Octoplus / Octopus Box Samsung Software v.2.4.7 is out!
Added world's first support for Galaxy Grand Prime+ series and world's first support for Note 4 phones with latest security/Android 6.0 versions of firmware. Improved Direct Unlock, Read Codes, Read/Write Cert operation for various Exynos-based phones.
Exynos-based phones moved to Exynos tab in the software
Organized simultaneous access to files between Torrent client and Octoplus Samsung Software - now it is possible to use downloaded files while seeding them
All supported operations described in details in the manual ("Cable & Manual" button in the software)
Galaxy J7 Prime (SM-G610F, SM-G610FD, SM-G610FZ, SM-G610L, SM-G610K, SM-G610S, SM-G610Y)
Exynos-based phones moved to Exynos tab in the software
Organized simultaneous access to files between Torrent client and Octoplus Samsung Software - now it is possible to use downloaded files while seeding them
All supported operations described in details in the manual ("Cable & Manual" button in the software)
AfterFocus is a great specialisation app worth having in one’s toolbox. It is a must have for adding depth of field (DoF) lens effects to your images. Unlike Snapseed’s own blurring tools (which are also quick and easy), AfterFocus allows you to draw out where you want your image to remain sharp, where you want slight blur, and where you want strong blur. This allows you to avoid linear blur straight across the image, on a street image for example.
Before AfterFocus
Where Snapseed blur tools will make the top of a foreground building blurry along with the distant street (because both occur in the upper portion of the image), AfterFocus allows you to decide that just that distant street gets blurred. The wall can remain in focus along with other foreground objects. This is so much more accurate to the real world of how the eye sees. This image to the left (above if you’re viewing on mobile) shows just how detailed one can get using the zoom feature to really make sure what you want to blur, gets blurred, and what you want to remain in focus, stays in focus.
After AfterFocus
The original image was one using infinite focus, where all objects, near and far, were equally in focus. The results of using AfterFocus are clear. Ehem. The app gives you the option to draw your blur onto the surroundings, to adapt to its natural forms. As you can see in the image, I highlighted the spheres in the foreground as objects to remain in full focus, while the middle ground is in slight focus, including that tall lamp post and the individual walking by. I then ensure that those things that are in reality in the distance, rather than just higher within the frame, are blurred the most. Keep in mind that you don’t have to always have the foreground in focus. In this image example, you may want to blur a tiny bit of the foreground, to give a narrower depth of field.
Tools
There are a number of tools available beyond these main ones for determining blur. For instance, what kind of blur do you want? In the above image, I finally chose a “motion blur,” compared below with “lens blur.”
Both in the lens blur tool and the motion blur tool, you are offered the option to increase or decrease the strength of the blur. The motion blur tool, while good, is static and is always horizontal. It is a minor downside that you can’t adjust the direction of the blur. The lens blur mimics the blur from a lens out of focus, or of objects outside the depth of field of the lens. In both case there is a handy tool called “edge feather”. This tool prevents edges from popping out so sharply from one focus or blur zone to the next. By feathering each blurred section, you are able to transition more smoothly between one blurred region and another. A smart little button if you ask me.
Bokeh
Another handy tool for AfterFocus is the bokeh tool. Bokeh is blur, and while DSLR and analogue camera lenses produce various kinds of bokeh, these features must for the most part be mimicked on a mobile camera. This tool allows for various shapes of bokeh, though it doesn’t really produce such a marked difference in blur effect. Worth having though, if you want that extra little nuance.
The app comes with various other tools, including a linear fading background tool (handy for train tracks and so forth), various monochrome and color filters, and vignetting. The pro version has the ability to take two images, one focusing on the foreground of an image, one focusing on the background, which the app then splices together to get a more natural rather than contrived depth of field effect.
It’s maximum save image size on the other hand is 3264px (along its longest edge), which is 8 megapixels.
July Update
AfterFocus Pro (for Android) was updated as of July 2014. While the free version of the app looks the same, the pro version got a few extra goodies. The pro app now saves at 8 megapixels (and 8 megapixel image uploads, so that images aren’t compromised like they were previously). It is much faster at recognizing foreground and backgrounds, and also in creating blur. There are now brightness and contrast tools that can be applied separately to either foreground or background or both, and numerous extra filters to apply. The pro version also has a new icon to distinguish it from the free version better. A welcome update.
