Tag Archives: Android

Who has the lion’s share?

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touch screenWho has the lion’s share?

In this post I thought we could have a look at who has the lion’s share of the Operating system market. That’s not such an easy question anymore, as the idea of sitting at a desk and performing all your duties has changed drastically over the last few years.

 

The operating systems we use daily are now spread over the following device types:

  • Desktop Computers and laptops
  • Tablet computers
  • Smart Phones
  • Server machines

Gone are the days of the Microsoft Windows revolution, the massive change in how we used computers that made us all want one, and then get really frustrated with it as the technology kept changing. In the pursuit of progress, the Operating system was continually transformed into something else just as soon as we were just getting to grips with it. Our parent company, IT Turning Point, exists primarily to educate and inform. This keeps everyone using their systems and software correctly, and ensure they always work to their benefit.

Let’s look at the Desktop

 

Desktop operating system browsing statistics on Net Applications
Windows 7

47.53%
Windows XP

28.53%
Windows 8

10.68%
OS X

7.68%
Windows Vista

2.10%
Linux

1.48%
Desktop OS Market Share as of February 2014 according to Net Applications

 

Microsoft still has a massive share in the desktop market, primarily because of their prevalence in the business world and enterprise companies. They have the history of targeting this market successfully, and that past success really what made them who they are today. It is interesting to note the various incarnations of the Windows operating system still dominating the desktop marketplace.

When it comes to mobile, things are different indeed

Microsoft did not see the mobile market as their main thrust, and as such they left their entry into the arena a bit late. By the time they made their move, Apple had introduced us to the touch screen smart phone, and the mobile landscape had changed. Google entered the market with Android, its operating system for mobile devices, and the landscape changed once more. Let’s look at the picture for mobile devices as things stand:

Worldwide smartphone sales to end users by operating system in 2013
Android

79.0%
iOS

14.2%
Windows Phone

3.3%
BlackBerry

2.7%
Other

0.9%
Mobile OS Market Share as of 2nd quarter 2013 Gartner

Mobile operating system browsing statistics on Net Applications
iOS

52.96%
Android

36.14%
Java ME

4.44%
Symbian

3.50%
BlackBerry

1.42%
Kindle

0.93%
Windows Phone

0.45%
Other

0.16%
Mobile OS Market Share as of February 2014 Net Applications[1]

 

As you can see, the companies in the mobile arena are very different from those on the desktop, and it’s still evolving – these mobile devices also include tablet computers as well.

Android have swept the floor with their OS, a large amount of key hardware manufacturers signing up and skinning the core Android to make it their own. Layers such as HTC’s Sense and Samsung’s Touchwiz enable these devices to stand apart despite the same underlying core. Google have kept their hand in with Android devices running an unskinned version of Android – these devices are all part of Google’s Nexus range. See our recent posts for articles on these devices.

The current statistics vary drastically, but it is now being suggested that around 72% of Internet traffic is coming from mobile devices. A very interesting statistic, and again as we mentioned at the beginning, this changes the way we do computing in a big way.

The second table above shows the Operating systems we are browsing with in the mobile market, as you can see Windows is at the bottom and Microsoft are now desperately playing catch-up.

Conclusion

Microsoft have still got a lot to offer, and they still have the main desktop market sewn up for now. They have moved late for the mobile market however, and the writer has to wonder whether they will continue in this arena or pull back and concentrate on what they do best. Considering that we are moving more towards mobile working, and more tablet computers are being bought every day, that may not be a move they can afford if they wish to maintain their own future growth.

 

What OS do you use and what devices do you have? Let us know your thoughts.

Do I use Protection?

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passwords

Password protection of course.

In this post, we are looking at passwords – and what people do or don’t do with them. It was inspired by a recent report online about the most common passwords of 2013. It scares me when I see what is being used. Strong passwords are one of those things we know we need, and should be using, but tend to put little to no effort into. Then we tend to be the first to shout ‘my details were taken’ when things go wrong.

So what are the rules then? Different camps will give you different instructions, and some will claim a password is strong when in fact it isn’t.

