Saturday, 31 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Completely Disable Talk Back Mode

Talk back mode is an option inside Samsung Galaxy SIII designed for vision-impaired or low vision people to make them more easier when using this phone. You can easily enable this option on your phone. Once this option is turned on, then the phone will give a spoken feedback for anything the user do with this phone.

See also: How to Enable Talk Back Mode on Samsung Galaxy S3

In other side of

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Enable Talk Back Mode

In the past articles, we all already have learned about some modes available in Samsung Galaxy SIII which will allow you to stay using this phone in certain conditions, such as driving mode that will facilitate you using the phone while you're driving.

See also: How to Enable or Disable Driving Mode on Samsung Galaxy S3

Another mode that you can find inside this phone is talk back mode.

Add side menus to an Windows Phone application (similar to the Facebook app)

     It is been a while since my last post, but I have a good reason (on the 20th of July - so tired that the first time I've mistaken the date by one month -  my son Mattia was born and between work and my duties and no sleep there is not much time left for writing on my blog even if I have a lot of posts that I want to do).  
     I will get right to the subject (the title is not one of the best chosen). A few days ago I was talking with my friend Alessandro Scardova about the possibility of implementing side menus inside an Windows Phone application (similar to the ones in the Facebook application). Even if not 100%"Modern UI" design it is a good approach for applications that have multiple options that need to be accessed quickly (also the approach can be applied cross-platform). So I took it as a challange and tried to implement it.
     My initial thought was that I might be able to implement it using an templated panorama or pivot, but after some tests I was not able to get the desired behaviour:


  • when we start the application we will have the selected ViewPort selected
  • swiping left or right we can open/close the side menus
  • also using the buttons on the upper left and on the right corners we can also close and open the side menus
  • the side menus have a width smaller than 480 this way, when opened, we can still see a part of main viewport (including the upper button)
  • when opening the menus the ApplicationBar is not visible
     The solution I have implemented (doesn't use MVVM pattern) it is more a proof of concept on how to implement the functionality. The approach is pretty simple. We have the whole view that we move inside a canvas using manipulations and animations. Initially I thought that I can use only  grid without the canvas and animate the margin of the grid but, as Windows Phone doesn't have ThicknessAnimation, my animations for opening and closing the menus were not very smooth. Also I've tried implementing the swipe behaviour using the Touch.FrameReported event but the results I got were not very good.

     So how does my implementation work:
  • I have a canvas/grid that has a width of 1320 and the height stretches to the whole available height that contains my whole view
  • The view is inserted in a canvas with initial Canvas.Left position set to -420 this way we see the main view port (component)
  • The "stable" positions inside the canvas are:  0: left menu opened, -420: main view and -840:right menu opened
  • When pressing the buttons we will use a resource Storyboard with a  DoubleAnimation to set the the Canvas.Left position inside the canvas to 0,-420 or -840:
  <Canvas.Resources>  
<Storyboard x:Name="moveAnimation">
<DoubleAnimation Duration="0:0:0.2" To="0" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Canvas.Left)" Storyboard.TargetName="LayoutRoot" d:IsOptimized="True" />
</Storyboard>
</Canvas.Resources>

Use the animation to open/close the menus:
  void MoveViewWindow(double left)  
{
_viewMoved = true;
if (left==-420)
ApplicationBar.IsVisible = true;
else
ApplicationBar.IsVisible = false;
((Storyboard)canvas.Resources["moveAnimation"]).SkipToFill();
((DoubleAnimation)((Storyboard)canvas.Resources["moveAnimation"]).Children[0]).To = left;
((Storyboard)canvas.Resources["moveAnimation"]).Begin();
}

  • To implement the swipe I use the ManipulationStarted, ManipulationDelta and ManipulationEnded on the canvas container. On delta we set the Canvas.Left value directly (no need for animations) between a maximum of 0 and a minimum of -840.
  private void canvas_ManipulationDelta(object sender, ManipulationDeltaEventArgs e)  
{
if (e.DeltaManipulation.Translation.X != 0)
Canvas.SetLeft(LayoutRoot, Math.Min(Math.Max(-840, Canvas.GetLeft(LayoutRoot) + e.DeltaManipulation.Translation.X), 0));
}

  • when swiping we also memorize the initial Canvas.Left position. If substracting the final Canvas.Left and the initial one the absolute value is lower then 100 (not a long swipe) we bounce back to the initial position. Otherwise we move to the next position.
  private void canvas_ManipulationCompleted(object sender, ManipulationCompletedEventArgs e)  
{
var left = Canvas.GetLeft(LayoutRoot);
if (_viewMoved)
return;
if (Math.Abs(initialPosition - left) < 100)
{
//bouncing back
MoveViewWindow(initialPosition);
return;
}
//change of state
if (initialPosition - left > 0)
{
//slide to the left
if (initialPosition > -420)
MoveViewWindow(-420);
else
MoveViewWindow(-840);
}
else
{
//slide to the right
if (initialPosition< -420)
MoveViewWindow(-420);
else
MoveViewWindow(0);
}
}


  • _viewMoved is used to see if the view was already moved by another event since our manipulation started (like a button was pressed)
   Here are some screenshots from the sample that you can download and play with:

   Hope you will find it useful.

