Gaming

I grew up playing Crash bandicoot, Crash Team Racing, Tekken and many other titles. It was a childhood thing but somehow I’m still a gamer. I play on Consoles, phones, tablets and even computers. I dropped Console gaming due to the need for mobility and convenience. Here is brief overview of gaming on tablets, phones and computers.

Crash Team Racing

Of the three gaming platforms above, computer gaming is more advance and on certain instances better than console gaming but that’s a different topic. Computer gaming can either take the form of desktop computers or laptop but due to my focus on mobility we will look at laptop gaming. However desktop gaming is better usually due to dedicated graphics chips. For good gaming on laptops you need a powerful machine. The processor should be i3 or better or an equivalent AMD processor. You also need a lot of RAM though I won’t put a figure to this but 4GB should be the basic. Hard drive capacity is up to you but make sure there is ample room for the games which usually take up more than 5GB with some being as big as 14GB. More importantly you need a good graphics card with high memory size. Preferably the Graphics should be dedicated. I personally prefer Radeon Graphics but Nvidia and now Intel HD graphics are also good. You may finally need a gamepad but this is optional depending on the game you are playing. Some games are better with just the keyboard while others like FIFA may require a gamepad. Now you are ready to enjoy your favourite games. Your frame rates, graphics and rendering will be good.

You can also play console games such PlayStation One on the computer using gaming emulators. Most people don’t use emulators for serious gaming but just to bring back memories.

Crash bandicoot on a PC emulator

Tablet and phone gaming go hand in hand since they both utilize the same game titles. The only difference here is screen size. Operating system is not a differentiating factor since the different operating systems have the same games. Phone/Tablet gaming is fast catching on. It’s amazing how these games have improved. In recent months I am starting to prefer phone/tablet games over laptop games. There is not much difference between phone games and laptop/Console games. GT Racing Motor Academy and Real Racing 2 can be compared with Gran Turismo and Forza Motor Sport. Asphalt can be compared with burnout. The closest comparison is Need for Speed Hot Pursuit for phones/Tablets and Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 for PC/PlayStation. GTA 3 for phones and tablets is also adorable.

Gaming on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. Decent Graphic details

Phone/Tablet gaming is also more portable than laptop gaming. The other factor is game size. Good phone games range between 100mb to about 1GB. So depending on the sizes 4GB may be ample for all your games. You may even have an SD card for games only or if you have 16GB internal memory you may have room for games and media files. For laptops things are different. Games have become too big. No games are under 4GB. NFS Run is more than 10GB. Installing a few games really takes a toll on your hard drive capacity. Some people install just one game, play it until they finish the game and then they can uninstall it to install a different game.

using a gamepad on a tablet and on a phone

Still on phone/tablet gaming it’s still possible to connect a gamepad unless it’s an iPad. Console emulators can also be installed and the very successful ones are PlayStation and Gameboy emulators. There are still many other emulators such as Sega.  You still need a powerful phone or tablet but dual core ones can do the job just fine. Single core phones can also play games well but may be unable to handle intense games such as GTA 3. The iPad is still the gaming champion with tonnes of games and incredible frame rates. So gamers, if you want more game titles buy the iPad but if you adore your gamepad then get a Tegra 3 android device with USB OTG support.

Gaming on the iPad. Best gaming experience

While laptop games compete with Console games, phone/tablet games offer a decent “trimmed down” experience. Just find the platform that suits you and make it work for you.

 

~Eddy

The Acer Iconia Tab A200

The Acer Iconia Tab A200

It’s hardly the most striking tablet. You probably won’t fall in love with it at first sight. This is because it spots an average design and it runs on the last generation Tegra 2. But there is more to it. In fact if it was simply an average slate I would not have bothered with this reviewers and the same applies for tonnes of other reviewers. In essence it is a budget tablet with everything you can think of except a rear camera to keep the cost down. And it is exactly the cost factor that prompted me to review it.

The Acer Iconia Tab A200 was one of the first Tegra 2 tablets to receive the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update. Never mind that there is now Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), ICS will be good enough until the end of the year or maybe even longer. Some prominent Tegra 2 tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 still don’t run ICS. ICS experience on the Iconia Tab A200 is great and there is little customization by Acer though this doesn’t mess with OS. It actually makes it better.

