Category: Mobile Computing

Article

The future of the tablet is the PC | CNET

My Comments

The 10″ tablet faces stiff competition nowadays

The 8”-10” tablet like the Apple iPad and its peers is facing competition from many different angles.

Firstly, it is considered a venerable portable computing device class that suits most reading tasks including Web browsing, social-network interaction, email management and the like along with casual gaming, video viewing and the like. In a lot of situations, there isn’t much need to upgrade to newer models, except if the idea is to purchase a newer model so someone else can use the existing tablet. This is very similar to the colour television set that was based on solid-state electronics where this device was brought to a point where it can serve most people’s needs effectively and reliably for a long time and manufacturers worked on ways to improve the higher end of the market.

The phablet-style smartphone becomes the norm – fits in your hand easily

This device is facing competition from the 5”-6” smartphone or “phablet” phone with these phones becoming the norm for a highly-portable reading device. They are displacing highly-compact smartphones like the original iPhones along with the 7” “coat-pocket” tablets like the iPad Mini. This is because their size is very similar to a pocket calculator of the high-end scientific or financial type which had a large surface area with plenty of buttons for direct access to the formulae and functions that mattered.

The 2-in-one like this Lenovo Yoga Pro family offers competition to the tablet

Another device that is causing competition to these tablets is the so-called “2-in-1” which becomes either a laptop computer or a tablet depending on how you fold over the keyboard or whether you attach a detachable keyboard. The 11” variants like the Microsoft Surface family offer a size that suits tablet use but may be too small for intense document-creation activity whereas the 13” variants may be too large to work as a personal tablet but earn their keep for creating documents. This is although some tablet users are using Bluetooth or USB keyboards including the tablet cases that come with integral keyboards with their tablets to speed up text entry.

There have been the doubters who thought these devices would flounder during the early years of mobile computing. One of these was Apple’s Tim Cook who described the 2-in-1s as crossbreeding a fridge and toaster in 2012 and another was the Dell Streak which was one of the first 5” phablets that was panned by consumers and critics in 2010. These were made at the time when the market wasn’t really ready for these classes of devices and was grappling with the platform smartphones and tablets.

The AMOLED-equipped Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablets fit for previewing digital images

Apple and Samsung are looking at exploring other market niches for their mobile-platform tablets while keeping venerable product categories alive. One area they are working on is to launch mobile-platform tablets that have a screen size of 13” or above. This may be seen as a way to snap at the heels of the 13” 2-in-1 of the Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro ilk or the regular laptop computer where these computers are based on Windows or MacOS X which are “regular-computer” operating systems rather than mobile operating systems.

Other market niches worth exploring would include use in the business context including high-durability tablets for those doing construction / outdoors work. Similarly,tablets can be purposed to particular user groups like those of us who work in the graphics arts or those who enjoy advanced gaming. An example of this could be the Samsung Galaxy Tab S family with the AMOLED displays that excel on contrast making them fit for previewing photographs.

Article

VAIO computers to return to the US to woo high-end customers | CNET News

My Comments

The Sony VAIO Fit 13a – VAIO is returning to the USA independently from Sony

Regular readers will have seen the product reviews of some of Sony’s VAIO laptop computers. These were positioned by Sony at the premium end of the market and had specifications and features that were considered “out of he ordinary” as far as Windows-based computers were concerned. An example of this was a Sony VAIO Pro 13 laptop that had a display resolution that was better than the Apple MacBook Air that was issued at the time the VAIO was marketed and various reviews said that this computer could earn its keep as a photographer’s field computer. Similarly, I had seen a DJ in action use a Sony VAIO laptop computer rather than an Apple MacBook as a playout device.

As the bottom was falling out of the “regular-computer” market thanks to the cheaper mobile-platform tablets, Windows 8 and other issues in 2014, Sony sold off their VAIO computer division to an independent investment fund. This fund continued to sell a smaller product range of computers under the VAIO brand which used to be a “sub-brand” of Sony’s for this product class. This range, which was sold in Japan only, was tightly focused around a few premium ultraportable computers. People after this brand tended to “grey-import” the computers from Japan whether online or as part of a foray in to that country.

Sony VAIO Fit 15e

Now VAIO have released these computers in to the US market through an online storefront and the Microsoft Stores in that country. Here, they are selling high-end portable computers that are focused around the “made in Japan” ideal which is similar to the way that some parts of Western Europe like Scandinavia or the Germanic countries (West Germany, Austria or Switzerland) were seen through the 1960s to the 1980s when it came to consumer electronics and photographic equipment – a purveyor of finely-crafted premium equipment.

