Starting with a Clean Slate

Posted by Payton Wilmott On Tuesday, July 23, 2013 0 comments



It seems Hp (Hewlett-Packard) hasn't given up fully on the tablet market after all. But this time around they ditched WebOS and went with Android with their new Hp Slate 7. The Slate 7 is a 7" inch tablet that runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) as its primary operating system, but what else is under the casing? Join me for the hands on review of the Hp Slate 7.

What's in this device?
It's somewhat of a religion for android owners or prospective android owners to be very attentive to the specification sheet of the product they are going to purchase. So here is some of what the slate 7 is made of.

  • Tablet Dimensions : 197.1 x 116.1 x 10.7 mm (7.76 x 4.57 x 0.42 in)
  • Weight : 372 g (13.12 oz)
  • Display : FFS+ LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 600 x 1024 pixels, 7.0 inches (~170 ppi pixel density)
  • Beats Audio sound enhancement
  • Memory Card slot : microSD up to 32 GB
  • Internal Memory : 8 GB Storage and 1 GB of RAM
  • WLAN :Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
  • Bluetooth : v2.1 with A2DP, EDR
  • Camera : Primary 3.15 MP (2048x1536 pixels)
  • Video : Yes, 720p@30fps
  • OS : Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean)
  • CPU : Dual-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A9
I know most might be saying that the above specification isn't anything on the high-end side of life, but it seems obvious that Hp isn't targeting the high-end users. They seem to be targeting the financial depressed persons like myself.

Design and Build Quality
Although Hp was aiming for the cost effective crowd the device itself is well built and very sturdy (...could be used as a cricket bat and damage the ball). There are only two slight problems and they are noticeable the minute you pick up the device. The problems are weight and the screen bezel thickness. The device weighs a lot for a 7" inch tablet and that is very apparent when you hold the device for extended time periods. Also the screen bezel is thick compared to other tablets in its class.

Display and Camera
When you buying a budget tablet for your personal use you shouldn't expect that it will have the best of what technology has to offer. The Slate 7 doesn't have the best display on the market. With a resolution of 600 x 1024 this display has not reached HD quality as yet, but it's sharp enough to watch videos on and be satisfied. Also the cameras on this device is not great, but it gets the job done to say the least. Once you remember the cost of the product then your heart ache will go away.

Sound and Performance
These two categories is where the slate 7 shines. The sound output for this device is excellent whether it's through the loud speakers or a headphone. Plus the addition of beats audio gives the sound output more bass and clearer mid-range sounds. Meanwhile the dual-core processor and 1Gb of RAM seems to be very capable of handle most of the tasks (tasks included gaming and HD video playback) we threw at it.

Final Thoughts
At roughly 26,000 dollars there isn't much you can complain about. The Hp Slate 7 is a well built android tablet for a financial depressed society... what more can you asks for? The product mentioned in this article was provided courtesy of Royale Computers and Accessories telephone#: 906-1067, 906-1068, and 754-5048.

Rottoguard: An Alarm With A Difference

Posted by Payton Wilmott On Tuesday, July 9, 2013 0 comments



Earlier this week I was greeted in office by a Mr. Donahue Martin to demonstrate a new car alarm system that's on the market called Rottoguard. This car alarm system integrates the user's cell phone in the alarm and alerting process.

How it works

The alarm system (Rottguard) uses a SIM card of your choosing (Digicel/LIME) that will be the source of communication.  The SIM card has to be functional and be able to send and receive text messages. Also the SIM has to have credit on it at all times to communicate back to the owner of the vehicle if something is wrong. In case of foul play the alarm calls and sends a text messages to the owner's phone saying an unauthorized personnel aka thief has open the car door, start the engine or even shake the car in anyway. After which the user has the ability to either shutdown the engine or request the location of the vehicle which can be viewed in Google maps on your phone. This is done by sending a text message with your personalized password attached to it to the alarm system. The request for vehicle location is given in coordinates that can only be viewed on a smart phone (Android, iPhone or Blackberry) or a PC.

Setup and Maintenance

The setup cost is $28,000 (includes setup and GCT) which is currently an introductory price. Plus you'll need credit on the alarm SIM card. We were assured that $100 to $200 credit would be more than adequate for the month. Rottguard is not allied with any armed response team so the responsibility is on the user to give the information to the proper authority when the time comes.

From A Consumer Perspective

After the demonstration I took to the streets to see what would be the crowd response to Rottguard.

Carl Carr (Computer Technician) "The alarm system sounds quite impressive and the fact that you can remotely disable the engine via a simple text message makes it a perfect solution to stop vehicle theft without any major confrontation. Also, this alarm system seems more proactive than current alarms against theft."

Crosby Boswell (Car Owner) "I love the idea and I will be the first one in line to purchase one next week. But my problem is that with King Alarm when your vehicle is stolen they will track it for you and retrieve it, but with this one you'll have to give the location to the police and hope that they humor you and retrieve it. I'm sorry, but most Jamaican police don't jump to the opportunity to do work."

