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Featured On:
http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/another-sleek-windows-phone-7-prototype
http://www.1800pocketpc.com/2010/08/12/windows-phone-7-by-paperclips-fan-made-concept.html
http://www.techit.in/windows-phone-7-chrome-edition-concept/
Windows Phone 7 is shaping up to be my future platform for development but that doesn't mean I think it's perfect. Many people believe that METRO UI is too flat and while I disagree, it would be nice to have some more variety out there. With this concept, I shaped a more Chrome version of METRO UI featuring gradients, shadows, etc. This is a concept only as I have not contacted, nor heard from any manufacturers. If I decide to contact anyone, most likely ASUS, LG, or Toshiba, I will let everyone know. Name for this concept is Chrome HD for its HD resolution, camera, and HDMI output. Black version update coming later today.
Chrome HD by PAP3RCLIPS, on Flickr
Black Version (30 Second alteration.)
Black WP7 by PAP3RCLIPS, on Flickr
FAQ:
Q: What is the frame made out of?
A: Most of the phone would be made out of brushed metal.
Q: What is that blue shining light?
A: That is a notification light.
Q: What is that metal strap on the back of the phone?
A: A Kickstand
Q: What is the black hole on the back of the device?
A: Another microphone for noise cancellation.
Q: What are the holes on the bottom of the device?
A: HDMI and mini USB.
Q: What is the button near the bottom on the right side of the device?
A: That is a camera button.
Q: What was your inspiration for this concept?
A: A combination of the new Asus Windows Phone, the Nexus One, Zune HD, and the iPhone 4. Camera is based on some found in the Nokia N series.
Q: Are those physical and capacitive buttons?
A: No, the glyphs are there for indications of what each button above it does. Styling was based off of Zune HD and Xperia X10's buttons.
Q: What's with the unnecessarily high resolution?
A: It's pretty much just to match the iPhone Retina display. I was under the impression that you could go beyond the minimum hardware requirements with anything.
Q: Where is the power button?
A: On the left side above the volume buttons.
Thanks for this!
It looks really nice
Done quite well.
I like that your changes are more subtle than the other design we have seen here.
Somptuous!
Finally someone who understand WP7 philosophy!
Excellent work paperclips, your device is really somptuous.
This looks like an iPhone-esque clone with WP7 on it to me... meh.
paperclips said:
Kind of got inspired with the Sense 3 render to do my own. This is actually my first try at a phone render since I'm mostly just a designer for web and advertisements but I think it came out pretty decent. This is not only a hardware concept, but a WP7 OS redesign. Check out the "would be" specs under the original concept.
Windows Phone by PAP3RCLIPS, on Flickr
Black Version (30 Second alteration.)
Black WP7 by PAP3RCLIPS, on Flickr
FAQ:
Q: What is the frame made out of?
A: Most of the phone would be made out of brushed metal.
Q: What is that blue shining light?
A: That is a notification light.
Q: What is that metal strap on the back of the phone?
A: A Kickstand
Q: What is the black hole on the back of the device?
A: Another microphone for noise cancellation.
Q: What are the holes on the bottom of the device?
A: HDMI and mini USB.
Q: What is the button near the bottom on the right side of the device?
A: That is a camera button.
Q: What was your inspiration for this concept?
A: A combination of the new Asus Windows Phone, the Nexus One, Zune HD, and the iPhone 4. Camera is based on some found in the Nokia N series.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay I know its a concept and such, however I would like to critique your work if i may not too many points but just a few observations I saw whilst looking at the design.
1) You used capacitive buttons (not a problem most, lots of phones have them however you will also find most people prefer real buttons as opposed to the capacitive type. (though you did leave a bezel /dead point where it would be harder to accidently touch the capacitive buttons)
2) The screen on the device is edge to edge, though this looks fantastic you will find it is very hard to a) implement this in real life; screens needs a small 'perimeter', b) as the phone is small and sleek most peoples 'man hands' would dwarf the phone (not a problem) but becomes a problem when your holding the phone and also activating elements on the capacitive touch screen with your abductor pollicis bravis muscle, hence why on most phone you will see normally a 1mm perimeter around the phone screen.
3) for the same reason the camera button needs to be a few mm higher too, if you grip it tightly you will also be activating the camera, remember this is a WP7, where the camera can be activated even in standby.
4) I dont understand the reason why you have taken the speaker so high up on the bezel, in your design your have the screen, then your have a small space where the LED is and then you have the bezel, other than a space constraint why would you take the speaker so high up? it should be in line with the LED.
5) the volume buttons also i believe are a bit small, think how small your phone is and then compare this to your buttons; they are minuscule and need to be larger. Last thing you want to be doing whilst on a call is looking for buttons for volume control
Anyways there are a few more gripes but otherwise its a fantastic design and cant imagine the effort it must have took to produce it, well done!
irdawood said:
cant imagine the effort it must have took to produce it, well done!
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Click to collapse
Which brings me to the question that bugs me: why do people do these things?
Thanks for your advice, I'll try to answer theses qualms for the most part and implement them while I'm at home.
1. Yah, I thought about that. I'm still thinking of what kind of buttons would look nice enough to not ruin the design.
2. This was purely for aesthetics as you noticed. I'll add a strip of metal to the side when I'm home later.
3. Will work on this.
4. Speaker alignment is something I got off my Droid incredible. I might change up the margins a bit later.
5. True, this will be an easy fix when I get home.
I'll include a few more minor updates on the concept later today. Thanks for the advice.
irdawood said:
Okay I know its a concept and such, however I would like to critique your work if i may not too many points but just a few observations I saw whilst looking at the design.