The tablet runs on Tegra 2 clocked at 1GHz dual core with 1GB ram. This is pretty standard but bear in mind that the iPad still runs on dual core. There is an SD slot and more importantly a full USB 2.0 port. That means you can connect flash drives, gaming controllers, USB keyboard, mouse without the need for additional USB OTG (On the Go) cables some of which are difficult to come across. It also has a standard micro USB for syncing data with your computer meaning you can also use your phone’s data cable. This is better that proprietary ports and cables on Samsung, Asus and Toshiba tablets which if you lose you are really in trouble.

Notice the full USB port

In terms of performance the Acer Iconia tab A200 does really well and it is at par with most other Tegra 2 tablets like the Motorola xoom. It handles gaming very well and movie watching is great on the 10.1 inch screen.  Battery life is also great with about 8 hours of video playback.

The Iconia tab A200 is a good tablet, not excellent but just good enough. I wouldn’t compare it with the iPad or Tegra 3 tablets or even windows 8 tablets. It’s a tablet that doesn’t attract people to it but just use it and then switch to a different tablet. You will notice that some things are missing, you will miss the full size USB, you may miss the Acer customized ICS or you may miss the impressive battery life. The only disadvantage is the lack of rear camera. This however may not bother all.

No camera at the back. well designed though with stereo speakers on the bottom

The tablet has been priced well. It was released with a 350 dollar price tag but now it can be found for around KShs. 25000 or less. The main problem is that it is not available in the Kenyan market (not that I know of) so you may want to try online shopping. This would have been really great in the Kenyan market. So I appeal to individual importers to try and import this tablet and sell it. Not all of us can afford the expensive Galaxy Tabs and iPads that you guys import and sell to us.

 

~Eddy

The Nexus 7: A Misunderstood Slate

The Nexus 7 has been making news this week. The first ever Google tablet is finally here. It’s basically a Tegra 3 beast enclosed in a 7 inch IPS LCD display without SD support and rear camera. This is not a review or preview but a response to the unfair negative comments that have started emerging about the slate. Opinions are always welcome but some are irrational. A review is coming up soon so keep it Tech254.

The Nexus 7

Well, the big deal here is the comparison between the Nexus 7 and the mighty iPad with tech reviewers registering a clean sweep victory for the iPad. It’s first best to clearly define the niche taken by the Nexus 7. It’s makes more sense pitching the Nexus 7 against the immediate 7 inch rivals like the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 or even the Galaxy Tab 7.7 with the biggest competition being the Kindle fire.

The Cost of the Nexus 7 is also another factor that must be considered. The slate was designed with cost in mind. However, just holding or looking at the tablet, the cheapness doesn’t show. In fact the slate has a premium finish to it. The price will be hard to beat though and in order to do it manufacturers have to make sacrifices on components such as the processor as is the case with the Galaxy tab 2 7.0 and camera as is the case with the Acer Iconia Tab A200.

The Nexus 7 has it’s downsides as well with lack of SD support being the major one but even the iPad doesn’t have SD support, does it? The other one is lack of a rear camera and I have nothing to say about that since I can never use my Tablet to take pictures. Others may have different opinions but generally a tablet camera is ceremonial. Oh, almost forgot about 3G. There is will be no 3G version. For me that’s a big deal but I can always make it work. Also having data plans on both phone and tablet is sort of extravagant. I can use my data plan for both phone and tablet.

The iPad and the Nexus 7 are in totally different leagues. A comparison would be inappropriate. They both serve their categories well. As usual it’s all up to the user. If you need a big kick ass tablet an iPad is an option and not necessarily the option. On the other hand if you need a cheap small and very powerful tablet then the Nexus 7 is an alternative. Honestly, the Nexus 7 is what the Kenyan market needs. It’s made for the masses. The iPad has been here for ages and I could count the people who own them.

Choose one, don’t bash the other.

The Jelly Bean Home screen

~Eddy

Choosing the Right Tablet

The Kenyan market may still be dry of tablets but that doesn’t mean you can just go out and pick any of the few. You still have to be wise and choose the one which suites you best. The right tablet will depend on the user. Therefore we need to classify the users and see how they fit into the different tablet categories. Operating systems will also come into play.