Gaming desktops are typically the territory of high-end PC gamers who like designing custom systems through the exhaustive configurations offered by companies such as Origin PC and Alienware.
But systems such as those, including the unique new Alienware Area 51 reboot, can cost thousands of dollars. Lenovo believes there is room for a more budget-minded gaming desktop, especially as many gamers are only looking to play mainstream games at 1,920x1,080 resolutions, and don't need the liquid cooling systems or multiple GPU setups that the most enthusiastic PC gamers insist on (nor do they need Intel's new high-end Haswell-E processors).
Lenovo
The oddly spelled Erazer X315 takes an existing system, the mid-price Erazer gaming desktop, and configures it with AMD processors and graphics, to bring the starting price down to $600. Worldwide pricing and availability has yet to be announced, but converted prices are about £360 or AU$650.
The Erazer will be contain up to a 3.7GHz AMD A10-7850K CPU, Radeon R9 260 GPU, and 2TB of storage space, although the starting configuration will be less ambitious than that.
The look is big and bulky, with a bit of an Alienware lit-up vibe. Lenovo describes the design as follows: "The newly designed chassis features front LED lighting and a futuristic profile that mimics the smooth lines of a knight's armor." I must have missed that episode of "Game of Thrones."
But, PC gaming is enjoying something of a renaissance this year, with continuing disappointment over the catalog and performance of the new generation of living room game consoles making the PC platform the first choice of serious gamers. Keeping prices down, only $50 more than the upcoming Alienware Alpha set-top box gaming PC, something like the X315 could be a real console competitor for those who appreciate the flexibility and variety of PC gaming.
The system will be available from Lenovo and retailers starting in November.
Something feels different with the Sony Xperia Z5. After years of too-hasty handset updates from Sony with minimal enhancements (the Xperia Z3+ back in May was no exception), this finally feels like a worthwhile advance on the previous model.
The problem is, does anyone really need a new phone from Sony? The Xperia Z1 only launched in 2013, the same year as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. That's not very long ago at all – one upgrade cycle for people stuck in two year contracts, who will now be getting a phone four iterations along the line if they stay Sony-loyal.
Sony has also followed Microsoft's Windows 10 example and skipped a number, for the non-Japanese market at least: the Xperia Z3+ was called the Xperia Z4 in Japan, a muddle that the company has now resolved by jumping straight to Z5.
Sony's Xperia Z5 comes alongside the Xperia Z5 Compact and the Xperia Z5 Premium. The Xperia Z5 sits in the middle of the price scale and the same goes for its specs.
Sony Xperia Z5 price and release date
Over a year old now, the Xperia Z5 price has dropped dramatically
It originally cost $599 or £549 (about AU$1,144)
Now you can pick it up for the price of $412 or £429 (about AU$689)
Originally the Xperia Z5 price was set at $599 or £549 (about AU$1,144) but there's been a price drop since the announcement of the Xperia X and Xperia XZ.
You can pick up the phone for $412 or £429 (about AU$689), but it's a little bit harder to come across because it has now been replaced by the Xperia XZ.
You'll be able to grab it from Amazon or some smaller retailers though if you take a look around for it.
Design
Sony needed to fix up the design of its Xperia Z series and there have been some big changes this time. It's still angular and glass-backed, but this time it's a frosted material instead of the clear glass we've seen on every iteration since the Xperia Z1.
The edges have been rounded off a little more and the placement of the buttons on one edge has been switched.
Colour choices for the Xperia Z5 are green, black, gold and white – all of which look great, although the gold version in the most refined. I had the black and gold versions in for my review. Previously the backs of Sony phones have been fingerprint magnets, but this new frosted glass shrugs off marks and looks a lot classier from behind than the Xperia Z3+.
The branding is a little more tasteful this time. The Xperia name is etched into the side of the phone and I love the fact Sony has included the NFC logo here too. It makes it easy to know where to tap, and is a trick some other Android manufacturers could learn from (I'm looking at you, LG).
SONY XPERIA Z5 SPECS
Weight: 154g
Dimensions: 146 x 72 x 7.3mm
OS: Android 6.0.1
Screen size: 5.2-inch
Resolution: 1080 x 1920
CPU: Snapdragon 810
RAM: 3GB
Storage: 32GB
Battery: 2900mAh
Rear camera: 23MP
Front camera: 5.1MP
The camera sits at the top left corner with the flash just below it, and there's also a little note of the sensor details.