Let’s look at the most common methods:

  1. Use Different passwords everywhere.
    Why should we have to do this when it is so easy to use our pets name at every password prompt? Well it’s simple really. If someone guesses your pets name, and believe me they will, then they have access to every site you use. A study by an online company, called BitDefender, showed that 75% of people will use the same password for their email and Facebook. If that is then also your PayPal password, and it’s discovered, say goodbye to some funds and your friends.
  2. Remember the Underwear Meme
    Seemingly the saying goes like this: Passwords are like underwear. You should change them often, maybe not every day of course. Don’t share them. Don’t leave them out for others to see. (No Post Its). They should also be mysterious and a secret to others. So make them something that they can’t guess.
  3. Avoid Common Passwords
    If the word can be found in a dictionary, it is not a strong password. If you use numbers and letter as they appear on the keyboard, it’s not a strong password. Relatives names and pets names, NO. Even if you follow them with a number. Birthdays and anniversaries are just as bad sadly. Hackers will try all these things first. They actually run programs to check all these kinds of passwords, and for the love of all that’s techie, if you use “password” as your password, please just sign off the Internet right now. SplashData has been listing the 25 worst passwords for some years now, and “password” has always topped the list as the most common password. This year it was deposed by the long-time second worst password: “123456.” No, really!

So what are you tips I hear you cry!

Don’t cry, here is some advice.

Strong Password Solutions

How to Build Strength

To create a strong password, it is suggested you should use a string of text that mixes numbers, letters that are both lowercase and uppercase, and special characters. It should be eight characters, but preferably many more. A lot more. The characters should be random, and not include words, flow alphabetically, or be from your keyboard layout.

So how do you make such a password?

1) Spell a word backwards. (Example: Turn “New York” into “kroywen.”)

2) Use l33t speak: Substitute numbers for certain letters. (Example: Turn “kroywen” into “kr0yw3n.”)

3) Randomly throw in some capital letters. (Example: Turn “kr0yw3n” into “Kr0yw3n.”)

4) Don’t forget the special character. (Example: Turn “Kr0yw3n” into “Kr0yw3^.”)

You don’t have to go for the obvious and use “0” for “o,” or “@” for “a,” or “3” for “e,” either. As long as your replacement makes sense to you, that’s all that matters. A “^” for an “n” makes sense to me.

The suggested best form today seems to be creating a sentence and type it in, including spaces. It takes algorithms much longer to crack something like that than it does just for straight words – even if you have changed the letters for symbols and numbers. (Example: “I love yellow trousers”). This believe it or not is quite secure, and has the added advantage of being easier to remember. Of course, I could also swap numbers for letters and include symbols as well.

Well I hope you got the point and the Protection is definitely needed.

To finish, here is last year’s list of the 25 most commonly used passwords. I expect to hear the cries of despair as you recognise yours. It also shows their change in rank from the year before, and includes some newcomers for this year as well.

1. 123456 (Up 1)

2. password (Down 1)

3. 12345678 (Unchanged)

4. qwerty (Up 1)

5. abc123 (Down 1)

6. 123456789 (New)

7. 111111 ( Up 2)

8. 1234567 (Up 5)

9. iloveyou (Up 2)

10. adobe123 (New)

11. 123123 (Up 5)

12. admin (New)

13. 1234567890 (New)

14. letmein (Down 7)

15. photoshop (New)

16. 1234 (New)

17. monkey (Down 11)

18. shadow (Unchanged)

19. sunshine (Down 5)

20. 12345 (New)

21. password1 (up 4)

22. princess (New)

23. azerty (New)

24. trustno1 (Down12)

25. 000000 (New)

Let us know what you think, and how you cope with remembering all the various passwords you use.

Sniffing Around CES2014 in Vegas!

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CES2014

Consummer Electricla Show 2014 in Vegas

I have always wanted to put that as a title. However sadly we are not at CES 2014 in Vegas but we are sniffing around some of the reports that are appearing online to see what is being displayed and demoed this year.

