Coffee Talk #442: CES 2012 Aftermath

CES 2012 has come and gone! What did you think of this year’s show? Any products or technology jump out at you? Taking an informal poll of my friends in attendance (mostly videogame journalists, a few tech writers), television technology was the most exciting thing at CES 2012. Between…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, wishing that Steve Nash gets traded to a playoff contender, Snooki starting a boxing promotion company, or celebrities Tebowing on the red carpet, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

CES 2012 has come and gone! What did you think of this year’s show? Any products or technology jump out at you? Taking an informal poll of my friends in attendance (mostly videogame journalists, a few tech writers), television technology was the most exciting thing at CES 2012. Between OLED TVs and 4K TVs, there were several televisions on display that had my peers drooling. These are models that most people won’t be able to afford this year or next, but are glimpses of television’s exciting future.

Personally, I was impressed by LG’s Blast Chiller. Found in select LG refrigerators, Blast Chiller can bring take a can of beer from room temperature to icy cold in about four minutes. I’m trying to get LG to send me a review unit…and several cases of Guiness so that I can thoroughly test Blast Chiller.

I was disappointed that Sony didn’t get more attention with the Vita. I suppose that most videogame writers have had Japanese units for several weeks already, but my tech writer friends didn’t really seem too interested in Sony’s next handheld. If anything, tech writers and mainstream journalists seemed fascinated by Razer’s Project Fiona. Being new and unusual definitely helped Project Fiona grab some headlines.

Here are the three products that came up the most in conversations with my peers:

  1. Razer Project Fiona — Razer’s gaming tablet is extremely powerful, but is it something people want?
  2. Samsung Galaxy Note — Is it a phone?!? Is it a tablet?!? What is it?!?
  3. HP Envy 14 Spectre — HP’s answer to the MacBook Air is beautiful and covered by Gorilla Glass.

Now it’s your turn! Please share any CES news, products, and technology that caught your interest.

Are You Interested in Razer’s Project Fiona?

Razer revealed “Project Fiona” at CES 2012 — a high-end gaming tablet featuring an Intel i7 processor and Windows 8. This isn’t your typical tablet; it doesn’t use an efficient mobile processor and doesn’t play relatively small apps. This is a powerful machine that plays gamepad-enable PC games out of the box. Check out my article on Project Fiona at Padvance if you have a chance. I’m super curious to hear if this product interests you. Please let me know!

[nggallery id=86]

Samsung Galaxy Note Image Gallery and Preview Link

Here are the official press images of the Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T. This “phablet” is a unique product that’s considerably larger than most phones and smaller than most tablets. A lot of people I bumped into at CES 2012 are talking about the Galaxy Note. Everyone thinks it’s a “cool” product, but most aren’t sure who it’s for and if it will sell in America. Please check out the images below, read my Padvance hands-on preview, and let me know what you think. Will people be drawn in by the Galaxy Note’s unusual form factor and use of a stylus? Predict the future!

[nggallery id=85]

Coffee Talk #441: What CES News Are You Looking Forward To?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, hoping Snooki and Justin Bieber get into a fight at CES, catching up with old industry friends, or catching up with your old co-host, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’m in Las Vegas for CES 2012! Most of my time will be spent writing stories and filming video for Padvance, but I’m going to make some time to roam around and look for cool stuff. Are there any products you’re looking forward to? There’s going to be so much awesome tech at the show and I’d love to know what products interest you the most. Here are some of the things I expect to see.

  • Somewhat affordable OLED televisions
  • Quad-core Android tablets
  • Killer SSD drives at lower prices
  • Windows 8 products
  • Wearable tech
  • Tons of Ultrabooks (MacBook Air competitors)
  • Free Drinks

Give it some thought and please let me know if you want me to try and catch anything for you.

