why from Berlin well actually not quite
live as we publish on a delay and
actually not quite a bit delayed this
week because Germany is apparently a
giant black hole of internet so much
later from Berlin it's the special Aoife
wrap-up edition episode 0 60 of the
pocket now weekly once a week podcast
from pocket now where we discuss
smartphones tablets and the state of
mobile technology in 2013 I'm your host
Michael Fisher editorial director at
pocket now and today I'm joined by the
man who's boldly put up with my
complaining all week pocketnow is very
own ferns a term expert and my roommate
for this trip managing editor anton d
not even morning good afternoon good
evening everybody tony has asked me to
remind all of you before I start
complaining once again how about my
total lack of connectivity in this
country can't take one more that we are
recording in the evening it is a
probably 7pm local x 11 p.m. local time
so we have just I just realize this we
just made it we have been running for
over a year with the pocket hat podcast
every week and right now we are
recording our 60th episode on the last
hour of the the week in question so
we're really cutting it close and
listeners we thank you for being patient
yeah well listen we also have to upload
this and with the internet here I'm not
sure we're gonna make it this week no
it's they know where the upload is gonna
be late but thankfully the recording is
not and these internet problems are not
something that we're going to talk about
forever but my god we are currently in a
black hole yes if a gully of
connectivity Tony and I are presently
hunched over a microphone which is
perched precariously on some on a really
sweet Mike's I know let's let's take it
from from bottom up okay so we've got
sweet Romanian leather suitcase followed
by a macbook air and I think it's a
retail box retail box
followed by a best walk quality Footwear
shoe box Italian Italian Anthony I have
no idea what this is topped all of my
artists trashed our hotel tradition of
course what I had to and on top of that
is our trusty blue Yeti which we are
sharing today so you're welcome for the
awesome voice quality I think we're
gonna take a game down just a little bit
because I'm looking the way you wanted
to replicate the phones attitude defends
a term yes which we haven't been to the
top of yet yeah we had plans Tony and I
to go out into the country we've just
finished covering the I should say this
the International função schtum
brother and the Berlin radio show like
the second and last day out of the six
shell days right yeah it's only the
second day of the show but we're already
done all the big tech news has landed
and we were going to go out into the
country tomorrow we're going to talk
tech news in a second guys don't do not
yet but we were going to go out in the
country tomorrow per my request I've
seen Berlin before but I've never seen
Germany's beautiful country stolen or to
Poland yeah we were going to do all
these great things but instead what I
think we're gonna do is walk into the o2
store down at the where is that a lake a
shopping center in Alexander Platz yes
full staffed with wonderfully nice
people who I really actually enjoy
speaking with no idea what today I
really wanted like smash a chair through
someone I'm not going to do that and
they're wonderful people you should buy
things from them but man don't buy a
prepaid card because they don't know how
to work those things yeah interestingly
I didn't have these problems but I feel
you man I mean yeah it's been a mess
that combine that with the fact that at
our hotel our Wi-Fi the Wi-Fi tell you
what the hotel is not at all does not
penetrate our room except for one point
in the room in which we are now right
and the that and also the cellular
signal does not penetrate the wall so we
have GPRS or Wi-Fi and one square foot
so we've been soldiering on but
thankfully the pressure Rome has had
internet welcome to Berlin thank you
thank you yeah the black hole of
internet expression is not out of the
blue some somebody on Twitter who
follows me was like welcome to Germany
we ain't got no internet and and while
we got here I have a sweet story I think
who flew like seven eight hours seven
and a half and set eight hours and of
course he didn't close an eye then I had
before the flight mm-hmm and
interestingly I didn't manage to get
some sleep either before my 14-hour
drive here to Berlin but it just so
happens that once a year not just so
often once a year I prepare for Eva
that's the day before i leave for eva
and guess what microsoft decides to buy
Nokia HTC decides to announce the desire
601 and 300 and my room is a mess I'm
backing everything I can't find anything
and my feet is moving like crazy like
scrolling constantly and I have to post
news because I'm we need to bring news
to you guys so it was it was a mess and
that's all that happened and after that
we probably have slept like 15 hours
combined yeah so what happens at Aoife
is that or edit and any trainer really
fascinates right unless your podcast
about it in which case everyone know but
what happens at trade shows is that the
brig big brands will make their
announcements of their major products
days before the show actually starts
they have special events they know
everybody's coming to the shows but they
they have them early so this year it was
Samsung know what I had that in mind and
since Aoife started officially on the
6th right we were here on the surface
second or the third I flew in the second
Atlanta donothor good morning yeah we
had everything like a combination flight
plan to the letter like months in
advance and boom before we head out like
we got invites from Samsung from Sony
from everybody yeah and we just can't
really make it but next time we'll get
one week earlier yeah we did we made it
to Samsung which was good and which was
good we did that and that was you know
so so but the thing is if you watch any
of the hands-on videos from the Samsung
of it we look like just drugged up the
thieves and and and half dead rose is
this the segway yes because we're
talking stamps because we're talking
Samsung which is easily the biggest
announcement of the of the show all the
sony fanboys just left it is
they're my their mind least least
favorite people of the week I've
attended a couple of Samsung events and
I've also seen some live coverage of the
probably worse Samsung event ever we can
say this the new york's that's for it
yes for yeah yeah this was more
interesting i I'll tell you but at one
point I glanced over to Michael and he
had like eyes open like a millimeter and
through my one millimeter aperture
opening I was like dude I'm falling
asleep and he was like yes yeah and the
music was so loud I could feel the bass
in my chest but we will still almost
doze off yeah it's very true and I do
want to say you make a good point i was
thinking about this and it's not
something i've said yet samsung has a
history of treating its audience well it
kind of in a patronizing kind of way and
they did not the company did not do that
this time around we didn't have a
tap-dancing child onstage we didn't have
this hokey musical theme we did have a
lot of the short vignette videos and the
those whose name I can never remember
who hosts a popular gadget show in the
in the UK was a little you know over the
top as he was hired to be but you know
the the event comment on that the event
did not insult our intelligence you know
we were at one point inside it to yell
no and longer and stronger other better
you're at New York honor yeah then
there's the New York of it so I'm glad
we weren't at the Times Square event
with it what does the name of that bend
okay icona pop yes indeed that kind of
pop is an awesome awesome bad you should
check out yeah anyway the products that
were a smooth oh yes let us please move
on easily the biggest headlining event
everybody already knows that it's the
one that's been beating all the other
devices in our scores the galaxy note
here he gives the galaxy gear the new
SmartWatch that's just kind of smart
phones are dead people it's the galaxy
gear galaxy gear on one wrist pebble on
the other that's how we do things no the
galaxy note 3 their latest addition to
the Samsung phablet line
Tony what were your thoughts as we saw
this thing on about the phone about
Samsung's presentation no cuz the
presentation I think we can I think
people are most interested about the
phone yeah but I have a note you haven't
no I have a note as well will you ever
know to know I haven't 030 I owe you
don't I almost bought in this yellow
store holy crap by the way if you go to
that of just nevermind let's not that's
not a little bit but ok so thing is that
Samsung was probably either trying so
hard to fix a mistake which was ongoing
for a couple of years or they have
completely lost their memory about
seventy percent of the event was
concentrated on the new leather back of
the device of the premium build on the
new direction and I last that Michael
and I told him dude those people who
really loved hyper blaze will be
disappointed so all six of them yeah
point is that Samsung really did not
emphasize at all on the specs not so
much on the software there were a couple
of hints dropped but the build itself
the leather bag there was a special
video of a book maker guy he yeah that's
what opened up the whole event he was
there's this guy in a dusty workshop you
know painstakingly hammering away at
there's no me too yeah and he's it
becomes clear that he's building a that
he's building a notebook and when he
finishes it up and it closes at at the
end of this this video and he's so proud
of this work and it's hand-stitched
leather and I think it just says note on
it right yeah front and back seem to
match the back of the note to rather
than 30 sorry and the sides the aluminum
seem to match the pages yeah oh right no
good call I didn't ok so the sides of
the galaxy note 3 if you look closely at
our video they're striped and it's
almost as though they're there's some
like a electric pencil sharpener from
1950 with this like really fine detail
these rails on the side but no you're
right it more suggests paper in a
notebook and the back cover has this
it's real and it right so whether it's
pleather leather your faux leather of
some kind whatever it is it's supposed
to be leather it feels a lot like
cheap leather but it feels good I don't