The news if heavy with all sorts of reports from all our favourite electrical companies, Samsung stealing a lot of the press with their Ativ Book 9 2014 edition and of course their curved televisions 50-inch OLED.

LG have released their curved phones, which use OLED technology. They have also been showing off their Fireweb Firefox driven phone and not to be left out of course have launched and showed of their 4K curved OLED TV, 77-inch in size with a picture that is stunning.

Sony is producing facts and figures about sales of the new PS4 against the Xbox One and it looks like Sony is in the lead now and if the figures are to be believed, well in front.

Other news, is that Android devices are to top 1 billion in 2014, so not much slow down there.

One of the most interesting facts is that there are more wearable devices than ever before and a lot of talk about Intel moving in this direction. This is firing up rumours that Intel might be giving up on its mobile ambitions to pursue the wearable market. Time will tell.

Lenovo are still prominent this year with their Lenovo Thinkpad 8, they claim this newest offering,  “will put a full PC in the palm of your hands.”

Other memorable news feeds are talking about the progress of self-driving vehicles, again this technology is developing fast and the computers are now able to handle more data than ever before, so watch out for the self-driving vehicle coming your way soon, no pun intended.

I will leave you with this link to a 3D food printer that has appeared at CES this year, it prints chocolate and candy….now there’s a printer for the office……

3D Food Printer

Yes, CES 2014 has once again not let any of us GEEKS down. There are developments from the hardware manufacturers like Tegra and snapdragon showing off where things are going next right down to new travel experiences and viewing delights.

Check out some of the feeds online and start to get excited about what is happening in the world of tech.

What would you like to see come sooner rather than later, let us know?

Ian Thomson
IT Turning Point

More Nexus-5 News!

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Nexus-5We haven’t managed to get our hands on a new Nexus 5 here at IT Tech Point yet so we are always interested in what others are saying and are constantly reading reviews.

We thought we would just give you a quick link to a review by the Guardian Newspaper so you can wet your lips on what they are saying about it. They did give it 5 out of 5 at the end.

We hope to have our hands on one soon, unless our friends at Google want to send one for us to test drive like we did with the nexus tablets before we bought the new one.

Anyhow, here is the link to the article, feast your eyes and your brains and let us know what you think.

http://goo.gl/f87oFh

Regards, IT Tech Point

Why the Nexus range, and do phone users even care?

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nexus 7 2013

New Nexus 7 2013

I am, as you probably know by this time, into all things tech (with some exceptions) and have been over the last few years been into the smart phone market. Now, when I rummage around and find one of my old Nokia phones, I really wonder how I managed to survive with it. The smart phone market has revolutionised our opinion of what a phone should do, and in fact the phone element of any device seems the part least spoken about.

I have tried a number of smart phones over the years, and have drawn my own conclusions as to which ones are doing what I need then to do, while potentially taking the whole smart phone market further. I am always looking at what we have now, and what we could have in a very short period of time.  Apple, as everyone now knows, got this whole snowball rolling and changed the perception of the mobile phone market. Then they launched the first successful tablet computer, not the first though, as Microsoft had tried the idea years earlier – but the market place was not ready for them back in the late 90’s, and they did not take off.

The Battle was on!

After the launch of the first iPhone, the battle for control of the smart phone market was now on.  Apple had stolen the early lead with the touch screen phone and tablet market, wrestling market share from Nokia and it’s aging Symbian system. Other phone manufacturers could only try and catch up, some with more success than others.

Today, Nokia mobile are no more – the technology now owned by Microsoft who are using it to drive the Windows platform forward. Motorola Mobile are now owned by Google, a purchase that solidified the patent armoury most corporations have these days. Blackberry did not react fast enough, at time of writing they company is currently facing being sold off to various bidders (including names like Lenovo) in various packages.

The challengers

After their initial domination of the market, Apple began to face a challenge; Google acquired a company called Android, Inc (who unsurprisingly produced the Android operating system) and then got various manufacturers to buy into using Android for smart phone device and tablets – with these manufacturers they formed the Open Handset Alliance in order to further Android sortware and corresponding hardware. It had suddenly stopped being a one horse race, and Apple now had serious competition for their smart phones and tablets.

