Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Review

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge Review: Curve Your Enthusiasm

Daniel Howley

 Technology Reporter 

yahoo

November 13, 2014

 

 

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 is the best big-screen smartphone on the planet. But what if you took that great phone and put a crazy curved screen on its right side that let you control apps, manage notifications, and even act as a ruler? Would that make it better? 

For the answer to that question, see Samsung’s new Galaxy Note Edge. The latest in Samsung’s seemingly endless parade of smartphones to make a debut this year, the Note Edge is the company’s top-of-the-line handset, and, boy, is it priced as such.

The Note Edge costs $400 with a two-year contract through AT&T, $35 a month for two years on Sprint, or $950 unlocked. Verizon, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular haven’t announced pricing for the Edge, but expect the handset to cost about the same amount on those carriers as well.

Now, the question is, should you spend such a big chunk of change on a Galaxy Note 4 with a curved screen?

Size and designI’m not exaggerating when I say that the Note Edge is basically a mutated Note 4. Both handsets have the same metal frame and soft-touch, faux-leather removable back panels. Both let you insert a microSD card.

Where the two differ is the curved screen, obviously, and button placement. For the Note 4, Samsung wisely chose to position the power button on the phone’s right edge, making it easily reachable with one hand.

Because the Note Edge’s screen takes up the phone’s right side, however, Samsung placed its power button along its top edge, meaning that you have to reposition the Edge in your hand to lock its screen or turn it off.

The Edge’s curved screen also means that the handset is a hair wider than the Note 4. The Edge measures 6.0 × 3.2 × 0.33 inches, while the Note 4 measures 6.0 × 3.1 × 0.33 inches. Despite that, the phone is actually more comfortable to hold, as the slope of the curved screen contours to the shape of your hand.

It’s still not exactly easy to use the Edge with one hand, but the screen’s curve certainly helps.

ScreenThe Note Edge’s curved screen may look like it’s separate from the phone’s main display, but the two are actually one panel. As a result, apps look as though they cascade over the side of the Edge.

Unfortunately, the Edge’s main viewing area is slightly smaller than the Note 4’s, 5.6 inches vs. 5.7 inches. At times the Edge’s cascading effect makes apps look as though they are being cut off, even though they aren’t. It’s a rather odd optical illusion that takes a bit of getting used to.

Like the Note 4, the Note Edge’s main viewing area is absolutely gorgeous. Both phones use the same Super AMOLED (active matrix of organic light-emitting diodes) display technology, which means colors look brilliant, though somewhat exaggerated. And thanks to its high pixel resolution, images, photos, and text all look incredibly sharp on the Edge’s screen.

The Edge’s side screen, which Samsung calls the Edge Screen, offers equally crisp, vibrant visuals.

Using the Edge ScreenThe Edge Screen is meant to make navigating your phone easier, while providing you with notifications and news updates. It delivers on all three counts.

The Edge Screen can display seven different “panels” such as a main panel with customizable shortcuts for favorite apps, a notifications panel, a Twitter Trends panel, panels for Yahoo Sports, and others.

Of all the panels, I found the main panel to be the most useful, as I could jump between apps by simply tapping their icons. Normally, to switch apps in Android, you have to exit an app by pressing the home button and tap the icon for the app you want to open. Sure, the Edge Screen eliminates only a single step, but it’s surprisingly helpful.

The notifications panel was probably my least favorite, as it simply duplicated the app notifications I received in the Edge’s drop-down notifications drawer.

So if I get an email, I’ll see the email icon light up on the Edge Screen and at the top of the main display. You can prevent specific notifications from appearing on the Edge’s screen, which is useful, but the fact that there is any overlap at all is annoying.

There is, however, one thing about the notifications panel that I do appreciate, and that’s the fact that things like incoming calls will appear on the Edge screen only if you’re already using another app. That means you won’t be interrupted by your crazy Uncle Ted’s incessant calls while you’re watching super serious documentaries like Ancient Aliens.

