TL;DR – I was using an iPhone 4s for two years, an iPhone 5c for a few months, I really liked how fast and small they both were. I bought a Nexus 5, used it for a couple weeks, but didn’t like the size and poor camera performance. I bought a Motorola Moto X. It’s not as good as an iPhone, but it’s the best Android phone I could find.

First here is just a little bit of background about my phone priorities because my priorities are probably not yours.

1. The phone must have a good camera. And by good I mean being able to take pictures of constantly moving objects (kids) in low light (indoors).
2. The phone battery has to last at least 1 day without charging. At work I am not always at my desk and need something that I can use throughout the day without being unreachable by the end.
3. It needs to be a reasonable size. None of this Galaxy Note crap. I like smaller phones. If someone updated the specs on the HP Veer and it ran Android, I’d probably use that.
4. Usable in 2 years. I would like OS updates for at least 18 months and the phone should not feel like it’s falling apart and too slow to run apps in 24 months.
5. The phone must integrate with Google services, or have good compatible apps. This rules out Windows Phone for me.
6. Wireless charging is a huge plus. I find it convenient and love the option.

And just to be thorough, here are a few things I really don’t care about in a phone

1. Unlocking bootloaders and custom ROMs, I don’t have the time to search for and flash my phone repeatedly. Any customization I am going to make needs to be small and easy. I’m too busy to do that anymore.
2. NFC, I won’t use it, I don’t care.

With all that said, I’ve had a lot of smartphones in the past. In 2011, after webOS’ demise, I settled on the iPhone 4s as a good smartphone for my needs. It was small, fast (for its time), and had the best cell phone camera on the market. Even after two years of using it and iOS 7 update I didn’t feel the need to buy a new phone immediately. It still fulfilled my needs with Google’s apps loaded on the phone and jailbreak tweaks that let me set default apps. I bought and used a 5c for a few months and really enjoyed the slightly larger screen, better camera, and insane battery life. Under normal usage the phone lasted a full 48 hours before it was dead.

Nexus 5 Review

I bought the Nexus 5 within minutes of it being announced which is very unusual for me. I didn’t read a single review (there were none) but felt the $350 off contract price was a reasonable risk for me to take. If I didn’t like the phone I would sell it for full price or maybe lose $20-40 which was acceptable. Because I got the phone only a week after it came out that also means I was on Android 4.4 without any updates. Keep that in mind with this review because some of my complaints have been fixed via updates.

The Nexus 5 had everything I was looking for on paper. I knew the screen would be a little big but I was hoping the phone felt smaller in the hand like the Moto X did. The Nexus 5 didn’t. I had multiple issues with activating the phone but that was mostly an Android problem and not the Nexus 5. After activating I had problems with apps not installing until I rebooted the phone each time and various other weird issues but as far as I know, they were all problems with Android 4.4 and not the Nexus 5. I didn’t hear of a single other person having these problems.

The hardware looks great. The black one is completely black soft touch without any faux textures or needless embellishments that drive me crazy on phones. The edges have a slight taper which felt really good when holding the phone. The soft touch was also extra grippy, similar to the old IBM Thinkpads which was great. If you bought the white one, I’m sorry, it looks pretty bad and it’s glossy plastic.

The screen was stunning, it almost looked fake. Not only is it 1080p but the IPS LCD made the image look hyper realistic. The touch screen was so responsive it removed some of the feeling of interacting with a phone. The screen was too big to comfortably use with one hand so I always resorted to using two. It wasn’t terrible but got annoying coming from an iPhone 5c. The screen looked great while reading documents and watching videos but the traditional LCD backlight got a bit annoying when trying to use the phone at night. I typically like to read light text on a dark background, but that really only works well for OLED screens which don’t have traditional CCFL backlights. I had the same complaint with the iPhone but because the Nexus 5 had an inch bigger screen it felt like looking into a flashlight while trying to read.

The power and volume buttons had a good feel and placement on the phone and the speakers were louder than the iPhone. The earphone hole was really small though. I often found that I missed it when holding the phone to my ear and had to slide the phone to the right spot to be able to hear a call.

The micro USB on the bottom was “upside down” which was annoying and the camera lens protruded slightly from the back which made me always a little nervous I would crack it. The official cases fix the lens problem by adding some extra thickness to the back. I really like the colors of the cases but dislike cases enough that it wasn’t something I considered.

The battery wouldn’t last quite a full day. I consistently take my phone off the charger at 0600 and return home from work at 1800. By that time the phone would have about 10% battery under normal usage. I never trusted that because if I had a day of heavy usage I’m sure it would not have lasted through the work day.

The camera was, for my uses, unusable. Everything was a blurry mess. The shutter was so delayed there was no chance I was ever going to get a decent picture of a moving target. Here are just two samples to show you what I’m talking about.

This was the best of three pictures I took. And it still does not look very good with over exposed light and blurry cars.

I haven’t used the Nexus 5 since the 4.4.1 update came out and fixed some of the camera problems, but it was such a bad first impression that I gave up.

Just to wrap up the Nexus 5 review

Pros

• Great screen
• Good Soft touch texture
• Really fast

Cons

• Crap camera
• Poor battery life
• Too big

Moto X Review

I toyed with the idea of getting a Moto X before getting the Nexus 5 but the lackluster camera tests I saw made me hold off and if I were going to get one I really wanted it with a wood back. They also seemed too expensive initially at $200 on contract. After realizing I wasn’t happy with the Nexus 5 though I was able to get a promo code through Motorola’s black Friday sale which made a customized Moto X $350 off contract (same as the Nexus 5). I sold the Nexus 5 and got the Moto X even though the wood backs were not yet available. I got it because I found out you could get a soft touch back instead of the hard plastic that the in store Moto X came with from the carrier. I’ll admit The Verge staff also convinced me a little bit after hearing a lot of the editors on the Vergecast and Mobile Vergecast say they use the Moto X.

Setting up the device wasn’t nearly as painful as the Nexus 5 because the Moto X used a micro SIM card which I already had in my iPhone. I switched the SIM and logged into my Google account as usual and then it started syncing apps and accounts. The problem was the phone was REALLY slow while syncing. So slow that I just set the phone down and let it sit for about an hour. I didn’t have that problem with the Nexus 5 nor with either iPhones.

