Sony's lead in Android docking wireless mobile mini speaker! Behold the Sony SRS-BTV5

                                      SRS-BTV5

Let’s start on a positive note.

Google’s  Android mobile OS now has over  75 percent market share according to a report by IDC for the 1st quarter of this year. 

However for most of Android users, the saddest part is that the audio docking speaker is almost non exist in the market even from the biggest Android rider : Samsung. The Android audio segment has been largely ignored. If you have a ride into your nearest electrical store, I am pretty sure that all you can see is just the sign "compatible for Ipad , Iphone , Ipad" sign on almost every audio products with some products at a small corner which says “ compatible for Andorid

One could really ask, why is this so? Android has certainly takes over the market globally, so it is not the problem of lack mass market. Android is highly adopted by plenty of manufacturers, so again I am pretty sure that this is not a problem with propietry software.

We had seen some very interesting new products such as as remote control android helicopter and plenty more. One could only wonder.

I would really say that the basic needs of an Android users for high quality audio for Android is largely untapped by any manufacturers. What they have now in the market is just a small scratch on the surface. Perhaps this is why one of the best electrical company , Sony had a vision on this.

 Perhaps this is also the very reason that Sony leaps ahead, bringing years of experience and quality into Android audio. Sony is a known global brand that used to dominate the world using their walkman and sharp TV display and

Behold!  The mini sized, feature pack wireless mini speaker from Sony , SRS-BTV5!

Connectivity 

Wireless connectivity powered by Bluetooth and NFC. This wireless mobile speaker is equipped with the nescessary conectivity. Not only that , the  wireless mobile speaker comes with an app, Smart Connect ( need to be downloaded via Google Play) . You can seemlessly play your favourite musics in your playlists the moment when you plug in the headphone into your smartphone.

Not only that , this highly portable SRS-BTV5 can also be use to become your speakerphone! Imagine when a call comes buzzing, you can just swipe the answering key and accept the call on your device. The music will instantly fade and you can accept your improtant calls on your wireless mini speaker via Bluetooth. This wireless mini speaker has a built in micriphone which is also perfect for when there are others in the rooms who wants to take part in the conversations.

Powerpack

Built in battery which can be recharged using USB cable. This battery can last approximately 5 hours of audio playback, not bad for such a compact wireless speaker . Besides that , the charging cable enables the device to be charged almost everywhere as the USB connections is one of the main connectivity on most devices.

Design

As you can see, it is round, 360 degree, highly portable as well. You can pratically  fit this in you one hand! 

A true mobile devices for you!

Sony Bluetooth wireless mobile speaker	Features
Model	SRS-BTV5
Output power	1.2 W (at 10% harmonic distortion)
	Round
Design	Portable
	Mobile
Connectivity	Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 pairing
	NFC
Power	Built in LI battery with USB charging cable
	Approximately 5 hours audio playback
Impedance	6 Ohm
Weight	135 gram
Colour	Available in black, pink , white

Google Chromecast

Chrome logo on a simple yet elegant device

Transforming your TV into Smart TV 

         

Google Chromecast, latest addition in the Chrome hardware family ( Oh yes, we have Chrome smart PC) .

Putting aside the hypes, most people would ask ,

What exactly is that small little USB device?

It is just a simple media player aka media gateaway. However Chromecast is unique not because of the concept but because of it's cheap price and design. To sum this up, Google Chromecast is just a device that hits the price sweet point coupled with nice marketing. ( Microsoft needs to learn a thing or two from their marketing teeam)  It is designed is such a way that it is portable, light and supports multiple connectivity.

In summary, this is a universal media player that stereams onluine videos and movies from Youtube and Netflix to your device, more imprtantly your TV. You can use any device of your choice, such as Apple Ipad, Iphone or any Android devices. You can also plug it into your laptops too and stream videos using the Google Chromecast The extra perks for Android users is that they can access to Google Music and Google TV and Movies. On the size and weight, the device is pretty small and light. Just imagine your USB storage.

However there are some cons to this overhype product. From some of the reviews . it seems that beta screen-mirroring feature is not working that well therefore so you are largely limited to four apps with no support for several major ones, including Amazon Instant, HBO Go, MLB.TV, Spotify, and Rdio.

Besides that, there is no remote control for this device. Hence the lack of a dedicated controller also means you always need a smartphone or tablet nearby. Imagine hugging  your Ipad tightly while watching your movie instead of holding popcorns.

The Google Chromecast price is $35 which is certainly cheap, but it comes with only limited apps and you need to use other device to control Chromecast. Certainly way behind Apple TV and Roku.

Is this worth buying?

Yes and no.

