Review: Samsung Ultra HD 4K UD590 28 inch monitor

Having been spoiled by 2, large $1,000 each 32” Dell 2560×1600 resolution monitors with my work-from-home job over the last 3 years, when I switched jobs with a new company, I was left monitor-less after I returned the company owned hardware. I opted for a one monitor, but higher res, and cheaper solution. I first ordered a Dell 4K monitor, which was a disaster.

Review: Dell P2815Q Ultra HD 28-inch LED-Lit 4K Monitor

[GARD]

While I was waiting for that monitor to arrive from Amazon during my 1 week vacation between jobs, I went to the local BestBuy to buy another to tied me over until the Dell arrived. I bought the Samsung 4K UD590 28 inch monitor. I ended up keeping the Samsung monitor and returning the Dell because the Dell monitor (see link above for why I ditched the Dell).

What I like

Picture Quality
- Compared to the Dell monitor, the picture is brighter, has more vibrant colors, and a higher contrast.
Screen resolution
- The screen resolution is a whopping 3840×2160 pixels.

See that screen shot at the top of the article? That’s my desktop at the full resolution. Those two little windows in the middle and lower left are 1024×768 desktops in 2 separate virtual machines. One is running Mac OSX, the other is running Windows XP. That should give you a sense of the huge desktop real estate you get with all those pixels.

Response time
- 1ms response time means the mouse is not delayed. Video is not delayed. Audio from your speakers is not ahead, in time, from the video displaying on the monitor. This is HUGELY important.
Simplicity
- 1 DisplayPort, 2 HDMI ports.
Screen Size
- 28 inches large. This provides a lot of screen real estate for your high-end computing needs such as software development, CAD, Graphics, etc…
PIP (Picture in picture)

[GARD]

What I don’t like

Price
- While ~$600 is lower than it was when it first came out and lower than the $1,000 Dell monitors with lower resolutions that I had before, it’s still a painful pill to swallow.
Ghost effects
- I honestly don’t know if this is a problem with the monitor or the video card I bought, but it’s annoying as hell. Here’s what I’m talking about: When I move the mouse or scroll a window with a light background and dark text, there’s a ghost image left behind for a few milliseconds of where the mouse used to be or where the dark text used to be that is BRIGHTER than the white background. It’s a poor user experience.
  - Here’s a video I made, demonstrating this ghosting effect:
  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFBhBphkpfk
Lack of DVI and VGA ports
- While I listed the 3 simple ports as a positive, it’s also a huge negative as it meant I couldn’t use my existing video card. It was a high end card a few years ago, but lacks DisplayPort and HDMI. It (my old video card) does, however, have 2 DVI ports and a VGA port and supports multiple monitors. So, that meant I had to go buy a new video card. I opted for the EVGA GeForce GTX 760 with 4GB of RAM. Sadly, after I plugged that into my motherboard, I discovered that my power supply lacked the appropriate plugs to power this new video card, so I had to go purchase a new 600w power supply too…. all this just to run a new monitor!
Screen Size
- Yes, I’m putting screen size in as both a positive and a negative. While I’m used to a 32” screen, this one is a 28” screen. I obviously do NOT blame Samsung for that. It’s a 28” monitor… PERIOD! But, when running the monitor at full resolution, the icons and text are so incredibly tiny, it’s ridiculous. You really need a physically larger screen to run your desktop that this native resolution. As a fix, I up’d the Windows DPI 150%. That’s a feature that Windows has had for more than 20 years and this is the first time I’ve actually needed it. This brought almost everything up to a large enough size that I can actually see it. It also makes the text really crisp. Think of it like a high-res display on your tablet… how it improves the text quality. Same thing there. If you want to run your desktop at 100% DPI with the full, native resolution of 4K, I strongly recommend getting a larger size than 28”. I’d say 32” would be the bare minimum. BUT, just crank up the DPI in your OS and you should be good to go. MOST things scale up properly these days. In the past, playing with DPI just hosed many apps. Not true today.
Tilt
- This monitor lacks usable tilt features. You CANNOT tilt it forward. So, if you place this monitor a little high, then you CANNOT tilt it down. You CAN, however, tilt it UP, a little bit. My computer desk has a shelf about 6 or 7 inches above the desk where I place my monitor. The monitor stand holds the monitor about another 4 or 5 inches above that. I’d prefer to have the monitor tilt down a little, but I can’t do that, so I have a cable running underneath the back edge of the monitor stand to tilt the whole thing forward just a little.
Raise/Lower
- You CANNOT raise or lower the height of the monitor. It is what it is as far as height goes.

Conclusion

[GARD]

For the most part, I’m satisfied and happy with this monitor, but the ghosting and tilting are problems I’ll have to live with.

Have you had any experience with any 4K monitors yet? Tell us about it in the comments below.

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2014-09-24

Review: Dell P2815Q Ultra HD 28-Inch LED-Lit 4K Monitor

The Dell 4K 28 inch Ultra HD 4K computer monitor has an incredibly high screen resolution, but has some serious problems.

Serious Mouse Lag

The first thing you’ll notice is the incredibly frustrating lag with your mouse. It turns out, there’s no fix. The problem is because of how the monitor works. There’s a full 100ms delay from when the monitor receives the image signal to when it displays it. That means that your mouse movements and keystrokes are not seen until at least that delay.

[GARD]

This causes you to overshoot your targets with your mouse (both in games and on the desktop). It causes a very irritating and frustrating sluggishness sensation, like you’re forcing your mouse through syrup.

There’s a thread on the Dell website’s user forum where many people are complaining about this and Dell’s official response is not comforting. The following is a response to a customer who purchased it from a retailer who won’t accept it as bad because it performs per Dell’s specs. At least Dell did provide a direct response to that retailer, explaining that the problem is real.

DellMonitorResponse1 — Due to the hardware architecture, the mouse lag is a result of the P2815Q requiring 100 ms to process video data. This cannot be changed with a firmware update. It would require a new architecture from the ground up which we will not do. If you have this complaint, your only recourse is to return the monitor for refund. Outside of the initial 30 days from the invoice date, it will take manager approval to get a refund. Using the Dell service tag number from the P2815Q, contact Dell Technical Support for your region. Explain that we do not have a fix for this complaint. The technician will need to escalate to their manager.