And, yes, the Note Edge’s palm rejection is top-notch, so you won’t have to worry about accidentally touching the Edge Screen while using the main display.

A useful toolIn addition to the added convenience the Edge’s side screen offers, it also provides a handful of practical tools, including a ruler and quick access to the phone’s flashlight, stopwatch, timer, and voice recorder.

Enable the Edge’s Night Clock feature, and the handset’s Edge Screen will act as a digital clock for up to 12 hours, while the main panel stays dark.

Even non-Edge apps are improved thanks to the Edge Screen. The camera app, for example, sees its controls moved from the main screen to the Edge Screen, giving you more space to frame your photos. The Edge’s native video player and music apps also move to the Edge Screen. Even Spotify can be controlled from the Edge Screen.

There’s just one potential problem with the Note Edge’s design, and that’s the fact that the Edge Screen is on the phone’s right side. While that’s perfect for right-handed folks, the lefties out there will feel burned.

To address this, Samsung has added a 180-degree setting to the Edge that flips the screen when you rotate the phone 180 degrees so that the Edge Screen is facing your left hand. Unfortunately, it’s an inelegant solution, as it means that the Edge’s power and home buttons are also flipped.

InterfaceAside from the Edge Screen and its associated apps, the Note Edge’s software is exactly what you’ll find on the Galaxy Note 4. Both phones run Samsung’s TouchWiz interface on top of Google’s Android 4.4 KitKat operating system, though an upgrade to Android Lollipop is forthcoming.

TouchWiz continues to be a rather heavy-handed interface and can be confusing to navigate for first-timers.

Still, the software does have its benefits, chief among them the ability to multitask apps by opening two onscreen at once. Samsung’s new pop-up apps feature lets you open and resize as many individual apps as you want and move them around the screen.

The downside to this feature is that it doesn’t work with every app. So some apps like Spotify can be resized, while others can’t.

Like the Note 4, the Note Edge also includes Samsung’s impressive S Pen stylus, which lets you do things like take handwritten notes, take a screenshot and write on it, and easily crop images.

Best of all, though, is the ability to select text with the S Pen the same way you would with a computer mouse. Seriously, I can’t express how helpful this feature is.

The Edge also comes with Samsung’s S Health fitness app, which, when used in conjunction with the handset’s rear-mounted heart-rate monitor, can provide you with your pulse, blood oxygen level, stress level, and even measure the amount of UV exposure you’re being subjected to.

I’m not exactly sold on the accuracy of the phone’s heart-rate monitor, nor do I think it can accurately measure my stress levels. So take any health-related readings from the Edge with a grain of salt.

CameraThe Note Edge packs the same 16-megapixel rear camera as the Note 4. What’s more, it also gets the same optical image stabilization (OIS), which means that you don’t have to worry about your hands shaking while taking photos or shooting videos, because the Edge’s camera will physically move its lens to compensate.

In other words, your pictures look less blurry than usual if your hand moves a bit while you take them.

Since the Note Edge and Note 4 have the same cameras, they capture nearly identical photos. Details were sharp, and colors were vibrant, though a bit exaggerated. Photos taken in low-light settings, however, were a bit dim.

Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus offers an 8-megapixel iSight camera that shoots similarly detailed photos but manages to capture colors more accurately. On top of that, the big-screen iPhone also fires off pictures faster than both Notes.

BatteryWhile the Note 4 comes with a 3,220 mAh battery, the Note Edge packs a smaller 3,000 mAh battery. The difference between the two is negligible, though, as I was still able to get through one day and well into the next with the Note Edge.

If you are running low on juice, however, you can always enable the Note Edge’s Power Saving or Ultra Power Saving modes. Power Saving cuts back on the Edge’s power consumption by reducing the phone’s processor performance and restricting background data, so you’ll have to manually pull down email and social media updates.

Ultra Power Saving mode, on the other hand, goes all out to save your battery by limiting the apps you have access to and setting the display to grayscale.

