Computer and Technology

Unknown · at 5:45 pm

Today's smartphones are capable of incredible things, but only if they've got enough battery power.

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Unknown · at 6:38 pm

Distant Worlds $30.00 Anyone who likes complex games and prefers being a governor to being a god should check out Distant Worlds.

Buy Now

Distant Worlds is a massive 4X game that shares many of the strengths and weaknesses of the genre: detailed systems, technology, and options; very long games that form their own histories and stories; minimalist graphics and effects; and a steep, steep learning curve.

Distant Worlds gives you more sliders to fiddle with during "New Game" than some games give you for the entire experience.

Distant Worlds is definitely aimed at the hardcore player for this genre. It does not attempt to simplify or strip down gameplay or worry much about "approachability." I have a weakness for games like this (see Aurora and Dwarf Fortress) but they're not to everyone's taste. Code Force/Matrix Games has designed Distant Worlds for a specific niche, and they've produced a game that will satisfy the target audience very well.

The default beginning for Distant Worlds gives you a small fleet with which to begin your conquest.

Distant Worlds is sold as a core game and a series of expansions. This review is based on the latest bundle, which included all of the released material. The expansions don't just add "more stuff." They add in entire new categories of activity, such as planetary facilities, changes to the tech tree structure, and so on.

My escorts ward off some pirate ships in Distant Worlds.

The latest expansion, Shadows, adds something very new: the chance to play as a pirate, rather than an empire, focusing on raiding, constructing hidden bases, smuggling, and generally ruling the galaxy from the, well, shadows. The Shadows expansion also offers a mode of play where you begin at a primitive level, with no FTL capacity, and must first develop your home system and learn to build even the most basic craft. The default start position gives you a certain amount of technology and a small fleet of exploration and construction ships.

In many 4X games, the player has total control over all aspects of their empire. In Distant Worlds, civilians run the economy. As the empire grows, fleets of freighters and transports appear, carrying cargo between worlds, constructing mining stations, and so on. You can add mining stations of your own, but the transport of resources across your empire is almost entirely out of your hands, short of making sure you've secured the worlds that have the resources you need on them.

So many choices. So few research points.

This can lead to frustrating shortages if the civilian AI isn't moving the goods where you want them the most. However, this "living universe" feature is one of the most compelling aspects of Distant Worlds. It's a lot like Sim City, in that you can build the structures, but you can't control the people.

As is typical of high-complexity/small-market games, the documentation is sparse, and the full impact of your choices is not always obvious. Distant Worlds offers a lot of freedom, and that means a lot of ways to undermine yourself. Random factors play a part, as well. A game where you begin with high-quality colonizable worlds nearby is much easier than one where you don't find a potential colony world for a long time. A random disaster took out most of my homeworld's infrastructure in one game, leaving me with basically no economy and a perennially-increasing debt, so I couldn't build the facilities to repair the damage.

Distant World's AI can handle nearly all of your empire's tasks, or none, as you see fit. (Private trade is always AI controlled.) It can design ships, form fleets, conduct exploration, and so on. At the highest levels of automation, you can mostly watch the game play itself; with everything off, you can micromanage hundreds of ships and dozens of colonies. Galaxies in Distant Worlds can be immense, with 1400 stars and thousands of worlds and moons.

A medium-sized galaxy in Distant Worlds. Note that none of the stars are background images. You can zoom in on each glowing point to reveal a solar system with multiple worlds and moons. This game is huge.

While playing Distant Worlds, you will stumble upon abandoned ships, alien ruins, pirate bases, space monsters, and strange mysteries. You can send espionage agents to steal secrets or perform sabotage. You can construct wonders of the galaxy, conquer worlds, and forge alliances.

You will also deal with an occasionally obtuse interface, lose track of exactly here you wanted that fleet to move to, and confront bugs. To their credit, Code Force/Matrix Games is quick about fixing issues, but there have also been a lot to fix, most trivial, some major.

The Distant Worlds Expansion Planner shows the worlds I could colonize, if I had ships or money.

The lack of a demo/trial is problematic for a game like Distant Worlds, because of the niche nature of the product. While the core game costs only $20, the feature set has changed a great deal through the expansions. However, the essential gameplay has not. If 4X/Strategy games are of any interest to you, try the core game, and if you like the general feel of it, get the next three expansions and play in the Age Of Shadows.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download this software.