Here’s another Dell response on the same thread indicating that the only fix is to return the monitor.

Due to the hardware architecture, the mouse lag is a result of the P2815Q requiring 100 ms to process video data. If you have this complaint, your only recourse is to return the monitor for refund. Outside of the initial 30 days from the invoice date, it will take manager approval to get a refund.

They also explain that they WILL NOT fix this issue.

Stale Colors

Sitting this monitor next to my Samsung UD590 4K monitor of the same size, the colors on this Dell monitor are not as vibrant. I tried changing the settings to equal those of the Samsung Monitor, but it could not be achieved.

A Little Hope

Back to the mouse problem… There are several preset options for the Dell monitor, like you’d expect on most modern display devices such as:

Standard
Movie
Warm
Cool
Game

etc… As it turns out, if you set it to “Game”, the lag is diminished a little bit. It’s still unacceptable for my needs, but it MIGHT be enough to satisfy other users. Unfortunately, that setting also changes the display settings.

You’d think that a preset display setting would have no effect on this, and I thought perhaps it’s just my imagination. So, I called my teenage daughter into my computer room, and without telling her what was going on, I set the video mode to “Standard” and asked her to move the mouse around (I hid what I was doing by having the Dell dialog on a second monitor that she could not see. It changed the settings for the Dell monitor). Her response was that the mouse was laggy. I then changed to “Game” (again, without telling her what I was doing) and asked if it was better, worse, or indifferent. She said it was clearly “better”. Then I set it to “Cool” and asked again. She confirmed that it was just like the first one… laggy.

My recommendation?

Avoid the Dell P2815Q Ultra HD 28-Inch LED-Lit 4K Monitor. The lag is just too much to deal with. And if you’re a gamer, this is an absolute “NO!”. More like a “HELL NO!” For non-gamers, it will be frustrating for you too, but if you change it to “Game” mode, it MIGHT be OK for you, but you’ll have to accept the color settings that go along with the game mode setting.

I would also recommend getting a LARGER monitor if you’re going to be using desktop apps if your screen is going to be 4K resolution. Text, menus, buttons, etc, are crazy small on this thing. I’d say a 32″ monitor would probably be the smallest you’d want to go.

Alternatives?

[GARD]

If you need a monitor that can rotate like this Dell P2815Q does, I do not have a recommendation other than to choose something else. If you don’t need rotation, the Samsung UD590 4K monitor has great color and no noticeable lag with the mouse. However, it does NOT have the ability to rotate from portrait to landscape mode AND it CANNOT be tilted to face down a little. So if where you place your monitor is a little high, it may be aimed at an odd, upward angle. It CAN be aimed higher, but NOT lower.

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2014-08-07

Dragon Touch Tablet–High End Hardware–Low End Price

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This is going to be a quick and short review. The Dragon Touch 9.7” Android tablet by TabletExpress (as U.S. company) has fairly high hardware specs considering its low price of $179.99. Most tablets that size are much more expensive. But, it’s not just a 9.7” screen tablet, it also has a ridiculously high resolution of 2048×1536 (again, hi res for that price). It also sports a Rockchips RK3188 Quad Core Cortex A9 CPU at 1.8Ghz per core.

[GARD]

Here are the specs:

9.7” screen
2,048×1,536 pixels “Retina” display
Rockchips RK3188 Quad Core Cortex A9 CPU at 1.8Ghz per core
Front and rear cameras
Bluetooth 4.0
MicroUSB port (data only, not for charging)
HDMI port
Headphone jack
SD card slot, up to 64GB
12v DC proprietary adapter
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
16GB internal storage
2GB RAM
Wifi

Here’s an unboxing of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xZP8B3V46k

The Good:

9.7” screen
2,048×1,536 pixels “Retina” display
Rockchips RK3188 Quad Core Cortex A9 CPU at 1.8Ghz per core
MicroUSB port (data only, not for charging)
HDMI port
SD card slot, up to 64GB
Screen Protector

Remember, this “goodness” is all based on getting this for $179.99.

You almost never see a screen larger than 7 inches for this price. Remember, the Nexus 7 is only 7 inches, only has a resolution of 1920×1200, same amount of RAM and internal storage, and is only 1.5Ghz and NO SD card slot for expandability and IT costs $229. Hardware wise, this thing kicks butt, especially for the price.

That screen resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 is insanely high for such a cheap tablet. Even many more expensive tablets don’t even have that resolution.

The processor is a fairly fast Quad Core with a higher clock speed than what you get with the much more expensive (and small) Nexus 7.

It has an HDMI port so you can view it directly on your computer monitor or HDTV. That can turn it into a game console or a cheap way to show the family photos and videos while on the go or to give presentations.

The Micro USB port is both a pro and a con. Since we’re in the “Good” section, let’s focus on the good. This is pretty standard on Android devices and any device without a MicroUSB port would be a joke.

It comes with 2GB of RAM and 8, 16, or 32GB of storage. I’m reviewing the 16GB version here. It also has a Micro SD card slot so you can add up to 64GB of more storage. “Officially” it supports up to 32GB, but reviews on Amazon.com say that 64GB cards do indeed work.

The build quality is pretty robust too. It doesn’t feel like a light piece of plastic. This thing is solid.

It also comes with a screen protector already installed for you!

Google Play:

Yes! This tablet has all the Google Goodness, including the Google Play store. I do have to mention this because many tablets in this price range do NOT have any of the Google software and lack the Google Play store.

The Bad:

Front and rear cameras
MicroUSB port (data only, not for charging)
12v DC proprietary adapter
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean

Let me first say that the good outweighs the bad. I highly recommend this tablet.

BUT! It’s not perfect. For example, the front and rear cameras are both only 2 megapixels and the quality is not that great. So, you’re not going to use this for keepsake photos and videos, but it’s good enough for scanning barcodes and doing video chats.

The MicroUSB port does NOT charge the device! This is a pretty important thing to note because to charge it, you have to use their supplied, proprietary charger with a very short 2 foot cord.