The Moto Maker option with soft-touch backs are pretty limited in color options so I ended up with an all black phone with orange accents. Disappointing, considering the cool yellows, reds, and blues they have but I also like the murdered look which is probably why I like how the Nexus 5 looks so much. The soft-touch isn’t as grippy as the Nexus 5 but was good enough to feel like a more solid device in my hand. The Motorola logo on the back has a slight dimple and for some reason I really like it. The phone is smaller than the Nexus 5 with a screen of 4.7″ and with the curved back feels really nice in the hand. The front half of the phone doesn’t have the soft-touch grip to it which looks a little odd but it’s not the worst thing in the world. The Moto X is closer to the iPhone 5 size than it is to the Nexus 5.

The power and volume buttons are both on the right side (poor lefties) which I’m not a fan of because it makes the volume rocker pretty small and hard to activate sometimes. There isn’t enough leverage to make sure I’m hitting the right button when it’s in my pocket. The power button also seems to be mounted a bit low for a “smaller” phone. The speaker is mounted on the back of the phone which, thanks to the curved back, works great when sitting on a table. But if you try to watch a video or listen to audio you’ll end up cupping your hand and not be able to hear anything still. Everything else, hardware wise, is fine and the micro USB port is even installed the way I like (not upside down).

The battery will last, just barely, a full day for me. At the end of the work day I usually have about 40% battery left (0600 until 1800) and I often can last until midnight with 5-10% left. It’s a big downgrade from the iPhone but enough I can live with. I wish the Moto X had wireless charging built in which would help getting through a day, but because it charges with micro USB I just make sure to charge it at lunch to make sure it will last.

I have never had a phone with an AMOLED display before, and although I’ve used them in the past on friends phones I never realized how nice it is for night reading and clock displays. I haven’t had any problems seeing it in the sunlight, which is a typical complaint of AMOLED, but I find myself manually adjusting the brightness more than I would on the iPhone. I think that’s an Android problem because I have done that on all my previous Android phones too.

The camera was my biggest worry with the Moto X. I had gone to the store prior to buying the phone and tested the camera just to see how Motorola’s customized software worked. I like the rapid picture mode, although it doesn’t work as well as the iPhone 5c, but I’m not sold on the tap anywhere to take a picture aspect. Overall the camera takes faster and better pictures outside than the Nexus 5 did and it doesn’t have the same shutter lag. The pictures inside are inconsistent with their color accuracy and macro shots are near impossible. Video works well and I like that it includes a slow motion video option. One thing I didn’t think I’d use was the camera gesture (two wrist flicks) but it works 80% of the time with is enough for me to try it first before using the lock screen shortcut. It gives a quick vibrate feedback and then opens the camera.

This shot took me about 10 tries before the charger was in focus and not yellow tinted from my lights

An outdoor shot that any camera should be able to take but it still turned out nice.

The rest of the Motorola add-on software is nice but sometimes a bit buggy. Here’s just some quick pointers on what they added.

• Active Notifications – Everybody loves this but I don’t find it as easy or functional as the iPhone lock screen notifications. It works alright but it’s sometimes weird to have a notification screen before your lock screen. It also sucks that you can only see info from the most recent notification.
• Assist – It does a really good job of figuring out your driving and reading you messages. The meetings mode is annoying though because it won’t see if I’m set to busy or free during the meeting. I often schedule things on my calendar that I’m willing to be interrupted for but it doesn’t take that into account.
• Trusted devices – This is probably my favorite feature by simply disabling your lock screen when connected to a bluetooth device you specify in the settings. I have it set for my car stereo and am debating getting a BT headset or smartwatch just to use this more often. It was much easier than tasker and was built into the phone.
• Motorola Help – This is a chat portal for Motorola’s support. It works really well and even gives info about your phone (SN, IMEI, etc.). I chatted with them about a problem I was having and was able to get it resolved in about 10 minutes. It doesn’t notify the support person that you’re chatting from your phone though because they recommended I reboot my phone which I wouldn’t be able to do while chatting.
• Motorola Connect – This is a way under reviewed feature which allows you to send SMS from Chrome on your computer. It also shows call logs and battery status. It has completely replaced the Google Voice plugin for me and works a lot better.
• Touchless control – allows you to say “OK Google Now” at any time to get a voice prompt. It works maybe 60% of the time and it’s annoying that it keeps jumping back and forth between Google Now and it’s interface. All the app switching makes it really slow too so I typically don’t use it. Although it is more useful than the Nexus 5s “OK Google” to search, it is no where near as good as Siri for speed, voice recognition, and functionality.

To sum it all up

Pros

• Smaller size
• Good battery life
• Add-on software that is actually useful

Cons

• Slow performance
• Bad speaker placement
• Camera not great
• Wood backs cost $100 extra

Overall I’m happy with the Moto X over the Nexus 5 but I have a feeling that in a year I will want something else. The phone will probably be too slow and because the battery will probably only last 1/2 a day. If I really wanted something I know I would be happy with in two years I probably should have stayed with an iPhone. I think most of my complaints with the Moto X are Android related and not actually problems with the Moto X hardware. Now it’s just a waiting game to see how long the Moto X will receive Android updates.

A new year is here so I’ll take another swing at how technology will change in the year 2014. This will be my sixth year doing a predictions post. If you haven’t read them before you should check out my 2013 post and then take a look at some of the older predictions I’ve made. I especially like my prediction from 2009 that Google would make a social network and twitter would be the next big social network. Anyway, here are some crazy, and not so crazy, predictions for 2014.

Computers and Mobile

1. Converging devices will finally become main stream. I know there have been devices in the past that attempted to solve the “one device to rule them all” problem. (e.g. Motorola Atrix, Asus Padfone) They have never taken off for three reasons, 1) they weren’t inter-operable, 2) they were slow, 3) they were expensive. I also know that many people already have “one device” because they have a keyboard dock on their iPad. In reality though, they just bought the cheapest Apple laptop they could. I think there will be a big name company (it won’t be Apple, see below) to offer their phones/tablets to be a true laptop/desktop replacement via a docking station that changes the user interface depending on what the device is plugged into. People have been trying to accomplish some of this functionality for a while with things like Ubuntu for Android, but the solution needs to come by default with the device for it to really take off.