If you do happen to run out of power, you can plug in the Note Edge’s Fast Charging power adapter, which can fill your phone with 50 percent battery life in 30 minutes. To see such fast charging, though, your Edge will have to be running seriously low on juice, as the battery meters the amount of energy it draws in.

Should you buy it?The Note Edge’s Achilles’ heel is also its defining characteristic. In order for apps like Twitter and Yahoo Sports to take advantage of the phone’s screen, developers have to make their software compatible with the Edge Screen. That means more work just to make an app use a single feature on a phone that won’t be a high-volume seller.

Which means that the number of apps that are compatible with the Edge Screen will likely remain small.

To recap, the Note Edge is essentially a Galaxy Note 4 with a curved screen that’s gimmicky, though it does add some extra usability. The Note 4 is the best big-screen smartphone on the market, and the idea that it could be even better is intriguing, but I just can’t bring myself to say that the Note Edge is a superior device.

Yes, it does make jumping between apps easier, and being able to take photos without half the screen being covered by the camera controls is great. Being able to control my music from the Edge Screen is pretty convenient, too.

But in the end, the Edge’s price is simply too high to recommend over the Note 4. The benefits just don’t outweigh the $100 premium the Edge has over the Note 4.

If you’re a serious Samsung fanboy and have the money to burn, the Note Edge won’t disappoint you. But for everyone else out there, stick with the Note 4.

Review: Sling TV Delivers ESPN

Review: Sling TV Delivers ESPN for $20 a Month, No Cable Required

Rob Pegoraro 

 Tech Columnist

 January 26, 2015

yahoo

 

 

Finally, you’re going to be able to watch ESPN online without paying your cable company for a hundred bizzaro channels you don’t care about. Starting tomorrow, Dish Network will start taking customers for a $20/month, online-only service called Sling TV. 

(If you have a cable subscription that includes ESPN, or if you know somebody who does, you can still view it on the WatchESPN site or app instead.)

I’ve spent the past few days trying Sling TV extensively on three devices: an iPad mini, a Nexus 9 tablet, and a Roku 3 (loaned by Dish PR) plugged into a 40-inch HDTV. Research, you know.

What You GetSling’s basic $20/month no-contract-required service gets you ESPN and ESPN2 (plus WatchESPN access), CNN, the Cartoon Network (including Adult Swim), TNT, TBS, the Food Network, HGTV, the Travel Channel, the Disney Channel, and ABC Family. 

A $5/month “Kids Extra” option adds Baby TV, Boomerang, Disney Junior, Disney XD, and Duck TV, while the $5/month “News & Info Extra” throws in Bloomberg TV, Cooking Channel, DIY, and CNN’s HLN. And that’s it; you don’t need to rent a cable or satellite box.

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The Sling apps show what’s on in a simple horizontal list of channels. It’s not the most elegant interface, but when you have only 20 choices, you don’t need much.

There’s also a search feature, but the version I saw was blindly literal and not worth the bother: it found no programming about football because that exact word didn’t appear in any show titles, for example.

When you’re watching a show, you can pause live TV, rewind it 10 seconds, or skip ahead by 30 seconds, if the network allows it. ESPN, CNN, HLN, TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, ABC Family, Boomerang, and all three Disney channels locked out those features. 

Sling TV’s Apps Aren’t the SameSling looked its best on the Roku 3. On a 15-Mbps Fios connection, programs began playing within seconds and never buffered or paused. Two minor outbreaks of pixelation cleared up almost instantly. 

For some bizarre reason, Dish hasn’t said what resolution Sling can deliver, but from my couch the picture looked about as clear as anything I’ve seen on Netflix or Amazon. From up close, though, it didn’t seem as sharp as over-the-air reception.

The iOS app also generally worked well, but the one feature you’d think would be there — AirPlay video output — failed when I tried it with a borrowed Apple TV. Each attempt ended with Apple’s generic “An error occurred loading this content” message.