1) You used capacitive buttons (not a problem most, lots of phones have them however you will also find most people prefer real buttons as opposed to the capacitive type. (though you did leave a bezel /dead point where it would be harder to accidently touch the capacitive buttons)
2) The screen on the device is edge to edge, though this looks fantastic you will find it is very hard to a) implement this in real life; screens needs a small 'perimeter', b) as the phone is small and sleek most peoples 'man hands' would dwarf the phone (not a problem) but becomes a problem when your holding the phone and also activating elements on the capacitive touch screen with your abductor pollicis bravis muscle, hence why on most phone you will see normally a 1mm perimeter around the phone screen.
3) for the same reason the camera button needs to be a few mm higher too, if you grip it tightly you will also be activating the camera, remember this is a WP7, where the camera can be activated even in standby.
4) I dont understand the reason why you have taken the speaker so high up on the bezel, in your design your have the screen, then your have a small space where the LED is and then you have the bezel, other than a space constraint why would you take the speaker so high up? it should be in line with the LED.
5) the volume buttons also i believe are a bit small, think how small your phone is and then compare this to your buttons; they are minuscule and need to be larger. Last thing you want to be doing whilst on a call is looking for buttons for volume control
Anyways there are a few more gripes but otherwise its a fantastic design and cant imagine the effort it must have took to produce it, well done!
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Really? I thought of all my inspirations, that was the one it looked the least like.
Iridox said:
This looks like an iPhone-esque clone with WP7 on it to me... meh.
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Click to collapse
I do it for the same reason I do most of my art. Which is to get my ideas down on paper/computer. I always wanted to design hardware and thought I might as well give it a shot while I'm off.
vangrieg said:
Which brings me to the question that bugs me: why do people do these things?
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Click to collapse
Updated with physical buttons, smaller top, bigger volume buttons, repositioned camera button, new flash image, and increased the width.
Looks sexy, I would buy it
I didn't see the first one but I'm sure it looked almost as nice.
nicc51591 said:
Looks sexy, I would buy it
I didn't see the first one but I'm sure it looked almost as nice.
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Here's a link if you want to see it: http://pap3rclips.deviantart.com/#/d2w11za
paperclips said:
Title changed. This is named Chrome because Metro UI is supposed to be "chromeless", whereas this isn't.
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I don't see a major difference in this area. As far as I understand, "chromeless" is when you don't try to present controls as entities separate from the rest of the content. An ultimate example of this would be a hyperlink on a web page, where a control element is only slightly different from the surrounding text (different color, underlining), as opposed to a button, which may be drawn to imitate a real physical button, which would be chrome.
WP7 isn't all chromeless, by the way, and it would really be useful, I think, if somebody tried to create some controls such as buttons, which would fit the design paradigm of WP7 in not trying to be pseudo-real, but be better than just a 3px border around text with variable width...
Overall, I don't see how your design contradicts Metro principles at all. They don't use gradients, true, but these don't create chrome and quite fit into the "authentically digital" doctrine.
vangrieg said:
I don't see a major difference in this area. As far as I understand, "chromeless" is when you don't try to present controls as entities separate from the rest of the content. An ultimate example of this would be a hyperlink on a web page, where a control element is only slightly different from the surrounding text (different color, underlining), as opposed to a button, which may be drawn to imitate a real physical button, which would be chrome.
WP7 isn't all chromeless, by the way, and it would really be useful, I think, if somebody tried to create some controls such as buttons, which would fit the design paradigm of WP7 in not trying to be pseudo-real, but be better than just a 3px border around text with variable width...
Overall, I don't see how your design contradicts Metro principles at all. They don't use gradients, true, but these don't create chrome and quite fit into the "authentically digital" doctrine.
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Click to collapse
Chrome such as in the use of drop shadows on the tiles. I can't illustrate more because I'm pretty lazy right now. Basically, the main thing I would change is have artificial textures and shadows throughout the interface. Not a drastic change, but doesn't really fit the all digital philosophy. If you see it as not contradicting metro than that's a plus.
This looks really nice, this Chrome Metro.
Changes completely the feel from these flat, bad colours squares
to something more classy and nice.
Interesting if something like that will be available.
Best concept ive seen for wp7, im really digging the white tiles...Great job
Definitely the best concept posted here so far that I've seen, very clean!
OS-wise I saw nothing original in the previous version 'cause for me it was just the default black/blue Metro-look with some gradiant but now I must say I'm really impressed with the new improved design.
The phone itself looks very solid and modern and it fits your B&W Metro UI extremely well. Of course there are some things that could be improved but hey - it's just a concept and since you're more of an advertisement designer you really made a great job. Microsoft and HTC should really see this. It's not as over-the-top as my Sense 3 and a bit of gradiant here and there really makes Metro look a lot better. If you could only add your own wallpaper I would even consider buying this device (and believe me that's a huge complement).
You should send it to HTC. Shubert's still in development so HTC may be interested in your concept.
Very nice, I like the tile work. The black text on light tile is even more readable than their white text on colored. I like the subtle use of shadowing on the tile as well. It really stands out while maintaining the simple yet elegant look.
The phone design itself looks nice...but one thing that I could see coming up is that the size of the capacitive buttons look rather small. I'm generally not a fan of capacitive buttons anyway, but that's a personal issue and not a functional one.
It looks pretty cool.
Having dark text on the light tiles looks awesome, though unfortunately that's impossible: Dark background -> light text on the tiles.
You made pocketnow
http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/another-sleek-windows-phone-7-prototype
Got the phone two days ago, have been using it a bit since then, here are some general pros/cons, with a more detailed write up following some more use. Hopefully this can help some people make a decision on whether to purchase or keep the phone themselves. I will not comment on the software (most newer WP7 phones work just about the same here), aside from the Nokia specific apps/stuff.