Through development of Android, Google has continued to push the boundaries of what can be done, and more and more manufacturers have joined the OHA. Apple has stuck to their tactics of premium prices and quality build, backed by a locked down operating system that is partially customisable.  The story again, at time of writing, is that there are more Android devices switched on per day than Apple and all other phone operating systems combined.

In an attempt to aim for a premium phone experience, Google have created a range of devices branded Nexus. Hand chosen manufacturers have been asked to build these, and Google work closely with them on the software and hardware designs. The final products run a vanilla build of Android, and are pushed updates instantly as they are released.

This was partially in response to the problem Google encountered with other Android device manufacturers (such as HTC , Samsung etc.) would take the raw Android operating system, and then skin it with their own logos and interfaces in order to brand it as their device. While this allowed these manufacturers to make their phones unique from their competitors, it did mean the end user was at the mercy of the OEM for their Android updates, and many handsets are still several versions of Android behind, despite being less than a year old.

The Nexus Range

The latest incarnations of the Nexus range are the Nexus 5 phone (launched November 2013), and the Nexus 7 tablet (launched July 2013). There is also the Nexus 10 tablet (launched November 2012), but a new one is due to be launched imminently.

The benefits of a Nexus tablet or phone are the instant Android updates, and the fact that it all works with the hardware flawlessly. The devices all synchronise via the cloud, so data transfers seamlessly between them to allow mobile working at its best.

We test drove the Nexus 7 2012 version, and the Nexus 7 2013 version on this very blog – check them out and see what our thoughts and findings were.

So what do the public think?

Does any of this behind the scenes work affect what the public think about their next phone? I think for the majority it probably doesn’t, and it’s the next clever advert that may sell them their next phone. But for anyone who is, dare I say it, slightly geeky and interested in where their phone has come from – and, perhaps even more importantly, interested in where their phone might be going,  this info might just sway their opinion.

What is your take on mobile development and where it might be going?

Thanks to Graham Thomson for his input into this article.

Test Drive of the New Nexus 7 part 3

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nexus 7 2013

New Nexus 7 2013

Hi guys, here is the final instalment of my Test Drive of the New Nexus 7.

I would like to tell you about the moment when it would not boot up or the other occasion when the battery just didn’t last for any length of time. Sorry, I missed the time when the screen display was not what I expected at all. But, unfortunately none of these things have happened and the unit has performed above and beyond the call of duty….

I charged my battery on Wednesday night for usage throughout Thursday and beyond. I did not need to charge it again until Saturday night when it asked me to plug in the charger. I am more than pleased with the battery life and the loadings that it is handling. I have used it extensively and I even decided to run a small game program called Epic Citadel which can benchmark how the graphics are being handled by running it thought the Unreal  game engine at HD with all the lighting and shading crunching away….it came in as a premium device in rating and ran comfortably at 56 Fps.

I have ran Google hangouts on it with video function and found the clarity of picture and sound to be brilliant and only limited by the person’s kit at the other end. My browsing, emails and Social Media updates have been no problem to this device and in my leisure time have read a few chapters of a book I am ploughing my way through.

It fits neat into the inside pocket of a number of my jackets and allows my hands to be free to carry other items.

So let’s summarise the whole experience: –

  • Light weight and fits into hand and pockets well
  • Fast and powerful handling all my daily needs
  • Screen resolution smashes all expectations
  • Sound is very clear on video calls and music
  • Updates and restores your account effortlessly
  • Battery life is the best I have yet experienced from all my phones and tablets I have used ion the past.
  • Updates software and keeps you up to date on fixes etc.

Yes, I can only recommend the whole experience and I have certainly not come up against any of the problems that may have been reported online about the New Nexus 7 so far.

What tablet are you driving just now and how do you feel about it and how it operates?

Watch this space for more tech test drives and the future of mobile screens on our devices.