The Android app, alas, was unusable on the Nexus 9. The audio kept dropping out, followed seconds later by the video halting for a few seconds before picking itself up again. 

Cord Cutting for BeginnersSling, introduced at CES, doesn’t represent a total break from cable TV. It’s a similar idea, although with a vastly smaller and cheaper bundle of channels. But you’ll still probably wind up paying for stuff you didn’t want.

And like a lot of “cord-cutting” solutions, Sling TV lacks important offerings. It has no local stations, for example. The national and regional sports networks out to cash in on ESPN’s money-printing formula aren’t on Sling’s menu either. 

And if you sign up for enough online-only services to replace a cable TV subscription — Netflix, Hulu, maybe HBO’s upcoming addition of online-only viewing — you might get close to paying as much as you would for cable or satellite, anyway. 

But by merely offering a budget-priced, online-only alternative, Dish Network has officially recognized that cord cutters like me exist. We aren’t interested in the same old thing, and now we don’t have to settle for it.

Asus Transformer T300 Chi Review:

Asus Transformer T300 Chi: An Inexpensive Yet Awkward Tablet Hybrid

Dan Tynan 

 

Tech Columnist

 

yahoo

 

 April 8, 2015

Asus wants to help you align your chi — specifically, with its new Transformer Book T300 Chi, a tablet/laptop hybrid with a detachable wireless keyboard.

The T300 is one of the first machines to use the new Intel Core M chip, designed for two-in-one machines. The M chip allows hybrids to run cooler and quieter (no fan in this machine) and is said to offer a longer battery life. More on that below. 

(Asus)

It’s certainly easy on the eyes. Asus says the 7.6mm T300 is the world’s slimmest Windows tablet; even with a keyboard attached it’s still thinner than the MacBook Air. An all-aluminum diamond-cut chassis has soft, roundcorners and a nice smooth feel. The 12.5-inch tablet/touchscreendisplay looks gorgeous. Its price includes a terabyteof online storage. And at $699 for the 4GB model, it’s competitively priced, though not the cheapest hybrid on the market.

So what’s not to like? For one thing, it’s still a Windows 8.1 machine, although it will be upgradable to Windows 10 when the new OS appears sometime this summer. It comes with only trial versions of Office apps, so if you want this machine for work you’ll probably need to add the price of an Office 365 subscription ($100 a year) to the cost. It’s also a bit heftier than other hybrids in its class. And like a teenager after a growth spurt, it can be gangly and awkward.

Tale of the tape

Let’s take a look at the Chi’s specs. The T300 Chi comes with 4GB or 8GB of memory, 128GB solid-state storage, and a Core M 5Y71 processor running at 1.2GHz. The Core M chip is criticized by nerds for being underpowered relative to the i3 or i5 chips in other laptops, but I found performance perfectly acceptable, even when playing midlevel games like Asphalt 8: Airborne. You probably don’t want to use it to edit video or play graphically intensive games, though.

(Asus)

The T300 weighs in at 3.2 pounds, which is divided almost evenly between the tablet and the keyboard. That’s twice the weight of Microsoft’s 10.8-inch Surface 3 and heftier than the much pricier 13-inch Lenovo Yoga 3 (2.6 pounds) and even the MacBook Air (2.9 pounds). Despite its thin profile, the T300 needs to cut back on the carbs.

The gorgeous 12.5-inch WQHD display (2560x1440) would make the T300 a great personal home theater device, if not for the puny 2-watt speakers that provide just enough sound for one person sitting in a quiet room. Asus bundles an Audio Wizard app that improves the sound a little, but not enough. You’ll want to wear headphones.

Asus is claiming a top battery life of eight hours for the T300, which isn’t exactly knocking it out of the park these days. In our casual testing, though, we got between five and six hours of juice using the device’s default setting (“balanced”). If you want eight, you’ll probably have to run it in power-saving mode most of the time.