Here is the SOURCE CODE

NAMASTE!

The Android ION Memory Manager

Lately there's been quite a bit of discussions about Android "ION". What exactly is ION? Is it just some fancy name or is there more to it?

Let's talk about some history of Android first.

Since the very beginning, vendors of Android devices like HTC, Samsung or Motorola all use different System on a Chip (SoC) solutions from Qualcomm (MSM/Snapdragon), Nvidia (Tegra) and TI (OMAP). Each SoC has its own kernel drivers for managing memory buffers (chunks of scratchpad memory) used by Graphic Processing Unit (GPU), Audio processing, and Camera Stills and Video processing.

Every vendor had their own version of memory management, such as PMEM for Qualcomm, NVMAP for Nvidia and CMEM for TI - private memory not shared with anyone else. Each Android graphics, audio and camera libraries had to be customized to work with each of the SoC's own flavour of memory management, which makes it a nightmare for the Android Maintainers to maintain the fragmentation and compatibility issues abound. However, this was the case for all pre-Ice Cream Sandwich OS like Froyo, Gingerbread or even Honeycomb.

For Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich), Google was finally fed up with the private memory manager structure and decreed that all newer devices with Android 4.0 native should use the new, so called "ION" memory manager.

So what is exactly the Android ION?

In a simple words, Android ION removes ARM specific dependencies. The ION memory manager provides a common structure for how memory will be managed and used by GPU, Audio and Camera drivers. Common functions are:

  • memory allocation / de-allocation
  • Direct Memory Access Pools
  • user-space (Android libraries) memory passing to/from kernel space

With these common functions and structures defined, kernel drivers from each SoC manufacturer needed to rewrite their drivers to be compatible with Ice Cream Sandwich. Once the drivers adopted to the new common structure, the graphics, audio and camera libraries can now be more generic and could care less about the nitty-gritty details of how different SoC vendors' drivers worked.

It was painful at first, but it was a necessary move for Google to impose to all the SoC vendors. Now looking back, this new ION manager enabled manufactures and third party Android projects (like Cyanogen-mod) to quickly bring up newer Android releases for various devices and also reduce the "hidden" Android fragmentation.

If you want to take a look at the code of the ION memory manager, please visit faux123 github - MSM ION

I hope you enjoyed my first Kernel GeekTalk series... more to come soon!

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use the media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) under this post!

Friday, 30 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Print Document or Photo to Any Type of Printer

If at the previous post has been said that you can print the document or picture directly through your Samsung Galaxy SIII to the Samsung printer that connected at the same Wi-Fi network without having to use another third-party application.

See also: How to Print Document or Photo from Samsung Galaxy S3 to the Samsung Printer via Wi-Fi

But, what if the printer you already have is not the

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Print Document or Photo to the Samsung printer Via Wi-Fi

Samsung Galaxy SIII has the feature called group cast which will facilitate you to share document in real time easily with another Samsung Android device with AllShare play capability. Make sure you already have a Samsung account and connected at the same Wi-Fi network to be able to use this option.

See also: How to Share Document or File Using Group Cast on Samsung Galaxy S3

In addition to

Thursday, 29 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to See Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Easter Egg Animation

The latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has brings some new features to the users. As the features that you can find on your Samsung Galaxy SIII that already have upgraded to this operating system. You can find from the 'real useful' features such as blocking mode up to the 'fun only' features such as Easter Eggs Animation. See also: How to See Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Easter Egg Animation on Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Show Desk Home Screen When Docked

Generally, may all of us know that you can show desk Home screen when the Samsung Galaxy SIII is placed in the dock. But, it turns out that you can show the desk Home screen without using the dock by utilizing desk clock option under clock apps. You can use this option while your phone is charged or placed in the third-party smartphone stand with a separate charger. See also: How to Show Desk

Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to See Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Easter Egg Animation

In addition comes with 'real useful' features, the Samsung Galaxy SIII also comes with some fun features, such as you can hear and see the ripple effect or drop water sound effect whenever you unlock the phone or touching the screen.

See also: How to Enable or Disable Ripple Effect on Samsung Galaxy S3

Another fun features that you can find after upgrading your phone to the latest Android 4.1

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Customize Power Saving Settings

To prevent your Samsung Galaxy SIII encountering poor battery life issue or quickly drained, then enabling power saving mode is one way to save a battery a little better.

See also: How to Enable or Disable Power Saving on Samsung Galaxy S3

Once you've enabled this option, then your phone will do some adjustments in order to consume less battery, such as by decreasing the brightness of the

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Enable or Disable Power Saving

Big screen and a bunch of features owned by Samsung Galaxy SIII sometimes end up you to face the problem with the poor battery life. Well, in order to prevent it and to prolong your battery life, there are some tips and tricks to do, such as altering your display's colour profile by using the different screen mode available to save a battery a little better.

See also: How to Change Screen Mode

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Use Calculator Application

Samsung Galaxy SIII has come with some pre-loaded applications which means you can directly use them without having to install them by yourself. One of pre-loaded apps available in this phone is video player apps which will allow you to play the video files.

See also: How to Use Video Player Application on Samsung Galaxy S3

Still with the pre-loaded apps, calculator apps is also one of them.