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Unknown · at 8:37 pm

Congratulations are in order for Samsung: The world’s most prolific smartphone manufacturer has managed to add yet another gargantuan device to its ever-increasing Galaxy lineup. The Note 3 phone-tablet hybrid naturally follows the Note II, adding a faster quad-core processor, a bigger battery, a higher-res display, and 4K video recording capabilities.

The improvements are minor, but they send an important message: The Note phablet line is a success, and won’t be going away anytime soon. We’re now looking at only iterative, generational improvements as these behemoth devices settle into the Samsung lineup.

The Note 3, which Samsung announced early Wednesday during the company’s IFA Berlin keynote, features a 1080p Super AMOLED display that measures 5.7 inches—just a bit bigger than its predecessor’s display, but less than an inch smaller than the display of the recently released Galaxy Mega.

Users can bring up Samsung’s Air Commands with the S Pen.

The Note 3 comes with a dockable S Pen stylus, as the Note models before it did, but Samsung has added “Air Command” features to the new device. When you hover and "click" over the screen with the stylus, Air Command brings up a circular menu that gives you quick access to Samsung’s proprietary pen apps: Screenwrite, Action Memo, Scrapbook, S Finder, and Pen Window (an app that allows you to draw a window on the screen to bring up an app you’d like to use). Most of the apps included with Air Command could be replaced with a more functional, likely cross-platform application from the Google Play store, though the substitutes wouldn’t be fully compatible with the S Pen. Samsung has clearly indicated that it intends to woo consumers with an all-inclusive package of custom apps, luring users away from the Google Play store and toward the proprietary Samsung ecosystem.

Power users will appreciate the device’s quad-core, 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, which Qualcomm announced earlier this year at its CES keynote. The new system-on-chip comes paired with 3GB of RAM and the Adreno 330 graphics processing unit, which will drive the pixels of Samsung’s demanding 1920-by-1080 screen, as well as enable UltraHD 4K video recording (which captures video at twice the size of 1080p). Note that this isn’t the first handset capable of capturing 4K video; earlier this week Asus announced its 6-inch Liquid S2 handset with the same Snapdragon 800 processor and 4K recording capabilities. However, you won’t be able to view the content at its full resolution unless you have a display that’s capable of playing it back.

The Note 3 comes in a variety of colors and designs.

Samsung stuck with its standard curved plastic chassis for the Note 3. It will also include a leather backing that houses a 3200mAh battery pack. Photo buffs will appreciate the 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, in addition to the Galaxy Note 3’s 4K video capture abilities. Samsung has also packed the Note 3 with Samsung Knox, a security suite that protects sensitive corporate data. On top of that, you’ll be able to use the Note 3 in conjunction with Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smartwatch.

The handset will be available in 32GB and 64GB variants on September 25 in most of the world. As for the United States, Samsung says only that the device will be available “later this year” on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

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Unknown · at 8:33 pm

Samsung officially announced its Galaxy Gear smartwatch Wednesday, revealing a slick slab of wearable computing that will initially work only with the company’s just-announced Galaxy Note 3 smartphone and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition tablet.

Limiting the Gear’s compatibility to just two niche devices is a curious move on Samsung’s part, and suggests that the company either wants to goose sales of its Note products or simply couldn’t offer compatibility with its much more mainstream mobile gear at launch. Samsung says that Note II, Galaxy S III, and Galaxy S4 users will get a software upgrade after launch that will allow them to use the Gear.

At first, the Gear is compatible only with the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition, both announced Wednesday.

“I believe it will become a new fashion icon around the world,” said JK Shin, Samsung’s president and CEO, at a launch event in Berlin Wednesday.

In terms of raw hardware, the Galaxy Gear is a 1.5-by-2.2-inch rectangular slab that’s constructed from stainless steel, measures 0.43 inch thick, and weighs 2.6 ounces.

You can control the Gear by voice or by swipe and tap gestures on its 1.63-inch touchscreen.

All data and notifications appear on a full-color, 1.63-inch touchscreen. The Super AMOLED screen boasts a 320-by-320-pixel resolution, and the battery is estimated to last through 25 hours of moderate use before needing a charge. The Gear is powered by a custom 800MHz single-core processor, and includes a gyroscope and accelerometer for physical gesturing and pedometer functions.

