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Tech News & Commentary
Joe in Greenwood, Louisiana listens on 710 KEEL asked us: “What is the best tablet out there right now? I have an iPad but I didn’t know if there was something a little less costly that was pretty good.” He also asked: “I previously had an Otterbox for the iPhone and I’m looking to see how good a Lifeproof is, if you could give me some information on that.”
Joe, If you want to go cheaper, your best option is probably a Nexus 7, they’re kind of small tablets, but they’re responsive and generally good quality and will only cost you about $230, which is not bad for a decent tablet without bloatware.
If you want a bigger tablet a 10” Nexus 10 is slightly cheaper than an iPad at $399, it’s close enough in price that you may want to give the iPad a good look before discarding it, but it’s an option.
Samsung Tab Pros would probably be worth a look too, except for the fact that they’re the same price as iPads, so your less costly requirement won’t be met there.
If you don’t mind the lack of the Google Play store, there is the Amazon Kindle Fire HDX. The 8.9” model sells for $329, is very fast, has an excellent display, and is lighter than even the iPad Air. The lack of the Google Play store means that you can only get apps, music, movies, and TV shows from Amazon, not Google. That does mean you will have a smaller selection of apps, but most of the big ones are there, but as for the rest of the stuff, we’d say that Amazon has a bigger selection than Google anyway.
On the Windows tablet front, you have some good choices as well. Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 3 looks to be excellent in every way, but it will cost the same or more than an iPad, which is understandable since it is a complete computer in tablet form. But you said you wanted something less expensive than an iPad.
In early July, Toshiba expects to begin shipping 8 and 10 inch versions of its Encore 2 Windows tablet. The 8 inch model will sell for just $199 in its base configuration and features a quad-core Intel Atom processor and the full version of Windows 8.1. Not the RT version, the real deal. The 10 inch model starts at $279. They aren’t the highest resolution screens in the world and the cases are plastic, but the build quality is otherwise solid and performance is quite acceptable. If you want Windows and you’re looking for a bargain, these might be the ticket if you’re willing to wait.
Lifeproof cases are typically, considered pretty solid, but their iPad case is a little bit different. Unlike a lot of other cases it relies on the iPad’s own screen for part of the protection. The screen is left uncovered, which means that you get the full crispness and responsiveness that you’ve always gotten, but it also means that you don’t get any extra padding protecting it from direct hits.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Eric in Decatur, Illinois listening on WSLY – calling in via the App asked us: “Having a problem with Samsung Galaxy s4 – Every so often, it will “forget” that it has an SD card in it. It seems like it’s ejected, but I haven’t touched the SD card. I’ve tried reformatting it as well as removing everything from it to no avail. Curious if you have any suggestions.”
Eric, Try removing the SD card from your phone and insert it into your computer, if your computer doesn’t have a SD card mount, you can use a SD card reader. Copy the contents from the SD card into a folder on your computer and then put the SD card back into your phone and format it. Using a USB cable, connect your phone to your computer and copy the files back into the SD card.
We’ve heard that some Sandisk cards have been having issues, and Sandisk has even been replacing them. They seem to be 32GB and 64GB models, you may just have a bad card.
Many people have reported that replacing the card with a Samsung-branded card has gotten rid of the issue, so you could attempt that as well.
It can also be an issue with the Class of the SD card. That will be a number between 2 and 10, and it refers to how quickly data can be transferred to the card. Class 10 is the fastest, but some tech sites are reporting that Class 10 is problematic with Android and Samsung phones.
They are recommending either Class 4 or Class 6, and we would say that faster is always better. So look for a Samsung brand Class 6 SD card and see if that clears up your problems.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Larry asked us: “Whenever I open my laptop to log on there is a big message saying ‘please authenticate using your bluetooth security tag’ How do I get rid of this? I am running Windows 8.1 on a laptop.”
Larry, It sounds like you have some program installed that can allow you to log into your windows account using a bluetooth device.
There are a few that can do this, a company named Rohos makes one, there’s another one called Bluetooth Passport Pro, but unfortunately we have no way of knowing which one may be asking you to use your bluetooth device to log in.
Have you installed any security software lately? If you have, that may be the cause. Since this is something that seems to run on it’s own, you can try to disable it by going to run and typing “msconfig” and trying to figure out which service from the list it could be, but that will probably require a bit of trial and error.
Some Toshiba laptops a few years ago came with this feature built in, and it became active even before Windows was loaded, using a bluetooth device to give you access to the BIOS settings, for example. Your computer may have come with the feature built in and you or some software may have activated it without you noticing. As far as we know, though, this is not a standard feature that comes with every copy of Windows, and if it came on on it’s own, it’s probably the result of installing something recently.