On the other hand, the keyboard has its own battery that lasts for an insane 84 hours of nonstop typing, so you don’t have to worry about it dying while you’re watching the computer’s battery dwindle. The full-sized keyboard is surprisingly solid; this gives it a nice feel when you’re banging out text but also makes the whole unit bulkier than slim keyboard models like the Surface 3.

(Asus)

The T300 rounds out the package with micro USB, HDMI and SD ports; an audio-combo jack; and a front-facing 2-megapixel camera. Accessories include a stylus ($40) and cases ($40 to $50).

Pose and cons

Because this is a two-in-one with a removable wireless keyboard, you can configure the T300 in more poses than a Vicky’s Secret fashion model. Unfortunately, most of them are pointless.

First, you can use it like a traditional laptop. The screen extends to about a 105-degree angle, which is OK but less than most pure laptops. Even then, you won’t want to walk around carrying this in one hand with the screen open, as so many people do with their MacBooks. The large display makes it too top-heavy; at any moment I was afraid it would tumble out of my hands.

(Asus)

You can separate the wireless keyboard from the tablet, so you can keep it in your lap as you type. But unlike Microsoft’s Surface, the tablet doesn’t have a “kickstand,” so you’d need to lay the screen flat or prop it up on something. Can you say awkward?

You can detach the screen, flip it horizontally, reattach it, and fold it back onto the keyboard, covering the keys. This allows you to hold the T300 vertically like a digital clipboard, then reassemble it later when you need to type. But the 12.5-inch screen is really too bulky and heavy for this kind of action; I can’t see many people doing this. It’s much easier to just take the keyboard off and use it as a tablet by itself.

You can also “tent” the unit — fold the keyboard behind the screen in an upside-down V so you can use it as a touchscreen display. The problem? The T300’s power button is on the top of the tablet (which then becomes the bottom edge when you fold it into a V). So every time you set the thing down on a hard surface the screen goes dark. Hello, Asus designers, anybody home?

Your best option, especially if you want to use the T300 to watch movies when you’re not typing, is to attach the display as if you’re going to turn it into a digital clipboard and then fold it back at a roughly 60-degree angle. 

Chi whiz

Bottom line: The T300 is a decent enough computer but nothing to get excited about. If you want a portable Windows machine that does double duty as a tablet and a laptop, the Surface 3 is cheaper and more portable.

If you’re looking for a backpack-friendly computer for a student, you might consider the T100 Chi. This 10-inch twin to the T300 features an Intel Atom processor, an alleged battery life of up to 10 hours, and one year of Office 365; it sells for $399.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct information about the Chi accessories and T100 processor.

HTC One M9 Review

HTC One M9 Review: Déjà Vu All Over Again

Daniel Howley 

Technology Reporter April 1, 2015

yahoo

 

HTC’s new smartphone is here: the One M9. The follow-up to the One M8, one of the best smartphones of 2014, the M9 ($199 with a two-year contract) sports a new camera, faster processor, and a variety of more subtle upgrades.

But the One M9 is battling some stiff competition in Samsung’s excellent Galaxy S6 and Apple’s iPhone 6. So, should you make the One M9 your next smartphone?

Haven’t we met before?

HTC’s motto for the One M9’s design should be, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The phone is nearly identical to its predecessor, the excellent One M8, which was nearly identical to 2013’s acclaimed One M7

It’s almost as if HTC took the One M7 and M8 and smashed them together to create the One M9. Like the M7 and M8, the M9 is absolutely gorgeous. The newest phone features the same all-metal body as its forerunners, along with HTC’s wonderful BoomSound dual front speakers.

To keep its metal back panel looking polished, HTC has coated it with a scratch-resistant finish that also helps to improve grip. Color options for the M9 include a beautiful two-tone silver and gold and gunmetal gray. Do yourself a favor and get the two-tone model. It just looks classier.

The fact that the M9 looks like the M7 and M8 doesn’t make it any less attractive; all three phones are among the best-looking smartphones you can buy. But, as Yahoo Tech’s Jason Gilbert pointed out in his commentary on the One M9, HTC could have done so much more with the M9’s design, but instead it has left it to stagnate, and that’s a shame.

