Galaxy Note 3!!

For those of you that are interested in the Galaxy Note 3, its getting close to that release date!

At&t Subscribers : you are looking at $299 for 2-year contract or you can choose their early upgrade program...with no money up front and $35 added to your monthly bill.. Preorders ship tomorrow. they will be available in store Oct 4th!

Verizon Subscribers : you are also looking at $299 for a 2 year contract Or $29.31 added to your monthly bill via early upgrade program. pre orders ship out Oct 10th. in store availability is not yet listed

Sprint Subscribers : you are looking at $349 for a 2 year contract. OR. $17.45 (estimated not confirmed) added to your monthly bill with no down payment. Launch Date set for October 4th.

T-Mobile Subscribers : you are looking at $299 for a 2 year contract Or $21 added to your monthly bill. in store availability set for Oct 2nd.

Now, Radioshack, Sams Club, Best Buy and walmart are mot likely going to offer exclusive deals so check them out as well if you are lookng for more options.

These have been your technological announcements. Please govern yourselves accordingly.....

Chromebooks!!! Are They Really Worth It?

"Chromebook is ,essentially,  a slightly larger android-based tablet with a physical keyboard" 

     thats what I used to say when I worked for best buy during this past holiday season. 

     as the chromebook continues to retain its popularity. im inclined to stick to my statement. 

        for those who aren't familiar, the chromebook is a google product that provided a mid-spec ranged device that was comparable to the macbook air in size but tremendously easier on the wallet. currently....Samsung,  Hewlett Packard,  and Acer are the current hardware providers for these devices.
      I,  myself, have a samsung chomebook., and ever since the untimely, however foreseen , death of my motorola xoom familiy edition (death by getting stepped on) my chromebook has been a welcomed replacement to a tablet that I hardly used anyway.  when my tablet was alive, I simply used it for emails, a few games here and there, but mostly netflix. lol with that being said the transition for me wasn't very hard.

      I use my chromebook for my blogs, since I find it so much easier to type via physical keyboard rather that the on screen counterpart.

 

So whats the big difference you say?

       well other than the gigantic price gap, the specs pose a significant difference, i suppose. for example the samsung chromebook has a dual core processor (as seen in most older tablet devices, and no its not terribly slow) and is equipped with a 16gb solid state hard-drive (for quick boot-up and saving). which makes it a more than adequate substitute for a tablet, or even a laptop.

        it boots up in less than 30 seconds and as soon as  you type in your password, you are good to go. and there are no moving parts inside so overheating is not an issue.

       now, as with any device, everything has a drawback, missing feature or ability that other devices have.

        now with chromebooks,  you cannot install external programs, iTunes (and other programs that require installation)  for example, cannot be installed on one of these devices, instead google has provided an application store specifically for chromebooks to give you more of an exclusive experience with applications. games are available offline however.

        another "con" or drawback about the chromebooks is that there is no cd/dvd rom drive. so no burning cd's or watching hard copy movies...

the final drawback about the chromebooks is that EVERYTHING is done ONLINE, there is little to no activity that can be accomplished without an internet connection. 

           The Greatest "Pro" about these chromebook style devices is the price!

     My samsung chromebook only cost me $268 (after taxes) much less expensive than the apple alternative, and some android tablets, which, for me, was a deal breaker.

       There are many variations of chromebooks out now, ranging from $199 to $1299. low to high end of course. So head on over to the Google Play Store, and check them all out and see if a chromebook could be a replacement device for you as it was for me, or a quality gift for that college student, relative or close friend! with Christmas coming up. i cant imagine many that would be disappointed with a gift like this.  

well, these have been your technological announcements for Thursday September 26, 2013

please govern yourselves accordingly

remember to comment and leave suggestions!

i could always use topics.

until next time

AwkwardlyNormal

Google Project Loon

would you believe me if i told you that almost half the world does not have access to the internet.

what if i told you that google intends to provide internet of the entire world..

yes i said "over"

, and i said the "entire world"!

google has invented the idea to attach internet broadcast devices to...wait for it.....balloons! thats right balloons!

    these balloons will be strategically launched into the stratosphere, well above air traffic and weather conditions.  however they will be steered into the right direction by the wind currents that encompass the earth, the stratosphere is quite useful in that way..

i suppose the big question is, whats the point?

with an antenna on top of your home or place of business (possibly car, in the near future) you can receive a signal from these balloons and have a faster, more reliable source of internet, rather than depending on "sometimey" carriers, that may or may not be truly reliable as they claim! but now, more about the balloons! lol

now these balloons will be in proximity to more balloons, so that they can continue  to transmit a strong and seamless internet experience ( a netflix users dream!) 