The Gear also manages to cram in both a 1.9-megapixel camera and speakers—the camera is integrated into the wrist strap, while the speakers are tucked into the clasp. The Gear features a solitary button, which when pressed takes you to the home screen. You control all other commands and functions via the touchscreen by a series of swipes (up to launch the camera, sideways to access apps and functions, down to go back).

Pranav Mistry demonstrates the gesture for making a phone call. Yes, it looks like you're talking on an invisible phone.

Raising your Gear-clad hand to your ear enables the call feature. Although you can place (and answer) calls using the Gear’s on-screen dialer, wrist-strap speaker, and two noise-canceling microphones, you can’t use it to read or respond to email—the watch will display notifications, but you must view the messages themselves on a Note 3.

The Gear can, however, understand S Voice commands to call your friends, send texts, set an alarm, and check on the weather. It also offers a Find My Device feature, which in conjunction with an Auto Lock enhancement will lock your smartphone any time the Gear is more than 5 feet away. It can also make a lost smartphone beep, illuminate, and vibrate so that you can locate it quickly.

The Gear will run a variety of apps, including some with augmented-reality features.

On the software side, the Galaxy Gear runs a modified version of Android and syncs to compatible Android devices via a Galaxy Gear Manager interface. The Galaxy Gear will come preloaded with a number of apps, including Evernote, Glympse (location sharing), Line (a messaging service), Path (a social network), Pocket (a “save for later” service), and two fitness apps—MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper. Samsung announced that users can download more apps through the Gear app store, confirming rumors that the company would be eschewing the Google Play store.

To take photos with the Gear, you simply aim and swipe the screen. While 1.9 megapixels won’t get you as far as “real” photography, they will facilitate what Samsung is calling “memography”—quick, spur-of-the-moment image capture. And, hey, who are we to turn our noses up at a camera inside a watch strap, let alone one that captures images in a single gesture?

You can take photos with the Gear's wrist-strap-mounted 1.9-megapixel camera.

Pictures can transfer automatically to a smartphone with Bluetooth 4.0 BLE. The Gear itself also offers an image browser, so you can see some of the pictures you’ve taken (as well as any you’ve transferred to the watch from the smartphone). And the camera doesn’t just take pictures—it also has augmented-reality functions that can translate foreign languages into your mother tongue, and provide more detailed information about a product you’re looking at.

“We want the possibilities of what you do with your Gear to be endless,” said Pranav Mistry, Samsung’s director of research, at the Berlin event.

There isn’t nearly as much fitness integration as was rumored. Still, the Gear does include a built-in pedometer to provide data to compatible fitness apps. Samsung has already dipped its toe into the fit-tech waters with S Health, so it’s surprising that the company didn’t announce any compatibility with that feature.

Image: Martyn WilliamsThe Gear will come in six colors at launch: jet black, mocha gray, wild orange (shown), oatmeal beige, rose gold, and lime green.

The Gear will be available in six colors, but it’s not as durable as you’d expect for a device that sits on your wrist. It’s rated IP55, which means that it can withstand dust and water jets for a few minutes. Sony’s recently announced SmartWatch 2 is rated IP57, meaning that it can withstand submersion in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes.

In all, the Galaxy Gear looks to be a great companion for a crazy-large, 5.3-inch, phone-tablet hybrid. The smartwatch itself is launching in the United States in October, and compatibility with other Samsung devices is also scheduled for that month. But the extended support can’t come soon enough: The Note line has been a surprising success for Samsung, but the Galaxy S III and S4 smartphones are the company’s mainstays, and they give the Gear its best chance of becoming a legitimate smartwatch “thing.”

Amber covers lifestyle and mobile tech, including fit tech, mHealth, travel, home automation and more. In her non-tech time she takes too many pictures of her cats, watches zombie movies, crochets, and plans out her next tattoos.
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Unknown · at 8:08 pm

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Unknown · at 7:37 pm

Samsung continues its tradition of testing the public’s appetite for supersized mobile displays with the new Galaxy Note 3.

Meet the Galaxy Note 3, the new Android phone from Samsung.

While the 5.7-inch phone comes in shy of the 6.3-inch display of its pituitary-affected Mega cousin, the Note 3 ups the ante over its 5.5-inch predecessor, the Galaxy Note II.

