By Brian Booher of Modern Day Computers
This is probably going to be one of my shortest reviews on a product ever.
By Brian Booher of Modern Day Computers
This is probably going to be one of my shortest reviews on a product ever.
Just so there’s no confusion, I’m going to start this review by saying that Foxtel is expensive. Very expensive in fact. I used to have Foxtel, however when my bill went over $100 per month and I moved house I made the decision to close my account. Truthfully, I’ve not missed it all that much. Particularly when I’ve sat down and weighed up the monthly subscription versus the value I receive. I’ll go in to a little more detail. My core reason for having Foxtel was so I could continue to watch AFL football while living in Brisbane. When I moved back to Melbourne this cost of $100+ per month was basically the same fee I would pay to go to each of my teams matches for the month… and a couple beers! It made absolutely no sense for me to continue with Foxtel when I moved back to the heart of AFL, Melbourne.
This all changed about a month ago when a friend, Brad, let me know about Foxtel on Xbox 360. Sure I’d heard of it before, but I’d never really given it much thought or had a detailed look. I had considered that it was a similar service to that which I had received before; and for much the same price. I could not have been more mistaken.
Foxtel on Xbox 360 is a breath of fresh air and a fantastic pioneer of true internet television streaming in Australia. Where I was paying over $100 before for standard Foxtel through a set top box, my monthly fee for my new Foxtel on Xbox 360 service is just under $30 per month. I have the standard starter channels ($20) plus the sports package ($10). I like to watch both AFL Football and A-League Soccer on Foxtel and this price makes this very accessible.
Aside from the staggering cost benefit, what else is there to Foxtel on Xbox 360? Quite a bit.
Let’s start by looking at the service itself. It’s effectively a cut down version of what you receive in to your home via a Foxtel set-top-box. You don’t get exactly the same channels and in fact some are missing, but, I didn’t notice anything missing that was noteworthy,save perhaps for Max TV music channel.
If you have an Xbox remote control it’s pretty easy to navigate your way around Foxtel on Xbox 360. Even my wife can do it comfortably! They have a channels screen to flick through and when you sign in it shows the last channel you were watching. This is pretty good for me because it’s probably the sports channel I’ve came back to watch again.
There are three different picture quality settings to choose from. If you are able to watch in highest quality, it obviously draws more bandwidth through your internet connection so be sure to keep this in mind if your internet provider only offers a capped service. I found that even on High the quality was only average to good. Particularly if, like me, you enjoy watching sports. While watching AFL football and Soccer I found that the screen jolted a little and the play was a little breaky. It didn’t pixelate so much as the frames seemed to slow down from time to time.
This was rather frustrating as I could not entirely immerse myself in the enjoyment of the game. I kept thinking “well, this is a cheaper alternative and it is streaming via the internet”. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a good picture quality and a great value alternative to a set-top-box Foxtel connection, however, it is not an equivalent. This reads true particularly if you plan to spend hours each evening watching Foxtel content. On Medium quality I found watching soccer impossible as the ball was just a haze of white beneath the players knees. If your internet connection is not very fast and you’re unable to watch Foxtel on Xbox 360 on High quality I would steer well away from this service.
There’s nothing quite like watching all the old sit-coms on Foxtel and this service delivers extremely well here! Unlike sports, the movement is not as great in sit-com and drama television and as such Foxtel on Xbox 360 is fantastic for having a laugh with old classics. If you are considering purchasing Foxtel on Xbox 360 to watch your favourite TV shows then you’re in luck. Just channel flicking while doing this review I found myself laughing along to an old episode of Frasier.
Finally, if you have an Xbox 360 and an Xbox Gold Live subscription (which you will need for this service) then you can download the Foxtel app today and test the picture and sound quality without needing to purchase a Foxtel subscription. The good folks at Foxtel have made the Sky News channel free for all Xbox 360 Gold Live subscription members to watch. This will provide a great demonstration of the pixel quality of the service so that you can make an informed decision as to whether this service is for you.
