Okay kids for today’s TommyLog Tech, I want to take a look at my Droid Turbo and one huge claim they make on the website. They say that a dead Turbo, can be charged for 15 minutes and can get up to 8 hours of use out of that 15 minute charge.
The Droid Turbo ships with a special high powered USB changer called a “Turbo Charger” They claim that with this charger is able to go from 0-8 hours battery life in a matter of 15 minutes.
Here’s the math as I see it.
100% Droid Turbo battery = 48 hours of usage. To get 8 hours of usage from a dead state, the 15-minute charge should take the battery to 16.7%.
Well as you can clearly see, the Turbo charged from zero to 16% battery life in 15 minutes, just like the math predicted.
The battery on the Droid Turbo by Motorola is totally Tommy approved. You can go from 0 to 8 hours battery life in just 15 minutes using their supplied Turbo Charger USB power adapter.
For more information on how to get your very own Droid Turbo by Motorola, Here’s a link http://www.verizonwireless.com/smartphones/droid-turbo/
Music – UP by Asthmatic Astronaut
[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me to test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]
Hey kids for today’s TommyLog Tech, I would like to talk to you a little about my life as a dance dad. This is my daughter Clara and me and she is on the Little Chute High School dance squad. November thru February I spend my Saturdays sitting in regional high school gyms and arenas on my backside for hours watching Clara’s competitions. This has given me loads of time to play with my new- DRIOD Turbo by Motorola provided by my good friends at Verizon. One area that I just could not wait to get my hands on was the 21MP camera that Motorola tucked inside the Turbo. I have always said the best camera is the one I have available. I know people with big DSLR rigs and by the time it takes to unzip their camera bag, the moment may have passed and the shot missed. Keep that in mind.
One of my favorite features above all that the Turbo possesses is the “wrist flick” feature to activate the camera. A simple flick of the wrist and the camera turns on. Flick it again, and it switched from the forward to rear facing camera. That’s one feature not found in any other smart phone I have tested.
The next feature that I really like is the ability to take HDR photos. What is HDR? HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. I think I said high definition resolution, where did I get that? Not sure but I had a brain lapse on that one. High dynamic range is a mode where it takes 3 pictures at once. One is under exposed, the other is over exposed and the 3rd is properly exposed picture and then stitches them together. The wider dynamic range of HDR pictures can be pretty stunning. Use your google skills and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
The DROID Turbo also has a panorama mode, where you can take some pretty amazing shots. Gone are the days where you have to stitch pictures together to get the shot you want. You just click the panorama mode and follow the on-screen cues to take the prefect panorama.
The camera on the Turbo is a 21 megapixel shooter. It’s a bit of a disappointment that the 21MP shots are only taken in 4:3 mode where the 15.5MP shots are taken in 16;9 more…or wide screen mode. I prefer 16:9 pictures over 4.3, but your mileage will very. Turning to video, the DROID Turbo simply rocks. Not only does this camera take 1080P video and slo-motion video at 720P, it also takes video at a whopping 4K. Now be careful, these videos are just HUGE in size, almost a GB per minute of video. YIKES! Another gotcha about 4K video is that you cannot play it back on the Turbo itself. You will need to watch it on a 4K TV or monitor.
The camera on the DRIOD Turbo by Motorola is Tommy approved. Its ease of use can’t be beat. Not the best camera I have ever used, but certainly takes decent pictures.
For more information on how to get your very own DROID TURBO by Motorola, Here’s a link
[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me to test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]
Hey kids, for today’s TommyLog Tech, I want to show you my new Google Chromecast and talk about setting it up and then take a few moments to discuss what makes it different from it’s competitors.
When you open the Chromecast box, the first thing you notice how small the actual unit is. It’s less than 3 inches long but 1.5 inches wide and has a male HDMI on one end and a micro USB port for power on the other. That’s it. The box contains the Chromecast itself, a USD power cables, power adapter to plug into the wall and a HDMI pigtail extended to plug in your Chromecast into tight spots, that’s it. Wait… Where’s the remote? There isn’t one. We’ll get into that a bit later.
Setting up the Chromecast could not be easier. Plug it into a free HDMI port on your HDTV, add the power plug and turn on your TV- making sure to select the proper input. The Chromecast supports both 720P as well as 1080P. The first thing you will notice on your screen is the address of the WIFI network the Chromecast uses to broadcast and it will ask you to connect. Once you connect to the Chromecast WIFI network from your Android, IOS or laptop, you can then finish the 2-minute configuration. Select your home WIFI network and enter your password and you’re done. My Chromecast required an extra 2 minutes of preparation to download new firmware, your mileage may very.
Using the Chromecast is pretty straight forward and intuitive but much different than the Apple TV, Roku or Amazon Fire TV as there is no remote for the Chromecast. The Chromecast supports nearly the same array of channels or apps, as they are called in the Chromecast world, as the competitors. However, Chromecast is not driven by onscreen menus, your device is the remote control. You’ll need to download Chromecast aware apps for your mobile device or laptop. These apps have a Chromecast button on them and actually pass off the stream from your tablet, iPad, phone or laptop directly to the Chromecast. Again, your device acts as the remote. Once the stream starts playing, you can do other things on your device while you enjoy your show. I must admit, I was pretty skeptical of this system but its fast, slick and just rock solid.
Streaming shows from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Plus, HBOGO and many others to your HDTV with the Google Chromecast is totally Tommy Approved!
For more information on how to get your own Google Chromecast, click here
[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me to test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]
In a previous edition of TommyLog TECH, I raved about the beautiful HTC One (M8) with its curved lines and aluminum goodness. For today’s TommyLog TECH I want to show you how easy it is to set up your new phone. This has to be the simplest setup I have ever encountered in an Android OS phone.
As you well know, I’m a huge IOS fan and have always thought that IOS was the gold standard for ease of setting up devises. Well my solid foundation has shaken a bit after seeing how easy the HTC One is to set up…truly amazing.
Once you open your new phone, you will be asked to login or create a Google account. Next step, you will want to connect to WIFI as there are loads of updates to download. You can download them too over your mobile plan, but be prepared as it will eat up a lot of data. What happens next takes configuring to a whole new level. You will be presented with a website www.start.htc.com and given a code. Go to that site and enter your code. You will then be able to configure your phone from the comfort of your web browser. You pick the phone and the carrier then you pick an interest category like sporting, photography, social media, gaming or others to begin tailor the phone to your liking. From there you are given a host of news and information categories for your BlinkFeed. Next you’ll be given the option of preselecting apps to add to your HTC One. You are now given options to select ringtones and notification tones to give your HTC that personalized feel. and even upload custom ringtones if you have any.
This is such a cool feature! How many people get a new phone, set it up and then say ”Okay, now what?” Well HTC has an answer for that. A few button clicks and bam! The apps you just chose and selected start downloading to your HCT One…just like that its all set up to your liking, background screen, ringtones, bookmarks and all.
HTC has really thought this one through. They made it super simple to setup and customize your HTC One, what a pleasure. Setting up the HTC One (M8) totally 100% Tommy Approved!
For more information on how to get your very own HTC One M8 from Verizon, Here’s a link http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/device/smartphone/htc-one?&zipRdr=y
[DISCLAIMER — I’m one of the cool kids who has been asked to play with and test technology for Verizon. They asked me to test and share my thoughts. All my words are original and my own.]
