Samsung Galaxy S5 review: almost brilliant

The Galaxy S5 is a great Android phone

 –but it’s in a crowded market Matt
 Warman, head of technology

Strengths

Great camera

Gateway to other devices such as the Gear smartwatch

Blazing fast download speeds

Water and dust resistant

Weaknesses

Design a matter of taste

Water-resistance means annoying flap covers charging point

Battery life not greatly improved

Not a radical advance on previous models

Samsung dominates the smartphone market – people increasingly even talk about their ‘Galaxy’ in the same way they talk about their iPhone – and the pressure to maintain that position is immense. Although Samsung’s power is built in large part on mass sales of mid-range devices, its flagship is the phone that gets all the attention.

The launch of its latest, the new S5, comes just 11 months after the S4, and that in large part explains why there is not that much that is new. The S4 was an excellent device and the S5 comes with the expectation that it will be better. But in reality meaningful innovation takes longer than that.

New features and design

Nonetheless, the S5 remains an excellent device too – the 16MP camera, for example, comes with an autofocus that is so fast you barely notice it happening. The days of missing the picture are almost over. High dynamic range makes the pictures look consistently excellent, too. It’s now dustproof and water-resistant, the battery is slightly bigger and you can combine 4G with WiFi for ultrafast downloads. Samsung has explicitly tried to simplify what was previously a laundry list of little used features, focusing on the camera, usability and durability.

As far as the phone goes, however, that is about the best of it – although all questions of design are subjective, I prefer the plastic look of the S4 to that of the S5, with its ridged silver edge and Elastoplast-style perforated back. The S5 also comes with a fingerprint sensor, which doesn’t work as well as the iPhone version and can only cope with three fingers. If you want to use your thumb sideways, with the phone held in one hand, you have to train the device to recognise your finger sideways even though the tutorial suggests you do it top to bottom. Overall, the ‘high-security’ fingerprint remains somewhere between a gimmick and a frustration at first use; but persevering with it makes it a useful feature that even lets you pay with PayPal. These are the first, tentative steps towards a system where it is easy to make payments and to go shopping with a phone. Only Samsung is currently making them.

The S5 also comes with an ultra power saving mode, for when you’re so desperate to eek out a little more battery life you want your smartphone to act like a dumb phone.

It’s 15g heavier than its predecessor, but that’s not a significant difference when almost all phones are now so light. The screen is the same size, and other dimensions are broadly similar. It is not a great leap forward, and if anything it looks and feels bigger in the hand thanks to that chrome rim and slightly tighter corner angles.

So the S5 is a largely incremental improvement. But if anything it suffers from the scale of its ambition – that fingerprint sensor isn’t quite ready for primetime, and flashy animations on openings folders are slightly slow. The camera’s supposed ability to refocus pictures after they’ve been taken is temperamental, and far surpassed by LG and HTC. All these features would be great if they worked better.

Smartwatch companion

Beyond those smart features, the S5 seeks to be a gateway device to a whole new category of products, the Gear smartwatch and the Gear Fit smart fitness band. The market for those products, for now, is small, and the need for a new phone to kickstart them is doubtful. Worse still, Samsung makes great play that in fact those devices are compatible with 17 Samsung devices in total. They have their own strengths and weaknesses, anyway, but Samsung deserves credit for trying to create a whole new technology platform

Competitors

So how best to measure the S5? It is more expensive than the Nexus 5, Google’s in-house phone that is made by LG and offers none of Samsung’s bells and whistles. That leaves it without the S Health 3.0 fitness tracking, but it leaves the Nexus 5 with an untouched Google interface at roughly half the price. Compare it to the HTC One’s new M8 version and the S5 has a camera that is better in some conditions and worse in others, while the design of the One feels rather more premium. The iPhone is in its own category, but certainly the Android software remains more flexible.

Conclusion

I’ve used the S5 as my main phone over five days, with both the Gear smartwatch and the Gear Fit fitness band. As a standard smartphone it’s impressive, and even the design grew on me. It’s not streets ahead of the Nexus 5 or the HTC One, and it is unlikely to drag too many iPhone users to the Android fold. As a camera it’s good, but Nokia and others do even better.

But solely because it allows me to use the intriguing Gear or Gear Fit, it’s probably the single most exciting device on the market today. Samsung is pushing the smartphone to new levels while HTC and Apple are refining existing versions – many consumers could, however, be forgiven for thinking that it is not, however, easy to distinguish which is the best on the market. In large part, that’s because almost all the differences are now down to a matter of taste.