Still can’t decide? Fear not, our friends at Foxtel are offering new Foxtel on Xbox 360 subscribers one months free usage. During your free month you can evaluate the service and decide whether you wish to continue subscribing in to the second month and subsequently pay their monthly subscriber fee. I really appreciate that Foxtel are offering a lot of flexibility for new members to evaluate what is a new service to most people, live internet streaming.
I highly recommend Foxtel on Xbox 360 and, while I did receive a couple streaming errors while reviewing, I believe that for the price this service is a winner and anyone who enjoys classic TV, live sports and current affairs television should sign up to Foxtel on Xbox 360 today.
I offer this a 7 out of 10. As quality of service and buffering increases I expect this score to rise.
Andrew Cunningham.
by Brian Booher
After 2 years of selling with the 4th generation iPod touch, Apple has finally released the 5th generation (5th gen) iPod touch. Compared to the older model, I can sum it up in one word…..WOW!!! All right, that is my review. Thank you for coming by.
Hmm? What? You’re still here, reading this? Wanting more about what the 5th gen iPod touch is like? Oh I guess I could. You sure you won’t just settle with “WOW”? This is an Apple product, they say you’ll like it.
But since I must remain neutral with computer products, I will give my full report on the iPod touch (5th Generation).
The iPod touch is a giant leap in technology compared to the previous model. The iPod touch is a lot closer to being the iPhone 5. I could say that it is essentially an iPhone 5, but without the phone.
HARDWARE
This new iPod touch is a major improvement over the previous models. While the width has been kept the same, the length has been extended by about an inch.
As you can see in the above photo, the 5th gen model has a 4 inch screen, therefore allowing the addition of a 5th row of icons and folders.
The new model does have a retina display, but since it has a bigger screen, there are more pixels added to the length. The 4th generation model has a resolution of 960 x 640 pixels and the 5th gen model has a resolution of 1136 x 640. Both has the same pixel density at 326 pixels/inch.
As compared to the back of both models, the 5th gen has moved away from the shiny stainless steel as the previous models have. It is still a metal back, but this time it comes on different colors. The colors come in black, silver, pink, green, and blue. Apple does sell a red model that is sold exclusively at the Apple Stores or the website.
In the case of my model, I have the black version. The black model is the only model that both sides are the same color. The other models have the white face in the front and the different color on the back.
Camera
The 5th gen iPod touch comes with a huge update to the camera. Whereas the previous model has a camera that took pictures at a resolution of less and 1MP (megapixel), the 5th gen model comes with a 5MP camera. The added bonus is that it also has a flash. There is a microphone in between the camera and flash so you can record videos with sound.
One other feature that has never been on any previous models of the iPod touch is the addition of a tab to attach a hand strap to. While it is a nice thing to have, it is not a completely durable object. It is a push button tab that extends up by about a millimeter, enough to attach the provided strap, which is color coordinated with the color of the iPod touch.
Lightning connector
Unless you have not heard, Apple has changed their proprietary connector for the newest models of iPod touch, iPhone 5, 4th gen iPad, and iPad mini. It is called the “Lightning connector”. It is smaller than the older dock connector and since it is reversible as for connecting the device. Don’t expect thinking this connector will make things faster, as the other end is still USB. Apple does sell an adapter to connect the old dock connector to the lightning port, but that is sold for $30. Apple does sell a lightning to micro-USB connector, but that is primarily sold in Europe and coming to Australia.
If you live in the United States like I do, you don’t have the opportunity to get it at all since we have no laws that require devices to have universal connectors like the European Union has.
Internals
As for the internal specs of the 5th gen iPod touch, the only major feature is that it has the A5 processor, which can be found in the iPhone 4S. Although it might not be as fast as the iPhone 5’s A6 processor, I doubt anyone would really care, especially when this is marketed towards kids.
As for storage, Apple only gives you two options: 32GB and 64GB. The model I have is the 64GB version.
There is also a speaker at the bottom of the iPod touch as well as the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The iPod touch also comes with antennas for Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.
