Has anyone heard of Project Ara yet? It seems interesting. It's a project leftover from Motorola (one of the portions that Google kept) which allows customers to modify their phone hardware.
Like Phone Blox but for real, right? Just because Google is behind it doesn't make it likely to succeed any time soon. In my opinion.
I don't know. Google has taken failed concepts in the past and made them succeed. Remember how Google Maps killed MapQuest for simply providing more accurate directions? Or better yet, making search engines not suck.
Like Phone Blox but for real, right? Just because Google is behind it doesn't make it likely to succeed any time soon. In my opinion.
Okay, out of curiosity, I thought I'd do some checking up on Phonebloks' status after I read this post again. It turns out the guy who created Phonebloks turned to Motorola to get Project Ara started.
From what I read, Motorola people were already working on their version when the Phone Blox guy did his promotion push. and that he's now working with them on the community side of things. So no, this isn't Phone Blox, but a parallel product.
As for Google replacing other tech, that's true, but your examples are things that already existed. Search, mail and maps (google's most popular products) were things already. Android was a new version of thing that already existed too.
VLC player for android is in beta, except for the US, where it isn't available. Anyone got a good video playing app for a nexus 4? I would use the Google play one, but it won't play videos I put on the phone.
VLC player for android is in beta, except for the US, where it isn't available. Anyone got a good video playing app for a nexus 4? I would use the Google play one, but it won't play videos I put on the phone.
Just transcode your video files with handbrake. Works perfectly.
These silly video format wars annoy the crap out of me.
What the hell video codecs are you people using that VLC won't play them? It plays everything! There is no reason to use anything besides H.264 unless you are making video. In that case, the only thing you should use is the raw codec your camera outputs, and then you render to H.264 in the end.
Scott, step back and look at the thread you clicked on.
Every modern smartphone plays H.264, and so does VLC on said phones. Again, WTF weird ass codec are you using and why?
That goes without mentioning that many (most?) smart phones actually have hardware H.264 decoders. That means you can get smoother and higher quality playback while using less battery.
While everything supports H.264, the container (MKV or MP4) matters a lot to different phones. What works on an iPhone, doesn't always play nice with Android and vice versa.
Well everything supports H.264, the container (MKV or MP4) matters a lot to different phones. What works on an iPhone, doesn't always play nice with Android and vice versa.
You might try to render something that exactly matches your screen's resolution, but that's not really necessary. You probably can't match in most cases without screwing up the aspect ration unless your phone is 16:9. Best bet is to just encode everything at 1080p MP4. Only the retina tablets have more pixels than that. Every non-shit mobile device will up or downscale it appropriately. MP4 will work on everything.
No weird ass MKV nonsense. Don't be one of those assholes who insists on using rar instead of zip just to make people's lives harder. That made sense for about a year when the extra megabyte saved by using rar made it easier for people with dial-up to download and hard disks were small. Nobody gives a shit anymore. Just use what works.
What's weird about MKV other than it doesn't come from an apple store?
There are some cases in which it does not play. MP4 always plays on everything that matters with default players. In what way is MKV meaningfully superior to MP4?
What's weird about MKV other than it doesn't come from an apple store?
There are some cases in which it does not play. MP4 always plays on everything that matters with default players. In what way is MKV meaningfully superior to MP4?
It has good support for subtitles, multiple audio (and video) tracks, and chapters. Basically it's great for anime, most of my collection is in MKVs.
What's weird about MKV other than it doesn't come from an apple store?
There are some cases in which it does not play. MP4 always plays on everything that matters with default players. In what way is MKV meaningfully superior to MP4?
It has good support for subtitles, multiple audio (and video) tracks, and chapters. Basically it's great for anime, most of my collection is in MKVs.
What's weird about MKV other than it doesn't come from an apple store?
There are some cases in which it does not play. MP4 always plays on everything that matters with default players. In what way is MKV meaningfully superior to MP4?