If this is a corporate laptop issued by your workplace, you should check with the IT department there. These kinds of security measures are often put in place by those groups and are switched on for computers that will be accessing sensitive information. Perhaps yours was switched on by mistake?
If this is a personal laptop that you bought from the local computer retailer, you might also take it back to them and ask what is causing this. Because, as we’ve already said, this is NOT part of the base Windows installation. Someone has added this security layer to your laptop. It’s not something you should have to live with, if you don’t need it (and especially if you don’t have this Bluetooth Security Tag).
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Jody Rohlena, Deputy Editor – ShopSmart
CEA Update with Danielle Cassagnol
A new study from the Consumer Electronics Association shows ownership of smartphones has now surpassed basic cell phones for this first time ever. Danielle Cassagnol explains – in this week’s CEA Update.
Jesse in Summerall, Mississippi asked us: “Hello, I am having a lot of difficulty, I’m trying to set up a email address for my phone, I have a 3g Apple iPhone. I want to know how to get access to itunes, and the internet and different web addresses.”
Jesse, If you want to set up the email address you used to contact us, it’s a gmail.com address, so you should just need to open your settings, go down to “mail, contacts and calendars” and select add account. You should have an option to add an email account right there, and it should only require your email address and your password.
As for iTunes and websites, they should both be very easy, iTunes is an app that should look like musical notes in a circle, and that should open the store for you. As for web pages, you’re looking for a symbol that looks like a compass with the word Safari under it, to open different addresses you would only need to use the address bar on top.
Now we should mention that if you’re having trouble with those specific apps and no others, those are all internet-dependent apps, do you have internet access on your phone? If you don’t have some kind of internet access, even if it’s just WiFi, those apps will not work.
The iPhone 3G is not officially supported by Apple any longer and won’t get the iOS 7 upgrades. That will be a problem because it means you’re entirely on your own in getting apps and upgrades for your phone. There are some third parties who have hacked iOS 7 to work with the iPhone 3G and you can search on YouTube for the videos that show you how this is done, but you are very much on your own here and any mistakes can yield a completely non-working phone.
You may want to consider replacing the phone. Most wireless carriers will offer you the iPhone 4S, which is still a huge upgrade from your phone, at no cost when you sign up for service or extend your current contract. iOS 7 will come with iTunes bundled right in, and adding a Gmail address, as we already said, is extremely simple.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Tom in Ohio listens via the Kindle App asked us: “If you mostly use your digital camera for things like family and vacation photos, developed into a typical size like 5×7 or shown on a computer, does it really matter if the camera is 12 megapixel or 20?”
Tom, Easy answer… absolutely not. It is hard to find a camera or phone in todays market that has less than 5 or 6 megapixels, which is all you need to produce a crisp 12×18 photo.Sharpness of the photo depends more on your photography skills than the amount of megapixels. We’ve have seen beautifully shot photos blown up to 30 inches from a 5 Megapixel camera.
Photography is more about composition and lighting than it is equipment. More megapixels, or in Apple’s case bigger pixels, doesn’t always equate to a better picture. Image stabilization and low light compensation are cool features, but they tend to make pictures that are “softer” in appearance. If you’re looking for bright, bold, vivid pictures that look almost 3D, then you need plenty of light.
If you’re shooting family and vacation photos outside, you will likely be satisfied with the results. Sunlight is awesome for photos. It’s those indoor shots where your equipment will be tested.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Richard in Columbia, Missouri listening on KFRU asked us: “I would like to know if I can add speakers to my computer. I want to listen to music in a room that’s remote and be able to listen to music in the room where the computer is.”
Richard, Your best bet may be WiFi speakers.
You wouldn’t need any kind of wiring and they’d connect to your computer via your WiFi network, then you could use software like AirFoil, to select the speakers that you want to use.
WiFi speakers are not a new thing, and you can find them by Bose, Pure, Pioneer, and many, many more companies for prices ranging better a few hundred to a few thousand, depending on how serious you are about the sound quality you need.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Other World Computing (OWC): Power2U – AC/USB Wall Outlets in Almond, Ivory and White.
Phone Halo: StickR TrackR — Find any object you attach it to with your smartphone
PURE: Jongo Wireless Adapters — Allows you to stream all your music wirelessly to your home audio system.
Tylt: A plethora of USB charging cables for iPhone and Android phones and iPhone battery cases.
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!