SOFTWARE
iOS 6
The 5th gen iPod touch comes with iOS 6, Apple’s latest mobile operating system. As compared to iOS 5, there really is not a major difference between the old and new as for functionality.
One new feature is “Passbook” that is supposed to use your iPod touch or iPhone 5 as a way to use for boarding passes on a flight or coupons or tickets for events, games, and movies. It shows a barcode that is meant to be scanned and allows you to get on your flight or get into an event or get a discount on items.
Another new feature is Facebook integration. Now you can take pictures and videos and share them on your Facebook page, without having to go to another app to upload. Now if only Apple would add Google+ integration, but I think Hell would have to freeze over before that happens.
The other major app in iOS 6 is “Maps”. Apple decided to move away from using Google Maps and make their own. While the fly-over feature of 3D buildings and voice directions are nice, it’s not perfect to the point that if Steve Jobs was still alive today, he would probably fire everyone at Apple.
In case you didn’t hear, it turned into a disaster of sorts as many people were complaining of how the maps were not showing the correct buildings, streets, or directions. It got to a point where CEO Tim Cook wrote an apology letter and said that they will work on improving it in a future update. To give you a sense of how big of a problem this was, Scott Forstall, VP of iOS 6 and Maps would not sign his name to the apology letter, resulting in his position at Apple being terminated at the end of this year and broken up to other officers.
Siri
One of the cool features of the iPod touch is the ability to use Siri, which is Apple’s voice command app that can do almost anything. As neat as it is, I have found Siri to not be as fun and knowledgeable as a similar app that I use on my Android phone. Much like what Apple does with their products, Siri too is in the “walled garden”. Siri makes sure to not offend anyone with the information provided. This to me makes her kind of boring because then I can’t ask for crazy stuff, of which I will not tell in this review. You get the picture.
Camera
The camera on the 5th gen iPod touch is a huge improvement over the previous model, as I stated earlier, but there is more improvements as for the software that runs the camera.
You can now take pictures using the High Dynamic Range (HDR) feature. The idea is that you take a picture and the software will created an over exposed and under exposed photo of the shot and then meld both with the original to make a picture that is supposed to have more detail than with without HDR.
Panorama
A new feature with iOS 6 is the ability to take panoramic photos right from the camera. Whereas there were apps that did that, Apple did it themselves. All you do is select “Panorama” in the options and press start and just move the phone from left to right or right to left. It uses the gyroscope to help with making a steady shot by showing an arrow that you need to keep centered as you move along.
The iPod touch also can record video in 1080p resolution, making it perfect to show on a 1080p HDTV. If you have an Apple TV, you can stream your videos and photos to your TV to share with others.
Apps
Now that the iPod touch has better features, you can enjoy more of the apps that Apple has to offer in The App Store. Although you won’t be able to use all of them, since some apps use features only found in the iPhone, your selection is much broader especially when it comes to using camera apps.
IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED
Even though the 5th gen iPod touch is great, it is not as “perfect” as compared to the more powerful iPhone 5. There are some features that just aren’t as great, though they do not take away the fun.
With the camera shots I have taken, I have noticed that the pictures are grainy, especially in low light situations. You cannot use the flash to take a panorama photo. You cannot change the resolution of the camera when taking a shot. The menu of the features is quite limited.
Though things will change in the future, there are some apps that are not compatible with iOS 6. I have “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and it will not open. Though the first Sonic game was updated to be compatible, as of November 12, 2012, the second one has not yet been updated.
The speaker is on the bottom, therefore when playing a game in landscape mode, your hand will probably cover the speaker when playing.
There is no hardware that involves vibrating like in the iPhone 5. I think this would have been great to add since it would make games a lot more fun to play. If this was a feature that Apple intentionally left out to push people to buy an iPhone, I think it’s dumb because there are a lot of kids whose parents would never want to get them an iPhone since it’s so expensive. Maybe they will add that feature to the next version. Hey, they put in a flash for the camera, so anything is possible.
Siri is fun to talk to, but she just doesn’t seem to be as great as what Apple advertised her to be. I say “her” since it has a female-like voice.