Anyway, I have read probably two dozen Lumia 900 reviews, and everyone seems to have their own opinion (with some general themes shared amongst them), so here is mine:
Pros
Build quality is fantastic, best phone I have ever held. Feels amazing and snug in your hand. I am a fan of the square look, as opposed to the rounded edges of most devices. I actually prefer the Flash to the Focus S in that respect.
Built in speaker is loud, much louder than my Focus S, which is nice, but maybe a little "tin-ey"
Call quality is amazing, and signal strength is better than my Focus S (plus the 4G in MD really flys)
Screen looks fantastic (indoors). Blacks are inky black, colors pop, whites are less blue than the Focus S, and it seems to be brighter too. I don't understand how someone could choose an SLCD over this display. Sit them side by side (the Titan II in my case), and the colors just look pathetic.
With that said, looking at text is fine. Don't let PPI pundits fool you, you cannot tell a difference between say the Nexus and the 900 (partially because the Nexus uses the dreadful pentile). You really do not need HD resolutions on a 4" display, unless you plan on holding it inches from your face, which is just silly (@ a distance of ~10in, your eye can no longer tell the difference between HD and non-HD on a 4.3in screen, and its only about 7in on an iPhone sized screen). And don't even mention the iPhone, comparatively its like looking at a postage stamp, no thanks!
Auto adjust screen intensity actually works well
Nokia apps are great, especially Drive and ESPN
Color is sexy. An identical theme choice would have been sweet.
Chrome finish on the surrounding lens area is nice
Battery life, holy cow, is great. I am on day two of mild use and am still at 50% battery.
Capacitive buttons have a slightly different feedback to them than I am used to, I like it. They are also slightly more difficult to trigger, which is actually a good thing.
Slightly newer OS version
Nokia specific theme is much better than the default blue
Some Nokia specific sounds, which are generally improvements to the default ones
VVM! The phone has you set it up on first boot, so I assume(hope) it works!
Price, hell yea, I made $80 on this phone!!!
Cons
Bevel around the screen (I hate it, hurts my ear, my biggest gripe)
Speaker can be too loud at low volume settings
Can't seem to get my gmail to sync (very weird, I will need to get this fixed ASAP). All other syncing has worked just fine.
Location and size of lens and chrome is odd, your fingers are always on them when holding the device. Could gunk up that area quickly.
Weird sim card slot (its not terrible, its just strange, not in a good way). Silly Sim card remover (basically a souped up paper clip)
Non-removable battery, though I would gladly give this up for the build quality and design
Its a bit heavy and large. Not extremely so, just more so than expected. I think the device footprint could have been smaller, and I am not sure why it weighs what it does to be honest.
Screen scrolling does not feel quite as responsive as some other models. What I mean by this is scrolling seems to be slower, and you can't really throw it in one direction and have it scroll rapidly through a list quite as fast as I was used to.
Off white capacitive buttons, that do not brighten up like some other models
Pre-installed Tango needs to be replaced do allow for non-WiFi calling
Outdoor screen performance not as awesome as I expected. Don't get me wrong, its better than the Focus S, its just not all I thought it would be. I expected near indifferent performance indoors vs. out, with the hype the display received, but that is not the case.
I am not a fan of the button placement. It will take some getting used to. I have large hands, so the power button where it is is really a strain on my thumb to reach.
I can't really comment on the camera, because I have not used it much. Though what I have heard is the screen itself does not do the images justice. So do not judge their quality until you get them off the device, onto a computer or printed out. Hopefully a software update can address any deficiencies here.
Even though the specs are similar, I consider this a significant upgrade from my Focus S, both in quality, design, and features.
Hopefully this is useful information. And hopefully some more details should be incoming. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.
Good post emjlr3.
Since we're being honest here, I'll add a couple of gripes to the thread.
Apparant lack of Visual Voicemail. (since found out it is wrongly provisioned account and a call to the ATT rep or online chat will resolve it)
Sim card slot does not sit perfectly frush after inserting sim.
Was surprised at the lack of things in the box. (earphones, instruction manual)
The placement of the mini usb. (I prefer bottom mounted. I suppose we'll never be able to use any music dock easily, etc?)
This is also just my personal opinion. I think it's a great phone. Beautiful and slick. Hope it holds up as well as my HD7 did.
has anyone noticed the purplish reflectance when in direct sunlight?
seems to only happen when I can actually see the suns reflection on the phone screen, and I see what look to be purple sun rays off a few random directions - I guess it must have something to do with the special coating.
Hi XDA,
I am considering getting the Note 10.1 2014 LTE version. However as a Student this is a very expensive Device to buy and there are some Questions i have to get answers to first before i can justify getting one. I hope some of you can help me find out what i need to get answers too.
I am studying computer science and i want to use it as a full replacement for pen and paper (Is that even realistically possible?). I have had some time with it in the store but some first hand everyday experience would be very much appreciated. I will try to categorize my questions.
Notetaking
Screen Protectors
Do they work with the Stylus and if so how well?
S-Note
In my short time with the device i noticed that S-Note does not support Portrait mode for the "virtual page" im writing on. Is that true and if so are there alternative apps that work with the S-Pen and allow for portrait notetaking?
Speed and Precision
I usually have to write down a LOT of Math stuff. Can you write fast enough on the note 10.1 to write during a lecture? Is it precise enough for small index numbers etc.?
Samsungs Software (and how i can get rid of their butt-ugly touchwiz crap?)
Lags and Stuff
During my shot time with the device i noticed a lot of lag and applications that were just pathetically slow compared to my Nexus 7 first gen with CM (this little Tab with CM is just so fast it's insane. Literally zero lag all around and insane performance even when HEAVILY Multitasking). Have the recent updates fixed this problem (well it's samsung so lets say made it less bad than before)?