mean the chief I mean it feels cheap
about our dance hype early you done much
and it has legitimate stitching on the
side yeah to the point where I'm
thinking about I'm like looking ahead in
time to the two years from now 22 year
old galaxy note 3 is especially if you
have a white one right and today 12 that
leather like well I think you're
thinking something different i'm
thinking of the stitching popping out
i'm thinking the stitching getting loose
a white thing and it's not necessarily
the letter or Foe letter but the
stitching becoming dark dirty Oh easy
right but I think that's gonna make it
look cool so so here's the thing right I
think you I think the stitching the
leather the stitched leather is going to
be as polarizing as some other finishes
have been I think some people are really
not gonna like it I didn't know what to
think about it like a day and now i
really like it because it's something
different and it's not hyper life would
you agree if i said that samsung
replaced a gross material with a
gimmicky one i hesitate to use the the
adjective gimmicky when talking about
samsung as it's been overplayed you know
with it with their features doesn't I
still you know what I mean but I know to
me yes it's so it's a hook right yeah
it's like it looks like a thing where
it's like hey look at we got a leather
phone and and with a premium right but I
have to respect them I haven't seen
another phone manufacturer do it and we
are used to saying samsung just kind of
do what everyone else does just like a
quarter later and I'm like Apple they
don't always do it they don't usually do
it better so I I really have to give it
to Samsung that they didn't just pull a
pull a usual and and do like an HTC one
copy and I know it's not time for that
we'll get to that later but also the
galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition has the
same same letter or faux leather
stitching on the back and in another
example of attention to detail on
Samsungs part all of their tables in
their booth are covered in the same
leather pattern within its stitch on the
sides so their presentation has improved
you know dramatically in even in the
year that I've been covering this show
which isn't not a long time
so I i really think that it was nice now
what about the way we still have things
to talk about on the notes free well we
we know the specs we knew respect me 40
events yeah that's not talking I'm good
a Snapdragon 800 or next notes octa-core
yeah we have the camera we have the free
incest Rams regions Aram right and it's
30 spin them in their power battery and
a DP display question yes the note 2 had
a 31 million power battery pretty 100
100 yeah the note 3 has a 3200 still
samsung claims sometimes for instance in
video playback playback forty percent
more battery life or four more hours of
video playback yes yeah under the
circumstances in which we have a full HD
display and aunt in a larger 470 yeah
how do you think they pulled it off I
think that that is processor I think
that that's entirely false to the
Snapdragon 800 I think they may have
been playing fast and loose with the
with the spec sheet there and say some
versions of it may be because the 800
has enhanced battery management power
management stuff I know that 1080p panel
which is larger than the existing 720p
panel is going to pull a lot of power
but I you know counter be
counterbalanced by the Snapdragon 800
and maybe with display brightness at one
they can pull out that figure but you
know what hold on motorola got away with
saying 24 hours or whatever the hell i
said but about the Moto X like
ridiculous figure on battery life and
it's got nowhere close to that in our
tests like it got half that but that was
still a lot of endurance for that sized
phone which is why we still respected
the Moto idea far as endurance goes so I
think yeah Samsung is you know puffing
up the puffing up the goiter a little
bit there I don't know what that mean
left forget to mention that the note 3
will come in two flavors unfortunately
let's remind ourselves that the note 2
was the first samsung phone to ship with
the same specs across the entire world
US and Europe gsm hsdpa you know and LTE
unfortunately the note 3 will have the
Qualcomm 800 on LTE and the Exynos 5
under hsdpa avian global
markets right way then one won't have LT
yep no wait no it will have LTE yeah but
we have to separate oh yeah associés
idea exactly again yeah there's this
fragment yes the word fragmentation
again on the same device yeah I and
being over here is given me a new
appreciation for some of the some of the
woes of non-us buyers because there's a
lot of variants of devices that are
different sometimes they're better I
mean you like your octa-core galaxy I
love we're better than the snapdragon
the gaseous for us yeah what do you
think about the the key who don't know
three yeah us been so the new S Pen I
loved the intro this new S Pen and I was
expecting to see this like wildly
reimagined hardware and I'm like oh oh
it's just an S Pen again except that's
different well just look over and it's
not triangular yeah it's I'm not
entirely sure that I liked the physical
I know I don't think it it said at all
so there's no angles there are ya know I
kinda like the existing I spam but the
real stories in the software and man it
takes you a while to learn how to work
that new software because you you have
to hover over the screen to activate
this air command menu which is a
circular menu just pop down get it right
yeah and i gotta say those demo units on
the floor were being abused there were
just hundreds of thousands of people
going in and out of the Samsung booth
which wasn't a book I'm sorry it was an
airplane hangar I mean it was massive
and there were so many devices and which
was wonderful but those devices were so
beat up and just moved maimed to almost
but so we restarted each one before we
did the demos on him but we had to
relearn how to deploy that air command
menu because you get the s-pen close to
the screen and then you press the button
but your inclination I'll hold the
button yeah only when you see the dot
right you see it the see the dot nerve
you hold the S Pen over the screen then
you click the button on the S Pen once
in the fanx bed and the fam comes out
and then you have these five new options
and some of them are the existing ones
that we're familiar with like how big is
it Air Command yeah Air Command as to
what the disk is called yeah and then
that all the rest of theirs there's the
screen capture thing and then there's
four others which are actually new multi
window the search one yeah so there's
the one where you note yeah that no one
is probably the most impressive right
because
we're not gonna go through all them we
got a video up that you don't sever all
of them yeah but we have one
specifically dedicated to this air
command menu and but that's my favorite
one is the note-taking 1 i'll ask you
for your favorite one but it's like so
the note-taking one you can like write
in yes you can write in a name and it'll
transcribe it but you write it a name
and a phone number and then dump it
right into the contact and the phone
will be smart enough to recognize that
you can write in an address and the
phone will jump you into Maps no yeah
that's right here so yeah and you set up
a force now you put the word in my head
yes it's gimmicky yes I would still be
faster typing it in than using the
s-band so ultimately I don't see how
much use this is kind of kit but for
some reason it impressed me more than
the s 4's bevy of have is a same same
cliche why did you do it because I can
mm-hmm so gimmicks or not Samsung makes
sure to give you more features than you
would ever need just in case you would
need something it is there no it's true
and as long as it doesn't impact the
performance of the device oh because you
never least not on the phone right but
no I mean that's not the argument I've
used before the argument I'm used before
is like yeah you focus all your effort
on this broad swath of features and not
a lot of them are gonna make much sense
in the long run and so as a result the
features that make it to production or
not as good as they could be if you only
limited it to three or four but you know
I still think the note 3 did a better
job of of that than than the s4 because
the s4 is like 40 features and the note
3 is only bringing six or seven new ones
to the table that I made sure I'm sure
yeah but these are specifically called
out I'm sure all the features of the s4
are there like the air view air gesture
smart stay smart pen aw smart play I
don't think about that they should be we
have not checked so yeah we but do you
need that like if you have the s9 do you
need air air gesture so we'll say I
don't know let me ask you something ya
know three your favorite feature or
anything about the film what do you have
more about the phone hardware software
presentation anything
it's that it it's that leather back cuz
I'm not necessarily the leatherback but
but the hyper blaze going with hyper to
keep being gone yeah and you know as I
am on record as saying that the note 2
was not a badly made fun of as much
better than the s3 and better than the s
foreign somewhat but I'm glad to see
hyper guys go but I'm also glad lucky if
you put yourself in the shoes of a
regular buyer okay you're investing in a
phone that's going to carry you through
a two-year contract it for me if I were
that regular person these days I would
definitely look at the galaxy note 3
with its yes it's stitched leather but
its massive array of features that are
tightly tied to the s pen which I like
using because it makes me use the device
better and it's accessory wave with more
accessories than I've ever seen that of
the Samsung that is awesome it looks
like it's it's a positive be absolutely
it looks supported right from the start
it looks like it's going to be a jewel
is there well thought yeah so I you know
that whole array what about you do you
have a favorite yeah I applaud samsung
for managing to back a larger screen and
the same form factor and reusing the
bezels too close to minimum the screen
is I don't like super amoled screens
let's make clear there are two vibrants
too much color love but yeah I know I do
yes even on your Lumia you have like
iteration the standard is is set up
vibrant and you have like two notches
