Month: October 2015

Samsung Galaxy View strange formula

A small and rather expensive TV able to run streaming apps?

The main issue with this concept that could indeed work is the weight:
Sure, it might be fine standing on a table.
But 2.65 kg? That's gonna be awkwardly uncomfortable on a couch or in bed.

If it's just for streaming, lower SoC specs and lower price would have given it a better chance – but I suppose Samsung tries to introduce this new category as high-margin instead, assuming the risk that the 1st generation could fail.

#supercurioBlog



Hands-on with the Galaxy View: A huge $599 screen for streaming
Enormous? Yes. Silly? Maybe a little! Either way, Samsung loves the idea of a screen for your streaming videos.

Source post on Google+

Questionnable Nexus 6P bend test

It is expected than picks of Mohs Hardness Scale of 7 and above scratched with some pressure will leave from marks to deep dents into a Gorilla Glass screen.

As soon as +JerryRigEverything​ does that, he compromises the structure of the complete glass by going through the coating and attacking what makes up the material's compression stress.

This is why it is not surprising to see it shatter. It doesn't mean that the glass is particularly fragile. Any similar glass construction will behave about the same once the damage goes past the coating.

I don't get the point of the lighter burn test. Maybe because I don't smoke?

The bend test however isn't looking too great.
At least it seems to bend above the battery so that one should be reasonably safe.
Edit: I agree the bend test might not be representative however due to the prior shattering of the display, then unable to participate to the structural rigidity.

See https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/ZlpUoq3OjhHJsqTo.huge: it bends right in between the battery and board areas.

Now let's see how other phones behave when subjected to the same treatment by the same person for comparison!

#supercurioBlog #Nexus #video

Source post on Google+

10-bit color on OSX El Captain

The first thing.. okay the second thing I noticed when looking at a couple Retina iMac was the large amount of banding in gradients.
Like this one:
http://dl.project-voodoo.org/screen-tests/gradient-2560×1600.png or a dithered version
http://dl.project-voodoo.org/screen-tests/gradient-2560×1600-oversampled-dithered.png

It seems that Apple was applying a correction profile on only 8-bit – and quite a bit of it, which on this very large and sharp panel created simply banding galore.

10-bit, even for apps that support only 8-bit per channel (24-bit colors) should at least fix the calibration banding issue, if all is as it should be.

#supercurioBlog #color #calibration #banding

Originally shared by +PetaPixel

OS X El Capitan Quietly Unlocked 10-Bit Color in iMacs and Mac Pros



OS X El Capitan Quietly Unlocked 10-Bit Color in iMacs and Mac Pros
OS X El Capitan added some major features to the operating system when the update was released at the end of September 2015, but it appears that there was

Source post on Google+

Casting lossless audio to Chromecast

+Manuel C. is preparing a Chromecast audio review for +FrAndroid and came to me today to talk about that. I shared my impressions and told him that I didn't find the time yet to develop a mini app based on the SDK to stream lossless audio to it.

So he found this music player, which is one of the first app available able to do just that!
The screenshot shows the upload bandwidth which corresponds to 44100 Hz 16-bit PCM Stereo audio when playing a WAV file for a quick verification.

44100*16*2 = 1411200 bit/s = 172 kB/s: perfect!

The name is Shuttle Music Player, from SimpleCity, by +Tim Malseed

Free: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=another.music.player
Pro: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplecity.amp_pro

Notes:
– I noticed already a little bug concerning casting audio volume so be careful with that.
Cool and promising app nonetheless, highly recommended try!
– Keep in mind that the Chromecast Audio and Chromecast 2 currently upsample everything to 48 kHz with a non-optimal resampling algorithm. So there's some loss here unless you're streaming 48kHz/16-bit PCM.

Now I can prepare Chomecast Audio quality measurement, nice!

#supercurioBlog #audio #lossless #Chromecast

 

Source post on Google+

+Huawei demonstrated it first on their device and it's only natural that a scale functionality made it into an an iPhone 6s app, using a clever trick for the calibration BTW

For some reason #Apple didn't like that, go figure!

It's this kind of days you know that as a developer and hacker you are reminded that you invested in the right platform years ago.

Original implementation on the Huawei Mate S:
http://consumer.huawei.com/minisite/worldwide/mateS/touch.htm

#supercurioBlog



Turning the iPhone 6s Into a Digital Scale — Startups, Wanderlust, and Life Hacking
How to turn an iPhone 6s into a digital scale without salami.

Source post on Google+

Okay that's absolutely huge for RAW mobile photography

I wonder how well and fully implemented the DNG spec is on the reader. Hopefully it's not differing much or at all from Adobe reference SDK.
I say that because there's a few key aspects crucial for color calibration and accuracy missing from the regular Android DNGCreator class introduced in Lollipop.