A beauty of a screen

Like the HTC One M8, the One M9 comes with a 5-inch, 1920 x 1080 resolution display. Why not go with a higher-resolution screen like the 2160 x 1440 resolution panel found on Samsung’s Galaxy S6? Because there’s no reason to.

The average person can’t tell the difference between a screen with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and one with a resolution of 2160 x 1440, so HTC decided to stick with the lower resolution, as it uses less battery power.

Images and videos on the One M9 look extremely sharp, and easily match those viewed on the S6 and iPhone 6. The biggest differences between One M9 and its competitors are in brightness and color.

Next to the S6 and iPhone 6, the One M9’s display looks relatively dim. Similarly, colors look cooler when viewed on the One M9. Colors appear a bit warmer on iPhone 6’s display, though the Galaxy S6’s screen was easily the most vibrant.

Intense audio

Like its predecessors, the HTC One M7 and One M8, the One M9 packs a pair of front-facing speakers that pump out the best audio quality of any smartphone. The speakers, which HTC calls BoomSound with Dolby Audio, are easily loud and clear enough to rival small standalone Bluetooth speakers.

No, they’re not going to replace your high-end audio setup, but they are more than good enough for small parties, or if you just want to listen to some tunes while doing work around the house.

The One M9’s BoomSound speakers come with two audio modes, Theater and Music, which you can adjust on the fly to provide different audio profiles. BoomSound also provides four audio modes for headphones, each of which adjust the sound profile a bit more than the last.

If your biggest concern when you buy a smartphone is how it makes your music sound, then look no farther than the M9.

Camera troubles

In previous years, HTC used gimmicky language and features to push its cameras. The One M7 introduced us to HTC’s “UltraPixel” camera, which used larger pixels, but fewer of them, while the One M8 gave us the company’s Duo Camera, which consisted of an UltraPixel camera and a secondary depth-sensing camera below it.

This time around, though, HTC is ditching the silly names and technologies for a straight-up 20-megapixel rear camera. For all that messing about, the results are largely the same.

Photos taken in well-lit settings looked clear, though not quite as sharp as those taken with the iPhone 6 or Galaxy S6. Low-light photo performance, on the other hand, was exceedingly poor.

A photo of a beer tap taken with the M9 looked grainy and blown-out, compared to an image of the same scene taken with the iPhone 6. A shot of a beer taken with the M9 was equally murky compared to the iPhone’s image.

HTC did, however, add some interesting camera features, including its Prismatic mode, which lets you add a kaleidoscope-style filter to your photos. Still, HTC should just have worked on overall image quality, which is a major selling point for most smartphone buyers.

A smarter smartphone

HTC’s One M9 runs on Google’s Android Lollipop operating system. And like most Android smartphone makers, HTC adds its own overlay to Android, complete with its own look and feel. HTC’s is called Sense. There isn’t much of a difference between this latest version of Sense and the one found on the HTC One M8, beyond some new themes and color options.

The biggest change to the One M9’s interface is a new app widget (an app that you interact with from your phone’s home screen) called Sense Home. The widget figures out which apps you use the most while at the office, at home, or out around town, and automatically surfaces them based on the time of day and your location.

Say, for example, you use Gmail and Spotify a lot while on the go, and Google Drive in the office. Sense Home will learn your usage patterns, and the next time you walk into your office, it will populate the Sense Home screen with Google Drive and any other apps you use at work.

It’s an interesting feature, but the thing that I find most helpful about it is that it automatically saves your downloaded apps to a Download folder, rather than just sticking them wherever there is space on your phone’s home screen.

There’s also a new Themes feature that lets you adjust the look of the One M9’s interface from icon styling to the color of app borders. It’s actually a pretty fun app, and gives your phone a greater sense of character.