To be sure, the Note 3 is big. But not too big. I won’t bring up that annoying P-word the media uses to describe these extra girthy handsets. However, the Note 3 does indeed fit into that nebulous territory between phone and tablet.

The display is ideal for gaming and video, but can still comfortably be used for phones’ original purpose: making and receiving calls. While the Note 3 may stretch the practicality of pockets for some users, it feels comfortable to use in the hand and against your face.

The Note 3 feels good in your hand.

Despite some extra display space, the device is actually lighter than the Note 2 at a surprisingly feathery 5.9 ounces versus 6.4 ounces. The Note 3 is even a bit thinner at svelte 0.32 inches and it is powered with 3GB of RAM (compared to only 2GB with the Note 2).

The speedier engine comes in handy as the phone readily flips between screens and apps (more on that below).

Another great new design feature is the stitched “leather” backing (I couldn’t get an exact answer as to the make-up, but the animal-free backing has a truly “leather-like” feel to it). The phone feels nice in your hand and looks top-shelf, and Samsung could have lied to me and told me it was actual leather, and I might have believed it.

While Steve Jobs famously disdained all styli when it came to mobile gadgets, Samsung—wisely by most accounts—has demonstrated no fear when it comes to incorporating a digital appendage into its Galaxy Note line of supersized phones. And Samsung continues to flaunt that Jobsian wisdom with the just-unveiled Galaxy Note 3, complete with “S Pen” in tow.

With this generation, the stylus has a few additional tricks. Hovering over the screen will present a small dot on the screen and once “clicked,” it will unveil a fan of choices through a feature called Air Command.

Creating a Pen Window

The coolest new function from Air Command is “Pen Window,” which allows the user to draw a square window on the ample display in which to open a new app. So, for example, if you chatting with someone, you could open a new pen window by simply drawing a box and selecting the calculator app, which will then open directly into the dimensions of the box you drew.

You can probably imagine various situations when this feature would come in handy.

Furthermore, you can use Pen Window to open two windows of the same app. For example, you might be able to have two Internet windows open simultaneously on the same screen. Currently Pen Window will only work with a handful of secondary preloaded apps such as calculator, Internet, and YouTube. However a rep promises that more may follow.

Starting Sept. 25, the smartphone will be available in more than 140 countries around the world. It will also be available in the U.S. later this year on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and U.S. Cellular, Samsung said without elaborating on exact dates.

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Evan lives in Brooklyn, NY and enjoys writing about what future may hold and taking long romantic walks on the beach.
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Unknown · at 7:29 pm

Samsung’s smartwatch sounds amazing and looks amazing—on paper. In the flesh, the Galaxy Gear is a seriously limited gadget that’s tethered to a phone and/or tablet that no one owns yet. So much for innovation.

I donned the $299 watch, which hits U.S. shelves in October (and launches in 149 other countries on September 25), and played with its features for a few minutes in a crowded pressroom under less-than-optimal conditions. Based on that, I don’t see myself ever owning a Galaxy Gear.

The 1.6-inch Super AMOLED screen is beautiful. I felt like Inspector Gadget when I glanced at my wrist. But the display and plastic strap are massive. Wearable tech continues to struggle to appeal to all types of people, because it has to be comfortable, stylish, and small. If you have tiny wrists, the Galaxy Gear is not for you.

The Gear might be a tad large for ladies, or men with slender wrists.

Several people commented on the fact that the Galaxy Gear looks like those iPod nano watchbands that were in vogue a few years back. It’s a fair comparison. The Samsung watch’s display is definitely more rectangular than the Nano watch, but the glossy black display just feels like you’re wearing a mini-smartphone.

The watch responds like a smartphone, too. Swipe to the left or right to access different screens, like your notifications, clock, apps, and more. Swipe down to return to the previous screen. The Gear is quick, like a phone. But it’s an accessory. That much is obvious.

Samsung is tying the Gear to the Note 3: “Better together” is the duo’s tagline. But hundreds of millions of people own Samsung devices that aren’t the Note 3, and they can’t use the Galaxy Gear. That exclusivity severely hinders Gear’s potential. The company said it plans to widen the Gear’s compatibility with other Samsung devices, specifically the Galaxy SIII, Galaxy S4, and Note II, but reps couldn’t provide a timeline for that rollout.

Samsung teased the launch lineup of apps at the event, but must-haves like Facebook and Twitter were conspicuously absent.