Also, the OS is not the latest. It comes preinstalled with Android 4.2 Jellybean. Today’s version of Android is 4.4.4 Kit Kat and the next major release, code named “Android L” is just around the corner. I can’t confirm this, but rumors are that there will be no updates for this. BUT, Jelly Bean 4.2 is a robust and powerful version of Android and as long as you update Google Play Services from the Google Play store, you’re going to get most of the important updates from Google.

In spite of the powerful hardware, it’s quite laggy and choppy. My wife hasn’t complained, but my son noticed and I noticed and the reviewers on Amazon noticed. Read below on “Make it better” for a fix.

The Box Contents:

There’s absolutely no paperwork or manuals in the box. You get the tablet, the charger, a Micro USB to standard USB (PC to tablet) cable, and a USB PC female adapter cable. I mean, one end plugs into the MicroUSB data port on your tablet and the other end is an open USB female port so you can plug in things like PC mice, keyboards, and external hard drives.

Make it Better:

For the technically capable… You can root this tablet with TPSparkyRoot. Once rooted, you can then flash an alternative firmware (more commonly mislabeled as a “ROM”) and reports are that it makes this thing liquid smooth, like butter.

Conclusion:

For the money, you’ll have a really hard time finding this much bang for the buck. With the screen resolution so high, and a decent enough size screen, you can even remote control your high-end desktop PCs with it. –>Get it here<–

2014-02-02

Best Android Apps to Start Off 2014 (SHOPPING)

Check out Android Spaces

All these apps are free. This article is one of a series of articles about the best Android apps available as of the beginning of 2014. Click here for the main article that includes links to this article and links to all the other categories of “The Best Of” apps for beginning 2014. This article is for the shopping apps category available at the beginning of 2014.

Amazon

The Amazon app [phones] [tablets] (not to be confused with the Amazon App Store, also reviewed below) is a native front end to the Amazon online store (not the app store). This provides most of the features in the web site (if not all of them… I’ve, by no means, researched each and every feature of this massive web site).

This app is useful for obvious reasons in addition to the fact that you can be browsing in a brick and mortar store, like Wal-Mart, pick up an actual item off the shelf and scan its barcode into this app and it’ll tell you what you can get it for on Amazon.

I won’t go into extreme detail of what this app does. If you’re familiar with Amazon.com, you already have a good idea. You can, of course, track your Amazon.com orders with this app too. Not much has changed from my review of it last year. It’s still a good, solid app and I highly recommend it, even if you don’t purchase anything from them, at least you can do some comparison price shopping while walking around inside other stores.

Amazon App Store

Download Here. One of the great things about Android is that you’re NOT locked into just ONE app store, like you are with iOS and Windows Phone. You don’t have to root or “jail brake” your Android phone to install another app store. It’s perfectly legitimate to do so on Android and is activated with just a simple settings change on any Android phone or tablet.

The Amazon Android App Store is a direct competitor to the Google Play app store that’s pre-installed on almost every Android device made (with the exception of the really cheap and crappy Chinese Android products).

This app has been improved significantly from this time last year. It still has some issues though. For example, it still doesn’t have a “What’s New” section for each app. Apps are not updated nearly as often here as they are in the Google Play Store. Installing an app seems to take significantly longer and they do NOT install in the background. You HAVE to wait until the app finishes installing before leaving the App Store, or next time you come back to the App Store, you’ll find (even days or weeks later), that it hasn’t finished installing your app yet.

One thing I really like about the Amazon Android App Store is their Free App Of The Day. Every day, they GIVE AWAY a PAID app. In other words, it’s an app that’s NOT free on any other day, but on THAT day, you get it for free!

To Install It:

On your phone, go to Settings –> Security –> Unknown Sources

and make sure it’s checked.

Then go to this URL to download it to your phone (or Google search for “Amazon App Store”).

Amazon Price Check

This app [Amazon App Store] [Google Play] lets you scan barcodes while in a real store and compare the prices to Amazon… Not sure why this is a different app from the Amazon app, which provides the same functionality.

Ebay

This is a nicer and more responsive native app [Amazon App Store] [Google Play] than trying to use the ebay website from your mobile browser. If you’re familiar with ebay, you already know what you can do with this app. If not, just look at these screen shots and those should pretty much tell you what you need to know. On the left is my screen shot from last year (logged in). On the right, from this year (not logged in).

Best Buy

[Google Play] This is a front end to the Best Buy web site and is very useful when you’re in a physical Best Buy store. If you’ll notice, most products have a ticket on the shelf with a price, a small description, and a 2D QR bar code. Scan it with this app and you’ll get the full details of the product. No significant changes from last year’s review, though I’ll point out that I now seem to lose my logon and have to continuously log on. Since my passwords are long and complex and stored in LastPass, this is very frustrating.

You can also check the balance of your Best Buy gift cards by simply taking a picture of the back of your gift card.

If you’re a RewardsZone member (and if not, WHY NOT?), you can check on your RewardZone points and even display your RewardZone points on your phone to the cashier at checkout to redeem your points, instead of printing them out at home and bringing them in. You’ll save ink, paper, time, frustration, and money… an the “green” Nazis will sprinkle their happy happy fairy dust on you.

Game Stop

I no longer recommend this app. It tracks too much of your information. I’ve uninstalled it.

FedEx

[Amazon App Store] [Google Play] The FedEx app is highly useful when you’re tracking a packing you’ve either sent or are expecting to receive (such as one you ordered with say, the Amazon app). The screen shot to the right pretty much sums up what this app does. It’s short and simple… It does the things you expect and nothing fancy.

UPS

[Amazon App Store] [Google Play] The UPS app is similar to the FedEx app. It does the same thing, except for UPS shipments. No surprises here. New this year (since my review last year) is the “UPS My Choice” feature.

QR Droid & Barcode Scanner

[Amazon App Store] [Google Play] Both apps “QR Droid” and “Barcode Scanner” let you scan those 2D barcodes you’re seeing everywhere. They usually represent a URL and it’s extremely convenient to scan them in places like BestBuy on product tags on the shelves or on movie posters or even on web sites on your desktop computer to load up the URL on your phone. Installing QR Droid also gives you the ability to create your OWN QR Codes. For example, you can send a contact from your contacts to it and it’ll display as a QR code on your screen. Someone else can scan your screen with their phone and receive your contact. If you’re on a web page, you can share the web page to the app and it’ll produce a QR Code with the URL encoded in it. You can save it and e-mail it or publish it on your website, or show it on your screen to let someone else scan it. But, since we’re in the “Shopping” apps category here, you can use it to scan 2D QR Codes in stores to get more information on the products and to even compare prices.