Monday, 26 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Show Desk Home Screen Without Using Dock

Samsung Galaxy SIII has come with a removable battery that will allow you to replace it with other when it's broken or start giving you some troubles.

See also: How to Insert and Remove Battery on Samsung Galaxy S3

In order to make your phone always ready for use, you should regularly charged the battery even it's not already completely flat. While you're charging the battery, there is an

Samsung Galaxy S3 How to Enable or Disable Auto-Punctuate


As we all know that the virtual keyboard on Samsung Galaxy SIII has equipped with some options, such as character preview to make your phone displays a big char bubble whenever you touch a key on the virtual keyboard.

See also: How to Enable or Disable Character Preview on Samsung Galaxy S3

Another options available on this keyboard is auto-punctuate. By enabling this option, you'll set the

Is the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 worth upgrading from the Note 2?


The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 transcends niche markets. With the original release of the Galaxy Note, Samsung released a device that didn't appeal to the mass consumer base. With it came insults about its size, with people going as far as to call it a "VCR". One year after its original release, the Note 2 was announced. With LeBron James as the face of the handset, its popularity rose to new heights. The phone that was once dubbed "too big" has now become the ideal device for many average consumers. With the Galaxy Note 3 nearing its release, we answer the question, is it worth upgrading from the Note 2 to the Note 3? Let's find out.

Display

Both devices sport a large, gorgeous display. The Note 2 operates on Samsung's trademark Super AMOLED technology, with a 5.5 inch 720 x 1280 screen, rendering 267 PPI (Pixels Per Inch). The quality is outstanding, with vibrant high contrast colour saturation. Since not all Super AMOLED displays are created equal, you may still end up with a blue or yellow tint. Eventually, your eyes will become accustomed to the screen given how stunning it truly is. The Galaxy Note 3 is set to be announced on September 4 in Berlin. The handset will sport a 5.7 inch 1080p Super AMOLED display. The U.S., U.K. and International versions may come with different screen technology. While the U.S.A. and United Kingdom will likely see the Super AMOLED version, other International markets will sport an LCD iteration. Regardless, both versions will have 1080p displays rendering upwards of 380 to 400 pixels per inch.

With both screens offering a comprehensive and enjoyable experience, you really can't go wrong with either. The question is, is it worth the upgrade? Going from 267 PPI to nearly 400 PPI is noticeable by any measure. If you compare the Note 2 with the Galaxy S4, which sports 441 PPI, you will notice a difference in clarity and sharpness. The same could be said for the Note 2 and upcoming Note 3. The 1080p resolution displays are the real deal and until you have owned one, you won't fully understand the benefits. On a 5.7 inch screen, the Note 3 will render text and images crystal clear. This isn't a knock on the Note 2, but in comparison, there is definite value to upgrade just on the screen quality alone.

Hardware and battery

In terms of hardware, both handsets provide thin frames without much bulk or weight. The Note 2 is 9.4 mm in thickness, while the Note 3 is rumoured to be somewhere in the range of the Galaxy S4, which is 7.9 mm respectively. Regardless, both are thin, and if you have ever held a Galaxy S4 in your hand, the device feels natural and extremely lightweight. If the Note 3 comes in metal casing, expect a better build quality over the all plastic Note 2. Both have removable back plates and batteries with micro-SD card slots. This is useful for accessories like flip covers.

If you're a power user, you also have the option of carrying around an extra battery. Though with batteries powered at over 3,100 mAh, you will rarely need to charge your device on a regular basis, no less replace the battery. This is where the Note 2 shines the most, as the battery life is considered phenomenal by any stretch. The Note 3 is rumoured to have a larger battery, though will be more power intensive with a high quality display. We expect similar battery lives on both devices, which if the Note 2 is any indication, isn't a bad thing.

Specification

The Note 2 is no slouch when it comes to specs. With a 1.6 GHz quad core Cortex A-9 Exynos 4412 CPU and Mali 400MP GPU with 2 GB of RAM, speed is rarely an issue. The Note 2 was actually one of the original quad-core handsets to be released in the US, and still out performs many phones to date. The Note 3 will also sport a quad-core processor, clocked at over 2 GHz with a Snapdragon 800 SoC and 3 GB of RAM memory, with rumours of a quad-core Exynos variation for International models. If we were to base these two phones on benchmark scores, the Note 3 would be the obvious winner.
Flashing custom ROM's and development are available in a wide variety of options for the Note 2. The Note 3 will likely see the same type of development. If you're nit picky about speed, then you will likely notice differences with the two handsets. In terms of multi tasking and other power intensive processes, the Note 3 will withstand anything you throw in its way. The Note 2 at times shows signs of slow down, which could be eradicated with custom ROM's. For the average consumer, the difference may be minimal, but for the tech savvy smartphone user, the Note 3's future proof specs reign supreme.


Software and development

On the software end, both handsets operate TouchWiz with the utilization of the S Pen. Some variants of the
Note 2 are still waiting for the 4.2.2 update, which is a shame, since its been out for over a year now. The software is very similar to the Galaxy S3's version of TouchWiz except with optimization of the stylus. With it, you have the ability to operate features like air gestures, memo pad, among other things. The Note 3 will likely come with Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 out of the box with the option to upgrade to 4.3. You will receive similar features found on the Galaxy S4 such as air view, air scrolling, smart scrolling, and other S Pen functionality. We are interested to see what Samsung has up their sleeve for the Note 3's S Pen optimization.