above there no but Hankey the fact that
they manage to put a larger screen
inside the same body and we use the
bezels on the sides that I think is
applauded oh yeah no I agree that's my
favorite feature leather the s-pen never
used it it is a good phone a fast phone
the specs will surely surely get you
through the next two years so there's no
doubt about that I have one last thing
to say about this before we move on to
another device
I the one of the features in the fan is
called s search yes is that what it s
search the sub-sites s look or something
it's as it whatever it is this is a
feature which allows you to search right
it's a system-wide search on the phone
but that itself the functionality is
exciting enough but when you go into it
and you see this in our videos it got
lost like that you I it's cool like it
looks like it's ripped right from hollow
it looks like you're jumping into stock
Android for a second with these but with
fonts that are thinner yet bigger aids
very readable it's very cool it's very
comfortable nothing like the rest of
nothing like the rest of TouchWiz and
you know what that's a breath of fresh
air because TouchWiz in my opinion is
just as cartoonion and and it just gets
lamer with each passing month so I
wonder if we're getting a peek at the
future of TouchWiz in that Samsung
designed or message because it because
it's it's in line with the with the hub
any other Samsung stuff it is but maybe
some developer at one point overlooked
that aspect and rush the thing out the
door yeah you just forgot to apply the
glue it was oh it doesn't oh you didn't
put the balloons up oh yeah all right
did you get app just didn't know what
he's gonna hear ya so anyway I'm very
much looking forward again 03 I don't
know if I'm gonna be the one to review
it I would hope that I am because you
know i would i would like to to follow
up on my note 2 review which i really
enjoyed doing and i'd like to carry the
note 3 again for a little while so i
think it's going to be fun i would also
like to carry one yes well maybe we both
will it is a good show phone yes it's a
great show phone well we know that
already yes so i want you to lead us in
on this next device okay here's a fun
cuz it's your most favorite device ever
take note yeah what goes best with the
note 3 of the s pen okay then strap it
on your hand okay what what are you what
are you getting at tony is there a
companion device according to samsung
yes and we
already seen it displayed nearly note 3
near the tablet and there's a big big
huge sign calling out samsung galaxy
note 3 + samsung galaxy gear galaxy gear
the device the i don't know where to put
a device accessory yes that is probably
the biggest surprise to me the galaxy
gear of listeners if you don't know was
that is the samsung Smart Watch and it
is exactly the same which was leaked and
it was initially leaked then there was a
debunk saying no that's an early
prototype no it looks like the leaked
pictures it does it may not be identical
at room the leaks being just a little
bit weirder looking at well they were
grabs right there were photo snaps of a
projection projection video so of course
they looked crappier so 22 big surprises
for the galaxy gear for me one is that
they positioned it as a companion to the
note it's not not saying it's an
illogical move I'm saying it was like
the product works with the note to the
s3 and the s4 right right right right
but the second big surprise was what
I've actually completely forgot Oh was
that it didn't look so bad in person so
it looks I midnight I know you disagree
with my lazy butt in on video in photos
it looks awful I think it's bulky it
looks huge it looks like half a galaxy
s3 on your wrist but when you put the
thing on it's released for me it's both
lighter and smaller than I expected I
don't have anything against the huge
watches I like myself huge watches I
knowing the fact that Samsung is trying
to pioneer bendable screens I was
somehow I don't know secretly hoping for
something which would be half your wrist
a screen a curved screen a curved glass
say something I don't care about the
bulkiness it's it's vic something i'll
give it at those renders we saw yeah so
imagine imagine walking in a bar yeah
with your friends note 3 in your pocket
and
you raise your arm at your eye level
mm-hmm and you touch your phone your rub
your watch your watch yes and you select
the camera and while moving adjusting
your hands to the perfect level you snap
a picture with the watch on your wrist
of your friends at the table mm-hmm how
lame is that I mean is it more lame than
like looking at them with your robot
head gear and and tapping and like
blinking twice or sitting ok Google
right snap snap picture now yeah no no I
right it's lame it's lame in that regard
but but it's also like geek chic cool
air it wants to be it wants to let me
read I don't think it succeeds helllll a
missive to be outside with your friends
and actually raising your wrist up to
your ear and talking to your wrists like
a Secret Service agent so the galaxy
gear has a speaker and a microphone and
yes you raise the thing up to the
vicinity of your head without taking it
off your wrist which is pretty cool to
have a conversation yeah I know I know
right so it's the Dick Tracy watch and
the watch from in pennies watch from
inspector gadget all-in-one and in got a
bong and well of course one of the early
bond things yeah when bond was push pro
gadget so yeah there's there's all that
stuff and if that sounds like something
right up your alley which by the way to
me it does and so I am said 100 up I
like I say I will wear a pebble on one
wrist and a friggin Galaxy gear on the
other and it's gonna be great that was
my girlfriend suggestion by the way
which is why she's my girlfriend it's
wonderful but so there is there's a
large contingent of people who are not
going to buy it particularly because of
the price points we're seeing which is
outrageous Wow to 9999 in American
dollars at carrier stores at least two
carrier store I wonder if the price will
be the same if you purchase it with the
no.3 well if Verizon was talking about a
bundle deal but their bundle team was
like maybe this was misquoted but it was
like couple of bucks
no it wasn't even that it was like
galaxy it was like galaxy note 3 299 but
if you get over the galaxy gear it's 599
thing wait all right great this guy wait
what yeah so I don't know I decided the
contract for my watch yeah but so what
if you put yourself in that position of
that person I was talking about before
though who's buying the note 3 to last
him two years and he's kind of a geek
he's aspect yes back headed whenever but
you know he doesn't want to pull the
note 3 out of his pocket every time it
rings whatever he wants to have a pebble
but he wants it to do more there's
there's more to the gear there's apps
yeah developers can develop applications
specifically for the gear which they can
do for the pebble as well but they'll
correct you'll be able to do more with
them on the gear because of its larger
screen you have a larger screen have a
color screen you have a camera yeah like
it or not mid-city see ya 4 megapixel I
don't know what the stills resolution is
I should but I don't also 720p invidi
here's a 10 10 or 30 second limit on
video 10 second month tensor element
softie yeah it is good if not you're
you're let's say it's good for me if my
phone is not in my pocket which is
within my reach but it's in my car 15
meters away or it's in my backpack or
it's in my bag which I'm carrying at the
show floor then I could accept this but
if my phone isn't within my reach
raising my hand to my my wrist to my ear
just like I would hold a phone who'd
make me think like why wouldn't I hold
the actual phone would I have my self in
effort I mean the effort taking me to
raise my wrist to my year with or
without the phone is the same it's not
the same this is where this is where we
differ because right this is the the
perspective of someone who owns them
likes a smart watch to the perspective
of someone who doesn't find them useful
and yeah I think there is a it doesn't
sound like one on paper it certainly is
a difficult to imagine one but there is
a measurable difference in effort in
extracting a phone from your pocket and
then putting up to your head and just
looking at your wrist is huge calling
and putting your hand up share it does
one make you look more stupid yes my
glad we're not
talking about getting x.x you made it
like sometimes you are no what if you're
sitting in a car you remember this isn't
the HPV r this is a note 3 in your
pocket its massive it's yes there are
bigger phones but it's still big so it's
hard to get out your pocket when you're
sitting it's not always its unwieldy
sometimes so the galaxy all right listen
I think the galaxy gear launched with
the right product that's what I think I
think it launched with the proper
product I don't think it's good enough
to have seen the light of day I think
it's a mediocre towards low end product
as another in specs and what it offers
as in its usefulness yeah it it it
shouldn't be on the market the way it is
today I agree that I do not like it i
doona find it useful it's just in
another galaxy and whenever I see you
talking to your wrist I'm going to turn
around and go away or slap you in the
face I I will not abide this good
goodbye oh the galaxy Gear's get is
gonna be hugely polarizing yeah but I
don't listen I think when it comes time
for I predict that when the galaxy gear
2 comes out which it will because
Samsung is plenty of money to blow on
this we are going to sit there and say
release I am Tony's gonna sit there and
say I told you this is the first one
what's crap and I'm gonna say no well
you know the second one is what the
first one should have been that's what i
will say because the first one feels
rushed you know what else the gear is a
companion to you what the note 10.1 2014
wow I wish we had like transition sound
effects for a segue because it would be
nice yeah clearly yeah go ahead I was
thinking is Samsung in the car business
I mean it's 2013 September the seven the
date of the announcement was September
fourth yeah and people on the stage
we're talking about samsung galaxy note
10.1 2014 yeah just like the Chevy write
a Ford or the other companies well if
there is an industry that's like you
know relatable comparable to to to
another i mean it's its mobile phones
