Second Opinion https://thenexus.tv/series/so/ Second Opinion is a reviews show about anything and everything under the sun. If we can experience it, we can review it. en-us Sat, 28 Aug 2021 08:00:42 GMT The Nexus The Nexus false Second Opinion has been archived https://thenexus.tv/series/so/ tombstone-so Sat, 28 Aug 2021 08:00:42 GMT Second Opinion is no longer active. The complete archive of all episodes is preserved at thenexus.tv. Second Opinion #118: Jamis Renegade Expat Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so118/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so118/ Sat, 28 Aug 2021 08:00:42 GMT Ian and Brian talk about Brian's 2017 Jamis Renegade Expat Bike! Episode Summary
00:00 | Intro
00:33 | The Review
18:40 | Outro

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Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so118.]]> 00:20:19 Ian R Buck, Brian Mitchell Second Opinion #117: Marin Four Corners Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so117/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so117/ Tue, 17 Aug 2021 09:29:55 GMT Ian is a utilitarian cyclist to the core, and is there a more pure expression of that than traveling from one metro area to another by bike? The Marin Four Corners is designed to take you the distance, at an affordable price. Come find out if they hit the mark! Episode summary
00:00 | Intro
Marin Bikes | 2020 Four Corners
03:31 | Ian's build: The Eagle

Pictures of The Eagle:

06:29 | Designed for touring
13:02 | Positives
18:12 | Drawbacks
25:18 | Modifications to The Eagle
32:27 | Outro

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]]> Ian R Buck Second Opinion #116: Specialized Sirrus Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so116/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so116/ Sat, 31 Jul 2021 10:00:29 GMT Ian and Brandon have both ridden the Sirrus more than any other bike. And while neither of them currently ride it on a regular basis, they have a lot to say about how it fits into various types of lifestyles. Episode summary
00:00 | Intro
Specialized Sirrus family
01:54 | Ian's Build: Joy

Pictures of Joy:

04:39 | Brandon's Build: Sirrusly
07:06 | The Review
Second Opinion #99: Delta X-Mount Pro Phone Mount Review › The Nexus
22:20 | Reasons Ian Sold
The Extra Dimension #52: Bike Maintenance Essentials › The Nexus
27:59 | Outro

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]]> 00:30:15 Ian R Buck, Brandon Johnson Second Opinion #115: Bike Toolkit Roundup https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so115/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so115/ Sat, 17 Jul 2021 10:00:11 GMT With just a modest collection of tools, you can make most adjustments and fix most problems that commonly come up while riding a bike! In this episode, Ian shows what he has with him at all times on his bike, and discusses three ways of carrying those tools. Your browser does not support the video tag.

Episode summary

00:00 | Intro
00:41 | The tools
08:31 | Storage options
16:46 | Outro

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]]> 00:17:55 Ian R Buck Second Opinion #114: Apidura Expedition Full Frame Pack Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so114/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so114/ Fri, 02 Jul 2021 12:44:55 GMT That triangle in the middle of your bike frame isn't doing you any good sitting empty! A frame bag takes advantage of that space for cargo capacity. Listen in to find out how Ian likes Apidura's entry into this product category. Episode summary
00:00 | Intro
Expedition Full Frame Pack | Apidura
03:17 | Pockets
11:29 | Waterproof
12:59 | Compatibility
17:34 | Durability
24:02 | Final thoughts
26:58 | Outro

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]]> 00:28:33 Ian R Buck Second Opinion #113: Revelate Spinelock Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so113/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so113/ Thu, 10 Jun 2021 10:45:18 GMT Revelate has come up with a unique mounting solution for their Spinelock seat pack. They claim it's the best thing since sliced bread, how well does it live up in practice? Join Ian on this review to find out! Episode summary
00:00 | Intro
Spinelock™ 16L - Seat Bags | Revelate Designs LLC
01:20 | Bikepacking vs touring
02:17 | Intended usage
03:55 | Bag shape, structure, packing experience
11:43 | Compatibility challenges
Spinelock mounted above a rear cargo rack.
15:06 | The bracket
18:02 | Durability
19:59 | Aesthetic
20:45 | Outro

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]]> Ian R Buck Second Opinion #112: Ortlieb Seat-Pack Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so112/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so112/ Mon, 24 May 2021 16:32:12 GMT Ortlieb is well-regarded for their urban and touring panniers, but how about their bikepacking gear? They have one of the largest saddle packs in the business, let's find out how it holds up! Episode summary
00:00 | Intro
Seat-Pack
02:11 | Bikepacking vs touring
04:04 | Intended usage
05:41 | Bag shape, structure
11:06 | Mounting
13:04 | Durability
13:39 | Aesthetics
15:23 | Air valve frustrations
18:18 | Final thoughts
19:08 | Outro

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]]> 00:20:45 Ian R Buck Second Opinion #111: Rokform Phone Mount System Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so111/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so111/ Mon, 10 May 2021 13:08:35 GMT Bike phone mounts are a very difficult product category to do well; they're usually either not durable, or too easy to steal, or too expensive. Rokform has focused on solving the first two problems, but the products are indeed expensive. Come listen to Ian give a verdict on whether they are worth the price! Episode summary
00:00 | Intro
01:56 | Product summary
06:47 | Universal adapter
08:24 | The Rokform ecosystem
13:37 | Outro