2. Speaking of converged devices, Apple will have a larger iPad (12″) that can be used like a desktop and is designed for professionals. It will be more powerful than the existing iPad and will be Apple’s attempt at a “cheap” laptop. It won’t be as successful as the existing iPad though because for the general consumer they already have this functionality in their existing iPad/keyboard combo. It also won’t change the user interface when docked and just use super high resolution apps.

3. The year of the wearable computer! 2013 saw a lot of buzz in the wearable computer arena with the Pebble, Fitbit, Jawbone up, Samsung gear, etc. This year it will really take off because Google (via Motorola) and Apple will get behind the movement with wearables. I think most of the main stream adoption won’t happen until fall though because Google won’t announce anything until summer and Apple will wait for Fall. CES will be littered with crappy wearables coming out in early summer to beat the big name products.

4. Blackberry will die. I have predicted this with friends but realized I never put it on one of these predictions. Blackberry will transition to a completely software company and will fail to generate revenue. They will be gone by Q2 of 2015.

5. HP and Dell will get back into the mobile business. They probably realize by now they have to sell mobile devices if they want to keep revenue up. My guess is HP will make Android devices (they’ll suck) and Dell will make Windows Phone devices (they’ll suck even more). Samsung will spin off their own version of Android and LG will release a tablet with webOS.

Software and Web

1. Windows has been in a downward spiral since Windows 8 was announced (and even before Windows Phone 7 Series Phone). This year Windows will lose significant market share to OS X, Chrome OS, iOS, and Android. Microsoft has been scrambling to make Windows 8 better for consumers by adding features they removed. Although I don’t think consumers care about spying and the NSA, I do think that businesses care and this year businesses will actually start adopting the alternate operating systems for their employees. I think in many cases Windows will still be the work horse of the enterprise, via VDI, but Microsoft will be scrambling to find new markets in hardware, software subscriptions, and giving away stuff for free (and charging for premium features). They will also shift to a consumer company.

2. Web standardization is going to get a boost in 2014 for three reasons. 1) Security can be better when there is a good standard 2) user experience is better when everyone is on a level playing field 3) the least common denominator has been, and will continue to be, mobile. If companies want to reach the widest audience, they will have to design for slow devices, with small screens, and HTML browsers.

3. There will be a new great website in 2014. This one is a little bit obvious but I think the thing that is going to be neat is the fact that it will do something we haven’t dreamed of yet. In years past there have been some sites that changed how people interact with the internet IFTTT/Pinterest (2010), imgur (2009), and reddit (2005) are all examples of this and I think the pace of innovation is getting faster. This year a new site, one that was probably started in 2013, will become a huge success and will eventually get bought by Google or Facebook. Oh and one of the previously mentioned sites will be purchase by a big name company.

4. NSA backlash will cause big US companies to lose market share in other countries. Now that most of the spying secrets are out, many foreign companies will be looking for alternatives to the software they have been relying on for so long. Linux and open source software will be the big winner in most cases and Microsoft will be hurt the most. More and more countries will put efforts forth to build their own operating systems by customizing distributions of Linux to suit their needs.

Games

1. Virtual reality will be awesome, and niche. I wish I could say it would take off and I’m very excited for the Oculus Rift, but I don’t see many people outside of hardcore, single player gamers adopting it. Real adoption will happen in 2015-2016 when it’s wireless, cheaper, and works with consoles. I look forward to the future of virtual reality not only for games though, I also think it’s a great way to watch a movie assuming the headphones will support surround sound.

2. I predicted in 2012 that Nintendo would struggle and I still think that’ll be the case. This year I also think that Sony will have a hard time shifting from a hardware provider to a software and services company. In order to make the PS4 great and lasting they need to provide solid services and I don’t think they have the development abilities to do so.

3. Apple will get into games in a big way with a new Apple TV, first party gaming hardware, and better game center integration. Apples efforts will make everything Google has done look completely worthless, if it hasn’t already, and Google will scramble to create a better gaming platform. In reality though, Google doesn’t care and will just leave the gaming to third parties which will all suck.

Other

1. Self driving cars will hit a wall. While this is mostly figuratively speaking, although I do predict there will be the first accident involving a self driving car while the car is driving this year, I think the real “wall” autonomous vehicles will hit is legislation. Even though some states have already approved the use of the cars, there is still a long way to go before someone can buy one. There are other hurdles like re-writing laws, adapting insurance, and building better/smarter streets. Google will probably try to build their own cars but I think China will make a big move to make their own self driving cars probably by ripping off other companies technology.

2. I think 2014 will make it harder for non-skilled workers to find a job. There will probably be two or three big companies making 99% automated factories. The factories will need maintenance workers for the machines but won’t need the hundreds of assembly workers they once needed. Think how much you already interact with non-humans day to day. When was the last time you interacted with a person to fill up your gas tank? How many times have you used self checkout at the store? When was the last time you talked to a person when calling a support number? All of these things are unskilled work that have now been replaced with machines. 2014 will expand that to many new areas and make it hard for people who don’t have experience, to get experience.

3. Payment reform will begin but won’t be mainstream yet. It seems like everyone I talk to is waiting for mobile payments. It won’t happen with NFC, sorry Android fans, and geofencing is too inaccurate. Apple won’t get into the mobile payment business until 2015 (with iBeacon 2) so this year will be another year of mixed products like Google Wallet, Coin, Bitcoin, and Square. No one will win and consumers who adopt one will lose because the standard will eventually be Apple’s solution. They will release it in 2015 and allow compatible devices (a.k.a. Android) to use it. I don’t want it to be true, but that’s what I think will happen.

That’s all my predictions for 2014, do you have any you’d like to make? Leave a note in the comments if you think I’m right or wrong.

Thanks to David Hepworth for the banner picture.

Disclaimer, I’m not a software developer so I really have no say into how this actually works.

How Version Numbers Should Work

Version numbers are a unique name or number assigned to a specific version of the software. There can be public and internal versions but they typically increment from 0 -> ∞ or a – z. Often times there are also “code names” for releases which sometimes become more popular than the actual names themselves (see Ubuntu releases).
Incrementing version numbers usually are the form major.minor.fixes (e.g. 1.3.0 is major release 1, minor release 3, with 0 bugfixes). Incrementing versions can also have letters to help designate (pre)release state (e.g. 2.0.0b2 is the second beta release for version 2.0). Some systems also use odd numbers for development and even numbers for production (see the Linux kernel).

