There were times in my coding life where I’ve wasted a great deal of time to find a solution for some error when I could have easily figured it out myself if I looked closely at the code. But I know eyes can be deceiving after spending hours and hours on the same code, so minute errors would be the last to notice.
You must have been there and done that too. So here I will be listing down 3 most common errors (and warnings) found in PHP and possible fixes so that you won’t have to spend even a minute scratching your head and ‘googling’ for solutions!
#1 : Headers Already Sent
Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cookie – headers already sent by (output started at /home/notes99/public_html/pablo.lk/dev/phperrors.php:2)
Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/notes99/public_html/pablo.lk/dev/phperrors.php:1)
This is actually a warning rather than an error which is mostly encountered with session_start() and header() functions.
And those who don’t know the solution might be amazed to hear that it can occur with just a misplaced white space!
Yes, if you come across this the next time check your code immediately whether there are any white spaces, empty lines or any form output is sent before the ‘
Correct:
#2 : Session Variable Not Accessible
If you are dealing with session variables you must have come across with this error at least once in your life time.
Simply this ‘Undefined variable’ error occurs when you are trying to access a session variable without calling session_start() . So whenever you are accessing sessions, make sure you place session_start() as the first thing in your php script.
#3 : Unexpected T_ error
This is a very common syntax error that frequents in PHP coding.
When you come across such error, all you have to do is to check for a missing semi-colon, quotation mark or a parenthesis in the line number mentioned or immediately above that.
Also be thorough with the opening and closing of blocks (i.e. if’s, while’s, for’s)
It’s as simple as that!
My objective was to give you a basic understanding of these common errors/warnings so that you can identify and fix them as soon as you spot without wasting your valuable time searching for solutions. If you have any more suggestions for common errors do share with us here.
Spam email is major problem in modern communication which no one could solve so far. Most of email services have very sophisticated algorithms especially in Gmail to identify spam. But still it’s not a perfect solution. Couple of annoying spam email appears in my inbox every day.
Publishing email address in a publicly accessible web page is like sending open invitation to al the spammers in the world. But as a web content creator or as a webmaster you have to do it to keep close contact with readers. Normally what you do is obfuscate email address when you publish it
Ex: Malinda [at] NOG [dot] com
The objective here is make this readable by humans but not by spam bots. But spam bots are getting smarter. So this is not a good solution anymore. So I was looking for a better solution to share email address in a public web page with a spam shield. Finally I found a simple solution and it’s Scr.im.
How to Use Scr.Im?
What scr.im basically does is save your email address and create a webpage to display it with a unique URL. In order to view the email address you have to go through a challenge response. Let’s take a closer look.
Go to Scr.im home page.
There you can see 2 fields, one to add your email address and another to customize URL.
If you leave 2nd box it will give you random URL.
Finally click on protect my email.
Then it will take you to sharing options page. There you can get direct URL, HTML embed code as well as forum code.
Once someone clicks on your email address shared, it will take him to challenge response page. On successful response only he will be able to see your actual email address.
This is a way better and secured way to share your email in web pages and social media. With scr.im you have the guaranty that any spam bot won’t be able to see your email address. Try this on your contact page, bog post, Facebook or in a forum and stay away from annoying spam.
Joomla is one of the most popular web content management systems commonly known as a CMS. It allows you to start a web site with minimum technical knowledge and effort in a minimum amount of time. The primary objective of such a CMS would be to separate the content of the web site from its technological design, so any non technical content writer could update the website without the help of a web developer.
Joomla provide all the above general functions to the users and many more including SEO friendliness and uncountable number of extensions/templates. So it always used to stand tall among CMS’. And It comes totally free and having very active development community and user community online. Therefore it was developing rapidly and users always get answers for their issue quickly. With all those pluses, Joomla was moving ahead, evolving to be the CMS in internet.
Recently Joomla community introduced Joomla 1.6 which attracted web developers as well as web content writers including website owners. If you take a deeper look you will figure out that, Joomla 1.6 is not just an ‘Upgrade’ like previous version evolution. It’s more than that!
