Sunday, April 15, 2012

Update - 190



Posted: 11 Mar 2012 04:34 PM PDT
We recently got our hands on a review unit of the Samsung Rugby Smart, a smartphone designed for rough conditions. We immediately filmed an unboxing video and initial review but I figured I would spend a little more time with the phone to complete a proper review. While I intend to put it through the ringer, testing its dust/water/shock proof abilities, I will also be reviewing it’s ability to be a worthy daily driver. It seems that lately we have been focusing a lot of attention on high-end devices and the Rugby Smart is a nice departure from that norm. My initial instincts are that this is a device for those who don’t need the best specs and who are looking for an Android phone that won’t break the bank, or is easily broken for that matter. I spent almost a week using the phone and over the next few sections of this review I will break down its performance, durability and usability. The good and the bad..
The Rugby Smart is Samsung’s newest smartphone and is currently being offered through AT&T for $99 on contract. The phone is touted as a device capable of the toughest environments and has a mil-spec rating of MIL-STD-810f. Not only is the device capable of withstanding dust, water, and shock, it can also endure through climates ranging from sub-zero Antarctic winters to the hottest of Arizona summers. It can even withstand 30 minutes under 1 meter (3.3 feet) of water (see video below). With a sealed body and it’s rubberized accents, the Rugby smart isn’t going to be the tech-guru’s cup of tea, rather one for those who lead an active lifestyle or who work in relatively harsh conditions.
Design
The design of the Rugby Smart is pretty similar to the other rugged handsets you can find on the market and you can tell the device is solid just by holding it in your hand. It has rubberized edges that not only allow for awesome grip, it will protect the device from drops and/or shock. One thing I like about this rugged phone is that it’s not embellished with a bunch of protruding rubberized accents and it maintains the appearance of a regular (smaller) smartphone. Like most smartphones, the display is recessed a bit to protect it from unwanted scratches and the back has four little feet to help to avoid scratching the battery door. There really isn’t much going on design wise with the Rugby Smart – it doesn’t have any outlandish or snazzy cosmetics or features, but this is by far the best looking all-weather handset available in my opinion.
Hardware
The thick plastic battery door is held on with a latch that requires a coin or something similar to remove it. The door also has a plastic ridge that surrounds the battery profile that locks into a rubber groove when closed, sealing the battery from moisture. When the battery door is securely locked in place, it shouldn’t have any problems keeping all elements from entering inside the phone. Not only is the battery and inner working of the device protected, all open ports are sealed by a rubberized flap as well. The micro USB and audio jack are sealed so tight with these flaps that I found it hard to open them when I actually needed to. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or bad. The micro USB is located on the bottom edge of the phone and the audio jack is on the top.
Although an affordable device, the 3.7-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen looks pretty amazing, which is also partially because of its 252ppi. You can view the screen very easily at all angles and it’s even super bright when outdoors in sunlight. The screen is a huge plus in my book, it may be small but it is of super nice quality. You outdoorsy types will love its ability to been seen well in the sun and the phone is super pocketable given its dimensions which are 122.4 x 65.9 x 12.2mm, and weighs in at 119 grams.
Below the screen you will find the typical Samsung 4 button layout, but unlike the Galaxy line of phones these are physical buttons. Because they are actual moving parts, Samsung even rubberized these to prevent liquid or sand from damaging the phone. This make plenty of sense especially because capacitive buttons don’t work very well when they get any form of moisture on them. This moisture problem can be noticed on the screen when trying to swipe around homescreens fresh after a dunk in water. The power and volume buttons are found in the usual Samsung places as well. Power is on the upper most right edge and is flanked on the opposite edge by the volume rocker. Just like the rest of the build quality of the Rugby Smart, the buttons are also rubberized and protected from the elements.
Rugby featured Rugby back Rugby inside Rugby top Rugby Smart bottom Rugby power
Battery
As I mentioned earlier the battery is held in place by a super watertight seal, and when in place, covers up the SIM card (no hot-swapping). The capacity of the battery is 1650mAH and survived a full day of moderate use on a full charge with nearly 25% remaining. When I say full day, you can expect to get about 12-16 hours with moderate web browsing, texting, phone calls and a few pictures and video. Anything beyond that and you are going to peeter out around 8-11 hours. The super AMOLED screen is mostly to blame for this so if you can afford to turn down the brightness you could potentially extend the battery life greatly. If it’s only phone calls your worried about, the Rugby Smart can get on average 7 hours of continuous talk time in comparison to its 5 hours of continuous web browsing. If you are a heavy user, you may want to invest in a spare battery or one of those portable charging get-ups. As far as standby time goes, AT&T claims the phone can remain on standby for up to two weeks.
Performance
Although the Rugby Smart may not have the most up to date chipset, it keeps up damn well with the functions it is intended on doing. The little 1400 MHz single-core chip was surprisingly speedy and I didn’t notice any lag when swiping between homescreens and opening apps was snappy as well. I realize benchmarking apps are more for show (as long as your device ranks near the top :-) ), but for you firm believers in test results, I figured I’d give AnTuTu a visit.  While the phone doesn’t rate up there with the Galaxy Nexus or the Transformer Prime, it does provide a solid user experience. The way in which I chose to rate a device’s performance.
What really sets this device apart from the rest is it’s military specification rating. As I mentioned earlier it is rated MIL-STD-810f, in which Wikipedia describes like this:
The military standard MIL-STD-810 test series addresses a broad range of environmental conditions that include: low pressure for altitude testing; exposure to high and low temperatures plus temperature shock (both operating and in storage); rain (including wind blown and freezing rain); humidity, fungus, salt fog for rust testing; sand and dust exposure; explosive atmosphere; leakage; acceleration; shock and transport shock (i.e., triangle/sine/square wave shocks); gunfire vibration; and random vibration.
I mean how cool is it to know that your smartphone can survive all that? Just the though of submitting any other smartphone to those conditions makes me cringe a little. This is most definitely the phone’s strongest selling feature and reason enough for many to consider taking the plunge (pun intended).
Water resistance test
Click here to view the embedded video.
Software
The Rugby Smart comes out of the box rocking Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread and of course there is Samsung’s Touchwiz UI overlay as well. If you have ever experienced using a Samsung smartphone before, then you basically know what there is to be expected. You get the normal array of Android and Samsung widgets, with the option to customize up to 7 homescreens. One neat thing about this device unlike other Samsung phones is the lockscreen. Upon power-on you are presented with the usual slide-to-unlock lockscreen but if you also have the ability to slide to waiting notifications if there are any available. If you have a text message for example and you power on the device, you can slide to the red notification bubble and enter directly into the waiting message within the messaging app. No more navigating to the notification panel after unlocking. Speaking of notification panel, it and the power widgets have received a slight cosmetic makeover from previous build of Samsung’s Gingerbread, but nothing major.