Final Thoughts

Rottguard seems well thought out and seeing it in action is impressive. The product mentioned in this article was provided courtesy of Auto-Don Trading Company Ltd 19 Keesing Avenue, Kingston 10, Office#: 923-9566, Cell#: 382-9713.

GALAXY S4 Active: Just Live Your Life Without The Fear Of Damage.

Posted by Payton Wilmott On Monday, July 1, 2013 0 comments



The GALAXY S4 Active is the newest addition to the GALAXY series that brings the innovative features of the GALAXY S4 and added breakthrough protective design elements. Here are some of the the things that makes the GALAXY S4 Active ticks.


Maximizing Durability

Recognizing the demands of a dynamic lifestyle, the GALAXY S4 Active was engineered to keep active users connected as they explore and experience the world around them.
The GALAXY S4 Active has qualified protection from dust and water IP67 (IP stands for International Protection against ingress of solid foreign objects and harmful ingress of water. The highest level is IP68,), so you never have to leave the device at home during a long day at the beach or dusty hike. The fully sealed design keeps dust particles out and protects against water damage for up to 30 minutes of submergence at a depth of one meter. Equipped with a water-resistant earphone jack, the GALAXY S4 Active frees you to use earphones in more adventurous conditions, in the same way you’ve used them in normal ones. Whether capturing every moment of a wild rafting trip or taking a great underwater photo in the pool, the device’s unique construction lets users capture amazing moments previously impossible using a normal smart phone.

Explore Longer with Powerful Performance

An active lifestyle requires plenty of energy, and the GALAXY S4 Active offers a long-lasting and powerful user experience. Featuring a 1.9 GHZ Quad-Core processorand2,600mAh battery, the GALAXY S4 Active can handle the most intensive tasks with ease and precision. Striking color and stunning resolution on the device’s beautiful 5.0’’ Full HD TFT LCD screen (443 PPI) makes playing the newest games or watching hours of video easy on the eyes. And with ‘Glove Touch’, cold weather is no longer a problem since the touch-screen can be fully operated while wearing gloves. With an8-megapixel rear camera, users can easily share their vivid experiences while on the go. Unique to the GALAXY S4 Active camera, ‘Aqua Mode’ can be used to increase visual quality and clarity for enhanced underwater images and video. The volume key located on the side of the device can be used as a camera key, allowing users to easily and quickly open the camera application to capture photo and video the moment it happens. Additionally, the camera transforms into a powerful LED flash light to assist in low-light and night time activities with a simple long press of the volume key.

Richer & Fuller Life Experience

The GALAXY S4 Active is designed with a seamless interface that incorporates popular features of the GALAXY S4. ‘S Travel (Trip Advisor)’offers travel assistance, local information, and recommendations to provide a more seamless experience in an unfamiliar environment. ‘S Translator’ makes international travel easy by providing instant text or voice translation for emails and text messages. The camera interface is designed to make capturing and sharing meaningful moments intuitive and more engaging with multiple shooting modes including ‘Drama Shot,’ which allows users to see all the action in one continuous time-lapse, and ‘Sound & Shot,’ which uniquely stores sound and voice together with the image to capture the moment in an immersive visual/audio format. With ‘Story Album’, photos taken with the GALAXY S4 Active are collected and sorted according to a user’s timeline, geo-tagging information or a specific event to instantly create an organized photo album. To help facilitate sharing, users can also use the ‘Group Play’ function to enjoy music, photos, documents and games together and across various devices including GALAXY S4, GALAXY S4 mini, GALAXY Mega 6.3 and GALAXY Mega 5.8. ‘Samsung Smart Pause’ enables users to control of the screen using optical cues. While watching a video, the video pauses when you look away and starts right up again when returning to view, saving vital battery life and time spent rewinding. ‘Air View’ lets you preview the content of an email by simply hovering your fingers over the screen, which saves time and data. With ‘Air Gesture, you can change the music track, scroll up and down on a web page, or accept a call with a simple wave of the hand. Additionally, ‘S Health’ helps you keep track of your personal health statistics. When paired with the S Health Accessory, you can monitor your heart rate, weight, sleep pattern and other personal measurements to assist in a healthy lifestyle.

Enhanced Content and Services

The GALAXY S4 Active also offers competitive content and services to provide a seamless mobile experience anytime and anywhere. Using the ‘Samsung Hub,’ users can access music, videos, books, games and engaging educational content. With a beautiful magazine-style interface, users can browse a variety of content across services, as well as purchase and manage their content easily with a single Samsung Account. Users can also control their TV through Samsung WatchON’s IR remote, which transforms the GALAXY S4 Active into a remote control for TVs, set-top boxes, and DVD players. Through WatchON, the GALAXY S4 Active also offers a broad selection of entertainment content including live TV, cable TV and video on demand, facilitated by the rich digital context provided by Samsung’s EPG (Electronic Program Guide) system. ‘ChatON’, another unique feature, connects and facilitates group chats, media sharing and interacting in creative new ways using pictures, hand drawings or figures across mobile devices. The GALAXY S4 Active will be available for purchase beginning this summer, with initial retail in the U.S. and Sweden. It will be offered in three different color options: Urban Grey, Dive Blue and Orange Flare.