Category: Reviews

I have been an AT&T customer since 1997.  The only time I wasn’t actively using a mobile device on AT&T was when I lived in England and even then I kept my account so when I did move back I would be able to get a SIM and up and going within minutes.  When the opportunity came up to review Project Fi, I was unsure because after such a long time with one carrier, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to bother with the messiness of switching.  So I met the review halfway.  I kept my old number on AT&T and when I set up Project Fi on my Nexus 6, I requested a new number.  The thought was, if things went pear shaped, I could simply shut off the Fi service and nobody would be the wiser (as I had just forwarded my old AT&T number to my new Fi number).

I will be cancelling my AT&T service at the end of this month.

After using Project Fi for the past month, in multiple locations throughout the United States, I have been so overwhelmingly pleased with the service and quality of data throughput that I will not be looking back.  Indeed in some locations, I have had virtually no signal on AT&T while I have had 3G coverage with Fi.  Add to that a powerful and informative dedicated app along with a pricing model that just makes sense, you have what I think is the model that should be scaring the poop out of the major carriers.

What Is Project Fi?

I’ll start by giving everyone a little bit of background on Project Fi, a side project that Google started last year.  It is what is known as a Mobile Network Virtual Operator, or MNVO. Google doesn’t actually own the cell towers or physical equipment. Instead, they purchase service from an established carrier and rebrand it.  In the case of Google, the bought service from both T-Mobile and Sprint, assuring that they would have coverage for their customers.  This is not a new concept here in the United States or in Europe but what makes Project Fi unique is how Google has gone about doing this with the Nexus 6, Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P.

In those three devices, Google has built in the ability to switch between the T-Mobile GSM network and the Sprint Spark (CDMA) network on-the-fly.  Which ever has the stronger signal in the area you are in at the time wins.  Doing this is nothing short of engineering gymnastics. To get a device to switch antennas and carrier modes actively is extremely difficult.  Then Google went one step further.  In the Nexus devices it will switch between these two carriers and Wi-Fi.  So now if you have strong, good quality Wi-Fi it will leverage that for your calls and if that signal starts to drop, it will seamlessly hand the call of to one of the carriers so you don’t lose the call.  You, as a user, don’t have to do anything to make this happen.

This monumental engineering effort is why you don’t see a generic Project Fi SIM for every device.  To really take advantage of the service, you have to have the multiple array of antennas in the device and the software engineered for the handoffs between the carriers and Wi-Fi.  That is no small feat.  You can also see where there is a lot that could go wrong with this process and user experience and call quality would suffer.  That has not been the case at all since I have moved to Fi and in fact I would contend that data throughput and voice call quality has been superior to my other carrier everywhere I have been with the service.

With the 2015-2016 National Hockey League season starting this week here in the US and Canada, you can get ready to keep up with your favorite teams and players with the official NHL for Android app.  The app is full of news, video highlights, social network feeds, stats and standings from across the league and you can configure the app to focus just on your favorite team – because really? As a Colorado Avalanche fan do I care about what’s going on with the Dallas Stars?  No, not really. 🙂

The NHL for Android app runs on Android phones and tablets and if you are a NHL Gamecenter subscriber, you can watch live action from across the league right on your devices.  I’ve often said that the best sports league app in my opinion is the MLB At Bat app for Major League Baseball but the NHL for Android app is undoubtedly just as good.  If you love stick & puck, you need to have this app on your phone or tablet.

Official NHL for Android App – Free – Download Now

Electronic Arts last week released the all new Need for Speed No Limits game for Android.  The latest game in the franchise is the first that has been designed for mobile first and leverages the talent of the FireMonkey team at EA who created the ever popular Real Racing 3.  This latest game has a lot going for it with outstanding graphics and game play.  There are a few gotchas though, least of which is the freemium model where you have to pay real cash at some point to get further along in the game.  The good news – after playing it pretty extensively all weekend, you can get pretty far into the game without having to make that investment.

Need for Speed No Limits – Free (In-App Purchases) – Download Now

Android Marshmallow represents the 6th major update to the Android platform and while some have argued that it is not worthy of a full “dot-zero” version number, when you see the list of things that Google has added or addressed in v6.0, it starts to make sense. Android Marshmallow is certainly not revolutionary. It is an evolution of Android Lollipop, bringing with it a laundry list of improvements, enhancements and features that will make it a worthy competitor to iOS 9 from Apple and a worthy upgrade for users.

For the sake of saving you having to read 10,000 plus words, I’m not going to go over every single new features that is in Marshmallow. Rather, I’m going to focus on the key features that are likely to impact the most users or are going to have the greatest impact long term on the life of this version of Android. Likewise, I’m not going to try to answer the question of if your particular device will receive Android Marshmallow. I’ll give some guidance but it is nothing more than that. I, in other words, don’t know the answer on if your phone or tablet will see it.

Note that this review has been based on testing and usage of the Developer Preview 3 on a Nexus 6.

There are cases for protection and cases for looks and every once in a while you find one that does both for your devices. For me, both are equally important and one of the best at providing both of these is Noreve.

Noreve is a French company who has been making leather cases and accessories for mobile tech for years and I have been fortunate enough to review some of their products in the past. Recently they sent me the Traditions B case for the Google Nexus 7 tablet and it is, as I expected, superb in every way.

I will admit that I’m a bit retentive when it comes to my work space. Everything has a place and everything should be easy to reach but equally, it needs to be tidy and organized. I don’t like seeing cables sticking out everywhere and I certainly don’t like my devices sitting on the desktop. They take up space and I already have a small enough desk space.

When I started looking for a desk stand for my Nexus 6 and Nexus 7, there were plenty out there but I couldn’t find that perfect one. That was until I discovered the Kbtel Micro Suction stand on Amazon. The aluminum body is angled perfectly for device viewing while you are stat at your desk. It also has a unique micro-suction technology that securely holds your device in either landscape or portrait mode. Add to that cable management on the back of it and the Kbtel stand is an elegant and simple design that just works.

Kbtel Universal Micro Suction Stand – $16.99 – Amazon