The Bluetooth feature also is not as great as you cannot connect to any non-Apple devices, like an Android device. God forbid that something like that would ever happen. The world would probably come to an end, especially for Apple fan-people, if Android and iOS could communicate through something like Bluetooth.
iMessage is only usable when communicating with other people via SMS or MMS only IF they have an Apple device. You cannot send an message to a phone number that is not connected to an iPhone. You would have to use something like Facebook Messenger or Google+ Messenger to get with those people.
The lightning dock connector is a nice feature, but I just wish Apple would have gone to micro-USB. But since they make royalties from their proprietary ports, there’s no way to convince them to make it easy for people. The Lightning connector is the same size as a micro-USB connector, as I show below.
I just feel that people will get confused between the two. Remember that iOS devices are marketed to people who are not computer geeks like I am, so doing this can bring confusion.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The 5th gen iPod touch is a great device. It is a major improvement over the previous iPod touch in so many ways. Apple has recognized that a lot people don’t want to buy the iPhone and have an expensive phone plan, like me.
I will say that the 5th generation iPod touch is basically an iPhone 5, but without the phone part. There are some things that I wish were made better, but I am not going to make a big deal about it.
The one thing that puzzles me is that this model is a huge jump as compared to previous model. I can’t help but wonder if Apple made this version what it is because Steve Jobs was no longer around to tell what to put into the iPod touch. I have a feeling that it was Steve Jobs who kept the iPod touch to such a low level compared to the iPhone in order to persuade people to make the big jump to the iPhone. I can understand that it was a business decision to make money, but who would buy an iPhone for a 10-year old kid who can drop it easily or lose it easily?
I know there are a lot of other features that I didn’t talk about here, like the improved headphones, but I think that should be your opportunity to check it out yourself. If you want to get a 5th gen iPod touch, I suggest going out to an Apple Store or any electronics store near you and check out the display model. I could talk about everything about the iPod touch, but it’s nothing compared to experiencing it yourself.
If you want to skip driving to the store and just order it online, you can check out all the details at the Apple website.
Click here to go to the iPod touch page on Apple.com
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HAVE FUN AND GEEK OUT!!
by Brian Booher
Hey everyone,
Instead of having to write about the ION iCade, I figured a video review would be better. Now if you don’t know what the iCade is; it is an arcade cabinet built for the iPad using Bluetooth. Several game manufacturers are building apps for iOS that is compatible with the iCade, giving a fun experience for those who remember going to the arcades when they were younger.
The really cool thing is that it is NOT just for the iPad, though the built in dock is designed for it. The iCade can work with Android devices too, since all we’re really dealing with is Bluetooth connectivity.
I could write more, but that would take away from watching the video review.
Have fun and geek out!
by Brian Booher of ModernDay Computers
I have had the Nexus 7 for about 2 weeks now and I will say I am amazed at what this little device can do. To make it short, I like it. There, it’s done!
Oh, you want more information on this? Sure, I can do that. I’ll give my good, bad, and ugly (G.B.U.) review on this for you. First off, lets get into the specs.
The Nexus 7 is Google’s first pure Android tablet. It is made by Asus, who also makes the Transformer Prime. The tablet has a 7 inch screen with a 1280×800 pixel HD display, front facing camera, volume rocking switch, and the ever important power button. It is equipped with a micro-USB port for charging and data transfer. It also comes with the standard 3.5mm headphone jack.
Inside is a Tegra-3 quad-core processor made by NVidia. It contains 1 GB of RAM and has 8GB or 16 GB of storage, depending on the model you get. The model I am reviewing with is the 16GB version.
There are other goodies packed into this thing, but I will save those for later, which won’t be long.
Let’s set the record straight right here, this device is not an “iPad-killer”. The biggest competition for the Nexus 7 is the Amazon Kindle Fire, which I also have. This has the ability to blow the current Kindle Fire out of the water, as in the first generation Kindle Fire in case you are reading this sometime in the future.
So enough blabbering on, lets get into the good, bad, and ugly stuff of the Nexus 7.
