Tag Archives: android

July 19, 2012 · 10:30 am

Tech Lust

I may have ended my 365 project early, but I still take plenty of photos with my Samsung Galaxy S2, and the results are all still making their way to Instagram and my InstaGary site. And It’s still all good fun, playing with new apps and filters. The latest app I’ve discovered is Painteresque, available on Android, and by far the best filter I’ve found yet for turning photos into paintings. The results are shown in the picture below.

But my main photographic interest, if not the main source of my snaps quantity wise, is still my Olympus Pen. I haven’t used it as much of late But I have plans for my Pen. I have my beady eye set on a new lens. It’s an f1.7 unit, priced right and would enable me to get so much more out of the camera. It isn’t just the lack of a bright piece of glass at the end of the sensor holding me back though.

My laptop. I bought it in 2008, and it shows. The CD drive stopped working years ago, as they always seem to do with laptops. The camera and speakers have also since died. USB ports are ceasing to function. And despite reformats to clear the clutter, it’s just so, so, so slow. Painfully slow. Made worse by the fact that I’m running, or trying to run, the latest processor and RAM intensive photo and video editors. As far as other programs are concerned, I run resource-light apps and software to try and keep things moving. For antivirus software I use Norton – it keeps the bad guys out of my system. Just as importantly it lets the good guys in my system function properly. It is quite possibly the only  program that I do use that is both up-to-date and easy on resources.

It is, most definitely, time for a new laptop. I have my beady eye cast on a few units. HP, Sony, Samsung and Lenovo are all candidates. It’s just going to depend on who is offering the biggest bang for my buck when the time comes for me to buy. No brand is off the list though, other than Apple, so suggestions/recommendations are welcome.  My requirements are quite simple. A minimum of an Intel Core i5 processor, 6 megs of RAM and a 17″ screen.

I’m just a little peeved that I’ll be buying a few weeks before Windows 8 is released. Although that might not be a bad thing. I’m sure I’ve read that last minute Windows 7 buyers will get a free update, and maybe I can hold off going through with that update until everyone else has suffered from the early release bugs!

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April 3, 2012 · 10:24 pm

Instagram for Android

I’ve had my Galaxy S2 almost a year, and I’ve been through my fair share of photo apps. Some get used a while, then junked. Because they don’t do enough to warrant taking up bits and bytes that could be better utilized. Some get junked after two minutes. Because they’re junk. A few special apps get to take their place on my main Photo App screen.

But there’s been one app missing. To date, Instagram has been iPhone only. Until today. Now Instagram is on Android too, and I set about taking a few snaps to test it out. It’s not bad. Very nice, in fact. It’s joined the other special apps on my Photo App screen. You can see the photos on Flickr or Google.

What are the other apps I cherish? I mentioned Pixlr-o-matic recently. For sheer variation of filters and frames, it’s still the best. But it doesn’t take photos ‘in app’. You have to select another photo app to actually capture the image. For that I usually use Camera 360. It’s the easiest, quickest and most reliable every day all purpose camera app on Android, in my opinion. It also has a decent range of filters.

If I want a really lavish range of filters with the ability to take a shot within the app itself? Little  Photo is a clear winner. It’s only downside is that the navigation between filters is a little weak. For macro shots, and images where I’m looking for the highest quality possible, then I go straight to Vignette. For simplicity, and again with a half decent range of filters, Flickr‘s mobile app also works well. And, of course, it’s a good app for viewing my Flickr photo collection.

Where does Instagram fit into my mobile photographic life? It wins on being dead easily and intuitive to use. It has the nicest interface of them all. The filters are extensive enough to not become quickly boring. Not so extensive that they become confusing. It’s got nice additional features to share and view the results. It also gives the option to import photos from the gallery which were taken with other camera apps. The only downside is the lack of flexibility in image size. But it’s an easy to live with downside.

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March 20, 2012 · 8:29 am

Pixlr O Matic

I love the ease of use of the camera on my Samsung Galaxy S2. It’s in my pocket wherever I go. It takes perfectly good photos with its 8mp sensor. And it’s a snap to upload and share the images. That’s a principal reason why I’m shooting my latest 365 project with the Samsung.

Another plus point of a camera phone are the apps you can download and use to take shots and then manipulate them with a huge variety of filters. Two apps that have been missing is the iPhone only Hipstamatic and Instagram. But the latter is shortly to debut on the Android platform, and there are alternatives. Although I’ve never been convinced that these Android alternatives are quite as good.