How Version Numbers Actually Work

In many cases the above systems work. But lately I am not sure version numbers make sense, nor are they used in a way that helps customers. Software versions in a lot of situations are either a reference to the year the software was released (or supposed to be released) or are just a pissing contest to make sure the number is bigger than the competition (see Firefox. Version .01 -> 3.6 in 10 years; version 3.6 -> 23.0 in 17 months).

Oh and don’t forget the global assumption that anything <1 is complete crap so you had better change your version number from 0.25 to 2.6 (thanks Puppet).

How Version Numbers Could Work

So what if there was another way. What if, for the sake of the end user, current software was always just version 0 (naught). It doesn’t matter how many iterations or releases you’re on, the release you are shipping is 0. In other words, the current version of Firefox would always just be called Firefox.

If this were the case, your support model will be to support versions -2 through 0. As new releases come out the older versions are known as negative releases or, depending on your release cycle, yearly releases. The version that is one major release old (and came out six months ago as of writing this) would be Firefox -1 (2013.02). People can easily look at this number an know when their software came out and also how current they are with the shipping version. Bugfix and minor releases would be handled in a similar manner by decrementing the version number of out of date software rather than incrementing newer software. Once you are up to date you are back to 0.

Likewise, beta versions would be 1 and alpha would be 2. I’m not sure there would be many public versions above 1 and 2 but maybe development would be 3-4 and not ever released to the public.

When I thought about it more, this is the way websites work. Not because it was designed this way, but because customers don’t have a choice in using an old version. They are always on the version that is available. Similarly, other things in the physical world (such as cars) often work this way. They sometimes append the year for identification purposes, and because they release most cars yearly, but a Corolla is always a Corolla. It is only made old by the fact that a new version has come out. Luckily for the customer, they don’t have to know what mark  (a.k.a. version) the car is on, they just have to know they want the current one (FYI the Corolla is currently on MKXI or version E160).

I know this idea doesn’t work well with version control, tags, blah, blah, blah. But it seems like something that works in the physical world, is highly consumer friendly, and because it gets version numbers out of the way, could be a very good thing.

Here are all of the wallets I used in alphabetical order:

Ainste Small Evan

The Ainste Small Evan wallet was one of the classiest looking wallets by itself. The leather was a little thick/stiff but the inside was soft which protected the cards very well. Overall, the Small Evan struck the most balance of wallets tested between good looks, slimness, and flexibility of use. It wasn’t the slimmest or most flexible, but it had good trade-offs between all three. Using the wallet with all of the cards on the inside fold was a little difficult to get used to. Putting cards on the outside made the wallet much more efficient, but killed the aesthetics of the professional looking leather fold. The good news is you can use the Evan with cards outside the fold day-to-day and then put all your cards on the inside if you don’t want to flash your cash or need to look more professional. The Small Evan is available at a great price for what you get and they are working on an RFID blocking version, as well as adding colors, which will be great for customization and security.

Pros

• Good price
• Classy look
• Protects cards with thick leather and soft lining
• Replacement bands are available cheap

Cons

• Hard to access cards in the center
• One of the thickest slim wallets I tried

Link to Ainste store

Bellroy Card Sleeve

Before testing the Bellroy Card Sleeve wallet, I had a few reservations. I usually don’t like sleeve-style wallets because they are too hard to get cards in and out of, and too stiff to hold a lot of cards. The Bellroy has definitely changed my mind about sleeve-style wallets. The leather is really high quality and soft, and the angled slits on either side were perfect. Getting a payment card or ID in and out was super easy because of the angle and they were just deep enough to hold the cards securely. Cash was harder to get in and out of the side and middle pockets, but I found sandwiching the folded bills between other cards did the trick. The pull tab for the center pocket worked better than I expected. It’s amazing that I’ve never seen this on any other wallet before. The leather did stretch after a couple weeks, but the wallet looked great and was very thin. Efficiency of use was much better than I expected because of the side pockets and pull tab.

Pro

• Really easy to use because of a great design
• Looks classy and feels high quality
• Multiple colors available

Cons

• Really thin but not the overall smallest wallet because of edge stitching
• Can’t hold as much as the other wallets with elastic bands
• Leather stretched after extended use
• A little pricy (in my opinion)

Link to Bellroy store

CardNinja

The CardNinja was the most unconventional wallet I tried. The idea was very well executed and the material used was a perfect fit for this application. I could fit a lot of cards in the CardNinja, but often had problems getting cash or papers in the wallet. The sticky back was able to be removed and replaced multiple times, so long as you peal it off from the bottom corner. The concept was hard for me to get used to and I found myself often trying to find my wallet while I was holding my phone. Whenever mobile payments become a reality, the CardNinja is one step ahead.

Pros

• Could hold more cards than I expected
• Convenient for when I was out
• Multiple colors available
• Fits well on just about any smartphone I tried that is iPhone 4 size or larger

Cons

• I didn’t always want to carry my wallet when at home and in bed
• Didn’t trust letting kids play with phone + wallet
• Didn’t fit with my iPhone case

Link to CardNinja store

Compact Wallet

If you like the rubber band wallet, you’ll probably love the Compact Wallet. It is the only wallet I tested with a portrait elastic band rather than landscape. The elastic holds the cards really well, and the material allows the cards to slide in and out easily (even better than a rubber band). There’s also a colored plate for rigidity, separation, and ease of access to center cards. The Compact Wallet isn’t the most elegant looking wallet, but it was the smallest and felt really durable for day-to-day use.

Pros

• Simple design
• Feels really durable
• Color choices for customizability

Cons

•  Not as professional looking as other options

Link to Compact Wallet store

HuMn Mini

The HuMn Mini felt like it was in a different class than the other wallets. The material felt really nice in your hand (aluminium plates) and even the packaging was a step above the others. It has the added benefit of blocking RFID so you can keep all your cards safe from scanners (if that’s something you’re worried about). The design was more flexible and customizable than any other wallet I tested, and the price reflects the higher standards. I had a difficult time getting used to how to use the HuMn, but thanks to the flexible layout, I often used it with just one center plate. If you want something slightly larger and like to fold your cash in half, they also make a slightly larger version called the HuMn 2 which is a decent hybrid between a normal-size wallet and a slim wallet.

