AT&T on Monday confirmed it is paying customers up to $650 per phone line to switch from another carrier. The idea, of course, is to pull subscribers away from Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
The promotion, which starts today, is a limited-time affair that runs through the end of next month (March 31, 2016). In order to qualify for the credits, customers must do the following:
Port a phone number (from Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint) to AT&T and activate a new line of post-post service
Purchase a new device through AT&T Next plan
Trade in old phone
Submit final bill from previous carrier to AT&T
The credit itself is an AT&T Promotion Card or Visa pre-paid card.
Little Robot Adventure is the story of a tiny robot that journeys through various stages, crushing enemies and collecting pieces of a world. As you collect pieces, your world becomes more complete.
This app supports Google Play Games, so you’ll be prompted to log in at the launch of the game. After initial setup, there are no additional steps to perform.
Features
Little Robot Adventure will be familiar to anyone that’s ever played a Mario game. The controls are extremely simple – lateral movement left and right, and a jump button; that’s it. You begin the game in a completely grayscale world, completely without enemies. The only source of color beyond the little robot is a treasure chest at the end of the level. why is it there? Why does it have color when nothing else does? No idea. but when you open it, enemies populate the world from then, on. At the end of each level you unlock more and more pieces of the world, eventually creating a vibrant environment to explore.
Throughout the world you will collect screws, a sort of currency with which you can purchase a few upgrades for your Robot. In addition, there are also some in-app purchases that you can use to eliminate ads, purchase additional screws, or buy extra lives. If you enjoy the game, I highly recommend purchasing the ad-free version, because this game has a lot of ads. Oh, you died? Have an ad, maybe two – heck, maybe a video! There’s ads in the banner, there’s ads in the footer…basically, anywhere you might insert an ad, there is one.
I encountered a few frustrating quirks in my expedition through Robot’s world; On my very first level, for instance, I fell through the environment and became trapped inside one of the bricks! Then it happened again, on the next level. And again, on the third. After that it seemed to only happen intermittently, but definitely enough to be frustrating. The controls are, at times, unresponsive, and the game itself suffers from some performance issues, even on a Nexus 6P. I also ran into an issue where the achievement for unlocking a world did not unlock despite my being in that world.
The graphics are ridiculously simple, but grow more vibrant and at times beautiful as you progress through the game. The sound design is also simple, but not nearly in as charming a way as the visuals.
What I like
Platforming.
Creating a world.
What I don’t
Too many Ads.
Performance issues.
Glitchy controls.
Conclusion
Little Robot Adventure is a fun, frustrating, glitchy adventure with a unique, if simple, style and a frustrating amount of ads. The controls can be a little wonky at times and you will die. A lot. If you intend on owning the game for an extended period of time, do yourself a favor and buy the ad-free version. You’ll be significantly less frustrated.
Price: Free (Ad-Supported, $1.99 to remove ads; micro-transactions)
Highlights:
Real-time competition with players around the world.
Credit-based betting system.
Offline mode.
Three variations of the classic dice game to play.
Setup
Yatzy Ultimate has a relatively simple, if slightly counter-intuitive setup. It does not support Google Account login (hence counter-intuitive) or Google Play, but it allows you to create and account with either Facebook or Game.IO. If you don’t feel like creating yet another game account, you can always play as a guest, and you will retain your credits persistently. There is also a handy tutorial/training mode right at the home screen, if you don’t feel like using your credits right away.
Features
Having played Yahtzee extensively with my mother as a child, this app triggered a giant tsunami wave of nostalgia. It plays exactly as I remember, minus the pen-and-paper scoring and the irreplaceable feel of pouring the dice out of the shaker. If you haven’t played Yatzy, this app probably isn’t for you. If you’re curious about the rules, this is probably a good page with which to start. Yatzy Ultimate offers three different variations of the game to play: Yatzy, Maxi-Yazty, and American Yatzy. The variations offer different rules and scoring, though, they all essentially play the same way.
