Samsung’s first crack at a smartphone larger than five inches appeared a year back in the form of Galaxy Note. It was the most powerful phone in the market and yet was also criticized for being either too big to be a phone or too small to be a tablet and some said its ‘S Pen’ stylus was not easy to use. But still more than 10 million units were sold and a lot of negative feelings vanished after people spent more time with it. Galaxy has now launched a new Note and with its HD Super Amoled 5.5” display, it is more compelling than ever. Its 1.6 Mhz quad-core processor is faster than ever, the battery lasts longer and the S Pen has been updated to provide more flexibility. It is only 0.7” larger than the Galaxy S3 but still the device feels very different. Apart from Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, FM Radio, GPS it also got 4GLTe, it has an 8MP camera with 1080p HD video recording and 1.9mp front facing camera. Simply put it’s unlike anything else on the market and is available for sale in 16, 32 and 64GB models.
ASUS PADFONE 2
Asus has announced its most powerful device, the PadFone 2 which maintains the android trend of bigger and better screens by stepping up to a 4.7-inch 720p IPS display for phone and 10.1-inch when connected as a tablet. The camera has been bumped up to a 13 mega-pixel camera with 6 frames per second continues shooting up to 100 shots. The PadFone 2 has the Quad Core Cortex A15 1.5 Ghz processor, it also has 2GB of RAM and other specs include 4G LTE up to 100Mbps, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4, GPS with GLONASS support, and weighs only 640g combined with docking station. It has many other features like SuperNote to convert writing into text, instant translator for any text and web storage up to 50GB. And the battery life is stunning as it gives 16 hours talk time over 3G. PadFone2 will be available in Black and White and is priced between 799 and 899 Euro in Europe. This device is very powerful compared to others in the market.
NEWS AND GOSSIP
Facebook “one billion users each month”
Facebook announced it has topped one billion users– which means that one in seven of the world’s population is on Facebook. Founder Mark Zuckerberg said on his Facebook status: “Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life”. Since its launch, Facebook has enjoyed unprecedented growth, with 1.13 trillion “likes,” 140.3 billion friend connections and 219 billion photos shared.
Future Privacy
Our privacy is weathering an attack from technology. Technology’s effect on privacy will be a major issue in the future. Here are some technological advancements of concern:
-Internet databases are gathering and sharing our personal information including financial, medical and internet activity.
-GPS devices and being used more often and in more places. It doesn’t help that the devices are shrinking it size.
-Nano-sized microphones and flying insect cameras are part of our foreseeable future.
-Airport security scanners that can see through clothes.
-Facial recognition cameras.
-Traffic cameras
MY FAV APP from HILLY TAN is DRIVE TO IMPROVE:An iPhone/Android app which will display your driving scores with helpful tips on how to improve, save money on your fuel bills and reduce your CO2 emission by learning to avoid the bad habits that drive your costs up. Down the line, your good driving score could even save you money on your car insurance premium. A must have app for everyone who drives a car.
By Shahid Saeed