Server Requirement
The most significant thing in Joomla 1.6 is it doesn’t work with old school web hosts. The minimum requirement of host Joomla is,
I see this as a really good step and minimum requirement would be satisfied by any decent web hosting service provider. In the development side, Joomla community will be able to use new technological advancement and provide smooth and nice product experience to users. If you are in an Old school web host, and planning to use Joomla 1.6 CMS, I guess time is ripe to move to a new decent web host.
What’s New?
More Control
The coolest feature in Joomla 1.6 which will attract the most is its controllability. It has taken the user permission to the next level. You can create user groups and assign permission to each group. Give privileges will be cascade to entire member of the group. This comes handy because most of the commercial web pages contents are uploaded my many people probably paid staff. And site admin need to give access to each section only for specific set of writers. With this each user will be able to see only his part of the web site to edit or may be view. Same would happen with administrative back and. Therefore this will be jump ahead in Joomla CMS and definitely this will contribute a lot to its future popularity and success.
URL Redirect Manager
This is another new feature in Joomla 1.6 and this URL redirect manager allows you to develop advanced routing between different site URLs. These redirecting may be static or may be depending on HTTP header details. If you need to direct entire traffic of URL ‘A’ to URL ‘B’ that will be a static redirection and you could modify the HTTP header after the redirection. Using this module you will be able to direct all your 404 errors to a nice page without letting user know something went wrong.
More impressively this provides built in tiny URL system. Hence you won’t have to use third party services to get your URL shorten. URL redirect manger will do it for you right inside your web application. In this case you might have to come up with creative sub domain configuration to make it better looking. The most important thing here will be you don’t have to depend on some other third party service and you will have the total control.
Multi Language Support
As always new Joomla also equipped with Multilingual support. You will be able to give a drop down menu to your user to change the language instantly by him. However to get this done you might have to create separate content for each language to get the optimum result why automated translators doesn’t always do a great job for all languages.
Most importantly new multi language support feature will allow you to create separate specific segments for each language. If you have some part of the web site that would be visible if language is selected to ‘French’ and that is irrelevant to ‘English’ , such kind of thing would be able to control using this new feature.
Components and Extensions
This could be a bad news as well as good news for both users and developers. Old Joomla extensions won’t work with Joomla 1.6 as long as it comes with totally different architecture. This will be a bad news for general non technical users because they will have to look for new version of extensions which are compatible with Joomla 1.6 and it will be good news for developers since they will get a room to come up with better creative extensions with new architecture.
However, I believe that this is a good move. In most of community development, developers are thinking about the old version of applications and its existence. But it only stagnate the evolution of the product and won’t let the developers to move on with advance tech. So, If you planning to move to (not upgrade) Joomla 1.6, account this fact as well.
Unlimited Nested Categories
This is a Joomla community request for a long and finally it’s been delivered by development community. Now you don’t have hard coded depth for your category hierarchy. You could create a nested category inside another category till infinity. This is really cool and expands the usability scope of Joomla. Most importantly this will be helpful for non technical users to manage their complex content without aid of a developer with much more flexibility.
Menu Structure
Joomla 1.6 comes to advance menu system management. It allows you to assign a page or even a module to a menu item. Further the management of menu hierarchy is made so easy for any one. The one of most important thing, Meta data management of menu item is been optimized and make it much more flexible. Top most important this is accessibility and visibility of menu item have taken to a unquestionable perfection level. Hence any level of user will be able to come up with user friendly as well as SEO friendly navigation structure for his web site.
Move to Joomla 1.6
As you could see from the above facts take your existing website to Joomla 1.6 is not just a simple upgrade. You will have to move entire web content to the new system to feel the power of Joomla 1.6. However, if you are starting a new web site, you can simply getting start with latest version of Joomla.