A hot performer

In the months leading up to the HTC One M9’s launch, questions persisted about overheating problems associated with the processor included in the M9. And while those issues don’t seem to be as problematic as they sounded before the One M9’s launch, the back of the handset does get rather warm if you are using it for even a moderate amount of time.

In terms of overall use, the One M9 is as speedy as the rest of the current flagship smartphones on the market. You’ll be able to browse the Web, stream music and movies, and play basic games with ease.

Unlike Samsung, which did away with microSD card slots for its Galaxy S6, HTC still has one, and it has added to its card slot, by increasing its storage capacity to a ridiculous 2TB of memory, in addition to the handset’s initial 32GB of internal storage. That should be plenty of room for your movie and music collections, as well as your photos. Of course, finding a 2TB microSD card will prove difficult, as they don’t exist yet. Yes, the One M9 uses a spec for something that you can’t even buy.

The One M9 packs a relatively large battery, which should get you at least a full day’s use without requiring a recharge. If you start running out of juice, you can always switch on the One M9’s Power Saver or Extreme Power Saver modes, which cut back on the handset’s performance and capabilities in favor of conserving battery life.

UH OH protection

To make the One M9 more intriguing to consumers, HTC is including its free UH OH Protection with every new M9. A built-in safety plan, UH OH Protection promises One M9 customers a free replacement phone if they drop, crack, or otherwise ruin their handset in the 12 months of its release.

The company will also provide you with a new phone if you decide to switch carriers. If you don’t use your UH OH Protection within the first year, HTC will provide you with up to $100 toward the purchase of a new phone.

A repeat performance

The HTC One M9 is a gorgeous smartphone with powerful speakers and tons of storage. But it’s more of a repeat of the One M8 than a truly new handset. Not only is its design largely unchanged, but its new 20-megapixel camera suffers from the same problems as its predecessor’s UltraPixel camera.

I want to like the One M9, because I was such a big fan of the One M8, but it simply left me wanting more. HTC may have been able to get by on its phones’ looks when Samsung was making handsets that felt like plasticky toys, but now that Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S6 has an equally attractive design, coupled with an excellent camera and a host of other features, the One M9 feels like an also-ran.

Adobe Slate: New App

Adobe Slate: New App for Creating Beautiful Sites Is Almost Too Simple

David Pogue 

April 23, 2015

yahoo

 

Adobe, as you’re probably aware, is the huge software company best known for Photoshop and other high-end design programs. They’re complex, they’re for professionals, and most of them require you to pay a subscription fee instead of buying them outright.

So it’s eye-popping to see Adobe unveiling apps that are free and aimed at normal people: students, teachers, photographers, small business owners, just folks of every kind.

A few months back, Adobe’s first stab in this direction was a free iPad app called Adobe Voice. It’s a clean, lovely, incredibly easy-to-use program that lets you make “explainer videos” — a popular kind of online narrated persuasion videos. Here’s my review and video demonstration.

Now there’s a second app in this line: Adobe Slate. Once again, the company has observed a hot trend in online media and brought amateurs the tools to get onboard. This time, the trend is parallax-scrolling websites.

It’s hard to explain this special Web effect in words; you really need to see my video above. You have probably seen parallax sites: You scroll down, and you see a cool effect that makes it seem like you’re peeking between bars.

Parallax sites are great for telling stories. You scroll down, down, down, taking in the text and the handsome photography as it unspools before you. And that’s exactly what Adobe has in mind: Slate is great for making slideshows, invitations, diaries, book reports, proposals, brochures, college applications, and anything else you might want to display visually online. You can present your photography, convey a message, tell a story, document an event, or invite people to a party.

Usually, creating parallax websites requires familiarity with nerdy Web standards like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. But Slate lets you create them with just a few pleasant taps in an iPad app — no geek license required.

In the video above, you can see me put together a complete site in five minutes.

Photos and formatting

 As you go, you can type or dictate text — as captions, body text, or headlines.  And you can insert photos from several different source: your iPad, its camera, your Dropbox, or your Adobe online accounts. You can style these photos to scroll and flow in different ways.