Kickstarter success Vaavud is a thing of beauty. Created by a Danish team of enterprising inventors, it plugs into your iPhone or Android device’s headphone jack and connects with an app to tell you the current wind speed. It uses no power, and actually talks wirelessly to your phone via the built-in magnetic field sensor that ships with modern smartphones.
The Vaavud is shipping as of July 30, and goes on sale at bitemyapple, Grand St. and other fine purveyors of gadgets and gizmos, but I got a chance to test one out early. The Vaavud blew through its tests in fact (see what I did there?) and definitely told me how fast the wind outside was, or how effectively I was blowing on the thing when trying it out for my own amusement indoors. Which I did plenty, because it’s very fun.
The Vaavud ships with an internal mechanism that works with most smartphones out of the box, and a kit to change it over to handle the Samsung Galaxy S2, which requires a slightly different design. It also comes with a soft carrying pouch complete with carabiner, since this thing is designed to be carted with you as you scale mountains or brave rapids.
You can use the Vaavud with the app created by the company itself, but third-party apps are also supported, starting with the first to leverage the API, Weendy. That app is about crowdsourcing weather conditions, and draws from people using Vaavud around the world to build wind speed profiles of locales. It’s the perfect integration, but as Vaavud is pretty niche, don’t go expecting a lot of that data to pop up for most spots just yet.
Data seems to be accurate, but it’s hard to compare as I don’t have any other kind of wind meter technology nearby to compare it to. The charts produced by the native Vaavud app are attractive and easy to read, and the fact that no batteries are required is pretty awesome in terms of using it in outdoor and remote locales where it’s probably most useful. At €40.00 (roughly $61 U.S.) it’s a little pricey for a novelty, but anyone conducting environmental research or just really keen on weather will definitely get a kick out of it.
A lot of Kickstarter projects, both successful and not, aim at a particular niche; it’s part of the reason they aren’t good candidates for traditional funding channels. The Vaavud is likely going to appeal to a small segment of the population, but unlike most Kickstarter projects, it’s smartly executed, well-built and elegantly designed. If you think you need a Vaavud, don’t hesitate to go ahead and get one.
There’s a folder appearing in the archives of the newest iOS 7 Beta with a title that suggests Apple is ready to bring a fingerprint scanner to the iPhone. This folder goes by the name of BiometricKitUI and brings with it the suggestion that the iPhone – or the iPad and the iPod touch, whichever you’d like to imagine – will be working with the recognition of its user by their unique characteristics or traits.
According to the contents of this folder, a sensor will exist within or under the iPhone’s home button. This code suggests that a “photo of a person holding an iPhone with their left [or right] hand while touching the Home button with their thumb” describes the pose you’ll be striking during your log-in process with the phone. This is the first physical lock created for the iPhone – if it does, indeed, come to fruition.
Also in this code embedded in iOS 7 beta 4 is a bit of a UI description: “a fingerprint that changes colour during the setup process”, complete with a “recognition is %@ complete”, suggesting it’ll take more than a moment. Now we’ll just have to wait to see which device this comes with, be it the iPhone 5S, a rebooted iPhone 5, or the full iPhone range, complete with the budget collection.
And on that note, you’ll want to take a peek at the full iOS 7 beta 4 from top to bottom. There you’ll find mainly bug fixes, but as developer Hamza Soon found and shared first with 9to5Mac, there are some hidden gems like what you’re seeing above! Keep on the search!
In addition to having appeared today in the FCC, the next Sony Xperia release in codename “Honami” has appeared this morning in a series of leaked photos aside the Sony Xperia Z. This device is set to out-do the Xperia Z in several ways, one of which in its camera at 20-megapixels, complete with a brand new set of features in its software interface. The Honami, also known as the “i1″ will be coming without the full-waterproofing of its predecessor.
Honami appears in these images with a slightly longer body and what appears to be an ever-so-slightly thinner frame. The Xperia Z shares the same size display at 5-megapixels and likely 1080p once again, here also taking on a slightly more traditional approach with a black frame around a black body. That’s the silver-framed Xperia Z, mind you, and there’s a fully-purple edition out in the USA as well with T-Mobile.
