Archive for December 11, 2014

ZTE Grand X Plus Now Available… Designed In Canada And Available On Fido

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 11, 2014 by itnerd

Here’s something that you don’t hear every day. A global phone manufacturer designs a phone in Canada. But before I get to that part, let me talk about the ZTE Grand X Plus and its key features:

  • 5.0” HD display and Dolby sound – Enjoy an extraordinary watching and listening experience. Photos and videos will look sharp and vivid in crisp 720p HD, and the Dolby audio chipset will make sure your music, movies and gaming sound crystal clear.
  • 8MP main camera – Take photos like a pro and record videos in 1080p HD with the 8MP rear camera and LED flash. Group Mode lets you choose each person’s best expression and combine them in one photo. And enjoy high quality selfies and video calls with a 2MP front camera.
  • Android 4.4 KitKat – Enjoy all the great features of Android and over a million apps, games, movies and more available on the Google Play store.
  • 4G LTE and 1.2 GHz Quad-Core Processor – The speedy Qualcomm quad-core processor and LTE network provide lightning-fast device response and browsing capability, and Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 1.0 lets you charge at lightning speeds too
  • 2300mAh battery – Power up the ZTE Grand X Plus with the quick-charge capabilities of the 2,300mAh battery that provides up to 8 hours of talk time and 300 hours of standby time.
  • More memory – 2 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage and microSDHC support for up to 32 GB

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The biggest feature is that this phone was designed in Canada at the company’s recently opened Ottawa-based R&D Centre. Opened in June, the ZTE Canadian R&D Centre is the company’s 19th worldwide and their first in Canada. The team in Ottawa will focus on innovation, certification, mobile security, and hardware and IC design.

The ZTE Grand X Plus is available now in stores and online with Fido for $0 on a two-year Smart plan, $50 on a two-year Standard plan or $200 with no contract. I have requested one from ZTE and I’ll post a review as soon as I get it.

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Prezi Introduces Mobile Presenting

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 11, 2014 by itnerd

Prezi, the presentation platform that I have written about previously, has released a new feature that lets users deliver and watch live presentations in real-time from their mobile devices. The first-of-its-kind app ushers live presenting into the age of mobility, allowing any user to present or follow along from virtually anywhere using their iPhone, iPad, PC, or Mac. With just a few clicks, presenters on the road can now invite up to 30 people in multiple locations to follow their prezis in real-time. In addition, co-presenters can pass control of the presentation to one another seamlessly across devices with a single click, enabling teams to collaborate globally.

Here’s a video of this new feature in action:

The new release comes on the heels of other big announcements from Prezi, including the news that the company has reached the 50-million-user milestone and that it recently secured $57 million in funding from Spectrum Equity and Accel Partners.

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Competition Bureau Investigating Apple

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 11, 2014 by itnerd

It appears that Canada’s Competition Bureau is investigating Apple over deals that they have with cell phone carriers in Canada. There’s not a lot of detail here, but it appears that they’re looking into anti-competitive clauses in contracts that Apple Canada have with domestic wireless carriers. Presumably, that’s Rogers, Bell, Telus, Videotron, and SaskTel to name a few carriers who have the iPhone. Also the Bureau is seeking a court order to force Apple Canada to turn over records related to this investigation, but somehow there is no conclusion of wrongdoing on Apple’s part.

Hmmm…. This will be interesting to watch and see what the outcome is.

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Microsoft Spreads Out To iOS & Android…. Buys App Company Too

Posted in Commentary with tags on December 11, 2014 by itnerd

It seems that Microsoft wants to be the center of your universe regardless of what platform you’re on. I cite these as examples:

  • The MSN suite of apps (News, Sports, Health & Fitness, Food & Drink and Money) is now available on iOS and Android; MSN Weather is out on Android, with an IOS release coming soon.
  • Office is now available on every platform that I can think of except maybe LINUX. That includes Apple and Google’s tablets which would have been unthinkable a short time ago. Even the Mac version of Office which was always the red headed stepchild of Microsoft doesn’t suck.