Depending on your usages, if you are on the go person with high mobility then it is worth taking due to it's small size ( USB pen drive shape ?) It is cheap and highly portable due to it’s weight and size. Just plug it in into your device which has USB port  and get ready to stream via WIFI.

No, I would not recommend this in your living room because if you are thinking about upgrading your TV into smart TV then this is an overpriced device with limited fuctions and apps. Moreover, a smart TV by any big manufacturers, for example a Samsung with Samsung Smart Hub which is already embedded inside is a part of the TV packages. Samsung smart TV has one of the best user interfaces for users out there. Built in WIFI, Apps store , video and picture sharing, built in full web browser, some models even comes with motion and voice control. They even built interface around social media such as youtube, twitter , facebook , skype and  of course including Amazon Cloud Player and Netflix videos . Therefore if your smart TV has smart hub embeded inside, why do you need another device with lesser functions?

The only perks is that you can access to thousands of apps in Google Play Store.

Sold out? Can’t get one? Then is there anything similar in the market?

Yes of course. For example , there is TV live range from Western Digital which supports much more functions compared to Chromecast,the only thing that are different is the size and the price which is only about $25-$30 difference. You have also Apple TV if you can’t wait.

Detailed specifications below. 

Features	Specification
Model	Google Chromecast
Type of product	Media Player ( Media gateaway- Streamer adaptor)
Compatibility	Android phones and tablets, Iphone, ipad, Chrome (Macs and Win)
Dimensions (WxDxH)	0.5 in x 1.4 in x 2.83 in
Weight	1.2 oz
Network & Internet	USB, Wifi , DLNA
Content	Content streaming
	Web Browsing
	Netflix
	YouTube
	Google Play
	Chrome
	Amazon Instant Video
Apps	Auto update via Chrome/Google Play

Asus Nexus 2 - some normally asked questions answered

New +ASUS  +Nexus 7  with starting price  $229 for 16GB model. The +Nexus   range has always been a darling for purist android users. After all, there is the promise of undiluted, first to get Android updates by +Google  itself.

However, even with the new enhancements announced by Google, one will certainly ask.

Question : Should you purchase this tablet?

Yes, I believe that Nexus range products holds much more advantage compares to OEM manufacturer.

Question : Why should I get one?

OS experience

Firstly is the customized UI such as Touchwiz from +Samsung Mobile  , Sense from +HTC and from also +Sony  . The advantages is that Nexus range receives much faster updates from Google due to that there is no customization from Google which results in smoother , buttery experience and also better performance. In the case of Samsung, I always finds that Touchwiz are normally sluggish especially when playing around with the widgets menu even when using a dual core gadgets.

For Sony, even with a quad core processing power with 2GB RAM, the occasional sluggish of the device can be felt quite easily. The customized UI wil certainly not help Sony get the second placing behind Apple’s Ipad any time soon.

Besides that , Nexus 7 also comes with lots of built in Google software are so easy to use in our daily life.

The very reason why pure android, Nexus range is loved everywhere.

Built quality

 Secondly Google employs Asus as the manufacturer of the new Nexus device, which has always been making top notch gadgets , both laptops and tablets. Asus devices has always been one of the best in the market, good customization, the lag was not noticable in their other products. Laptop wise, Asus Zenbook and Taichi ultrabook was built to almost perfection, one of the best in their class. Sleek, aluminium casing with unparalled perfomance. So we can be rest assured that the same quality material and products will be in the new Asus Nexus too.

Connectivity

 Say hello to HDMI ports, no more low resolution videos! NFC for your file transfer and also Google wallet. The rest are pretty standard which are WIFI, Bluetooth, and of course , Google Maps. (Was hoping there will be a major improvements since they bought over +Waze )

Price

 Quad core Snapdragon processor with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, Jellybean 4.3 at only $229? No wonder everyone is rushing out to get one! It is the one of the tablets which has high end specs with dirt cheap pricing. A similar tablet with larger screen like Sony Xperia tablet Z will set your budget back by a few hundred dollar. A lower specs tablet like Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 with 7 inches is also significantly more expensive than that of new Nexus 7. One could ask, who in this world wouldn’t  get their hands on one? Not forgetting,  a Full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS display !

Questions: Then what is the problem of the new Asus Nexus 7?

Of course the supply. You can get your hands on this wonderful device firstly on Google Play and some physical stores. This will put off some people who wanted to change into a newer, high performing tablet at a price that would not hurt your wallet that much. And it seems that the global shipments wont be coming to your place anytime soon. Unfortunately, Google Play do not support also the purchase of Nexus products including Asus Nexus 7 directly in certain countries , they could only get them in a physical local IT store.