Yatzy is relatively generous with their credits, starting you out with 5000 right off the bat. You’re able to bet as many as 750 credits and as few as 100 per game in the basic single-player stage, and you can buy additional credits via in-app purchases ($0.99 for 2,000, and up to $19.99 for 500,000). In addition to changing how much you can bet each round, you are also able to increase the score threshold you need to reach in order to win; thereby increasing the payout if you reach it.
There are currently seven different stages of betting, each one requiring significantly more than the last to qualify to enter. I am fundamentally wary of a game relies on random number generation (RNG), for a number of reasons:
1) No number is every truly random.
2) As such, the game could theoretically alter your results, and
3) therefore directly alter your ability to earn credits.
Those things being stated, I feel that Yatzy Ultimate does a good job of making sure that your results feel fair, and not like you’re being robbed of your credits. Sound and visual design are okay, not phenomenal. The graphics look a little grainy on my Nexus 6P, which is a simple enough fix that I hope is remedied soon.
What I like
Classic dice game.
Decent production value.
Fair-enough RNG.
What I don’t
Ad-supported AND micro-transactions.
Graphics get a bit grainy on higher resolution screens.
Conclusion
Yatzy Ultimate is a perfectly acceptable recreation of the classic dice game. To me the game will always be known as Yahtzee, but the spirit of the game is captured well, and is actually easier than playing the physical game due to built-in scoring and dice rolling. The game is free and you never need to purchase micro-transactions to advance, though the ads occasionally grate nerves.
Does your device run out of storage, forcing you to painstakingly go through your phone and delete your contents ? Too busy or just too tired to go through your contents? Worry no more! Duplicate Files Fixer(free), available and rated 4.5 stars on the Google Play Store, does all this for you.
Objective View
Entailing a simplistic and easy to use interface, this is a user-friendly application that can be operated by anyone. Within the program, you are met by several options including Scan Audio, Scan Videos, Scan Pictures, Scan Documents and Full Scan.
Upon inspecting the miscellaneous categories, your device will scan each for the respective content and display a screen with all the duplicates. It then has all the duplicates selected and gives you the ability to unmark the duplicates you intend on keeping. After pressing the delete button, you are asked to confirm your decision in the event of you making an error.
Although the purpose of this application is to optimize your tech by cleaning duplicate files, it does not include the option to delete the original file. Sometimes when choosing what to clean, you may come across files you have no intention of keeping and want to delete it as well as the duplicate, but alas, you can only remove the duplicate and have to locate the original afterwards. Perhaps developers would take a look into that matter.
Summary
I used this application for a mere few hours and found that it is an absolute blessing. I was able to delete approximately 800 megabytes of duplicate files alone, including pictures, voice notes, music tracks and documents. It’s a really simple program and has only one screen excluding the help menu which includes a basic tutorial of pictures. Despite the few flaws and improvements which could be made, Duplicate Files Fixer was definitely well thought out and has a smooth and polished UI.
In conclusion, this simple program is definitely worth downloading, and it will most definitely help you clean up your device and free some space for your more important information, but more so, it will help save your time.
The world of professional sports has become the linchpin in many lives around the world. From the “Big 5” – American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Football – to the more obscure Golf, Lacrosse, NASCAR, and others, sports are everywhere. We all have our individual preference when it comes to the industry – I, personally, am a huge NBA fan – but one thing binds us all in sports fandom; the need to keep up with it all.
Some of us are one-team guys (Go Kings). Some of us follow anything within our geographical location – which, if you live in the San Francisco Bay, for instance, can get pretty wild; between the San Francisco Giants, the Oakland As, the Oakland Raiders, the San Fransisco 49ers, the Golden State Warriors and the San Jose Sharks, you’re looking at following six teams just in the primary four sports in the U.S.
Some of us follow teams that represent where we come from. Perhaps you moved as a child, and you root rabidly for the team the plays in the area from whence you came.