The first of these is a VAIO Z Canvas which is a 12.3”  2-in-1 with a wireless keyboard. The screen resolution is 2560×1704 and it uses an Intel Core i7 for horsepower and has up to 16Gb RAM and 256Gb SSD storage. This will be offered as a Signature Edition computer that comes out of the box with Microsoft Windows 10 and no bloatware on board. The expected price will be US$2199 which would make you think of it like purchasing a the computer equivalent of a B&O or Loewe TV.

Sony VAIO Tap 20 – an example of an “Adaptive All-In-One” computer

There are plans for VAIO to issue some more of these computers to the US market, more so in the form of traditional laptops (hear here, VAIO Fit 15e) and some desktops perhaps of the “gaming-rig” or “all-in-one” ilk. Personally, if VAIO were to have their fingers in the traditional “bricks-and-mortar” pie, I would recommend that they follow what Bose and B&O have done where they either run their own stores in upper-class neighbourhoods or work the “store within a store” method where they set up shop in premium department stores.

What it is showing is that computer brands are finding that working within certain profitable niches such as performance computers (mobile workstations or gaming-grade laptops) or premium computer ranges is considered a way to survive. This is similar to how a few American and European AV names focused on premium-grade photographic, audio and video equipment when Asian companies took on the mass-market for this class of equipment through the latter part of the 20th century

Who knows if VAIO will return to Europe, Australia or New Zealand?

Article

Gadgets like these could benefit from chargers that are part of interior designs

King Living’s Smart Sofa Charges Your Smartphone, Remembers Your Seating Position

My Comments

King Living had put forward a “home-theatre” 2-person recliner sofa of the kind you would have in a “Gold Class” cinema. But they integrated USB charging in to this sofa so you can charge your smartphone or tablet or avoid compromising its battery runtime while you are using it.

But this kind of idea hasn’t been really explored by companies who manufacture furniture and general appliances for the home. Here, you could have a lamp or electric fan of the kind that sits on a table or desk being equipped with a 2-port or 4-port USB charger that is part of its base  Or you could have a freestanding trouser press that has the ability for you to charge your smartphone from it while your good pants are being pressed.

Similarly, a furniture maker or interior designer could come forth with a USB charging station that is integrated in to the furniture in the same way that some bedheads came with integrated bedside lamps or clock radios or some bedside tables came with clock radios. This was facilitated with various manufacturers releasing products that are designed from the outset to be integrated in to furniture. In a similar way, some people integrated car stereos that were powered by 12V power-supplies in to furniture to provide an integrated look for secondary-area audio entertainment.

This can be approached with so-called “reference-design” USB and wireless charger products that simplify the process of integrating in to existing designs and circuits. The circuits could come in to their own with furniture that has integrated electrical circuitry like a massage chair or appliances like a table lamp. They may have to be factored to allow for use with low voltages or with mains voltages so there isn’t the need for a separate power supply to be designed for applications that just have AC voltages. As well, they would have to be supplied in “short-form”

Once this is achieved, it could cut down the number of wall-warts that have to exist in the kitchen or office just to charge your gadgets.

Introduction

I am reviewing the Plantronics Backbeat Pro Bluetooth noise-cancelling headset which is my first attempt at reviewing a headset equipped with two key features: Bluetooth wireless connectivity and active noise cancelling.

The former feature links to mobile devices and laptop computers via Bluetooth wireless technology while the latter detects noise associated with transport or fans using microphones and applies a “counter-noise” to this noise through the headset’s speakers. When you listen to program content or take a call, the sound from the external device such as the music or your caller’s voice is mixed in with the aforementioned “counter-noise” so you can hear that sound more clearly.

Price

RRP:  AUD$349 (Street price AUD$299)

Type

The headset itself

Connectivity and Usability

I was able to pair the Plantronics BackBeat Pro headset with my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 smartphone very quickly – this supported NFC-based pairing which is currently implemented in Android only. But with devices that don’t support it, you can start the pairing process without needing to hold down a button on the headset.  There is support for multipoint use with a simplified call-handling experience where you just touch one button to answer calls from any phone.

Right side earcup with volume control and call handling button on earpiece

There is a 3.5mm four-conductor headset jack which connects to your device via a supplied cord that is wired for CTIA / Apple setups. This overrides the Bluetooth headset functionality so you can use the Backbeat in an airliner.

It is powered via an integrated rechargeable battery that lasts a long time – you could get a day or more out of the headset’s battery life when you are using it as a Bluetooth headset or as an active-noise-reduction headset with another device.