Most stock ROM's for the Note 2 do not include use of the S Pen. There are however a few exceptions, as you can research specific stock ROM's which do utilize the stylus. Samsung will likely demonstrate their next generation S Pen when announcing the Note 3. How it will operate with the system is yet to be determined, but we would venture to think it isn't all that different from the Note 2, which offers a great experience.

The Note 2 has seen an extraordinary amount of solid development in relation to ROM's, kernel's and more. Most of the builds and tweaks available for the handset are stable. With the imminent popularity of the Note 3, developers will line up to build solid ROM's, kernel's and other development for an even more comprehensive experience. The Note 3 will have more available features out of the box, and developers will take full advantage when optimizing fresh and unique builds. The ideas will flow and the growing community will continue to flourish.

Camera

The rear camera on the Note 2 is an 8 MP shooter with a 1.9 MP front facing cam. The Note 3 will likely sport a 13 MP rear camera with OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) with a 2.1 MP front facing camera. The Note 2 was an evolution of the Galaxy S3, with similar camera technology. The Note 3 is naturally an evolution of the Galaxy S4, which comes loaded with a 13 mega-pixel camera. Comparing them is no easy task, as they both provide solid experiences for all of your photography needs. On the camera software end, the Note 3 will be similar to the S4's offering, with dual picture and video recording and an array of features. With a higher resolution display and higher mega-pixel count, the Note 3 is clearly the winner in the camera department. If your smartphone camera is important to you and is used for your day to day photo taking needs, the difference may well in fact be worth the upgrade.

Availability and pricing

Samsung has saturated the market with their Galaxy line of handsets. The Note 2 is no exception, available for Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile in the US. The resale value of the Note 2 remains high, upwards of $480 in many cases. On contract however, you will still fork over anywhere between $99 to $199 depending on the model and retailer you purchase from. When originally released, the Note 2 was upwards of $299 on contract, and we expect the Note 3 to run about the same in pricing. T-Mobile offers their off contract pricing, which will likely see prices upwards of $199 down and $20 a month for 24 months on finance.

The Note 3 will likely be available on all carriers in different variants by the end of September or as late as early October. Because it will be available on nearly every major carrier, it gets the edge in availability. In terms of pricing, the Note 2 will be fire sold by the time the Note 3 is released. It will be a great buy for those looking to save money and believe the Note 2 offers enough bang for their buck.

The UK will likely receive the Note 3 before the US, as this has been the trend with Samsung handsets for a few years. The Note 1 was released internationally six months before it hit the states. The Note 2 saw similar release trends and the Note 3 will likely follow.

Is it worth the upgrade?

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 changed the way we utilize our smartphone. With a 5.5 inch display, other handsets feel too small in comparison. Those who own the Note 2 swear by it, and they have valid reasoning. The Note 3 will be no exception, it will sell in record numbers and provide an even greater foothold for the South Korean giant. So is it worth upgrading if you currently own a Galaxy Note 2? If you must have the latest and greatest with guaranteed future proof specs and better hardware, it is absolutely worth upgrading. If you are the average user who is content with your current offering, than maybe you are better off waiting. In either case, both phones provide a comprehensive and unique experience to the end user. As long as Samsung continues building on that success, everyone will remain content with their purchase.

Check out more no nonsense tech at Technibility.com!

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use the media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) under this post!

Sunday, 25 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Customize Video Player Settings

You can watching your favourite videos directly through your Samsung Galaxy SIII by using the stock video player application available inside this phone. You can also utilizing some options available while you're watching the video, such as rewind, pause, stop, etc.

See also: How to Use Video Player Applications on Samsung Galaxy S3

As another apps, you can also customizing this apps through

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Use Video Player Applications

You can use Samsung Galaxy SIII not only to make a call or text a message, but also you can use this phone to play a music as you can do with another music player. Moreover, this phone also comes with the stock music player that you can use to listen to the music whenever you want.

See also: How to Use Music Player on Samsung Galaxy S3

In addition to listen to the music using music player apps,

Saturday, 24 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Show Dual Clock of Different Cities on Home Screen

While you customizing your Samsung Galaxy SIII lock screen, then you can find an option which will allow you to show dual clock when you're on abroad. This of course will helps you to know the time on your Home and your current location.

See also: How to Enable or Disable Dual Clock on Samsung Galaxy S3 Lock Screen

As in the lock screen, you can also displaying dual clock on your Home screen

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Add and View Bookmarks

Samsung Galaxy SIII comes with Internet application as one of its pre-installed apps. You can use this apps to browse the web you like. Even you can use this apps to offline reading means while you're connected with the Internet you can saved the required website then read them later without having to use Internet connection.

See also: How to Offline Reading on Samsung Galaxy S3

This apps also

Friday, 23 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Enable or Disable Character Preview

The virtual keyboard in Samsung Galaxy SIII will make you more easier when you want to type a message or email. This keyboard also has some options to facilitate your typing activity, such as auto capitalization. This option will help you to type properly by automatically capitalize the first letter of the sentence.

