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I’ll let the jury AnandTech comment on just whether quad core CPU will make any actually difference in real world use for the average user. I want quad core too, but if the phone provides a fine experience, I still might buy it. I’m just so over 5" phones.

24 days ago on HTC M4 leaks as a 4.3-inch miniature One 1 recommend

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If only this was from Google with stock Android. And didn’t have this stupid button layout, which if it was from Google, it wouldn’t. Nonetheless, this might the One I’m looking for. Stupid button layout and all.

24 days ago on HTC M4 leaks as a 4.3-inch miniature One 1 recommend

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Nope it’s not the answer to everything, I agree. I just hate to see someone lump everything into one big pile of “Android sucks” (or iOS sucks for the matter), because they didn’t take time to understand all of the options and then make a choice.

Not to parrot too much, but that’s the point, there is “choice” and like with most things, there’s always a tradeoff, so people just have to investigate all of the options and choose what works best for them. In this case, he was complaining about OS updates, so I offered a solution to the OS update problem.

25 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update

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They claim battery life, “user experience,” and security. I don’t develop, so I don’t really try to say how easy something is or isn’t to implement, but given that Apple clings so tightly to controlling the experience and giving preference to their system apps only, I just don’t see them loosening the reigns.

I’m glad you see how much their limitations suck though. I hope they figure something out too, it’s just that I’m not sure they want to.

25 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update 1 reply

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On Android, apps can run in the background. They don’t get booted after 10 minutes of inactivity. For gmail, one effect is when you launch the app, the data is always fresh (like using the iOS mail app). It doesn’t have to refresh. Sure, you say, what’s the big deal waiting for a refresh? Well what if you have a new email and when you decide to read it you are in a poor service area or no service area (happens to me all the time at work in the dungeon). Well, unless you’ve launched the gmail app on iOS before you are out of service, well, there’s no reading that mail at that time. That’s an OS limitation, not a feature Google just didn’t include in the app on iOS. You can also have labels synced for any period of time, so you don’t have to wait for a refresh or download of emails that you want to be able to access quickly anytime.

With GoogleNow, Android has the “cards” appear in the notification bar. Maybe this will come to Now on iOS as push notifications, but for now it is absent. For example, in Android, a Now alert that you need to leave the house in 15 minutes to make it to your next appointment on time with the current traffic conditions would show in the notification bar. If an accident occurs and you needed to leave sooner, it would update the alert in the notification bar. On iOS, you have to launch GoogleSearch and look at the card. at which point you might as well just have went to the map application. I would imagine if there was a push notification, because of how iOS does notifications in the notification shade, a new alert would come in and wouldn’t overwrite the previous one, but would show both. One saying “Leave in 15 minutes” and then the next one saying leaving in 10 minutes because there is now an accident.

Don’t get me guessing on exactly how use of location services work, but I will just say I don’ t notice any battery hit on my Android devices using Now like I’m seeing on iOS. I guess because on Android, it’s already running (so my battery life hasn’t changed), whereas on iOS it is now an app that is keeping location services running.

On Android, you can have GoogleNow as a lockscreen widget, so you can see the cards on the lockscreen without unlocking the phone, for whatever that is worth. I use it, but some probably don’t.

GoogleMaps may be adaquate on iOS but it has still more features on Android. In Android, you can overlay the traffic on the route in navigation, you can overlay points of interest, your saved places, and other “layers” that aren’t in the iOS app. I think these things could be implemented on iOS, so that’s not necessarily an iOS limitation, though.

25 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update

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deleted. long.

25 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update

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Actually, Android has lockscreen widgets, and there is a lockscreen widget for Google Now so to answer your question, no Android users don’t have to unlock their phone to use widgets.

26 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update 1 recommend

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Nah I’ve used other apps that use location services in the same way. RetailMeKnot comes to mind. This is allowed. Whether it is going to result in a noticeable hit in battery remains to be seen. It depends on what exactly is happening in the background and which services are being used (GPS would certainly kill the battery faster than cellular).

26 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update 1 recommend

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I LOLd

26 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update

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I hope someone will do more analysis of which location services it is using (not sure if that is the right terminology), whether GPS or cellular. It seems like It has to keep location services going in order to update the location, because iOS kicks the app out after 10 minutes of inactivity otherwise. Whether it is actually updating the location often, or draining battery like that, I don’t know, but I hope someone else will enlighten us in the coming days. I can’t judge at work because my service is so bad here that my phone dies fast anyway.

26 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update 1 reply 1 recommend

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Your problem is not that you bought and Android phone. Your problem is that you bought the wrong Android phone. Don’t condemn Android because you fell for the trick.

There are plenty of Rezound users who don’t read this website, have no idea what GoogleNow is, and could care less that their phone runs Android 4.0.3. They don’t even know what version of Android their phone runs. Those are the people that should buy the Rezound.

You are not one of those people. Buy whatever phone you like, but make it a more educated decision next time, now that you are armed with more knowledge on what to buy. I’ll give you hint: Nexus.

26 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update 1 reply 1 recommend

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Good hope but it’s not going to happen. Apple clings tightly to this for a reason. Don’t expect them to loosen the chains any time soon.

26 days ago on Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update 1 reply