This set of leaks includes a rather strange Augmented Reality mode for the camera as well. Here you’ll see a dinosaur walking across this devices’ display amongst several palm trees, the camera able to superimpose said dinosaur over the photo taken of an office building’s interior.
There’s also a series of effects including Superior Auto – a favorite of reviewers of the Xperia Z, and Social Live. With Social Live you’re able to broadcast the photos you’re taking to a network that’ll allow cross-downloading between devices on the same network. You’ll be working with Timeshift Burst as well, this allowing to you choose the best photo of a large series of snaps taken in quick succession.
Perhaps most interesting is Info-eye, this according to this UI allowing you to “find more information about what you see in the viewfinder!” We’re assuming this will work with bar codes and readable text through Google, but we’ll see!
The Sony Xperia 1i will quite likely be coming with an upgraded processor, somewhere in the region of Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 as is found in the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 or the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 as is found in the Sony Xperia Z Ultra as well as many other next-generation devices, complete with multi-region LTE.
Nokia may be one of Microsoft’s largest partners for Windows Phone 8 devices, but that certainly doesn’t mean that Nokia is 100% happy with the platform. It’s not the lack of Windows Phone devices available, as there are plenty of those, but Nokia is mainly disappointed in the number of apps available and the lack of software updates.
Speaking with the International Business Times, Nokia’s vice president of App development, Bryan Biniak, says that Nokia is attempting to get Microsoft back on the horse, as time is running out for the platform to make a big impact, saying that “waiting until the end of your fiscal year when you need to close your targets, doesn’t do us any good when I have phones to sell today.”
Biniak also mentions the lack of apps for Windows Phone, saying that while Nokia makes a lot of Windows Phone devices, no one will buy them if essential apps aren’t available for it. He says that “if there is an app that somebody cares about that’s not there, that’s a missed opportunity of a sale.”
Essentially, Biniak reiterates what we’ve heard before about the Windows Phone platform: “You can’t sell a phone without the apps, you just can’t,” he says. There are some fantastic Windows Phone 8 devices out on the market, with the latest Lumia 1020 to make an arrival shortly, but Biniak says that without apps, the hardware is useless.
It should be clear at this point that Samsung’s profits in the mobile sector have not, as a report by Strategy Analytics last week suggested, taken over Apples’. According to Strategy Analytics, “Samsung’s operating profit for its handset division stood at US $5.2 billion in the second quarter of 2013″ while Apple “recorded an estimated iPhone operating profit of US $4.6 billion”. And that’s essentially the extent of their basic report – this is not just far too limited to have covered the claim they’ve made, it’s simply inaccurate.
Strategy Analytics claims “Global Handset Operating Profits” in converted US dollars for Samsung was $5.2 billion in the second quarter of 2013, while Apple’s was $4.6 billion. This is the quarter ending in June of 2013, which for Apple is fiscal Q3 and for Samsung is fiscal Q2.
According to Apple’s Form 10-Q for this quarter as filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple’s total operating income was $9.2 billion USD – this minus Apple’s $2.5 billion in taxes makes a total of $6.9 billion in net income.
As Apple Insider notes, it’s from that $9.2 billion in operating profits that Strategy Analytics appears to get their total “global handset operating profits” for Apple. This comes from the idea that the iPhone accounts for a total of 51% of Apple’s total business.
Meanwhile you’ll find that Samsung’s total reported operating income was (converted from Korean Republic Won) in at $8.56 billion, minus $1.84 billion for taxes, ringing in at $6.98 billion in net income.
Samsung’s breakdown of device sales and profits is done – for mobile – with one called “IT & Mobile Communications.” This includes everything from handsets to tablets, network equipment to PCs. Samsung reported that operating profits of (converted) $5.64 billion for this quarter came from this IT & Mobile Communications segment. Strategy Analytics “estimates” that $5.2 billion of this number accounts for non-network devices.
This number still includes Samsung’s tablets, PCs, and Chromebooks, while the competing number here is just Apple’s iPhone, and the iPhone alone. That comparison doesn’t make sense to report. It’s as simple as that.
In the past, Sony hasn’t been too strict about issuing confidentiality requests when slipping its Xperia smartphones into the FCC’s database. The Honami, however, is no typical Xperia. For those unaware, manufacturers generally submit equipment to the FCC for testing shortly before the product is ready to launch on US shores — once its radios are cleared for use on the airwaves that the FCC controls, precious little stands between said product and your hands.