See also: How to Enable or Disable Auto Capitalization on Samsung Galaxy S3

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Select Favourite Location as Destination in Navigation Applications

If you used to find certain location using maps application in Samsung Galaxy SIII and have some location you loved to visit, then it will be much easier for you to access them if you set them as favourite location.

See also: How to Save Favourite Destination on Samsung Galaxy S3

Later, you can accessing all the favourite location you already saved on maps through navigation apps. This of

Thursday, 22 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Go to Destination Using Navigation Applications

Once you've configured location services on your Samsung Galaxy SIII, now your information location will be available for another function in this phone, such as for navigation. You can utilizing Google maps apps inside this phone to find certain location or to plan route to certain location.

See also: How to Plan Route in Google Maps Using Samsung Galaxy S3

Another apps that also has

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Plan Route to Destination in Google Maps

Google Maps application is one of the apps that has navigation function that you can find inside Samsung Galaxy SIII. You can utilize this apps to find certain location once you've enabled the location services on your phone.

See also: How to Change Location Services in Samsung Galaxy S3

In addition to find certain location, you can also utilizing this apps to plan route to certain location. By

Wednesday, 21 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Save Favourite Destination in Google Maps

Google maps is one of pre-installed apps that you can find inside Samsung Galaxy SIII. You can utilize this apps as navigation tool which will enable to help you to find certain location.

See also: How to Find Destination Using Google Maps on Samsung Galaxy S3

If you used to find several location using this apps, there is an option which will allow you to save these destination information to

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Find Destination in Google Maps

One of the way that you can do to allow your phone knowing your current location is by setting the location services on your Samsung Galaxy SIII. There are four methods available that can be used by your phone to determine your location data.

See also: How to Change Location Services on Samsung Galaxy S3

Once you've finished setting your location services on your phone, now your location

Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Show or Hide Weather Information on Lock Screen

In order to make your phone knowing your current locations, then the first thing to do is by setting the location services. There are four options available under location services menu that you can choose which best suit you.

See also: How to Change Location Services on Samsung Galaxy S3

Once you've finished setting the location services, now your location information will be available for

Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Enable or Disable Negative Colours

Some options inside Samsung Galaxy SIII are designed to make the user feels comfort using this phone, such as an option that you can find in the stock browser application called inverted rendering which will allow you to reverse the color of the web page to make it easier on your eyes and help you save more battery.

See also: How to Enable or Disable Browser Inverted Color Mode on Samsung Galaxy

HTC One review - part 2: Hardware


Here is the second part of the HTC One review. If you haven't read the first part yet, you can find it here - HTC One review - part 1. Design. This time we will review what lurks under the hood of the HTC One, and help you to decide if this is your chosen top end phone of 2013.
    Overview

    The HTC One is considered by many to be the Android flagship phone of 2013, and has topped the PhoneDog Smartphone Rankings weekly since March 31st. This not only makes it one of the most successful HTC phones of all time, it also means it has been at the #1 spot for longer than even the immensely popular Apple iPhone 5.

    The success of the HTC One can be credited to the major hardware changes and UI overhaul following the criticism received from One X users. Blighted by build quality issues, the HTC One X launch wasn't the revolutionary moment HTC required to stay on top of their finances and 2012 can be considered the year that HTC fell from grace, edging behind Samsung and Apple in sales. Despite this, the HTC One X was by no means a bad device and still has many devoted users. In fact, it recently received the 4.xx.xxx.x software update (a rare feat among HTC phones) that was pushed via OTA and includes Sense 5.0 (more details here).


    Image source: www.beatsbydre.com
    The HTC One needed to be something special. With profits slipping and their partnership with Beats Audio hanging in the balance, HTC put their team to work. They had one goal in mind: to exceed the build quality of the Samsung Galaxy S4, while maintaining the trademark HTC style of rounded corners and a prominent camera lens.

    On February 19th, as rays of sun began to pierce through the cloud which threatened to engulf the capital, the HTC One was officially launched in London. The album from this launch event can be found here.

    As Peter Chou demonstrated the new features of the device to polite rounds of applause, doubt began to creep through the brains of critics. How could a flagship phone not include a removable battery, or micro SD-card slot? (On a side note, these two main arguments against the HTC One were discussed here "Virtual SD card on Android" and here "Removable battery - do we really need it?"). Also of note was the meagre 4 megapixel camera; with unproven UltraPixel technology, HTC had entered uncharted waters. Indeed, reading through the comments of a blog feed on launch day, it seemed people had instantly passed the HTC One off as a failure, and Samsung fans rejoiced at the imminent demise of HTC.

    How wrong they were. The HTC One really does need to be seen to be admired. It is a real beauty of engineering, with a sleek aluminium casing exceeding even the quality of the iPhone 5, with a superior hardness rating. The unibody polycarbonate body of the HTC One X is a thing of the past, with each individual One casing taking 200 minutes to manufacture.

    The result is a masterpiece - the chamfered edges add another layer of style and the polycarbonate highlights (used for the phones cellular radio) break the monotony of the aluminium and provide a great contrast.