As for the users I will broadly categorize them into light users, medium users and heavy users. The light users will only need to check their mails, maybe browse the web a bit and check on news either via the web or through RSS feeds. They may also need to type a few documents.

Medium users also happen to be media consumers. These users will browse the web, check email, log in to social sites, play music and also watch movies. Heavy users will play games and multitask thereby stretching the RAM, processor and the battery.

Light users can use any tablet though it has to be user friendly. The Blackberry playbook should do the job. The first iPad is user friendly and much cheaper now. There are also cheap android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 which runs ICS. I am not sure about its availability though, but I don’t see any reason Samsung should not bring it to the Kenyan market following the success of cheap smartphones like the Galaxy mini, Galaxy Y and Galaxy Pocket. Windows 8 haven’t landed yet but would have been appropriate for this category especially with the full Microsoft office experience.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

Media consumers really make use of the tablet but in a non exhaustive way as compared to power users. Any first generation (Tegra 2) tablet would do just fine. These include the original Motorola Xoom, the original Asus Transformer, Samsung Galaxy tab 10.1 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9. The original iPad fits in well also. Those into social networks will probably require physical keyboards. They may therefore need to purchase Bluetooth keyboards or just buy the Asus Transformer which comes with the keyboard dock. Its keyboard dock has an additional battery for more up time. Windows 8 tablets would also fit here perfectly and same is the case with second generation android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.

Heavy users will need quad core tablets such as the Asus Transformer Prime and Acer Iconia Tab A510. Both the iPad 2 and iPad 3 are in this category with the difference being your budget. As for the dedicated gamers you will probably need to use a gamepad just on an Xbox or PlayStation. It is possible to use gamepads on tablets provided they run android and have USB host capability. You cannot use game controllers on the iPad. Windows 8 tablets should be able to support game controllers but I am yet to find out. Some tablets such as most Acer tablets have dedicated full size USB 2.0 ports. With the Asus Transformer you will need the keyboard dock while with other tablets you will need a separate cable.

Acer Iconia Tab A200

I thought about classifying the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 in the media consumer category since it still runs Honeycomb but its 1.4GHz processor puts it way above the Tegra 2 tablets and also an ICS update is coming soon.

Galaxy Tab 7.7

Almost all tablets are categorized into Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 3G. I recommend the Wi-Fi + 3G slates since Kenya is still not a Wi-Fi country and creating your own Wi-Fi network maybe stressful.

So, know your category and find the tablet that suites you. Oh, and I haven’t delved into the screen size debate since that’s a personal choice. Personally 10.1 inch tablets do it for me as I consider 7 inches too small. If, however you want portability then find a 7 inch or maybe a 7.7 inch slate.

 

~Eddy

Safaricom & Huawei release subsidized Ascend Y100 into the Wild.

Huawei, still snatching up millions of consumers in low end smart phones have come up with an improvement to last years model of the Ideos and are subsidizing it in Kenya. Safaricom has started selling the Huawei Ascend Y100 in Nairobi. The IDEOS U8150 replacement goes for Ksh 8,499 and is bundled with a Ksh 1,000 in airtime, 7 days unlimited SMS and 1.5 GB of free data bundle. The phone is available exclusively to Safaricom which has customised it with its UI and SIM-Locked it to the network.
The spec sheet is as follows:

HARDWARE

Form Factor – Slab
Colour – Black
Processor – 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7225A CPU
Memory – 512MB ROM internal storage, with 256MB RAM  
Battery – 1050mAh

DISPLAY

Screen Size – (diagonal)2.8 inch
Technology – LCD Capacitive

CONNECTIVITY

3G & GSM – Yes
Wi-Fi Support – 802.11n, 802.11g, 802.11b
GPS – Yes
Bluetooth – Yes (version 2.1)

REAR CAMERA

Resolution – 3.2 megapixels
Flash – None
Focus Type – Fixed
Video Resolution – VGA

SOFTWARE

Operating System – Android
Skin – Huawei
Launch OS Version – 2.3 Gingerbread (upgradeable to Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0)

Cost meets features…..
One should add the packages Safaricom bundles with the phone as part of the features as they are what most Kenyans will be looking for & at as they buy the AFFORDABLE device.