As far as apps go, you get the usual Android apps along with a few Samsung and AT&T ones as well. A couple of the AT&T apps can actually be removed like AT&T Code Scanner, My AT&T and Family Map but the AT&T Navigator must stay unless you are rooted. You will also find Amazon Kindle, Mini Diary, Photo Editor, Quick Office and Yellow pages. The apps that Samsung have included are Featured Apps, Kies Air, Live TV and Social hub. I did however find myself replacing the launcher after initial testing only because I am not a fan of the Touchwiz launcher, I like the ability to customize what goes in the dock. Other than that I have no complaints and the added screenshot feature is a bonus too.
Camera
The Samsung Rugby Smart comes equipped with a 5MP rear camera with LED flash that captures a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels and is capable of recording 720p video. The camera app is slightly different from others I have seen and has a menu bar on the left hand side that allows up to four customized settings. Along the right hand side you will find the usual camera/video switch, shutter button and gallery preview. Pictures actually turned out fairly descent for a $99 phone. Color representation was clean, details fairly sharp, and distortion was to a minimum even when zoomed in. You can check out some sample shots below.
test 1 test3 test2 camera app
As far as video quality goes, again not too bad given the price point. As with most smartphone cameras, any bright light or sunlight will cause the image to get a bit grainy but other than that video playback is solid. I must admit that the microphone is much more responsive then that of the Galaxy Nexus. Truly a surprise indeed.
Indoor test video
Click here to view the embedded video.
One thing I really dig that I think should be incorporated on all smartphone cameras it the ability to use the camera flash as a flashlight. I know some devices have the ability and there are also plenty of apps that can do this, but Samsung did it on the Rugby Smart in an really ingenious way. You simply hold the volume up button and the flash will turn on and remains on until you press the button again. Pretty sweet.