    Camera

    Image source: www.htc.com/www/zoe/
    The large UltraPixel lens is centred like on the One X, however it doesn't extrude which should result in less scratches to the protective glass. A single LED flash is located to the left of this. The camera features a 4 megapixel BSI sensor with 2µm pixels, which are extremely large, and allow for great low light photography. The pixels are capable of gathering 330% more light than typical phone lenses such as the Galaxy S4. The actual lens is a 28mm f/2.0 autofocus, and features Optical Image Stabilisation. This ensures that videos and photos don’t blur while moving. Photos are processed with the HTC ImageChip 2. This allows features such as 60FPS video capture and HDR video. Overall, the camera quality is great and allows for stunning low light shots, matched only by the latest phones in the Nokia Lumia range. A wide-angle 2 megapixel front facing camera is nestled in the top right of the device.

    Sound

    The main feature of the HTC One cannot be directly seen. The two aluminium strips on the top and bottom of the device house the stereo BoomSound speakers, and feature a unique machined hole pattern. Dual amplifiers mean that the sound output is extremely loud, and the clarity and bass are both exceptional. When compared to the output from the Galaxy S4 or iPhone 5, the difference in quality is night and day. No phone to date can match the HTC One for sound quality. Playing for example racing games on HTC One is a really great experience. Stereo system is just amazing.
    Image source: www.corninggorillaglass.com
    Screen

    The front of the phone is no less sophisticated. The black bezel around the 4.7 inch 1080p (468 ppi) SuperLCD 3 screen is invisible with the screen off, which results in a great edge-to-edge effect. The screen itself has fantastic viewing angles and great colour accuracy, as well has being the highest display resolution on a mobile phone. While the screen is excellent, the brightness and colour vibrancy are still not as good as the iPhone retina display, and the black levels and saturation are behind the Samsung AMOLED displays, although those tend to have a bad blue/green tint. To protect the screen surface HTC decided to use Gorilla Glass 2, however it was probably possible to use newer Gorilla Glass 3 instead.

    Few words about the design

    The sides of the HTC One consist of injection moulded polycarbonate, which joins the aluminium panel to the front and maintains the zero-gap promise. The plastic has a soft touch feel, and helps to make the phone to feel even better in the hand. On the right hand side is the volume rocker, which is made of metal and has a nice spiral effect. The rocker is flush with the sides and has a solid click, although it can be difficult to find in a dark room as it doesn't protrude out.

    On the left is the SIM card slot, which requires the SIM removal tool. Using a pin may fail, but paper-clip should do the trick). This could be a problem for people who may need to swap SIMs on the go, as you will need to carry around the SIM removal tool.

    USB / IR

    Up top is the IR power button and the headphone jack. The power button protrudes slightly and clicks well. This means it is easy to find. The IR capabilities are fantastic. It's hard to find a TV which isn't supported, and the inbuilt app has great functionality, including a TV guide. Any case which covers the power button will stop IR working, so bear this in mind when choosing your case. The headphone jack is just the standard 3.5mm.

    Finally, on the base of the phone is the MicroUSB 2 slot for charging and data transfer. This is standard on most, if not all, Android phones. The HTC One uses MTP, which can be slower than USBMS, but supports everything just fine and most users will not notice a difference. The phone tends to charge in around 2-3 hours with the 4.2.2 update. This can be considered quite slow when compared to the iPhone, but it has a much larger battery to charge. The phone features a 2300 mAh battery, which can easily last a day of heavy use. The average screen on time tends to rest around the 4 to 5 hours mark, which is fine for most users, but cannot match the Galaxy Note series, which are known for their large battery capacities.

    System On a Chip

    The processor inside the HTC One is a new Snapdragon 600 by Qualcomm. This is a change from the NVIDIA Tegra 3 found in the One X, and is a quad-core ARM based chip clocked at 1.7GHz. This is the exact chip used in the Galaxy S4, but clocked 200 MHz lower to increase battery life. When HTC One was released, we already knew that Snapdragon 600 wasn't the highest model of the new SoC's family by Qualcomm. It's Snapdragon 800 being the top unit, and it seems to be the only member of new family based on new Krait 400 ARM-based CPU. Is Snapdragon 800 just a higher version of Snapdragon 600? No, it's completely different unit. It has nothing to do with S200, S400 or S600. While Snapdragon 600 is more like upgraded Snapdragon S4 Pro, the 800 is a true successor of S4 Pro. Snapdragon 600 model number is APQ8064T and Snapdragon S4 Pro (presented in 2012) model number is APQ8064. As you can see, "T" is the only difference. However, there are not much differences in the overall specification as well. Both units (S4 Pro and 600) have the same Adreno 320 GPU and Krait 300 CPU.
    Picture source: www.qualcomm.com/snapdragon

    However, S600 seems to have enough power to supply, because the speed and fluidity of the HTC One is something to be admired. Every system app can be launched in under 2 seconds, and the overall experience feels very snappy. In fact, the phone feels faster than Galaxy S4, which experiences many micro lags caused by its TouchWiz custom UI. The HTC One doesn't seem to lag at all. The only instance is caused by Android: poor scrolling in some apps. This can be because of two factors: Android has poor scrolling as a whole, or because GPU Rendering isn't enabled in the app. This can be force enabled under Development Settings, and can really help scrolling in unsupported apps such as Facebook as it means that the GPU is handling the rendering instead the CPU. The voltages of the processor depend on the CPU binning of the chip. Out of a max of 7, mine is 3. This means that it is around average. A higher number should mean better battery life as the voltages supplied to the CPU are lowered. 

