{"id":5969,"date":"2014-12-14T10:44:56","date_gmt":"2014-12-14T18:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/?p=5969"},"modified":"2014-12-14T10:45:35","modified_gmt":"2014-12-14T18:45:35","slug":"george-android-devices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/george-android-devices\/","title":{"rendered":"George from Tulsa Reviews 3 Android Devices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>George from Tulsa here to give you a brief overview of three Android devices I recently purchased.<\/p>\n<h4>Nvidia Shield Tablet <\/h4>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"10\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ss&#038;ref=ss_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=httppodfeecom-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B00HCNHDN0&#038;asins=B00HCNHDN0&#038;linkId=5VAYCZ6VGGVP7RHB&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>The Nvidia Shield Tablet is a serious gaming machine and showpiece for Nvidia\u2019s connected gaming network.  It\u2019s also the fastest Android tablet on the market today, surpassing even Google\u2019s flagship Nexus 9. I\u2019m not a gamer, think Atari 2600, and bought the 32 GB LTE Shield to connect my camera card, copy off Olympus format RAW files, and edit them using the Android App Photo Mate R2. I hadn\u2019t even installed Portal and the Half Life Series Nvidia promoted as draws to buy the Shield.  But on Thanksgiving Day my visiting younger generation saw the Shield, and begged.  Then disappeared into gameland.<\/p>\n<p>The Shield\u2019s form factor is much like the familiar Nexus 7, just a bit bigger.  It offers a 1920 x 1200 screen, dual front facing stereo speakers, and even a subwoofer.  Leave your Bluetooth at home. There\u2019s a Stylus and Apps that use it.  My daughter, the art school graduate, reports the Stylus works pretty well, but isn&#8217;t a threat to replace her Wacom Cintiq Android Tablet.<\/p>\n<p>I upgraded my Shield to Android 5.0 \u201cLollipop\u201d before setting it up.  After using Android L on that device, I blocked its install on my Nexus 5 phone and 7 tablet.  Maybe someday, not yet.  It is too bright, I\u2019m not a fan of card based notifications throughout, and prefer the ease of accessing settings on the older KitKat.  KitKat is faster.  <\/p>\n<p>The Shield came unlocked, with an ATT SIM. I had no trouble activating it on T-Mobile as a 3 GB $10 a month add to our existing plan.<\/p>\n<p>Lisa at MobileTechReview did her usual thorough review of the Shield when it first released.\u00a0 If anything I&#8217;ve said about the Shield captures your interest, refer to Allison&#8217;s Show Notes for a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mobiletechreview.com\/tablets\/NVIDIA-Shield-Tablet.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Link to Lisa&#8217;s review<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>Amazon Fire HD6 Tablet<\/h4>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"10\" align=\"right\">\n<tr>\n<td><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ss&#038;ref=ss_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=httppodfeecom-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B00LCK715Y&#038;asins=B00LCK715Y&#038;linkId=ZOLVQLOSFHDDTISV&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Amazon\u2019s Fire HD 6 tablet is cheap, really cheap, priced as low as $99.  It\u2019s also quite good, if a bit heavy.  I bought one because I\u2019ve been carrying last year\u2019s far more powerful HDX 7 in a pouch while I walk so I can listen as Amazon\u2019s superb Text to Speech reads Kindle eBooks.  The HD 6 is running Fire OS 4.5.1, a much improved version of Amazon\u2019s Android Fork.  Its physical controls are easier to operate by touch than the more expensive HDX.  Overall, an amazing device\u2014for the price point.<\/p>\n<p>After I bought the HD 6, I thought how much better it would be if smaller and lighter.  Like, say, phone sized.<\/p>\n<p>And no sooner did I make that wish than Amazon delivered, putting the 32 GB Fire Phone LTE unlocked GSM on sale for $199, and throwing in a year of Prime worth $100.<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Amazon-Fire-Phone-32GB-Unlocked\/dp\/B00OC0USA6\/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=httppodfeecom-20&amp;linkCode=w01&amp;linkId=SZGXUDLJEFB76FXK&amp;creativeASIN=B00OC0USA6\" target=\"_blank\">Amazon Fire Phone<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/podfeet.com\/NosillaCast\/NC_2014\/NC_2014_12_14\/pic_from_firephone.jpg\" alt=\"Really nice macro photo of a Christmas tree bulb from the Fire Phone\" height=\"329\" width=\"250\" style=\"float: right; margin: 5px;\"\/><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no wonder the Fire Phone was a giant Fail.  It\u2019s UI isn\u2019t good, depending on four battery sucking cameras to track a user\u2019s face and present context sensitive menus.  The Fire Phone is hot to the touch in default mode, and munched its battery fast.  I turned all that stuff that Amazon calls \u201cdynamic perspective\u201d OFF which saves much processing and battery, but leaves holes in the UI.  I had to use the built in MayDay Help Feature to find Audiobook menus that stopped appearing without the tilt response that\u2019s part of \u201cdynamic perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just too bad.  The Fire Phone, minus the bizarre dynamic perspective cameras and UI, is a solid device with good performance.  The camera is a 13 megapixel with optical stabilization and an f2.0 lens.  Its side firing stereo speakers have good separation, work ok in a quiet room, are best for straight voice, but won\u2019t inspire owners to leave the Bluetooth behind.<\/p>\n<p>To wrap up, if you\u2019re interested in serious and mobile gaming, the Shield currently has no real competition.  If you\u2019re open to Android, and want Android\u2019s best performance, it\u2019s the Shield.<\/p>\n<p>At the current unlocked price of $449, though that does include the year of Prime, I don\u2019t see how Amazon will sell any of the Fire Phones stuffed into its warehouses.  I know this may not be fair, but I just can\u2019t see relying on that device as a communication tool.<\/p>\n<p>There are better tablets than the Fire 6.  But there\u2019s simply nothing else for sale today that\u2019s competent, pleasant to use, so portable, and which offers so very much entertainment value for so little money.  <\/p>\n<p>Get the 16 GB version, consider Amazon\u2019s \u201cAll You Want\u201d $9.99 a month Kindle Unlimited with tens thousands of books and audio books, and with the addition of Amazon Prime, music streaming and cloud storage.<\/p>\n<p>If there\u2019s any Amazon-branded gear that interests you, watch for daily deals.  Seems there\u2019s always something on, er, \u201cFire Sale\u201d this Holiday Season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George from Tulsa here to give you a brief overview of three Android devices I recently purchased. Nvidia Shield Tablet The Nvidia Shield Tablet is a serious gaming machine and showpiece for Nvidia\u2019s connected gaming network. It\u2019s also the fastest Android tablet on the market today, surpassing even Google\u2019s flagship Nexus 9. I\u2019m not a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5969"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5971,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5969\/revisions\/5971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}