GeekwithEnvy

Smartphone

Samsung Introduces Galaxy Gear Smart Watch

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Today Samsung introduced the GALAXY Gear, a smart watch that will work with your GALAXY devices to keep you connected hands-free.

galaxygear

 

Mobile Communications:

The GALAXY Gear notifies the user of incoming calls, and also previews of texts, emails and alerts. You will be able to accept, or discretely ignore.

Voice Operation:

With a built-in speaker and S Voice users will be able to conduct hands-free calls directly from GALAXY Gear. Voice Memo will also allow you to record thoughts or conversations and save them as texts on your GALAXY devices.

Camera:

1.9 Megapixel camera located in the strap, which will allow users to take photos and video.

Screen:

1.63-inch 320 x 320 resolution AMOLED touchscreen

Other Features:

Auto Lock, Find My Device, and Pedometer.

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Samsung GALAXY Gear will be launched with the GALAXY Note 3 around the world starting September 25th.
For more details head to Samsung.

 

Microsoft Buys a HUGE Part of Nokia

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NokiaMSFT

According to the latest press release from Redmond, Washington, Microsoft has purchased substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, license Nokia’s patents, licenses and Nokia’s mapping services at a cost of about $7.2 billion.

This is a major deal that most of us were wondering if it was ever going to happen. This will put both companies in a win-win situation to push forward innovation and build upon the success that the two companies have seen while working together.

Microsoft has been switching gears lately and taking a more “Apple-like” approach to how they do business by being more in control of hardware, software and services. This business model isn’t new to Microsoft as they have done it before with Surface but many question how this will impact other devices that use Microsoft mobile software, as it could steer users away from other Windows Phone options. Ultimately, it’s a smart move by Microsoft that should put them in a much better position to compete with the iOS and Android platforms more directly.

You can read the official press release for full details on the acquisition.

Apple’s New iPhone Set for September 10th

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Unofficial images of iPhone 5s/c (Image Source: Tinhte)
Unofficial images of iPhone 5s/c (Image Source: Tinhte)

AllThingsD is reporting that Apple’s next iPhone will be unveiled on September 10th. The new iPhone is rumored to have some pretty cool features including a fingerprint sensor and a new 12-megapixel camera with dual LED flash.

As for the fingerprint scanner, I would love to have a better way to secure information and biometrics would be nice addition to iPhone. I think this is an area that more companies need to experiment with, it’s been used here and there on many different devices but it has yet to be refined and brought into the spotlight.

Macrumors has more details on what this fingerprint sensor might look like and how it might function on the iPhone. As for the camera upgrade, it makes sense that Apple would push for improvement here as it’s probably one of the most used features of the phone.

iOS 7 is also likely to make it’s official debut during the fall iPhone event as well. iOS7 will bring some of the most dramatic changes to Apple’s mobile OS ever. The new iOS will not be limited to the iPhone 5 but will be available to most of Apple’s current mobile devices.

iPhone 5c images (leaked)
iPhone 5c images (leaked)

It’s also very likely that we could see a new cheaper version of the iPhone. The cheaper iPhone has been unofficially named “iPhone 5c” and is said to be made of plastic. Leaked images of the cheaper iPhone, like the ones pictured above, have been circling the web for some time now and many show a variety of colors and a very slim, slightly rounded look.

 

Cycloramic Brings a Unique “Twist” to the iPhone

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Cycloramic is a cool little app that records video while it actually rotates your iPhone by using vibration. Seems like it could be pretty useful, but it would make me a little nervous to use this app in certain locations where the phone could become damaged. Another issue I have with this app is that it doesn’t take panoramic photos, which would be a nice addition. Overall, I like the idea, it’s a pretty clever little trick and it’s sure to get you some attention at a party, but I just wonder how useful it actually is.

 

Product Review: Samsung Galaxy Rush

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There a are thousands of different smart phones available out there but if you’re looking to avoid a longterm contract but don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a phone, that list starts to shrink. What makes the situation even worse is that the quality of phones that you end up with can be absolutely terrible. There is one phone however that seems to stand out from the rest and that’s the Samsung Galaxy Rush.

Samsung GalaxyRush Front View
Samsung GalaxyRush Front View (Credit:Samsung)

 

Design:

When this phone first arrived I was overall very impressed, it doesn’t feel like a toy. The Samsung Galaxy Rush is, as you would expect from the name, built a lot like the Samsung Galaxy S. There are the familiar navigation buttons on the bottom for Menu, Home, and Back. The only button not included in the phone’s navigation area is the search button. There is a power/lock button on the top right with a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top left. On the left side of the device there is a volume control button and a slot for a MicroSD card. I was happy to see that the MicroSD card slot wasn’t hidden inside the phone somewhere next to the battery. On the bottom left of the device is a microphone and in the center is charger/accessory jack. The right side of the phone has a camera button.

The back of the Rush has a 3MP camera with flash that also records video. The camera lens is positioned right next to the external speaker. The back cover is made of plastic but it seems pretty durable and it doesn’t pick up fingerprints, which is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. The front of the device has a front facing 1.3 MP camera, LED indicator, the earlier mentioned navigation keys and a 3.5″ touchscreen.

 

GalaxyRush2

Samsung GalaxyRush Side View
Samsung GalaxyRush Side View (Credit:Samsung)

Power/Memory:

This phone isn’t blazingly fast like many of the other high-end smartphones out there but it gets the job done with it’s 1GHz processor ( MSM8655, Qualcomm). This phone also features 2GB ROM/768MB RAM and supports a maximum MicroSD capacity of 32GB.

Display/Touch Interface:

The display is low resolution at just 320×240 pixels but it’s actually not that bad especially for the price point. The Samsung Galaxy Rush uses HVGA TFT as it’s main display technology. The touch screen does offer multi-touch capability and it works really well, typing on this phone wasn’t bad and you can use the on-screen keyboard in both vertical and horizontal mode.

 

OS Performance:

The Samsung Galaxy Rush comes with Android 4.0 and with it’s single core processor it actually move along quite well. The UI operates smoothly and web browsing isn’t half bad either. You can game on this phone without too many major issues, Angry birds will play just fine. If you’re used to higher-end phones you will notice the speed difference especially when upgrading, installing  and loading applications but for a budget phone this kills off most of the competition.

Battery Life / Other Features:

This phone operates off a 3.7 Volt, Lithium Ion, 1750mAh battery that promises to keep you up and running for 9 hours while in use, and up to 14 hours on standby. This phone also has many features that are considered standard for any smartphone including, Stereo Bluetooth capability, GPS, Wi-Fi, and an Accelerometer.

The Price and Verdict:

This phone ranges anywhere from $99 to $150 and operates on the Sprint network via Boost Mobile. Keep in mind that this phone can be bought and used without a contract and monthly bill should be very low. Upon closer inspection you can easily see where they went cheap in the design process but it’s nothing that’s detrimental to the phone overall. For the cost of the phone, I was quite surprised by it’s performance and responsiveness. Audio quality is good on the ear speaker but the outside loudspeaker isn’t very good, although it does get extremely loud (good for an alarm clock). The real winning feature of this phone is the fact that it runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and it does so with minimal lag. The bottom line is, if you’re in the market for a budget phone, don’t want a contract, and just want something that resembles a halfway decent smart phone, then this phone is a good buy.