Secondly, there is also the problem, like any pure Android device, the new Asus Nexus 7 will be lacking of nice embeded propeoty software from manufacturers like Samsung and Sony. One of the main categories that we wil miss these software are the enhancements of pictures taken provided such as from Sony Exmor R™. Samsung has also embeded much of their own homegrown software such as eye detection and group play. The one that will be sorely missed is the wonderful motion detection that automatically calls the person just by motioning the phone near your ears. I always find that useful.

Below are some of the detail specs for your analysis.

Specifications

Operating System	Jelly bean 4.3
Network	3G/4G (LTE)
Display	7.02” 1920x1200 HD display (323 ppi)
	7 Inch
	Multitouch ( 10 point touch)
	Gorilla glass
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4Pro , Quad core 1.5 GHz
Memory	16GB/32GB
RAM	2GB (2048 MB)
Sound	Back speaker
	3.5 jack supported
Connectivity	Bluetooth, NFC, USB
Camera	Dual camera ( back - 5MP, Front 1.2MP
Power Supply	3900 mAh with wireless charging capability
Software	- HDMI port
	- Google Wallet
	- SNS integration
	- MP4/H.264 player
	- MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA player
	- Organizer
	- Image/video editor
	- Document viewer
	- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
	- YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa
	- Voice memo
	- Predictive text input (Swype)

Android 4.3 and we still playing catching up

There are plenty of features announce for the new +Android  Jelly Bean 4.3 but there were only several key features worth noting.

Great new features

One of the new features is called quick response that allows you to reject calls easier but I am not exactly sure how it works and how well it works in the practical world. You certainly do not want to reject the wrong calls by some very important people especially your bosses.

Basically, it works when a call comes in and you're too occupied to take the calls, you can reject the call and send a message to the caller by using  third party apps. However, currently, none of the third party apps supports that function that well. It really depends on the apps developers to embed that function inside their apps.

There are also rumors by some Android fan sites that +Google  Voice may be updated to work with the service, but one could never be too sure of this unconfirmed report.

The second new addition uncovered by the site is called notification listener. According to the specs, it's right in the code of the update and it is a feature developers can embed in their  apps which are currently using the accessibility service to access system notifications. Most important, it allows the apps to be updated easily  without accessing accessibility settings which in fact can increase the performance of your gadgets. Before this, if an app were to discover a new notification in +Google Play , it would need to communicate with the accessibility settings in your device via +Google Play Store  before displaying the notification. So now, your apps can read notifications when there any any updates by the system, read them and update the apps to the latest versions , saving one step of the process the update hasn't hit their devices yet.

 One of the issues that had been dogging Android user is the decreased performance of their gadgets over time. Sluggish keyboards, slow opening of apps, and hang phone when browsing the internet. Android 4.3 now comes with TRIM.

TRIM is supposed to get rid of the sluggish performance and possibly enhance the Project Butter that comes with the earlier versions of Jelly Bean. Google’s Android works by instructing the flash storage that are built in your gadgets ( I am not too sure about memory storage) when to collect and recycle and recycles unused data pages and blocks The hopeful net results  is that devices that runs on the Android 4.3 will perform better and no longer become laggy and non responsive. Nexus tablets and smartphones will certainly see the performance improvements after the new update kicks in. From the source, it seems that the newly updated Jelly Bean invokes TRIM maintaince once every da ( 24 hours) with conditions that there is one hour on inactivity and for the battery power, it should be 80% full or 30% when charging

New updates to old features

Android 4.3 was announced by Google earlier today with disappointment due to the lack of new features. From the snapshot above, we can see that there was only minor changes to the android system with additions of several main features namely Bluetooth support ( increased to more advance type of Bluetooth) , More language support ( do we even care and need to wait several donkey months for this? ) , improvement in the text input ( still haven't get this right even with 4.3? and most of the manufacturers will just apply their own predictive keyboard anyway ). There were literally no new innovations except for the ones above. This updates just some minor improvements and building some senseless hype across the net which can be easily done in a simply patch.

What the new android still lacking?

One of the biggest problems with the new android Jelly Bean 4.3 is the unproven suceess rate of the TRIM enhancements to the performance of the gadgets. Android is too fragmeneted , too many manufacturers lay their own customizations , until the suppsoed enhancements does not work well , like in the earlier versions of Jell bean.

Besides that, we still face the problems of the support of new android to older devices, this update was supposed to enable lower end phones to enjoy the new smooth Android too.

Probably done this way to build the "credibility" of the new Google android chief. Well, we will see about that.

Thank god for the new +ASUS  +Nexus 7 

Video of android 4.3. Bleh~

Levovo - A trusted brand or just another mass producer?

Lenovo is one of the biggest producer of mobile gadgets. However does one can be sure of the real quality of this product?

Tell me more about your thoughts here! More on +Lenovo