In the website migration process you will have to think about the web host first, whether it meet the minimum requirement of Joomla 1.6. In here you don’t have to worry about the capability of server computer hardware, it just software you have to taken in to account. Yet, with the increasing traffic you will have to look for better hardware and it won’t affect your Joomla website anyway. If your web host meets the requirement you will have to think about the extensions as well. You have to look for whether they have Joomla 1.6 compatible versions. If all set you are good to move!
Competition
Though Joomla is taking its shape to a perfect CMS with its version 1.6, it’s having tough completion in the CMS world. Drupal would be its main competitor. Most of the people say that Drupal is easy to understand and get on rather than Joomla. I personally don’t agree with it, yet I can’t deny the fact since many people made the same complain. So it will be good advantage for Drupal against Joomla.
Then comes the most popular blogging CMS, WordPress. It’s specialized for Blogging yet, it won’t stop you using it as a website CMS. It’s having entire features to develop a decent website including templates, plug-ins and other features almost same as Joomla. And installation is just few clicks and any non technical person would be able to move on with it. Learning curve of the CMS is also lesser. So there is a possibility that WordPress come out of its frame and give a significant challenge to Joomla.
SimpleCMS is another product out there which could give a solid head on challenge to Joomla. It give a very user-friendly interface to add and modify content. All you have to do is just click on the content after logging as authorized user. It will simply take you to edit mode and after saving things goes live. Same as Its name its ‘Simple’! And installation process is also very less complicate. Hence it was gaining raid popularity among web site administrators.
Further Evolution
Joomla will continue to evolve with its active development community. Probably they will look in to make it more users friendly to make it even easier for non technical users. Especially the installation script will come with less complicated mechanism. Content editing, page structure editing and navigation are already at the top as I can see. With all these Joomla will be able to solve the common complain ‘Significant learning curve’
Plug in and template availability is always a plus point for Joomla and it will continue with Joomla 1.6 as well. There might be some compatibility issues, but they will be solved soon. And there will be more extensions and more templates with this continuous evolution of Joomla. With all these Its taking its shape to be THE best web CMS.
2012 IFA conference was a very important event for Samsung. They introduced Samsung ATIV S, the windows Phone, Windows RT tablets and many more devices. Out of those entire lot one amazing gadget took all my attention.
It’s a camera, but it’s having Android, Wi-fi and a huge HD display. We have seen Smartphone with built-in camera. But this is a camera which is having most of the features of Smartphone. This is actually a path breaking change in point and shoot camera history. Samsung Galaxy Camera, the new member of Galaxy family, is under NOG Spotlight today.
Feature Highlight
Design
Design is like any other point and shoot camera but it’s very thin and weighs only 305g. On right hand side there is a grip to hold it steady and on top of that there is a shutter button and power button. Rear panel is clean and having only a huge 4.8 touch screen. In front panel you can find zoom lens. It’s a smooth and clean design, sharing common design concepts of Samsung.
Processor and Storage
The camera comes with 1.4 GHzQuad Core processor running on Exynos chipset. It’s having 8 GB internal memory, expandable via microSD slot. Configuration is almost same as high end Android Smartphone. It’s having pop up flash to take photos in low light conditions.
Optics and Sensor
In a camera the most important part is optics and image sensor. Samsung Galaxy camera is having 16 MPCMOS image sensor with ISO range 100 – 3200. When Lens wide open aperture is F 2.8 and minimum focal length is 23 mm. Whole optical system is capable of giving you 21x zooming.
Same as most of camera this is letting you to shoot 1080p video @30 fps. If you like to shoot true slow motion videos, you can step back to 480p and reach 120fps.
Display
If you have done photography with a Android Smartphone, the experience would be similar here. You have a dedicated hardware shutter button. Other than that entire control goes in touch screen like in a Smartphone. For that there is a 4.8 inch SLCD display with 1280 x 720 px resolution which will give you 308 ppi of pixel density.
Operating System
Usually Android is limited to Phones and tablets. Breaking that barrier, Samsung Galaxy camera comes with latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It’s customized to give priority to camera functions.
