Showing posts with label Mobile. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Android Lollipop vs Android KitKat: What's the difference?
There was plenty of debate over what the new version of Android would be called, with "Lemon Meringue" and even the controversial "Licorice" said to have been in the running at various points.
Thankfully the lovable "Lollipop" won out, as Google revealed when it unveiled the new Android update, but the name is hardly all that's been improved since the last version.
Here's exactly how Android 5.0 stacks up to Android KitKat.
1. Material world
Android Lollipop is the biggest
change to Android in some time, finally bumping Google's OS up a full integer
to version 5.0.
It's packed with changes, but the
most obvious improvements are visual.
Google's been working on getting its
new "Material Design" aesthetic out in the world for months, and
Lollipop is its culmination. One of Android's biggest failings up to date —
including with KitKat — has been that its design language never felt unified,
and with Material Design Google hopes to fix that.
Material Design reflects this with
clean, bold lines and colors that transform and alter with fun animations. At
its best it lets you sense the depth behind the interface, even when it's at
rest and appears flat.
This extends from app icons, fonts
and interfaces to simple elements like the new navigation buttons and
notification bar icons, and once you get past the changes you'll likely agree
that most things look better now.
The changes to Android's interface
with Lollipop aren't all visual, either — voice commands with "OK
Google" are more prominent now as well, and can even be used when the
screen is locked and off on some devices, and there are massive improvements to
notifications.
2. Notifications
Notifications have been
significantly overhauled in Android Lollipop.
The OS's lock screen is no longer a
static barrier you have to get through before you can reach the meat of your
phone's functionality, but instead now has many elements of KitKat's
notification panel, plus more interactivity.
In Lollipop you can see what
notifications you've received and what's going on with your apps and contacts
as soon as you pick it up, before you even unlock your device — and you can
even respond to messages from the lockscreen.
The way you see notifications is
changing as well — now rich, descriptive, and interactive notifiers will pop up
on top of what you're doing without interrupting, so you can reject a call or
read a message without quitting that game or whatever. Some of this
functionality was present in KitKat, but it was half-baked and inconsistent.
Android Lollipop is also getting a
"do not disturb" mode a la iOS, which Android KitKat and previous
versions sorely lacked. You can use it to silence your ever-buzzing phone
during specific hours or, more importantly, to only let notifications from
specific sources come through.
Lollipop's quick settings bar also
has new options that KitKat desperately needed, like easy buttons for
flashlight, hotspots, and screencasting. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and location options
have been expanded here as well.
3. Connectivity and APIs
With Android Lollipop Google is
making connectivity a big focus — not just between different handsets, but
among different classes of device as well. For example Android TV is now built
right into Android Lollipop, helping you easily navigate big screens with
smartwatch voice commands, phone gestures, and more.
That's just scratching the surface,
but it means your Android experience will be consistent across smartphones,
tablets, TVs, smartwatches, and more.
Google also wants Lollipop's apps to
communicate with one another more than KitKat's do. Examples are simple, like
tapping links in Chrome and having them open in specific apps instead of taking
you to mobile websites. The OS already does it sometimes, but Google wants it
to be more consistent.
This depends quite a bit on app
developers taking advantage of Lollipop's 5,000 new APIs. These will make the
new Android OS more versatile over time, though their presence might not be
noticeable for end users at first.
Google says Lollipop is also better
at connecting with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. For example Lollipop devices won't
connect to a Wi-Fi network unless they can verify there's an actual connection
there — so unlike with KitKat, you won't be stumped wondering why you suddenly
have no data because your gadget decided to connect to a turd of a network.
4. Safe and sound
Safe and sound
Android Lollipop has some new
security features as well, like the ability to set geographical "safe
zones" where your device won't require a PIN to unlock.
You can do the same with specific
Bluetooth devices, like Android Wear smartwatches, which your phone or tablet
will sense automatically and turn off its security barriers.
And despite all the changes to
notifications that let you see and interact with them without unlocking your
phone, Android 5.0 also has new settings that let you hide sensitive
information anywhere it might appear.
Lollipop also has better protection
against vulnerabilities and malware thanks to SELinux enforcing for all
applications, and encryption is turned on by default on all Lollipop devices.
