HOUR 1:
Tech News & Commentary
Steven in Mooresville, North Carolina listening to the podcast asked: “My contract is almost up with my Droid X and I was wondering if the Droid X 2 has a dual core processor. There’s nothing wrong with my Droid X, but I was wondering if I’d be able to tell a significant difference in the Dual Core processor and the changes in the new Droid that would make me want to change.”
The Droid X 2 does indeed have a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, we haven’t tried it first hand, but we hear it’s snappier than the Droid X and that it has a very nice high resolution screen, as well as very decent battery life (a rare commodity with a lot of smartphones).
The phone still looks very similar to the old Droid X, it still has the hard buttons as opposed to the soft “touch” buttons that so many Android phones are using these days, and it still has the “hump” on the back near the top. If you use your Droid X’s camera phone you’re gonna have to give that up, Motorola did away with the dedicated camera button. One thing that it does not have is LTE capability, that’s a little disappointing for a new high profile phone on Verizon.
If you like your Droid X and get an X2, you’re probably just gonna feel like you took your X to the shop and had the engine swapped for one with more horsepower. The X2 is clearly an evolution of the X, not an entirely new product, so if you’re happy with the X you should be happy with the X2 as well.
Having said that, you said that there’s nothing wrong with your Droid X, so if you’re not 100% sold on changing it yet maybe you should consider waiting a little longer to see what other LTE phones pop up. Verizon expects to have LTE working on most of the country in the not-so-distant future, and the boost in speed over their regular 3G network is very noticeable.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
“Consumer
Reports” Feature with Paul Eng
These days, many action-packed motion pictures and animated films are screened in 3D theaters. For some, the 3D experience can be difficult to tolerate. Paul Eng, Web Senior Editor for Consumer Reports explains how a different type of eye-wear may allow to you to watch 3D movies without the headache.
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they
have been playing with recently.
For Android:
• Mark recommends: Dolphin HD browser, FREE/$4.99
“Features include tabbed browsing, full Flash support just like the built in browser but with an optional on demand control that puts a button where Flash objects are but doesn’t by default run them, gesture control, swipe left and right for menus, and improved page rendering speeds. Free in the Android Market, although you can support it by purchasing a license for $4.99.” – Mark
• Listener Tom in Hiltons, Virginia listens to the podcast and recommends: Tricorder, Free
“Interesting Android App is the Tricorder app. It appears to be useless, but allows you to scan for wi-fi access, cell phone access. It also shows your location if the phone or device has GPS built-in.”
Thank you Tom! Share your favorite app with us by calling 1-800-899-INTO, or by clicking here
For iOS:
• Chris recommends: SongKick Concert Tracker, FREE
“Songkick allows you to track your favorite bands so you never miss them live. The app will scan your music library and create a personalized calendar based on your bands and your location.
Features:
* Scans your iPhone/iPod Touch music library to track your favorite artists.
* Get a personalized, local concert calendar for your bands.
* Alerts when new concerts are announced.
* For every concert, see the line-up, venue map, all the ticket options, and invite friends.
* Browse all events in your location or any city worldwide. Add/edit more locations.
* Customize your tracked artist list, so you never miss your favorite bands live.
* Browse the full tour schedule for your favorite artists.
* Keep track of your concert plans.”
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details.
What are your favorite apps?Let us know!
Guest in this hour:
Bernie Meyerson, VP of Innovation – IBM
IBM is celebrating 100 years of innovations that have directly affected and changed the way we live our lives — from the first personal computer to the magnetic stripe — to even the calculator.
Sean in Tipton Indiana watches our ITTV Updates on Youtube and asked: “I’m confused about all the options on Smartphones. In my area Verizon seems to be the strong provider. You don’t hear a lot about the Windows 7 phone system. Where is that at now? It seems that with the sort of pre-release information regarding Windows 8 that Microsoft is going to be combining that OS to various processors that allow it to run on PCs, Smartphones, and Tablets. Curious to know how the Windows 7 Phone OS is going to progress. What your knowledge and experience is and if it’s a viable system.”
Well, it is a viable system, the phones work, they check email, they run apps, they make phone calls, they take pictures, but no one cares… at least as far as sales seem to indicate.
There’s nothing too wrong with Windows 7 phones (if you ignore that not-so-small issue of the update that bricked an awful lot of phones), but no one seems to be all that interested in them.
According to the rumors you are right, Windows Phone 8 should be multiplatform, we hear about tablet features, it’s also supposed to be completely new, built from scratch and not evolved from Windows Phone 7, but those are just rumors, we don’t really know yet how good the new OS will be.
Microsoft seems to have decided to enter the smartphone world because they had to, but they almost don’t seem as committed as the rest of the players. Their phones work, but they’re a little behind the competition and no one seems to be as interested in their phones as they are in the competitor’s, at least for now.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Bryan in San Antonio, Texas listens to the podcast and asked: “I have an HP EliteBook 8540W with a docking station and two HP Compaq LA2205wg monitors. I want to connect both monitors to my laptop, and have all three displays active and using all the real estate as one big desktop. I want to connect, possibly via SVGA connector for one monitor to the SVGA on the dock, and HDMI from monitor to DisplayPort on the laptop for the other. Is this possible with the current stock software and hardware? If not what would I need to buy to make this work?”
You have all the ports you need, but you don’t have a graphics card that can handle all three of them at the same time.
Your laptop comes with a graphics card called “NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M”, and while it will support two external monitors, it will turn off the laptop’s built-in one when you plug in the second external monitor.
In other words, you will only be able to use two, you can choose to use the two external ones or the laptop’s one and one of the external ones but you won’t be able to use all three at the same time with that card, in fact it’s very rare to be able to use three monitors on a laptop, it’s even not the standard for desktops to have that functionality.
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Victor in Smyrna, Georgia listening online and asked: “I just bought the Acer Iconia Tablet with the nVidia chip on the Android OS. I really enjoy it but having a hard time watching movies and stuff. Looking to see if there might be a built-in kickstand sleeve for this device.”
There are several actually. Acer makes it’s own, they call it the “Acer Iconia Tablet A500 Protective Case” (imaginative folks, aren’t they?). The case warps around the tablet much like the original iPad’s case did with that iPad and the other end of the case folds to make a stand. It’s relatively cheap, you can find it online for about $30.
If you’re interested in products from other companies you can find several of those too, keep an eye on the price because we’ve seen them for as much as $120.
Another option you may want to look into is Acer’s dock for the Iconia tablet. It will keep your tablet charged while you watch your movies and it comes with a remote control as well.
The downside is that it’s considerably more expensive than the protective case, it’ll cost you around $62, and it’s a little hard to justify the remote for watching movies, let’s face it we’re not talking about a 60-inch screen here, you’ll be pretty close to the tablet.
Still, if you want a dock that will keep your tablet charged and you use your tablet as a music player for example and could use the remote, have a look at the dock as well.
Product links:
• Acer Iconia Tablet A500 Protective Case
• Acer’s Docking Station with Remote
For more information, tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
iLuv: Several iSP110 Mini Portable Stereo Speakers (in a variety of colors)
Microsoft: Copies of Street & Trips Software with GPS receiver
VSO Software: Copies of Convert-X-to-DVD 4 – Lets you convert videos to DVD and watch on any DVD player.