Sony has smoothed down the edges on the Xperia Z5 as well. A couple of generations ago, these felt rather sharp on the palm of your hand, so this is a welcome improvement. Even though the design of the Xperia Z5 still feels blocky, it's much more comfortable to hold than the Xperia Z2.
The corners also have caps that help to absorb the impact when you drop it – a feature that was introduced on the Xperia Z3 but still feels like a big advantage of the Sony Z series.
There's only one flap on the Xperia Z5, and that's to cover the microSD and nano SIM slots. The rest of the ports around the phone are waterproof and so don't need the extra protection that Sony has applied with such zeal to earlier phones.
Fewer flaps is a great thing – you don't have the nuisance of pulling them out to charge up your phone at night or need to worry about breaking them off (which does happen: I managed to do it quite easily to the Xperia Z2 Tablet).
Along the top edge of the Xperia Z5 is the waterproof 3.5mm headphone jack, and the bottom edge hosts the microUSB port for charging and data transfer.
The right hand edge is quite different to other Xperia phones. The power button has been moved down to halfway along the edge. It's now silver and sits flush with the edge of the phone. This is also where the fingerprint sensor is – a great position for your right thumb when you're holding the phone. Sadly, the Sony Xperia Z5 in US any sort of the biometric power button.
Down at the bottom of the right hand edge is the camera button. It's in the perfect position for taking snaps in landscape, but not so good in portrait. Between those two is the volume rocker, and this really does feel badly positioned.
The volume rocker should sit above the power button, where it would be easier to reach. Every time I tried to change the volume, I'd lose my grip and the phone would almost slip out of my hand.
If you're left-handed it might be a perfect position for your finger tips, although the rest of the button layout will be much less satisfactory.
Design on the front of the phone hasn't changed much. The bezels at the side of the screen have been slightly slimmed down to allow a smaller phone without a change in screen size.
I wouldn't have a problem with the thick bezels across the top and bottom of the screen if each housed speakers or had some other function. The top bar does include the front facing camera, flash and earpiece, but it's not anything that couldn't be included in a slimmer line.
Windows 10 is much more usable than Wndows 8 or 8.1 and proudly offers a bundle of new features, including improved security, a new browser, and the voice-activated intelligent assistant Cortana. You might even call Windows 10 the most revolutionary version of Windows ever, mainly because it will be continually upgraded as part of Microsoft's "Windows as a service" effort.
But the question is not whether Windows 10 is a good upgrade for Windows 8 users -- obviously, it is. The real question is whether Windows 10 deserves to supplant Windows 7. Despite substantial new functionality in Windows 10, Windows 7 users should wait until the upgrade train brings more improvements.
Many of the new features of Windows 10 do not seem ready for prime time, including the greatly modified Start menu with live tiles, the new Edge browser, Cortana, and the Continuum method of switching between mouse and touchscreen control. They all work well enough, yet they all lack key capabilities. The lesser tile-based Windows apps vary in quality from good (Mail, Calendar) to passable (Photos, Phone Companion) to barely breathing placeholders (People, Groove Music, Movies & TV).
The new Windows 10 Start with live tiles is a major departure from previous versions.
It seems obvious that Microsoft rushed the consumer version of Windows 10 out the door in time for back-to-school season. But the “real” Windows 10 (at least the “next final” version) won’t appear until October or thereabouts, in the form of Threshold 2. Think of TH2 as an accelerated Service Pack 1, ready for the enterprise.
Meanwhile, myriad questions remain unanswered. We know that Microsoft will force updates on Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro users who aren’t connected to update servers. That posture has already created problems, with an Nvidia driver hatched before its time and a patch that caused repeated Explorer restarts -- both in the past week. Those of us familiar with Microsoft’s Windows patching travails will face the future with some trepidation: How long until Microsoft force-feeds a bad patch, and how will Microsoft recover from it?
These caveats aside, there’s no doubt Windows 10 holds a spark of greatness and should please those who were disenfranchised by Windows 8’s hamfisted changes. It’s the beginning of a new Windows, with all the good and bad that entails. Let’s take a look at the details.
Ease of use
For those of us who rely on a mouse and keyboard, Windows 10’s ease of use rates right up there with Windows 7 and is light-years ahead of Windows 8/8.1. For the touch crowd, with a few exceptions noted below, Windows 10 works as well as Windows 8.1, which may be (properly) construed as damning with faint praise. There’s a learning curve with touch, along with disappointing limitations, no matter which version of Windows you currently use.
