Disqus - Latest Comments for jimtravis

Re: Hands on: Asus ZenWatch WI500Q review | Mobile phone accessories Reviews | TechRadar

jimtravis — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 19:05:25 -0000

I have several Android Wear devices, the ZenWatch is my favorite. I was surprised to see the article stating ZenWatch would not get the 5.1.1 update. My first Android Wear device to receive the 5.1.1 OTA update was the ZenWatch.

Re: Why I prefer Samsung Gear’s Tizen to Android Wear

jimtravis — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 00:46:35 -0000

When the Gear S was announced, the 2" screen caught my attention. I have added a Gear S to my gadget collection along with several Android Wear watches. My favorite Android Wear watch is the ASUS Zen watch.

Overall, I like the S, and provided a plethora of 3rd party apps are added, it will be a competent platform. My main complaint with the S is, the last time I checked, the only browser available was Opera Mini. I have been a fan of Opera browsers since my WinMo days. Unfortunately, Opera Mini does not auto refresh, and I have not found any setting to turn it on.

I have not been able to find an Android Wear, or Tizen bus tracking app. I use several buses daily, so a tracking app, or auto refresh browser is essential. On Android Wear, the WIB browser auto refreshes so the time displayed is always the latest update, no manual update required. With Opera Mini, the page has to be manually updated for the latest actual arrival times. When you are running for the bus, auto refresh is an essential feature for me.

If I missed a setting to turn on auto refresh for Opera Mini, or another browser is available with auto refresh, please let me know.

Re: Huawei’s harsh words about Windows Phone are indicative of the problems plaguing the OS

jimtravis — Fri, 26 Dec 2014 13:01:14 -0000

Being a gadget enthusiast, I purchased the HD7 Windows Phone (first WP7) on the day it was released. I went to the local T-Mobile store on release day to purchase the HD7. There were no Windows Phones on display even though it was the release day for their first WP. I asked a sales rep about the phone. He verified no Windows Phone were out for display, and said he thinks the one unboxed unit is out back being charged. About 10 minutes later, he returned with the phone which he had no idea how to operate. Based on other articles / comments I read, my experience was not unique. With that lack of interest from carriers, it is amazing any phones were sold outside of Microsoft Stores.
Like iOS, WP is too limited / restricted to be my daily driver. However, the HD7 and other WPs I have owned were all silky smooth to operate (as smooth as iOS IMO), and very stable.

Re: The iPad Air 2 is why tablet sales are falling

jimtravis — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 13:16:26 -0000

I have too many gadgets including iPads. I'll take my Samsung Tab S over any iPad. The Tab S supports MicroSD cards / USB OTG, and its screen is amazing. The Surface Pro is a different class of machine, and offers so much more than an iPad, or Android tablet. I do respect other opinions; however, did the author use a top-of-the-line Android tablet with a similar size screen also, or is he basing his opinion on using a device that cost about half the iPad's cost with a much smaller screen? His Surface Pro 3 opinion was based on very little time with the device. He may have a different opinion with more hands-on time with the Pro 3.

Of course, our requirements for a tablet may be different. The iPad (iPhone as well) is too restricted to be my daily driver. Maybe the tasks the author performs are all met with the iPad. If so, he is using an overall very nice device, it just does not meet my needs.

Re: 15 reasons Macs are still better than Windows PCs

jimtravis — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 17:08:35 -0000

We all have different experiences which impact our opinions. All my early hardware failures have been Macs. PCs that cost half as much as the Macs gave me much longer trouble free service than the more expensive Macs. The only OS I had to reinstall was OS X due to OS upgrade breakage, or severe lag issues. Been using Windows since 3.0, never needed to reinstall.

On the boot times you mentioned, I have several Windows 8 tablets / computers that always boot up ready to use in the same time span you stated for the MacBook Pro, or less time in many cases. They are SSD based, and resume in 2 seconds or less. Are you comparing an SSD based Mac to a spinning drive Windows machine with an older version OS?