When it comes to shooting it’s letting you to manually control shutter speed, aperture and ISO to get what you exactly need if you are a PRO. For that they have designed interesting DSLR like interface as well. But for others there you can find Smart Pro mode. In that case you have to select the scenario and camera is choosing the best configuration for you.
Once you shoot the images and video you can enjoy then right in the camera in its huge screen. There is a advanced content manager to store and organize your images and videos. If you like to talk to camera and get your work done, yes you can do it with S Voice.
Finally it’s providing you image and video editing facility in camera. With Samsung Galaxy Camera you will never need the aid of computer to do even advance editing such as color correction and spot removal. It works for movies as well.
Connectivity
Connectivity is the magic in Samsung Galaxy Camera. It’s having 3G + Wi-fi version as well as 4G + Wi-fi version. So you can connect to high speed data network and save entire camera data in a cloud storage service which comes with camera. Other than that it’s having HDMI, GPS, Bluetooth and microUSB.
Using Wi-fi direct you can share images and videos with 8 other supported devices simultaneously. It’s not share after shooting, it’s shooting and sharing. As long as you have data network access you can do the same with social media as well.
Battery Life
Samsung Galaxy Camera comes with 1650 mAh Li-Ion battery. It’s not as big as in Smartphone, but will provide enough power to shoot many images and videos.
Others
Never forget this device comes with latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. So whatever you can do with your Android phone, you can do it with Samsung Galaxy Camera. You can use calendar to manage your events, sync it with your phone calendar, send SMS, browse web and install application from Google Play. If you like to customize your home screen, you can drag and drop icons and even add widgets as well. It’s totally extending the power of Android Smartphone to a Camera.
Wrapping Up
If you are a photography lover you won’t be able to stop thinking about this amazing device. It’s not for professional photographer, but it’s the best camera for day to day photography. We have seen Smartphone which are having cameras. Now we have camera which is having a Smartphone. This is a great innovation by Samsung.
It’s a full camera package. You can shoot images, record videos, edit them right in the camera and send them anywhere in the globe through in built data connectivity. News reporters, this is the device for you. You can go to field, make multimedia rich news and send them to your website only with Samsung Galaxy Camera.
So guys, this is what I could find out about this amazing device. It took my breath away and can’t wait to own one. You can share what you feel about Samsung Galaxy Camera as a comment below and join email delivery to get our latest articles right in to your inbox.
Evolution of mobile phone has come to the stage of mobile Smartphone today. It’s not only a communication device which you can use to make calls, send SMS or emails. It’s much more. Yes, you are already using it for web browsing, gaming, social media and even as a GPS navigator.
The capabilities of hardware wrapped up in Smartphone are amazing. Their creative applications are limitless. Previously I was talking about Torque, an application you could use to access the car computer and retrieve engine status via Bluetooth.
Today I’m going to tell you about another amazing application which utilizes wide set of hardware in your Smartphone. The app is Google Sky Map and let’s takes a closer look.
Getting Started with Google Sky Map
Go to Google Play and install Google Sky Map.
Open the app and give it few seconds to initialize.
It will show you a map of starts, their names and constellations etc.
Now point the phone to sky and look through it.
App will show you details of stars you can see on sky.
Once you pan the phone around it will change the view accordingly.
If you like to learn about night sky and its hidden mysteries, here you have the solution. You just turn your Android Smartphone in to a window to Sky. Let’s dig deep into app functions and settings.
Tap on the options key then go to settings.
There you can select what to show on the map, locations settings, sensor settings etc. Default would work for most people. Let’s go back.
You can use pinch to zoom to view more details about starts you are looking at.
Once you tap on the screen it will give you few on screen options. There you can select what to show on map, zoom in/out and manual panning
If you want to search for a star, planet or any object, go to options -> Search. Type what you want and app will guide you there.
If you want to see the sky map of different date, use time travel under options.
How Google Sky Map Works?