Kroger

[Google Play] The Kroger app is a master app for all the stores shown in the screen shot:

Kroger
Baker’s
CityMarket
Dillons
Food4Less
Food4Less Fremont
Foods Co
Fred Meyer
Fry’s
Gerbes
JayC Food Stores
King Suupers
Owen’s
Pay Less Super Markets
QFC Quality Food Centers
Ralphs
Smith’s

Kroger is the parent company for all these grocery stores. This app works with all of them. If you have a customer loyalty card at any of these stores (and if you don’t, WHY NOT?) they all work at all those stores. This app will let you browse coupons and add them to your card. When you check out, if you’ve put any of those products in your cart, when you swipe your card at the register, all those coupons are applied. You can check your fuel points too and see the weekly ads. This is a MUST HAVE app if you shop at any of these grocery stores.

CraigsNotifica

That’s not a typo. That’s actually what it’s called. This app is dropped from last year’s recommendation because it appears it’s no longer available.

Google Shopper

Google went on a rampage last year, axing many apps. Google Shopper was one of them. So, this is no longer available. But see “Google Offers” below. But, here’s my review from last year: Google Shopper integrates with “Barcode Scanner” (reviewed above). Scan any barcode and this app will find multiple sources for that product. This is probably the best way to find the best price on anything. Use this when shopping in any physical store to decide whether or not it’s worth buying that product in your hands now, or somewhere else.

Google Offers

New on this year’s list, Google Offers, I believe, is somewhat of a replacement for Google Shopper. I have chosen to NOT install it because you have to enable both GPS location services AND location history. That’s too much for my personal taste, but if you don’t mind your personal location being tracked and recorded, then this app can provide you some savings. From their description:

“Now with Google Offers, you don’t have to pay to get offers. No need to buy them, just save offers to your account and redeem with your phone when you shop.

The app helps you discover relevant offers from local businesses and big brands, and keeps track of offers you find on Google Search, Maps, and more.

You can use them straight away, or the app will remind you next time you’re near the store. Then, all you do is open the app to show your offer at checkout—no printing needed.”

Gift Shopper Pro ($0.99)

[Google Play] [Amazon App Store] New on this year’s list. This was a free app of the Day on the Amazon App Store, so I got it free. This is a great app for keeping track of gifts you’re buying for loved ones for any holiday or occasion you need to track. It is tablet friendly as well.

T-Mobile MobileLife

Available for free [Amazon App Store] (and likely pre-installed) for T-Mobile customers, this app does many things, but my family uses it for a shared and immediately live shopping list. Whenever I discover I’m out or running low on something, I’ll pull my phone out and enter it onto our shopping list. When my wife or I are getting groceries, we’ll pull out this list on our phones and check off the items as we put them in our buggy. What’s great is if I remember something after my wife has already left for the store, I just add it to the list, and she’ll see it while she’s shopping. A non-carrier specific shared shopping list app that’s very popular is “Out Of Milk” [Amazon App Store] [Google Play]

You Chime In

What are some of YOUR favorite apps in this category? Let us know in the comments below.

Conclusion

This completes my list of “Best” shopping apps available to start off 2014. There are, of course, other shopping of apps and this is, by no means, a comprehensive list. Some of these are the apps in this category that I use on a daily basis and install on a new phone or tablet as soon as I get it.

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2014-02-02

BEST ANDROID APPS TO START OFF 2014 (Financial Apps)

Check out Android Spaces

This article is one of a series of articles about the best Android apps available as of the beginning of 2014. Click here for the main article that includes links to this article and links to all the other categories of “The Best Of” apps for beginning 2014. This article is for the Financial apps category, which lists the best banking, debt, and financial apps available at the beginning of 2014. Most of these apps are free or very cheap.

Google Wallet

NOTICE! Google Wallet used to be just for phones with NFC, and was also blocked by many carriers and wouldn’t install on many phones. Google has significantly changed what Google Wallet is now. Now, it is your Google money account. With it you have access to transactions from the Google Play store (apps, music, movies, books, etc…). You can also send money to friend through it, as well as make NFC payments at your local retailers (even make local purchases WITHOUT NFC!). Google Wallet now works on just about any phone on just about any carrier.

If you enable location services (let it see your GPS), then it can notify you of nearby deals.

Debt Payoff Planner ($0.99)

Debt Payoff Planner lets you enter all of your debts, their interest rates, minimum payments due on each, what you can afford each month towards paying off debt, and it will show you the best way to pay down those debts to get it paid off the earliest, paying the least amount in interest.

It will produce payoff tables, showing you each debut, how much to apply to it, on what days. It’s very simple to use and doesn’t require you to understand the complexities of compound interest or anything like that. All you need to know is how much you owe on each, what their interest rates are, their minimum payments, and how much you can afford to apply towards your debts each month. It does all the complex work for you and shows you simple payment plans.

aCar (free & paid)

aCar keeps track of your auto expenses, including fuel costs, repair and service records and costs, and can show you where you’re spending the most and will even calculate your mileage that you’re getting. There’s both a free version and a paid version that gives you some nice graphs and reports.

Each time you fill up, enter the number of gallons you purchased, your total price (or price/gallon) and your current mileage. It’ll figure out the rest.

This does take due diligence on your part to stay current and enter it every time.

adSense Dashboard (free)

Do you use Google ads for a side income on your websites and blogs (or perhaps your own apps)? adSense Dashboard shows you your earnings in a nice, clean dashboard UI.

You can also choose views for:

Overview (the dashboard)
Sites
Custom Channels
URL channels
Ad units
Graphs
Reports

Google AdSense (Free)

Much like adSense Dashboard, Google’s AdSense provides you a different kind of view of your Google ad income. Of course, it looks more like the Google Now Cards interface.