Touchwizz
How much of the Touchwizz features i don't need can be deactivated? if deactived do they make it perform better?
Other Apps
Have you noticed any Problems with other Apps that usually work fine?
Custom Rom Stuff
General Support
I know this device is just on the market but comming from Nexus Devices i really don't want to stick with Samsungs Rom. How good/bad has the Rom Support for other Samsung Devices been in the past? What Problems will i face?
Rooting and Knox
WTF is Knox and why do i have to care when i root. I really don't get what that is and why it exists. Maybe someone can enlighten me
This is my Wishlist for a Custom Rom. Will that ever happen?
CyanogenMod/Stock Based Roms that are just as ridiculously fast as my N7
S-Pen Support for Notetaking (with anything other than S-Note)
Multiwindow Support (i suppose that is bound to touchwizz but have there been ROMs that integrated it into Stock-ish Android before?)
Hardware
Battery life
I have to get out of the house at 7 AM and im Back Home around 5-6PM. In this time this device will be used literally the entire time. I have Wireless Access most of the time so i don't have to rely on LTE completly. Can the Battery handle that? Will the Battery be able to handle this 2 years down the road?
Bigger Stylus
Well writing with the small S-Pen is a really ****ty experience. It's just too flimsy. Has anyone tried any Bigger Wacom Pens that work with the Note?
Smart Wake
Does the Note 10 Support waking up from standby like apples smartcover (and my N7)?
Cover
Talking about Smartcovers. How good are Samsungs Covers for the Note 10.1?
I know this is a very very long list and i am totally fine with any answers that just link to a site or something but i really hope that this device can do what it's named after.
Thanks for any answer i really appreciate them!
I'm studying computer science myself and found the tablet to be amazing for taking notes with. I've been using LectureNotes and its extremely flexible to suit whatever your note taking preference is. It does support portrait mode, but I would recommend using it in landscape (you can adjust the page size and just scroll down). As for writing with the s-pen it does get annoying after some time due to the size.
As for using a stylus there is this huge on going thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2484014
In short, no stylus works perfectly for our tablets aside from the s-pen it comes with. Most of the active styluses do "work" but have an offset of a few mm when writing at an angle (if you hold it straight up it aligns perfectly). For myself, I'm using a surface pro pen and compensated the offset on lecturenotes. I can hardly tell the difference at all.
Here is a screenshot of my notes from my algorithm class: http://i.imgur.com/NsPYFia.png
CircleSquare said:
I'm studying computer science myself and found the tablet to be amazing for taking notes with. I've been using LectureNotes and its extremely flexible to suit whatever your note taking preference is. It does support portrait mode, but I would recommend using it in landscape (you can adjust the page size and just scroll down). As for writing with the s-pen it does get annoying after some time due to the size.
As for using a stylus there is this huge on going thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2484014
In short, no stylus works perfectly for our tablets aside from the s-pen it comes with. Most of the active styluses do "work" but have an offset of a few mm when writing at an angle (if you hold it straight up it aligns perfectly). For myself, I'm using a surface pro pen and compensated the offset on lecturenotes. I can hardly tell the difference at all.
Here is a screenshot of my notes from my algorithm class: http://i.imgur.com/NsPYFia.png
Click to expand...
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Thanks for the Quick Reply. That does look very much like it will suit my needs. Would you say you can use it to completly replace pen and paper?
detrexer said:
Thanks for the Quick Reply. That does look very much like it will suit my needs. Would you say you can use it to completly replace pen and paper?
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Haven't used a pen and paper the entire term to take notes! It's actually a lot faster once you get used to it. Copy and pasting helps out a ton when the professor is explaining concepts on the same graph.
Screen Protectors
I don't use them, but have a fellow student that uses one and it seems to work well. Bare in mind it adds some friction if you get a mate screenprotector.
S-Note
Nope never used never tried and just got LectureNotes from the start. I also write in portrait mode. Most fellow students like to write in landscape. I have found that I can write extremely small and read it and don't like to scroll down all the time.
Speed and Precision
Yes it's fast enough. I write in my maths lecture. For me it's faster than paper. I use the plastic tip and there is hardly any friction so the pen moves very fast. Only thing that takes time is when you have to fiddle with menus or stuff like that.
Samsungs Software (and how i can get rid of their butt-ugly touchwiz crap?)
Lags and Stuff
I have had no problems with my device. Even at the beginning I didn't really notice much lag. But there are lots of people that have complained. Once you disable a bunch of touchwiz apps it flies.
Touchwizz
If you disable some touchwiz stuff it will perform a bit faster. I disabled everything but S-Note, Alarms, Action Note and the S-Pen SDK.
Other Apps
Due to the high pixel density some apps that aren't optimized (are badly coded) and perform lots of drawing might not perform as well. But other than that no real issues.
Custom Rom Stuff
General Support
The rom support has been bad. But this is the first device I bought in the launch week so it might pick up.
Rooting and Knox
If you root the know counter will be tripped and you allegedly lose warranty. It seems to be some corporate app allowing you to separate work and company data.
This is my Wishlist for a Custom Rom. Will that ever happen?
S-Pen Support for Notetaking (with anything other than S-Note)
There are native API for styluses as long as the drivers work the native API's should work too
Multiwindow Support (i suppose that is bound to touchwizz but have there been ROMs that integrated it into Stock-ish Android before?)
The multiwindow support on touchwiz is the best I have seen so far.
Hardware
Battery life
My battery lasts about 7 hours with screen on. If you need more battery life get an external battery. They are really cheap, in germany i can get one for 40 bucks with double the capacity as the internal battery.