The first thing to do here is come up with 3D sky map which won’t be a huge challenge to Google engineers. They have experience in creating Google Maps and street view. The next thing is change the view as you pan the phone. This could be challenging.
But your Smartphone wraps advanced hardware sensors. It has a digital compass and gyro sensor which will solve the above problem. App can get your horizontal panning with digital compass and vertical panning with gyro sensor.
Google Sky Map is a live example of creative combination of powerful hardware sensors and software in your Smartphone. Finally it turned out to be a very interesting and useful app.
Google is hosting an event on 29th October in New York. This is expected to be the release of new Android version as well as next Nexus device. According to alphabetical order what we have next is “K”. So probably Android 4.2 will be named as “Key Lime Pie”.
For the past few weeks WWW was flooded with rumors and leaks about LG made Nexus 4. There were pictures, specs and even tare downs. Most of those rumors were pretty consistent. So there is a high chance that Google will release this Nexus 4 on 29th.
The best thing ever happened to Android so far is Jelly Bean and it’s project butter. It solved most of the common problems in Android and paved its way to beat famous iOS.
But still there is a room for improvement. As an Android user I’m looking forward to see something amazing. Here I go with rumors round up for Android 4.2 Key Lime Pie.
Expected Features
Project Roadrunner
This is one of the most rumored and most expected features in Android platform. Previous project butter made the UI transitions smoother and improved battery life up to a certain level. The objective of project roadrunner is to make Android platform even energy efficient.
Most of the Android handsets today have bigger, more than 2000 mAh batteries. The result is bulky and heavy handsets. Even with all theses, practically they last only a day. After project roadrunner, manufactures will be able to come up with lighter handsets with smaller battery that still lasts a full day. Existing handsets with large batteries will probably last for few days.
Quick Settings
Pull down notification bar is a unique feature in Android and adopted by many other mobile OS as well. With quick setting they are going to make it even smarter. As usual you will be able to pull down notification bar. Then you will be able to pull down another customizable “Quick Setting” panel as well.
Extended Security
Security is a major issue in any OS. Android developers will pay close attention to this aspect as well. The main 3 improvement in Android 4.2 key Lime Pie would be SELinux, VPN Lockdown and Premium SMS conformation. Click here to read more about it on AndroidPolice.
New Gmail
Gmail app for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is good but where is pinch to zoom? When you get a huge image or HTML email, it’s a real pain to read it by scrolling around. By solving this problem Android 4.2 key Lime Pie will come with native Gmail app which has pinch to zoom as well as swipe to delete feature.
New Gallery
The gallery in Android 4.1 is pretty cool for me, nothing to complaint about. But they are going to improve it in Android 4.2. It will get more Google+ style look with this new UI revamp. There will be white strip down the album where it can display album name and some more information. Other than these UI alterations, entire operations would be same as before.
Wrapping Up
Out of all the above my personal favorites are project roadrunner and Gmail 4.2. I believe most of you guys will agree with me. I’m not sure whether I’d like quick settings or would it be unnecessary complexity. The feeling I have about the new Gallery is also pretty much same.
It’s not time to judge the next Android 4.2 Key Lime Pie. We are one week away from it and it’s going to be a long week for sure. I will talk more about it after 29th October.
We are using diagrams to present complex data in a simple way. This is applicable for many engineering fields, especially for software engineering. Since software is totally intangible product, software engineers are using various different diagrams to make the software visible and explainable to the customer. In addition diagrams are used to gather complex requirements as well.
Normally we are using various different computer programs to draw diagrams such as Microsoft Visio, Visual Paradigm and Rational Rose. But we are in the era of rich internet applications.
Quick Catch-up
Rich Internet Applications – Redefining Web Experience
Most of the complex desktop applications have gone online and we can use them simply with a web browser without going through complex installation process. So why not diagram editing software?
Diagramly
When I was stumbling across the WWW I landed on this amazing online tool Diagramly. In the first look it didn’t looks like an traditional website. It looked more like PC software we use every day, so I took a deeper look.