Pros

• A wopping 1600 color combinations
• Flexible wallet usage with 1, 2, or 3 plates
• Packaging and materials are high quality
• Additional plates and bands available separately
• RFID blocking

Cons

• More expensive than any other wallet tested
• Spreading the plates to access cards may take some getting used to

Link to HuMn store

Simple Wallet

The Simple Wallet I imagine is what you would get if the Bellroy and Card Ninja had a baby. The design is a leather pouch with an elastic pocket all rolled into one. I tested the Simple Wallet 1.0 which did not have the added benefit of the phone strap on the back or the key loop on the side. While they seem like very welcomed additions they were by no means deal breakers to not have. I’m also not sure if the phone strap would hold the average Android phone as they are often much bigger than the iPhone. The Simple Wallet looked the part of a hipster business man, in a good way. It was a little bit flashy in its design but the leather and elastic lent itself to a more refined feel. While it was slimmer than a traditional wallet it was closer in thickness to the Ainste which was one of the thicker wallets I tested. I ran out of space for cards so if you need to hold more than 10 cards you may want to look elsewhere. I also occasionally had a hard time getting cards and bills in and out of the leather pocket but that was probably due to over stuffing the pouches. Overall, the Simple Wallet got me called a hipster by more people than any other wallet which to me signified that the design and functionality hit a good trade off.

Pros

• Flashy and refined at the same time
• Additional functionality with key holder and phone strap
• Great price for what you get

Cons

• Leather pocket was less flexible than others
• Couldn’t hold as much as other wallets

Link to Simple Wallet

Slim Clip

I wasn’t sure what to think about the Slim Clip before I started using it. I have never liked money clips or magnets, but knew quite a few people who loved this one. I was really impressed with how well this $4 clip worked. The card-holding side has little wings to keep the cards from sliding out, and the opposite side is for holding cash. I found the card side does not hold as many cards as I typically carry, so I ended up putting cards on both sides. However, the separation made it easy to locate either my ID or payment cards by having them on opposite sides. Anything more flimsy than folded cash was hard to get in the clip and it doesn’t really accommodate bills folded more than once, but for something so simple and cheap it had great functionality.

Pros

• Lowest price point of all wallets tested
• Really small

Cons

• Couldn’t hold very many cards
• Doesn’t hold double-folded bills very well
• Some concerns about durability

Link to Slim Clip store

Other Options

I didn’t personally test these wallets, so I didn’t feel like I should comment on them, but here are a few other options if nothing in the list above suits your needs.

CRABBY Wallet

Link to CRABBY store

Tight Wallet

Link to Tight Wallet store

X Band

Link to X Band store

Conclusion

I enjoyed testing all the various wallets more than I expected. They all are really different in application, and you should be able to find something to fit your preferences. With all of the great options, even though it has been 2 weeks since I finished testing all the wallets, I still have not settled on which one I want to use as my daily wallet.

If there’s a wallet you think I should have tested, or one that I should add to the “other options” list, please leave a comment below.

• Drivers license and work ID
• Payment cards (debit and credit)
• Insurance cards (health and auto)
• Proof of car insurance (good to have if you drive a friends car or a rental)
• Whitelines A5 Squared paper*
• Toool lockpick set

*I love Whitelines paper because it works well when photographing and emailing the pages. In my wallet I carry 5-10 sheets of squared paper cut to roughly card size. I use this for ideas and notes I want to write down when I’m out and also use it for business cards if someone needs my email/number. I also carry one full size A5 sheet of paper (folded) for notes that won’t fit. I highly recommend carrying paper around if you often get ideas that need pictures or diagrams instead of just text.

Pros:

• Feels nice in the hands (you have to use 2 hands)
• Touch is really responsive
• Good screen (angles and colors)
• Free RDP app (this was the only reason I used the device)
• Touch cover trackpad was actually good
• Touch keyboard was more usable than I expected (more on it below)
• Full size USB (although what do you use it with?)

Cons:

• Lack of good apps. Lots of apps, but most of them suck. Coming from iOS I feel like Android apps are 2nd class citizens (especially tablet apps). Windows RT apps are even worse
• Too big/heavy/awkward to be mobile with it. After using a Nexus 7 for so long this feels huge. And compared to the iPad 2/3/4 it feels too wide and thick.
• No easy way for video out which makes it hard to use as a full time computer (microHDMI doesn’t count)
• Lack of Google ecosystem integration. I don’t use Skydrive, Outlook, Office, etc. This made me just use IE10 which isn’t that great when you can’t have any plugins. It also would not pull up the virtual keyboard inside a google doc no matter what I tried.

Conclusion

I came to the realization that the Surface was designed by CEOs and directors who spend all day in a board room. The device is too hard to use anywhere else. At a desk, with the keyboard and if you have Citrix or RDP it can be very functional. Outside of that, I never chose to use this over my phone, Nexus 7, or laptop because the apps suck, the hardware is too heavy, and the ergonomics are not good. I wish the keyboard cover was detachable so I could at least set the Surface further away from me so the screen would be at the proper angle (the kickstand is not adjustable). Or it would have been nice to not have the keyboard at all so then I’d use the onscreen keyboard more (when it works). I don’t think the Surface Pro is going to solve any of these issues because the device will be even thicker, heavier, and get worse battery. For $800, the MacBook Air (or almost any other ultrabook) is a much better device plus it has a better keyboard/trackpad.

Anyone out there have experience with a Surface RT or any other Windows 8 (RT or Pro) tablet. I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

The Externals

The Google Mini isn’t super special outside from the fact that it’s a 1U server with a big blue sticker on top and the rest of the outside painted blue. There are also a lot of security bits that prevent normal users from opening them up.

The sticker prevents you from opening the lid so we’ll need to peal that back if we want to see what’s inside.

Here’s one of the security screws

And here’s the master key we’ll use to get inside.

The Internals

Once we get past that we can open up the lid by sliding it back and revealing the insides.

Let’s start by looking at the main components. The CPU heatsink is under the plastic shroud with just a single fan cooling off the entire server. The heatsink below the CPU is for the north bridge which handles communication from the CPU to the RAM. The black heatsink on the top right is for the PCIe controller.