Google’s version also has notifications, much like the notification drop down in their Google+ mobile app, so if there are any notifications on your account, you can see them from the bell menu.

Quicken 2013 and Quicken 2014

If you use Quicken on your desktop, then you have access to the free, mobile app. Though the mobile app is free, the desktop app (required) is not free. There’s a version for Quicken 2013 and one for Quicken 2014. From inside your desktop application, you have it sync with your Quicken Cloud account, then on your mobile device, you log into your cloud account and you can view all your accounts from your mobile. Additionally, you can finally enter transactions directly from your mobile device. This has created a new level of convenience in the Quicken software. You can enter your transactions at the time you write your checks, rather than downloading them and going through your checkbook register to validate.

Just be aware of the MANY bugs in Quicken software!

Financial Calculators (Free)

Financial Calculators is a free app, and despite the pluralness of the name, it’s a single app, but it does have multiple calculators in it.

Most (if not all) of the many calculators in this app provide multiple fields for you to enter. You can leave some out and it will auto-calculate the values of the others (provided you gave it enough information).

Rather than explain each calculator in this app (there are MANY), here’s a screen shot of the top of the list (there are more):

Your Bank’s mobile apps

Of course, I can’t provide a review of every single bank’s and credit card company’s apps. Instead, I’ll explain what you can expect from most of them in 2014: For bank apps, you should have access to your checking transactions. You should also have the ability to make deposits from home (or anywhere) via your mobile app. You simply sign the back of the check you received, then use your bank’s app to take photos of the front and the back, then tell the mobile app how much the check is. The app will do OCR on the routing number and account number of the check, then make those funds immediately available to you. No more rushing to the bank during their highly useless hours (openning an hour or to after you go to work, and closing an hour before you leave work).

Conclusion:

This is just a small fraction of what’s available as far as financial apps are concerned. Search the Google Play store for your own bank’s or credit card’s apps. They can be quite convenient.

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2014-02-01

Quicken 2014 Bug

I’ve reported on many Quicken bugs over the years and have reported them all to Intuit multiple times. I’d be embarrassed to admit how many hours I’ve spent on the phone, walking them through their own bugs. It’s all been 100% fruitless. They don’t care or can’t comprehend that their precious product isn’t perfect. So, I will now only report it on their website and blog about it here, hoping that maybe they’ll feel just a tiny shred of embarrassment. And, of course, for your benefit to know that it’s not just you experiencing this bug. It is a real thing.

So, what’s the bug THIS time?

If you download your transactions from your bank, and one of them is a deposit, then you attempt to change the name of the deposit from say, “DEPOSIT” (which the bank gave it) to the actual payer, say “John Smith”, Quicken will CHANGE THE TRANSACTION DATE to a date in the future, saying “It’s too late to make a payment to John Smith”. Here’s an actual screen shot:

Forget that this is a deposit of only a penny (that’s a whole other blog post!) The point is that this IS a deposit and I want to change the name from “DEPOSIT” to “Verizon Wireless”, who is the one that sent me the check. Quicken 2014 insists that I must be setting up a payment and refuses to keep the actual transaction date that’s already there.

I even accepted the transaction as “DEPOSIT”, hoping that after it was already in the registry, that I could change the payee to the right name and it still exhibits the same bug.

Solution

I know of no solution. As a work around, I just put “Verizon Wireless” in the memo field instead, leaving the bank’s choice of “DEPOSIT” in the payee field, which is NOT the right solution. So, no solution, only a less than desired work around.

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2014-01-19

BEST ANDROID APPS TO START OFF 2014 (PHONE/COMMUNICATION APPS)

Check out Android Spaces

This article is one of a series of articles about the best Android apps available as of the beginning of 2014. Click here for the main article that includes links to this article and links to all the other categories of “The Best Of” apps for beginning 2014. Let’s get started with the Phone/Communication category, which lists the best phone and communication apps available at the beginning of 2014. For last year’s list, click here:

Groove IP and Talk-A-Tone (Free VOIP)

If you have a Google Voice Account (and if you don’t… WHY NOT???), you can install Groove IP (free version or paid version $4.99) or Talk-A-Tone to make and receive calls over your data plan with your Google voice number. As far as your mobile carrier is concerned, no call took place, so NO MINUTES ARE USED!

Groove IP is one of the few apps I’ve actually purchased.

I don’t know how many times I’ve explained this to people… they just DO NOT get it, so hopefully you WILL (pay attention!): The official Google Voice app DOES NOT MAKE VOIP CALLS!!!! The official Google Voice app does everything EXCEPT make VOIP calls. Yes, you CAN change your GV settings to forward calls placed to your GV# to your real cell phone number, but when you answer, you’re USING MINUTES because you’re actually using your mobile carrier’s phone connection. But if you use Groove IP or Talk-A-Tone, you can send and receive calls ON DATA ONLY. As far as your mobile carrier is concerned, nothing is happening except “stuff on the internet”. I’m hoping you can see the difference. Making “real” phone calls with your carrier USES YOUR MINUTES. Using Groove IP or Talk-A-Tone, you have UNLIMITED minutes. (note: it DOES use your data, so if you have a data cap, be mindful of that).

[GARD]

So, eat my shorts Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and everyone else!

Sadly, Google is turning off 3rd party APIs for VOIP in May, so these apps will ONLY work until then. Then it’s lights out. Sad smile ALL 3rd party VOIP apps that use Google Voice will cease to function. This is a huge downer for me as my home phone is actually a 100% free Google Voice phone.

Both Groove IP and Talk-A-Tone have both free and paid versions. The free versions work only on your Wi-Fi connection. The paid versions will use your mobile data connection too. But, if you do pay for them, remember, they stop working in May 2014.

Red Phone (Encrypted Phone Calls)

New in my list this year: With Red Phone installed, your cell number is registered with them. Then, when anyone else with Red Phone calls you, Red Phone notifies them that you have it to and they can place a secure call with you. This bypasses making a real phone call and instead makes a VOIP call and it’s encrypted. This not only encrypts your call, but it does NOT use minutes from your cell phone provider because you’re not really making a “real” phone call. As far as your carrier is concerned, it’s just “stuff on the internet”.