The watch has apps galore: Path, Runtastic, Glympse, Line, Vivino, and more. But none of the majors are there. Instagram? Nope. Vine? Nuh-uh. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, and news apps for browsing the latest headlines are all missing. Anything I would want immediate access to—you know, without digging my phone out of my bag—I can’t get to on the Gear. It seems like it would work well as a pedometer tied to Samsung’s S Health tracking features, but $299 is an awful lot to pay for a glorified health tracker.

You can answer calls with the Gear—it has a speaker—but you have to hold the watch up to your ear to hear the person you’re calling, thereby irritating everyone around you. You can also respond to messages, but only in the form of a voice-to-text memo. I didn’t get to test that feature, but voice-to-text is notoriously poor. I can’t even trust Siri to understand my clearly enunciated dictations.

Listening to calls in any kind of noisy environment is tough. Just ask Evan. (If he can hear you.)

The Gear has a few cool features. The 1.9-megapixel camera, located on the north side of the watch strap, allows you to take undercover photos. It just feels awesome. The camera also shoots videos—neither camera nor video quality is very good compared to the smartphone, but that’s to be expected.

The Note 3 pairing also lets you find the Gear if you ever lose it, which seems inevitable. (Watches, like sunglasses, tend to disappear into the Bermuda Triangle.)

Pebble proved a smartwatch is possible. Sony paved the way. Samsung has thrown down the gauntlet. It’s your move now, Apple.

Caitlin writes about all things social media. She is addicted to the 24-hour news cycle and Mission burritos.
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Unknown · at 7:01 pm

When smartphone leader Samsung Electronics introduced the original Galaxy Note, it didn’t have much competition, but since then interest for smartphones with 5.5-inch screens—and larger—has grown. So, the new Note 3 faces plenty of competitors, including the Xperia Z Ultra from Sony.

Here’s a look at how the Z Ultra, launched earlier this year, measures up to the Galaxy Note 3, announced on Wednesday at the IFA tech conference in Berlin, based on the basic specifications from each company.

How big can a smartphone become is a question both Sony and Samsung must have been asking themselves while developing their respective products. Sony decided to go with a 6.4-inch screen, while Samsung decided to be a bit more cautious at 5.7 inches. Both screens have a screen resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels.

The bigger screen on the Z Ultra comes at a cost; the device weighs 7.4 ounces, while the Note 3 is lighter at just under 6 ounces. The Note 3 is also smaller: 5.9 by 3.1 by 0.32 inches compared to the Ultra’s 7 by 3.6 by 0.25 inches.

Like many new high-end smartphones, both the Note 3 and the Z Ultra have quad-core processors running at 2.3GHz and 2.2GHz, respectively. A 3G version of the Note 3 will be powered by Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa processor, which has four ARM Cortex-A15 processors running at 1.9GHz and four additional Cortex-A7 cores at 1.3 GHz.

Buyers of the Note 3 can choose between 32GB or 64GB of integrated storage; there is also a MicroSD card slot for additional storage. That compares to the Z Ultra, which has 16GB of integrated storage plus a MicroSD card slot for additional storage. The Note 3 also has more RAM—3GB versus 2GB.

Smartphone vendors have recently given the cameras on their smartphones more attention in an effort to differentiate their products. The Note 3 can record 4K or Ultra HD videos at 30 frames per second (fps) using its 13-megapixel camera, which could be useful, as long as you are one of the few who can afford a 4K TV set.

The Z Ultra has a more traditional 8-megapixel camera that records video in 1080p.

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Unknown · at 4:23 pm

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Unknown · at 9:04 pm

Service Desk Comparative ReportGartner's recent magic quadrant for IT Service Support Management included no vendors as leaders or innovators. Learn why and how ITinvolve is delivering an innovative service desk solution that empowers IT staff through social collaboration and visualization to improve incident analysis and triage to speed incident resolution time.

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Unknown · at 5:22 pm

Samsung Galaxy S4 Active $200.00 Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Active is the perfect phone for outdoorsy types who demand excellent performance out of their smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active is a ruggedized version of the the company’s current flagship Android phone, the Galaxy S4. Where the S4 is a fine fit for cubicle drones and people who spend most of their time indoors, the Active is for those who crave a little more excitement in their lives—thrill seekers and adventurers. It’s the phone for people who want a high-end handset but don’t want it to get in the way of their active lifestyle.

