Tech News & Commentary
Consumer Reports Feature With James McQueen
The “Into Tomorrow” team discussed the latest apps that they have been playing with recently.
• Mark recommends: Docs and Sheets, FREE
- “This week, it’s more productivity tools from me. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m one of those guys who needs to have his smartphone and tablet actually serving a business purpose, AS WELL AS watching Netflix in my down time. Google has released two new standalone apps, Docs and Sheets, to go along with their Google Drive app. Google Drive has had the ability to edit and create docs and sheets already, but only in an online interactive mode. These new apps support the offline creation and editing of files, so you can work even when your phone isn’t connected to the Internet. As soon as you reconnect, the files will be synced with Google Drive in the cloud. I have found these new apps to be a much smoother and more pleasant experience than the fully interactive version. I’m not sure what there is about offline caching that makes them so much better, but they’re more responsive and don’t give me the frequent “trying to reconnect” error messages when I switch between my document and another app on my iPhone or iPad. Once you’ve installed the new Docs and Sheets app, those become the default for opening docs and sheets from the Google Drive app. I have heard some people complaining about this, because they say some features are missing from the offline versions, but I’ve had nothing but good things to say about them. They aren’t up to the jaw dropping excellence of Microsoft’s Office for iPad that I reviewed a couple weeks back, but they are a big improvement for Google Drive users, of which I’m one. They’re free and available now in the iTunes App store.” — Mark
• Samantha recommends: Rent the Runway, FREE
- “Rent the Runway is the leading destination for designer dress, accessory and handbag rentals – all at 90% OFF retail prices.”
• Chris recommends: Toilet Time, FREE
- “Time on the toilet has never been particularly amusing… Until mobile devices! Now that the last territory is no longer a locked door, you can also have a great time during one of the most regular activities all humans share. Prepare yourself for some time-wasting fun!”
• Michael recommends: Dog Land, FREE
- “Is one of your dogs considered your child or part of your family in some way shape or form? Well here is a fun app to get social with other dog lovers such as yourself called Dog Land. You can post and share photos of your dog and see other dog lovers pooches too. Before posting your photo of your furry friend you can edit, enhance and text to your photos. These photos after being upload can be shared via the app to Facebook and Twitter. If you want to have want to have a doggy play date, you can locate the nearest dog park in your area. You have the ability to rate and comment on the park you visit to inform others of your experiences. This app is currently only available on iOS devices.” — Michael
What are your favorite Apps? Let us know at 800-899-INTO and we’ll feature them in this segment!
Tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast for more details
Guest Segment:
Jim Hunt, Senior Vice President – GENCO
Ron in Nashville, Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7 and is calling in via the App asked us: “I have a Galaxy S3 phone and absolutely love it. I’m looking at the Galaxy S5 and wondering if I should upgrade or if there’s another Android phone I should be looking for. I’m not interested in iPhone. Want to stay Android.”
Ron, The S3 t’s an amazing phone but if you’re looking to upgrade to another Android phone, the Galaxy S5 & HTC One (M8) would be a couple that you might want to look at. If you want to go to a phone with a reasonable price, then you should definitely consider looking at the Galaxy S4 – because now that the S5 is out, you’ll find some good deals on the S4.
The Galaxy S5 has quickly become a very popular phone. Featuring its fingerprint scanner, heart-rate monitor, improved battery life and waterproof design, the S5 outshines many other Android phones in a lot of the reviews out there. The S5 is a big jump from the S3. For example, while the S3 has an 8 megapixel camera, the S5 features a 16 megapixel camera.
The closest competitor to the Galaxy S5 is the HTC One (M8), and a lot of people feel the metal design of the M8 is a lot nicer than the S5. Sadly, the M8 4-megapixel camera is only half the resolution of the S3,so if camera quality is what you’re looking for then you might want to look elsewhere. The M8 & S5 both fair well in regards to performance and speed, but what makes the HTC One M8 so popular is its high end design.
At the end of the day, the HTC One M8 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 are both amazing phones as well as the Galaxy S4. If you want something completely fresh and new, go with the HTC One M8. If you want a phone that you’re still familiar with, but with amazing features, go with the S5. Choose the S4 if you want a better phone but you’re on a budget.
We should also mention that if you’re wanting the “pure” Android experience without any of the customizations made by the phone manufacturers or wireless carriers, you can consider Google’s Nexus 5 phone, which admittedly doesn’t have the slick metal case and high quality speakers of the HTC One M8 nor the high resolution camera of the Samsung Galaxy S5. It does, however, have an excellent screen, a very fast Snapdragon processor, and it runs extremely fast (partially because of that processor and partially because it doesn’t have any additional things added to Android to slow it down).
Depending on when you will be purchasing this new phone, Google is widely expected to release a Nexus 6 model this fall, with a larger and higher resolution screen, and–we assume–a better camera. So it really comes down to a question of whether you like, or at least don’t mind, an Android phone that’s been “enhanced” by the phone manufacturer and/or the wireless network carrier, or whether you want to get the “pure” Android experience.
Any way you go, though, you will get a phone that is a nice upgrade from the Galaxy S3, but don’t expect it to be dramatically different. The Galaxy S3 was a quantum leap ahead of its predecessors, and the evolutionary Android scale has been a little less rapid since then.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
Tom in Hilliard, Ohio calling in via the App sent us the following comment: “Do you think there will ever come a time when Android will finally support Adobe Flash Player?”
Tom, Absolutely! that time was actually early 2010.
Unfortunately, flash is pretty terrible when it comes to using resources even on computers, so it never worked too well on phones, and Adobe gave up on it.
Now, to put things in perspective, Flash has been around since 1996, so we could also say that Microsoft gave up on Windows 95, it’s not so much giving up as newer and better things becoming possible, in Flash’s case that newer better thing is HTML5.
As that becomes more and more common, you’ll be able to access more and more media content on your phone, but Flash is not coming back, even Adobe is recommending their new HTML5 suite for people looking to produce Flash content.
So you sort of missed the boat, Tom. Android did support Adobe Flash Player, but now that Adobe themselves have stopped supporting it, Android is pushing HTML5 just like Apple is.
For more information tune in to Hour 1 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Sling Media: Slingbox M1 – Set top media box with smartphone integration
SMS Audio: Street by 50 – Over-The-Ear Headphones and earbuds
Parellels:Parallels Desktop 10 Software allows you to run Windows on your Mac
Kanex: GoPower Battery Pack – Mobile battery pack with built-in stand for smartphones
Tylt: Several Charging cases and cables – for smartphones and tablets