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]]> 00:14:41 Ian R Buck Second Opinion #110: Wahoo Kickr SNAP & Wahoo Tickr Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so110/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so110/ Sat, 24 Apr 2021 10:11:17 GMT Brian will be the first to admit, his new bike trainer setup was absolutely a pandemic purchase; but he's hoping that these will be items that he will use for many years to come! Episode summary
00:00 | Intro
02:04 | Kickr SNAP
12:59 | Tickr
15:57 | The ecosystem advantage
27:37 | Outro

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]]> 00:30:11 Brian Mitchell, Ian R Buck Second Opinion #109: MacBook Pro 13-inch M1 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so109/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so109/ Sat, 10 Apr 2021 11:18:53 GMT Ryan reviews the wonderful MacBook Pro with M1 chip! It's an incredible machine, but you might be satisfied with a MacBook Air - find out more!
  • Pricing
    • $1299 base model with 256gb storage + 8gb ram
    • $1499 with 512gb storage + 8gbram
    • My model is BTO
      • $1850
      • Includes $200 to bump to 16gb ram
      • Includes tax
    • I hope future models of the 13’’ or 14’’ (if that happens) comes with 16GB standard
      • I think $1500 should be getting you 16GB
      • I hope the 16’’ model comes with 16GB standard
  • Display
    • Size
      • 13’’ screen
        • I notice the difference between this and the 15’’ MBP I use for work - what a difference
        • It’s mostly a screen space / resolution difference - just can’t fit as much on here at once
    • Special features
      • No remarkable features
      • I still appreciate the white balance calibration that these modern macs do
  • Physicals
    • Look and feel, build quality
      • Footprint
        • It’s adorable
        • It’s not even a MacBook Air
        • I was surprised, this does not have intakes along the sides like my 15’’ MBP for work does
      • Weight
        • Noticeably lighter than my 15’’ model for work
    • Battery
      • I charged up to 100% and then used the computer normally until it ticked down to 99%
        • 1 hour 40 minutes
      • Out of the box, it was at 87%
      • Through setup and a bunch of installs and compiling Node and more
        • Down to ~40%
      • Easily getting through two days of usage
        • It’s telling me at 98% I might get 17 hours on this charge
          • Hahahahahahahaha
    • Ports
      • Two Type C / Thunderbolt ports
      • 1 headphone jack (it could be a combo jack, but I’m not sure)
    • Charging
      • It’s a bummer that the charging ports (type c shape / thunderbolt inside) are only on the left side
      • At least there’s two ports!
    • Speakers
      • They are fine
      • Get real speakers
    • Buttons
      • This is a MacBook Pro so it has a TouchBar!
      • This model has an escape key
        • Such novelty
        • Much depression
        • The fingerprint sensor for TouchID is in its own separate button, making it easier to press in properly
      • The TouchBar
        • It’s mostly OK
        • I would not pay any extra for it if it were a BTO option
    • Keyboard
      • The keyboard is weird relative to what I am used to now
      • I use a Magic Keyboard (space gray)
        • The keyboard on this MacBook feels similar, though still different than that, maybe even more firm
        • It doesn’t have the bottom-out harshness that the 15’’ MBP I use for work has, I’m still getting used to it
      • I like it overall!
      • The layout is smaller, which is what I notice most
        • This means I need to reposition my hands, so I have some hand/arm pain
        • My left hand is getting the brunt of this right now, it’s slightly more turned in than I’d like
          • If someone tells me I’m crazy and there’s no difference between the keyboard positions between the sizes...
  • Performance
    • Work machine
      • I think I saturate Disk IO and that bottlenecks everything
      • RAM saturation might be a part of it too
      • It’s going to take a while to replicate that issue on this machine
      • OK, so I push the machine to its limits and I need it to work functionally, reliably
    • M1 MBP
      • I have Chrome with a dozen tabs, Slack, iTerm, and VSC open running at 25% RAM
      • This has not turned its fan on yet for regular usage
        • It did when I was compiling Node (more on that later)
      • Instant on is appreciated, we’ll see if it keeps up
      • Fingerprinter TouchID sensor is fast!
    • WarGame Benchmarks
      • Recap on what the WarGame is
        • It is a silly benchmark I started in highschool and worked on iteratively through college up until I started working full time
        • The headlining version is the rust version which is as native as it gets
        • The “score” is games per millisecond of the “war card game”
      • M1 MBP: 403 score
      • AMD Phenom 2 945 (Q2 2009): 48
  • Software
    • OS
      • Big Sur is pretty looking!
        • I’ve enjoyed using the new Finder skin
        • The System Preferences is a bit strange
        • Everything else seems fine, it’s some aesthetics changes but nothing notice or nitpick if it doesn’t bother me
    • Development
      • Work and hobby time is different but also the same
      • Macos still initializes git on its first usage
      • VSC has a exploration build for M1
      • Brew does not work natively yet, but the Intel process was smooth enough
        • Brew can be installed though, in M1 native mode, but most packages require local side compilation
        • This machine is fast but not fast enough to compile Node in less than 10 minutes (with fans running even!)
      • Docker has working previews, you might need rosetta for some things https://docs.docker.com/docker-for-mac/apple-m1/ 
  • Final thoughts
    • It’s good
    • Can you work on it?
      • Invest ~2-3 hours beforehand
        • Go to your tools’ repos and search for Apple Silicon issues or M1 problems
        • Search for software you use on “does it arm”
        • Read on the various subreddits and forums
      • The 16’’ MacBook Pro could utterly decimate this in performance / battery capabilities
      • The 14’’ MacBook Pro is rumored and could add more ports, new baseline spec, who knows
      • Development tooling will slowly fill in gaps, and every week away from release, the ecosystem will get better
    • Other working types?
      • Do the same due diligence before buying
    • MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?
      • I wanted the Pro in case I needed the fan
      • If you’re on a budget, go for the MacBook Air
      • If you were going to buy a MacBook Pro earlier in 2020, then MacBook Pro
    • What happens when the 16’’ comes out at WWDC?
      • It will be madness
      • See you then