But I digress; we all need a way to keep track of all these sports, and let’s face it; the newspaper doesn’t cut it anymore. So, without further delay, I present the top 5 apps for tracking all your favorite sports teams;
With the recent acquisition of SwiftKey by Microsoft, interest in alternative keyboards has sparked. There’s a wealth of alternatives in the Play Store, including household names like Swype, TouchPal, Fleksy and Google Keyboard. In a category where companies rely on licensing or micro-transactions to sustain themselves, Smart Emoji Keyboard (by the appropriately-called Keyboard Apps Developer) offers a completely free alternative, albeit with very heavy advertising, along with features that users have come to expect from a keyboard.
Highlights:
Unbelievably high number of ads throughout the app
Support for four languages in different variants
No micro-transactions: all themes are free
Normal options (auto-complete, auto-capitalization, suggestions, etc.) are included
New emojis are nowhere to be found
Setup
Clearly, the design is Holo-inspired.
For those with limited internal storage, you’ll be happy to know that Smart Emoji Keyboard weighs only 8.99 MB. With competitors such as SwiftKey and Google Keyboard clocking at 20+ MB, it’s a big advantage for users that make each MB count.
If you’ve installed a third-party keyboard before, you know what to expect from a keyboard setup. In case you haven’t, the 2-step process involves enabling Smart Emoji Keyboard from a list of installed keyboards, and then setting it as the default one. Unfortunately, upon opening the app for the first time, you’ll begin the ad-riddled journey that this app offers with a full screen ad. After ignoring it, you’ll finally be presented with the app’s setup screen.
Features
The app’s main interface focuses on customizing the keyboard through themes. This is a necessity, given that the default, Holo-inspired theme makes your keyboard look like it was shipped four years ago. There are some bundled themes, with more options available through the Play Store, completely free of charge. There’s a Material Design theme (curiously called Android L) among the downloadable offerings to bring it to our times.
Main screen, showing the available themes.
Unfortunately, testing new appearances is a chore because every time you change a theme, a full screen ad shows up. I’m aware that the keyboard and its themes are provided for free, but seeing so many full screen ads in such a short span of time left a bad taste in my mouth. If it wasn’t enough, there’s a screen dedicated to promoting other keyboards, and each time you swipe to it, another full screen ad shows its ugly face.
Using the keyboard itself, I found an acceptable performance throughout different apps. It’s not as snappy as Google Keyboard, and it definitely doesn’t have beautiful animations like Fleksy, but it gets the job done. However, the key press pop-up tends to lag and display erratic behavior, especially when pressing the space bar. To change between languages, you can swipe the space bar.
It’s worth noting that auto-correct tends to be more effective in English than in Spanish, and that there’s no next word suggestion whatsoever. There’s English-only voice input, though, which uses Google’s voice recognition.
Emojis are undoubtedly one of the main features of the app (it’s even named after them). Even though it certainly has emojis (which are easily accessible through a button at the left of the space bar), the keyboard doesn’t feature the newest ones introduced by Google and Apple at the end of 2015.
The options screen.
The keyboard options can be accessed by pressing the gear icon at the bottom of the app, or by long-pressing the emoji key. After enduring the now-predictable full screen ad, you are shown settings such as auto-capitalization, suggestions, auto-complete and input languages.
Dictionaries are available for different variants of English, Spanish, French and Portuguese only. There’s also options to add a number row, a hugely requested, but rarely acknowledged feature. However, contact suggestions, dictionary improvements through social media analysis or different layouts are nowhere to be found.
Conclusion
If Smart Emoji Keyboard sounds like a run-of-the-mill keyboard, it’s because it is. There’s no feature that makes it stand out, and you know things aren’t good when one of the biggest talking points about it is the unrestrained amount of ads.
In a hypothetical world where Google Keyboard, Fleksy and Swiftkey are sold for a hefty fee, customers may put up with pesky monetization methods in exchange for a free experience. However, that’s not our world, so Smart Emoji Keyboard must find an alternative way of making money and a killer feature in order to stay relevant.