Windows 10 boots faster, works faster, and seems much more robust than either Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1. I haven’t had any problems with drivers or programs that run on Windows 8/8.1, although all of those old Metro apps are destined for the bit bucket. Clearly, the new Windows Universal apps hold great promise, but they aren’t there yet.
Windows 10’s signature new feature, of course, is the Start menu. The new Start menu combines a severely stripped-down version of the Windows 7 Start menu with a mouse-friendly field of Windows 8-like tiles.
If you’re coming from Windows 7, the left side of the Start menu will look vaguely familiar, but the Windows 10 version is much less malleable than the Windows 7 version. In Windows 10, you can’t create custom menu items, build cascading menus, or pin your own apps, files, or locations to the Start menu. You only get a fixed set of 10 apps that can be pinned to the bottom-left side of the menu, along with File Explorer and Settings, which can be removed.
If you’re coming from Windows 8/8.1 and using a mouse, the field of tiles should feel quite similar to the Metro Start screen, with the new ability to run the tiled apps in resizable windows on the desktop. Methods for grouping and manipulating the tiles are different in Windows 10, but cover much the same ground as those in Windows 8. In Windows 10, tiles are grouped rigidly in three- or four-wide groups. You can change the number of groups that are visible by widening or narrowing the Start menu. That’s considerably more restrictive than Windows 8/8.1.
If you’re coming from Windows 8.1 with a mostly tablet mindset, the new Tablet mode in Windows 10 has much of the ease-of-use benefits of touch Windows 8.1, such as spread-out tiles and the Start options hidden under a hamburger icon, with a few minor annoyances. For example, you can’t turn off the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, no matter which app is running. You’re also stuck with the rigid organization of tiles into three- or four-wide groups.
Charms? Gone. Left-side task switching? Gone. Good riddance.
No, touch has not gone away: Behold the new tablet mode of Windows 10.
Other ease-of-use improvements abound. For example, Microsoft seems to have finally perfected in-place upgrades. Cortana is starting to become a viable “assistant,” and if you’re willing to let Microsoft look at your activities, the potential for Cortana help extends into every interaction you have with Windows.
One widely touted ease-of-use benefit of Windows 10 -- the ability to run nearly identical Universal applications on phones, tablets, PCs, Xbox, and all Windows 10-branded devices -- remains elusive. Whether Microsoft will be able to deliver a WinRT API that works on all those devices, and whether app developers will take advantage of the API, is still very much up in the air -- particularly given Microsoft’s recent retrenchment on Windows Phone.
Windows 7 upgraders can take advantage of many Windows 8-era ease-of-use improvements: a better Task Manager, more functional File Explorer (though it still doesn’t support tabs), Storage Spaces to manage all of your drives in a group, File History, built-in antivirus, and the considerable plumbing improvements in Windows 8.
Features
Even as Windows 10 rolls out to the world at large, big new features are still evolving. Some of the features are due for updates in or around October, in the Threshold 2 timeframe. Whether Microsoft dribbles some of the improvements out in the interim -- as one might expect with “Windows as a service” -- remains to be seen.
Edge, Microsoft’s first modern browser and arguably its most advanced Windows Universal app program, looks poised to take on Firefox and Chrome head-to-head. It has a sleek new design, runs fast, and is closing in on its rivals in HTML5 support. Edge is infinitely (I say that in a clinical, measurable way) more secure than Internet Explorer because it doesn’t support any of the offal that Microsoft has been foisting on us for years -- no ActiveX, no Silverlight, no custom navigation bars, no Browser Helper Objects, no VBScript, no attachEvent. For those of you stuck with that technology, Internet Explorer 11 will also ship with Windows 10.
Edge has a simple switch to turn Adobe Flash Player on and off. It also serves as the Windows default PDF reader, which is a huge improvement. Slightly ahead of RTM, Edge loosened its grip on Bing; you are now free to choose Google as your default search engine. Edge still doesn’t have support for extensions or add-ons, similar to what you find in Google Chrome and Firefox. Microsoft promises that Edge will get extension support, but we have no idea when it will come.