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so109.]]>     00:22:38 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #108: Samsung S21 Ultra Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so108/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so108/ Sun, 21 Mar 2021 09:31:07 GMT Ryan reviews the S21 Ultra. It's way better than the S20 and laterally better than the Note 20 Ultra.
  • Pricing
    • The tiny one starts at $799 but comes with reduced features and a plastic back! Oh no!
    • S21+ is $999
    • S21 Ultra is $1199 which is technically $100 cheaper than the Note 20 Ultra from August 2020
  • Display
    • First S-line phone with adaptive 120hz
    • Rounded design makes it look smaller
    • For some reason, not flat like the other S21 models
  • Physicals
    • Look and feel, build quality
      • Footprint
        • It’s a bit taller, a bit less wide than the N20U
        • It weighs a ton though
    • Battery
      • 5000 mAh
      • It lasts for two days easily, but I still charge at night, but I don’t feel bad if I don’t
    • Charging
      • 25w charging, no more 45w option - but that’s ok
      • The brick was NOT in the box - laughing at Apple still? No? Great!
    • Ports
      • Type C is all you need
    • Speakers
      • Not radically different than N20U
    • Buttons
      • No bixby button
      • Buttons on the right
  • Specs
    • CPU
      • 888
        • 875 is for premium minus products... what is Qualcomm doing?
    • RAM
      • 12GB; but you could have 512GB storage with 16GB of RAM
    • Storage
      • This model has 256GB of storage but we have no Micro SD now!
      • What’s going on here?
  • Software
    • Android 11 is nice out of the box but nothing major changed as far as I can tell
  • Camera
    • It’s a bit smarter with macro shots now, using the wide lenses to pretend to be a macro lens
    • Zoom is more nuanced now, with “Space Zoom” gone but present in implementation
      • 3x zoom and 10x zoom have their own 
  • Final thoughts
    • Did you want an S Pen? You can have one now... but without bluetooth, the best part
    • Did you want a real Note instead? Note 20 Ultra might be last option for you unless you like the Flip and Flop and Fold models for $1500 base prices
    • It’s an improvement above the S20U although it’s a side-grade from the Note 20 Ultra

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so108.]]>     00:25:37 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #107: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so107/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so107/ Tue, 02 Mar 2021 19:42:34 GMT Ryan reviews what might be the last Samsung Note ever!
  • Pricing
    • $999 Note 20 model
      • A smaller, stripped down version, essentially an S20+ with S Pen
    • $1299 Note 20 Ultra model
      • All the things in this review!
      • You could customize it a bit further with 512gb storage for some amount more
  • Display
    • Size
      • Slightly shorter, slightly wider than S20U
      • It’s slightly larger than the previous Note 10+
      • Weight-wise, it's a similar feeling, but the center of gravity...
    • Special features
      • Keeping many of the same features from previous generations hardware/software wise
      • The biggest differences...
        • Samsung’s latest panel - these panels are better every time and this is one good too
        • The screen itself is very curved as opposed to the S20U’s fairly flat edges, it kind of makes you wonder why they decided to go with such high curvature with the device that could even better utilize the flat surface... it also looks like the Note 10+ more than ever
        • The screen itself is LPZO(sp?)
          • This allows it to be brighter (up to 1500 nits?)
          • This allows for a variable refresh rate that software controls but hardware executes
        • The in-screen fingerprint scanner seems WAY faster it’s crazy
          • There’s been rumors of having a new scanner but I heard it’s not in this model this year, so... still waiting... but the difference is here in my usage so far
      • I noticed using the Note 10+ that the lack of the smooth 120hz adaptive framework (HFR)!
      • I didn’t think I could notice it but it’s really there
  • Physicals
    • Look and feel, build quality
      • Footprint
        • Stupidly large
        • It’s ever-so-slightly shorter than S20U and a tiny bit wider
      • Weight
        • It feels lighter but it also has a difference center of gravity based on how it’s thinned out from the S20U
    • Battery
      • 4500 mAh
        • 500 mAh delta from where the S20U was - kind of a shame that the Note 20 Ultra didn’t have it match - but I appreciate the weight difference
      • It’s been fine, usually end of day (work from home style) around 60% and I could push it down it to 40% if I actually left the house and took pictures somewhere
    • Charging
      • Same as usual; allegedly there were rumors of 45w ultra-mega-battery-acid rapid charging, but not this time
      • The brick was in the box
    • Ports
      • Same as usual; no headphone jack
      • You know, maybe I miss it occasionally?
    • Speakers
      • Not radically different than S20U
    • Buttons
      • The buttons return from the S20U and my preferred alignment leaves the Note line - previously they were on the other side (left side), now they’re back on the right
  • Camera
    • How is it
    • Special modes
    • Notable features
    • Things to verify
      • Zoom?
        • Is 50X/30X zoom anything?
      • Focus?
        • Is the focusing better than it was on the S20U?
  • Specs
    • CPU
      • 865 Plus
        • They should have gotten, for an extra dollar, an Ultra SKU
    • RAM
      • 12GB; you can have no less of course, coming from the S20U
    • Storage
      • Weird - just like I mentioned with the S20U - it comes with only 128gb option and a 512gb bump
      • While the Note 10+ had 256gb as its base
  • Software
    • OS
      • Finally, we can just now begin using Android 10 gestures
    • Updates
    • Performance
      • Seems good to me -- it looks just as buttery smooth as the S20U does on the HFR mode
  • Final thoughts
    • The Note 20 Ultra is obviously the note to buy
    • If you’re going to waste $1000 on a phone AND you want a stylus to do high precision work, then get the Ultra - pretend it is the only model
    • Note 20 Ultra or S 20 Ultra?
      • Almost definitely N20U now, or wait for whatever the next S-line device and see if Samsung comes to its senses