Test Drive of the New Nexus 7 part 2

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New Nexus 7Here is part two my friends; I left you with the notion of the specs for the unit and the charging so far. I did indeed charge it over Sunday night and it was ready for the week ahead. I am writing this on the Wednesday and the battery is still at 28%. I used it considerably yesterday out at meetings etc. and it worked as expected without fault.

The Internet is fast and it connects to all the wireless networks I have used before without me setting anything up again, brilliant.

It did update as soon as I removed it from the box by the way and today it has updated again. I did research online and this was to fix some faults that were reported very quickly after launch. Again one of the benefits of the Nexus range, instant updates when faults are remedied.

I am running two mail clients and am receiving 3 email accounts to the Nexus and it is handling it all in its stride so far. Chrome is working perfectly and remembering all my tabs and information.

Point to note, the screen resolution is definitely sharper and clearer. Viewing photos and documents on it is excellent and very, very sharp.  All due to this tablet now being the highest resolution 7” tablet on the market.

Screen          7.02” 1920×1200 HD display (323 ppi), 1080p HD IPS, Scratch resistant Corning® Glass

322ppi which rips the old spec apart. Even this higher screen resolution does not affect the battery life.

Yes all in all so far so good. Will be attending a number of meetings as the week progresses and will be using more features of the unit. Will report on these as I go. As a side note the case seems to be performing rather well so quite happy at this purchase. Not expensive at all.

Watch this space for more reports on how the unit copes with the big bad world.

Nexus 7 Test Drive Part 3

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battery life
Here is the final part of the test drive.
Day 5
 
Went to use the Nexus this morning and I had put it on charge overnight so it should be full again. Unplugged it and switched it on and everything OK. Used it for a few hours on and off, in between laptop usage etc. Then glanced at the battery symbol to see it was very low. Brought down the info and it indeed was at 31%. I then thought through all I had done and thought there must have be a battery issue. Sorry it wasn’t the Nexus fault it was mine. I realised I had indeed plugged it in overnight, but had not pushed the connector in until it clicked into the Nexus. So it had not been on charge at all. DOH!
Anyhow back to the unit and all its uses. Today I played with it and pushed it to switch between Apps and Surf the net and my usual Facebook and social media feeds for checking. I read and answered emails on it and did it falter? No, it just kept producing the same high level of performance.
I intend tomorrow to take a screen shot of the battery in the evening after the unit has been used during the day, just to prove to you that it does live up to the praise I am heaping upon it.
I have also asked two contacts of mine, one who is an IT Guru and super GEEK and another who is a discerning architect. Both have the Nexus 7 and I simply asked what are your thoughts. They both heaped praise on it. One stating that he uses it more than his laptop now. The other said very fast Internet surfing. No complaints, even his kids use it and think it its brilliant. So it’s not just me that is experiencing this performance.
 
I will report tomorrow and sum up my overall opinion of the Nexus 7.
I bet you can’t wait.
 
Day 6
 
Used tablet most of the day today. External locations connecting to networks easily and fast. Tried screen tester programme to see graphics and speed. All I can say is it doesn’t phase this unit at all.
I will miss this tablet when giving it back and can easily see myself getting one of my own.
Just to round things up and to prove the battery usage I have attached a photo screenshot of the battery at the end of day 5.
 
To summarise
 
This has been a great test drive and I can only recommend all aspects of the Nexus 7. It has not let me down no matter what I have thrown at it. Even moving from a 10 inch to a 7 inch has not phased me due to the excellent resolution.
The cost of this unit is also excellent and the apps available through the play store are just amazing.
How would I rate it? 9 out of 10. I had to drop one point just to seem fair.
Hope you found this useful, let me know your thoughts.

Nexus 7 Test Drive Part 2

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Google nexus 7

Here is the much anticipated part two of my journey with the Nexus 7 tablet test drive.

