Samsung isn't Great

I was all excited about the Samsung infrastructure, but I see some big cracks. I've got the Galaxy NoteII and the Galaxy Note 10.1. My wife also has the Galaxy NoteII. Don't get me wrong, Samsung builds great hardware.

Samsung software is not so great! They go a real strong 90% of what someone needs. I think as long as you stay in the Samsung family, things get along. Once outside, well, that is when the trouble starts. I've never signed up for any of the Samsung services, since I was already signed up for the Google services that meet my needs.

Things like Peel, gosh what a great little app for knowing what is happening on the TV networks. Easy to program and easy to get all setup. They sent out an update (I didn't think it needed it, but I took the update, and then the IR didn't work so well on one TV. I reset up that TV, and then it worked again, but why did the update break things???

The other feature of the Notes, are the pens. Wow, how cool is that. There have been no updates to the SNote software since I got the units, and the software is almost there. The text recognition is wonderful, no training, and it was recognizing my chicken scratches almost perfect. My problem is with the text boxes. Why can't the text boxes be more automatic. They come up small, and aren't easy to resize, and don't always put spaces between words. That makes the software, close to unusable.

I use the SNotes to take written notes, and don't bother to convert to text. That removes the search capability. I say I'll get to converting the written text to either a blog post or a wiki entry for my work documents. But that will add work, and may not help long term.

I feel Samsung pollutes the systems with crapware too. The AllShareCast dongle app is probably really useful if you have an AllShareCast dongle, but I don't. Why can't they make that an optional app instead of requiring it on all devices. ChatOn, SamsungLink and SamsungPushService all seem benign, but I need to keep those things up to date, in case there are exploits in the current version. (If you want a laugh, look in the playstore for reviews of SamsungLink). Why don't they make their services compelling, rather than same or worse than what I have today.

So now Samsung releases Gear. What a bad joke! It only works with the newest Samsung devices (for now??). The NoteIII and the newest Note 10.1. Dang you mean I need to update all my hardware to use a watch that might work for a day? I don't think so. This silly watch can't be very useful, since it has a tiny screen, and can't really talk to the outside world without a tablet or phone. Battery life of 25hours, well, hmmm... I better not spend the night at a friends house unless I brought a charger. And why not a wireless charger?

Now Samsung wants to start a whole new infrastructure. They want people to look at Tizen as a replacement for Android. Cool! their apps are so good, why not have me looking at devices based on Tizen, they will be better than...a sharp stick in the eye, I guess. (where is that sarcasm tag??)

No, I think my next device will NOT be Samsung. They don't have to do much to fix things in the next year, they only need to make what they have usable. Going for the next big thing is great, if they did it great. They haven't done anything great so far, and I don't seem 'em going that way. They will continue to do things that look like they could do things great, and will continue to disappoint. Unless they actually do great things, they will start being another mediocre phone company.

Samsung will need to support current devices, and make improvements. The Note line is clearly different than any other phone/tablet available, and they can build on that by fixing the software! Samsung has a reputation of crapifying phones, and if they quit doing that going forward that would help their reputation. By removing the crap, they may have an incentive to make their apps compelling, and people will want them, and actually install them. Today, all the owners of Samsung devices are forced to have the crap preloaded, and all we want to do is remove it!

It is up to you Samsung!

Android Christmas

For Christmas, my older son wanted a phone. Without any influence, other than he couldn't have a Galazy Note or an S3, he wanted a Motorola Backflip, or any Galaxy phone. (I think he knew that I wouldn't buy him anything from Apple). We weren't going to pay for an unlimited plan, so I thought it reasonable to get an unlocked phone, and a pay as you go plan. Our older son and daughter went halfs on an unlocked Motorola Backflip. At first I thought this a great idea, but the backflip is so attached to ATT, that we can't load too many useful third party apps on it. I let him use my myTouch 4g until I can get this worked out a little more.