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so107.]]>     00:14:37 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #106: Android 11 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so106/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so106/ Sat, 13 Feb 2021 10:38:07 GMT Ian has been using Android 11 for five months now, so he is definitely ready to give you a thorough review of the latest version of Android! And not a moment too soon, since Android 12 developer previews are just over the horizon... Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro

    If you want to hear about how Distance Learning has been going, subscribe to The Extra Dimension and keep your ears open for an episode coming soon!

    02:33 | Notifications
    08:55 | Media playback controls, quick settings
    14:12 | App permissions
    17:19 | Power button menu
    20:48 | Emoji 13
    24:28 | App switching, overview
    30:33 | Files by Google

    Files by Google: Clean up space on your phone - Apps on Google Play

    31:50 | Autofill in the keyboard
    34:39 | Screen recorder

    I tried out a new thing for this episode; for the YouTube version, I did screen recordings of some of the more visual things I talked about in the review. Go check that out to see what screen recordings look like!

    37:23 | Misc
    43:23 | Behind-the-scenes

    If you want to learn more about Estonia and their online voting system, check out The Extra Dimension #26!

    45:53 | Outro
    47:00 | Electronic Frontier Foundation: Project For Awesome

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    ]]>     00:51:40 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #105: The City We Became Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so105/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so105/ Wed, 21 Oct 2020 15:52:39 GMT Ian is joined by Meghan Griffin to chat about The City We Became, a novel that uses a multidimensional sci-fi/fantasy story to shine a light on the social and political strife facing many of our cities today. It's a real good book. Links

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    ]]>     01:03:03 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #104: Gone Home Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so104/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so104/ Sun, 20 Sep 2020 19:09:51 GMT Ian digs deep into his well of feelings to talk about one of his favorite games of all time. Episode index
    00:00 | Intro
    00:53 | The Review
    10:04 | Outro