The mobile game market tends to have emphasis placed on opposing ends of the spectrum. On one end you have the very (and sometimes extremely!) grand, detailed, and complex works of artistic and scientific wonder. These games are constantly out developing each other with their intricate world designs, control schemes, and processor-eating technical requirements.
On the opposite end you have a very different expectation. These are games where simplicity rules, and both ease-of-play and addictiveness by design can quickly decide the success of a title. There are plenty of options at both ends.
One such option on the simpler end of things is the title “Clocks”, by the Saskatchewan, Canada-based studio Noodlecake Games. They first hit the mobile game market with their possibly familiar “Stickman Golf” and “Super Stickman Golf” games.
Setup
You can grab the game for free from the Play Store, and startup is as easy as pressing the app icon on your device.
The game does connect with your Google Play Games account, though I’ve never personally used that so I cannot speak to it’s worth here.
Gameplay
The idea of “Clocks” is simple enough. There are two modes, ‘Quest’ and ‘Survival’, though you are forced to start with ‘Quest’. In this mode, in each level you are presented with a different arrangement of clock faces, each with a single hand spinning either clockwise or…you guessed it.
Each clock’s hand is also spinning at a different speed. The only control is a large ‘shoot’ button taking up the bottom of the display; about the size of the Android screen dock on a typical home screen. At the beginning of each level, one clock is highlighted as the one you are in control of.
The idea is to press the ‘shoot’ button as the spinning hand lines up with another clock of your choice. This action shoots a small dot, or BB, at the clock you’re aiming at. If you hit it, the previous clock disappears and you are now in control of the clock you just hit; ready to shoot the next one of your choosing. You repeat this until you have cleared all of the clocks off the screen, when you are congratulated on-screen and taken to the next level. If you miss, a quick “oh darn”-type message pops up; you’re given the option to try again and again until you complete it.
There are two levels of victory in each stage: you receive a *star* if you complete the stage before the stage’s countdown timer gets to zero, or simply a ‘passable’ score, with the option to move to the next stage or retry for the star.
Once you clear the 10th level, a message displays that you have unlocked access to the ‘Survival’ option of the game. This is an untimed version of the game. You begin with a similar screen of randomly placed spinning clocks, one highlighted as the one in your control, ready to stop and shoot upon your button press.
The difference here is when you accurately shoot a clock and take it over, the old one disappears and a new one randomly appears guaranteeing you never run out of clocks to shoot. The object here is not to clear the screen, but to see how many clocks you can accurately hit before finally missing, which becomes your high score. Successive attempts at this game option are solely to break your record and get a new personal high score.
Summary
Overall I do enjoy this game; the design is simple, but colorful and with good visual contrast, so it’s easy on the eyes when staring at a 5” screen. The gameplay is a matter of simple timing, which makes personal investment a minimum. You can pick it up and put it back down equally easily, which is nice in a typical hectic day. Sometimes you just want to challenge yourself, or while away the minutes in the doctor’s waiting room on something not called Facebook.
Premium build, 4GB of RAM, 3x optical zoom, and $399 price tag – is this the smartphone to beat?
Asus has been trying to crack the market’s smartphone code for a while now. Prior to its current lineup, the company tried again and again to get consumers on-board with an unconventional but innovative smartphone/tablet integration concept with the PadFone. Alas, the Taiwanese manufacturer finally gave in to the lackluster sales and redirected its smartphone efforts to the ZenFone.
2015 was a good year for Asus; when the ZenFone 2 managed to catch the market’s attention with its newfound value. It packed bangin’ specs for the competitive price. Asus phones were finally selling. But while the company later used this success as an opportunity to introduce ZenFone 2 variants, one of its offering quietly slipped out of view – the ZenFone Zoom.