Manufacturer’s specification

Video UHD@30fps, HDR, video stabilization, Video Codec : H.263, H.264(AVC), MPEG4, VC-1, Sorenson Spark, MP43, WMV7, WMV8, VP8, Video Format: MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM

Audio Audio Codec : MP3, AMR-NB/WB, AAC/ AAC+/ eAAC+, WMA, Vorbis, FLAC, Audio Format: MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA

Camera Features HDR (Rich tone), Selective Focus, Virtual Tour Shot, Shot&More

Additional Features IP67 Dust and water Resistant, Ultra Power Saving Mode, Download Booster, S Health 3.0

Connectivity WiFi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac HT80, MIMO(2x2), Bluetooth®: 4.0 BLE / ANT+, USB 3.0, NFC, IR Remote

Sensor Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, Hall, RGB ambient light, Gesture(IR), Finger Scanner, Heart rate sensor

Memory RAM: 2GB, Internal Memory: 16/32GB, microSD slot upto 128GB

Dimension 142.0 x 72.5 x 8.1mm, 145g

Battery 2800mAh, Standby time: 390 hrs / Talk time: 21 hrs

Headline, April09, 2014

"' REALISTIC ROLE MODELS "" -

"O'LORD-G​OD!-"" 

NOT DRUG DEALERS "'

There were  277  gun related   crimes in the 12months  leading up to June 2007 in South London borough of Lambeth alone:

Similarly, considering the gang murder of, say, Kodjo Yenga, in the light of the meditated violence of  video games:

Such as  Grand Theft  Auto  or  Manhunt leads a bit too conveniently to the belief:

That among the  "desensitised"  youth, real violence is felt to have no consequence.

Those arguments have some currency, says  Jon Savage.  "For a long time, popular culture really worked. The problem is that it presses all these buttons."

And though he is no supporter of censorship, Savage wonders whether pop culture today isn't  "pressing those buttons that it shouldn't be pressing. It is easier for kids to live in a world of sensation-

To think you're a big man and run around with a gun, than it is to "do the hard work to function as an adult."

In any sense, as Savage writes in  "Teenage" , it is  ^hard to escape the sense that these youths were only acting out what the wider society was doing." All those influences only hold their power when no serious alternative is offered.

""It's a society's collective responsibility to get realistic role models instead of drug dealers," says Trident's DI Tyler.

In April, 2007, shortly after James Andre Smart-Ford, Michael Dosunmu and Billy Cox were murdered, Tony Blair insisted the recent  "severe disorder" was not a symptom of wider social problem but caused by:

Individuals who needed to be  "taken out of circulation". Soon, arrests in all three cases were made, while many prominent gang figures are now also behind bars.

But just after, another  16-year south Londoner,  Abubakr Mahamed, was gunned down in Stockwell after being chased by a group of push bikes. DI Geoff Whitehouse of Operation Trident said the killing was  "almost certainly gang-related." It was!

Both New Labour and the Tories have been big on one reading of the idea of "respect" ,  an equity in decline across the  UK. Alongside a focus police powers, the Home Office launched a series of initiatives on antisocial behaviour-

To tackle the causes of Teenage  crime, including self-esteem building initiatives such as Positive Futures and the   "From Boyhood To Manhood Foundation"  that target the critical   11-18  age range.

"Government alone can't solve the problem," said the Home Office Minister _at the time-  Vernon Coaker. "We need to work in partnership with police, communities, young people themselves. That is why-

We have supported  300  community groups across the country to tackle knife and gun crime and recently made a further pound 500,000 available to support this work."

But how far will half a million quid go when  "respect"  has been bent so far out of shape that it turns into a reason to Kill?

Similarly, it is not hard to look at a certain six-foot gap of  urban-planning nothingness a short walk from Clapham North tube station and  ponder  whether

Those social problems of exclusion and disadvantage common to so many Teenage lives don't also play their part in this teenage conflict.

No more than six feet separates the wall of a pub on Bedford Road in Clapham  -where one London drinks away its affluence   -and the grey brick wall of Billy Cox's home on Fenwick Place.

Through the wall at 3:30pm on Valentine's Day, meters away from drinkers from a different world,  the  gunmen  fired a bullet in to the  15-year old's chest, and Cox died in his sister's arms.

Random psychotic behaviour has always been a feature of the teenage city. There may be some kind of perverse and terrible logic that organised psychotic behaviour:

Of the capital's teenage war is what results  when  two Londons    live ever closer to each other and yet..........so very, very far away!

With respectful and great Honour dedication to  Australia, New Zealand, USA, Japan, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, India for splendid work in the  search for MH 370.

But Then.......Alas....!!!

The World Students Society Computers-Internet-Wireless:

"'The Big Push"'

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

The Global Rise of Entrepreneurship

In the years ahead, there will be a rapidly increasing number of people in every country looking at or wanting to become entrepreneurs. Why?