Although there have been improvements, the earlier MacBook Pros ran so hot they were uncomfortable to place in your lap, and you were concerned about the heat marking the furniture. Sometimes an earlier MacBook Pro I owned would get so hot it would slow down to PDA speeds until it cooled. This was from normal activities, not ripping a video, or Final Cut Pro.

Concerning the lights, I like them although it would be nice to have a master lights off button for the dark room scenario. I wonder if Apple eliminated them for aesthetic reasons, or to keep you in the dark (no pun intended) from what was really going on.

Concerning file sharing, Dropbox etal are better solutions for me although I respect your needs may be different. Dropbox etal are available via my local internet connection, or miles away. Dropbox also has clients for a plethora of platforms.

The worst lemon piece of equipment I ever owned was a G5 iMac. What a total waste of money that was. It must have been built on a Monday after a long vacation.

I respect that our opinions are different based on our different Apple / OS X experiences. Just wanted to share another opinion.

Re: Episode 402 - Windows Install Made Easy! Power Your HDTV With Your Smart Phone, Power Supply Picks, Speaker Wire Ripoffs, MHL Explained, MS Surface Pro Tablet!

jimtravis — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 19:45:21 -0000

I realize the comment about Apple being dangerously close to the Surface Pro with lesser hardware in the iPad was based on how smooth the map apps function; however, there is no comparison between the devices in what they can do - full desktop OS vs mobile. I realize he did indicate how much more powerful the SP was earlier, but someone hearing the close comment may think he meant overall, not just smoothness.

Even for media, the Surface Pro handily beats the iPad in that the SP can play many more codecs natively, supports major browser plug-ins, and you can even install iTunes if you desire on the SP; you can have the best of all media worlds.

I disagee with his opinion about the wrong hardware being in the SP. Haswell will offer better battery life, but this first SP version has excellent performance, great screen, native USB3, overall excellent feel, quiet fan, and is well made. Version 2 will be better no doubt, the same is true for just about every device made.

I realize 10 hours + of battery life may be important to some users, but for many, it is not the holy grail for tablets that many tech sites make it out to be. If battery life is the critical priority, then RT, the iPad, or Android (some with better battery time than iPad) would be the better choices along with significant drops in performance / capabilities.

I do respect the author's opinion, but would have liked specifics on why he considers Win8 to be unpolished. Have used Win8 on the Pro, RT, several Atom based tablets, and touchscreen Ultrabooks. Impressed with the smoothness, and polish on all. Again, realize we may have different opinions, but what did I miss that caused the author to classify it as unpolished.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Note II: what's changed?

jimtravis — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:14:38 -0000

Sideload Flash, and use Firefox Beta. Works great on Nexus 7, and Xoom both with Jelly Bean. Shame Google / Adobe gave into the "pressure" to eliminate Flash. There is, and always will be for the next few years, Flash content on the web not available in alternate formats. At least one of my devices will not be upgraded to exclusively browsers that do not support Flash.

Re: Apple details 2010 presentation to Samsung on Android patent infringement, licensing offer

jimtravis — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 23:29:03 -0000

Apple was the first to advertise smartphones in the mainstream media, there were good smartphones before the iPhone, but only advertised in tech publications.

Re: Samsung Galaxy Note for T-Mobile review

jimtravis — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 14:41:29 -0000

Respect your opinion, but disagree. I have the international version of the Note, and it is the best phone I have used on any platform. Have not experienced any problems with either Gingerbread, or ICS. The Note is as smooth as my iOS devices, and does so many more of the tasks I want to complete with a mobile device than the competing platforms. After using the huge screen, don't enjoy using the smaller smartphone screens any more for videos, or web viewing.