Eat my shorts, NSA!

TextSecure (Encrypted Text SMS)

New in my list this year: Make by the same people that gave us Red Phone, is TextSecure. this is a texting app, but with a special feature: Anyone you text that’s also using it will receive your text messages securely. Both of your messages are encrypted locally, before sent out. Just like RedPhone, when you install TextSecure, it registers your phone number with their servers so that your contacts who also use it will automatically detect that you have it and will encrypt your text messages. You can use this app as your standard SMS app too. If you text someone that does NOT have TextSecure, it just sends the text messages in the normal way any other SMS app does. If your text messages ARE encrypted, it’ll show a lock icon by them so you always know whether you have a secure or unsecure connection.

Eat my shorts, again, NSA!

Chomp (SMS)

New in my list this year: Chomp SMS is my favorite SMS app (aside from the encryption provided by TextSecure. You have a LOT of customizations of the look and feel of your text messages.

Of course, if you want encrypted messaging, this is not the app for you. But if you want a great looking messaging app, this is one of the best. You can even make it look like the bubbly iOS texting app, if you like.

One thing to note about encrypted messages: If you are running CyanogenMod 11 (if you’re not sure, then you most certainly are NOT), it has TextSecure’s encrypted technology built directly INTO the Operating System so ALL your SMS apps can send and receive encrypted messages! So, since I am running CM11, I continue to use Chomp SMS and I also get the benefit of encrypted messages without the need of the stand-alone TextSecure app. Yes, I have the best of both worlds!

Yes, it’s supports EMOJI and themes as well.

Thanks CyanogenMod!

Google Hangouts

New in my list this year: Google Hangouts is Google’s latest offering for messaging. They are integrating all of their various messaging apps into one. This app does SMS, Google Chat, some of Google Voice, and Video and Audio chatting all in ONE app. If you like the Google card like interfaces (I personally do NOT for this type of app), then you’ll love this. It can even be your default SMS app. This is almost an all-in-one messaging app.

Google Voice

Staying on the list this year: Not to be confused with the Google Voice SERVICE, this is the Google Voice Android App. Yes, it sounds like I’m splitting hairs, but the Google Voice SERVICE is much bigger than this lonely, single, Android App. Of course, this app gives you a user interface into the Google Voice service. This app does SMS (only via your Google Voice #, not your real cell #) and provides you a great UI for your Google Voice voice messages. BTW, you can make Google Voice your REAL voice-mail provider for your REAL cell phone number, instead of your cell phone providers very limited voicemail service. If you use GV as your standard VM provider, then you get everything you had before PLUS you can get your v-mail sent to you in e-mail. You get automatic voice to text transcriptions (which are searchable!), can access your v-mail from any web browser, from the GV app, from your e-mail. You can play them on your phone or in a web browser. You can SEE them as if they’re e-mail with a GMail like UI. Once you try it, I promise you, you’ll NEVER go back to that crappy old v-mail service your cell provider has for you, wasting all that time listening to messages with just your audio and phone pad interface.

[GARD]

Note that if you have CyanogenMod 11 or higher (again, if you’re not sure, then you definitely do NOT), then you have Google Voice support DIRECTLY in your phone’s operating system. You PHONE can use the free, unlimited texting service from your Google Voice number. ANY SMS app on your CM11 phone can use your Google Voice # for sending and receiving SMS messages. If you do NOT have CM11 (or Sprint), then Google’s free SMS via your Google Voice number has utility ONLY in the Google Voice app.

But, with your Google Voice service and this app (or any SMS app on a Sprint phone or a CM11 phone), you can cancel your expensive texting plan and use ONLY your Google Voice service. It’s free and it’s unlimited.

Oh! And calls to your GV# can be filtered for telemarketing spam. So can SMS messages. It’s an optional (and free) feature. Of course, you want this feature turned on!

See my 2013 “Best Android Apps to Start off 2013 (Phone/Communication Apps)” for a more, in-depth description of this service.

Eat my shorts, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, Virgin, etc…

Mr. Number (Spam Blocking)

Still on my list this year: This is an oldie, but a goodie. Install Mr. Number and it will instantly lookup any incoming call and compare the caller ID information to a known list of telemarketers. It will actually WARN you with a popup notification that the caller is a suspected spammer. At which point you can choose to answer, hang-up, or block it. If you block it, it gets added to your block list and you’ll never receive a call from them again. If you get a call from a telemarketer that Mr. Number didn’t recognize, you can then tell Mr. Number that this number is a telemarketer and block it. The great thing about that is it registers that number with the Mr. Number servers as a spammer so OTHER users get notified too.

This service is a crowd sourced service. All of you are helping each other out. You can even leave a description of the telemarketing call. Even iOS users have a version of this app, so they too are contributing to the crowd sourced information.

Eat my shorts, telemarketers!

YP Mobile

Same as last year: YP Mobile (available here in the Google Play store) provides your basic yellow pages phone book, plus the familiar stuff you find in other “local services” apps for finding restaurants, gas prices, etc… Not much more to say about it. This app is no more or less special than others of its type, but I’m including it as one in that type of category. Others are Yahoo!, Yelp, and Where.

[GARD]

Personally, I find Google Maps a superior tool for finding local businesses and their phone numbers as it shows a map of your results, so you can see, visually, immediately, what’s close by, then just tap whichever one you want on the map to get the details and phone numbers.

Google Maps

New on my list this year: Why Google Maps in a list of PHONE apps? Because, I’ve found this is the most convenient way to find local numbers by business name OR by category (such as “Pizza”). The search results are pins on a map, showing me WHERE these places are, which is almost always important to me for local places. Touching a pin shows you that company’s contact information, INCLUDING their phone number, which you can tap and call immediately. It is UBER useful! I actually use Google Maps more than anything else for finding phone numbers. To be honest, I don’t even have YP Mobile installed anymore. I do want to leave it on my list, because it is useful and I just can’t bring myself to not recommending it, even though I honestly do NOT use it myself, anymore. Google Maps is just awesome for finding local (and even non-local) businesses.