It has good support for subtitles, multiple audio (and video) tracks, and chapters. Basically it's great for anime, most of my collection is in MKVs.
MP4 also has those things.
Now.
Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that phones are still sensitive to these containers. If he has MKVs, a N4 won't play them. Even MP4s for an iPhone might not work, so handbrake has encoding defaults for Android and iPhone. This is probably also why they're working on VLC for Android.
What's weird about MKV other than it doesn't come from an apple store?
There are some cases in which it does not play. MP4 always plays on everything that matters with default players. In what way is MKV meaningfully superior to MP4?
It has good support for subtitles, multiple audio (and video) tracks, and chapters. Basically it's great for anime, most of my collection is in MKVs.
MP4 also has those things.
Now.
Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that phones are still sensitive to these containers. If he has MKVs, a N4 won't play them. Even MP4s for an iPhone might not work, so handbrake has encoding defaults for Android and iPhone. This is probably also why they're working on VLC for Android.
The differences in Handbrake are only because the different devices have different resolutions. They're assuming your going to Handbrake everything specifically for the resolution of your phone. That's a huge pain in the ass since you have to transcode for every device you own. Just make MP4 1080p. One encode plays on every device every time.
I've been heavily investigating a new phone lately and I think I'm zeroing in on the new HTC One M8 Google Play Edition. 5.1" 1080P display, excellent brightness, loud speakers, and great battery life. I've been thinking hard on the size on the phone, and I think the almost tablet size of the new phones might suit my use cases slightly better than a small phone.
I've been heavily investigating a new phone lately and I think I'm zeroing in on the new HTC One M8 Google Play Edition. 5.1" 1080P display, excellent brightness, loud speakers, and great battery life. I've been thinking hard on the size on the phone, and I think the almost tablet size of the new phones might suit my use cases slightly better than a small phone.
I have the M7, I seem to be one of the few people that can manage the battery without recharge for over a day (unless I watch Youtube for a few hours). Speakers are indeed great, design and build quality is amongst the best.
Turn off beats if you are using good headphones or canal phones.
I'm not sure with the M8 but the main detriment of the Google Play edition was that it didn't optimise the camera as much as the original HTC Sense, the photos are great for social media and are better than Samsung and iPhone photos from comparisons with my family and friend's phones even though its low on resolution. The second camera for depth is interesting.
Comments
Google will be discussing it further in April.
It's implementation internationally and what actual parts are interchangeable, plus the design of the phone is what I will be interested about.
It's more innovated than a fingerprint reader.
So yes, this IS Phonebloks.
As for Google replacing other tech, that's true, but your examples are things that already existed. Search, mail and maps (google's most popular products) were things already. Android was a new version of thing that already existed too.
A modular phone? That's not already a thing.
These silly video format wars annoy the crap out of me.
That goes without mentioning that many (most?) smart phones actually have hardware H.264 decoders. That means you can get smoother and higher quality playback while using less battery.
No weird ass MKV nonsense. Don't be one of those assholes who insists on using rar instead of zip just to make people's lives harder. That made sense for about a year when the extra megabyte saved by using rar made it easier for people with dial-up to download and hard disks were small. Nobody gives a shit anymore. Just use what works.
Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that phones are still sensitive to these containers. If he has MKVs, a N4 won't play them. Even MP4s for an iPhone might not work, so handbrake has encoding defaults for Android and iPhone. This is probably also why they're working on VLC for Android.
Aint noone got time for anything else.
Speakers are indeed great, design and build quality is amongst the best.
Turn off beats if you are using good headphones or canal phones.
I'm not sure with the M8 but the main detriment of the Google Play edition was that it didn't optimise the camera as much as the original HTC Sense, the photos are great for social media and are better than Samsung and iPhone photos from comparisons with my family and friend's phones even though its low on resolution. The second camera for depth is interesting.
EDIT: Samsung Siri