Diagramly is letting you to draw most of the common kind of diagrams with it’s online diagram editor and save them in your computer. It provide you the almost all of the features that comes with any other diagram editor such as adding items, labeling, arranging and text editing.
How to Start Using Diagramly?
Visit Diagramly home page
There you will be able to see the online Diagram editor. No sign up or conventional home page, directly to business.
At the top you can see the menu bar and tool bar.
Right hand side you can see the Diagram item navigator and in the middle the work space.
From the edit menu you can adjust the view of work space.
You can format an existing item using format menu.
Text menu gives you all the common text editing tools. You can find some of them in the tool bar as well.
You can organize your items using Arrange menu.
Diagram item navigator is separated for few sections.
By clicking on item or by dragging and dropping you can add it to work space.
By double clicking on added item you can edit the label for that. Here you can use the text menu to customize it.
If it’s a complex item such as class diagram, it will give you appropriate editor to customize entire data in it.
When you adding a relationship, it also automatically get docked to existing items.
By selecting and pressing delete key you can easily remove any item.
Finally you can print the diagram or save it as a XML file using the file menu.
If you need to export this in a image format you can get it done at File -> export.
Best Way to Use Diagramly
If you plan to use Diagramly for some serious work, the best way to use it is inside a site specific browser. Then you wont feel that this is actually a web application and you will be able to experience even greater level of performance.
Quick Catch-up
Wrapping Up
You must have figured out that Diagramly is proving almost all of the function you have in your installed diagram editor. Since this is a online tool you can access and use this on any computer, anywhere on the globe.
The diagram editor is highly optimized and didn’t give any glitches. Entire diagram items, menu operations and even complex relationships are also working just fine. At the bottom corner of the item panel there is a real time updating preview of workspace as well.
However, I still don’t recommend you to use this as your primary diagram editor. Further, if you are a software engineer you won’t be able to use this diagram to auto code generation.
I invite you to try this amazingly simple diagram editor and share your experience with Notes of Genius community.
Couple of weeks ago I introduced you a web application where you can draw your diagrams like you do it in Microsoft Visio or Rational Rose. You know that the next big thing in internet is rich internet applications and slowly they are dominating the tasks which were normally done by installed application.
Quick Catch-up
As a big fan of rich internet applications I always look for alternatives to replace my desktop applications with web applications. In my search I came across with another diagram editor which is providing way advanced and versatile diagram editing environment than previous application Diagramly. Today I’m going to take a closer look in to Gliffy, the best online diagram editing application.
How to Use Gliffy?
Go to Gliffy home page.
Gliffy is a commercial product. But it’s letting you to try it for free.
Click on the button Try it now.
It will open the online diagram editor for you.
As the first step you have to create new diagram.
There are several categories and templates listed there. You will notice that it contain all the common type of diagram categories including wireframe, venn diagrams, organizational charts, flow charts, network diagrams, UML diagrams and floor plans as well.
Select the category and template according to your requirement.
Then click on create document.
It will create a document for you and it will contain few diagram items by default. Select all of them and delete before you start working.
At the top you have menu bar and tool bar.
Left hand side you have library where you can find diagram entities.
To draw a diagrams all you have to do is just drag and drop items from library to document.
To connect items you have connector tool in tool bar above.
Gliffy support all the item arrangement features such as grouping and send to front/back.
After creating a Gliffy account you can save your diagram online in provided space. In order to register you have the pay the fee.
After a successful registration you can export the created diagram as different file formats such as SVG, XML, JPEG and PNG.
It’s providing printing facility as well.
Best Way to Use Gliffy
I have mentioned this tip whenever I introduce a rich internet application to you. Your browser is designed to display web pages. It’s not a good environment to run web application. If you want to get the maximum out of a rich internet application, you must use a site specific browser (SSB).