Its main competitor the Galaxy Pocket launched only a month ago, shall suffer in sales as the Ideos reclaims its rightful territory. This phone will be eventually upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich which is a very intuitive, fluid and smooth Operating System compared to Gingerbread and this update will be highly appreciated. Wrapping up, one cannot deny the work Safaricom have done to increase smartphone penetration by subsidizing the cost of many a smartphone to make them pocket friendly & appealing to most Kenyans. This is a very good, affordable Android (smartphone) phone, go get yourself one!

Windows Surface

Microsoft Surace :
A game changer? YES & NO!
A good 1st step? YES

Lemme explain….
Why YES???

Microsoft has (although late) entered the market with a juicy & well thought out product. The Microsoft Surface will be launched in two versions, one carrying the predominantly touch Windows RT & a BEAST that’ll run the oh! so awaited Windows 8.

What makes this device a game changer is that Microsoft found a niche….a group of users they wanted to address..

1. Those who want keyboards with their tablets… they offer a 3mm thin touch keyboard and features a multitouch trackpad. For those that prefer a more traditional feel , there’s even a cover keyboard with actual hardware keys. The same keyboard doubles up as the cover dubbed “SmartCover” and comes in a variety of colours and feel.

2. Those who WANT Productivity….a tablet running FULL Windows 8 Pro….that’s NEW & also HUGE NEWS. This tablet will fill the MacBook Air & Ultra book gap Windows always had. Sure, many people don’t need to run Adobe Creative Suite on their tablets, I get that, but there are those of us that would greatly benefit from being able to do so. And seeing as how Apple seems to want to keep the iPad coupled with a more consumer oriented OS, why can’t Microsoft create a substantial market in a space that currently isn’t being served at all? Can’t I have a tablet that actually enables me to create instead of encouraging me only to consume?

3. With The Screen, Thinness & Hardware Features…..Firstly they have a 16:9 ratio screen making movie or video watching a treat. USB ports 2.0/3.0 will be found on the device (Thank God!!) while still maintaining under 9.4mm thinness. Micro SD cards will also be supported allowing one to expand the internal memory which ranges from 32GB to 128GB depending on the model.
Lastly, Both tablets feature built-in kickstands.

Why NO???

1. Apple and Android have had an over 2 year head-start in this race and have pioneered much more than Microsoft has in this field. Taking the throne ain’t that easy with devices such as The New iPad & Asus Transformer Prime(s) out in the wild.

2. Windows RT has basically the same features and productivity as their counterparts, hence not offering much diversity.

3. Using Microsoft’s history with portable hardware (The Zune)….they’ve failed once before on this front and they can do it again. Hardware is not Microsoft’s forte.

A Good 1st Step? YES

Despite coming in late they have managed to be creative and finally grant the Microsoft fan boy’s dreams (for a tablet running Windows).
I am sold for this device especially the Windows 8 Pro model which is a tablet, slate & a laptop all bundled in one.
What is your take?

Google+

As of June 28th Google+ (G+) will be officially a year old. This social hub has come a long way and now has over 170 million users which is not a small fete. Its privacy settings, its intertwined nature with Google services, its layout, and Circles are what attract users to this flourishing social hub.

The app does its parent website proud…The updated app though makes for a lovely viewing experience but one can say it displays too many images, many have suggested there should be a blend of images and more text. This might have impact on data plan but I’m yet to see one. All in all I love the app and the presentation of it.

The major & attractive features about Google+ are:

1. STREAM – occupies the middle of three columns on the page, users see updates from those in their Circles. There is an input box which allows users to enter a post. Along with the text entry field there are icons to upload and share photos and videos. The Stream can be filtered to show only posts from specific Circles.

2. CIRCLES – enable users to organize people into groups for sharing across various Google products and services. Circles is a nifty tool allowing one to filter Streams to the extent of favouring some circles to others. Each Circle has a “slider” configuration item with four positions: nothing, some things, most things, and everything (for filtering into the stream).

3. HANGOUTS – are places used to facilitate group video chat (with a maximum of 10 people participating in a single Hangout at any point in time).