and cars
right now nowadays i meani of model
years you have enthusiasts you have you
don't spec heads versus people who like
the ride or at the experience you know
you have interview of fanatics on each
side in the audience's and you have a
lot of different brands vying for
attention I love the note 10.1 2014 and
I hate it at the same time what do you
know about it I like the fact that it
feels finally like a well-built tablet
oh yeah physically physically ya holdin
it is it's not too heavy it's not too
light the material is finally not
slippery mm-hmm it is leather or full
letter regardless it feels good feels
premium the screen is good it has the
same resolution as the nexus 10 mm-hmm
but the software I think Samsung has a
lot to work on or devices we've seen a
really really early software versions
this is the problem with the note the
larger note because the note family is
weird it's segmented the note 2 has
excuse me the note 1 and then o to have
a really really good software it's
responsive is running on powerful
hardware it's great then larger notes
you know it seems like the bigger they
get the more they lack the more features
they get the morally leg yeah well but I
it one could argue that the note 2 has
just as many features as the note the
note 10 dot 1 2013 13 you know baby but
decent that the note 10 doubt one the
first one lagged like crazy the note 8
has its moments where it stutters it's
not the most responsive thing ever you
know and the note and then this one but
and this one we only saw on the show
floor and you know like we said those
are abused devices the note 3 was even
lagging on the show floor yeah we're
getting just you know hammered but okay
review devices or not show devices or
not and i cannot in 2013 except that it
needs three seconds to switch from
portrait to landscape that was a crazy
it's not a super high processor using
using
activity no I just need to flip and
rotate and it takes like three seconds
there's a video to show it yeah yeah
wood and that was not unique to that
unit I mean yeah there they were they
were so I'm worried about that I worried
about worried about the larger note
because they always tend to bog down and
you know it's not about aspects because
the sex they are on paper probably it's
the fastest tablet out there it's like
free gigs of ram is like a super-fast
800 Qualcomm processor right it's it's
the software unfortunately yeah and the
TouchWiz doesn't show any signs of
getting lighter anytime soon so maybe we
just have to hope for optimization and
hopefully yeah I don't know and the
features of the s-pen are the same so
those who buy the note 3 can buy the
10.1 2014 and use the same Air Command
Air Command yeah everything is the same
even the back is the same so they go
well together as a family they're not
yeah they're a nice family would you
like to buy them as an entire family
well that's arguable this is a really
good question and I think we need to
move on after this but you've raised an
awesome question to end up on doesn't
the note 3 doesn't the whole smartphone
or phablet size note family totally
obviate the need for the larger ones for
a lot of people because i remember i
wrote an article like six months or
eight months ago like with a phone this
big of a needs a tablet yeah because
really you know they're huge phone fans
of the brand will always buy everything
looks like you have the ipad you have
the ipod e at the iphone you have the
imac you had an apple TV and everything
yeah so if you are samsung fan chances
are you get the note 3 and you already
have the s4 and the watch and the tablet
well if your samsung fan with a lot of
money who invested well yeah yeah do you
need all those probably not no but
that's up to you yeah well they're the
samsung fans are certainly vocal but
they're not the only ones out there and
the the sony fan group is also very very
very loud and the
yeah and so we had some some interesting
feedback from our hands-on treatment of
the z1 which we also compared on the on
the show floor to the HTC One and the
galaxy s4 yeah in in cursory fashion as
we usually do on the show floor guys
when we are comparing devices the they
are not these are not studio quality day
long film scripts which where we are
very thorough and which we you know
enjoy doing these are like just a hair
on the spot on the spot four and five
minute like what is this one it was
suspect or suspects and and while you do
that there's a lot of people hustling
you waiting for you hoping that you died
on the spot so they can get their chance
to meet the phone hmm and you have to
actually fight your way to get that
video up so if we forget a spec we have
a typo or a mistake or anything that's
not because we are morons it's because
it's just the circumstances varies week
challenging environment yeah exactly but
DC one I really like it except and we'll
talk about this and I'll tell you what I
don't like about it yeah well does he
want you really like well what are you
really like i like the fact that it
follows the xperia z display of aspect
it looks the same it has the same
sandwich design which in my case who i
like the iphone 5 is appealing to me
yeah i like the screen if you look at it
that on I've seen I've guys I've read
your comments why would you ever look at
it other than dead on well I like my
privacy because most of the times your
films New Year phones are not that in
front of you but probably on the table
on the bed on the sofa on your dashboard
where you can't always look at your film
that on you
just need to glance at it and if you
glance at it and you can't see anything
you need to pick it up now I don't want
to pick it up I want to see things from
the side and it's because of that
practical consideration and because of a
number of other factors that looking at
your phone from an awful and seeing
blacks turn into greys and seeing the
panel glowing shifts right has become a
sign of a low quality display right
whether you like it or not it's not that
is your perception it's a a lower
quality execution right and and so and
if it doesn't bother you great by one
that I do yeah hey Amit we're not but
the commonly held perception which we
agree with is that that is not as that
is not a superior experience when
looking at a display you want to be able
to see a display from all angles and if
you don't if you're concerned about your
security then you put a screen protector
on which has which offers that feature
where you can't see it from from
anything around five degrees the phone
looks good it does I you know and plus
it looks good it is waterproof that's
proof in the water and dustproof its IP
I forgot what I p it is a 5760 77-67 and
I mean that's awesome you know i love
that i wouldn't want to drop it because
of that glass construction but you keep
the drop at once yeah one time but no
there's that and the sony skin looks
pretty good we showed up a 16 times in a
row we showed that if after our new
organization it is it's luis it's well
it's fluid like the and the tablet Z
definitely jumped around a little bit it
was a little scary but on the phone it
you know it's beautiful and it performs
as well as it should of on the on the
tablets it you know but god I still miss
the talasea but what I think the picture
of you which is which is probably inside
the hands on post on pocket now and we
zoomed in the picture too no more than
probably two hundred percent yeah and it
turned into a mosaic yeah turned into
like a pointillism print so in it we
thought well maybe it was the lighting
in that moment on the show the settings
the anything yeah maybe we messed up the
settings we try to find the reason or
an excuse but ya know but ultimately the
images that found produced at least the
ones that displayed in the screen oh no
and then also we got her off the phone
then we looked at it on another huh it
makes it made me look like I was I was
wearing like a week old caked up layer
of pancake makeup like it just gave my
skin a completely wrong texture which I
agree was better to the good old
question Sony makes awesome awesome
camcorders cameras they're good at
imaging we both use so many cameras you
have to cover the show I think most like
ninety percent of the pocket not team
uses sony camera yeah but every
standalone yeah the question is how come
sony can't get things right and guys
we're not hating on it and this is not a
final lepine of course we need to get
the review unit to compare it against
other phones and under our circumstances
but what we've seen there on the spot we
were expecting more out of it yeah and
fortunately that's made up for a little
bit on the features side sony has kind
of taken the blackberry timeshift idea
and run with it so that every time you
snap an image the cameras actually
already been capturing frames like sixty
dollars ridiculous it's I think it's 60
i think it's 30 on each side yeah so it
let's say it is guys we're probably
wrong on that figure but it's let's say
it's 30 frames before you hit the
shutter button and 30 frames after so
yeah I mean anybody in a group shot
who's blinking you can take that out
anything that's wrong and you can pick
the exact right moment to two
milliseconds and that's so cool oh yeah
it's really cool implementation and
you've got those live filters where you
can see if you want to put a filter on
the image you can see what it will look
like in a real cement with most phones
but in this case you can see like nine
at the same time or yeah or even more
right right is their simultaneous is it
yeah so there's a lot of cool stuff on
the on the software side in the camera
what else is that thing do that's not
one of those 4k suckers right no but
that's the new thing apparently but no
seriously i would consider the z1 but
it's not high on my priority list so yes
unfortunately it's where the z was
oh we forgot to mention it takes up a
mask penalty I think it's a little bit
thicker than the Z but in exchange for a
was it 3,000 milliamp hour battery is
that what it was something like that
it's something ridiculously high in
terms of storage capacity so that's
awesome but you know what things good
pictures the UH not the well I don't
know if the I know I know where you're
going but I don't know if they take good
pictures well it okay let's say they
should think of pictures they should
take good pictures yes the the devices