The ports on the server are pretty standard for any desktop/server. An added benefit being this comes with dual network interface cards (NIC) which can allow for more advanced system management.

The server comes with 2GB of DDR2 RAM which you can easily see here.

The server has 1 PCIe 16x slot and 5 PCI slots. Not that you could use them in a 1U case though.

It also has 4 SATA controllers, 1 IDE hard drive controller, and a floppy controller. There is also an IPMI slot which is used for out of band management (OOBM). The slot is missing the OOB network card. You can also see two headers for optional case-mounted USB and some jumpers labelled JWD which stand for Jumper Watch Dog. These jumpers allow the machine to automatically reboot if a software hang is detected.

You can also see the Intel ICH6R south bridge for communication handling to the accessories. The chip near the top right of the picture contains the BIOS and the two pads on the bottom right of the south bridge allow for clearing the CMOS settings when jumped.

On the other side of the case are some more jumpers. These are labeled JPWAKE1 and JPUSB1. Both of these pins allow the server to be woken either by USB or PS2 keyboard/mouse input.

Along the rear of the case are also the two network controllers for the Broadcom network cards. This picture also shows us that the motherboard is manufactured by Supero and the model is a P8SCT. A quick Google search turned up the user manual which proved to be very helpful when identifying some of the chips and jumpers.

The power supply is standard but to be thorough I might as well take a picture of that too.

When taking out the hard drive there are 4 screws on the bottom of the case that hold the damper screws to the hard drive. Luckily they’re labeled so it makes finding them easy.

Once you take out the screws the hard drive slides out. There is also a little air dam that keeps air flowing over the hard drive on it’s way to cool the CPU.

Just to be overly thorough of the motherboard, here’s a component layout from the user manual.

I hope you enjoyed the teardown. Just for comparison, AnandTech their own teardown in 2005. The internals on that Google Mini looked quite a bit different.

Here is how I feel about it after my short period of time with the device. Sorry for the length of this review, but I really wanted to discuss all of the pros and cons I found with the device.

Intro

First of all, if you’re not familiar with the Boxee TV you should really just go to Boxee’s website and read about it for yourself. Basically the device is an internet set top box (STB) that also plugs into your unencrypted cable or over the air (OTA) antenna for live TV. The Boxee TV has internet apps like Netflix, Vudu, Youtube (and I’m sure many more to come).

The killer feature that sets it apart is of course its live TV (dual tuners) and cloud DVR. The DVR functionality stores your recordings in Amazon AWS and allows you to have unlimited recording space (so long as you subscribe for $14.99 /mo) an also allows you to place-shift your recordings while you’re not at home.

Hardware

The Boxee TV hardware is smaller than I expected. It’s about the size of a VHS cassette (if anyone remembers how big those are) and HDMI, power, 10/100 ethernet, 2 USB, and 1 coax input. There are no buttons on the front and once the device is plugged in it automatically gets powered on.

The remote feels a little cheap but gets the job done. It has a normal d-pad with center select button, a play/pause button at the top, a home, back, …, and dedicated Netflix and Vudu buttons on the bottom.

With a STB that is designed to watch and record live TV I found it strange that a remote would be missing a dedicated record button. I supposed it could be added in the … menu but still not quite as intuitive for less technically savvy.

I did have one problem with the remote an that was that it doesn’t work with my Monoprice IR blaster. I reached out to support (more on that later) and found that the Boxee TV uses RC-MM for its IR protocol. This protocol, however, is not very common in the IR Blaster world because it is fairly new so you may have problems getting an IR blaster to work. Tom helped me out and said I should look for an IR blaster that works with AT&T U-verse because they use the same remote protocol.

The second thing I noticed about the hardware was it got really hot when watching TV (or recording). So hot that I couldn’t swap out the antenna because the plug was too hot to touch. I grabbed an IR thermometer and read 144 F which was pretty shocking. Because the device doesn’t work with my IR blaster, I just have to make sure no one accidentally touches it while it’s out on my entertainment center.

Setup

Setting up the device was mostly uneventful. I did however run into two problems. First, I could not get the Boxee TV connected to my wifi. It could see the network just fine but would not accept the WPA2 password for access. Once I plugged in ethernet the device was fine. I haven’t attempted to connect to my wi-fi after the software update, but I’d recommend if you have ethernet near your TV, use it because this thing uses a lot of bandwidth.

Second problem was the fact that the setup code provided to me would not work. You are shown a code and then instructed to go to boxee.tv/setup to register the box for your account. I went to the site and my login wasn’t working. Then I realized that OLD Boxee accounts (for the Boxee Box and legacy Boxee software) don’t work with the Boxee TV. I made a new account and still couldn’t register. I ended up restarted the device 4 times until a code let me register on my newly created account.

Once registered it was time to scan for channels. I tried two different scans, one with the antenna that came with the device and one with the antenna I have installed in my attic. I knew my attic antenna would get better signal but I wanted to try both anyway.

[himage][/himage]

If you have the option to use a better antenna, you probably should. With my attic antenna I got 26 of the 27 broadcast channels available (although CBS is useless). With the included antenna I got 17 out of the 27 broadcast channels.

I will note that the channels scans were incredibly fast (faster than my typical HTPC tuners) and faster than any TV’s ATSC scan I’ve used.

Software

The software feels a little sparse. Not only were there only a handful of apps, but the recordings and live TV functionality seems very lacking. Let’s start with live TV and recordings.

There’s no traditional guide layout, while you do get guide data from Boxee, not everything has information or nice cover pictures. Popular TV shows do but with only a couple dozen channels, I expected to have more information filled out.

The guide is broken up into on now, and then as you scroll down you can see what’s on in 30 minute chunks. This interface was neat for thinking outside of the box, but is no where near as efficient and a traditional grid. And when I want to see what’s on at a glance, the 30 minute rows showing 5 channels at a time took a while to get an idea for what is on for the next hour.

Looking ahead to what is on TV doesn’t matter all that much though because even if you did find something you want to watch, there’s no way to record the show from the guide. You have to go to your computer, log into the Boxee website, find the show on the grid, and start your recording from there. Hopefully that gets fixed in the future but as I said before, if I were to give this system to my parents, a dedicated record button on the remote would be better.