#supercurioBlog #DNG #camera

Originally shared by +Anton Daubert

RAW photo editing comes to Snapseed on Android

Today is a big day for Snapseed users! Snapseed 2.1 brings RAW photo editing to your Android device.

Traditionally, shooting and editing RAW photos has been the domain of DSLR cameras and desktop software. But with the RAW capabilities that were added to Android 5 last year, RAW is now becoming important for mobile photography, too.

Snapseed now allows you to edit those RAW photos in the DNG file format right on your mobile device. You can also edit DNGs that were shot on cameras or converted from other RAW formats.

A photo in RAW format preserves all of the original data that was captured by the camera. This allows you to perform edits – such as recovering blown-out highlights – that are impossible with the more commonly used JPEG format. Check out the photos for an example of the details that RAW editing with Snapseed 2.1 can bring out in an image.

In addition to RAW editing, we have made some slight polishes throughout the app to make it easier to navigate, so give it a try!

#snapseed

 

In Album 2015-10-28

Source post on Google+

+Vincent Sergère review of the Nexus 5X for +FrAndroid

Even in case you can't rely on translation from French, take a look at the +GameBench stuff!

He also sent me the measurements, made with my software #SensorMaster of two units, one of which have a lot more yellow white point than the other so that was interesting to have the full data on that.

First unit (more blue): 432 cd/m² maximum white point, 1326:1 contrast ratio
Second unit (more yellow): 495 cd/m² maximum white point, 1527:1 contrast ratio

Interesting discrepancy, because it also means that the yellow one could absolutely be re-calibrated to match the more blue one both in white point, contrast ratio and maximum brightness!

#supercurioBlog #measurements #Nexus #Nexus5X #display



Google Nexus 5X
Le Nexus 5X, issu de la collaboration entre Google et LG, est un terminal qui plaira forcément aux amateurs d’expérience Android pure et notamment aux possesseurs d’un Nexus 5 qui ne veulent pas d’une diagonale d’écran trop élevée. Face à son prédécesseur, le Nexus 5X a beaucoup évolué, notamment sur sa partie photo qui devient enfin utilisable avec des clichés de qualité mais aussi avec son autonomie, même si cette dernière reste encore un peu e…

Source post on Google+

Pretty interesting review from +Joshua Vergara​​​​​, particularly regarding the perspective, market and industry insight expressed

Interesting as well is the component list +HTC​​​​​ chose for the A9, which may allow them to get a better margin for a each unit sold than most.

When you think of it it's the same sensor as the OnePlus One (and it's hard to complain about its raw performance) not an expensive component as we've seen it in tons of sub-$200 Chinese phone last year)
But they complimented it with a stabilized lens – that's unfortunately making you motion sick with too much movement – and a better color profiling than before, cool and powerful camera features out of the box.

The panel too. Likely similar if not identical to what was on the Galaxy S4 2 years ago.
Same, it's found on pretty cheap Chinese phones like from Gionee.

The SoC might cost maybe half of the 810? a smaller battery won't cost much either…
But all that with better usage of the components than before, this is encouraging indeed for the Taiwanese manufacturer.

The bet on the price might or might not pay for them.
I'm sure that in the US $499 and later rebate will enable some sales. The European price point of 599€ is unrealistic however and I'm sure it's a technique to attempt to make it look premium while it will always sell with mail-in or other kinds or heavy rebates for the street price.

#supercurioBlog #video

Source post on Google+

First Android Marshmallow OTA

My Nexus 7 2013, running Android 6.0 MRA58K presently, the first public Marshmallow build is proposing to install an OTA.
As usual and unfortunately, there's no details or Changelog.

Shall I try to capture it?

Edit: Well that's actually very easy to do:
Here you go! This is MRA58U

https://android.googleapis.com/packages/ota/google_razor/28b4fc4e22ed5195bd3dec85bfc82bdfde804ab7.signed-razor-MRA58U-from-MRA58K.zip

Changes concern mostly the media (stagefright), camera and DRM frameworks.

#supercurioBlog

 

In Album 10/27/15

Source post on Google+

+Vincent Sergère just published an editorial on 24-bit and 192 KHz audio support on mobile on +FrAndroid

I contributed by suggesting a few comments 🙂

A recommended read!

#supercurioBlog #audio #quality



A-t-on réellement besoin de l’audio HD (24 bits / 192 KHz) sur les smartphones ? – FrAndroid
Nous testons actuellement le Marshall London, premier smartphone de la célèbre marque anglaise d’amplis. Il arbore une puce audio dédiée (Cirrus Logic WM82

Source post on Google+