i can hear your thoughts now, 

what if the balloon goes down? 

what if they run into a plane?

how many are already up there? 

how are they powered?

will they stay up there forever?

well, if a balloon is compromised, they are equipped with a parachute and a foam base to allow for safe retrieval, so don't plan on stealing one if it falls in your back yard by mistake..google WILL find you. lol

as mentioned earlier, the balloons are twice as high as all air traffic, wildlife and all dangerous weather conditions

currently 30 of these balloons are already in operation above new zealand's south island, these balloons were launched in june of 2013.

these balloons are towing little boxes that transmit the internet signal to an antenna receiver, these boxes are also equipped with solar energy collectors, and because of the balloons height, they have unlimited access to the suns rays to store energy in batteries that allow for night time operation

now these balloons are said to last for 100+ days at a time, (im assuming they are systematically replaced in manner that leaves some coverage in the sky while the cavalry is being sent in.)

i am also going to go ahead and assume that google is prioritizing Project Loon devices to areas that are not yet endowed with internet service like america is currently enjoying. and no, Project Loon has not reached the united states yet, but if it does.....

it would definitely mean trouble for popular domestic internet carriers, possibly even mobile technology. Google Project Loon could very well change the way we use the internet, the way we connect with others, even the way we socialize. 

can you imagine having wifi access every where you go? like everywhere? continuous access to the internet. all the time.....in every spot on the planet. 

its definitely alot to think about. 

maybe it wont become this crucial, maybe project loon will fail in its infancy. 

but if it succeeds......

well check it out for yourselves

http://www.google.com/loon/

well thats all if have for today

these have been your technological announcements for thursday september 19 2013 (sorry im a day late)

please govern yourselves accordingly! 

dont forget to leave comments and suggestions

i can always use more topics, even though i should be good until christmas lol

Until Next Time

AwkwardlyNormal

Has the Apple finally fallen from the tree? You tell me!

    apple has managed to suffer a major decline in their mobile phone market shares, ironically enough, this decline presented itself almost immediately after the WWDC announcement of the iphone 5c and 5s.
 
    i must say my comments on the matter maybe a little biased. i am now, and will forever be an android fan and connoisseur. google's products have been my friend for about 5 years now, more than ever.

i , personally and like most others, was very underwhelmed with apple's wwdc event. after watching samsung's unpacked event, (which i covered in a previous blog post) samsung succeeded in making me want to purchase/upgrade a newer device, and then some. i must say i expected more from apple, a company that has been behind in technology for some time now. i suppose i could blame the management, but i honestly dont believe its all their fault.

most people would blame the loss of Steve Jobs, to explain the recent lack of innovative and game-changing effects on technology that apple was once known for.

i place the blame on slothfulness on apple's part. its not that apple has not been as innovative, its simply that they have been late in doing so. samsung, motorola, even htc, have managed to see the pattern in what apple has done, coming up with new features, new applications, and these companies have managed to take advantage of these things that have been proven to change the way we as people look at mobile technology.

i cant tell you what i foresee for apple.inc. simply put, they have failed to keep up. and if they refuse to be daring in this ever-growing technological world, i honestly believe that the legend company's legacy will be lost in the history archives.

this has been your tech announcements for monday sept 16,2013

please govern yourselves accordingly.

until next time!

AwkwardlyNormal

please leave comments and suggestions!

i can always use topics too! 

Apple Keynote (September) 2013

I suppose this is officially a tech blog! lol since i cant find much else to talk about...hehe.

Apple Keynote (September) 2013

    today apple. inc revealed alot of....minor changes and upgrades to their arsenal of products.

   I must say, after watching Samsung's Unpacked Event, this keynote by apple was...not very impressive, but maybe thats what they were going for. in any event, enough of my opinion, lets get to the tech!