First announced at CES 2015, Asus boasted a smartphone with a camera that could optically zoom. In hindsight, it seems like that project was a bit too ambitious for the manufacturer, as it’s taken a whole year of extra development to finally get it into our hands.
Is the ZenFone Zoom better late than never, or should it have remained as a concept? Let’s find out.
Design
If you recall the ZenFone Zoom’s CES 2015 announcement, you may notice that the back cover is slightly different to the production unit. The former had a smooth plastic cover while the latter looks leathery. Due to the Zoom’s aggressive pricing, I suspected that we would actually be dealing with faux leather.
When I got a hold of the review unit, I was convinced that my assumption was correct. The entire back cover feels like a leather-textured hard plastic. However, Asus states that it is in fact a “premium”, burnished leather. Because the material doesn’t quite feel the part, I’m left ambivalent about the effort.
Nonetheless, the texture and rounded back feels great in hand. Yes, the phone is in no way trying to be slim, but it’s not a brick either. OEM obsession over phone thinness is overrated in my book (especially when it’s traded for features), and the Zoom’s extra girth is no way impugns phone ergonomics.
Thickness comparison between the LG V10 (left) and ZenFone Zoom (right)
We can’t talk about the back of the phone without addressing the elephant in the room – that large circular camera housing. I’m not quite sure why the camera component has to take up so much space, but I won’t question the engineering magic that Asus had to pull off to gain 3x zooming from a lens that doesn’t telescope (more on the camera details later). I do appreciate that the odd module is just about the same thickness as the thickest portions of the phone. It doesn’t have that disruptive appearance that previous optically zooming smartphones have beared (i.e. Samsung’s Galaxy Zoom series)
The camera lens is recessed, so you don’t have to worry about the protective glass getting scratched and ruining your pictures. However, on a usability note, the len’s placement on the back isn’t conventional (it’s lower than on most phones). I find myself often touching it with my index finger, then having to swipe off the fingerprint smudge before taking pics.
Because the curved back tapers on the sides, towards the bottom you’ll see a raised lining for stability (it keeps the phone from wobbling when set on a table). Subtle leather stitching surrounds the protrusion, for that convincing look. Right below it is a rear-facing, mono external speaker.
Oh, and that back cover is removeable. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that you’ll have access to the battery (it’s barricaded in), but you will get a micro-SD slot. This is where the SIM slot lives as well.
Before receiving the Zoom, I wasn’t aware that Asus had now evolved the ZenFone’s build with a metal frame. It’s excellent and as premium as they come. It’s rounded, similar to the iPhone, and feels great in-hand. The finish is smooth and matte, the color has an interesting deep purple-ish tone. The metal is chamfered on both edges of the frame to show off its shine. The whole presentation says classy and complements the leathery backing well.
Regarding ports, you’ll find the headphone jack on the top and micro-USB port on the bottom. And because the Zoom is camera-centric, Asus included a lanyard opening on the bottom-left corner, for safety from drops during all those photo shoots. The physical buttons are all on the right side (there’s nothing on the left side). Asus not only fitted a camera shutter button but also a record button adjacent to it. Holding down on either button launches the camera app whether the phone is off or on. Cleverly, the volume buttons double up for zooming when you’re in the camera app. They even have “T” (Telephoto) and “W” (Wide Angle) labels etched on them, like on a dedicated camera.
The front of the phone keeps traditional ZenFone fashion. There’s an Asus logo squeezed in between the earpiece and display, capacitive buttons, and the signature bezel plate along the bottom (which has a circular texture that produces a light ray effect from the center of the pattern). The Zoom’s bezel size is fairly average; it’s not the best screen-to-body ratio. It is just about as tall as the LG V10, which isn’t a good thing. The V10 has a 0.2″ larger display and a secondary screen on top of that.
But I suppose that when you factor in the $399 price and optical zoom, it can be forgivable.