One Month With the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Verizon)

I’ve been using a Samsung Galaxy Nexus for the last month on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. For the most part, I love the phone. It’s one of the few products I’ve reviewed where I was so enamored with it that I quickly bought one for myself. That said, it’s not really a flagship phone like previous Nexus models (arguably) were. It’s more like a reference model instead of a champion product with top-of-the-line features across the board. More importantly, there are some quirks and deal breakers that make this phone a no-go for some users. Here’s my (not a) review of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

[nggallery id=84]

User Interface: Like previous Nexus phones, the Galaxy Nexus is the first to offer a new version of Google Android, in this case Android 4.0, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. This is a pretty huge update for Android, much bigger than the previous phone update (Gingerbread). Everything looks better, partially because of improved design and partially because of a font that’s actually good looking. Everything also feels faster thanks to improvements in hardware acceleration.

The phone’s core apps have a modern look that fits in with the redesigns of Google’s web products. For example, the new Android Gmail has a look and feel that’s similar to the new web-based Gmail. The changes are mostly great, but there are some UI quirks that make you have to press more buttons than you ought to in order to achieve something.

I’m going to write a separate piece on Android 4.0 later, since I want to focus on the hardware. For what it’s worth, it was difficult going back to using the Galaxy S II, which runs a skinned version of Android 2.3. The aesthetics and UI enhancements of Android 4.0 are definitely a win.

Screen: I love looking at the Galaxy Nexus’ screen. It’s big (4.65-inches) and gorgeous (1,280 x 720). Although it only uses Samsung’s Super AMOLED technology, as opposed to Super AMOLED Plus, this is one of the best screens I’ve ever seen on a phone. It has the deep blacks and vibrant colors found across the Super AMOLED line. Text on a 720p phone screen looks brilliant. Surprisingly, the whites looked very good too. They’re not quite as bright as those found on IPS LCD displays, but they don’t have that grayish dullness that bugged me on the Galaxy S II’s Super AMOLED Plus screen.

Right now I would say that this is one of the three best phone screens on the market in terms of image and text clarity. I’d put it up there with the iPhone 4/4S’ vaunted “Retina Display” and the gorgeous screen on HTC Rezound. The display on the Galaxy Nexus is bigger and has a higher resolution than both, but there are some that would prefer the more accurate color reproduction and truer images found on those screens.

Form Factor: Of course a giant screen makes for a giant phone. When I reviewed the Galaxy S II, I noted that its large size makes it difficult for some people to use. The same applies to the Galaxy Nexus. It’s longer and thinner than the Galaxy S II. Users with small to medium-sized hands will struggle to use the phone one-handed…as far as content consumption goes.

For such a large phone, the Galaxy Nexus is deceptively comfortable to use for making calls. Part of it is its long-and-thin dimensions. A bigger reason is that it’s slightly curved. It’s pretty subtle, particularly on the Verizon version which is a tad thicker than its international GSM counterpart, but the concave shape of the phone goes a long way in terms of call comfort.

Build Quality: As many of you know, I’m not a huge fan of Samsung’s build quality. Its phones can take a beating, but feel cheap. I love the feel of the iPhone 4/4S glass sandwich and several HTC phones that feature a lot of metal. Compared to the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II, the Galaxy Nexus is a slight step up. Externally, it’s all glass and plastic, but the company claims that it uses an internal metal frame to give it more rigidity and a better feel.

While I didn’t open up the Galaxy Nexus to see how much metal it contains internally, I found that it does have a better heft than the Galaxy S II — even the 4.5-inch versions. The extra bit if weight makes it feel better in hand. That said, it’s still plastic on the outside with a battery cover that feels like it’s going to rip every time you take it off. While this phone dazzles in many areas, build quality is not one of them.

Performance: When the Galaxy Nexus’ specs were first announced, a lot of tech enthusiasts were underwhelmed. The phone’s 1.2GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 is a good processor that’s great at multitasking, but not the best in the graphics department. The PowerVR SGX540 is clocked higher than in previous versions, but it’s still an old GPU compared to what’s in the Galaxy S II and iPhone 4S.

If you like to play 3D games that require a lot of GPU resources then this might not be the best phone for you. All the games I played ran fine, but you’ll get better performance out of a Galaxy S II variant with an Exynos processor. As games get bigger and require more GPU resources, there’s a chance that the Galaxy Nexus will lag behind competing phones with more powerful processors.