Quick Catch-up
Wrapping Up
Gliffy is the most complete and versatile online diagram editor I have ever seen. It’s proving you a wide array of diagram categories and going beyond that, floor plans and wire-frames as well. All the functionality are well engineered to deliver smooth user experience. The performance of online application is also highly optimized and you will barely feel that you are using an online application.
However, this tool is not for free. You have to purchase the license to save document and export them as different formats. For online users it’s providing collaborative document editing as well. In addition it’s proving facility for you to integrate this application with other popular applications such as Google Apps.
If you are running a business, and if you need collaborative diagram editing environment, Gliffy might be the solution that you are looking for. Try it for free and purchase and plug it in to your business if it’s working good for you.
Within the past few years there was a tight competition between various mobile operating systems. According to the current status the operating system which is gaining more territory is Android, fighting with iOS and Windows mobile.
History of Android goes back to 2003 when Android Inc was founded. In 2005 it was acquired by Google. This move made Android bigger as well as Google. In 2007 Open Handset Alliance came in to picture having the objective of setting open standards for mobile handsets. Android was their first product.
The development moved on and in 2007 they released their first beta version. Along with the Operating System they released a software development Kit (SDK) as well. Introduction of Open Source Linux based mobile OS was a huge move by then and lots of software developers were attracted to this.
Version History
Version 1.0
The very first version of Android was released on 2008 and came with HTC Dream. It introduced lots of features such as Android Market, Web browser, Google application and wireless connectivity support.
Version 1.1
This came out in 2009 as an update to the previous version fixing its bugs.
Version 1.5 – Cupcake
This came out in 2009. The name cupcake initiated a new line of Android named after food items, especially desserts. Cupcake is the first version that came with widget support. Other than that it came with copy-paste, mp4 support and stereo audio streaming via Bluetooth.
Version 1.6 – Donut
Donut came in 2009 and it introduced speech recognition to Android world. It increased the supported screen resolution to 800 X 480, optimized the built in camera usage and includde support for CDMA.
Version 2.0 – Éclair
2009 was a busy year for Android. Three versions came out with major updates. And this is the time that android attracted significant public attention.
Éclair came with Advanced messaging features, HTML 5 support in browser, support for better contrast ratio and advanced camera features such as flash, white balancing, effects and macro mode.
Version 2.2 – Froyo
Froyo came out in 2010 with lots of updates. The major focus was performance optimization and this was critical to compete with snappy performance of iOS. Other than that it came with an advanced browser with Chrome engine.
A very interesting feature in Froyo was Wi-Fi tethering. Using that you can use your phone as a Wi-FI hotspot as long as it is connected to a 3G data service.
As a display improvement it started supporting greater pixel density up to 320ppi. This met the requirement of Apples retina display. And this made possible to include 720p HD display in Smartphone.
Version 2.3 – Gingerbread
This came out in last quarter of 2010. The most important update in here is advanced power management and automated Garbage collector for memory management.
As software updates it introduced new download manager and advanced copy-paste functionality. In addition it extended the support for larger displays as well.
By then most of the Smartphone manufactures included various hardware sensors such as Accelerometer, Gyro scope, Proximity sensor and Barometer. Gingerbread started supporting those sensors and that paved way for developers to use them in their applications.
Version 3.0 – Honeycomb
This came out in 2011 as a very special version. This was only for Android Tablet Devices. The very first device that came with Honeycomb is Motorola Xoom tablet.
Since this version will be running on physically big screens they could come up with lots of innovative screen designs. The basic screen was having a Holographic effect and quick access to notifications. In addition there are Soft buttons at the bottom of the screen.
By this time most of the users wanted to play 3D games on their tablets. Therefore Honeycomb started supporting Multi-core processors and Hardware acceleration. Further it supported externally attached USB devices.
Version 4.0 – Ice Cream Sandwich
This is the latest version of Android that came in 2011 Google I/O event. The very first device which tasted Ice cream sandwich was Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Again the main concern here was performance optimization and yes, it did a great job. In ICS most of the operations were very fluid, specially web browsing.