Closing
Well, to sum it up I am simply impressed with this phone given how little it costs. It’s not a surprise coming from Samsung and it’s nice to see that they are paying attention to detail in their affordable line of handsets. Sure it has the somewhat annoying Touchwiz UI overlay, but that is easily remedied with a free app from Google Play. The mil spec rating is most definitely a strong feature but even if you don’t plan on being tough on your phone, I still wouldn’t shy away. The smaller form factor is super easy to slip in your pocket and the Super AMOLED display is absolutely beautiful. If you are looking for an affordable Android smartphone, or want to find a phone that can survive an active lifestyle, the Samsung Rugby Smart should be a top contender on your list.





Posted: 11 Mar 2012 03:53 PM PDT
Looks like the Android Market transition to the Google Play Store wasn’t the only change Google was making. Eric Chu, Android team member and overseer of the Android Market for over four years, is exploring other positions within the company.
Replacing him will be Jamie Rosenberg, director of digital content for Android, and the public face of the Google Music launch. Though his title isn’t changing, Rosenberg will get increased oversight for apps and games. Rosenberg hails from Microsoft, and before that from Andy Rubin’s past company Danger, where he served as vice president of premium services.
According to sources, the management of the Android Market had two heads, Eric Chu heading up developer relations and business development, and David Conway in charge of product management. Having two equal leaders overseeing the team led to some confusion as to who was in charge and caused some political issues. Shifting to a single leader in Rosenberg seems like a good move.

The Android Market was also given lower priority since the success of the platform is typically gauged mainly on device activations and search revenue, leaving the market team needing more resources. Improvements to the market that Chu helped roll out include in-app billing in March of last year, and higher exposure to apps in May.
These improvements have helped increase revenue from the market, but is it enough? Just this past week developer Mika Mobile decided to stop supporting Android because the time investment needed to support many OS versions and individual handsets was higher than the amount of money they were making. This is not to say there haven’t been many developer success stories, but these type of public announcements of quitting Android do not help PR for Google’s platform.
Hopefully the change in management will bring with it more improvements and better revenues for both developers and Google. Only time will tell what this shift will deliver.
source: techcrunch




Posted: 11 Mar 2012 03:53 PM PDT
SXSW brought team Android a bit of reassuring news today as one of the Instagram founders said he hopes  ”to have it out to people really soon.” While on stage giving a speech, co-founder Kevin Systrom snagged a Galaxy Nexus out of his pocket and wouldn’t you know it, was running a private beta of the illusive Android Instagram app. Not only was we rocking a bitchin’ Android phone, Systrom also claimed that “it’s one of the most amazing Android apps you’ll ever see,” and said, “in some ways, it’s better than our iPhone app.” (woot-woot!) Our pals over at The Verge even report that during a Q&A, Systrom also said that the Android app was super fast, looks great on Android’s large screened devices, and has built in social media sharing that can reach just about every social outlet available. Well I wish they would share that private beta app with me because I am ready to see what all the hype is about. How about you guys? Are you ready for Instagram to hit Google Play? It looks like we may be getting ever so close now.
source: The Verge