THE GOOD
Additional Features
Well, it’s now later. So I guess you want to know what else is in this box? It has Wifi 802.11 (b/g/n) connectivity, bluetooth, a microphone, GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, and NFC (Near Field Communications) for Android Beam.
The screen is only 7 inches long horizontally, like all other electronic screens are measured. The display is 1280×800. The pixel density is 216 ppi (pixels per inch). The best thing is that is it capable of playing HD movies, though it would be in 720p. The 80 more pixels are used for the screen controls, which are persistently shown when using it.
Android OS
The big attraction that makes the Nexus 7 way better than all the other tablets on the market is that it ships with the most current version of the Android OS. It contains a pure version of Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean. Jelly Bean was announced in mid-June as the update to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Every other tablet on the market has an older version that is usually customized heavily to match the company’s needs. The Amazon Kindle Fire uses a heavily customized version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread that you can’t tell what it is.
Jelly Bean improves upon Ice Cream Sandwich that it is kind of hard to really set them apart. Since I do not have a pure version of Ice Cream Sandwich, I have the T-Mobile version of the Samsung Galaxy S II, I really cannot give point to point differences since Samsung customized Ice Cream Sandwich to work with Touch-wiz interface.
Google Now
The biggest point that Jelly Bean has that ICS does not is Google Now. Google Now is kind of like Siri that is found on Apple iOS, but not quite the same. You can talk to it to ask for sports scores, weather info, travel information like flights, traffic conditions, and public transit info. It won’t carry on a conversation like what Siri can do, but there are apps in Google Play Store that can do that. If you’re looking for the official Android version of Siri on Google Now, you won’t find it. I like it because all I have to do is name a sports team, in my case the Cincinnati Reds, and it will tell me the score of the most recent game. It does have a voice to go with it too and it sounds more human than what Siri is.
Google Now is great for doing voice searches and it is pretty accurate with how it heard you and transcribed into text. I just did a voice search for “ingredients for portal cake” and it brought up several search results on how to make the cake. “The cake is a lie!” – geek humor right there.
If you say something like a place, like “Eiffel Tower”, it will bring up a map of the location in Paris, France and give you the option to make traveling directions with Google Maps.
Since Google Now is fairly new, there is a lot of room for improvement over time. You might read articles from famous reviewers who will say that it’s crap because it isn’t like Siri since they feel that a product will only be successful if it can beat the competition on day 1. Google Now will be improved over time and I am not in a rush, and neither should you. If you want the Siri experience so badly, then go get an iPhone. To me, Siri is boring compared to what kind of Android apps can do plus more. Siri works in a walled garden, like all other Apple products.
Price
With all the features that is in this device, you might be thinking it would cost a pretty penny, much like what an iPad does. Well, it doesn’t.
The 8GB model costs $199 and the 16GB model costs $249. That is of course before tax and shipping rates are applied. This is the same price point that the Amazon Kindle Fire is at, but the Nexus 7 has a ton more features. With the Nexus 7, you can get the best of both worlds as you can read Kindle Books and use the Amazon Appstore. I installed the Appstore the day I got the Nexus 7 and it works great.
Pure Android Experience
With the Nexus 7, you are getting the pure Android experience that Google has made. This is not a version of Jelly Bean that has been heavily customized by the phone carriers, who like to strip out certain functions to add their own versions and add a bunch of non-removable crapware that can really slow down the system. The biggest advantage is that when there is an update to Jelly Bean, whether it be to fix bugs or to update to the next version, which would be a pastry with the name beginning with K, you will not have the wait that long as compared to carrier versions who have to do the whole process again, which can take several months if you’re lucky that they even want to update your phone. The carriers prefer not to update existing hardware, as they really want you to buy a new phone and extend your contract. I speak of course about the carriers in the U.S., since that’s where I live and have to put up with.
THE BAD
Now I turn to what is bad about the product. These are the topics that can be the make or break decision for some people.