Image: Michael Homnick

While the Active is slightly larger and thicker than the standard S4, the two phones don’t look all that different from one another: Both feature 5-inch 1080p displays and a similar shape, but the Active has physical navigation buttons and feels weightier in your hand. Even with its added girth, the Active is comfortable to hold and you shouldn’t have any trouble getting it in or out of your pocket.

The phone is mostly constructed out of polycarbonate—a fancy word for plastic—but it doesn’t feel as plasticky as previous Samsung handsets. The top and bottom corners of the Active have a rubbery coating that makes it more resilient if it’s dropped, and the phone as a whole doesn’t seem as fragile as the S4. The physical navigation buttons are a little spongy, but they don’t feel loose and they seem like they can withstand some abuse.

Image: Michael Homnick

Much like the Sony Xperia Z, the Active is certified water-resistant in up to 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes. The Micro-USB port on the Active has a small flap that you need to cover before taking the phone for a dip, but it’s pretty flimsy and seems like it’d be way too easy to damage through regular use. If you prefer land to sea, the Active is resistant to dust and the phone’s Gorilla Glass 2 display is slightly harder to scuff than screens on most other smartphones.

The Active has a removable battery and MicroSD card slot, and accessing them is fairly straightforward: You just pop the back casing off as you would on any other smartphone, no special tools required. Replacing the back cover is simple too, but you should take special care to make sure the waterproof seal is in place if you plan on using the phone around water. A sticker on the back of the phone tells you how to securely snap on the back cover; you can remove it once you feel you’ve gotten the hang of the operation.

The Active packs some impressive specs inside its water-resistant shell: A 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor gives the phone the power it needs to run pretty much any app or game you’d find in the Google Play Store, and the 2GB of RAM comes in handy when you’re running lots of apps at the same time. The phone has next to no lag, even when you are installing multiple applications at once, and games like Riptide GP 2 play beautifully on the Active’s large display.

Data speeds over AT&T’s 4G LTE network are quite good, with download speeds reaching up to 18 megabits per second here in our San Francisco office. Calls are loud and clear, though your mileage will vary depending on AT&T’s coverage in your area.

I got a full day of casual mixed use out of the phone (downloading apps, browsing the Web, playing games), and our official lab battery test rates the Active’s battery life at 8 hours, 1 minute. The Active lasted an hour longer than the Galaxy S4, but didn’t come close to achieving the same battery life we see in phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note II or Motorola Droid Razr HD.

Image: Michael Homnick

Unlike the standard Galaxy S4, the Active doesn’t feature wireless charging, but several third-party accessories can easily add that functionality if you really want it. You can always buy a higher-capacity battery for the phone, but that might compromise its resiliency against dust and moisture.

Samsung has a tendency to cram its phones with as many features as it can dream up—and that’s not always a good thing. Just setting up the phone requires you to jump through dozens of menus and pop-ups asking you to enable various extras and settings. It can quickly get overwhelming, and most of these settings come off as gimmicky.

The Active comes with all the same Samsung apps as the standard S4, most of which attempt to replicate the functionality provided by the Google’s own suite of apps. Why Samsung feels the need to package its own Web browser when the Chrome browser comes preinstalled is beyond me, especially when Samsung’s software is not as slick or intuitive as Google’s offerings.

Though the Active ships running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, it’s highly likely that Samsung will update the phone to Android 4.3 since it shares almost all of its specs with the company’s current flagship smartphone.

The 8-megapixel camera on the Active is a slight downgrade from the 12-megapixel shooter on the standard S4. Photos exhibit minor artifacting and the white balance is sometimes wonky when you’re taking pictures indoors. There are a variety of different shooting modes available including HDR, panorama, night, and best photo, but most of the time the auto mode will get the job done without much hassle.

The camera works underwater, and an aqua shooting mode lets you use the volume-up button to control the camera, since you won’t be able to use the touchscreen while the phone is submerged. (A problem we also ran into while using the Sony Xperia Z.)

Image: Michael Homnick

Samsung has a winner on its hands with the Active: It’s sleek, powerful, and won’t fall apart the first time you drop it or get it dirty. The downgrade in camera quality is lamentable, and some will absolutely hate all of Samsung’s software extras, but those are small concessions to make for a phone that you can use in the shower or pool. If you need a phone that can survive the great outdoors, then the Active should be your first choice. If you value your photos and don’t really spend much time being active, then the regular Galaxy S4 will suit you just fine.