Posted: 11 Mar 2012 02:36 PM PDT
Those of you who are looking for an affordable device that will easily fit in your pocket should check out the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2. It’s now available for pre-order in the UK from Mobile Fun, for £179.95 (approximately $282 US). That won’t be too hard on your pocketbook.
Here’s a refresher on the specs for the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2:
  • 800 MHz single-core processor
  • Android 2.3 Gingerbread
  • WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC
  • 512 MB of RAM
  • 4 GB of internal storage (microSD slot allows you to upgrade up to 32 GB)
  • 3 MP rear-facing camera
  • 1300 mAh battery
  • 3.27 inch screen
The NFC is a nice touch on an economical phone. The Mini 2 also features ChatON, which is an instant messaging platform. If you’re in the UK and you’d like to get your hands on one of these handsets, check out the link below.
source: Mobile Fun




Posted: 11 Mar 2012 02:20 PM PDT
When I first saw the new Roboto font back when Ice Cream Sandwich was first announced I was pretty impressed. The font was polished and basically a breath of fresh air for Android. As time progressed and I played with it on my Galaxy Nexus I kept thinking to myself that it would be a nice font to have on my computer. Well it looks as if others were thinking what I was thinking as Google has announced that you can now download this font for any computer that can display TrueType Fonts.
As it is in Google fashion, the font is free to use in whatever you want to put it in so you can add some crispness to those web apps and so on. If you’re wanting to use a great font that looks amazing on high resolution screens then hit the source to find the download. Enjoy!
Download – Link
source: Android Design





Posted: 11 Mar 2012 01:42 PM PDT
We’ve already reported the possibility that your Google Wallet account could be compromised with a brute-force attack. Now, Google Play has a similar issue that has come to light. If you have been using the PIN code verification feature in Google Play to protect your phone, read on.
There is a setting for the Google Play Market that enables a PIN code prompt when you are about to purchase something. The idea is to protect you in the event that someone steals your phone, and wants to buy a ton of apps on your dime.
The problem is that the PIN is stored on the device itself, not in the cloud. So, if a thief were to clear the data for the Google Play Market in the “Manage application” settings of your phone (the same way we explained to update Google Play from the Android market), the PIN would be gone, and the thief could buy anything they wanted in the Google Play Market using your credit card. If you realize your phone is gone, you can change your Google password so that Google Play will prompt the user to reenter the password. However, if you don’t realize your phone is gone right away, the thief might already be using your account to purchase things.
Hopefully Google will issue an update for this soon, but in the meantime, you can use a lock screen on your phone to keep unwanted people from messing with your stuff. PIN Google Play PIN google Play 2 PIN Google Play 3
source: Mgamerz
via: Briefmobile







Posted: 11 Mar 2012 12:38 PM PDT
The developer of the popular apps Battleheart and ZombieVille USA, Mika Mobile, has blogged that the cost of Android game development outweighs the profit their apps bring in. Both games are hits on iOS, and had been ported to Android to much excitement. Apparently, the Mika Mobile/Android marriage was not a good one, and the game developers will no longer support the game on Android.
Here, the developer explains their challenges with Android:
There’s a big difference between generating revenue, and “making money” – It’s not that they haven’t generated income, but that income is offset by the additional support costs the platform has demanded. Where did your dollar go? We spent about 20% of our total man-hours last year dealing with Android in one way or another – porting, platform specific bug fixes, customer service, etc.  I would have preferred spending that time on more content for you, but instead I was thanklessly modifying shaders and texture formats to work on different GPUs, or pushing out patches to support new devices without crashing, or walking someone through how to fix an installation that wouldn’t go through.  We spent thousands on various test hardware.  These are the unsung necessities of offering our apps on Android.  Meanwhile, Android sales amounted to around 5% of our revenue for the year, and continues to shrink.  Needless to say, this ratio is unsustainable.
This begs the question: is Android shooting itself in the foot by needing support for so many different devices? Will this fragmentation issue lead to other developers leaving Android? While the open system of Android has its challenges, it is also the most popular operating system, accounting for 48.6% of all smartphone subscribers.
I suspect the future of Android will require compromise from both the developers and Google. Android developers will have to use different tactics in creating apps than they would for iOS, not just porting over a popular app and expecting it to thrive. Google, though, also has to strive to make the Google Play store a viable place for developers to make money and continue to innovate. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.