    With the new Snapdragon 800 processors due to be included in phones starting September, the 600 will soon be minorly outdated, but it is still an excellent choice. Bundled with this is the Adreno 320 GPU. This is one of the best GPUs currently available, and beats the PowerVR SGX 544MP3 found in the Galaxy S4. The iPhone 5 also uses a PowerVR, and due to it’s smaller screen size and resolution, this phone will generally play games smoother than on the HTC One, however at the cost of screen size.

    Connectivity

    One of the main issues which HTC had to tackle during the designing process of the HTC One was a how to ensure the device wan't susceptible to capacitive detuning, where the human hand would stop the radio form functioning correctly. An example of this was the grip of death experienced by the iPhone 4. HTC solved this issue in a unique and clever way: the antennas tune themselves actively in order to ensure the best Standing Wave Ratio and to match impedance during the presence of a hand or case. HTC introduced a new antenna feeding structure to ensure that attenuation doesn't affect the overall antenna performance regardless of how the HTC One is held in the hand. This active antenna tuning is a first for 2013. The actual antennas HTC uses are the metal strips at the top and bottom of the device.

    The HTC One includes NFC, which allows wireless file transfer with other NFC enabled phones. There is a loop antenna below the aluminium near to the UltraPixel camera, which allows NFC to function. Despite having NFC support, the device lacks wireless charging. This is likely due to the fact that having the full metal phone means that it would not charge correctly.

    GNSS support on the HTC One means that the phone can always find your location, and is excellent for in-car navigation. The phone supports both GPS and GLONASS, which means that it can lock onto satellites extremely quickly, and can track your location to the nearest 4 meters.

    Wi-Fi is where the HTC One really excels, due to being the first smartphone on the market to support the next generation Wi-Fi - 802.11ac. This means that it supports 80MHz channels and a higher maximum PHY rate of 433 Mbps. The support comes from the new Broadcom BCM4335 chip, which also supports Bluetooth 4.0 and FM Radio. The Galaxy S4 only features the BCM4329. This new chip could potentially increase battery life due to a shorter duty cycle for the same throughput amount. The chip also has better range.

    Picture source: www.anandtech.com

    RAM / ROM memory

    The HTC One comes with 2GB of LPDDR2 RAM. This is a boost from the 1GB found in the One X. Applications can cache more with a greater amount of RAM, and this can improve both scrolling and multitasking. The multitasking screen on the One has room for 8 app previews, and you can be pretty safe in saying that at least 6 of these will still be cached and ready to jump straight back into. Android handles multitasking differently to on iOS, and allows things to really run in the background. This means that downloads can continue if the app is closed, and that a YouTube video can continue to play if you leave the browser. One negative point of the RAM is that it is still using LPDDR2, while the Galaxy S4 is using the newer LPDDR3 RAM. This offers more memory bandwidth, and means that the RAM is faster at caching and loading from cache. This means a slicker multitasking experience. Despite this, the Galaxy S4 doesn't show much of an advantage in real world use.

    The HTC One is available in two storage variants - 32GB and 64GB. There are some users saying even 64GB is not enough, but for most average users 32GB is more then they need. Keep in mind that neither HTC One or any other Android device was not created to be media storage. For that purpose we recommend buying mini-PC with at least 1TB HDD drive.

    Modem variants

    There are a few HTC One models available currently on the market. The main difference between them is the modem version and their capabilities to run under particular network frequencies. For more information on this matter please visit this thread - HTC One variants.



    Conclusion

    In conclusion, the HTC One has proven itself to be top of the Android class, and thoroughly deserves its extended period as PhoneDog #1 smartphone. The build quality is second to none, and the overall specs definitely don't fall short. On paper, the phone is a beast, but in the hand it's more of a beauty. 


    Hardware Summary:

    + High-end Snapdragon 600 SoC
    + 2GB of RAM memory
    + Impressive camera capabilities with HTC Zoe feature
    + IR (infra-red spectroscopy)
    + BoomSound stereo speakers
    + 2300 mAh battery
    + Excellent full HD SLCD3 screen with 468PPI
    + Next generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi modem
    + GNSS support
    + Effective cooling system with aluminium unibody

    - No LPDDR3 RAM memory
    - No Gorilla Glass 3
    - Only two capacitive buttons instead of three
    - Under-clocked CPU (from 1.9 to 1.7 GHz)