• Apple iPhone 5s

yes its finally here, the much anticipated 5s has arrived with some upgrades to make it qualify as a flagship product from apple. 

   the iphone 5 is rocking and a7 processor chip, a 64bit chip (which is not on any other phone to date) this incredibly fast processor chip allows for seamless operations between your favorite applications with lag time or stalling, it is said that this particular chip allows for an extremely detailed gaming and media viewing experience. the a7 chip on the iphone 5s is approximately 40x faster than the a6 chip on its predecessor the iphone 5.

    now i dont know if apple wants to stick it to samsung and other companies that are making phones with larger screens or what, but apple is sticking to their guns with their 4 inch retina display. (now, how you will be able to tell if that a7 chip is good of graphics with such a small screen, ill never know, but anyway)  moving on....

    the iphone 5s also comes with a m7 chip, this chip (mainly used for workout applications) will be able to tell if you are walking, or running, if you are tracking your exercise with an app. the chip will also be able to tell if you are driving (most likely to cooperate quickly with gps applications, searches (ect)

   on to the camera....with some improvements like burst shot and a new flash module ( to allow the right amount of flash in different lighting areas) the infamous iSight Camera still impresses the majority of camera phone users, now this iSight camera allows for 1080p recording and even slow motion video, capturing moments at 120fps (frames per second), translation.....thats really good..lol . the iphone 5s' front facing camera is a 1.2mp model..

   other than that, this iphone has all the other features you would expect to see from an apple device!......oh wait......there's one more thing! (hehe)

FINGERPRINT SECURITY. yes you read that right, the iPhone 5s has a fingerprint scanner on the home button, virtually doing away with passwords all-together, weather or not there is an secondary way to unlock the phone remains to be seen.

  so yes fellas, no more having to worry about your girl sneaking through your phone, unless of course you allow her fingerprint to be saved as a user as well....then....well...yeah...

  ladies, i dont really know how tricky you all can be with hiding stuff in your phones, if you do at all. lol 

the iPhone 5s comes in 3 colors, white (silver) black and a polished gold.

lets go to the next item shall we...

• iPhone 5C

   the plastic iphone, now with aluminum! (thats my creativity apple! dont you steal that! lol). 

    this iphone  (5c) is going to remind you of the 3gs, at least it did that for me when i saw it debuted. 

     this is the promised, low cost device, i believe its targeted consumers are children and young adults, more so to younger children.

     now dont sell it short just yet, its still rocking apple's famous a6 processor chip, so its still fast and guarantees the speed and reliability of a solid apple product.

     as for the hardware, everything is the same, just minus the fingerprint scanner and the additional m7 chip. 

   So whats the big difference you ask? the price! instead of the familiar $199 sticker we are so used to seeing, the iphone 5c is only $99. yes, you read that right as well...just $99. apple is smarter that they let on, its a perfect holiday gift, perfect for college and high school students to lead in the new year with, inexpensive and familiar, you cant go wrong with that. can you? 

  the iphone 5c comes in 5 different colors and has an array of cases ($39 per case) for appearance customization. a lot more options than usual. this is becoming a popular trend with newer phones.

now..... shall we talk about siri?

• Siri 

siri now has the option to speak in a man's voice....

ill just let that sink in.

okay lets keep going

   small modifications have been made to the infamous personal assistant known as siri. 

 new updates allow for siri to search in some social media websites/applications, like twitter and most likely facebook, 

  so if you want to catch up on who's beefing on twitter, siri can help you with that..

siri has been guaranteed to be more useful in the not to distant future with communication with your car's bluetooth system, but those updates haven't been discussed thoroughly yet, so ill leave your minds to wonder! lol

• iOS7

the most anticipated update for android products, im sorry.....i meant apple products (-.-) lol just kidding 

apple's website can give you a tour, of these features, i would explain it, but they did so much work putting that feature tour together, its quite nice actually, so head on over and check that out! 

• Pricing and Availability

Okay the iphone 5s and 5c will be available for purchase on the 20th of september, pre-orders are starting at different times for all major carriers, so check out those various carrier websites for more information on that pre-order thing!

iOS7 is said to be available for download on the 18th of September, just in time for the new devices! good planning there apple!

now the prices

 the iphone 5c = $99  (16gb) , $199 (32gb)

                             

                                   and 

 the iphone 5s = $199 (16gb) , $299 (32gb)

the iphone 4s is now free! on all carriers!, how ever the iphone 5 has be phased out, (it was only a year old device) so anyone that has an iphone 5, i dont know what to tell ya, upgrade, sell, or keep it as a souvenir? perhaps? maybe?........no? okay lol

well thats all i have for the apple keynote (september) 2013 event!

i hope you all enjoyed what i did talk about! 

i have to say that im forever #teamandroid but i dont want to leave out any news or advances in technology! no matter where they come from!

Leave Comments down below, and let me know what you think!

Suggestions are welcome!

this has been your "Tech-Head Announcements" 

please govern yourselves accordingly!  

until next time! 