Re: Strategy Analytics: iPad keeps riding high in Q2 tablet market share, Android doesn't budge

jimtravis — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:50:49 -0000

A significant reason for the lackluster sales of Android tablets is the lack of significant mainstream advertising. Since the iPad was announced, Apple has released continuous mainstream, effective, well done marketing campaigns for the iPad showing it doing useful "cool" tasks vs. sporadic mainstream ads for Android tablets. I pass about a dozen advertisements for the iPad on the bus downtown everyday vs. zero for Android tablets. Catching up with my network TV from last night via TiVo, I saw more iPad commercials last night alone than I have seen for competing Android tablets in all of 2012. Did Google ever consider that maybe, just maybe a major reason (not the only reason) Apple has 70% or so of the tablet market is they do about 95%+ of the mainstream advertising for tablets (at least in the Boston, MA area), and have been doing continuous mainstream marketing since the original iPad announcement? You don't need a Harvard MBA to realize there may be a significant relationship between % of sales, and % of mainstream advertising. Add in Apple's current "mindshare", iPod / iPhone "halo" impact, and all the free Apple / iPad press mentions, the result is a marketing juggernaut that will take a significant, effective, long-term mainstream marketing campaign to crack.

If you walk into a BestBuy, the iPad has a brightly lit end of aisle location that you can not help walking by if you spend more than 5 minutes in the store. Although now my local BB has a dedicated other tablet section, it is not as brightly lit, or impressive as the iPad end aisle location. When the Xoom was introduced, the Xoom was in the Netbook section as far as you could get from a high traffic area. For a short time, we did see Xoom commercials, but they were "too geeky" to attract the attention of the mainstream consumer, did not show the device doing cool, useful, everyday tasks like the iPad, and did not include why you should buy the Xoom over the iPad at least in terms the non-tech consumer could appreciate.

Re: Engadget Giveaway: win one of two Samsung Galaxy Notes, courtesy of 1SaleADay!

jimtravis — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 23:09:30 -0000

Best smartphone available.

Re: Nielsen has Android near 52 percent of US smartphone share in Q2, iPhone ekes out gains

jimtravis — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 01:30:54 -0000

Respect your opinion, but disagree. Classic WinMo for me was as stable as any iOS, or Android device I have owned, and did more tasks I needed out of the box than competing platforms. I favored the higher end devices with a large VGA screen, plenty of RAM, and used finger navigation about 95% of the time. I rarely had to close apps, the built-in memory handler worked fine. Maybe there were lower end device with inadequate RAM, etc, but I did not experience them. Overall, I have to reset my iOS, and Android devices at least as often as any of my WinMo devices. I suspect many WinMo problems were a poorly written 3rd party app.. When a smooth system acted up after installing a new app, just deleted the app, and tried another one in the same catergory. The bad apps weren't malware, just poorly coded.

I don't doubt you, and others had less than stellar experience with WinMo, but my experience was very positive. The HD2 is still one of my favorite all time devices.

Apple was also the only company to advertise mp3 players in the mainstream media. It paid off with majority market share, and the halo impact on the iPhone sales.

Re: Nielsen has Android near 52 percent of US smartphone share in Q2, iPhone ekes out gains

jimtravis — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 22:46:08 -0000

And WinCE, and Palm did not advertise in the mainstream media. Apple launched saturated mainstream marketing for the iPhone, and for the longest time, were the only one advertising their smartphone in the mainstream market. The competing networks were advertising their networks, not any particular phone in most cases.

Non-tech consumers saw the iPhone doing cool things with no ads for the competing devices so they equated smartphones with Apple. The non-tech consumer probably already owned an iPod, some halo effect there as well.

Re: ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company's new top-of-the-line tablet

jimtravis — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 12:31:53 -0000

Glad your experience with iSwifter has been positive, and I don't doubt you like it. My experience has been different. I find streaming Flash videos with iSwifter to be significantly less quality with noticeable pixelation vs. the native Flash on Android tablets. The native Flash works fine in the stock Android browser, and Opera Mobile. Don't use Chrome Beta that often because it does not support Flash.