Camera
The Nexus 7 has only 1 camera and that is a front facing camera. The camera is only 1.2 MP which is good for video chatting. I tired it on a Google+ hangout and it looks really good. Though it may look good for hangouts, I do not think it would be useful for people who intend to take pictures with it, but there is a problem there too. There is no camera app on the Nexus 7 like you would find on smartphones and other tablets like the iPad. You can get camera apps from the Play Store, but there is no stock camera app to take pictures. To me, I do not make it an issue since I carry my smartphone with me anyways, though it would be nice to have one on the Nexus 7. Maybe in an future update Google might put a camera app on.
Storage
Though 16GB of storage does seem a lot, it can be a setback for some, especially for those people who have iPads with 32GB or 64GB of storage available. Though I wouldn’t put my music collection on here, I would make use of the cloud, which is what this device is aiming for.
Do realize that for $250, 16GB of storage is great compared to a 16GB iPad 3 that starts at $500.
Hardware buttons
The only hardware buttons on the Nexus 7 are the power and volume controls. The home, back, and open apps buttons are software buttons on the screen. So if an app locks up, you may not be able to hit the home button as it is locked up as well. I have not had that problem yet, but it is something to think about.
It is getting harder to find what is bad about the Nexus 7. I guess probably I just haven’t come across more yet.
THE UGLY
This section is about features of the Nexus 7 that are not bad, but either they make using the device awkward or something in the software needs improvement.
Headphone Jack
To put it simply, the Nexus 7 is basically a giant iPod touch, minus iOS, a physical home button, and the shiny aluminum back. If you have an iPod touch, the headphone jack on both devices is on the bottom next to the port for data transfer and charging. It would have been nice to have it on top like what the iPad has since stock Jelly Bean desktop does not use the accelerometer to switch between landscape and portrait mode.
User Interface
Stock Jelly Bean does not take advantage of the accelerometer to switch between landscape and portait view of the desktop like you can on the iPad. It also is limited to 5 home screens, which do not jump from 1 to 5 or 5 to 1 automatically. In that case you have to scroll through 2-4 to get to the other side. I overcame this problem and installed “Go Launcher”, which allows me to scroll back and forth, make up to 9 home screens, and can view in landscape and portrait modes.
App Compatibility
As with other Android devices, there are apps that are incompatible with the Nexus 7. Now it is understandable if an app that works with the phone won’t work since there is no phone function on the Nexus 7, but I am talking about apps that the developers just have not updated to say that it is compatible. Techrepublic and ZDNet, both owned by CBS Interactive, are notoriously known, at least to me, to be “incompatible” with certain Android devices. Luckily I can side load them and they work fine.
The Nexus 7 basically has all the features of an Android smartphone, minus the phone part. So most of the apps should be compatible, it’s mainly the developers who choose what they want their apps to run on.
No 3G/4G
The Nexus 7 is a WiFi model only. If you think about it, adding 3G/4G capability would only add to the cost of the device, which can be seen in the 3G/4G capable iPad models. I know some people would be willing to pay more for that ability, but then you get into the costs of service and where you can get service and all that other nasty stuff. For basically $200 or $250, you’re getting a good deal. For me, I would just use the tethering function on my phone. Easy as that.
Screen issues
Some people have reported that the back of the Nexus 7 has been coming off. One person investigated and found that the screws that hold the screen shut were not tightened all way, as in just turning the screws a couple times so that they are in the hole, but still have more turns to go. I have not experienced this problem yet and I hope I won’t have to.
The issue that I face is when I am reading stuff on the Nexus 7 in bed with the brightness turned all the way down. I can see when viewing webpages with a lot of whitespace the screen flicker a little bit as if its trying to stay lit. It is not a big issue as I don’t see it during the day as there is a lot more light around me. I’m hoping it is a software issue where a patch can be made to fix the problem.