Other than that it introduced a long list of new features such as virtual buttons, improved voice recognition, face unlock, and 1080p video recording support.
What is Next?
This is the big question that everyone is asking. There are rumors that next version of android comes around 2012 July and its going be named as Key Lemon Pie. Some news say that it’s Jelly Bean. However if it’s coming in next July I believe that’s too soon. Most of the Smartphone and Tablets still could not taste Ice Cream Sandwich properly.
If you take a closer look in to Android project code names, you will notice that they start with Cupcake and ends with Ice cream sandwich following exact alphabetical order. According to this order the next code name has to be Jelly Bean, not Key Lemon Pie.
We will have to wait till the official announcement comes to get the accurate details of next version. However, there is one obvious fact that they will give maximum priority to improve performance in Android core.
Few weeks ago Sony released their latest Android handset, Xperia Z with dust and water proof body, 1080p display and Snapdragon S4 pro chipset. They have taken the same goodness to a bigger device, a 10 inch tablet. Today we have Sony Xperia Tablet Z under the spotlight. Lets go and take a look.
Insight for Sony Xperia Tablet Z
Design
Dimensions: 266 x 172 x 6.9 mm
Weight: 495 g
Once you take a look at above numbers you will figure out that this is the thinnest and lightest 10 inch Android tablet ever. It comes with same dust and water resistant body same as Xperia Z Smartphone.
Front and back panels have clean design and well placed connectors and camera. There are no capacitive buttons and entire controller goes on the screen like in Nexus devices.
Display
Size: 10.1 inches
Protection: Scratch resistant glass
Technology: LED Backlit
Resolution: 1200×1920 px
Sharpness: 224 ppi
No doubt that this is one of the best tablets displays out there. Only Nexus 10 has more pixels that this. The aspect ratio is not same as other 1080p displays and it will give you more vertical space in landscape mode, like iPad.
Processor and Storage
Platform: Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
CPU: 1.5 GHz // Quad Core // Krait
GPU: Adreno 320
RAM: 2 GB DDR3
Internal Storage: 16 GB
Expandable Storage: Yes, microSD up to 64 GB
This stronger hardware muscle would provide smooth operation to any application you can imagine of installing and any mobile game available. If you need more storage for multimedia content, yes you can have enough up to 80 GB total.
Software
OS: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
UI: Sony UI
If you are a fan of Sony UI you are going to love it here with buttery smooth UI transitions in Android Jelly Bean and all its goodness.
Camera
Primary: 8.1 MP // HDR // 1080p@30fps
Front Facing: 2.2 MP // 1080p@30fps
For a tablet a rear facing camera is not really essential. But this comes with a high end camera same as most Smartphone. We have seen HDR photography in many other devices, but HDR video in very few. Xperia Tablet Z can record HDR videos with the power of Snapdragon S4 Pro platform. You are going to love that for sure.
Connectivity
Mobile Network: 2G // HSDPA // LTE
Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n // Dual band
GPS: A-GPS // GLONASS
NFC: Yes
Bluetooth: 4.0
USB: 2.0 microUSB
There are 2 versions of this device, LTE and Wi-Fi. They comes with all sorts of connectivity features you can ask for even NFC and dual band Wi-Fi.
Battery
Type: Li-Po
Capacity: 6000 mAh
Battery Life: 10h (HD video playback)
The battery is relatively small compared to Nexus 10, but with relatively lesser resolution display and less power hungry Snapdragon S4 Pro platform this could live for 10 hours HD video playback which is pretty impressive.
Wrapping Up
Sony Xperia Tablet Z is breaking several records in Android market being the thinnest and lighters 10 inch tablet. Dust and water resistant body and scratch resistant glass will make it good for hard usage. The 1080p display is perfect for video playback and mobile gaming. The stronger hardware muscle with all the other goodness turns this in to a perfect tablet for anyone.
If you are looking for powerful Android Tablet to use in next 2 years, this might be a good fit for you.
