Droid my Drug

New app ‘Meet Me Halfway’ finds your happy medium

When meeting up with a friend or colleague, it can be tough figuring out a place to go. Neither of you wants/needs to travel the entire distance to the other person’s location, so where do you go? Unless you’re overly familiar with the area, or like staring at Google Maps, you’re lost. A new app, the aptly named Meet Me Halfway, does the grunt work for you.

The app does exactly what it’s meant to — find a halfway point to meet up! Simply put, you put in two locations, and the ap finds a halfway point. Nobody goes out of their way, and everyone gets to hang out. Rather than just split the difference in distance and leave it at that, the app takes it a step further.

By finding nearby places to hang out, Meet Me Halfway really gives you the opportunity to hang out, not just meet up. You’ll also be able to give an accurate location to meet at, and the map can be shared to whoever you’re meeting up with. You can filter results, too, so if you have something specific in mind to do, this app can make it happen.

Still in beta, Meet Me Halfway holds a lot of promise. We like the concept, but we’ll give it a bit of time to mature before calling it one to rely on. A recent update fixed troubles with the app showing the halfway point — which is kind of the point.

Verizon completes $130 billion Vodafone buyout

Verizon, who recently agreed to buy out Vodafone’s holdings in Verizon Wireless, has completed the transaction. Vodafone held a 45% share in Verizon Wireless, which was purchased for $130 billion. The deal gives Verizon total stake in themselves as the nation’s largest mobile carrier.

Part of the agreement was that Verizon make some 1.2 billion shares of stock available to Vodafone shareholders. Verizon also borrowed $6.6 billion to satisfy the cash portion of the deal, and we’re advised by the likes of Barclays and BofA Merrill Lynch. The wireless venture was started in 2000 by Verizon and Vodafone, and now boasts annual revenue of $81 billion.

“Over the past 14 years, Verizon Wireless has become the largest and most profitable wireless company in the U.S., and this could not have been achieved without the successful partnership between Verizon and Vodafone” said Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam. “Acquiring Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless provides us with opportunities for greater financial flexibility, enhanced operational efficiency and innovations that will benefit customers. We are confident it will fuel further growth in our business.”

Verizon is already the leading US carrier, and a more nimble one with the exit of Vodafone. They’ve made some salient moves in recent months, with their early opt-out scheme and new “More” plans. There was ongoing tension with Vodafone, and now that those are over, we’ll look forward to more great things from Verizon.

Galaxy S5 case listing shows likely release date for new handset

The Galaxy S5, which should be released at MWC, is expected to bring on some changes for the Samsung Galaxy lineup. Via Amazon, we may get a few more hints at just when we’ll be able to have our hands on the handset as well. We also see some interesting design cues, if the displayed image is the S5 as we’ll receive it.

From an Amazon listing from Spigen, we see a Galaxy S5 that is a bit more squared, but not quite as much as the earlier mock-up we’ve seen. This time around, we see a much more Samsung-y design, though some differences are noticeable. The speaker grill looks to be a nice metal on both the black and white variants, which adds a touch of class.

The home button also looks a bit textured, which would be new. It could be an affectation of Samsung’s alleged fingerprint scanner on the home button, too. Whatever the case, if it ends up textured like that, at least Verizon would have a hard time branding it — so that’s a positive.

Perhaps most telling is the availability. The case is in stock on April 15th, which gives us an idea of when the device will be available to us. Spigen cases are usually available right around the time of launch, and they are usually pretty lax about revealing handset details. We saw this with the Nexus 5, where their cases pretty accurately displayed some hardware details ahead of launch. We’ll hopefully know for sure soon, and we’ll be on the ground at MWC, bringing you all the news!

TYLT Energi 10K review

With battery packs, there are plenty of options available. Though the normal size of the external charger is around 5,000 mAh, some prefer a larger pack. With the TYLT Energi 10K, you’ll get 10,400 mAh of battery in a stylish, sleek package. Slick styling doesn’t tell the whole story, though. We put the 10K to the test to see if it holds up to another TYLT pack we highly recommend, the Energi+.

In this review, we go hands-on with the TYLT Energi 10K in an attempt to gauge how good the battery pack is — or isn’t. Will it stand up to rigorous use, or heat up and give up like some others? In keeping with the TYLT styling, we know it’s flashy enough — but that doesn’t mean it’s as good as the TYLT Energi+ 5K we reviewed not long ago.

Unlike the smaller Energi+ battery pack, the Energi 10K doesn’t have charging cables attached. The Energi 10K has three ports: two 1A, and a single 2.1A out. In that regard, it does much the same work as its little brother, but a lack of attached charging cables is a drawback, comparatively. The bigger battery, though — that may be the bonus, here.

TYLT Energi 10K 3

The 10K remains surprisingly light, just like the 5K, and of course keeps the same boxy styling. A black plastic shell with a grey band wrapped around completes the metro appearance. The demure lights, which notify you of the battery level, side quietly along the side next to the small-ish power button. The ports are conspicuous, with white lettering above each port letting you know what its use is.

With the Energi+ 5K, we found charging times to be a dream. There was no slowdown with multiple devices, and it kept pace with a wall charger. With the Energi 10K, the same is true. The battery powers devices true, with our getting the same charge time with multiple devices. Again, we tested a myriad of devices, and all came out to charge roughly the same time as they would with the standard wall charger.