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Unknown · at 3:53 pm

As the likely launch date for Samsung's smartwatch draws closer, details on the wearable gadget are coming into focus.

GigaOm is now reporting hardware specs and software details for the smartwatch, citing “sources who are familiar with Samsung's plans.” This follows a report by Bloomberg that said the so-called Galaxy Gear smartwatch will debut on September 4.

The specs, if accurate, seem more powerful than other smartwatches, with a dual-core processor, a built-in camera, NFC capabilities and small speakers on the clasp of the watch. A built-in accelerometer may allow users to turn on the screen by moving their wrists toward their eyes.

The OLED touch screen will reportedly be square-shaped and measure roughly 2.5 inches diagonally, and the entire frame will measure 3 inches diagonally. If true, this would make Samsung's smartwatch larger than the Pebble. Despite the more powerful specs and large color display, GigaOm says battery life should be “pretty decent.”

The cost of entry for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch?

The most interesting tidbit, perhaps, is the claim that Samsung will use its own app store to take advantage of the watch hardware. “That likely means if you want a Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch, you’ll need a Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet,” Om Malik writes.

Samsung has dabbled in its own Galaxy-specific services before. With Samsung Wallet, for example, the company basically cloned Apple's Passbook service instead of relying on Google Wallet. The company's S Voice assistant competes with Google's own voice search for users' attention on Galaxy phones.

But until now, Samsung's phones and tablets have worked in peace and harmony with other Android devices. Although Samsung has its own app store already, it's not very popular compared to Google Play. The unified ecosystem for Android apps allows users to easily move between phones and tablets regardless of brand.

If Samsung does require the use of its own app store for the Galaxy Gear, it'll be the company's biggest attempt yet to take control of Android. And that's something only Samsung can pull off, as the largest Android device maker by far. Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, Samsung is holding its own developer conference in October.

Note: Main image is an unofficial concept design by Johan Loekito from 2009

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Unknown · at 7:04 pm

Samsung looks likely expand its successful Galaxy brand of smartphones next month to include a smartwatch known as Galaxy Gear. According to a report from Bloomberg, Samsung will unveil the Android-powered smartwatch on September 4.

Earlier this month, Samsung sent out an invitation for a September 4 press event to be held in Berlin, two days before the IFA consumer electronics show (basically, the European version of CES). Most signs signal that the event dubbed “Unpacked Episode 2” would be used to unveil the next incarnation of the Galaxy Note phablet. And this is most certainly still the case considering that 1) Samsung debuted the Note II last year at an event called “Unpacked” that took place in the run-up to the IFA, and 2) the invitation to this year’s Unpacked Episode 2 event slyly includes the language: “Note the Date.”

It’s doubtful that Samsung would hold two major press events on the same day, so it’s likely the event will also be used to introduce the world to Galaxy Gear.

Some possible leaked mock-ups of the Galaxy Gear interface found on a South Korean message board.

We’ve known that Samsung has had its attention on the smartwatch space for a while. While Sony is already two generations deep into smartwatches and mobile archrival Apple continues to play coy in the face of a torrent of “iWatch” rumors, Samsung has been rather upfront with its smartwatch plans. Earlier this year, a Samsung executive vice president told the press outright: “We’ve been preparing the watch product for so long. We are working very hard to get ready for it. We are preparing products for the future, and the watch is definitely one of them.”

In late July, Samsung filed an application for a U.S. trademark for the name “Samsung Galaxy Gear” that would be used for “wearable digital electronic devices in the form of a wristwatch, wrist band, or bangle capable of providing access to the Internet and for sending and receiving phone calls, electronic mails and messages.”

Additionally, the application states that the devices could also be used for “the wireless receipt, storage and/or transmission of data and messages and for keeping track of or managing personal information; smart phones; tablet computers; portable computers.”

If all these rumors turn out to be true, it would be an odd choice for Samsung to eclipse the debut of the Note III with a whole new form factor such as Galaxy Gear. Whatever the company’s rational, be sure to brace yourself for a slew of Dick Tracy puns and references come early September.

Main image is an unofficial conept design from 2009

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Evan lives in Brooklyn, NY and enjoys writing about what future may hold and taking long romantic walks on the beach.
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