Posted: 11 Mar 2012 07:58 AM PDT
Ice Cream Sandwich is away and by far the best Android OS to date. By including the most fluid UI yet while integrating noteworthy features such as facial unlock and an improved set of widgets for use, ICS makes for a solid experience using the OS and especially UI. As a trademark of Android’s open platform, ICS allows for custom “enhancements” in the form of skins (Sense, TouchWiz, MOTOBLUR, etc.) and style by the various OEM who sell Android-based devices. One thing that’s painfully obvious for many of the “enhancements” done by OEMs is many of the custom skins include well… useless features and poorly designed widgets which tend to actually slow down Android devices despite those same devices having incredible processors and memory.
And that’s exactly why you tend to see many (though not all) Android owners go the way of the ROMing route in order to stick it to OEMs and experience what they feel a solid Android experience. While some folks (like me) prefer their Android in vanilla flavor or others (like many of the writers here at TA) prefer custom ROMs and some ummm, you know— like their resource hogging skins, Canadian developer Teknision is out to re-define how Android skins should be developed. Highlighted in our Forums, the same team behind RIM’s Blackberry Playbook UI has developed not only a intriguing skin for Android 4.0′s homescreen, but a stellar one at that in its Chameleon concept which is for tablets. Hit the break to read more details about what it does and to check out a video to see it in action. 
Teknision gets the design of the Chameleon skin right by taking advantage of every aspect of a device’s features. As you can see in the above screenshot, the entire screen is filled up with widgets in order to give you easy and visual access to the items you do most like emailing, your calendar, news feeds and books. This is all done in a sleek and well-designed way too. It’s not meant to be overwhelming too. In fact— the various widgets filling up the screen is meant to improve upon how we use widgets now. Most widgets are not resizeable nor do they effectively present all of our needed information in front of us in an effective way. Chameleon aims to redefine how we use our widgets in our skin.
The Chameleon skin doesn’t stop there either— it’s introduced the instant changing of user profiles on our devices. Let me explain: some of us love our devices enough that we share it with those who may use it often too (husband, wife, children, “friends”, etc.). Chameleon makes clever use of its name by adapting to a user’s surroundings and thanks to the integration of facial recognition technology, a profile associated with a specific user can be activated— all on the fly. That means you can see you can see your different apps and general customizations with your profile, while another can see their own apps and customizations in their own profile when they’re logged in, similar to how its done on a Windows or Mac-based PC. Neat isn’t it?
This sure looks like a mighty good way to convert those of us who generally cringe at the thought of a skin slapped on top of the Android UI. There’s a good bet this will make it out to Android devices VERY soon. Check out the Chameleon skin in action and then hit the source link to head on over to our Forums and show some love by giving the developer your thoughts on how it is or how you think it can be improved.
source: Talk Android Forums
[iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/38250320?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0″ width=”500″ height=”281″ frameborder=”0″ webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen>