Left-side earcup with track navigation toggle, play-pause button on earcup and noise-cancellation switch

The controls are easy to discover with a large ring on the right earpiece to adjust the sound volume, a large ring on the left earpiece to move between tracks, a large button on the left earpiece for playing and pausing music and a large button on the right earpiece for handling calls. The power and noise-cancel slide switches are easy to discover and locate with the former on the right earpiece and the latter on the left earpiece.

Connectivity options – USB charging socket and 3.5mm headset input jack (wired for Apple / CTIA)

There is a motion sensor that starts and stops your music device when you put the headphones on and take them off. But this can be very erratic in some situations such as a rough road or rail ride or sometimes even putting them on a table and subsequently picking them up has me find that they start playing too early. A supplied configuration program can be used to adjust this function but I would prefer a hardware switch to enable and disable this function.

Comfort and Durability

The Plantronics Backbeat Pro has the same kind of comfort level expected for most circum-aural headsets and could be worn for a significant amount of time. You could feel that they were there without it feeling as though they are crushing on your head and the padded headband provided that feeling as if they were just there.

Cloth speaker grilles assure comfortable long-time use

The ear surrounds even didn’t come across as something that could end up being sweaty. As well, your ears rest on foam cushioning with cloth lining the earpiece areas so as to allow for increased comfort. Here you even have the sides that each earcup represents written on the cloth lining itself. The only comfort tradeoff you may find with the Plantronics BackBeat Pro and its peers is that due to their hard construction, they may feel uncomfortable to use when you are sleeping if you sleep with your head on your side.

As for build quality, I would expect them to last a long time. This is through the use of durable design practices like thicker plastic and placing a plastic conduit which houses the cabling between the earpieces against an aluminium strip.

Sound

I was able to run the Plantronics Backbeat Pro headset at lower volumes while the sound is still audible which makes for a headset that is designed with efficient drivers. This would then allow for the headset to run on its own batteries for a long time yet be useable.

Music

The music came through loud and clear and with that desirable amount of bass response. I even disabled any equalisation curves in my media player and any in my phone to identify whether the bass response was there without the need for added equalisation and found that these headphones still delivered the punch in the music.

Video and Games

The Plantronics Backbeat Pro has come up trumps with video content in that it was able to yield clear dialogue and give punch to those effects. I was even keeping an ear out for effects like gunshots or vehicle moment while watching Kurt Wallander because they are the kind of effects used in some of the games liked by “core” gamers and they came through with that desirable punch.

Communications use

I have made and taken a few phone calls using the Plantronics Backbeat Pro Bluetooth headset and have noticed that the conversation came through clearly for both myself and the caller. I also tried the headset a few times with Google Now and the voice assistant could parse what I was saying easily. The headset call button worked as expected with the ability to tap twice to call the last number or tap and hold to invoke Google Now or Siri depending on your mobile device.

Noise reduction and handling in noisy environments

I used the Plantronics Backbeat Pro headset in the back of a transit bus and had noticed some level of noise reduction when the bus was at speed and was able to hear my music content more clearly.

Active Noise Cancelling

The Active Noise Cancelling function is available when the headset is switched on and can work either with a wired connection or the Bluetooth connection. Here, you then enable it using a slide switch on the left earpiece and can notice the difference.

Here, the rumbling associated with trains and the like is cancelled out using so-called anti-noise. There was a noticeable difference when I used it on the train in Melbourne’s City Loop because I heard very little of the rumbling associated with through-tunnel train travel but could have my music at a decent volume. The experience was also the same when I used this headset in a few different transit buses and the noise from the engine was significantly reduced. As well the noise-cancelling function had no effect on the BackBeat Pro’s bass response. In some situations, I could hear the destination announcements that were called over the train’s intercom or a radio station played over a rail-replacement charter bus’s sound system more clearly and intelligibly even if I had my music going.

The only problem with using Active Noise Cancelling is that if you want to simply just run that functionality without the headset working with another audio device, you have to plug something in to the 3.5mm jack to override the Bluetooth transceiver. This may be of annoyance for those of you who are trying to sleep on the overnight train or that night flight or use the Active Noise Cancelling to effectively mute out the air-conditioner’s noise while trying to go to sleep..

Limitations

The active noise cancelling function  could be set up to run independent of Bluetooth operation or having the headphone cable plugged in. This could be handy when you are in a noisy environment without needing to deal with a cable that can entangle you. An example of this could be to claw some sleep when you are in the plane or in a motel room where there is a noisy old air-conditioner.