Performance
Asus continues its partnership with Intel on the ZenFone Zoom. It packs an Intel Atom Z3580, which is comprised of a quad-core processor (running at 2.3GHz), PowerVR G6430 graphics processor, and 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Yes, you heard correctly – 4GB in a $399 smartphone.
But do those specs mean as much as they sound like they mean in the real world? Mostly. The Zoom is a speedy animal. Even despite the heavy ZenUI, it still manages to chug through Android without hesitation.
However, there were moments that frame rate drops were noticeable. I’m not talking about lags or delays, but rather, the fluidity was interrupted at times. In digging around, I noticed that ZenUI’s default “Normal” power management system says that it “Smartly adjusts CPU performance and brightness”. You can switch it to the “Performance” mode, in which it will utilize the entire CPU’s capability (at the cost of battery life).
A great thing is that the standard internal storage capacity of the Zoom is 64GB. I wish that every OEM would follow suit. And what makes that even sweeter is that micro-SD expansion is supported. You can only add on 64GB more, but at least you can.
Audio performance on all front is nothing to write home about. The rear placement of the external speaker is not ideal, and it’s thin-sounding. And there is nothing special to my ears from the audio out of the headphone jack.
Display
The ZenFone Zoom has a 5.5″ sized IPS LCD screen. Its resolution isn’t saturated with the QHD pixel count that many flagships boast these days, but 1080P is sufficient (403 PPI). I don’t find the difference between QHD and 1080P on a 5.5″ display that telling anyways, and would much rather not waste the extra battery life on something that frivolous.
The panel’s quality is above average. It particularly excels at keeping its composure at even extreme viewing angles. Colors look a tad dull to my eyes, but that’s just me being nit-picky.
The brightness does leave to be desired though. I feel like the max brightness should be able to go an extra 20-30% further (based on my experience with other phones). This mostly becomes a concern outside on a sunny day. But in digging around, I did find out that you can gain more brightness from within the Battery settings. Putting the phone in “Performance” mode increases the max brightness slightly (we’ll talk about this more in the Battery section).
Camera
Now the moment you’ve probably been waiting for – the ZenFone Zoom’s camera performance. Asus boasts a lot of technological achievement about the Zoom’s sensor on paper, but all that awesomeness deliver in real world use? We’ll get to that.
Firstly, something to know about the Zoom’s optics is that the lens doesn’t telescope like with traditional optical zooming. I didn’t know that upon receiving the phone. So when I opened her up and stared at the lens while zooming, you can probably guess the look on my face.
Asus says that the 3x optical magnification is achieved by some 10-element HOYA periscopic lens arrangement trickery. You can get more details about the technology (which Asus dubs PixelMaster 2.0) on the manufacturer’s site.
The sensor itself has a 13MP capture resolution. It is also supplemented by 4 stops of Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and an ultra-fast (0.03 seconds) laser auto-focus. The len’s f/2.7 aperture isn’t particularly great (compared to significantly larger sizes from the latest flagships), but Asus tries to assist the low-light performance from the software side with a Low Light shooting mode.
Without further ado, let’s get into the photo samples. Click on the collection below to see zoomed in (3x) and out samples.
The optical zoom does work, and the camera quality is maintained when zoomed. Check out this comparison with the LG V10, both zoomed at 3x (but the V10 can only do digital zoom).
LG V10, 3x zoom
Asus ZenFone Zoom, 3x zoom
To my eyes, the Zoom’s camera performs fantastically in good lighting. But the results can take a dubious turn otherwise. Areas of concentrated lighting can too easily be overexposed.
HDR helps to a point (mostly to even out the overall contrast), but the blown-out areas will still be there. On the other extreme, there is an expected struggle when light is taken away. But the camera doesn’t try to force it and give you grainy images, things are just less visible. Thankfully, there is a Low Light shooting mode in the camera interface, which produces decent results.