Day 3

Not using it today as fixed to my desk, however went down to switch it on and take a photo and it would not switch on. Did some Googling and found that this happens and holding the power button is the only way to get it to come on. So held the power button in for 30 to 40 secs and she came to life. Put her on charge just in case.
Will check later today. That’s not a good feature though, is there a problem here with the Nexus 7, the only one I have found so far, but could be major.
Have been using the Nexus since around 5pm and no problems to report. 10pm at night and battery is still 73%. This is exceptional. Read a few chapters of a book today using it at lunchtime and it was very easy to read and battery not really affected.
Overall day 3 and still very impressed. More positives than negatives. Exceptional for the money they are asking for this unit, £159 for 16Gb at time of going to print. And fast and very responsive. I think one of the main things that impresses me is the responsiveness of the screen to touch. The latest jelly bean keyboard using a form of swipe is amazing. Using it to type this. Well see you again on day 4.

Day 4

Sorry guys it’s been a quieter day today. All has gone well. I am to be honest finding it difficult to find negatives with this unit. One maybe the lack of camera on the rear of the unit. It might be handy having one. However, it is not something I am missing, so this might be a personal choice.
Other than that I can’t find any other negatives. Battery has been Perfect all day and I have used it a lot this evening to check Facebook and the Internet about various topics. At end of day Battery was still showing 28%. I am putting it on charge anyway as I intend to use it a lot tomorrow. I can’t seem to phase this unit. It handles all my important apps, such as email, two separate email clients and 3 accounts. Internet browsing using Chrome. Social media packages such as Facebook, Hootsuite and LinkedIn.

No, there has so far only been the one occasion when it did not start and had to have the power button held in. Other than that it has been exceptional. The weight is right, the size is right and the speed and responsiveness is perfect. Most of all the battery life is the best I have experienced on a tablet computer.

Well, I will see you on Day 5 and 6, we will see how things go.

You can also get a 32Gb version of the unit for £199 at time of going to press.

See you again soon.

 

Nexus 7 Test Drive Part 1

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Google nexus 7

Yes I know I am late in this as everyone and their mother seems to have done a review already on the nexus 7. But there is nothing like actually test driving something for yourself to be able to give a honest review and tell your followers all the good things and bad things.

So here I go, I have been given a Nexus 7 to test drive for a few weeks and see if I can adapt from using a 10 inch screen down to a 7 inch. To be honest I thought this would be a major problem and one of my first points to raise in a review, however here is what I am finding so far. You decide: –

Day 1

1. Smaller size. (Positive) (198.5 x 120 x 10.45 mm)
2. Good resolution (Positive) (7” 1280×800 (216ppi))
3. Fast (Positive) (NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core processor)
4. Stable (Positive) (Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean))
5. Easy to use (Positive)
6. Easy to handle (Positive)
7. Lighter to carry around (Positive)  (340g (WiFi Only))
8. Need a case that stands by itself as opposed to flexible case. (Negative)
9. Smaller screen size not an issue as I thought it would be (Positive)
10. Battery life so far very good, day one (Positive) (4,325 mAh battery)
11. Connection very fast to networks and internet. (Positive) (Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n)

9.30pm day one and battery is still 65%. Have used it a reasonable amount so very good battery usage. Liking it a lot. The screen size does not seem to be an issue and I have adapted very easily to the 7 inch factor. The resolution is amazing of course and this certainly helps.(7” 1280×800 (216ppi))
Struggling to find real negatives with this.

Day 2

Used it on and off today. Battery still 75% at 8pm at night.
Connected to a number of different networks and all went well. Still no problems with anything. Read material on it today and screen was OK with reading in a number of different lighting conditions. The real benefit was it fitted into my inside pocket of my jacket, my 10 inch can’t do this I am afraid.
Negatives today, none to report so far.
Did not charge overnight will see tomorrow how battery is and how long it lasts.
56% when I shut it down at 11.45pm

Will report as the test drive progresses and see what else I find, so far no real negatives to report, but I am sure there must be some. I suppose it would be good to try a Wi-Fi and data package Nexus, maybe next time.

Watch this space and see how this develops.

Which tablet device do you have and why have you chosen it? What rings your bells when you think of such a device?

Ian Thomson

Founder/Senior Trainer/Consultant

IT Turning Point