We’ve seen a stream of Honami leaks over the past few weeks, but none have indicated quite so clearly that it’s nearly ready for a formal debut. The filing masks all internal and external photos, but a software version entitled “s_atp_honami_1_25_1” (seen after the break) makes obvious what device we’re looking at. This, Motorola’s X, and an impending iPhone refresh? Looks like we’re in for a star-studded autumn in the handset universe.
There’s been a deluge of Moto X reports, and it shows no signs of stopping. We’ve seen the device’s press shots, camera UI and benchmark results, and most recently, we’ve even watched the T-Mobile version waltz past the FCC. Now, we’re treated to purported press images and unannounced features from Taylor Wimberly, formerly of Android and Me. According to Wimberly, a sheet of specially treated Gorilla Glass covers the phone’s entire face and wraps around its sides, forming a nearly seamless gap with the rear shell. Apparently, it’s special enough that Motorola will call it “Magic Glass.” As another nod to the phone’s toughness, he also claims a laminated aluminum structure makes its frame even stronger, despite being thin and lightweight. Check out the images to decide the report’s veracity for yourself, but don’t sweat it too much — we’ll be able to confirm it in a few days when the phone launches on August 1st.
The original HTC One works with HTC’s own “Sense” user interface, while the Google Play edition works with Googles’ – MoDaCo.SWITCH allows you to choose which of the two you like better at any given time. This system is a hack, at heart, requiring that you root your device before you allow yourself the freedom to choose either the HTC Sense or Android Jelly Bean Vanilla iteration at the tap of a button (and a few seconds’ wait). What you get, though, is a completely unique set of controls.
This system is not just coming to the HTC One – currently in Public Beta, at this point, mind you – but the Galaxy S 4 as well. The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is one of two devices – the other being the HTC One – to earn itself the right to be a Google Play edition in addition to being its own Samsung-made self.
What the folks at MoDaCo – just one fellow, that is, ROM developer Paul O’Brien – will be doing is adding an on/off switch to the full ROM of all the little bits and pieces that make up Google’s edition of the software right next to HTC’s version of the software. Whenever you’d like to switch from one to the other, you’ll have to hit the reboot button, but all of your data will be safe and sound flipping back and forth.
Now we’ve only to wait for this same sort of system to appear for any and all smartphones on the market with their own custom UI over Android. Could such a toggle switch be added to Android as a requirement from Google in order to be Google Certified?
Such a thought is quite intriguing, to say the least.
Though Motorola just released a trio of DROID devices for Verizon devices earlier this week, they’re pumping up for the Moto X on August 1st, and they’re getting ready to do it on each of the major carriers in the USA, possibly all at once. True to the original vision for Google’s Android and the device line that eventually became the Nexus, Google-owned Motorola has a smartphone made for the everyman – one that, according to the SKU codes appearing this afternoon – will be delivered to the whole of the United States at once.
We’ve seen basically everything there is to know about this machine well before it’s been released officially. We know it’s got a 720p display, we know it’ll come in at least black and white, if not a wide variety of colors through the rainbow – we even know that there’s a few models out there in the wild. Google’s Eric Schmidt has one in his pocket right now, more than likely.
What we did not know before the list that we’re seeing today (straight from the FCC) was released was that this smartphone will be released to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and US Cellular. While Motorola will also have models customized and shipped straight to citizens of the USA straight off the assembly line – that assembly line also sitting right here in the USA – the black and/or white editions may very well be in stores in just a few weeks.
This smartphone is not meant to break any barriers with its specifications alone, instead aiming for the palms of a massive cross-section of new and experienced Android users throughout the USA. This is the first all-Google Motorola project since they first acquired the big M last year – now it’s time to get busy.
Several months after the first market availability of the original HTC One, the HTC One mini emerges as a compact amalgamation of everything that was right about its predecessor. Working with a smaller body, a lower resolution on a sized-down display, and a processor that’s not quite as powerful as the Qualcomm SoC on the HTC One, can this miniature second wave of a smartphone strike true for those of us with a smaller palm?