TYLT Energi 10K 2

When charging multiple devices, it’s expected that you’d see some slowdown, with more drain on the battery. TYLT chargers don’t seem to have that issue, as we charged two tablets and two phones, and all charged in adequate time. For those who want to charge a device without leaving it plugged into a battery pack for hours on end, TYLT chargers are definitely worth a look.

Conclusion

The Energi 10K is much like a bigger version of the 5K, save for attached cables. It charges devices rapidly, and does so without fuss. There was no radiant overheating, and it stayed on during the charging process — another thing some other chargers tend not to do.

We will find fault with no attached charging cables, though. It would be nice, with a device so large, to have them. One of the things we really enjoyed about the 5K were those cables, as they made the battery pack portable on its own. With the 10K, you’ll need to tote extra cables around — which is pretty obnoxious.

TYLT Energi 10K 4

Equally as frustrating is the included USB/microUSB cable, which TYLT notes is meant only for charging the battery pack itself. Now you have a charging cable for the Energi 10K, and you’ll need cables for your devices as well. That’s up to four cables in addition to the battery pack, bringing the total to five. Let’s also not forget the battery pack itself has no charger, so you’ll need to grab one of your tablet or phone chargers, too.

Perhaps TYLT didn’t consider the Energi 10K to be portable, but it is — very much so. If this had attached cables, we’d be over the moon about it. As it sits, it’s a more than adequate battery pack that asks you to make portability concessions. We still recommend it, but keep in mind that unlike the Energi+ 5K we reviewed, this one is not as easy to slip into a bag for a weekend getaway.

MWC 2014: Expectations for Nokia, Samsung, HTC, and the rest

MWC kicks off today, and for fans of mobile technology — this is as good as it gets. Save for Apple and Google, other major players in the mobile technology sector make some big announcements at MWC. Even when we don't get a big unveil, it's often the first time we get the chance to go hands-on with newer devices. What good things will come from this year’s week-long conference? We don’t know just yet, but we have an idea.

HTC

We’re ready for an update to the One, which was announced at MWC 2013. It looks as though we’ll get it, too. HTC has their announcement scheduled, and we’re all expecting a follow-up to the One. Though a necessary and timely update to HTC’s flagship, we’re not as excited as we’d like to be.

From all the rumors and leaks and such, it seems as though the next flagship from HTC will be just a simple update — nothing too fancy or clever. The One was/is a fantastic handset, but failed to really catch the mindshare of consumers. With a natural update that just plods along, HTC might be cementing themselves as a last place OEM, and we hate to see that.

One thing we do feel comfortable saying is that the new handset will be named the One-something. The recent news of their Advantage plan spoke of the “One family” of devices, tipping their hat toward the newest member. Will we see the wearable we expect HTC to bring to the fold sometimes soon? Time will tell, but if anything, we expect a “proof of concept”, much like Sony did with their new wearable at CES.

Galaxy S5 video

Samsung

Galaxy S5, where are you? That’s the major announcement we expect from Samsung, and if rumors and leaks hold steady, it’ll be a nice handset. Nothing radical, but we are looking forward to the form factor update we’ve heard about. There are also expectations of altered or removed services from TouchWiz, so we’ll anxiously anticipate that. The specs are said to be a natural upgrade to the S4 (processor, GPU, etc.), so we’re not overly excited.

The Galaxy Gear update could prove to be interesting, though. Some reports note multiple offerings, while others say the device will eschew Android altogether. Whatever Samsung does with it, we’re going to need more from it. At the price they ask, the utility is horrendous. Multiple offerings are Samsung’s M.O., but wight he Galaxy Gear, we’d rather they perfect one before diversifying the lineup.

Nokia

We don’t get to talk Nokia much around here, but all signs literally point to an Android smartphone. The Nokia X — as it’s currently known — is set to debut at MWC. Though we’ve long anticipated a Nokia Android device, we’re not too excited this time. The handset specs we’ve heard point to a decidedly mid-range offering, likely aimed at merging markets. No over-the-top Android handset to send Nokia into the waiting arms of Microsoft, unfortunately.

nokia-x-teaser-600x307

LG

We’ve already heard quite a bit from LG, with the G2 mini being announced recently. The G Pro 2 is also a reality, as are the new features associated with it. We’ll have the opportunity to go hands-on with their newest at MWC, but in regard to something new — we don’t expect anything. We do love surprises, though.

Wearables

This is the wild card category. At CES, the sheer volume of wearables was incredible, and we expect the same at MWC. Rather than new form factors, we’ll be looking for new methods for compiling data. It’s nice to have a wearable that can gather data, bt what’s done with it after the fact is much more important. A wearable is a wearable is a wearable — rubbery wrist bands, and watches with poor displays. We need to see what can be done with the data before we get too excited.

We expect a host of OEMs to jump aboard the wearable train, and recent news of HTC’s “Google Now” inspired wearable interests us. We don’t expect it to make an appearance at MWC, as it seems to be relegated to backdoor dealings — if it even exists. Samsung has their Galaxy Gear, which should see an update as well. Huawei is believed to be working on a wearable, but in missing out on the US market, it’s hard to get overly excited about it.

flags-M