NFC/Android Beam
The Nexus 7 comes equipped with an NFC chip to be able to do data transfer using Android Beam. Basically you take the Nexus 7 and have it touch another Android device that uses Android Beam and you can send webpages, apps, music, etc. to that other device. This technology is also being used for Google Wallet, which is loaded on the Nexus 7. I tried to get it to work with my Galaxy S II and was only partially successful. I think either it was because Samsung uses a slightly different version or else that my phone was rooted that it didn’t work too well. I will say that the Nexus 7 responded very well when it detected my phone, but it was hard to get the phone to send data to the Nexus 7. If I had a Galaxy Nexus, it probably would work better since that is a pure Android phone.
No Micro-SD Slot
Many other Android devices allow you to expand the storage capacity with the addition of a micro-SD memory card that you can move apps to or hold music and movies on. The Nexus 7 has no slot for that as it would impact upon the performance and security of the device. Some developers don’t want their apps put on an SD card and also it can slow the system since the card has to be read for data, which may not take very long, but it might eat up battery power over time. I do not know the official reasons, I am only giving my thoughts on it.
No Flash!
OMG!!! THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!!! HOW CAN WE SURVIVE WITHOUT FLASH?!?!
Well, in the 2 weeks that I have had it, I haven’t felt the loss. Many of the websites have been converting to HTML5 so it can be accessible on iOS devices. Also Adobe will not be working on mobile Flash anymore, so it’s good that Jelly Bean was built to not worry about it.
CONCLUSION
Well, that is a big description of the Nexus 7 in the good, bad, and ugly. There are a lot of other features that I probably should point out, but I don’t want to give away all of them, that should be done by you. The Nexus 7 is a very fast, compact, and fun tablet to use. I’ve been using it more than my iPad. The Nexus 7 is a lot nicer to read in bed as it doesn’t weigh as much as an iPad, which I hear from a lot of people as being a problem. I can hold the Nexus 7 solidly with one hand and it won’t come out. It’s also nice to throw into my bag and take it to work or other places.
So if you have an iPad already, I say go out and get this tablet and experience the best of both worlds. If you’re looking for an awesome Android tablet for the first time, go for the Nexus 7. It is priced right and you get a lot of power. While other manufacturers make bigger tablets, the Nexus 7 is currently the only Android tablet with the latest OS version. This way you can keep up to date on new and existing apps that will run on Jelly Bean, unlike the others where they become obsolete so quickly that the number of apps that support the older versions of Android are falling.
This is a good buy. You can find the Nexux 7 at the Google Play Store here.
You can also find the Nexus 7 at several retail stores in your area.
HAVE FUN AND GEEK OUT!!!
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by Brian Booher
Hey everyone out there in Internetland. How are things going for you on the Information Superhighway? Wow! Who says that anymore?
I am going to give a review of that weird looking, but awesome, device known as the Boxee Box. The Boxee Box has been around for over 2 years and have had a decent selling rate. I have had mine for almost a month and now I think it’s time to give my impression on this thing. As I did with the “The new iPad” review, I am giving the good, the bad, and the ugly points, or “G.B.U.” as it say in the title. I am under no contract by the manufacturer or vendors that are on the device, so I am free to bash this all I want. So let’s get down to it.
If you’re looking to hook up a home theatre PC (HTPC) to your HDTV in your living room but don’t want to deal with having to use a keyboard and mouse to navigate media files, then a Boxee Box is the way to go.
I will say right now that if you’re one of those people who has invested heavily into the Apple iTunes universe, you probably will be better off with getting the Apple TV since that connects to iTunes so you can watch your copy-protected movies and stuff. But there is no harm in having a Boxee Box too. You would have the best of both worlds.
Capability
The big thing that makes Boxee Box really awesome is that it can basically play videos, music, and photos in every format known. I have been throwing every kind of video file at it that does not have copy protection on it and it will play.
Media Sharing
You have 2 choices in being able to stream video, music, and pictures from your connected PC or Mac to the Boxee Box.
The first is the “Boxee Media Manager”. It’s a simple drag and drop of the files or folders of files you want to have shared to your Boxee Box. You must have your computer running this app in order to share the media. It is the simplest of the two methods.