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    ]]>     00:10:52 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #103: Pixel 4a Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so103/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so103/ Sat, 05 Sep 2020 23:25:20 GMT Ryan Rampersad reviews the Pixel 4a with Ian R Buck. The verdict: it's pretty good. Episode summary
    • Pricing
      • A radical $349 base price with no other models even available
      • A phone you might remember also was this price... the Nexus 5... let’s get back on that topic later
        • This is allegedly the new budget tier, but I agree, it does seem to be less than ideal - this is the higher end of budget
          • I think the Moto G line is still budget tier and there are $200 Moto Gs out there, but there are so models and trade offs between models that it’s increasingly difficult to keep track
    • Display
      • Size
        • Beyond its numerical size... wow it’s tiny
        • The iPhone 7 (which is SE2 size) is likely the most comparable
        • Special features
        • A notable aspect is the lack of a notch or anything weirdness
        • It has a simple hole punch front-facing camera
        • It still has the usual ambient display which is a killer feature
    • Physicals
      • Look and feel, build quality
        • Footprint
          • It’s incredibly thin and tiny
          • It’s even more compact than the 3a
            • In comparison, the 3a looks ancient, for how much bulkier (brow and chin) it looks and feels
          • iphone 7: 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm (5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28 in)
          • pixel 4a: 144 x 69.4 x 8.2 mm (5.67 x 2.73 x 0.32 in)
          • Pixel 3: 145.6 mm x 68.2 mm x 7.9 mm (5.73 in x 2.69 in x 0.31 in)
          • note 20 ultra: 164.8 x 77.2 x 8.1 mm (6.49 x 3.04 x 0.32 in)
          • The iPhone is thinner, less wide and shorter, but the iPhone has a brow and chin that looks ancient compared to the the full-screen of the 4a
        • Weight
          • Since it’s so small, it’s weight is minimal (144g)
          • iPhone 7: 138g
          • Pixel 3: 148g
          • Note 20 Ultra: 208g
      • Battery
        • TBD
      • Charging
        • Type-C
        • Nothing special in this category
      • Ports
        • I had to reach over and pick it up to recall if it did have a headphone jack -- it does -- and I even said while writing this “oh wow, it does”
        • Isn’t it amusing that the $349-phone has the thing that allegedly the courageous couldn’t include and the $999-aires mock?
      • Speakers
        • It might be a feature of stock android, but in my experience, unusually, the 4a offers many more volume ticks than other phones I have tried in the past
        • It sounds fine, it might be a bit tin-y
      • Buttons
        • My usual button setup has been power-button in the mid-body and volume rockers on the opposing side or directly above the power-button
        • The power button on the 4a is a nice turquoise blue... for some reason?
          • Imagine a Moto maker-esque feature where you can pick your button color
      • Sensors
        • Fingerprint
          • It’s easy to forget how usable a good back-mounted fingerprint sensor is, it’s just so accurate and response all the time
    • Camera
      • How is it
        • It’s fine!
        • It takes reliable shots in bright and dark conditions
        • It does do quite a bit of “HDR+” processing after each photo is taken, not sure if all Pixels do this or if it’s an internal setting for this specific chip
      • Special modes
      • Notable features
    • Specs
      • CPU
        • Snapdragon 730G
        • Ok, it’s not a powerhouse and you can tell
        • It’s not getting smooth 120hz screen refresh either...
        • Really, to be honest, I had such high hopes for the quality of the 700 series but after using this for two weeks, it’s laggy enough for me to notice and that’s disappointing - maybe the 765 is better?
      • RAM
        • 6GB - can you believe this?
        • The Nexus 5, the phone highly realized as the pinnacle of the Nexus line only had 2GB at the same price point
      • Storage
        • 128GB UFS storage
        • 3a had eMMC which was slower internal NAND storage, and RAM constraints aside, you’re always going to hit disk eventually...
          • This might be loading pictures from disk
          • This might be loading updates from the store
          • This might be playing games
          • ... so basically, you’re going to benefit from this more than the extra 2GB over the 3a
    • Software
      • OS
        • It’s been a long time since I used stock Android
        • For me, it’s not such a big deal since I immediately apply Action Launcher and I even change its defaults to not be awful
          • No search bar, no tray, no widget things, dots instead of whatever Pixel nonsense is the fad right now
        • Android 10 Review
      • Updates
      • Performance
        • Mentioned above in the CPU section - kind of mediocre to be honest
        • Try using the app switcher
          • The animation lags a lot in my opinion 
    • Issues
      • During the course of my weeklong test, I used this phone in my everyday life and kept it at my work desk, in my car on drives hooked up with Android auto, in stores, did all the things one does with a phone... here are some issues...
        • In my office, with the overhead light, it will see my head’s shadow and decide it’s dark now and dim the screen way more than it should
      • I had to take a crazy detour route to the MSP Airport recently and I was surprised to find that the 4a lost its GPS connection twice, and even after a restart
        • Could be a fluke but it was unexpected
    • Final thoughts
      • Small, good value.
      • I wish Google had done this from the beginning
      • The value is here, and imagine what a double price - $700 device - could offer at the same value ratio
        • It’s hard to imagine since those Samsung phones are cursed at high price points
        • The iPhone SE(2) is good if you’re already in the iOS ecosystem - don’t get this then
          • if you’re invested in Android for any reason and you won’t or can’t spend 2.5x on an Android flagship, then this is great for you
          • Or consider one of the Moto G phones - why? Well, the Moto G phones have a similar value ratio but may have alternative features you might want (like the stylus model) or a larger screen
        • Look we don’t need to imagine - it’s Apple’s iPhone 11 (non-pro)
          • A processor that will last years
          • Enough RAM (in conjunction with that ecosystem’s memory constraints and patterns) to last
          • Slightly less storage but it’s livable (probably)
          • The Pixel cameras are good but the iPhone cameras are also well renowned too - and it has better video support on average
        • So where is that phone, Google? Is that the Pixel 5?
          • I bet I need to wait until the next round to see if that is something Google can do properly - steady, incremental, deliberate
      • I opened this up by mentioned the Nexus 5
      • Ok, thanks.

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    ]]>     00:58:00 Ryan Rampersad, Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #102: Let Go Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so102/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so102/ Sat, 22 Aug 2020 09:07:18 GMT Grappling with what the world will be like as we approach post-scarcity is a daunting task; Let Go endeavors to do so in the form of a graphic novel. Ian R Buck is joined by Quentin Pongratz and Daniel J Pool to discuss it. Episode summary
    00:00:00 | Intro
    00:01:49 | The authors, the environment it was written in
    00:04:33 | Book analysis
    00:55:57 | Final thoughts
    00:58:19 | Outro

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    ]]>     01:00:29 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #101: Portland Design Works Ninja Pump Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so101/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so101/ Sat, 08 Aug 2020 09:50:20 GMT Sometimes you have to change a tire while you're out on the road, and you'll need a small, reliable pump to do that. The Ninja Pump brings a lot to the table! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Ninja Pump
    00:34 | Versatility
    02:40 | Size
    03:42 | Durability
    04:57 | Final Thoughts
    05:31 | Outro

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    ]]>     00:06:37 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #100: Abus Bordo 6000 Bike Lock Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so100/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so100/ Sat, 25 Jul 2020 09:00:13 GMT A bike is a significant investment, one that you should protect with a proper lock. This is the smallest, lightest folding lock Ian has used, does it compromise on security to achieve that? Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    00:54 | Size
    01:41 | Durability
    04:03 | Versatility
    05:59 | Final Thoughts
    06:36 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so100.