Hardware
This machine’s 720 x 1280 display (across 4.3 inches of screen real-estate) does not disappoint. While the HTC One is slightly sharper mathematically, we’re well into the “I wouldn’t have noticed if you’d not said something” zone. This machine’s display is so close to the surface of the glass that protects it, it’s difficult to tell that they are, indeed, two separate pieces of hardware. Right from the moment you turn this smartphone on, you can feel HTC’s efforts continue to hit top-notch.
The HTC One mini comes in at 132 x 63.2 x 9.25 mm in size and 122g in weight, shaving off just about as much on its left and right as it does on its top and bottom, feeling in the end to be essentially the same thickness – even if it is a smidgen different (0.05 mm thinner, to be exact). Where the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini feels like a shadow of the full-sized Galaxy S 4, the HTC One mini feels like a companion to the HTC One – more like an alternate reality approach.
While it would appear at a glance that the HTC One mini’s plastic ring around its edges were placed there only to be a differentiator for the final build between this and the original, it does serve to make one feel less fearful of dropping the whole unit. It’s not as if this ring is going to do a whole lot more to protect the front or back of the smartphone from a concrete slab ground, but there’s more of a sense of safety here, even if it does dare us to suggest that it makes the device feel more like a Samsung handset (it doesn’t).
Instead it would seem that the aluminum back panel and two speaker grill-filled front panels serve, with the single pane of Gorilla Glass up front, to keep this device well in the premium build universe. Up front you’ve still got the double-dose of sensors peeking out at you on the left up top, and one of two high-powered cameras up on the right.
There’s also a notification light up in the topside speaker grill – 12th hole in from the right, second row from the bottom – one single pin hole and a world of difference for those who demand such a shiner. This light serves to tell you the HTC One mini is being charged up, for the most part, but you’ll also find a set of checkmarks you can toggle in settings under “Notification flash”, including Calls, Voice mail, Messages, Calendar, Mail, and Alarms.
Behind the speaker grills up front are stereo speakers, working with HTC’s own branded audio setup BoomSound and sounding every bit as powerful as they do on the HTC One. It’s surprising, really, that HTC brings this premium feature to devices other than the HTC One – you’ll find it in HTC 8XT as well – though we’ve yet to test that unit for comparable ear-shattering. Here on the HTC One mini you’ve got the same best-in-glass speaker setup first delivered with the HTC One, top and bottom both.
On the right side of this smartphone you’ll find two volume buttons instead of a rocker – this is modified from the HTC One which used a single piece of metal with a circular pattern through its form. Up top is a standard-sized headphone jack alongside a power / lock button that, instead of having an IR-blaster built in, is simply a bit more aluminum this time around.
The left side of the HTC One mini holds this device’s single microSIM card slot which can be popped out with an HTC-provided pin, while the bottom holds one of two mic holes (the other is on the back panel) near an off-set microUSB port for power and PC connections. This is an offset port in that it’s not right in the center, where many major smartphones’ usb ports tend to find themselves.
The back panel of the HTC One is split into three – there’s a top section that’s roughly the same size as the bottom, then a center single panel that takes up the majority of the machine. This center panel holds the 3D alternate-shade of aluminum spelling out HTC as well as the second of two HTC One mini-bound cameras and a single LED flash. The second of two microphone holes sits on the left between the top and middle panels, the opposite side of the hole on the HTC One.
You’ll also find the Beats Audio brand intact here, this time a bit more subdued (at least on this light silver edition) than the original (which blasts the logo out in hot red). FCC and other certification data finishes out the package at the bottom in a silver so light you can barely see it.
Inside you’ve got 4G LTE and HSPA compatibility with Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 (ready for LE/ Bluetooth Smart in Android 4.3 eventually) as well as aptX support for high-powered wireless audio. You’ll not be getting any NFC this time around, unfortunately – not a deal-breaker for most, but as the NFC universe expands, one must consider such a thing.
Software
The software is nearly a perfect replica of what’s found on the original HTC One here on the international edition of the HTC One mini. The big differences come in the app selection and the compatibility (or lack thereof) with certain functions due to hardware changes. No IR-blaster means no Sense TV, no NFC means no Android Beam. These are compromises you should be willing to make when you jump in on this miniaturized version of the full-sized hero.