Once watching a show, channel changing was really fast but currently you can’t pause live TV nor can your skip back/forward in a show. From the popup it appears this functionality will be coming, it’s just missing in the initial release.

You can pull up the un-handy guide with the left/right arrows and find something new to watch if you no longer want the channel you’re on, but I couldn’t find a way to see what’s on next.

One weird thing I couldn’t find was a way to stop live TV playback. If I push home or back the home menu would just overlay on top of the playing show. The only way I figured out how to make the TV stop playback was to go into one of the apps or hit the dedicated Netflix or Vudu buttons. This however sometimes had undesired results with an error message displayed on the screen.

Recordings worked well but there is a lack of settings that will drive any HTPC user mad. First of all, you cannot set a beginning or end time for recordings. This led to more than one show having the beginning or end cut off. I can’t even imagine how bad that would be for people who record sports regularly.

Second, as I mentioned before, all recordings are done via the web page which is not a great experience and down right terrible from a phone or tablet (I used the Nexus 7). If there were a mobile app to manage this it could help quite a bit. The web interface has a better grid style guide but only has about 2 days worth of data so if the show you want to record isn’t coming up soon, you may have difficulty finding it.

The search is less than stellar, but if you type in the exact query, you shouldn’t have too much trash in your results. The below example of New Girl returned 388 results.

Most of the time the streaming recordings look fine going back to the Boxee TV but I did have a couple occasions when playback looked particularly bandwidthy. I’m sure trying to show this fact in a scaled down image taken with my iPhone in less than optimal lighting will be hard to convey, but I can guarantee you Fox never looked this bad while viewing live TV.

Because the recordings are constantly being uploaded/streamed I would never recommend the Boxee TV to anyone who did not have fast internet or had bandwidth caps. I have FiOS (15/5) and most of the time I’d say the playback quality was higher than Netflix (not all that hard to do) but below what Vudu HDX usually has.

Here is an average month of internet usage for me (I stream a lot of Netflix).

And here is my same internet on drugs with a Boxee TV.

In the month of October I uploaded 16 Gb of information. That’s a lot. In 2 days with the the Boxee TV I uploaded 81 Gb!

Moving on to the apps, I only played with Netflix, Vudu, and YouTube. There are others, but more importantly are some that I find missing. Amazon VOD is absent, probably because Walmart owns Vudu and is partnering to sell the Boxee TV, and so is NFL Sunday Ticket, NHL GameCenter, Hulu Plus, and Revision 3. I know most people probably don’t care, but I regularly watch Revision 3 and thanks to a friend, watch NFL Sunday Ticket most every Sunday. I’ve already reached out to Revision 3 and I’m hopeful they’ll come to the platform. For now I satisfy my Rev3 and Verge video feeds with the YouTube app.

Speaking of which, the three apps I did try are almost identical to the PS3 apps which is both a good and bad thing. It’s good if you don’t have a PS3, it’s bad if you do because the apps are redundant.

In all fairness the Boxee TV is much better and handling remote inputs (so long as you don’t need the IR blaster) and the PS3 is three times the price and you’d still want to buy a remote or $60 Logitech repeater.

I did find a couple things odd about the Netflix and Vudu interfaces when comparing the Boxee TV and PS3. The Netflix app seems to spread out the DVD icons slightly and everything was a little fuzzy. Mouse over the picture below to see what I’m talking about. Video playback in completely unaffected but the fuzziness was the first thing my wife noticed since she uses the PS3 more for streaming than I do. The second thing she noticed was that the audio on the Boxee TV “sounded like a tin can”. Upon further inspection it appeared that the Boxee TV had more weight toward the rear speakers and had an odd effect on the center channel to make everything a little more quite and echoy.

(Boxee TV app shown without mouseover)

[himage][/himage]

The Vudu app didn’t have the same fuzzy quality. The screen is slightly zoomed but I had no problems navigating or reading text.

(Boxee TV app shown without mouseover)

[himage][/himage]

Despite looking for differences, I couldn’t see anything different with the YouTube app and it worked just the same as the PS3 app including being able to sync devices (tablets and phones) for playback and control.

All-in-all, if you get decent TV signal, you may find that you don’t need some of the sports apps and if you subscribe to the DVR functionality ($9.99 /mo for now) you really should cancel your Hulu plus account.

Website

The Boxee website is key to the experience of owning a Boxee TV. Unfortunately, I found that experience to be lacking.

First of all, on a laptop it does great. The interface is a bit bare but works…most of the time. I had a few times of a simple loading screen and also had to disable some plugins (https everywhere and Lastpass autologin) to get into the site.

On mobile it’s a completely different site (actually it’s the same site it just didn’t work well for me on my iPhone 4S or Nexus 7). I tried to stream a recording while at work and got a loading screen for ~5 minutes, 10 seconds of playback, and then more loading.

Luckily, when I complained on Twitter Boxee employees were listening and care. Specifically I was shocked to get a reply from Avner Ronan the CEO and founder of Boxee.

BoxeeTV recordings streaming is worse than YouTube on dial-up

— rothgar (@rothgar) November 2, 2012

;

He quickly replied and we started emailing each other to try and improve my streaming situation. He also helped me get in contact with an engineer to discover the problem with my IR blaster. I have a couple outstanding support requests and I have no doubt that they’ll take care of my needs. In a world of eBay, Paypal, and Amazon, it’s nice to feel like you matter to a company.

The last things with the Boxee website were the Netflix credit was tucked away under settings ->; connected applications. You need to go here to redeem your free 3 months. The code generated for me didn’t work but I opened another support ticket to get that fixed.

And then I found this little gem buried in the settings talking about a free DVR service on the Boxee Box. I have no idea what the restrictions will be on the free service, but I am hopeful that it’ll open the doors for more users.

What’s Missing

As I was using the Boxee TV I was really excited for what it brings to the STB market, but I felt like there were some obvious things that are missing. Of course my ideas probably are not your ideas, but these are things that I think the Boxee TV should be able to do or at least areas they can improve on to add functionallity.