And multiple user profiles on a
single device, including temporary guest profiles, makes it easier to share
your phone with others while still maintaining control over your own stuff.
5. Performance
Google has reportedly also put a lot
of work into making Android Lollipop run better under the hood.
KitKat's optional runtime ART is now
the standard for Android Lollipop, and Google says it will help make Lollipop
run faster, more efficiently and with less hiccups.
That won't harm existing Android
apps' compatibility, but it has let Google future-proof Android further against
the inevitable onslaught of 64-bit smartphones coming in the near future.
These phones will have more RAM than
existing phones with KitKat and other operating systems are capable of packing,
which is a huge benefit that only future generations of Lollipop handsets will
be able to take advantage of.
For now, though, Google says Android
5.0 is way more power-efficient over its predecessors, with the same phones
getting significantly more battery juice out of Lollipop than they did with
KitKat.
Multitasking has also been updated
with the ability to have multiple cards for the same apps open at a time,
letting you have more than one document or website next to one another, for
example. It's also easier to switch keyboards now too, and Android Lollipop
even supports RAW images.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Labels:
Mobile,
Technology
Sunday, 2 November 2014
Huawei Honor Holly Review - All You Need To Know
Huawei has launched their sub-Rs.10,000 hero device called the Huawei
Honor Holly to compete with the likes of Asus Zenphone, Motorola Moto E,
Google Android One and Micromax Unite 2 to name a few. This segment is
getting more and more competitive with new candidates in this segment.
Lets have a look at how this phone performs and should you buy it over
the competition?
The first thing which impresses me
about the Huawei Honor Holly is that it does not feel cheap at all. It
is pretty well built, the quality of material, build, finish and feel in
hand is far superior than many other phones in the same price. It does
feel sturdy and durable, there is no flex or squeak in the body of the
phone. The rear is glossy and nice, the buttons are solid, tactile and
finished in chrome and feel really good.
Source: http://www.intellectdigest.in
Pricing And Availability
Huawei Honor Holly has been priced aggressively and is available exclusively on Flipkart at Rs.6999.Design And Build Quality
Display Quality
The Huawei Honor Holly gets a 720p HD display which is 5 inch in size. The colour tones and the viewing angles are both decent on the phone. It does make you feel that you are using a phone which is one segment above in price. The video viewing as well as internet browsing experience is a delight because of the display size and quality. Camera Quality
I did not expect too much from the 8 MP camera on the Honor Holly before I tested it, but after testing it I was impressed with the quality of pictures it delivers. It is easy to use, gives clear shots, has sharp focus and I can not complain about anything on the camera as you hardly get good smartphone cameras in this price point. Also the front 2 MP camera does deliver good results, so its good for occasional selfies, video chats etc.Gaming Benchmarks And Performance
Gaming is one area where I was a bit disappointed with the performance of Honor Holly especially with the Frontline Commando 2, but on Subway Surfers, it did play well. It does play mid level games well, but when graphics get too heavy on heavier games, the frames tend to drop. So if you are a hard core gamer, get something more powerful. An ideal phone for gaming will be the Huawei Honor 6. However if you are a moderate gamer and don’t play too heavy games, you will not even notice the frame drops at all.
In terms of general performance, responsiveness and feel, the phone felt
pretty breezy and smooth. We tested on Antutu Benchmarking tool and got a
score of around 18000 which is not bad at all at this price. On Nenamark 2 graphics benchmarks, we got a score of 51.8 FPS which
means it can handle most moderate games at decent performance levels.
Software And UI
Huawei uses Emotion UI which is its own skin over the Android Kit Kat 4.4.2 which it ships with. It is a flat UI without any app drawer and there are multiple home screens which can be customized easily (check our video review for the same). It is simple, easy to use and responsive, which makes it user-friendly and intuitive. Verdict
While there is tough competition in the price segment where the Huawei Honor Holly is placed, it does manage to differentiate itself with the display size, quality and build of the phone at such an amazingly low price Rs.6999. The performance is also satisfactory in this price segment, so based on our tests, we give it a 7.5 out of 10, which is a good score for such a low priced phone.Source: http://www.intellectdigest.in
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Labels:
Mobile,
Technology
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