The HTC One mini adds Mocana’s KeyVPN app right out of the box – this allows you to connect to secure networks, of course, and does so as one might expect. Google’s full suite of Google Play apps is here, including Play Movies, Play Music, Play Magazines, and Play Books, these running alongside HTC’s iterations with additions like “Music”.
HTC’s music app is the same as it was on the HTC One, here delivering the ability to play lyrics from songs and show wild animations during track playback. HTC also includes a simple PDF Viewer that can access the device’s own storage as well as cloud apps like Dropbox. Editing of PDFs is done by Polaris Office.
Dropbox is also – once again – included with the basic build of this HTC smartphone. You’ll also be seeing music sales with 7digital, music identification with SoundHound, and internet radio with TuneIn Radio. These along with Play Movies and YouTube have HTC making sure you’re going to be putting your BoomSound speakers to good use.
The first page you see when you enter past your HTC One mini’s lockscreen is a system called HTC BlinkFeed. This first appeared with the HTC One and continues here with its entire set of abilities still ready to roll.
You’ll be able to collect news sources and updates from your social networking profiles to create one big image-intensive collection of quick-views. Each of these rectangles is able to be tapped to expand, and you’re able to turn each of your news sources on/off at will.
The system is set by default to refresh only when on wi-fi, but you can change it to work with mobile data if you wish. By all eyeballing accounts, this and every other part of the UI in the HTC One mini appear to be moving every bit as swift as the original, despite the lower capacity for processing power in this smaller device’s interior architecture.
Performance
The HTC One mini works with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400. This means it’s not quite up to the task of taking on the HTC One’s Snapdragon 600 with its four CPU cores, but here on a device with a smaller device with a smaller display with a lower resolution, the results appear the same. We’ve noticed no slowdown in everyday use, and we’ve not yet seen lag even when opening some of the most demanding games on the market. It would appear that we’ve reached a point in the smartphone chip-making world where the power has out-run the demand.
Have a peek at the benchmarks above and see what you think. While this device doesn’t make too much of an effort to break down any top-tier barriers, it’s well ready to do its own job, and do it well.
Camera / Battery
The camera here continues to work with HTC Zoe, Full HD (1080p) video recording and high-quality results on both the front and back-facing camera. The back-facing camera continues to work with the full HTC One-born UltraPixel setup, complete with results just as impressive as the original.
While it might seem that working with a slightly less powerful processor might result in lower-quality results in image processing, or at least slower processing therein, the differences are minor, if noticeable at all. This device has the same f/2.0 aperture in play as well as the same dedicated ImageChip 2 image processor – this is in addition to the main device processor, mind you.
What you’ve got is a system that shoots photos and video as well as the HTC One, with one difference: the HTC One mini does not work with Optical Image Stabilization. The big place this takes effect is in filming videos, which here can be a bit more “shaky” as a result. If you’ve never used the HTC One and felt that bump in quality, this change-over won’t make a difference to you.
Have a peek at a collection of sample shots above and let us know what you think of the system compared to the original. It certainly feels the same, and as always, it’s as much about the photographer as it is about the camera.
Battery
The HTC One mini works with a non-removable 1800mAh battery which, paired with Qualcomm’s battery conservation features in its Snapdragon processor and HTC’s own battery saver mode in this phone’s settings, you’ll be getting a massive amount of battery life on standby. In fact, if you leave your device in your pocket and turn off data altogether, you might just get a few days’ worth of life out of it.
If you’re a heavy user, on the other hand, this phone will need a charge by the time the day is through. If you’re doing nothing but streaming video and playing games, you’ll get no more than 8 hours out of the HTC One mini, while light users – email, chat, and the like, will easily get a full work day without plugging this machine in to the wall.
Wrap-up
In the end you’ll have to base your decision to purchase this device on whether or not you’re willing to make a trade-off in size and for a few odd features for a lower price point. If you’re not seeing this decision between the HTC One and the HTC One mini as a trade-of, and instead simply want a smaller device that fits your hand better than the original, then you’ll be good to go! In the end, this machine takes everything that was great about the HTC One and jams it into a smaller package.
Let us know if there’s anything else about this device that you’d like SlashGear to test – this is a living review, after all, and we’ll continue to update as you, the reader, would ask us to. We’re here to provide you with the information you want on the HTC One mini – the same being true of all our reviews – stay tuned!
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