4. MESSENGER – (formerly: Huddle) is a feature available to Android, iPhone, and SMS devices for communicating through instant messaging within Circles. Additionally, users can now share photos in Messenger between their Circles.

5. SPARKS – a front-end to Google Search, enabling users to identify topics they might be interested in sharing with others.

Reasons why I use it:

1. Cause its less congested compared to Facebook…..
2. Gives you the best of both worlds, Facebook (like Stream) & Twitter (#hashtags & Timeline exclusivity)
3. Integration with other Google Apps.
4. Circles… need I say more
5. Instant Upload – specific to mobile devices; it stores photos or videos in a private album for sharing later.

Things I don’t get:

Messenger….don’t we already have Google Talk?? (Wouldn’t it make sense to unify the two experiences so users could just as easily chat with someone in Google Talk and Messenger without having to switch between apps or worry about where they communicated with someone?)

Where are the women & children? (On facebook) According to statistics, early adopters of Google+ have been mostly male (71.24%). The dominant age bracket (35%) is between 25 and 34.

~DGM

8 Reasons to Move to Windows 8

Windows has been making major changes to their OS’s in general and I’m all for the new experience, for the next level and here are some of the reasons you too should be:

1.       Better Booting, Sleep, Hibernation & Shutdown Times

By storing the Kernel to the Hard disk at shutdown, sleep as Windows normally does during hibernation, boot up time has reduced to less than 10 seconds on a good machine.

2.       Better Task Manager

In this iteration of Windows, they’ve finally made the task manger more appealing and useful. It now allows one to manage their Startup apps and monitor so much more to great detail unlike the former.

3.       Same OS for the Phones, Tablets & Computers

Like Apple, Microsoft decided to unify their operating systems on all their devices, i.e. the tablets will all run the ‘same type’ of Windows just stripped down to meet each devices needs. This streamlines their Operating System while making it easier for end users to handle their various gadgets seamlessly using one OS. Now here’s to them releasing Microsoft office using the same structure (for all devices).

4.       Applications and an App Store

Better late than never, Windows finally has re-joined the party with a revamped app store offering now over 100,000 apps as of June 1^st and its growth is near exponential. They’ve also bundled their apps into the OS that accept all major social networking accounts and mail accounts; such apps are Mail, Messaging, Calendar, and People…to name but a few.

5.       Windows Explorer REVAMPED

The number of times Windows 7’s explorer ‘crashed’ on me can only be enumerated by the stars; now Windows 8 has a more stable explorer. As seen in Office 2010 the ribbon design has been ported to the explorer making it have tabs. Copying has been improved giving windows the much needed TERACOPY like reliability; i.e. one can pause & resume copying/moving.

6.       Better Data handling & Updates

Using a modem on Windows 8 is a breeze; in built it has a data counter which keeps tabs of the amounts of data consumed since connection of the modem. Windows 8 updates have also improved, only doing monthly restarts & installs for the major updates.

7.       An ACTIVE Start Menu

The Start Menu is one of Windows 8 greatest re-designs, introducing the Metro styled window with ‘Live’ tiles.

8.       New Lock Screen

The New Lock Screen involves a lovely wallpaper of your choice and icons for notification and time. The Icons are really what I’m interested in as they display relevant data from apps such as Calendars, Messaging and Weather.

Additional Windows 8 mouth watering Pictures:

Teracopy like Copying functionality.

All Program Files

~DGM

Android for the Experienced

Android phones…. one of the greatest things that has happened to Kenyans (ideos) & everyone else the world over… their ability to be found in every price range, shape & colour are what attract most people to these devices, not forgetting their smartphone nature.
The challenge most people are faced with after owning the device for a while is, “How do I optimize this device?” This question involves issues that have plagued the Android community for so long…issues such as battery life… data consumption….speed/lag of the OS.
Over time, through experience and multiple mistakes I can be as bold as to say I’ve ALMOST found a fix to the above problem(s)…
We’ll deal with them slowly & easily that even the noobs (new users) will find it tax-free….