    ]]>     00:08:06 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #99: Delta X-Mount Pro Phone Mount Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so99/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so99/ Sat, 18 Jul 2020 19:49:21 GMT Unlike many other phone mounts in its price range, the X-Mount Pro attaches to your bike under the stem cap. Did they cut any corners to keep it so affordable? Find out in our review! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    00:54 | Grip Strength
    01:43 | Phone Sizes
    02:08 | Durability
  • Picture of the broken phone mount
    • 04:43 | Final Thoughts
    06:43 | Outro

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    ]]>     00:07:49 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #98: Big Agnes Fly Creek HV UL2 Bikepacking Tent Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so98/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so98/ Sun, 12 Jul 2020 16:05:57 GMT The key to bike camping is having the right equipment. Big Agnes has designed the Fly Creek specifically for bikepacking, which is a promising sign! Let's find out how they did. Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Fly Creek HV UL2 Bikepack
    01:09 | Size
    Pictures of the tent's interior
    04:34 | Setup
    05:43 | Weather resistance
    07:39 | Durability
    Picture of broken pole in a splint
    09:23 | Final thoughts
    10:08 | Outro

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    ]]>     00:11:20 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #97: 45NRTH Xerxes Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so97/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so97/ Sat, 04 Jul 2020 16:16:11 GMT Once you've fallen on your bike on the ice once, you'll only ride studded tires in the winter from then on. Ian has been using the 45NRTH Xerxes studded tires for the last few seasons, and he is ready to review them for you! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Xerxes Studded Commuter Bike Tires | 45NRTH
    00:37 | Traction
    02:50 | Durability
    04:32 | Final Thoughts
    05:24 | Outro

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    ]]>     00:06:32 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #96: BrightRoad Front and Back Light Set Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so96/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so96/ Sat, 27 Jun 2020 18:51:59 GMT You need a bike headlight and taillight, so why not buy them together? This is an extremely affordable set of lights, does the quality hold up? Episode summary

    Related reviews:

    00:00 | Intro
    Set – bright-road
    01:16 | Brightness
    01:57 | Size
    02:35 | Battery Life
    04:21 | Durability
    07:11 | Miscellaneous
    08:25 | Outro

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    ]]>     00:09:30 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #95: Light & Motion Vis 180 Micro Bike Taillight Post-Mortem https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so95/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so95/ Sat, 20 Jun 2020 10:00:18 GMT The Vis 180 Micro has been discontinued, but there are still useful lessons to be gleaned from it! Episode summary
    0:00 | Intro
    Vis 180 Micro - Light & Motion
    00:50 | Brightness
    02:10 | Size
    02:22 | Battery Life
    03:16 | Durability
    04:39 | Final Thoughts
    05:43 | Outro

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    ]]>     00:07:18 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #94: Light & Motion Vya Bike Taillight Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so94/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so94/ Sat, 13 Jun 2020 10:00:21 GMT Being seen at night by road users behind you is essential on a bike. What kinds of innovations does the Vya bring to the table? Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Vya Smart Taillight - Light & Motion
    00:53 | Brightness
    01:35 | Size
    01:51 | Battery Life
    04:05 | Durability
    04:55 | Final Thoughts
    05:43 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so94.

    ]]>     00:07:19 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #93: Light & Motion Urban 500 Bike Headlight Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so93/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so93/ Sun, 07 Jun 2020 10:21:05 GMT Being able to see and be seen when riding in the dark is critical. Does the Urban 500 have what it takes for daily ridership? Episode summary

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    ]]>     00:11:07 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #92: Topeak Pocket Rocket Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so92/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so92/ Mon, 25 May 2020 17:16:20 GMT Being able to change an inner tube on the road won't help you if you can't pump up the new inner tube! A frame pump like the Pocket Rocket will help you get back on the road.

    Episode summary

    00:00 | Intro
    POCKET ROCKET (2019) | Topeak
    00:47 | Size
    02:20 | Durability
    03:48 | Final Thoughts
    04:12 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so92.

    ]]>     00:05:48 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #91: Foldylock Classic Bike Lock Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so91/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so91/ Mon, 18 May 2020 14:10:05 GMT A bike is a significant investment, one that you should protect with a proper lock. Folding locks are a recent innovation in the bike lock space; is the Foldylock a useful, durable lock, or just a gimmick with a cute name?

    Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro
    00:42 | Size
    01:41 | Durability
    04:53 | Versatility
    06:10 | Final Thoughts
    06:50 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so91.