Bigger Stylus
There seems to be one wacom stylus that works, there is a thread about it. I like the small pen, it's light and I don't get tired when writing with it.
Smart Wake
yes supports the smart wake
Cover
I have an ivso cover i got from amazon.de I'm happy with it
I got the Note about a month ago or so for university. I didn't really plan on replacing paper with that, but no I don't use paper at all anymore. I have found that I can keep stuff organized a lot better in a digital form. If I ever get a sheet of paper I will either run to the scanners scattered around our university and scan it or take a picture and annotate that instead of the actual paper . It really depends on the way of learning if you can "think digitally". A fellow student got the old model and returned it after a week because he found it too distracting. But for me the Note really fits into my way of thinking and doing stuff, but I'm a real techy person, who programs and sees a higher value in having information in a digital form.
To add about knox: If you get squaretrade warranty, someone in another thread said they don't care if you trip it or not and will still honor the warranty.
These are very uplifting answers for me. Heaving two people confirm that you can replace paper with it is almost enough to buy it. I ****ing hate paper... to much clutter...
I very much appreciate all the answers und Grüße aus Aachen an alle
I've replaced paper, not at school, but in office. All note taking in meetings, all "to do" lists are now done on the tablet (I made the conversion a year ago with the original Note 10.1, new one is even better).
detrexer said:
These are very uplifting answers for me. Heaving two people confirm that you can replace paper with it is almost enough to buy it. I ****ing hate paper... to much clutter...
I very much appreciate all the answers und Grüße aus Aachen an alle
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In my local Media Markt they have it for 500€, easier to return if something happens. Might want to check because only it's roughly the same price as online.
This is the case I have, there is pretty much only one case on amazon.de anyways.
Also look at the colors. I have choosen white because it reminds me of paper. Also the contrast between white on the screen and a black border is too harsh in my opinion.
{Diemex} said:
In my local Media Markt they have it for 500€, easier to return if something happens. Might want to check because only it's roughly the same price as online.
This is the case I have, there is pretty much only one case on amazon.de anyways.
Also look at the colors. I have choosen white because it reminds me of paper. Also the contrast between white on the screen and a black border is too harsh in my opinion.
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I have the same case, it's perfect.
---------- Post added at 01:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:45 AM ----------
detrexer said:
Thanks for the Quick Reply. That does look very much like it will suit my needs. Would you say you can use it to completly replace pen and paper?
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Click to collapse
Yes, it has completely replaced paper for me. At work I need to draw on photos and diagrams etc to send to people. Before I got the Note, I had to print a photo, draw on it, and scan it back in, then attach it to an email.
Using LectureNotes I can just do everything on the tablet and email straight from it. My work notebook is up to about 300 pages now. LectureNotes enables you to email a single page or selection of pages as a pdf straight from the app.
I still like to have a paper notebook to flick through, so I print out my notebook as I go. Of course if I lose it, I can just print it again, unlike a paper notebook...
LectureNotes is complicated to set up initially, but well worth it - once it's set up right, it's amazingly powerful.
If you want a spare s-pen, you can buy one for the old Note 10.1 and trim the back of the nib slightly. This gets rid of any offset.
I did that, then put it into a pen case to make it like a real pen - photos here: http://flickr.com/gp/jackhenriques/d68460/
Sony Smart Watch 3 Review
TLDR? Quick version here.
First Impressions: A small plain little box, clear plastic and the rather plain looking watch. It’s all quite an non-fancy affair, simple and nondescript. The watch is just like the box, plain and simple looking. Actually I like it in the flesh more than in photos, the matte black strap with the silver clasp and the black face. Mind you in photos the metal silver one looks considerably more fancy. I’ve seen it said that you should be able to buy the silver strap and transfer the watch face into it. That is something I certainly fancy the idea of.
Specifications: OS Android Wear, Display Resolution 320 x 320, Colors 16 bit, Diagonal Size 1.6", Transflective TFT LCD, Dimensions 36mm x 10mm x 51mm, Weight Watch Module 38g, Sport armband 36g, Battery 420mAh, Processor 1.2 GHz, Quad-core ARM® Cortex™ A7, Water and Dust Resistance IP68, Memory 4GB eMMC with 512 MB RAM, Ports & Connectors Micro USB, Connectivity Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi ready, Sensors Ambient Light, Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyro, GPS, Vibration Motor, Microphone
Okay that’s a lot of spec’s. so what bits of it matter? Well it’s pretty similar to most Android Wear watches. The RAM, the CPU, the storage space, the screen size and resolution are pretty much all the some as every other one. So why did I buy this one? Well that’s easy but unless you know about screen technologies you won’t have picked up what makes the Sony Smartwatch 3 different.
Accessories: Well the 3 comes in an assortment of coloured strap options. It also can come in metal and personally I think the metal one one looks freekin’ awesome. Sony did once say they were going to make the metal band available……… yeah they still haven’t and at this point I don’t see it coming. You can buy the rubber straps, they do black, white, luminous yellow or bright pink. Yet those straps seem to go for over £30. Errr no. Ebay also seems largely bereft of things, other than screen protectors. They also curiously do a universal holder thing. You put the watch facing into a rather unattractive black plastic holder and that then attaches to standard fitting watch straps. If it was metal and not black plastic I’d be all over that but as it stands, na, it’s pretty ugly.
Fit/Comfort: Excellent on both accounts. Now for charging the snap shut strap band thingy may be a pain in that it doesn’t separate but for use on the arm? Great stuff. Set to the size I wanted, hand goes in, snap the thing closed and voilà. I’m normally not wild about plastic/rubber straps as I find it traps sweat and you can get a bit of skin irritation. Though its easily cleaned and because the strap comes away from the electronic bit you can stick it under a running tap.