The good news is that for everyday tasks, the OMAP 4460 performs like a champ. Part of it has to do with TI’s efficient memory solution and part of it has to do with Android 4.0 taking better advantage of hardware acceleration. Like I said before, using the phone is a smooth experience. If you don’t play a ton of games on your phone then you’ll quite pleased with its performance.

Battery Life: As expected, this is the phone’s biggest weak point. After a month of use, I averaged about 11.5 hours per charge. This includes a lot of web browsing, tweeting, Google Voice texting, and Foursquare check-ins, as well as a few minutes of phone calls each day. While 11.5 hours isn’t nearly as bad as the 8.5 I was getting on the HTC Thunderbolt (also LTE), it wasn’t nearly as sweet as the 16.5 hours I enjoyed on the Samsung Galaxy S II on T-Mobile (HSPA+ radio).

The big offender is the LTE radio. That’s, by far, the biggest battery drain on the phone — not the large screen or the dual-core processor. Getting crazy-fast mobile-Internet speeds sucks up a lot of juice. There are a few solutions that can help extend battery life, but they’re all varying degrees of inconvenient. Turning on the LTE radio only when needed or sticking to WiFi as much as possible greatly extends battery life. If those options don’t work for you then I suggest getting an extra battery or two. I picked up two Hyperion batteries and an external battery charger for my Galaxy Nexus…but I wish I didn’t have to.

Battery life is easily the phone’s biggest weakness, but if you’re familiar with LTE phones then you already knew that would be an issue.

[nggallery id=78]

Call Quality: Though some reviewers have reported signal problems, I didn’t experience that on either Galaxy Nexus I used. Calls were very clear on the earpiece and the people I spoke with all said that I sounded clear. The noise canceling works well, though not as good as the solutions found on some Motorola phones I’ve used.

I do wish the earpiece had an additional level or two of volume. If you make a lot of calls using speakerphone then you will likely be disappointed in the Galaxy Nexus’ somewhat weak output. Overall, I was very satisfied with this phone’s call quality. As always, you call quality will depend on how well Verizon covers your area.

Camera: Google and Samsung touted the camera’s speed and unique features when it unveiled the Galaxy Nexus. The camera software is certainly fast and allows for rapid shots. The sensor is five-megapixels, which really doesn’t mean much other than its lower than most high-end phones. What’s more important is image quality. This phone has been getting bashed for its camera and I think it’s being overblown. The camera is definitely not as good as the one found on the iPhone 4S or several HTC phones that feature a backside-illuminated sensor. However, it’s still very good. I was happy with the photos I snapped outdoors and in low-light situations. It’s not a cutting-edge camera or even a great one, but it’s still a very good shooter.

Internet Speeds: I’m a big fan of Verizon’s LTE network. It offers a great combination of blazing Internet speeds and broad national coverage. Check out the speed tests I ran at various locations in the Los Angeles area to see the broadband hotness. AT&T’s LTE speeds are faster at the moment, but the company has very few LTE phones on its network (theoretically speeds will decline as more AT&T users pick up LTE phones) and its 4G coverage isn’t nearly as good as Verizon’s. As for Sprint’s WiMax and T-Mobile’s HSPA+, Verizon LTE is in another echelon. Of course your mileage may vary depending on how well Verizon covers your area.

Closing Thoughts: The Galaxy Nexus has a lot of top-notch features and a few that are very good. Like I said in the intro, I see it as more of a reference phone than a true flagship. A true champion product would kick ass in every area. The Galaxy Nexus only does that in some.

Having said that, I was impressed enough with the overall offering that I made the switch to Verizon and bought a Galaxy Nexus of my own. The screen is fantastic, it runs a vanilla version of Android with updates provided by Google, the Internet speeds are brilliant, the 4G coverage is the best in the country, and the performances is great for my needs (I have an iPad and consoles for “real” games). As long as you’re not a heavy 3D gamer and can deal with the battery life issues then I highly recommend giving the Galaxy Nexus a look. It’s the best Android phone you can get today and will remain so for a good while.