My other son got a JXD S5110 android gaming device. If you have never seen one of these, they are pretty cool. It looks just like an older PSP, with all the same buttons, but without the CD drive in the back. There is a circular Android logo on the back, that makes it look like a PSP. It has a large screen and a ton of software loaded on it (emulators mostly, Mame, N64, GB, etc). It has Ice Cream Sandwich, but you have to load the play store on it.

99% of everything I've loaded on it works. He plays temple run, cut the rope, and NinJump mostly. It has a multitouch resistive screen, and works amazingly well. You have to push, but overall, it impressive how well it works. One thing that doesn't work is Youtube. I can't tell you why.

The JXD X5110 is fragile. He dropped it the first day, and broke the WiFi switch. Why it has a physical switch, I can't tell you, since it is also software controlled. The back comes off of the device easily, so I soldered across the WiFi switch, so we don't have to deal with that. Over the next week, he has dropped it a couple more times, and knocked the power switch loose, and both of the top buttons. The power switch is about the size of a grain of rice, and the left/right buttons are larger push buttons. I was able to re-solder them on. I am guessing they probably flow soldered them with solder paste (RoHS and all). I used plain old 60/40 lead solder and a 15 watt iron. Nothing to it, maybe like 20 minutes total time (it took a little time to find the power button, since it is about the same size as the screws).

I don't know if I mentioned it, but my wife and I both got Galaxy Note 2's a couple weeks before Christmas. That was a good choice, I really like the device, and with the big screen, it makes everything else seem tiny. I haven't done any programming for it yet, but I want to try, especially for the side by side two apps at a time work. I've got podkicker on that, and been listening to the GoogleIO podcasts from last summer. I mostly listen to +All About Android and +Android Central podcasts for insite into future and device considerations. 

I've done a little work to get a development environment setup for the STM Discovery F3 boards I have. I tried really hard to build GNU toolchain from scratch, but eventually gave up and got the Code Sourcery from Mentor Graphics. It is all setup, but havn't built anything to install yet. I am tempted to use the Discovery boards for the processor for the engine monitor, instead of the Arduino. It'd just be nice to move on from 8bitters finally.

I also was working on pinewood derby, and plastic models, and all. Not much time for watching TV, but I want to play with the SDR again. I've kind of let all that go since last summer.

keep in touch. 

I am getting excited

Earlier in the week my chips showed. They came from California, not from up the street. Wow, they are tiny, but that is ok. I've decided this is going to be a prototype, and if things are working, I'll do a board layout, and have a short run of boards made. Maybe do a kit, if anyone wants one. This being a holiday weekend (Thanksgiving), I didn't do anything but think about things.

I did go look a new phones. I am really excited about the Galaxy Note II. Close to a tablet, but then it is still a phone. It does fit in my pocket, and the stylus seems really useful. I played with one at the mall on Friday, and I really liked it. More to learn, but overall the same Android that I know and love. More to see and a smooth briht screen.

Speaking of Android vs. Apple again, one of the other Cozy builders talked with one of the autopilot manufacturers who said, Apple doesn't want liability for any control software, so Apple won't let anyone add an autopilot app to the iTunes store. My comment was, the Android eco-system is just getting ramped up, with multiple sizes and configurations. Unless Apple has something significantly better than Siri, they are always going to be playing catch-up to Android.

Discovery Board - Autopilot

Hack-a-day again cam through. They had links to the STM discovery F3 board Linux tool chain. Not for building Linux on the board, but for building apps for the board in Linux. The board has been sitting in my bedroom on my night stand for the last month. I was excited about getting it, but no time. Hopefully some time will be available real soon now, especially with the availability of OpenOCD for the F3 ready to go.

The DIY Drones guys had a Black Friday sale. I was looking and thinking, they have whole FMC (flight management computer) for about $150 on sale. I certainly can't build one for that much, including software, given my time.

My Christmas wish...more time, and closer to my airplane.

happy holidays

tom