And today, they just bought HockeyApp. No Canada, it’s not an app related to your national pastime. It does something far more important for Microsoft:

Based in Stuttgart, Germany, HockeyApp offers a range of mobile development services enabling developers to develop, distribute, and beta test great mobile applications.  This includes:

  • Crash reporting.  Fast and precise crash reporting with easy app integration, rich crash analysis and support for connecting directly to existing workflows and bug tracking systems. 
  • Distribution and feedback.  Beta distribution and built-in user feedback system.
  • Cross-platform.  Support for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone provides a consistent developer experience across mobile devices.

In the coming months, we will introduce new iOS and Android SDKs for Application Insights  based on the features of HockeyApp.  Application Insights offers a 360-degree view of application usage, availability, and performance across both client and server/cloud application components.  Integrating HockeyApp crash reports with Application Insights usage analytics will extend device support for Application Insights across all major mobile platforms and make application analytics an ambient part of the application development cycle with support for all tiers of a modern “mobile first, cloud first” solution. 

So what this purchase will do is help Microsoft beef up their ability to come out with apps for non Microsoft platforms. Thus further enabling them to dominate the world. Or at least make lots of money which is just as good I suppose.

My, have times changed in Redmond.

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Cops Can Search Your Phone Without A Warrant: Supreme Court Of Canada

Posted in Commentary with tags , on December 11, 2014 by itnerd

If you get arrested in Canada and you have a cell phone or smart phone, the Supreme Court Of Canada says that the cops can search your phone without a warrant as long as the search relates to what you’re being arrested for. Here’s some more details from the CBC:

The Supreme Court of Canada says law enforcement officials can go through the cellphone of someone under arrest as long as the search relates directly to the arrest and police keep detailed notes.

The Supreme Court of Canada split 4-3, with the minority arguing cellphones and personal computers are “an intensely personal and uniquely pervasive sphere” that needs clear protection.

The majority also found that passwords protecting phones don’t carry much weight in assessing that person’s expectation of privacy.

“An individual’s decision not to password protect his or her cellphone does not indicate any sort of abandonment of the significant privacy interests one generally will have in the contents of the phone,” Justice Thomas Cromwell wrote.

I can see two reactions to this:

  • There will be those who say “I have nothing to hide so this is a non-issue for me.”
  • There will be those who say “cops shouldn’t have access to my phone without a warrant.” Then they’re going to figure out ways to encrypt their phone to make it difficult for cops to search them or set up their phone to erase after “x” number of failed attempts to enter the passcode.

Honestly, I am not sure which side of the fence that I am on when it comes to this. Though Glenn Greenwald’s TED Talk on why privacy matters does sort of swing me towards the latter camp. What are your thoughts on this? Please leave a comment below and share them with us.

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The IT Nerd Award For The Best Tablet Goes To: Asus Memo Pad 8 (ME181C)

Posted in Products with tags , on December 11, 2014 by itnerd

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Choosing a winner in this category was hard. Asus has a full suite of tablets that run Windows 8.1 and Android. Examples of this are the Asus Memo Pad 8 (ME181C) and the Asus VivoTab Note 8. Plus they have convertible tablet/ultraportable notebooks such as the Asus Transformer Pad TF103C (Model K010), Asus Transformer Book T100, and the Asus Transformer Book TX300. But one interesting non-Asus choice that crossed my desk was the Alcatel Onetouch Pop 8 which unlike the Asus products, serves up HSPA connectivity to go alongside WiFi connectivity. That’s a very extensive list of tablets to choose from. But at the end of the day, one tablet stood out to me. That one was the Asus Memo Pad 8 (ME181C) for the following reasons:

  • Of all the tablets that I reviewed this year, it had the best camera by far.
  • It had the best screen as it was bright and had a great viewing angles. Not to mention that at 8″, you get a bit more screen real estate to work with.
  • It has 10 hours of battery life which is outstanding.
  • It’s priced at $299 CDN which makes it more than affordable.

If you’re in the market for a tablet that doesn’t come from Apple, I’d give the Asus Memo Pad 8 (ME181C) a very good look. It’s a very deserving winner of the best tablet award.

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