The microUSB charging socket on this headset could be set up to work as a way to connect the headset to a computer and have it serve as a USB audio sound device for that computer. The controls could also be mapped through as USB Human Interface Device controls for multimedia and telephony use. This would earn its keep when you are on the plane and using a laptop which is set up for “flight mode”, or are using the headset with a desktop computer for online communications and gaming, especially as traditional “three-piece” desktop computers don’t necessarily support Bluetooth.

The Plantronics Backbeat Pro could benefit from a hardware switch to enable or disable the sensors that allow it to play or stop the music source if you take the headset off. This can be of importance where the ride is bumpy and this function could be susceptible to false triggering.

As well, the headphone cord could benefit from a switch which selects between OMTP / Apple (CTIA) headset wiring mode. This is because not all mobile phones and communications devices are wired for CTIA (Apple) mode and you may want to make sure that your BackBeat Pro could work with anything your present to.

As for adaptors, the Plantronics Backbeat Pro Bluetooth headset missed out on an inflight-entertainment adaptor which is considered abnormal for a noise-cancelling headset that would be typically used in an aeroplane.

Conclusion

I would recommend the Plantronics BackBeat Pro for those of you who value a Bluetooth noise-cancelling travel headset that excels on usability especially when you use your smartphone as a music player when you are travelling on public transport. As well, it would earn its keep with those of you who aren’t necessarily after the fashionable headset brands but are really after something that does the job.

If you do need to use this headset as an active-noise-reduction headset without the use of any program-source device, you could use a 3.5mm plug which you could purchase from an electronics store and plug this in to the audio jack on the headset.

Sony MAP-S1 network-capable CD receiver – an example of good CD-playing hi-fi equipment

When the idea of MP3s came along and there weren’t much in the way of online “download-to-own” music stores as a legitimate online music source, the way to build your online music source was to buy CDs and “rip” them to your hard disk.

What was this, you may ask? Here, you use a music management program like iTunes or Windows Media Player to copy the digital audio from your CDs to your computer’s hard disk and make each track its own audio file based on a certain standard. Such programs work with one or more music-metadata sources like Gracenote, AllMusic or FreeDB to obtain the details about the album and who performed on it to identify each of the recordings.Then we play the music from the computer’s hard disk using the music management program. For portable enjoyment, you would “sync” albums, playlists or tracks out to your portable MP3 player or smartphone, or to removable storage like an SD card or USB memory stick.

Software media managers like Windows Media Player can rip CDs to files

I would personally “rip” my CD collection to 192kbps WMA files which have been considered efficient yet able to come across at a quality equivalent to the 320kbps MP3 file. The WMA and AAC files use proprietary algorithms developed by Microsoft and Dolby respecitively to produce a better-sounding audio file compared to a similarly-sized MP3 file.

Now with iTunes and Amazon on the scene and an increasing number of record companies offering access to MP3s of their albums when you purchase them on vinyl, we are seeing less importance in buying music on CD. I do still continue to buy most of my music on CD and rip it to the hard disk. I would use iTunes for purchasing music “as a single” or if it isn’t available on CD.

.. yet they can still be played on good sound systems like this one

I retain my CD collection for a few reasons. For example, I could play CDs on hi-fi equipment which, in a lot of cases with the good stuff, sounds better than what I would be using for MP3 playback. Another reason that has come to mind with FLAC and similar high-grade audio files and high-grade network-capable audio equipment coming to the fore is the ability to “re-rip” the CDs to better-sounding FLAC using a media management program that works to this standard like dbPoweramp or Exact Audio Copy. Microsoft Windows 10 even offers the ability to rip CDs to FLAC as an “out-of-the-box” feature and I have taken advantage of this feature with newly-purchased CDs and some of the older discs.

“Re-ripping” to FLAC allows systems like the Naim UnitiQute 2 that handle high-quality file-based audio to perform at their best

I could then subsequently use the media manager to downconvert selected material to MP3, WMA or AAC for transfer to most portable equipment when taking it on the road or copy the music to a NAS with a DLNA media server that streams to the good equipment or downconverts and streams to equipment not capable of FLAC sound files.

Being able to keep using CDs as a music medium will still be important to me because of the ability to play them through good-quality equipment along with being able to reuse them as sources for high-quality file-based audio.

Article

SanDisk’s memory key that is a wireless mobile NAS

SanDisk Announces Bigger, Cheaper Wi-Fi Flash Drive | SmallNetBuilder

From the horse’s mouth

SanDisk

SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick

Press Release

Product Page

My Comments

There are a number of “wireless network-attached storage” devices on the market that are primarily pitched at people who use mobile devices and want to have network storage for these devices.