whose brand name has confused us they're
not all smart lenses but the press calls
them smart lenses no they were cold
smart lenses at first then they were the
rumors smart shot from smartphone and
cyber shot being joined right but now
they're just branded cyber show the qx10
and the qx100 the also known as the
Campbell's soup cans from previous
podcasts a nickname that I understand
our friend of the show Stefan consent
and SQ his has perpetuated beyond the
pocket not weekly I think I'm about the
only person who would carry such a lens
probably I mean like every time you say
something like that it's just checking
with myself and really how do I feel
what I can't do I feel the opposite well
then Tony probably feel no we make we
have to make this fear these accessories
work with every android phone given its
it runs 2.2 and above or something like
something like that something something
not from two years ago but something
rather recent and even with iOS so I
think we have talked about this exactly
before Aoife and I was raising the
question what if Sony would make this
thing non-exclusive to Sony what if they
would open up to every HTC one user who
is tired of having no details on his
phone and every iphone 5 user who
doesn't want to see the violet cast yeah
I'm sorry been distracted this whole
time because I've been like I really
want to fact check that is that true for
the iOS it is I know we've seen a lot of
things that are compatible as both
platforms
99.9 % sure that it is compared you know
we'd normally do it this time would be
be like yeah so it because I searching
we don't have that yeah we don't have
the internet guys a bit I'm just left
overnight shit just looked over at the
waveform and like I just totally peeked
it I'm not gonna fix that so I'm sorry
about your ears guys okay so yeah but
but they used to get these lenses one of
them is really thick and but they're
both really like you know what I don't
understand what which one is the higher
end is for me the lower end is the
higher end and the higher yes crazy the
qx10 is the lower end one and that one
has a 10 times optical zoom and these
things are self-powered itself contained
a 18 megapixel they both have sensor
sizes of over an inch in diameter right
which is huge yeah which is used
self-contained units like they're
they're really cool accomplishment is
engineering but the higher end one only
has a an improved resolution of 2
megapixels so it's 21 something
20-something verses 18 something and but
they would eat it reduced the optical
zoom to four times so it's like what
what and there's some other there's
another difference as someone rightfully
said in the comments we're not
photographers professionally so and we
are no we oh like are good we all like
to have a picture on our phones or
displays or tablets to which our friends
would say whoa to which you zoom in and
you don't see past all you don't see
mosaics right so I think the question is
would you carry one like here in Berlin
ok your next year in Barcelona mm-hmm
would you snap on your smart shot well
because I've already decided to make
certain sacrifices and make certain
choices no I wouldn't because I have the
Lumia 1020 and that that that blows it
out of the park for me we're not sure
yet but we don't know about right
picture quality and of course these
things have limit have them capabilities
the tent when he certainly doesn't i'm
not saying but going for me personally
no i would not carry one if i did not
have that lumia 1020 you know i might
take him to a show but the a trade shows
the only time I could see using that is
the thing if I wanted to go out and to
like have a nice vacation day where I'm
like I don't want to carry a bag I don't
want to carry anything
of my phone I wouldn't want to carry one
of these hockey pucks around now and
will ya so course you would yourself
with well you carry a man purse i like
it because because it would fit in there
with the secondary phone yes all that
comes but it would be worth it I don't
want to blow like 15 pictures and get
home and see that none of those are good
once shaky once noisy one is blown out
now I want a solution which is practical
and with this camera accessory you can
actually either pop it on the phone or
not because it works even if it's not
popped on you can have your camera like
a foot away and still record action zoom
capture and whatever from your phone
yeah this is I think awesome is like
super spy thing I agree and this
actually leads to my next point about
these things I think they may have
gotten a little bit of a bum trial in
our hands on video because we were in
the trade show some folks got to try all
these things privately we did not we
were on the trade floor with about a
billion d11 other people and whether it
was Wi-Fi chaos going on and these
things work via Wi-Fi direct so they
stream the image to your phone if you
find our via Wi-Fi direct and if there's
a lot of interference around sometimes
drops a couple of frames right and so it
was a heinous experience on the trade
for trying to get these things to work I
don't think that's their fault I think
that's the the trade floor environment
so please don't judge them based on that
that disclaimer probably should have
gone in the video that was probably my
best I apologize but we will give these
things a proper review one way or the
other so the way this works is if your
phone is NFC enabled you just tap your
phone towards the accessory and a pair
together if not then they could pair
together via bluetooth via Wi-Fi and you
either snap it on or not to your phone
and with the proper application so it's
not working with the stock application
you have to download a application
specifically compatible with your phone
and with your camera right it turns your
smartphone into the viewfinder of the
lens which is attached but the lens by
themselves are standalone ever
stabilization processing capturing is
done on the lens itself it just
transmits the final product to the phone
via bluetooth NFC or Wi-Fi direct ya
wouldn't trust anything we've ever seen
but yeah the thing is Wi-Fi direct
correct yeah so yeah it's fast thing in
this I cannot sit here and tell you that
I'm not interested in this and then at
the same time say yeah I like the ghost
a year cuz I'm geeky so these are both I
think they're in that way they're in the
same character category oddly there like
products forest product niche products
for aficionados for enthusiasts for
super geeks and also you know
professionals who need that certain that
certain ability and that was not the
only product of Sony what oh right so I
cool yeah yeah please I talked about it
before I reviewed the Xperia tablet Z
for us and for for all the things i
found wrong with it and there are you
know there are a few i loved that thing
it was lightweight it was beautifully
engineered and it was water and
dustproof and it ran android reasonably
well with some bugs that i wish you will
fixed but God the hardware is amazing so
imagine putting a different platform on
that hardware look dude what else can
you put on it right including a sweet
kickstand and one of the more innovative
keyboard easy Burt and right then then
you get the sony vaio viola tap 11 and
this thing we didn't even know we were
gonna cover it at first I thought it was
I found it on a list that we were
keeping and I was like wait what is this
then we went and saw and we found out
exactly what it is it's basically a
beefier Xperia tablet Z running Windows
8.1 right eight at the moment ap one
point later on I'll rates the toshiba
that soon me yeah okay so which windows
8 at the moment and tony was the one who
did the hands-on on this so that is a
sweet test now i'm not going to talk
about the aspect because Michael braised
it enough it's fast but the thing that
struck me the display was awesome oh
yeah it's probably I love this place but
this was something like I've never seen
before specs includes Haswell processors
I 3i
five 128 gigs of storage for gigs of ram
so just the usual lots of ports and the
keyboard is essential it's pretty I mean
there's some cool stuff is it yeah but
for Windows tablets it's okay something
I say its standard interested I need to
somehow build and deviate and agree with
most of our commenters on on YouTube
that this is mostly Microsoft's not a
fault air quotes fault Microsoft is to
be thanked for for having these awesome
products because the surface has set a
standard if you're in Hardware corner
Harbor yeah and and all the other OEMs
are trying to go beyond and above that
and we're talking like a sweet kickstand
a wireless keyboard which is not better
to your tablet at all so you can have
your tablet like five feet away being
dropped to its kickstand and you can use
the keyboard and it's included mouse
which is the trackpad and buttons and
don't have actually to contact your your
keyboard to the table there's one time
when you have to connect that when you
have to charge because it has a battery
and the tablet charges the keyboard
itself yeah but it's magnesium it feels
good in the hand and the color options
are white with the magnesium normal
silverish color and black which also
looks good can I tell you that I was so
confused by the concept of that keyboard
when you were getting the briefing
before we should in a video like like I
saw the contacts on the keyboard and
where they were supposed to line up with
the contacts on the tablet you normally
bought the steps in oh yeah I did to
persevere like wait how is this some
funky new hinge like I screw and if we
took me like a long time to realize that
oh you don't even plug it in like when
you have this thing to the tablet on its
kickstand and the keyboard in front of
it they're not supposed to touch they
don't have to oh oh really so it's good
it's an end of course windows 8 offers
you everything which which you want it's
it's basically i stopped considering it
a tablet for me it is a laptop the info
windows 8 yeah yeah
I mean II essentially yeah and it's
fanless because what he would stage has
well as well I three and I five yeah
those are going to be the two options
available and it also has a size 0 right
which magnetically clicks to the side
service probably the the version which
we have shot did not include the
magnetic parts on the right side the
stylist will be included it will not
have its slot you can slide it in you
can't conceal it you'll have to carry it