Screen: Some Android wear watches use AMOLED which only consumes power as it lights up individual pixels. So a mostly black screen will use relatively little power, a mostly white and it’ll eat much more. Then there is a normal LCD display. They work by shining a light behind the screen then the screen blocks out colours to make a picture. The whole screen is powered up no matter if you show a mostly black face or mostly white. The key similarity with both technologies is that they need to consume power to light up in order to be visible.
The Sony watch uses a transflective screen. If you don’t know what that means I’ll explain. An AMOLED screen is emissive, each pixel emits its own light. A normal LCD is a transmisive screen, allowing light to pass through the screen and it has to be bright enough to be visible, which is why LCD screens are pretty rubbish in the sunshine. A transflective is different. Transflective screens have a backlight just like a normal LCD but it also is reflective. That means with the back light (the power hungry backlight) is off you can still see what’s on the screen by utilising the ambient light of where you are. This makes is possible to permanently have the time showing on the display! Something that is kinda handy for a watch. It also means that in the brightest sunshine you can still read the screen too, in fact the brighter the environment the more light there is for it to reflect, just like an e-ink screen would. A feature I for one think rather useful in a watch.
Simply put this screen is what makes it a viable device to use in real, normal life.
UI: The user interface is the standard Android Wear one. Everything is a sequence of up/down to get to new cards. Then scrolling left to progressively go into that cards details. So the weather one, first card tells you the weather right now. The next card to the right tells the weather for the next series of hours then the next one gives you the option to open the app on your phone. The cards you have available changes based on what Google Now cards Google thinks are appropriate. Oh and of course any notifications you have outstanding. Personally I’d like the weather card to be always available. So I have to not sweep it away and sometimes you just do it without thinking.
It is actually a bit complex when you start adding in all the different notifications and different apps that add cards, you can over load yourself. You can fill it up and make it practically as complex to use as your phone is. Add in your own app drawer and everything, Wear Mini Launcher is so freekin’ awesome!!! Sure it’s not for everyone but if you want complexity and having every imaginable option in the world available to you then it’s just fantastic. I personally love it and the interface to all my apps it provides. However in many ways it’s not what you want for a watch and I understand that. It’s not for everyone and as is shown by the Iphone popularity, mind numbingly locked down and limited is a boon to many.
In short the UI can be as complicated as you like, though it can still be fairly simple if you want it that way but it require you to remember what commands you have available to you so it may not be for everyone.
Features: Erm anything and everything just about. In terms of what’s common in a smart watch the things it doesn’t have is Qi charging and more oddly, no heart Rate monitor function. Now given I have things that can do that, I’m aware just how not super useful that functionality is, they don’t monitor you continuously because it would destroy the battery so it’s only read when you tell it to. Sony for some reason, in might I add its very sporty looking watch, did not include it. The trade-off it seems is that it has built in GPS rather than simply relying on the phone (which may be in a pocket or at home) so the watch can chart your outdoors run itself. Yeah I live in Edinburgh and don’t run so it’s not such a boon to me.
The other lacking item, no Qi means that you have an awkwardly placed micro USB slot to charge it underneath a rubber flap. This is so awkward to use, I immediately hit up old ebay and got a right angle adapter for the damn thing. Seriously Sony what the F were you thinking? I know it does have a better water proof rating, IP68, which has been said is thanks to the rubber flap but I don’t see how Qi would have made that worse?
The thing also has not just Bluetooth but Wi-Fi too so….. what that means is you can use the watch without a phone. Stream Google Music directly to your Bluetooth headphones while on your run outside that the built in GPS can track for you. You can leave your gigantic phone at home. Though where you’re getting Wi-fi that you wouldn’t be wanting your phone with you anyway, yeah I don’t know. A gym that bans phones maybe?
Frankly, far and away the best “feature” on the 3 is that transflective screen. Words can’t express how useful it is over the highly pretty but battery destroying AMOLED on the 360. Personally having used both, I don’t think I’d buy a non transflective screened watch. Well e-ink maybe.
Build Quality: Very good. I have mixed thoughts on the rubbery strap, that may be because Sony swore the Silvery metal one would be coming separately and it yet has to. Still it’s nice so ignore my bitter grumble. Its everything you would just expect from something Sony stamped on it.
Usability: Well its really up to you. If you want it nice and simple you can keep it pretty simple. If you don’t then you can add it full of everything and have it tell you whatever you like. It really was a joy to use, I vastly preferred it over my Moto 360 and its retarded circularish screen. While the almost round screen looks great and watch like but the fact is square is more functionally useful. It just is better to use. Seriously, everything is made squareish, try imaging what a round monitor, round TV or round book would be to use. Square make it so easy to just swipe in or out across the screen. Round is awkward and frustrating. I really cannot emphasis enough how nice to use the Smart Watch 3 is. It’s so pleasant and easy, straight forward and really what I would hope all Android Wear things to be.
Battery: When it’s behaving, 2 days and maybe into a third depending on how much you use the thing. That’s what it’s like on a good days however, since the last update it got, I think that turned on the Wi-Fi direct thing the battery sometimes seem to just tear through the battery. I mean in half a day its gone. I don’t know what causes this battery abuse and thus I don’t have any way to avoid the circumstances that cause the battery destruction. Its entirely unpredictable and thus when it happens the first you may know of it is when you go to use the thing and it’s just dead. Very frustrating, VERY VERY VERY, get it fixed Sony, Google whoever is to blame.
N.B. So of course just after writing there was an update, seemingly it has cured the random battery drain issue so it’s back to being great. Still I’m not giving it weeks to time to test and confirm it’s cured so that’s why I’m leaving this as is.