People make the mistake of filling an A-device [newly coined term for an Android device] with too many applications which inevitably leads to battery drain…

To optimize for speed, discard of applications that are:

1. NOT necessary/unessential…. those that just are in your phone but you don’t use much… those that a week can pass before you even open it, by mistake….
2. That consume a lot of data but don’t add as much value to your life…. sorry to say this…apps such as foursquare, Skype, Facebook (just use the browser)… I picked on such apps because they’re constantly running in the background & keep consuming data…
3. Redundant….. having 3 media players, 4 browsers, 2 twitter apps.. all 3 versions of angry birds…. (just remain with one at most 2 if REALLY necessary)
4. That ALWAYS run in the background unless intended by you… (one can check on this at Settings > Applications > Running Services by observing the time the apps have been running). Such apps are the same that consume excess data or drain your battery unnecessarily….such as Skype, most social network apps…etc

To optimize data use….
Learn which applications use your data most and wisely decide on their necessity (do a cost-weight analysis)….apps for social networks tend to use a lot of data same as those for RSS/news feeds. If they don’t meet your analysis… DISCARD!!!

One can also opt to retain the said apps BUT drastically reduce their SELF/AUTOMATIC refresh rate… this also applies to accounts & sync… preferably keep the refresh rate at a minimum or turn it off all the same.. .it also depends on how much you value the ‘refresh’ of the info offered by that application..
Some prefer to Turn OFF background data but if the above is done well the background data that your phone will self-acquire/consume will be intended.
Get a low running app such as data counter which is just a widget that shows you daily data consumption which assists you in assessing your consumption patterns & planning accordingly.
One can also get Traffic Counter/3G Watchdog which breaks down the data consumption PER APP… showing you those that run rampant with data when you’re not looking!!!!

To optimize battery life…
The above steps should get you well on your way to a longer lasting battery life… but for those who want more
Turning radios off…. such as GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC even turning to Flight Mode (turning off the phone function) will ALWAYS save battery life.
Also, Turning your data off is a real battery saver & even better is turning to flight mode but such tactics compromise the title awarded to our devices….SMARTPHONES!!! But I’d recommend an app such as JuiceDefender…. better yet the PAID version… which does the above but in a wise but automated manner…it toggles your data (turns it off or on) when your phone is idle or when you’ve locked your screen… it also can put your phone in Flight mode at convenient hours of the night & restore connectivity at peak hours…. & wisely control use of your radios!!!

If all of the above is done you shall come to notice an increase in performance of the device….

~DGM

Online Tech Shopping

In general phones, computers and tablets are expensive locally as compared to other countries mostly developed ones. The major companies always try and bridge the gap but in some cases the companies have no “base” within the country. Companies like Samsung, Nokia and HP have set up shops or are directly collaborating with local shops. When this happens prices become favourable or comparable to other countries. But what can we do if that’s not the case? Well, I will look at the available options.

Locally we have individuals or companies that import devices and these tend to be cheaper. Of course the main problem with this is scams. So never give out money first and make sure the device is genuine. Also make sure the individual or the company is trustworthy.

Another option is the local online market such as dealfish, Google Trader Kenya, Uzanunua etc. These are still coming up but so far I am quite impressed. But again in the end you are still dealing with an individual and you must make sure you avoid scams. Scams are minimal though in the above sites and they are worth checking out.

Finally, we the option where you can directly import the device on your own terms. This tends to be safer and you will get the best deals. So far I have only looked at eBay and the Amazon store. You will get unbelievable deals including shipping charges. For about KShs 35000 you can find yourself a quad core Tegra 3 tablet and that’s quite impressive. Just stick to the trusted online sites and you will be OK.

However online shopping seems difficult to carry out due to the payment options. Shopping on eBay entails having a PayPal account first which you then link to your card (visa, MasterCard etc). Creating a PayPal account isn’t hard though, the only problem is having a card that is enabled for online shopping. I know most local banks don’t permit online shopping. So you have to check with your bank first. Some online shopping sites online require you pay with your card so that’s simple enough.

Online shopping is probably the way to go but additional shipping charges and bank restrictions are the only disadvantages. Shipping charges can be countered if you have a relative or a friend abroad. Just buy the product and send to their address. Free shipping is also offered in countries such as USA and the UK such that you won’t incur any shipping cost.

Just a thought, how about if we could do online shopping via mpesa?

Written by Eddy