in your pocket your purse whatever but
it will whatever you don't need it snap
phonetically to the side of the tablet
right okay so we're gonna try and get
our hands on this I don't know if we're
gonna do this one I would love to well
we'll try I would really really like to
yeah if so many listens we want to do it
yeah so anyway sleepy let us move on
let's definitely move on I want to talk
about another tablet running windows for
a much shorter amount of time let's talk
about it running Android I want to talk
about one Ryan windows okay cuz which
one were you talking about oh wait you
can tell me in a second sweet a sweet a
thing chur a sweet what let's talk about
the Toshiba encore for a second let's
okay I was excited to hear that this
thing was going to be at one of these
events one of these nights of Aoife it
is a 8-inch tablet running windows and
this is not necessarily the first in the
world running like that but we don't see
them that often from manufacturers that
we cover routinely and we don't even
cover toshiba routinely i would like to
sometimes but they tend to release stuff
that in areas that we don't cover
there's a whole lot of reasons but when
we learned they were going to be there
was like I want to see this I haven't
seen windows on an 8-inch form factor
before let's check it out and this
tablet is not supposed to be a
blockbuster and I sort of felt like I
did when I when we went to mwc and HP
showed off their slate 7 yeah except
without all the rage because I hated on
that thing so hard that
and even at the shell it was a special
event at special event well so was the
toshiba yeah sure so that's why it maybe
that's why I felt this way but I wanted
to drop kick to slate 7 because of for
other reasons unrelated to the product
but the the Toshiba encore I was just
kind of a little disappointed by when I
first picked it up because it is um
thick clunky yeah it's it's made of this
glossy polycarbonate that's you know
shiny and and you know and that's sold
on the specs I mean it runs an Intel
Atom right so which is the same thing
running my Envy x2 which I'm not having
a great time with but true and we have
to say this the unit which we had did
not have final software right order for
final hardware really that I mean I'm
sure that's what it'll look like but
they were saying it wasn't final
hardware's yeah but the software was
really bugged down I mean you had no
access to the settings right it was
basically imagine if it would be like
Windows 8 without anything but the touch
experience the touch interface nothing
else no desktop no clickable small icons
just the X Metro UI and that's it and as
I recall the display was not terribly
high res either right yeah yeah but of
course they emphasize that this is aimed
at the prosumer market because people
will have of course Microsoft Office
included right and he will be able to
work on the fly as long as the intel
atom processor will keep up right yeah
so that's it was interesting in that
respect it's not going to be priced
terribly high they give us pricing in
the hands on the day I cannot remember I
can't remember either I think they did
but I don't know once again we would
look it up but we can't so I was
thinking about another a feature what
were you thinking right the LG G pad 8.3
oh yeah forgot about that i legit forgot
before but before we do that i'll have
to tell you that the first contact I had
with the LG g2 was here at Aoife because
you Michael were at the event the new
york city of a high with adam lying down
yeah
and I have not been there and I have not
seen the g2 until now and I'll tell you
this much I like the g2 yes I you should
despite the fact that it is hyper blaze
all over and maybe not hyper glaze but
hyper glaze ish or hyper blaze like I
like the way that feels in the head I
love the bezels I mean the lack of black
like thereof yeah and and the screen is
good so bottom line i like the g2 but
the g pad is LG's come back to the
tablet market since 2011 true true but
that's very nice segue but I'm going to
destroy it I'm sorry you look at me hate
Holly are you Taylor Mark Taylor audiol
Taylor Martin we would love to have
gotten him on the shoulder is the
weekend and you know but you know since
we don't have internet access we are
offline podcasting that's exactly right
well what we are going to say is that we
are going to review the LG g2 very soon
so if you're interested in that stay
tuned should we talk about the tablet
yes tell me about it well I guess I
didn't I don't remember it it is a
tablet which feels good in the hand but
that's not why you are listening to this
podcast right LG tried the elbows on
somebody somebody said in the comments
to one of our videos like everything
feels good in the hand of these guys
it's like no it doesn't some of it feels
downright crappy like hyper blaze yeah
right but the LG g2 isn't lse aluminum
exactly and I just wanted to drop this
LG tried the LG LG tried the tablet
market and 2011 with right optimus pad
or but I think that's what the name was
and that was not a huge success when was
the 3g 103d sorry and the g pad I think
it was at the same time launched as the
optimus 3d ok that was 2011 it was the
mwc which i covered by myself the one
you told me about to this anton denied
you covered a show solo so they left the
tablet market and now they are back with
a solution which could might as well be
a nexus 7 killer but not really I mean
we have a 8.4 88.3 inch display with
1920 x 1200 resolution and a 600
snapdragon processor and 2 gigs of ram
and so it's pretty pretty fast and and
it's I'm yeah well in the optimist you
I'm sitting on top of that has always
been really fast it feels good the
bezels are very very thin mm-hmm and the
price point will not be that high that's
true so I mean you're you're not getting
the added benefit of the the Nexus
support if you're doing this comparison
that is correct right but what does it
compete with it competes with the galaxy
note 8.0 sure beats and we had the
comparison video yeah and it competes
with the new Nexus 7 which is yes a
cheaper tablet and gives you the Nexus
experience and the iPad Mini is nowhere
to be mentioned in this comparison
because it let's face it it has a crappy
display resolution which is the
resolution yeah so it's it's in a in a
market where it has a chance of
succeeding contrary to previous LG
tablets which were competing with other
tablets which were better does it do
enough to stand out there like I feel
like every time I look at an LG a large
LG android product and I see the vast
array of software options for qslide yes
you lose your finger as your stylist
that's the thing like it seems like they
keep bundling in this this memo
application as some kind of value add
but really which was a first out of you
on the first view no interview but it's
like the drawing on display with your
finger is is a fundamentally I don't
maybe a disagree unsatisfying experience
especially display they can't detect
pressure but it has that awesome
secondary multitasking thing right where
you swipe to the left with three fingers
and then you swipe again on another wrap
with free thinkers and swiping from left
to right brings up a guess what webos
like card like X
uriens you know where you can swipe off
applications to close them which we said
in the video yes webos is now part of LG
and we understand it I'm not sure
there's a need for a another solution
for multitasking I mean the Android one
is good so this is what I didn't mention
that and when I was watching the
rendered hands-on video I'm like we
should have mentioned this but it is one
of those things you don't think I on the
floor sweating and getting elbowed in
the face but 14 people but like or
drooling the orgies or drooling from
your open mouth which one of us did you
have three different means of
multitasking on this tablet you have the
androids pressing on the home yet the
cards and then you have the LG qslide
applications and then you've got site
aside and to use slide aside you need to
use three fingers to go left or right on
the screen it's like it is that it is a
gesture that's so cumbersome that I had
to do it for Tony yeah in the hands-on
video leading to many hilarious comments
actually I did left left left I'm not
comment on the Qt yeah but so why do you
need this I mean other than like I'll
tell I don't understand because you can
write yeah but is that a good enough
reason to do anything because I was
there is that sufficient reason for
climbing the mountain Oh buddy will ever
use it I mean ya like like it's swiping
with free fingers versus tapping a
button mm-hmm and that's it's it's a
no-brainer and this is not the same
thing as Apple's ridiculous five finger
implementation to get back to the home
screen though that's less natural that's
easy because that goes to you it is
there easy ya like like I was saying
your Li made fun of it from left to
right I mean yeah with a three fingers
but that that's not natural I made fun
of Apple for that 5-finger thing but no
it's that it's nowhere close II and the
forefinger up swipe to do so there are
uses for multi finger gestures I just
don't think this is a terribly good one
and I don't see why we need it not a
problem but if he it's there if you
don't want to use it don't use it but
there's
apps like LG's implementation of multi
window like the apps running in Windows
not all apps specific use that stuff
yeah yeah and that aside I mean it's a
solid tablet for the price point it's
good build quality would you buy one and
not the nexus 7 that's up to you but i
think that the screen is better than on
the Nexus 7 yeah I mean we'll get one of
them and we'll see what's up yeah I like
spending time in LG's software
environment because even though I don't
find it terribly pretty the
responsiveness is so cool I I've never
seen responsiveness like that outside of
a and stodgy the company gives you
options in selecting the animations yeah
yeah the transitions between aliens yeah
yeah so that's really cool which we
first saw at amda Messier yeah her last
year diva or was it I think it was the
l7 we have yeah yeah yeah and I was like
wow this is really responsive and the LG
rep their lives like totally not
interested in feeling any of my
questions like yeah yeah i mean just
fine like okay all right Brown and I
remember mm-hmm no I don't let's move on
let's move on you move okay then we