These devices typically work as their own Wi-Fi networks and work alongside a Web front that they provide or a native app provided by the vendor for the main mobile platforms to allow you to use them as networked storage for these devices. But those of you who use regular computers are typically required to connect these wireless NAS devices to the computer’s USB ports and use them as if they are removable storage devices.

SanDisk has released the the latest of these devices as the wireless networked equivalent of the USB memory key a.k.a. thumbdrive or jumpdrive. This device, known as the Connect Wireless Stick is the same size as a large USB memory key but has its own Wi-FI access point and Web server. There is an integrated battery and you can plug it in to a computer or USB charger to charge this device. In this same context, it can be used as a USB flash drive for the connected computer or multimedia device.

It also has the ability to work as a Wi-FI bridge for Internet connection through you setting up the Internet Connection in the SanDisk mobile app. But being a low-powered device, the SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick would have the ability to stream video content to three client devices concurrently rather than five for most of the hard-disk-based devices. Oh yeah, hang this around your neck to view content you have loaded on to it or share stuff with your buddies sitting at your lunch table in the caf – no need to forget it when you head to class.

But there are a lot of issues to be raised with these devices and how they interlink with the rest of the world. One of these involves the issue of manufacturers writing their own apps for their devices and requiring  users to install and use these apps to see full benefit from them. Here, the wireless NAS devices could use a common WebDAV or CIFS client and UPnP / Bonjour functionality for simplified discovery including the ability to discover the device’s Web page in that context. As well, the device could be managed through a password-protected Web page. This would allow for, at the most, one app to be deployed on your mobile device.

They would also have to support WebDAV and CIFS along with HTTP for two-way file transfer to and from hosts along with appropriate DLNA abilities for interaction with consumer-electronics devices. Similarly the wireless NAS devices would have to support working as clients or access points for small private networks i.e. home / small-business networks and as “go-between” bridges for public networks. This kind of functionality would require WPS and manual-entry setup for small private networks along with Wi-Fi Passpoint setup for public networks.

In essence, the wireless network-attached-storage device should be a point of innovation for everything that works with it. This includes public and private networks, consumer-electronics and photography devices along with system software for regular and mobile computing devices.

Article

Bluetooth beacon technology is relevant with rally racing and similar sports

From the horse’s mouth

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb

Press Release

My Comments

This year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Coloradio Springs, Colorado, USA has become an interesting race when it comes to enriching the spectator’s experience.

It has been facilitated by the use of Bluetooth Beacons or iBeacons along with an iOS 8+ iPhone app which provides detailed up-to-date information about the competitors and where the place during the race. This includes the ability for users to favourite a competitor and be notified when they hit the finish. The Bluetooth Beacon technology is pitched as being Internet-independent because there isn’t the need to have the vehicles equipped with GPS-capable devices and spectators’ smartphones can pick up these beacon signals easily.

.. like bike races of the Tour De France calibre

But I do see more potential for this in rallies, hill-climb races, road-based cycle races, marathons and similar point-to-point races. This is where competitors are required to race from one point to another and following a known route or series of waypoints. Here, spectators would typically be spread across the (typically long) course and would want to know when their favoured competitors are coming past them as well as knowing how they are placed in the competition.

The same technology can work with other computer systems to accurately determine who has won the race without requiring the use of proprietary transponder technology. As well, there isn’t a requirement for competitors to carry and use GPS devices that need continual mobile-broadband links for uploading real-time position data, something that would be difficult with events held in country areas where such service isn’t all that reliable. The other bonus is that the Bluetooth beacons are very lightweight which adds very little weight to the competitor or competing vehicle where any extra weight carried can slow the competitor down.

But the hillclimb allowed spectators with suitably-equipped mobile devices that supported beacon detection to detect these beacons themselves when it comes to when “their” competitors are near. As well, computing devices with Bluetooth Smart functionality and Wi-Fi / mobile-broadband Internet access can be located at key points in the course to report the competitors’ positions for real-time updates for broadcast and online use.

It does show that the idea of using the Bluetooth Beacon technology for tracking the competition in point-to-point races has been proven thus allowing for systems that are more affordable for providing real-time competition updates for the spectators. It could be that as you watch that car rally you could have you phone notify you when that rally legend is near and about to perform that 3-point turn in the WRX. Similarly, your phone would notify you as the Tour De France péléton is about to arrive in your street so you can flip open those shutters and windows on the front of your house to have a look as it comes past.

For it to work effectively, the Bluetooth Beacon technology needs to be able to work on the client side with iOS, Android and Windows platforms with the necessary client apps written to work on each of those platforms.