The much-anticipated Cortana has its ups and downs. We’ve seen demos of Cortana sending messages and descriptions of Cortana firing off short emails. I can get it to compose an email, but not send it; your mileage may vary. With the version shipping now, we don’t get much more than a note-taking, reminder-generating app with easy weather reports and a search front end -- you still have to click in Bing to get results. But the potential is there to make voice input the equal of other input methods. Many logistical hurdles await, including problems with sound pollution in offices. Think of a dozen Scottys picking up the mouse and saying, “Hello, computer.”
Some features are frozen in limbo. Windows Settings still hasn’t subsumed everything from Control Panel, so we have an awkward situation where numerous tasks -- for example, maintaining user accounts -- are split between two entirely different apps. Task view/multiple desktops is nice and useful -- as it has been since the days of Windows XP -- but you still can’t assign different backgrounds to different desktops, and moving among desktops is still clunky.
Some features have been yanked entirely. The Metro OneDrive app from Windows 8.1, which supported “smart files” that showed thumbnails of all files in File Explorer, whether they were synced or not, has been yanked in Windows 10 (see Paul Thurrott’s description). The old Windows 8.1 Metro Skype app was pulled. In Windows 10, there’s a link to install the old, underwhelming Windows desktop version of Skype, but no Universal app.
As for advertising, Microsoft showed off its Spotlight capability for running ads on the lock screen early in the beta testing process. It even touted Spotlight as a new advertising medium for big-budget companies. Microsoft also included a “Highlighted app” capability, at one point putting a Microsoft-selected app on the left side of the Start screen. A couple of months ago, the Universal Weather app sprouted a display ad. All of those have been quashed in the current version. Whether they’ll come sneaking back is anyone’s guess. Perhaps advertising will become the price of using Windows 10.
Many other new features aren’t yet fully functional. Continuum, which enables you to switch from touchscreen mode to mouse and back again, seems to be waiting for hardware improvements that will arrive with a new generation of devices. Windows Hello -- the face, finger, and retina log-on recognition feature -- similarly needs new hardware and drivers. Although fingerprint recognition reportedly works with some existing fingerprint scanners, face recognition requires a specific kind of camera typified at this point by Intel’s RealSense technology. It’s going to take a while before such cameras become commonplace.
Windows Media Center is gone. Windows 10 can’t play DVDs. Minor irritations for most, with VLC an obvious free choice.
The rest of the apps are going through massive last-minute changes. Windows 10 Mail and Calendar are reasonably usable touch-enabled mail and calendar programs, but nowhere near Outlook.com or Google’s new Inbox. People compares quite favorably to DOS-era contact managers, but doesn’t set any new bars nowadays. The Photos app is a cobbled-together extension of the Windows 8.1 tile-based app, with some new smarts, but doesn’t come close to what’s widely available -- particularly when compared to Google Photos. The future of Music, renamed Groove, remains in doubt, and the app has a very convoluted method for managing playlists. It can’t even add metadata. Movies & TV follows in the same rut. The Bing apps -- News, Money, Sports -- have improved modestly from Windows 8.1 days. The old Food & Drink (formerly Food), Health & Fitness (formerly Fitness), and Travel apps have all been pulled.
On the flip side, Contact Support offers easy access to Microsoft support techs. If it’s still free and still readily accessible in two or three months, that will be an enormous boon to beleaguered Windows users. DirectX 12promises to bring new levels of reality to gamers.
Windows 10 brings back the Windows 7 Backup and Restore features, which were unceremoniously dropped from Windows 8/8.1. (Many people think Windows 7 had backup and restore nailed; Windows 8.1 eviscerated the features.) Windows 8-style Reset and Refresh are in Windows 10, too. You should check to make sure the Apple Time Machine-like File History feature is turned on (some people report it isn’t on by default): type file history in Cortana and follow the crumbs.
Finally, the Windows Store is getting better, but only gradually. Microsoft has made several pronouncements about how the Windows Store is eliminating crapware, and the number of apps has decreased. Unfortunately, that isn’t the whole story: While researching my Windows 10 book, I found many Windows Store apps that were embarrassing. They’re still there today.
Developers have precious little incentive to build universal apps for the store. Peter Bright at Ars Technica put it succinctly: “If the only place that a Universal Windows App can easily reach is a Windows desktop user, developers may well be better off sticking to the ancient Win32 API (it's old and crufty, but much broader in scope than the Universal API), or even ditching the app entirely and building for the Web.”