    Here are the official specifications of the HTC One:
    • 4.7-inch Full HD 1080p SLCD3 @ 468PPI
    • Gorilla Glass 2.0
    • 1.7 GHz Quad Core Snapdragon 600 (Krait 300 core)
    • 2GB LPDDR2 memory
    • 32GB/64GB internal storage (without SD-card slot)
    • Full Aluminium Unibody
    • MicroSIM card 
    • 2300 mAh Li-Polymer Embedded battery (non replaceable)
    • Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX enabled
    • NFC Capable
    • Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS
    • Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 a/ac/b/g/n
    • Infrared Remote Support
    • Micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) port with mobile high-definition video link (MHL) for USB or HDMI connection
    Camera:
    • HTC UltraPixel Camera (4MP)
    • BSI sensor, Pixel size 2.0 µm, Sensor size 1/3'
    • Dedicated HTC ImageChip™ 2
    • F2.0 aperture and 28 mm lens
    • Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)
    • Smart Flash: Five levels of flash automatically set by distance to subject
    • Front Camera: 2.1 MP, 880 wide angle lens with HDR capability
    • 1080p Full HD video recording for both front and back cameras
    • HDR Video
    Sound:
    • Dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers (HTC BoomSound™)
    • Studio-quality sound with Beats Audio™
    • HDR Microphone
    Network:
    • HSPA/WCDMA:
    • Europe/Asia: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
    • GSM/GPRS/EDGE:
    • 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
    • LTE: (optional)
    • EU: 800/1800/2600 MHz
    • US (AT&T): 700/850/AWS/1900 MHz
    • US (TMO): 700/AWS MHz
    • US (Sprint): 1900 MHz
    • Asia: 1800/2600 Mhz

    Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use the media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) under this post!

    Monday, 19 August 2013

    Stock system dumps for HTC One & HTC One X


    Last two days were very exciting for HTC community, especially for HTC One X users (Android 4.2.2 with HTC Sense 5.0 update described here). However, there is always one problem when it comes to HTC updates - no RUUs (ROM Update Utility) officially available do download for regular users (HTC One Developer Edition and Google Edition seems to be the only exceptions). Why RUU is that important to us?

    These executable (.exe) files for MS Windows are installers of complete firmware, including for example system or data partitions. Not having latest RUU means:
    1. users using custom ROMs can't download latest OTA from HTC,
    2. developers have no system dumps they can work with.
    Ad. 1) If you want to download and flash latest OTA, your device must have completely stock system partition and recovery. Every OTA update is checking MD5 of each file on system partition to ensure .apk patch can be applied. If even one of 1000 files won't match, OTA update installation will fail. In this case you need to flash the latest official update you can find (even one year old) and later download official OTA updates.

    Ad. 2) There are few workarounds, however none of them is as good as having a RUU:
    • adb pull /system in custom recovery mode*
    • cp /system /data/media/dump in custom recovery mode*
    • nandroid backup
    • boot partition can be taken from inside firmware.zip inside OTA .zip package or it can be dumped using dd if=</path/to/boot/partition> of=/data/media/boot.img
    * adb pull, cp or dd commands must be executed from custom recovery mode, otherwise system dump will be missing few important files or these files will have 0kb size. Also, keep in mind that adb features are heavily limited on stock un-rooted device. In case of dd command, root access (su) is needed to make such operation.

    That's why I created my own stock system dumps (as a custom recovery .zip packages) for both HTC One and HTC One X. I believe this can save a lot of time for many XDA users and developers.



    Download links can be found on this blog, under Downloads section - Downloads


    Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) down this post!

    Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Enable or Disable Mono Audio

    Listen to the music is one of the fun thing to do with the Samsung Galaxy SIII. Moreover this phone has a music player as its pre-loaded application so you can directly use this applications without having to install it first.

    See also: How to Use Music Player on Samsung Galaxy S3

    While you're on music player apps, there is an option which will allow you to listen to the music using headphone.

    Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Change Location Services

    When you activate your Google account on your Samsung Galaxy SIII, in one of the steps you will be prompted to activate location and Google search to allow Google improving search result and other services using your location data.

    See also: How to Activate Google Account on Samsung Galaxy S3

    In addition to the location and Google search, there are some option available on this phone that you

    HTC One X with Android 4.2.2 & HTC Sense 5.0 update

    HTC One X is one of the very few (if not the only one) devices from HTC which reached 4.xx.xxx.x software version (4.18.491.2). This only proves how great this device still is and how many users are still actively using it. Today HTC One X users are receiving one of the most important update - Android 4.2.2 with HTC Sense 5.0. Last summer HTC did similar update, upgrading HTC One X with Android 4.1.1 from Android 4.0.4 and bumping HTC Sense from 4.0 to so called "4+". However, HTC Sense 4.0/4+ update wasn't that significant and didn't bring so many new features and improvements as HTC Sense 5.0.






    The new update includes well known HTC BlinkFeed™ (available firstly only on HTC One), native Android Quick Settings and completely re-designed HTC Sense interface. Two features are missing from HTC One - HTC BoomSound™ and HTC Zoe™. Unfortunately, both are hardware related. BoomSound™ obviously needs dual speakers audio system, and HTC Zoe™ was created to work with small pictures taken with UltraPixel camera - which allows user to take excellent pictures in natural conditions using only 4 mega pixels resolution in pair with dedicated HTC ImageChip™ 2.








    As you can see, there is a changelog attached to the OTA notification, however it is just a "commercial" changelog - that means there are a lot of different changes/improvements under the hood. Android 4.2.2 update brought a lot of changes itself, not to mention new HTC Sense 5.0 features, further optimization in SoC drivers and kernel related improvements.


    The new update for HTC One X looks great and surely will bring some fresh air to the device. HTC One X+ already received HTC Sense 5.0 update few days ago, however it was only Taiwanese update so far. Below you can see HTC BlinkFeed screen together with Android Quick Settings on latest HTC One X 4.18.401.2 software.



    Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) down this post!