Posted: 10 Mar 2012 09:30 PM PST
Back before my experience with Ice Cream Sandwich and the amazing launchers like Apex or Nova I found a constant need for finding a perfect launcher that fit both my need for functionality and my need for it to be polished as well. You know, one that was fancy but fit my needs for daily use without lag. Well when I first saw the preview for TSF Launcher and its functionality I became quite excited as I felt this would possibly fit the bill.
Well when the launcher became live I went to the Android Market now turned Google Play Store to download it. I gawked at the $17 price tag but made the purchase thinking I would play with it for a few minutes and then return it in the 15 minute refund window. Well as I got to playing with it I decided that I'd keep it and write up a review for you guys so that you didn’t have to go in blind in purchasing this.
In order to get a good feel for the launcher and how it worked I dedicated 10 days to it because honestly I feel that you can't get a good feel out of a launcher or an app until you've used it consistently for a period of time. While apps may take less time, a launcher is something you use everyday so it requires some extra attention. So here it is in all its glory; ten days with the TSF launcher, my hands on review.
The Good
This is by far the most original launcher I have ever used. The doodads and widgets that come with, but as separate downloads, add some much needed polish and functionality to your homescreens. The weather widget is just a touch of different and I like the feel. The music widget adds music functionality at the touch of your fingers and I do have to say that I like the “Sticky Note” widget function for quick reminders and notes. In the time I've used it we've had an update that fixed the force closes and glitches I was having and I have yet to see a force close since so I won’t complain about that.
The update also added some toggle widgets that range from Wifi to Airplane Mode with Sound, Help and others in between. Another toggle they have is one that changes the density or size of everything. This means that you can effectively put a whole bunch of stuff on one page. The only downside to this is that all your apps look tiny and cluttered (see below).
Transitions between the homescreens took a bit to get used to in that you had to hit the bottom left corner of the screen (see below) to access the ability to move between the 4 home screens and "app drawer." At first I found myself trying to swipe left or right to access my other homescreens and became frustrated when nothing happened. At least that was until I remembered how to access everything.
Once I got used to that I was moving between homescreens with ease.  Everything felt smooth and that could be the hardware in my Galaxy Nexus making this launcher shine. I had no lag whatsoever moving through the launcher. It was after that though that I started noticing the shortcomings.
The Shortcomings 
Okay let's just get this out of the way right in the beginning. $17 dollars is a steep price to pay for an app. This is in part to the app pricing set up that is already established making high end apps close to $5. Now that doesn't mean I won't pay the price for a good product or an app that’s worth it but with all the hype and the preview videos I must have read or watched a dozen times, I expected more.  For the most part though it's because of the price that these shortcomings become so prevalent.
This whole launcher felt as if it were a beta app. When I tried to replicate some of the features I kept getting an error or nothing happened at all.  For example I tried the replicate the lasso effect in various areas and I kept getting the pop up "This function is not available in the current version,” (see below). When I pay 17 dollars for an app I don't want to be told to expect a feature in a later update or that it’s not available now.
I can look past that but the one thing that I cannot look past in a custom launcher is a lack of scrolling widget support. Most launchers like Go Launcher or ADW Launcher, heck any of the launchers I've ever used, have this built in. To not have it at all is ridiculous. I use scrollable widgets all the time between my Gmail, Twitter and Reader apps andI felt stunted at not being able to do so. It seriously hindered my ability to look at look at social updates, news items and my voicemail at a glimpse.
One last gripe I have is the process to set up folders. Rather than drag and drop and have the folder automatically created you have to pull a folder from the side-loaded menu then go to the "app drawer" and pull apps from there. I was able to get the lasso to work just right to select multiple apps every once in a while but I had to be exact about it and it was seldom quick to do. But that really is a personal gripe about it being a tedious process.
The Conclusion 
After using this for the past ten days it felt lacking. I expected to be able to write tons about how glorious and epic this launcher is. Sadly though I couldn’t because it's not epic… yet. It will get better in time I assume and my gripes may go away at that point but when I spend 17 dollars on an app I expect it to be finished, polished or damn close to.  It could be that I have been spoiled by Ice Cream Sandwich and that I am unfairly comparing this to that but let's face it, given that Android 4.0 is the cream of the crop the comparison needs to be made. This launcher from time to time just felt like yet another launcher without any distinguishing factors.
For those of you that are missing out on Android 4.0 though, I would say that this would be a good launcher for you for functionality and folder support plus the polish that is there. However I honestly have no idea how this will function on lower end devices. Like I said, I found no issues on my dual-core phone. The lack of scrolling widgets and missing features is a deal breaker for me for the price though. If the launcher were cheaper I wouldn't mind so much. You could get similar functionality from much cheaper launcher options and various folder apps and you’ll get scrollable widgets to boot!
I want to very much recommend this launcher but I just can’t for the price. The polish it has doesn't outweigh its lack of functionality. As this gets updated that may change but until then I will recommend going with a different, less costly route.  $17 is just too much for TSF as of right now and the potential it has doesn't justify dropping that kind of dough on it; not for what it's missing.

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