The second is sharing drives and folders directly from a Mac or PC. With the PC, I had to do a Google search on how to properly set it up, as there some settings that you have to activate and deactivate. This process can be tedious to many people who are not tech savvy, but if you can manage to get the process done, you wouldn’t need the “Boxee Media Manager”.
Content
I will keep it simple. The Boxee Box is the little engine that could. This little device will basically play any kind of video, audio, and picture format out there.
But I will say that it cannot play EVERYTHING. I have tried to get it to play HD-DVD and Blu-ray formatted files and they would not work, mainly due to them having copy protection on them.
The Boxee Box does have a hard time playing large video files, say like 10GB and bigger involving HD video. I think it’s due to the buffering of the video that it cannot keep up. I’ve tried to make things easier for the movie to run, but eventually it stops and the Boxee resets. Unless you can compress the HD video into a smaller file size, it will sputter.
Many people that have written reviews on the Boxee Box previously say that the device does not play ISO images. I can say that it can play ISO images, just not all of them. I have been able to convert a DVD to an ISO image and it will play like a DVD on the device. You get access to the menus and special features as well as the movie itself. I say that it’s about a 50/50 chance that the ISO will be played.
Apps and Online Content
The Boxee Box has an amazing variety of online channels to access from. You can get Netflix, Pandora, Spotify, MLB.tv, NBA TV, Comedy Central, Vudu, etc. This little box has just about everything on it. The only real downside is that you cannot access Hulu Plus on it, as Hulu doesn’t like being on that device and goes to great lengths to make sure you don’t access it through the Boxee Box.
The Boxee Remote
The Boxee remote is a functional and fairly simplistic device. The coolest feature is that it is not and IR remote, meaning you do not have to point it to the Boxee Box to go through the menus. It’s all radio based. There are 4 main buttons on the top. One is a dedicated Netflix button while the others are the directional pad, the Enter button, and the exit/menu button. On the back is what makes it better than other remotes. On the back is a full querty keyboard that allows you to type in addresses for websites or login information. It is a compact design, but after a little bit of using it, you will get the hang of it.
There really is not much that is bad about the Boxee Box. It is more expensive than the Apple TV or Roku boxes, but with the amount of content that you can do on it will make it worth the $180.
There are some things about the Boxee Box that are ugly, but does not really detract from the experience very much. Though each person’s experience is different.
The Boxee Remote
The ugly things about the Boxee Remote is that the top side is symetirical both on the X and Y axis. If you happen to drop the remote in a dark room and picked it up to change a channel or to pause, there is the 50% chance that you might have it upside down and accidentally hit the Netflix button when you wanted to hit the menu button. The simple solution is to just look where the red Netflix button is, since hitting that kicks you out of what you were watching and it takes like a minute, at least for me, to have Netflix load to a point where I can back out. I do wish that the remote could also be illuminated, but I don’t want to be too picky.
Missing Apps
As I said before, Hulu Plus is not on the Boxee Box. Hulu itself has made the effort to preventing people from accessing the content from the Boxee Box. I think it all has to do with Hulu’s high demand for control as well as money issues. That could all change in the future though. We can only hope.
HD video
I have noticed that trying to play large HD video files like MKV’s or MP4 that range of more than 10GB can cause the Boxee Box to crash. I can compress those files to small sizes, but the picture quality can suffer. Either it is because there is something wrong with the video files itself or a buffering issue with the Boxee Box that it eventually just cannot keep up.
The physical design
If you have never seen a Boxee Box, it looks like this below:
It is a weird shape, like someone just cut 3 corners off a cube and make it lean to one side. Some people might find this annoying since you cannot stack other devices on top, but the design also makes it stand out from the rest.
The Boxee Box is one amazing little entertainment box. Although it does not have the ability to access everything that the web has to offer, I think that with the amount of content currently on there, you’ll be well entertained. You can also stream your own music and movies from your Mac or PC. It will play just about every kind of popular music and movie file format out there.
For $180, I think I got my money’s worth in this device. I believe that their content will get better in the future as more people “cut the cord” from cable or satellite services.
Have fun and geek out!
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