Dropped from this year’s list

Not all apps from last year made this year’s list. Among them is Call Master. Now, this is actually a GREAT app and works even better than Mr. Number, but it has one terminal flaw: It sometimes pops up a nag screen in front of an incoming call, making it impossible to answer the phone. I’ve missed a couple of very important phone calls. For that reason, I’ve removed it from this year’s list. BUT, if you’re wanting to pay for the full version, I’m sure this nag screen problem would go away.

What was better about it than Mr. Number was that it embeds itself DEEP into the OS so it would actually PREVENT the telemarketing call from making its way into the phone’s notification system. The phone won’t ring. You’ll have no call log. Not even Mr. Number will be aware of it. With Mr. Number, when a blocked caller calls, you hear a short ring before Mr. Number shuts them down.

You Chime In

What are some of YOUR favorite apps in this category? Let us know in the comments below.

Conclusion

This completes my list of “Best” phone-specific apps available to start off 2014. There are, of course, other communication types of apps and this is, by no means, a comprehensive list. These are the apps in this category that I use on a daily basis and install on a new phone or tablet as soon as I get it.

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2014-01-19

Best Android Apps to start Off 2014

Check out Android Spaces

Here are my “Best of” Android apps to start off with in 2014.

I’ll list them by category and explain the purpose of each one and why I’m choosing it. Each category will be a separate post because, as you can see of the length of the list, it would be quite long if it were all in one post. Each bulleted category below is a LINK to the article about the apps in that category. The list of categories below will only have hotlinks to articles for which I’ve completed. Note that when I did this for 2013, I did NOT get a chance to make articles for all of these. I will attempt it again this year.

Keep checking back as I post more articles… one for each category below

•    Phone/Communication Apps
•    Finance
•    Shopping (Everything here is FREE)
•    Imaging
•    Utilities
•    Audio
•    Games
•    Calculators
•    File Management
•    Security
•    Geo Location
•    Launchers
•    Productivity
•    Social
•    News & Reference
•    Time (Clocks/Alarms/Calendars, etc…)
•    Networking
•    Weather

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2012-12-26

Best Android Apps to start off 2013

Check out Android Spaces

Here are my “Best of” Android apps to start off with in 2013.

I’ll list them by category and explain the purpose of each one and why I’m choosing it. Each category will be a separate post because, as you can see of the length of the list, it would be quite long if it were all in one post. Each bulleted category below is a LINK to the article about the apps in that category. The list of categories below will only have hotlinks to articles for which I’ve completed. Keep checking back as I post more articles… one for each category below.

•	Phone/Communication Apps
•	Finance
•	Shopping (Everything here is FREE)
•	Imaging
•	Utilities
•	Audio
•	Games
•	Calculators
•	File Management
•	Security
•	Geo Location
•	Launchers
•	Productivity
•	Social
•	News & Reference
•	Time (Clocks/Alarms/Calendars, etc…)
•	Networking
•	Weather

Phone/Communication Apps

These apps have to do with phone calling features or communicating with IM or Texting or live video communication.

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2012-12-26

Best Android Apps to start off 2013 (Phone/Communication Apps)

Check out Android Spaces

This article is one of a series of articles about the best Android apps available as of the beginning of 2013. Click here for the main article that includes links to this article and links to all the other categories of “The Best Of” apps for beginning 2013. Let’s get started with the Phone/Communication category, which lists the best phone and communication apps available at the ending of 2012 and beginning of 2013.

Google Voice

Google Voice is, by far, one of the most valuable FREE Android apps available. [GARD] There’s a LOT of confusion and misinformation about what this app is. So, let me first explain what it is NOT!

Google voice:

IS NOT a replacement for your phone’s dialer.
IS NOT a VOIP app (It doesn’t let you make calls over the internet, bypassing your carrier’s minutes).
IS NOT JUST an app. It’s also a service available from many devices and software.

So, if it’s not the above, then WHAT is it?

It’s two parts, so let’s list them, then explain them:

It’s a SERVICE provided by Google (not an app).
There’s also an Android app, using the same name, that provides a UI to the Google Voice services.

Note that you MUST first create a Google Voice account. If you already have a GMail account or any other Google account like a Google+ account, just log in to it, then go to http://voice.google.com and activate your voice service, get a new phone# (it’ll walk you through it) and then make at least one phone call from GMAIL via your web browser (that’ll activate the voice chat features you’ll need for greater features I describe further down in this article).

The SERVICE:

Google Voice as a service is a service in the same sense that Google Search is a service or that Google Maps is a service. The mapping technology actually lives on the Google servers, distributed across the planet. They provide multiple UIs to access the mapping service, like the web UI at http://maps.google.com and the iOS Google Maps app and the Android Google Maps app, and Google Earth for Windows (and many other platforms). Google Voice is also a service that’s hosted on Google’s server farms and there are many UIs available for Google Voice too, including the web interface at http://voice.google.com and the Android App available in the Google Play store here.

The Google Voice service provides the following features:

A free phone number from any area code in the United States (and many other countries).
- Note that a “phone number” is not a “phone line”. It’s JUST a number!
Free voice mail.
- V-Mail available from a web UI.
- V-Mail forwarded to your e-mail.
- Access via a web browser.
- Access via any real phone.
- Access via the Google Voice app on Android.
SMS Texting (via any of the available UIs (web browser, Android App, iOS app, certain hardware, and many 3rd party apps)).
Telemarketer blocking.
Individual number blocking.
Caller ID.
Make/Receive phone calls via your PC’s browser (in G-Mail).
Conference calling.
3 way calling.
Call hold.
Call forwarding.
Forward incoming calls to any real phone (like your cell, your work phone, your home phone, etc…)
Plus many other features.

The Android App:

The Google Voice Android app is just one of many front ends to the Google Voice Service. The Android app is available here in the Google Play store. Note that the Google Voice service is supported by MORE than just the Google Voice app available from Google. There are many other apps that add significant value to the Google Voice service, two of which I’ll include in this article. Installing the Google Voice app on your Android Device (which does NOT have to be a Phone!!!) will give you the following features: [GARD]

Free, unlimited SMS texting (just like your expensive texting plan, but free).
Google Chat, including video chat.
Make calls from your Android device through your GV number (don’t confuse this with VOIP. This feature will NOT make a call over your internet connection. It just uses your regular cell phone minutes, but it’ll dial your GV # first, then from there, make an outgoing call from your GV# so that the party you’re calling will see your GV# on their caller ID and not your cell phone number (this feature is only available on phones, BTW, not tablets or other Android devices).