Auto shooting mode
Low Light shooting mode
There’s no strings attached to the optical zoom’s use. It still works in special shooting modes, such as HDR and Low Light, as well as while recording. If you find that you need to zoom more than 3x, the len’s mechanism also allows it to go all the way to 12x (but via digital zooming).
Speaking of shooting modes, Asus makes sure the hardware is well supported on the software front. On the bottom-right corner of the camera interface is a shortcut to a barrage of modes.
Some of these options are commonplace, but there’s a couple standout features. Super Resolution combines the detail from four simultaneous shots into a result that simulates 4x the capture resolution. Miniature mode gives the user finer tuning over the depth of field effect. Time Rewind takes simultaneous burst shots before and after the shutter button was tapped.
Battery
The ZenFone Zoom packs a modest 3,000 mAh capacity battery (non-removeable). It’s been sufficient in my use. I’ll go ahead to show you a battery usage graph, over a 9-hour period (the first half on T-Mobile’s network and the other half on WiFi).
50% battery drain over 9 hours is fine in my book. My usage covered a lot of use cases, such as internet browsing, music, maps/navigation, social media, and camera (screen brightness varied between max and 75%). But I didn’t play any games.
Do be aware that ZenUI packs battery modes that can largely determine what your battery life outcome will be. By default, the system is set to “Normal” (this is the mode that I used for the results above). It’s nice that Asus gives the user choices. Most UI’s have some form of Power Saving settings, but ZenUI actually lets you maximize performance if you want to (at the cost of battery life of course).
There are two tiers of power saving modes: “Power saving” and “Super saving”. The former disables networks when the phone is on standby, while the latter only keeps the basic phone functions going (calling, texting, alarm). Or you can select “Customized” and pick and choose the system behavior yourself, such as CPU performance, screen brightness, and network and app activity. Lastly, “Smart switch” allows automatic battery mode switching based on either a certain battery percentage or user-specified schedule.
Software
The ZenFone Zoom runs off of Android 5.0 (Lollipop). Sadly, it’s not the latest version of Android and not even Android 5.1 (which was a crucial update in Lollipop). ZenUI is the user interface (UI) overlay and is no doubt as heavy as they come. But I will admit that after some time with the UI, I’ve started to open up to it. I don’t find that performance is hindered by ZenUI (which gives me confidence over Asus’s software competence), and I’ve discovered several useful functions that aren’t on other UI’s.
But I will always complain about unnecessary changes to Android’s aesthetics; it’s a waste of effort when changes don’t add any value. Things like the notification shade, app drawer, folder layout, and panel transitions all get a ZenUI fix. In fact, there’s no trace of true Android that I can spot.
Adding more insult to injury, Asus throws in a ton of home-brewed apps that get in your face. At the phone’s first startup, you get a barrage of notifications from these apps to let you know that they’re present (and they pop up again over time). The Asus apps range from system management (data cleaner, power settings) to media features/tools. Fortunately, if you’re like me and don’t care, the system allows you to disable the apps (but not uninstall).
But ZenUI does redeem itself through a couple ways. One of these is gestures (which stock Android has yet to implement).
There are two categories of gestures: Motion and Touch. There’s only a couple of motion gestures; shaking the phone to take a screenshot or bringing the phone to your ear to pick up a phone call. The touch gestures are far more interesting. Firstly, tap-to-wake is present (thank you, Asus!). What’s also cool is that you can draw a letter on the screen when it is off to launch one of the specified apps.
One other neat action is when you swipe up from the home screen. A “Manage Home” area pop ups, which contains various functions you may often use. You’ll also run into other nice useful features throughout the UI. For instance, you can set a tap and hold on Recent Apps button to take a screenshot or open up an app’s menu. The display’s coloring is alterable via presets or user customization. And there’s a useful “Auto-start Manager”, where you can save system memory by controlling which apps are allowed to run automatically.
Theming is something that I think every UI should be able to do. ZenUI has a “Themes” app with a vast library of free and paid options. This includes a library of icon packs and third-party support to grab a pack from the Play Store.