Re: ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 review: meet the company's new top-of-the-line tablet

jimtravis — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 11:55:48 -0000

Although I prefer Android due to iOS's missing features, I am a gadget addict, and the iPad, iPad 2, new iPad are in my electronic toy box. All my iPads hiccup at times although the web lore is they do not. In fact, I have found the new iPad hiccups a bit more than the iPad 2. I agree some Android devices hiccup a bit more than the iPad (again, the iPad does hiccup); however, some of my other Android devices are just as a smooth as the iPad overall. I am looking forward to the first review which includes the usual knock on Android for hiccups that actually states iOS hiccups as well. Some of my jerker devices are the iPod touch's (particularly gen 3 and 4), much jerkier than any Android device I own including the Galaxy Player 5.

Re: Editorial: Engadget on Microsoft's new Surface tablet line

jimtravis — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:31:53 -0000

I respect your opinion, but disagree that these Surface tablets may be the first worthy competitor to the iPad. The ASUS Transformer runs rings around the iPad. The Transformer Prime is smooth, fast, light, stylish, great battery life, plenty of apps, supports Flash well (the full internet, not the iPad's subset), and has a user accessible file system to allow uploading any file type to cloud services such as Dropbox. The keyboard / battery dock is an excellent accessory.

Some of the best tablets are Windows 7 based as long as you don't need 10 hours of battery life. The MSI WinPad, Acer W500, and Samsung Slate are excellent, full OS tablets. Change 4 settings in the built-in settings applet, and you have a very finger friendly, powerful tablet for about the same cost as an iPad (bit more for the very powerful Slate). The Windows 7 tablets play Netflix, and Hulu (without need of Hulu Plus subscription) out of the box, and those "computer needed" videos you encounter with the Hulu app on iOS / Android play fine on the Windows 7 tablets. My WinPad, and Slate are as smooth as my iPad, and do so much more. The only downside is battery life. Depends on your priority. I do not need 10 hours of battery life 99.9% of the time. It is shameful that the tech review sites always knock the finger friendliness of Windows 7 without mentioning the built-in WYSIWYG advanced settings applet that lets you change just about any UI element to a size comfortable for your finger size vs. the one size fits all element sizes of the iPad, and Android. I assume the reviewers know (or should know) about the ability to easily change UI element sizes, but for some reason don't mention it, or if they don't know about this setting feature that has been in every version of Windows I can remember, the reviewer should not be reviewing Windows tablets.

These new Surface tablets look fine, and I expect they will do well. One of the problems with Windows 7 tablets, and Android tablets (to an extent) is lack of mainstream advertising. I see about a dozen iPad ads on the way downtown each day ranging from illuminated end panels at bus waiting areas to app 12 foot by 16 foot billboards on both sides of a building vs. zero ads for Windows, or Android tablets. I have seen at least a half dozen iPad commericials on network TV in the past two weeks vs zero for Windows 7 / Android. Don't recall ever seeing a TV commercial for any version of a Windows based tablet, and rarely see a TV commercial for an Android tablet since the Xoom campaign over a year ago. Add in all the free mentions Apple gets in the mainstream media due to their "mindshare", and you have a marketing juggernaut. Whether you like Apple products, or not, you have to give them credit for masterful mainstream marketing campaigns.

Re: Switched On: Going Thermonuclear

jimtravis — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 23:32:42 -0000

And the iPhone was the first heavily advertised smartphone in the mainstream media. Before the iPhone, you rarely saw a smartphone advertised in the mainstream media, WM, Palm etal limited their much smaller advertising budgets to tech releated sites.

Re: Has Android lost its mojo?

jimtravis — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:15:33 -0000

Agree, UAC is fine in Windows 7, and other than initial setup, was fine in Vista. If it bothered him extensively, he could turn off UAC with one checkbox in his user account although I would not recommend that action.

Re: Has Android lost its mojo?

jimtravis — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:04:30 -0000

It is not surprising the Android tablets have not been blockbusters like their smartphone brethren. The Android manufacturers must increase the quality, and quantity of their advertisements. Android tablets aren't selling well, but you rarely see Android tablets advertised in the mainstream media other than the Fire which is really advertising the Amazon ecosystem with nary a mention of Android. Other than the initial TV advertising for the Xoom many months ago, you rarely see a mainstream advertisement for an Android, or Windows based tablet. .