Connectivity: It has Bluetooth® 4.0, NFC, Micro USB and Wi-Fi. It doesn’t specify the WiFi so I have taken it to be 802.11G. NFC doesn’t seem to do much but assist in pairing super easily. Though I suppose that if Google Pay is less utterly useless than Google Wallet was then maybe one day you might be able to pay for things with it. I however, would certainly not hold my breath on that one. (Frowny face at Google.) Otherwise Bluetooth worked just perfectly and without the faintest whiff of an issue. Paired easy, stayed connected, always reconnected easily and range was great.
Value: The metal one is currently going for about £185ish which is roughly what the Rubberbanded ones started at. They however have since plummeted to about £110. I look at the Smart Watch 3, at the £60 odd fit bit and my god, the 3 is vastly, vastly, vastly better and more feature filled. If you want it to be just a pedometer it’ll do that and act as a watch should and tell you the time. That’s already double what the Flex can. The other reason why this is super good value is that transflective screen. There is no way you can quite grasp how important that screen is. It stays visible not just in the blazing sunshine but it can be always on with negligible power consumption. You can glance at your arm and see the time!!!! Trust me these sound so stupid and trivial and they are too. They are right up until you use an Android Wear watch that has a normal type of emissive display. Just trust me on this.
Conclusion: The Smart Watch 3 isn’t a faultless device. That wonky battery issue is the most glaring thing but it’s only a software issue as it didn’t do it before. At present it seems cured however. The lack of Qi, well with the right angled adapter I bought it’s not so bad anymore and the rubber cover flap thing, well I’ve just gotten used to it. The positives waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more than make up for it. That screen. That tranflective screen is the star feature of the 3. Sure when you first see it, it won’t wow you. It does look a little washed out in comparison to the stunning OLED one of the 360. It looks so lacking in colour and mildly greyed out. Ahhh but then you walk outside. You can see the 3 perfectly, it is perfectly clear somewhat like those of e-ink screens. The 360 in comparison may as well be a mirror attached to your arm.
So what about indoors then? It not like Edinburgh is blessed with endless days of brilliant sunshine. So the watch, on your arm, you flick it ever so slightly and glance down. With the 3 you can read the display and see the time, all the time. In theory the 360 can light up with a wrist flick but it’s not a subtle wrist flick or you can have it always, dimly lit. That destroys the battery like you would not believe. The transflective one on the 3 is the screen type that ALL Android Wear watched ought to use. Google needs to mandate its use. Yes it really is that good over normal display types.
The rest, well that’s really a question of if you want an Android Wear watch. I’d say you do if you have bothered to read this. It’s not something you will ever need but it’s so convenient glancing at your wrist rather than pulling out your ginganto phone just to see the time or to see who it was that just texted you. The little vibration on the wrist I found super helpful in actually noticing notifications too. That and telling the time was worth it for me. You? Well only you can answer that but if you have read this far, you clearly want one and the Smart Watch 3 is no question, THE Android Wear watch to get.
N.B. i did have photos but it seems to be a total arse to add them to XDA, that is why there is none showing.
Nice review. I believe that the usb charge option is great as i can charge it in most places. Nowadays microusb is everywhere. QI charging cannot even use the phone equivalent version so I need to carry the mobile one which is kind of irritating.
Nice review. I am new to the SW3 and currently have an iphone 5s so I'm using with the new iOS Android Wear (I'm hoping to change my phone to a OP2 soon) The functionality on iOS is currently very limited so I'm definitely not getting the most out the device but that aside I'm enjoying the experience.
Do you really thing NFC will not be able to be use for Android pay? I really hope it will.
Got my Sunny Yellow one delivered this morning so been playing with it most of the day. Initial impressions are very good, some are listed below. Feel free to list your own.
The fingerprint scanner was a little off but after an update came in i deleted my fingerprints and re-did them and its been fine ever since. Couple of times it hasnt worked but i think thats because the screen is so smooth/slippery that my thumb slipped on the screen as it was trying to read it.
I dont have a 5g plan or even 5g signal where i am to test but so far 4g speeds are exactly the same as my pixel 2xl and oppo reno 2 ive come from.
I dont really like having the "internet" tile, id prefer having them seperate the wifi and mobile data tab. Just seems strange to add a further click to enable/disable wifi when i want to instead of just hitting the tab.
On the home screen if you make a folder then the apps slightly overhang the edge of the circle which just looks odd to me, i wish they were all within the folder.
I wish there was an option of disabling the big clock on the lock screen. I have a picture of my partner on my lock screen and when picking up the phone id rather see her than her face covered by a huge clock
The phone got very hot when setting up and transferring apps/data from my old phone but has been fine since.
I love the screen and how smooth everything flows. I dont see any issue with brightness personally. Ill see how battery life performs over the coming days
Hollow screen sound is a bit strange
Nova launcher crashes which is a shame because I don't like the search bar forced at the bottom of the screen on the pixel launcher.
Camera is brilliant
Power button is in the wrong place and should be swapped with the volume buttons is.
Lack of screen protectors available to get delivered is frustrating but not Google's issue.
It's fast, smooth and had a great camera. The rest I am still get used to. Prefer it to my S21 ultra, maybe not loving it as much as my Mi 10 Pro.
The camera hump on the back really exposes the glass to potential damage. If I were designing the thing, I'd make the entire back stick out higher than the camera glass, and fill in the space with more battery.
The rounded edge screen is pretty terrible. There are optical distortions along the sides. The radius of the edge should be reduced to around 1 mm.
A little more width on the screen would be nice. This is 71.5mm. Nexus 6 was 74, which was a lot nicer. 80 would be a dream.