AwkwardlyNormal

Samsung Unpacked 2013

my first blog post! 

this one will be a "tech-head" blog post! these posts will be replacing my "tech alerts" that i've been doing on facebook!

a few things you all should know, i like lowercase letters, i tend to ramble, and i am a tech nerd. 

shall we continue?

Samsung Unpacked 2013

 the samsung event took place this past wednesday (9-4-2013) in berlin, and samsung has announced quite a few promise no products and upgrades for samsung users! all of which are the galaxy note 3, the galaxy gear, and the galaxy note 10.1 (tablet). so lets get started

• Samsung's Galaxy Note 3

the highly anticipated galaxy note 3 has been one of the most talked about device for quite some time now, and now that the specs on this flagship device have been confirmed by samsung, it most certainly does not dissapoint!

   the first feature i immediately noticed is the leather-like (its actually plastic) back cover, im just wondering how it will hold up when it comes to the heat that the phone creates during extensive and detailed use, i suppose that will be determined later on. now on to the specs! the galaxy note 3 is rocking 3gb of ram, that famous large 3200 mAh battery, a taller but not wider 5.9 in screen (1080p resolution), and a well anticipated 13mp camera (that supports 4k video recording!).

      samsung has also decided to upgrade the features on the s pen, so people can start using it i suppose. with new features like, air command, action memo, and scrapbook (which is perfect for screen captures, in my opinion), the s pen is guaranteed to gain some more attention from note 3 users.

   multi-tasking on the note 3 has been improved, allowing 2 applications to run at the same time, even if they are the same application. another feature that i am particularly interested in is the draw up windows feature, which encourages you to draw a vertical rectangle on the screen, thus opening a small app window with a selection of a few multi-tasking applications to allow seamless operation without ever leaving your primary application that you have open at that moment!. nice huh

   okay, remember group play? the galaxy s4 application that allows you to link up with other s4's and play the same song in stereo? well guess what, we can now do this with video, multi-vision on the note 3 allows for the same video to be played over multiple devices while they are side-by-side to create a larger screen viewing experience. 

the note 3 also comes in 8 colors! not just black and white anymore, due to customization becoming a more important feature these days. there are also 6 additional metallic colors for those who like to be shiny, like myself. the flip covers also have more variety, coming in 10 different colors for the note 3. 

the note 3 is suspected to be on sale as soon as late september, early october!

• Samsung Galaxy Gear

this next product is one that im so geeked over. the galaxy gear is samsung's variant of a smartwatch. this smartwatch with a 1.63 inch touchscreen amoled display, 4gb of storage and 512mb of ram, the galaxy gear is definitely an impressive piece of technology. giving quick access to calls, text messages, emails and some social media notifications. 

   however the defining qualities of this smart watch is the 1.9mp camera, located on the outward facing wrist strap! yes thats right! a CAMERA on a smart watch, allowing for quick "spyshots' as i like to call them, (i see alot of funny things in church, this would be perfect for me instead of using my phone!

  the galaxy gear also has a built in microphone and speaker allowing for voice calls to be made and received all from the galaxy gear smartwatch, without ever touching your phone. yeah....thats right! you want one too huh.. i understand. the microphone has other uses as well allowing you to use s voice (samsung's SIRI variant) to set reminders, set alarms, initiate internet searches and things like that.

 the final defining quality of this device is the battery life.....25+ hours of continued operation! with phone batteries going for all day usage now-a-days, you shouldn't have a problem with charging for a full day, possibly two. especially combined with the battery of the note 3's 3200 mAh battery.

   the galaxy gear comes in 6 colors or flavors as the presented quoted it

the galaxy gear is expected to be ready for sale at the moment the note 3 goes on for sale!

• Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition)

to put this simply, the galaxy note 10.1 (2014 edition) is a larger version of the note 3, similar features, increased resolution, multi-tasking, and all around solid operating device

• Upgrades! 

samsung let this little fact slip during the announcement event, upgrades are coming to the galaxy note 2, galaxy s3 and s4 to be compatible with galaxy gear, samsung is throwing in some other anticipated features.

these upgrades are coming this october, most likely to coincide with the release of these new devices! good job samsung!

• Price!

i can only speculate what these items will cost 

so here it goes

Galaxy Note 3 = $299

Galaxy Gear Smartwatch = $299

Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) =$499

given samsung's pricing history this is the closest i can come to with how much these devices will cost!

and thats it for this blog post!

this has been the "tech head" blog post, these are coming once a week, or when more tech news becomes available!

leave your comments and suggestions below!

i can always use feedback!

!