we've talked about the big players
principally right I would like to
complete this big players thing with
with HTC which is in my book a big
player I don't mind to and I think HTC
was a huge disappointment at the Eva
because first of all there were only HTC
one max rumors and there was no HTC one
max and then the two devices which were
sadly announced the day microsoft
acquired nokia and they were completely
lost in the feeds the desire 601 and
desire 300 not that they are flagship
phones they are one mid range in one
entry level they were not present on the
show floor we were desperately trying to
find the phones just to bring you guys
coverage and HTC Germany didn't have
them but they had the red and the blue
HTC One yeah we settled for reporting on
the colored HTC one's for you like we
had
choice mm-hmm and I love those phones
that is all I will say about the desire
phones but I loved the color to HTC
one's I saw the red 1i think I said this
in the podcast couple weeks ago I saw
the red one in a sprint store and it's a
different kind of red than I've ever
seen Stan automotive red which is really
really cool and I was excited that the
blue one would be as shiny and it wasn't
it's a little more matte but it's still
just as just as pretty and again just to
complain and a little bit about things
not that I have anything against HTC I
love them just as much as I love Samsung
and Apple and everybody else because we
love tech in general showing off a phone
in this case the blue HTC One and
telling people at the show Florida it
will be available in a couple of months
is in my book unacceptable oh well that
was in Germany yeah in Germany yes but
it just so happens on Aoife is a German
consumer electronic show I got a solid
point so I'm not sure what HTC is up to
the phone has been announced it's been
leaked like over and over and over again
it looks good yes but guess what if
you're in Germany you can't buy it the
police not until October which is yet
which isn't which is not not great but
right you got to consider that there are
manufacturing lead times for this kind
of stuff they're only making a limited
batch right and they've got to allocate
them I agree they should they should
allocate some to the country in which
they're making the announcement it would
be logical yes nigga they didn't they
announced it before Aoife because there
wasn't any financement I was like a
couple days but yeah yeah but it wasn't
he financed but still oh they had it on
they had it on the floor editha but
anyway yeah and one more thing another
key player which is nakia head the 1020
on display and guess what it was not the
AT&T 1020 right it was the International
1020 which will arrive at some point in
Europe they it was launched as an AT&T
exclusive then it got in China but still
there's no trace of the 1020 in Europe
we have seen the phone it looks exactly
just like AT&T 1 minus the AT&T brand
and I think it runs a slightly different
version of Windows Phone in terms o s
build but I'm sure that they will at one
point equalize the two versions across
the continent yeah that's all I'm gonna
say about nakia because they didn't have
anything else the two phones which were
displayed word at 10 20 and 925 the
current flagships well today yeah but
last night we were able to snag some
hands-on time with the 625 we did which
was cool because the 625 is I don't
think is gonna come out in the States
and with an 800 x 480 display it's not
going to get anyone excited and even a
new phone but it was new for us because
we haven't seen it being a us-based
publication exactly exactly ed but it so
it's the fact that the display is that
low resolution is you know sad but it's
a large screen of 4.7 inches so in one
hand yeah that makes it look worse but
on the other issue seeing squeeze yeah
did you imagine Brandon hope Brandon
would have just jumped off of railing
that was that night that you got told
the strange that you were had the
strange encounter Willam and she'll be
talked about yeah what do we so Tony I
was talking to a new friend who I met at
one of these events and Tony comes back
from from outside and he's kind of
visibly put off any what did you say you
were like with something interesting
just happened Kate a well-dressed
gentleman and it's 55 to 60 years came
to me there was nobody else in a
corridor this was the we're not going to
drop names this was a well renowned
hotel a good hotel vienna and berlin and
he comes to me it puts his left hand on
my right shoulder he looks me deep in
the eye with a suitcase in his hand and
he says quote they're coming and I Mike
initially okay like what and of course
I'm a I'm a guy who jokes a lot and sure
I got my camera let them come and he
looks at me and says you should go
and I didn't know what to make good eye
I can't make anything out of it now at
this moment 48 hours after yeah but he
certainly couldn't at the time we looked
at you like what what maybe he's talking
about the 1020 it's coming to Europe at
one point no doubt it's it should be
here yes absolutely and you were about
to segue into the non big players it
kind of the lesser-known players here
yeah and you know besides the bratwurst
dealers who would like very much because
they have some great stuff no we were
able to and this the first one that
leaps out to me is the is clearly the
SmartWatch now I'm getting it's the the
acer liquid s2 yes I wish myself yeah I
we both like this film hey guys it
records in 4k video we didn't put that
in the hands on that was our mistake but
it also just so happens that we found
out about that FF commission that after
we yeah not every company is is is keen
on dumping a lot of details on you
before you do a hands-on like usually
they have this these spec sheets like
says what core processor a lot of ram
like super high-res camera yeah and you
can't really make things out of it
especially if you don't have a rep which
is knowledgeable enough but in our case
the product manager was was kind enough
to help us with a lot of information
which was really cool it was cool to
meet some of the people behind the this
fun so the liquid s2 is I is a phablet
but it's not one that is marketed as
such it's a science look at that that's
a giant yeah it's as a six inch display
it's like a galaxy mega yeah right it's
like we said this it's like the galaxy
mega done right yes you know is it the
build quality of this thing is
incredible it wait for it it feels great
in the hand we need it does and we had
the red one which really and I don't
like warm tones in my technology we know
this but it looked great and I would
have gotten one the inset detailing of
the earpiece is also red to match the
bag and the earpiece is nicely done with
a subtle kind of V pattern up top and
the camera has the bezel
the aluminum like sooner like bezel
which is contrasting and even though the
branding for the Dolby surround sound is
this like middle plate like stamped into
the phone yeah and the home key the
capacity of home key is uh is like
stylized is like the apple iphone 5 key
yeah yeah kind of it except to something
he it's a capacitive touch button which
is group better and the screen is great
and it looks like a near stock version
of Android we were of course fooling
around with Michael the unit which we
had hands-on with was super super super
snappy oh yeah and we were being told
that this is not final software and we
agree with Michael that at some point
they will manage to screw this up bug it
down and introduce some lags and bugs
right yeah exactly if you're listening
guys just release it the way it is yeah
took his goodies yeah I was very
surprised and then when we talked to ace
her and I I believe this was all you
know this is all common common knowledge
that they sure is not a big player in
the States and this this this device
probably probably won't make it to the
States on a that we know maybe it should
I mean it should cuz it's a solid phone
I mean I really like it I would carry it
and I know you would you like what yeah
I love it yeah then well let's get her
let's get her hands on it maybe you
could review it I'll try that would be
great it allowed to depend on me I know
oh well you're you're you're a european
guy but another european company is
called our cause oh yes which comes from
friends yes and had a lot of phones out
of which we have had hands-on with one
but they were two phones with the same
specs and different screen sizes yeah
the platinum 53 in the platinum 50 now
we don't know if these were brand new or
not because they're not they weren't you
to us they're new to us when you to the
US since they were losing months
european device yeah so we did those and
i was all right i mean i don't remember
much by the phones but the tablets were
the interesting part to me especially
the chef until yeah so which is probably
the biggest laugh of me ever happening
to android yeah i think the chef so
archos has this idea which is a good one
that kitchens should have dedicated tab
it's okay I get it listen I get it all
right when I sometimes bring my iPad
into the kitchen when I wash dishes and
I hang it on two pegs over the sink so I
can watch netflix on it or whatever
tablet i'm using at the time and the
ipad is just so big and clunky and
fragile comparatively that I get worried
about that if it falls it'll definitely
shatter it or whatever having a tablet
that's rugged this is just one all right
listen it's our coast I was not right it
comes with a silicone sleeve in the box
it look you can watch the sleeve which
you can't wash that yeah oh yeah yeah
yeah like I don't even want to really
talk about this the chef's idea was it
was a really good idea it was poor
execution the link to the kitchen taps
was basically a link to the Google Play
Store section probably with akhilesh
search on it exactly yeah I mean it's
just but not a good vision you can swipe
by a gesture in front of the webcam in
theory and and yeah yeah because you
need a fan right it's not yet jesse i'm
still home okay uh and you can scroll
now this is a huge innovation i mean i
haven't seen this before oh yeah i've
been scrubbing and screaming for this
forever maybe my hands are filled with
mustard and ketchup and everything in
greece and i just want to wave something
away right this is this is huge
sometimes actually think no yeah yeah
next thing I think I need to do is also