Each day on the bus to downtown Boston, I see at least a dozen iPad ads ranging from end panels in bus kiosks to building width billboards. Zero for anything Android based. When I get home, see multiple iPad ads on network prime time TV vs. the rare Android tablet TV spot. The iPad commercials are not on every night, but when it is their turn in the Apple advertising juggernaut cycle, you see multiple iPad ads per evening of prime time TV sometimes two in the same show.

Google / manufacturers must prioritize getting mindshare. On the 12 noon TV news the day the new iPad was announced, the newscast included Apple would be introducing a new iPad in an hour with more details on the 5pm news. On the bus downtown listening to the radio on that same day, the top of the hour 2pm newsbreak included mentioning the new iPad's introduction along with an audio clip from the keynote. On the same bus, the 3pm newsbreak had an even longer blurb about the new iPad along with a different, longer audio keynote clip. Don’t recall hearing anything about any new Android device ever. We had just completed Mobile World Congress with many new devices announced, no mentions in the mainstream press, at least that I saw / heard.

iPads may outsell Android tablets 11 to 1 or so; however, they out advertise them by at least 25 to 1 in the Boston area. On the metric of percentage of overall tablet sales to percentage of tablet mainstream advertising, the iPad falls short. Is it any wonder that the tablet extensively advertised in the mainstream media since its introduction outsells the tablet with minimum mainstream advertising? Android smartphones did not start their meteoric rise to outsell iPhones until the Android manufacturers started extensive mainstream advertising.

Re: Engadget Giveaway: win an 11-inch MacBook Air pre-loaded with Parallels!

jimtravis — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:56:04 -0000

This would be a nice addition to my electronic toy chest. ;-)

Re: Kantar: Windows Phone clawing back share thanks to Nokia, but Android still rules the roost

jimtravis — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:50:31 -0000

I am aware of, and have been using the alpha press since it was introduced in the upgrade. Before that upgrade, I would have posted "way" too much scrolling. The larger tile sizes results in more scrolling of the home page since it only holds about half the number of icons per page as iOS, or Android.

Re: Kantar: Windows Phone clawing back share thanks to Nokia, but Android still rules the roost

jimtravis — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:50:39 -0000

Respect your opinion, but have a different opinion. Was a big fan of Classic WM, and wanted to like WP7. Do have a HD7, which I purchased the day after it was released, and have applied all updates, I find the interface boring / bland, requires too much scrolling, and too many missing features / apps that I need for daily use. Again, I respect others may love the Metro interface, but for me, a major disappointment.

Re: iPhone waltzes into top spot of US phone satisfaction index, small carriers trump the giants

jimtravis — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:39:45 -0000

Tried them, and compared to native Flash on Android, a big disappointment with these alternate cloud servers converting the page into a format iOS can display - better than iOS's total lack of Flash support, but not as good as native Flash support on Android based on extensively using both platforms.

Re: Sprint reportedly cancelling its early upgrade program June 1st

jimtravis — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:54:32 -0000

I know WiMax is going away, but for now, I receive 6.5Mbs downloads over WiMax when the best I can get from any of the other 3 major US carriers on 4G LTE/3G/2G is 256Kbps at the same locations. One of those locations is my house, and another is my favorite movie theater waiting for a movie to start. Each person's use pattern is different, and for some, Sprint has the most reliable, fast connections available at important locations. T-Mobile is the best for data signal while in the subways of Boston. Most carriers have no signal in many stations / tunnels, T-Mobile consistently has a strong 4G signal in the subways at least in the core downtown Boston area.

Re: Ask Engadget: best smartphone for the over fifties?

jimtravis — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:22:20 -0000

Yes, I am aware of the alternate Flash replacements on iOS, and have tried them. My experience with them has been negative, particularly the solutions which run via a proxy server. With Android, Flash is supported out of the box, and can be set to full time, on-demand, or turned off. You do need a jailbreak to get at the file system with a universal file explorer on iOS.