    ]]>     00:08:32 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #90: Roam Co-Pilot Bike Phone Mount Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so90/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so90/ Sat, 09 May 2020 15:21:43 GMT Having access to navigation on one's phone while bike riding can be quite essential. Also essential: making sure that your phone won't fall off of your bike. Ian has been using the Roam Co-Pilot phone mount for several years, and he is here to review it for you! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Bike Phone Mount - Roam USA
    00:44 | Grip Strength
    02:41 | Phone Sizes
    03:19 | Durability
    06:23 | Final Thoughts
    08:32 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so90.]]>     00:09:58 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #89: Specialized Pizza Rack Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so89/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so89/ Sun, 03 May 2020 09:00:52 GMT The Pizza Rack is easily the most unique aspect of Ian's bike build. It provides not only railings for panniers to attach to, but also a generous platform to place objects on top. Come find out how well Ian likes it! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Pizza Rack | Specialized.com
    00:36 | Capacity
    Ian R Buck on Twitter: "Time to haul away some yard waste! Five gigantic bags of leaves and sticks. I can't believe we for them all on one bike and trailer!… https://t.co/knDpR9OVfV"
    02:50 | Versatility
    Second Opinion #88: Ortlieb Back-Roller Classic Pannier Review › The Nexus
    08:18 | Durability
    08:49 | Final Thoughts
    Ian R Buck on Twitter: "After nobly reminding everyone to Vote Yes last month, this yard sign will now be serving as a splash guard for the cargo on my Pizza Rack.… https://t.co/QztB5nnMVq"
    10:29 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so89. ]]>     00:12:08 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #88: Ortlieb Back-Roller Classic Pannier Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so88/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so88/ Mon, 27 Apr 2020 16:30:54 GMT The Ortlieb Back Roller Classics come with a serious pricetag, do they have serious performance to match? Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Back-Roller Classic
    00:49 | Volume
    01:42 | Versatility
    Carrying System Bike Pannier
    06:52 | Water Resistance
    07:42 | Durability
    09:04 | Visibility
    10:14 | Final Thoughts
    13:27 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so88.]]>     00:15:14 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #87: Roswheel 3 in 1 Bike Pannier Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so87/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so87/ Tue, 21 Apr 2020 19:48:10 GMT Ian used this pannier set for his daily commute for a couple of years. How well has it stood up, how easy is it to use? Find out in today's review! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Amazon.com : Roswheel 14892 3 in 1 Multifunction Bike Bicycle Rear Rack Panniers Back Seat Cargo Trunk - Black : Sports & Outdoors
    02:00 | Volume
    02:47 | Versatility
    05:17 | Water Resistance
    07:52 | Durability
    09:58 | Visibility
    11:03 | Final Thoughts
    12:04 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so87. ]]>     0:13:54 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #86: Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so86/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so86/ Sun, 05 Apr 2020 20:31:19 GMT Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra: the most expensive mainline phone ever from Samsung and a merely OK camera -- why not!
  • Listen to the Note 10+ review from roughly 6 months ago!
  • Pricing
    • $1399 base price, there’s another config for another $200
    • Preorder trade-in with an S10+ brought that down to $799 (-$600)
    • Specs
      • For full specs, read GSM Arena
      • CPU
        • SD 865
        • Allegedly the Snapdragon 865 is tied together with the 5G modem, so the cost of the entire device is increased
      • RAM
        • 12GB; matching Note 10+
        • Higher config has 16GB total though
      • Storage
        • 128GB base
        • Higher config has 512GB though
        • A real shame this “Ultra” tier didn’t have 256GB to match the Note 10+ out of box experience
        • SD Card slot still present though
    • Display
      • Size
        • 6.9’’ !
        • 20:9 aspect ratio
          • It’s really tall
          • Unlike the old Nexus 6 Moto, it’s not too wide
      • Special features
        • 2020 screen process
        • 120hz refresh rate. 240hz input rate
        • 1440p is exclusive of 120hz at release time though
          • aybe a future update enables it at battery life loss
    • Physicals
      • Look and feel, build quality
        • Footprint
        • Weight
      • Battery
        • 5000 mah; the biggest ever!
      • Charging
        • Allegedly 45w compatible again, but not included, and who cares
      • Ports
      • Speakers
        • Initially impressions would say they’re worse than the Note 10+’s speakers
      • Buttons
        • Alas, the Note 10+ had perfect button placement on the leftside, S20U moved to the right
        • No bixby button - Samsung has learned
      • 5G
        • Of no consequence to me at this time
        • It’s identical to LTE in everyday experience
        • S20U has the mmWave modem so if T-Mobile somehow pulled a Verizon it could be ultra fast in the park with line of sight
    • Camera
      • 3 real back cameras (time of flight / depth sensor also but not a real camera)
      • How is it
        • It’s remarkably average
        • Initial impressions were concerning
          • Any subject movement (a dog, for example) would cause blur
          • The depth of field of the primary camera made taking typical shots difficult
          • The default settings leave a lot to be desired (scene optimization)
          • JPEG
      • Special modes
        • 100X zoom!
        • 108mp
          • The pixel binning (can you say HTC ULTRA PIXELS?) is back and it’s still mediocre sometimes
        • Night Mode
          • Night Mode has been available on previous Samsung phones, but it’s still remarkably good
        • 40mp selfie camera
          • Cool, I guess? 
      • Verdict
        • Don’t buy this for the camera, I’d say
        • The S10+ or the Note 10+ had sometimes better cameras
          • The S10+/Note10+ lines shared cameras and the camera “modules” line had been used in other Samsung devices over time; you could think that this is a first gen-use of a module-line and the software hasn’t caught up yet
        • The ultra-wide camera module is 12mp - give me more on that one - I love ultra-wide shots and I rarely zoom
        • I find predicting which of the cameras the phone will use in a given mode too confusing to even try to understand
        • Physical camera bump, alignment is weird and an ergonomic disaster
    • Software
      • OS
        • We’ll get Android 11 on this phone next February or so when the next S-model comes out
          • Kind of Samsung’s fault, kind of Google’s fault
        • The thirdparty launcher support for the new gestures is still forthcoming allegedly in One UI 2.5 - unfortunately
      • Updates
        • A camera update came 3-weeks into ownership
        • It fixed some camera issues but there’s still work to be done
          • Hoping there are many more meaningful updates
      • Performance
        • No jitter or lag for me
    • Final thoughts
      • Don’t buy this at full price
      • It’s a big, heavy phone, consider the S20+ instead
      • Let’s conclude with a funny story
        • I’ve been buying phones YoY since 2016 and I bought the Pixel XL 1 with extra-storage at the time, and somehow it came out to ~$950
        • S20U is $1399 but with a trade-in, it was still cheaper