• First, large companies are going to be displacing increasing numbers of people—letting them go or giving them early retirement—because technology is allowing the company to be more productive and efficient with fewer employees.
• Second, there are many industrialized nations that have an aging population. For example, the United States has 78 million Baby Boomers, and many of them are choosing to retire into work. Many have not saved enough for retirement and will need to work while others don’t want an idle retirement; they want a meaningful retirement that provides both satisfaction and income. A large number of both groups will become entrepreneurs.
• Finally, we have many young people disillusioned with the bigger companies. As they get jobs at large organizations, they often feel like they’re going into a time machine backwards. They are realizing that the only way to control their destiny is to create their own company.

As a result of these three hard trends (meaning they will occur, rather than might occur), many people will be asking, “What should I do?” These people will be looking at the possibility of starting their own company … or at the very least offering their services on a contract or freelance basis.

Technology will not only displace workers, but it will also redefine entrepreneurship itself. Previously, we were in the information age where we informed people of a product or service, usually via an in-person meeting. Today we are in the communication age, which is dynamic, interactive, and creates new value fast. As more entrepreneurs embrace social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook (where they can stay engaged with their prospects and customers/clients … communicating and collaborating in real time), they’ll see their businesses grow faster than ever before.

Additionally, thanks to visual communications platforms like Skype, entrepreneurs can use their computer, smart phone, or tablet to have one-on-one or one-to-many video presentations with prospects, clients, and business associates around the world. No longer are they limited to prospecting or working in their geographic area. Because bandwidth, storage, and processing power are accelerating, the quality of visual communications is so good that they can have an increasing number of people on the video call at a time, which does wonders for selling, training, collaborating, and ultimately growing their business. Of course, visual communications will never eliminate in-person meetings, but it will definitely help entrepreneurs have the same reach as a large multi-national corporation.

Finally, in the past, it used to be safer for people to take a wait-and-see approach when deciding to start their own business. “Let’s wait and see if the industry grows more before jumping in.” Or, “Let’s wait and see if the demand for my services grows.” But today, technology is transforming how we sell, market, communicate, innovate, train, and educate in every industry. That means there is tremendous opportunity for those who take the leap now rather than employ a wait-and-see approach. The tools to rapidly accelerate the growth of your business have never been more powerful and affordable. Thanks to smart phones and tablets, social media and many other transformative technologies, today’s entrepreneurs are positioned to grow faster and stronger than ever before … so don’t wait; shape your future today!

World Health Day: Non-Sexy Approaches to Global Health

What Do the Diseases of Poverty Look Like?

Many may think that in the developing world the biggest culprits for death and morbidity are the super-scary things like Ebola outbreaks, but the World Health Organization has estimated that the diseases associated with poverty result in about 45% of their “disease burden.”

These diseases of poverty are so called as it is poverty that is considered the etiological factor. That’s not to say that tropical diseases and malaria are trifles, but this is different. The diseases of poverty include blindness from malnutrition, this impacts about one-half million children annually. The diseases of poverty include death due to diarrhea, killing almost 2 million a year. There is a diabolical cyclical pattern that suggests that vector-borne illnesses can cause or exacerbate poverty.

The diseases of poverty are highly preventable.

Untreated Illness

When minor illnesses go untreated, they can remit, but often lingering disabilities remain. For those less fortunate, chronic or major illness may result, or even death.

When one then includes deaths caused by measles, pneumonia, malaria, and for newborns the child mortality rate quickly spools up to a rate of one child every three seconds. Pause for a moment to take that in.

Deaths from untreated illnesses are highly preventable.

Thankfully these numbers are actually better than they were a decade ago. But this improvement is not evenly distributed throughout the world. The United Nations found that there had been no improvement in the child mortality rate over a period of 16 years for 27 African countries while it had been decreased by 50% since 1970 elsewhere in the developing world.

So What’s Going On?

In a well done study published in the Lancet over a decade ago entitled “How many child deaths can we prevent this year?” Gareth Jones and his colleagues opined that if simple, proven medical interventions were made available to these populations that the effect would result in a 63% reduction in child mortality.

This position seems to find additional support in a more recent World Health Organization report that concluded that this indeed was what was responsible for an 80% reduction in child deaths from 1975 to 2006. Brazil, for example, has a public health system that provides free early treatment and free immunizations. They believe this is what’s resulted in a 60.5% decline in infant mortality and an increase in life expectancy of five years.

So What’s The Problem?

Well, healthcare can be a bit complex. Sometimes solutions can scale and sometimes they cannot. Sometimes they can generalize and sometimes they cannot. There are no silver or magic bullets. But a somewhat provocative of theory is starting to be discussed—that perhaps too much funding is being targeted on AIDS, TB, malaria, and the like—or at least a disproportional amount, and in those countries the result is an unintended diminution in the primary healthcare and/or public healthcare systems. So the argument goes that basic healthcare, or primary care, or public health are not “sexy” or attention grabbing enough for celebrities or foundations or granting agencies to notice. Thus, less funding, less care, higher morbidity and mortality.

As on World Health Day, we may tend to think of health care issues to be more so an international problem.