to move my head to browse down a page
that's what happy they can do that next
thing I don't know what it doesn't so
there was that none there was some
mid-range Aiden church that I don't
remember anything about and then there
was this cool thing so the reason we're
talking about this is because of this in
my opinion this 10 inch tablet that
folded its keyboard for Tommy tablet
yeah and a stranger origami like tablet
support and propped up the tablet and an
ergonomic angle and listen the thing
didn't didn't feel great it felt pretty
cheap it looked pretty cheap but you
know it was because it was priced low
and you at the appointed this is the
whole point is you don't break the bank
to get a tablet with a deployable qwerty
keyboard or in this case it was dirty
but you can get it with a qwerty and
stereo speakers flanking the screen and
running Android on big 10 inch paneling
with a decent bow I mean I did it with
clothes are in suck that much like fun
yeah and and it's an innovative form
factor and that's what we're missing a
lot in the high-end space is innovative
form factors and this was cool so it was
a cool effort and it's it's important
that it's very important that that asked
that that segment of the market is
served who can't afford to spend
thousands of dollars on a really
high-end so hard where you know so it's
it's good that there's some interesting
stuff happening down there I'm sure
there's there's more to what we've seen
but I'd like to since we're talking
about players and big names here the
rest are not so well known names you
know what we did not see here we did not
see Microsoft at all we did we did at a
special event but not at the official
show floor right and we didn't know
exactly what to do with the information
and we did not see a sous would not see
alcatel hmm we do not see companies
which which we were expecting to be here
because they are here every year even if
Microsoft doesn't show up anything they
usually have their entire lineup of
Windows Phones labor yes they were at a
special event than they were kind enough
to talk to us and they're great guys and
yeah I want to remake that point like
Tony you're trying to specifically
talking about show floor appearances and
keynotes and stuff like that like they
were these companies were present and
Qualcomm is another one who is present
but not in an advertised dance and not
on the floor right and so yeah so that's
that sad it's it because I I think that
these companies inject a lot of cool
energy and a lot of legitimacy into
these events not that Eva needs to be
legitimized but you know what i mean
like we walk by the microsoft booth and
it's like wow alright cool that's my
disciples no let's go hang out in the
microscope knowing that they are there
and they're usually microsoft booth
there are awesome people knowledgeable
people a lot of people yeah yeah so it's
a shame to see some of these companies
just kind of sequestered and some of
them didn't even go to the private
events it yeah we were talking about
some of them you know where were even
less visible than that
so yeah um we it seems like every show
we cover we talk about the decline of
the traditional trade show model but I
don't I expected to get that feeling
more for me for this year than I
actually did because there was a lot of
cool stuff announced of this show and
there was more than I expected and of
course ninety percent of the entire show
was not mobile maybe even more because
Aoife is the CSF Europe we had
appliances like refrigerators still not
there's no webos toaster guys so we
still don't have have no hands and no
but seriously lots of accessories lots
of everything but mobile but from the
mobile part I think that it was a little
bit probably poorer than it was last
year well last year you gotta be honest
with you I don't that Sony event I
thought was really dull last year but we
had like three phones I would have the
sony event yeah yeah there are like mid
rangers but it was a portfolio it was a
family of products sure but it's a
family products nobody really got
excited about I don't think and we got
the model names wrong because of the
reps so I don't want to remember that
Sony event let's samsung had the note 2
and the got the girl right the captain
galaxy camera and no Chewie had the
desire shape rice is somehow arrange
stuff it I don't know I don't remember
what you see healthy as I arranged thing
like knology had a lot of LG had like
the l7 know there was younger we see it
wasn't it doesn't matter like that's the
thing I just just look at the samsung
events samsung galaxy note 2 and got two
camera right you for 2012 well now we
have three breaths and now we have three
the in the note 3 is more exciting than
0 to the note 10 dot 1 2014 is quite
exciting here more the galaxy theater
version and whether you think it's dumb
or the most awesome thing ever the
galaxy gear is at least really
interesting in view counts its matching
all the rest of our stuff that's at
exceeding all if Samsung and Sony
wouldn't have that happened what would
you say about Eva I would not have come
so that's my point no it's a good point
yeah we also have to keep on keeping
pace with the industry is it is it
morphs around us are we wrapping up
because y'all have a
yes out of your own pockets yeah now
somebody would break into the hotel and
steal all your belongings which device
would you buy from fifa 2013 to support
my mobile lifestyle on its own while I
rebuilt my material possessions oh I
will answer you but first of all I'm
really glad that considering that post
we posted about all the awesome
expensive stuff we're brought if nobody
has stalked us and run this yeah nobody
knows where we live oh yeah that's true
I think nobody would expect us to live
where we live I think you're right
because that's genius I know that's D
here are so many Butler's here anyway uh
I think bro that I don't even need to
think about this it would be the note 3
it is the most versatile product of all
the ones I've seen it can be it can be a
tablet it can be a phone and it can do a
lot of stuff while still maintaining mmm
needs to be confirmed by a review but
conceivably can do a lot of these things
while demonstrating great endurance and
being somewhat yeah but experience and
logic dictates that the note 1 and
adults who have already proven the
exaction in which the no.3 is going
right so the yeah i think the note 2 i
would execute the no.3 i would run my
life on the note 3 well I tried to get
all my possessions back well maybe your
people people know that I'm not a huge
fan of the note as the melt the note is
for me an awesome phone but I have never
used I mean I used the note as in the S
Pen like probably twice or three times
in my entire life I always use the note
as a simple phone and since I don't like
big phones I would probably go with the
Xperia z1 xperia z1 or and now i'm going
to contradict myself i know a tenner
says i will i would go with the EBS to
any liquid s2 i just love the red one it
feels good and
yeah my first contact with the LG g2 I
loved it so I had free options and of
course you don't get me wrong I would
love to have the note free so for me in
terms of phones i have like four phones
to choose from but the first one in my
list is the xperia as you are
unfortunately if you want the note 3 all
you got to do is go to 0 2 that is
correct but it's not for sale right now
weirdest thing ever um yes what about
tablets would you grab the tap 11 or
would you grab the 10.1 2014 all right I
had the note 10.1 2014 may well be a
good product but I am I tend to shy away
from the liner notes it's Nana I don't
think it is we don't know that yet but I
have enough reservations to wear from up
we've seen yeah and heaven knows just
watch my after the buzz in the surface
RT to know how I feel about with some of
the shortcomings of windows on a tablet
but you know I probably would go for
that tap 11 and I guess I really you
would give it to ya from hardware to the
software that we saw that's Queen was
gorgeous what a beautiful thing yeah we
know Sonny can make those screens sony
can make everything with yeah well what
do you know yeah in any case we've seen
a lot more we are going to be having mmm
Tony and I were alone in this in this
hotel room for this podcast but we have
team members back home who by the way we
should have given a shout out to way
earlier in the episode because they've
been carrying the text portion of the
site and while we've been gone so
everyone from from high made to Stephen
to tailor to Brennan to atom to atom to
Joe I think that's in order everyone in
word everyone who's been carrying pocket
now back home while we've been
gallivanting and Berlin we thank you and
please do read their editorials and
they're there you know perceptions of
what's been going on here in Germany
while we've been an ephah and we will
also be talking to them on next week's
PocketNow weekly which say again to get
your pulse to get their pot yeah yeah to
get their impressions on what's been
happening and receive their questions
maybe you'll join us again on the show I
don't know
we'll see okay we'll see how it goes
maybe we need a week off I think it is
after this yes we do but the weekly will
not take a week off it'll be back next
week and the weekend you not on a
weekend now and so we thank you for that
we thank you for putting up with this
echoey show tonight and if you haven't
seen any of our hands on treatments of
the devices that we were talking about
its emphasis podcast whoa Tony's hungry
cuz he's getting angry like it's like
you're all worthy of this podcast all 12
of you no but for real thank you very
much for listening is that is going to
do it for this special episode of the
weekly episode 0 60 I will be flying
back to America Tony will be driving
back to Romania and we will join you
again next week and you tell them or
sent you exactly well yes yes or maybe
wednesday we'll talk about we like that
until then Anton is at anton de noche
auntie oh and DNA gy i am at captain two
phones that's on twitter for both of us
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vitas a
it's the tablet which I can't remember
anything go by hahaha that's the hard
chef peppers and the fact that it has a
camera on the on which looks like a wart
on them on the wrist band yeah it looks
like some kind of half volcano what
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