• LAN playback from CIFS/Samba shares The original Boxee Box did a great job at unifying all of my local and internet content. The Boxee TV takes a step backwards in only focusing on content I don’t own. I know there is USB file playback but if I wanted that I could still use my PS3 and put my pictures/videos on an external hard drive. It’s just not a practical thing to do. I’m sure the Boxee team knows about this limitation and are working on it, I just hope it doesn’t come in the form of a DLNA client.
• AirPlay/Miracast support For the brief time I had an Apple TV, the ability to control and send content to the screen was something I never realized I was missing. I would constantly play online video sources from my phone to my TV and it became essential in any new STB I buy (or build).
• Place-shifting live content Because Boxee TV is your gateway for live video content, I don’t know whey the couldn’t do what slingbox does and stream your live TV (not just recordings) to any device anywhere. I’ve always wanted a Slingbox but never wanted to pay the money for a single purpose device. If Boxee TV could do this multitasking it would be an easy sell at $99.
• Third party apps They have to know that their third party ecosystem was one of the biggest compelling reasons to buy a Boxee Box. Starting the ecosystem over from scratch with the Boxee TV was a big mistake for both users and content providers I hope they open the platform again, although I’m not sure they can.
• Universal search Once again, this was a huge selling point of the original Boxee Box and is completely absent from the Boxee TV. The fact that Roku just added this feature the week the Boxee TV came out made the Roku even more compelling.

Wrap-up

I had a hard time figuring out who the Boxee TV was for. I can’t say it’s for HTPC users who have a computer hooked up to their TV streaming all of their local and remote content. It’s not for users who just want live TV because every TV sold in the US today already has an ATSC tuner capable of viewing OTA and unencrypted content. The fact that the Boxee TV only has HDMI video shows that it’s not for people with older TVs because they may not have the right hook-ups to view live TV anyway, and it definitely isn’t for people who have an Xbox 360 or PS3 with more apps and added features (DVD playback, games, etc.). It’s also not for the TV downloaders out there who throw caution to the wind and download all of their shows with torrents/Usenet.

But who does that leave? It leaves people like my parents who don’t want to pay for cable but want a DVR. For my non-gamer gamer friends who don’t watch much TV but would like to turn on a sports game once and a while and make sure they don’t miss The Big Bang Theory. For people who don’t have time or knowledge to manage an HTPC but also aren’t in the Apple ecosystem. Of course any of these people need to have the bandwidth available to upload and download recordings without penalty.

For those people, the Boxee TV is a Godsend. Sure some of the the features may not be fully baked and some services don’t work 100% of the time. But unlimited recordings cannot be taken lightly, and a STB with this much potential is hard to ignore. In many respects, the Boxee TV DVR service can easily replace Hulu Plus without needing to worry about recordings expiring. A Hulu Plus subscription is $8/mo and for only $2 more you can have live TV, place-shifting, and streaming to any browser (not just any device with an app). For some, the Boxee TV is a gateway drug for a mostly extinct platform, the HTPC.

I want to warn you though, you shouldn’t buy it because of what it might be, but because of what it is. If the basic functionality cannot meet your needs, hold off until it does. You can’t guarantee that a feature will exist in 3, 6, or even 9 months. For right now, the Boxee TV has a unique position in the market and I have already found myself recommending it to some friends/family who fit the above criteria.

For my needs, however, it’s not good enough. I will continue to invest in my HTPCs, but will keep a close eye on the Boxee TV and gladly recommend it for anyone I think can benefit from its services.

• Hold volume down (while phone is on) = Compose new tweet
• Hold volume up (while phone is on) = Show contact favorites
• Triple press home button (while phone is on) = Open camera
• Triple press home button (while phone is locked) = Play/Pause

Here’s a quick video I found that shows some of the settings and how it works.

Browser Changer

Allows you to change the default web browser in iOS (Mine is set to Google Chrome)

Chromizer

Adds some gestures to Google Chrome

Data Monitor

Lets me see how much data I have used per day and per month on wifi and 3g connections.

F.lux

Changes the screen hue based on the time of day. You specify what type of lights you use and it automatically adjusts.

Five Icon Dock

This one does exactly what you’d think

FolderEnhancer

Puts folders on steroids and really customizable. This was the 2nd jailbreak app I bought.

iFile

Just a file browser, but if you pay for it you also get Dropbox syncing etc.

NCSettings

Like Android toggles in the notification center.

OneByOne Contacts

Lets you swipe to delete contacts like webOS used to.

PasswordPilot

Automatically enters your App Store password

PdaNet

PdaNet has been around forever and the only way you can get it on your iOS device is with a jailbreak. It’s a one time $15 fee but well worth it if you tether a lot and don’t want to pay the $15/mo charge to the carrier.

Pull To Dismiss

Gets rid of the keyboard when you don’t want it. Easier to explain in the video.

ShowCase

I just found this one and it fixes a HUGE annoyance I’ve always had with iOS. Check out the video.

Silent Rington

Give you a ringtone that doesn’t make any noise (just vibrates). It’s great for an alarm when you don’t want to wake anyone else up.

Siri Toggles

Turn on/off wifi, bluetooth, etc. with Siri. This functionality is built into iOS 6, but I’ve had it in iOS 5 for quite a while.

SmallBanners

Makes the notification banner smaller.

SMS GV Extension

This seamlessly integrates Google Voice into the default SMS app. Here’s the website for more information.

SwipeSelection

Adds gestures to the iOS keyboard that I wish every keyboard had.

SwitcherMod

Allows you to customize some features of the app switcher. I use this to always show the close X on apps.

Switchy

Makes the app switcher 2 rows high and adds other customizations

WiCarrier

Show’s your currently connected wifi network in the status bar. More info at iDownloadBlog

xCon

Hides your jailbreak status for some apps.

• Antenna
•  Old satellite mount
•  4 15cm (6″) hex bolts
•  8 washers
•  8 nuts
•  10″ punched flat metal strap

Now to put it all together:

1. Take the satellite off the mount

2. Put a washer on each hex bolt and put them on the antenna mount. Just to keep everything together I put a nut on the bolt to hold it to the mount.

3. Cut 2 15cm (6″) straps. I used tin snips

4. Put another washer and nut at the end of the bolt to hold the straps on

Climb into the hot, hot attic and mount the antenna to a 2×4

That’s it. If you need an idea for what to do with your old satellite might I suggest a Halloween costume?