Coffee Talk #440: A New Year, New Videogame Ringtones!

As a few of you know, I’m starting off 2012 with a new computer and a new phone. To keep the whole newness thing going (and hopefully bring me some new luck), I’ve decided to use new videogame sounds on my phone. Previously, I used…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Jessica Biel getting engaged (*sniff*), Brock Lesnar possibly returning to pro-wrestling, or the republican caucuses, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

As a few of you know, I’m starting off 2012 with a new computer and a new phone. To keep the whole newness thing going (and hopefully bring me some new luck), I’ve decided to use new videogame sounds on my phone. Previously, my phone had a pair of sounds from Final Fantasy VII: the fanfare riff and a piano version of “Those Who Fight”. They were fantastic as a notification sound and a ringtone, respectively, but it’s time for something new!

For 2012, I’m going with sounds from The Legend of Zelda. Right now I’m juggling three different clips for notifications. The first two are from the original game: the “secret” sound and the fanfare sound. I also have an orchestral version of the fanfare sound from Skyward Sword, but I’m digging the old-school sounds a bit more. As for my ringtone, I’m using a clip of Fredde Gredde’s excellent acoustic Wind Waker medley. (He’s selling MP3s of his various videogame covers using a name-your-price system.) May the Zeldafication of my phone bring me luck in the new year!

Any of you using videogame sounds and/or music on your phone? Want to join me in changing phones sounds in 2012?

Best Gadget of 2011

There were tons of fantastic gadgets released in 2011. Whether we’re talking about new phones, tablets, portable consoles, laptops, etc., I’m sure that most of you purchased a consumer electronics device that dazzled you. Out of all the gadgets in your geek arsenal, which one impressed you the most this year?

As for me, it’s clearly the iPad 2. Apple kicked off the current tablet computing craze with the original iPad in 2010. The sequel, with its superior processor, made it even better. It’s just an amazingly diverse device. For entertainment, I can play games, watch movies, listen to music, read comic books, video chat with friends, and more. For work, it’s far more useful than I anticipated, particularly with the Logitech Tablet Keyboard for iPad. I wrote several articles and updated this blog on the iPad 2. For work (a little) and play (a lot), I love my iPad 2. It’s the most life-changing gadget I’ve bought since TiVo.

How about you? What was your favorite gadget of 2011?

Coffee Talk #435: Your Tech & Videogame Christmas 2011 Haul

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, or commercial holiday. I’ve heard about some of your Xmas loot, but I’d love to hear about it all! Any of you get new games? How about a new phone or tablet? Maybe you had a really vivid dream…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your thoughts on the first day of the NBA season, the Samsung Galaxy S not getting Android 4.0, or Jorge Posada possibly going to the Tampa Bay Rays, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, or commercial holiday. I’ve heard about some of your Xmas loot, but I’d love to hear about it all! Any of you get new games? How about a new phone or tablet? Maybe you had a really vivid dream about a new MacBook Pro or iMac and one magically appeared under your Christmas tree?!? (That technique didn’t work for me, btw.) Kindly share your tech and videogame Christmas look in today’s comments section!

T-Mobile HSPA+ 42 Vs. Verizon LTE

T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 42 and Verizon’s LTE are two great choices for high-speed mobile-Internet access. However, I hear and read a lot of misinformation about what each does and offers. To give you an idea of their respective capabilities, I ran some speed tests in four different areas of Los Angeles using Ookla’s Speedtest.net app. On the T-Mobile HSPA+ 42 side I used a Samsung Galaxy S II (reviewed here). On the Verizon LTE side I used a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Each test was performed five times. Here are the average results for each location.