A little bit of border around the screen would also be nice so you have somewhere to actually hold the thing. Function should be paramount, not form, and especially not goofy/ugly form like these have. A bit of border above the screen would make space to get the camera out of the screen instead of the ugly hole. I also hate the rounded corners on the screen. Software rounded corners are ok, because you can disable them, there is no reason to force it with paint on the inside surface of the glass.
96carboard said:
The camera hump on the back really exposes the glass to potential damage. If I were designing the thing, I'd make the entire back stick out higher than the camera glass, and fill in the space with more battery.
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feel the same way with filling up the space with more battery... but then you have ppl complaining about how fat the phone is
Love it so far, so fast and fluid. As mentioned above it gets real hot, and was still discharging while using old pixel charger.
Camera is amazing the details captured are stunning.
Phone is very slippery to hold and would be easy to drop with the top weight of the camera hump. Tried to buy a case for grip and protection, and was told that they can until tomorrow because that was the day the phone was supposed to be delivered, but because of our crap postal service they sent a day early so that people would or should get them by that date
Real time translation works very well, even with the new update still seems a little buggy
Screen for me is fine for brightness I have high brightness mode widget and it is much brighter than the 4xl
I could buy pixel charger which I might take back because it doesn't seem to charge an faster.
My wireless car charger for the pixel 4xl charges this phone at about the same speed as the old wall charger, need to see if it throttles for heat though..
dimm0k said:
feel the same way with filling up the space with more battery... but then you have ppl complaining about how fat the phone is
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I agree, but it also would be heavy
This is concerning "Nova launcher crashes which is a shame because I don't like the search bar forced at the bottom of the screen on the pixel launcher." Hopefully there will be an update to Nova soon.
All the negative feedback on the rounded edges are making me consider the Pixel 6 versus the Pro. I think the base RAM on the 6 is fine. Giving up the Zoom is tougher to consider.
danw_oz said:
I agree, but it also would be heavy
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There as a day when heavy meant PREMIUM and light meant junk.
My laptop (lenovo), not even old, actually had some weights added into it to make it feel more substantial.
And so what if its a little heavier as long as it isn't burdensome. You can easily carry around several pounds without it being burdensome.
swieder711 said:
This is concerning "Nova launcher crashes which is a shame because I don't like the search bar forced at the bottom of the screen on the pixel launcher." Hopefully there will be an update to Nova soon.
All the negative feedback on the rounded edges are making me consider the Pixel 6 versus the Pro. I think the base RAM on the 6 is fine. Giving up the Zoom is tougher to consider.
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If you were referring to the rounded CORNERS, there will be kind-of software solutions for the rounded corners. Right now you can run "wm size 1440x2890" to reduce the display area (persistently). This brings the display area past the camera hole and past the rounded corners. Now normally, there would be a system property available to adjust the corners, however this one has multi-radius corners which are set in a config for systemui, therefore will actually require a rebuild from source to fix, but once that is unset, it should have square corners.
However the side effect of course, will be a slightly smaller display area. Still wider than the non-Pro, but less than it is now. Not that you need all that height for any practical purpose.
And for that matter, you could use the same "wm size" command to reduce the display width to work around the rounded edges. "wm size 1300x3120" pulls the display area all the way into the flat part and eliminates the optical distortions. You could probably establish a better balance that lets it in just a little bit and probably gives the same width as the non-Pro.
ozzjim1 said:
Hollow screen sound is a bit strange
Nova launcher crashes which is a shame because I don't like the search bar forced at the bottom of the screen on the pixel launcher.
Camera is brilliant
Power button is in the wrong place and should be swapped with the volume buttons is.
Lack of screen protectors available to get delivered is frustrating but not Google's issue.
It's fast, smooth and had a great camera. The rest I am still get used to. Prefer it to my S21 ultra, maybe not loving it as much as my Mi 10 Pro.
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Nova Launcher was crashing for me but it seemed to be a clock widget I had previously and it wasn't displaying it.
I deleted the widget and rebooted the phone and it has been perfect since and all day today.
My screen now looks like my 3XL only longer, faster, smoother
I can't find a was to Turn off Always on Display. Ist ist me, or isn't there an option?
Thanks for the tip on Nova, might rebuild my screen from scratch with it too ID the issue. The pixel launcher without some custom apps and grid sizes is a bit of a jarring experience. Search at the bottom is all wrong too.
magooo said:
I can't find a was to Turn off Always on Display. Ist ist me, or isn't there an option?
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settings, display, lock screen, turn off "always show time and info"
danw_oz said:
Screen for me is fine for brightness I have high brightness mode widget and it is much brighter than the 4xl
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Whoa! There's such a thing? Please, the name of it.
Not sure what is up with my unit but it as buggy as hell
Not impressed so far if I am honest
Keith W said:
Not sure what is up with my unit but it as buggy as hell
Not impressed so far if I am honest
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Have you gotten the small 70 MB Android update yet? Mine was buggy with Nova Launcher Prime, in particular, but after the update, all good.
I like the fingerprint reader better than the ultrasonic in my Note 10+. It's working much better and faster for me so far. Here's hoping that stays true.
Keith W said:
Not sure what is up with my unit but it as buggy as hell
Not impressed so far if I am honest
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id suggest resetting then. Working fine for most people
Keith W said:
Not sure what is up with my unit but it as buggy as hell
Not impressed so far if I am honest
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Could you describe what you mean by "buggy as hell"?
wekebu said:
Whoa! There's such a thing? Please, the name of it.
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Search play for high brightness mode or HBM software by @flar2 an amazing kernal and software developer
According to Goggle I have a defective unit and they are going to swap it out