But then I found Pixlr O Matic. It’s fun, it’s good a huge variety of filter combos and it’s put into a snappy package that makes it quick and easy to use. It’s quickly become my favourite photo app. Although….there are so many combos that it’s easy to quickly go a bit OTT with the filters you’re applying. Such is life. I’m going to start building a set on Flickr – click here to see the first few shots.

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May 30, 2011 · 3:50 pm

The Android Verdict

I’ve had my precious Samsung Galaxy S2 for two weeks now, so it’s time to give my verdict on it. First, the bad. First, because it’s brief and I can get it out of the way quickly. I don’t like that I have to sign in to the device using a Google account. Particularly because of what the device then imports and the settings it changes, based on my Google activity. I stopped using Gmail some time ago, and don’t use Picasa anymore. I didn’t really want my Sammy polluted with that crap.

Nor do I want my phone polluted with all the bloatware that comes courtesy of Samsung and Three, and that can’t be removed from the device. That sucks. The native email client sucks too. There are alternative email client apps. They suck too. It just comes down to your personal preference for suckiness. The battery is also a bit weak. Not as weak as earlier Android devices. But I have to be careful with the settings to get through a day. Although I am a very heavy user, it has to be said. But Apple does all this much better, so far. Windows Phone 7 too.

Now on to the good. The phone is a speedy wonder. Dual core processing sees to that. The 4.3″ screen is also a sight to behold. And the app market is now mature enough to not be an issue.  Apple fanboys will point out there’s loads more apps for iPhones. Yeah. When you can find a device that will load 300,00 apps, and a person who needs to use 300,00 apps, come back and tell me about it. Till then, I just don’t care. Android has more apps than I’ll ever need. Most importantly, it has all the apps that I do need.

I’m happy to pay for apps if they are worth the money. And let’s be honest, apps aren’t a lot of money. A shiny British pound or two a go. A few might cost a little more, but a fiver is pretty much the most you’d need to spend. I have bought about a half dozen apps so far. Doggcatcher is a superb podcast app. The subscription page isn’t as comprehensive, slick or user friendly as iTunes. But then it does work nicely off the handset once you’ve picked your favourite podcasts. It’s reliable and feature rich.

For music I plumped for PlayerPro. It lokks slick, has a ton of features and unlike most other player apps which insist on scanning into the library all the audio on my device, including podcasts which I prefer to manage through Doggcatcher, PlayerPro lets me choose a folder to manage my music collection from. It’s also skinnable, which is a nice touch. Meanwhile, Ambling Bookplayer does my audiobooks. And does it nicely.

Vignette is now my default camera app for taking photos and adding effects, although I have a ton of other trial and free photo apps. JustPictures is the app I use for managing my photo collections – both online with Flickr and on the handset itself. Opera does my internet browsing. We7 is my preferred source of free radio style music.

But if there is one feature on this device that’s really blown me away, it’s the audio recognition. Why type out a text message to send to someone? Speak it out instead. Or should that be speak it in. Going to a foreign country? Download the right translator app. Speak into it what you want to say. It’ll not only translate it into a different language, but if you’re really lazy, you can press the speaker icon, and the phone will say it as well. With the right accent!

Need to make a note? Yep, speak into the phone, it’ll turn it into text. Or what if you can hear a song, and you really like it, and want to buy it, but you have no idea what it is, or who sings it? Try Shazam. It’ll listen to the tune, analyse it and then come back with the song’s details, a link to buy the song off of Amazon and a link to the music video on YouTube, and lots more.

The accuracy of the audio recognition is scary. I do remember when this sort of software first came out in the 90′s. If you sat and spoke into the program for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, then it could be taught to ‘learn’ your voice. Within a year, it could convert your voice into text….half the time. The other half would be gibberish. My Droid is getting it right 90% of the time. When I use a phony American accent, it gets it right 95% of the time. When I use a phony American accent, keep the message reasonably simple and don’t make up words, it gets it right 99.9% of the time. Awesome.

Needless to say, I’ve far too many apps loaded to talk about them all. This is already one of my longest ever posts! So I’ll sign off, and leave you with a relevant video. I watch CNet videos on my Sammy, using the Doggcatcher podcast app, and having watched this one I went out and snagged the PlayerPro app.

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