Los Angeles (Hollywood)

Ping Upload Download
Samsung Galaxy S II 460.2 ms 0.966 Mbps 5.618 Mbps
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 59.6 ms 5.43 Mbps 11.144 Mbps

Los Angeles (Silver Lake)

Ping Upload Download
Samsung Galaxy S II 166.4 ms 1.474 Mbps 8.94 Mbps
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 56 ms 6.68 Mbps 14.788 Mbps

Los Angeles (Union Station)

Ping Upload Download
Samsung Galaxy S II 449.4 ms 1.24 Mbps 7.792 Mbps
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 50.8 ms 4.584 Mbps 6.176 Mbps

Los Angeles (Koreatown)

Ping Upload Download
Samsung Galaxy S II 459 ms 0.788 Mbps 8.388 Mbps
Samsung Galaxy Nexus 50.2 ms 6.244 Mbps 13.164 Mbps

As with any measure of mobile Internet speeds, your results will vary depending on coverage, time of day, number of local subscribers, etc. Unlike the batch of tests I did pitting HSPA+ 21 against HSPA+ 42, I was only able to run tests in one city. Although Los Angeles is ridiculously large, it’s only one city and the results are not necessarily indicative of the performance you’ll get (unless you’re reading this article in Los Angeles).

A lot of tech enthusiasts make the mistake of only looking at download speeds when comparing different mobile services. As you can see from the test results, T-Mobile HSPA+ 42 is competitive with LTE when it comes to downloads. In terms of upload speeds and latency, LTE blows HSPA+ 42 away. Unless the only thing you do with your phone is download files, upload speed and latency are important for an optimum Internet experience. If you use your phone for tethering or as a WiFi hotspot, the differences are even more pronounced.

HSPA+ is a great technology and has lots of room for growth. I expect T-Mobile to aggressively increase the download speeds it offers with HSPA+ over the next few years. However, the technology simply isn’t as efficient with data as LTE. While T-Mobile will probably double its HSPA+ speeds several times over the next couple of years, upload speeds and latency will always be behind Verizon’s LTE.

Keep in mind that I’m not trying to dog T-Mobile at all. I’m a fan of the company. It offers great prices and service. For a lot of people, HSPA+ 42 speeds are more than enough. For tech heads that want the fastest speeds across the board, LTE from AT&T or Verizon is the way to go.

Coffee Talk #433: Gaming, Tech, and Jimmy Fallon

During a multifaceted geek chat with Nerd Friend X, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon came up. As a tech enthusiast and a gamer, I feel obligated to support the show. It helps that I actually dig Fallon’s humor and my buddy Gavin works on the show…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, if Tebowmania will die down now that the Broncos’ streak has snapped, your WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan (!!!), or Rooney Mara vs. Kate Mara, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

During a multifaceted geek chat with Nerd Friend X, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon came up. As a tech enthusiast and a gamer, I feel obligated to support the show. It helps that I actually dig Fallon’s humor and my buddy Gavin works on the show. I was surprised to learn that Nerd Friend X hates the show and Fallon. It’s one thing if he doesn’t like Fallon’s humor and the show’s writing; it’s not for everyone. As a gamer and tech enthusiast, I feel that he should support it. After all, nobody else in late night features game developers and tech editors.

I love that Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinski showed Gears of War 3 on the show. It’s awesome that Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra dropped by to demo Uncharted 3. Microsoft got a ton of press when Microsoft’s Kudo Tsunoda showed Kinect to mainstream America on Fallon. TheVerge.com’s Joshua Topolsky (ex-Endgadget) drops by regularly to tell Jimmy and his audience about the latest and greatest in consumer electronics. Is there a late-night show that’s more nerd-friendly than Late Night with Jimmy Fallon?

Jimmy Fallon, his writers, and his producers are the future of late night…at least the future of what I want late night to be. People that grew up with games and/or obsessed with nerd toys are getting older. I love that there’s a late-night TV-show that covers my interests with respect and enthusiasm. I dream of the day Fallon gets the 11:30 slot, bringing great games and tech content to “the big show”. With your support, he’ll get there.

What do you think of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon featuring videogames and consumer electronics? If Fallon gets an 11:30 show, do you think he’ll continue bringing on game developers and tech experts as guests? Or will games and geek stuff be relegated to after midnight instead of before it?