Final Thoughts
When I reflect on everything that the ZenFone Zoom offers and then recall its asking price of $399, I can’t help but think that the value is great. I could most definitely replace my daily driver flagship phone (which costs almost twice as much) and not regret it. That’s where the ZenFone line has the upper-hand, and the 3x optical zoom is icing that you won’t get on most cakes out there.
As long as your expectations aren’t sky-high, the ZenFone Zoom is definitely recommendable. I just emphasize that the camera’s general performance is good but not the best you’ll find, and that ZenUI may be too heavy for Android enthusiasts (although, it functions just fine).
We’d like to give a shout-out to B&H Photo for supplying our ZenFone Zoom review unit!
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, sources close to Google have indicated that the tech giant is working on a stand-alone Virtual Reality headset that will be independent of a phone, computer, or gaming console. Google is apparently ready to take on the likes of Oculus and offerings from Sony, HTC, and Samsung with its new headset that may debut later this year. A Virtual Reality headset that works independently of another system would be a first in the VR field, and possibly give Google a leg up on its competition.
[blockquote author=”Clay Bavor, Google’s new VR Chief”]Since the beginning we’ve been about making VR available for everyone. We’ll have some more to share later in the year[/blockquote]
A source familiar with Google’s plans has indicated that the new headset will include a screen, high-powered processors, and outwardly facing cameras. Google will reportedly use chips from Movidius Inc. to power the headset. The chips will tap into the cameras on the headset to check the cameras’ feeds and determine the position of the user’s head. This would differ from other VR headsets that use an accompanying computing device, like a desktop computer or gaming console, to track the movements of users’ heads.
Nothing has been confirmed yet, and we’re only getting information from sources close to the project. This isn’t uncommon for an unreleased device. We see leaks almost every day for devices like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the LG G5 that have yet to see the light of day. What is different about this situation is that we’re talking about an entirely new device from Google.
Virtual Reality is an area where Google has dipped its toes in the water (Google Cardboard) but has yet to commit to go swimming. It’s entirely possible that Google begins to go down this path and either finds it too difficult or too costly and cancels the project. It could turn out similarly to projects like Google Wave or Google Buzz that saw limited beta releases, then were shuttered.
There are also reports coming out that Google is working on an updated version of Google cardboard. The new version would be made out of plastic, and while it would continue to rely on a user’s smartphone screen, it would include computer chips and sensors. Cardboard started as an experiment for Google, but after 5 million units shipped, the project may have convinced Google that Virtual Reality is a revenue stream waiting to be tapped.
Keep your eyes peeled to Google I/O 2016 for a possible announcement.
Leaks are coming fast and furious about the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Today we have a couple of tidbits of information to pass along that you may find interesting. First and foremost, we might be getting a hint into a major selling point for the new flagships from Korea’s largest business.
AndroidWorld.nl, a Dutch Android site, is reporting that when you purchase a Samsung Galaxy S7 or Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, you’ll also receive a free Samsung Gear VR. This offer will apply to those who pre-order the phone between February 21 and March 10. You will then have to register your purchase on Samsung’s website.
This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen Samsung throw out some pretty crazy incentives to get people into its ecosystem. It was very generous in its gifts to those who signed up with Samsung Pay. Packages ranged from a fast wireless charger valued at $50 to a $200 e-coupon you could use on Samsung’s website to purchase accessories.
The other bit of information stated in the AndroidWorld article would seem to confirm the pre-order date of the S7 and S7 Edge. In our What We Know post about the Galaxy S7, we’ve written that the phones would be announced on February 21, 2016. This date is one day before Mobile World Congress starts in Barcelona. Samsung will reportedly then hold several events around the world on February 22 to show off the new devices, including one in New York City.
Be sure to keep your eyes glued to AndroidGuys.com to stay up to date on all the leaks of the early year flagships coming out. We have posts up about the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the LG G5, which we are constantly updating.
Gameplay