The free texting service is reason alone to install this app. Click the link in the prior sentence to read all about it, with full instructions on how to do it. Do that, then cancel your expensive texting plan and have your cell provider BLOCK texting from your phone so you don’t accidentally send text messages using your carrier’s expensive plan.

Groove IP:

Groove IP is an app in the Google Play store. There are 2 versions, the lite, free version available here, and the full featured, paid version available here.

This app is a 3rd party app that uses the Google Voice service (so, you need a free Google Voice account), but provides something fundamentally important on your Android device that the Google Voice app does NOT! [GARD] It let’s you make and receive phone calls directly to and from your Google Voice number over the internet. This is a very very important distinction that so many people have a difficult time understanding. Remember, the Google Voice app does NOT exist to let you make phone calls over the internet, bypassing your phone carrier’s expensive minutes plan. Groove IP DOES!!! Groove IP turns your phone or tablet (any Android device with a speaker, microphone, and internet connection) into a phone that uses ONLY your Google Voice account. If you make or receive a call to or from your Google Voice # with this app, YOUR CELL PHONE PROVIDER IS UNAWARE OF THE CALL AND SEES IT ONLY AS INTERNET USAGE!!!! Why do I keep underlining, bolding, and italicizing these things? Because I have to explain this to people about a dozen times before it sinks in. I don’t know why, because it seems pretty simple, but I think people have a preconceived idea of what the Google Voice app does and just can’t move past that. This app WILL let you make and receive phone calls using ONLY your data connection. It will NOT be recorded as a phone call made with your cell phone provider. It will NOT use up minutes on your minutes plan, as the image above claims.

You start the app, log in with your Google account, and this app gives you its own phone dialer. From here, you can make a call, as long as you have a decent internet connection. It doesn’t matter if it’s a wifi connection or via the cell towers… just as long as it’s an internet connection.

As long as this app is on and logged in (and there’s a setting to make it do that when the phone powers on), if someone calls your Google Voice number, you can answer it with this app and carry on a normal “phone” conversation… and it’s all FREE (meaning it won’t use your plan’s minutes). Of course, if you have a limited data plan, you’ll need to monitor usage, but it’s pretty small in usage. (Sprint and T-Mobile customers still have unlimited data plans available).

Yes, you can STILL use your regular dialer and still make and receive calls using your regular cell phone number.

If you install this on a tablet, your tablet becomes a phone! YES, REALLY!

The difference between the paid version and the free version is the free version limits your use to JUST your wifi connection. So, if you have a tablet that doesn’t have cellular data capabilities, there’s no advantage to buying the paid version. Just install the free version. If you have a tablet with cellular data capabilities, the paid version lets you continue to use your tablet as a phone any where you have coverage. Ditto for your phone. Of course, there are no minutes used when talking on a call made or received with this app.

Talkatone

Talkatone is almost identical to Groove IP, so rather than repeating everything I’ve already said, read the Groove IP review above, then continue here for the few differences.

OK, now that you’ve read the Groove IP section above, let’s continue…

In addition to all the features listed above for Groove IP, this all also provides texting over your Google Voice account and lets you send pictures to other Google chat users. So, this app overlaps in features with the Google Voice app (texting).

[GARD]

This app is also available on iOS.

Mr. Number

Mr. Number (available here in the Google Play store) is invaluable in that it shows you who’s calling, even if they’re caller ID information is blocked. It’s especially useful for avoiding telemarketers (or bill collectors). It gathers information from other Mr. Number users who mark their incoming calls as spam or not, which is sent back up to the Mr. Number servers and if they ever call you, then Mr. Number steps in immediately, before you answer, to tell you. Then, you can just ignore the call, force it to hang up on them, or block them. You’ll never receive a call from them again.

Absolutely Invaluable!

Mr. Number is NOT the only app/service that provides this capability, but it’s one of the most popular. Popularity is important with this kind of app because its database of spammers is crowd sourced. The bigger the crowd, the more extensive their database of spammers, bill collectors, and survey takers.

This app is also available on iOS. That’s important because it increases the pool of people contributing to the data.

Call Master

Call Master (available here in the Google Play store) is similar to Mr. Number, but much more powerful. It requires a rooted phone. It can dig in underneath your native phone and do some extra powerful stuff that a regular app just can’t do without root access. This is definitely an app for power users, but it is very very powerful.

From its description in the Google Play store:

Advantages:

★ Your phone never rings
★ Your screen never turns on
★ Private call and SMS inbox with log sweeper
★ Reject unknown, withheld and private numbers
★ Password protection
★ Route message content to other numbers
★ Clear frequent call lists

Features:

★ Block MMS before download
★ Filter SMS by content
★ Text variable creation, routing and replies
★ Global regex and wildcard filters
★ Custom notification icons
★ Vibration and LED feedback
★ Backup encryption and password protection
★ Powerful logging and sorting system
★ Number testing
★ Independent contact library for total privacy
★ Profile scheduling
★ Light and dark themes

YP Mobile

YP Mobile (available here in the Google Play store) provides your basic yellow pages phone book, plus the familiar stuff you find in other “local services” apps for finding restaurants, gas prices, etc…

[GARD]

Not much more to say about it. This app is no more or less special than others of its type, but I’m including it as one in that type of category. Others are Yahoo!, Yelp, and Where. Personally, I find Google Maps a superior tool for finding local businesses and their phone numbers as it shows a map of your results, so you can see, visually, immediately, what’s close by, then just tap whichever one you want on the map to get the details and phone numbers.

You Chime In

What are some of YOUR favorite apps in this category? Let us know in the comments below.

Conclusion

This completes my list of “Best” phone-specific apps available to start off 2013. There are, of course, other communication types of apps and this is, by no means, a comprehensive list. These are the apps in this category that I use on a daily basis and install on a new phone or tablet as soon as I get it.

Click here to follow me on Google+.

Follow me on Twitter @CSharpner.

See these images?

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