the major online ebook stores.

The only downside I’ve found: for some reason, Google’s opted not to allow for USB mass storage (unlike most of my other non-iPod devices to date, including the above-mentioned smartphone). Instead, there’s only a choice of MTP access (the default) and PTP (a photo-transfer protocol). MTP, a Microsoft-deviced protocol, isn’t used as much these days by devices…or so I thought. Why Google made this ill-conceived choice is unclear: carelessness? Assuming everyone would have Windows? (Google did bother to include an OS X MTP file transfer app, at least. For my Linux laptop, I downloaded from Synaptic a similar program, gMTP.) Or some crude attempt at DRM? For whatever reason, this is the one flaw in an otherwise nice 7″ tablet.

 

RSS feed change for Anthony’s Notes

Sep 262012
 

As you may have heard, Google stated some time ago (but wasn’t publicized heavily until recently) that they’ll be deprecating the FeedBurner API on October 20. While the FeedBurner feeds should keep working as-is, the various widgets relying on such (including the one built into the theme for my site, Suffusion) are likely questionable or defunct. Still, in my opinion, this also casts doubt on the long-term future for FeedBurner itself.

Thus, I’ve decided to remove the FeedBurner feed for this site entirely, reverting back to the plain RSS feed. I’ve also swapped Suffusion’s sharing buttons widget for a different plugin (thus the change in the buttons’ appearance), since Suffusion’s widget doesn’t support a plain RSS feed. As usual, the RSS feeds for the site’s individual categories will also stay displayed. I’ll likely delete the FeedBurner feed at some point, as well.

I suppose it’s an indication that even as useful as Google is, there’s still room for alternative services (FeedBurner’s rivals are getting more attention lately), plus the downsides of relying on “the cloud” for everything. Case in point, of course, is Google’s previous announcement to shut down iGoogle, despite that service, as “dated” as a portal page is, still having a fair number of users (but not very profitable for Google, so…).

Six degrees of Kevin Bacon (from cartoons)

Sep 152012
 

Bacon Number for Bugs BunnyGoogle’s announced a time-killing new feature: if you type into a search box “bacon number” followed by an actor’s name, Google will display how many degrees away from Kevin Bacon they are (plus the path to get there).

Given my interests in cartoons, I thought it’d be fun to see what animation related figures (fictional or real-world) would show up. (Don’t worry live-action fans, I tried various “Star Trek” actors’ names, too…) Some of the results:

  • Bugs Bunny: 2 (via actor Brendan Fraser)
  • Walt Disney:  3 (Walt Disney > Clark Gable > Eli Wallach > Kevin Bacon)
  • Tress MacNeille: 2 (via actor John Lithgow)
  • Mel Blanc: 2 (via voice actor Jim Cummings)
  • Mickey Mouse: 0 (see comment below)
  • Dan Castellaneta: 2 (via actress Rose Byrne)
  • Frank Welker: 2 (again via John Lithgow)
  • Cree Summer: 2 (yep, John Lithgow)
  • James Avery: 0 (see comment below)
  • Maddie Blaustein: 3 (Maddie Blaustein > Andrew Rannells > Sarah Jessica Parker > Kevin Bacon)
  • Kevin Michael Richardson: 2 (via actor Benjamin Bratt)

Still, Google’s results may not be completely accurate, and might miss some connections. Google’s results aren’t drawn from IMDB (which would greatly improve results’ accuracy), but Google’s own analytics figures. Thus, while Bugs Bunny, amusingly, is included (via the movie “Looney Tunes: Back In Action” which also had Brendan Fraser), they missed Mickey Mouse (who was also in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” “alongside” Jim Cummings/Mel Blanc). Additionally, James Avery’s “bacon number” should be three: James Avery > Will Smith  (“Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) > Josh Brolin (“Men in Black 3″) > Kevin Bacon (“Hollow Man”).

To give it a go yourself, just go to Google’s search page…

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