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so86.]]>     0:41:22 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #85: Smith Knowledge OTG Ski Goggles Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so85/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so85/ Sun, 22 Mar 2020 18:05:10 GMT Ian's sunglasses fog up when riding his bike during the winter. Will these over-the-glasses ski goggles solve his problem? Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro
    Smith Knowledge OTG Snow Goggles Men's: Smith United States
    00:21 | My usage case
    Second Opinion #84: Tifosi Slip Post-Mortem › The Nexus
    02:22 | Fit
    Picture of Ian wearing ski goggles with his bike helmet
    03:19 | Reducing fogging
    Picture of Ian with glasses completely fogged and frozen
    04:09 | Final thoughts
    06:10 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so85.]]>     00:07:09 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #84: Tifosi Slip Post-Mortem https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so84/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so84/ Sun, 08 Mar 2020 20:50:29 GMT Ian has been wearing a pair of Tifosi Slips for cycling and as general-purpose sunglasses for over seven years. They aren't sold anymore, but they hold a lot of lessons for what to look for when buying a pair of sunglasses. Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    01:16 | Features for Cycling
    05:13 | Aesthetic
    05:54 | Longevity
    10:41 | Final Thoughts
    11:18 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so84.]]>     00:13:28 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #83: HyperDot Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so83/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so83/ Sun, 23 Feb 2020 20:14:42 GMT HyperDot is a new "dodge everything" arcade game from Twin Cities developer Charles McGregor. Ian really enjoys these kinds of games, let's find out how HyperDot stacks up! Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro
    01:00 | Gameplay
    03:18 | Enemy types
    05:03 | Level modifiers
    06:39 | Powerups
    07:56 | Controller recommended
    09:10 | Level design
    11:13 | Soundtrack
    13:25 | Visuals
    15:32 | Mobile version
    16:51 | DRM-free
    18:09 | Final thoughts
    19:33 | Outro

    GOOGLE NEST MINI GIVEAWAY RESULTS!

    The results are in: our randomly-selected Patron who will be receiving the Google Nest Mini that Ian reviewed on Second Opinion #81 is Quentin Pongratz! Thanks so much for your support, Quentin!

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so83.]]>     00:22:01 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #82: Nvidia SHIELD TV 2019 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so82/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so82/ Sat, 08 Feb 2020 18:18:55 GMT Ryan reviews the standard Nvidia SHIELD TV 2019. The verdict: the remote is kind of confusing, but at least it's a good remote. Links

    GOOGLE NEST MINI GIVEAWAY!!!

    You could win the Google Home Mini that Ian tested for Second Opinion #81! All you have to do is become a patron sometime before February 16, 2020. Anyone who is a patron of ours anytime before that date gets one entry in the drawing. We will announce the winner on episode 83 of Second Opinion. Good luck to all!

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so82.]]>     00:19:37 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #81: Google Nest Mini Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so81/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so81/ Sun, 26 Jan 2020 18:44:26 GMT The Google Nest Mini (the second generation of the Google Home Mini) is the new entry-level Google Assistant device. Join Ian to find out what changes and improvements have been made in this new iteration! Episode index
    00:00 | Intro
    00:26 | Confusion in Branding
    02:40 | Physical Build
    05:43 | Software
    07:24 | Controls
    08:56 | Sound Quality
    09:46 | Microphone Reliability
    10:48 | Final Thoughts
    11:23 | Outro

    GOOGLE NEST MINI GIVEAWAY!!!

    You could win the Google Home Mini that Ian tested for this review! All you have to do is become a patron sometime before February 16, 2020. Anyone who is a patron of ours anytime before that date gets one entry in the drawing. We will announce the winner on episode 83 of Second Opinion. Good luck to all!

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so81.]]>     00:14:23 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #80: iPhone 11 Pro Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so80/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so80/ Mon, 13 Jan 2020 16:40:15 GMT Apple has brought the "Pro" moniker to the iPhone line! Join Brandon Johnson as he explores what makes this not just a new flagship phone, but a Pro phone. Links

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so80.]]>     00:13:43 Brandon Johnson     Second Opinion #79: Podcast Players Roundup https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so79/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so79/ Tue, 31 Dec 2019 17:21:09 GMT You love listening to podcasts, so you deserve to be using the best podcast player to consume them! In this roundup, Ian R Buck exhaustively reviews over 20 different podcast players to help you find the one that is best for you! Episode summary
    00:00:00 | Intro
    00:01:41 | Apple Podcasts
    00:06:44 | Google Podcasts
    00:10:06 | Pocket Casts
    00:15:48 | Overcast
    00:21:32 | Podcast Addict
    00:25:30 | Beyondpod
    00:28:43 | PlayerFM
    00:31:38 | AntennaPod
    00:33:50 | RSSRadio
    00:35:53 | iCatcher!
    00:36:49 | Podcast Republic
    00:40:26 | Downcast
    00:41:52 | Podbean
    00:44:32 | Castbox
    00:45:59 | Breaker
    00:49:45 | Castro
    00:52:24 | Stitcher
    00:54:38 | Luminary
    00:57:18 | Spotify
    01:01:09 | Pandora
    01:02:40 | TuneIn
    01:04:36 | Wrap-up
    01:06:51 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so79.]]>     01:07:58 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #78: Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 1 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so78/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so78/ Sat, 30 Nov 2019 18:39:39 GMT Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 1, and the verdict is there are not enough apps for this to even be a smart watch. Episode summary
    • Watches
      • I don’t like watches, they’re touching me
      • Ambient display is my preference
        • But I get in trouble anyway when I walk away from my phone
    • Samsung included coupon for another Samsung-product in the Note 10+ order in 2019
      • Couldn’t use it on the Active 2; so stuck with this
    • Physical Look and Feel
      • Default band is a sporty rubber
      • The weight is minimal
      • It’s still too thick for my tastes
      • Screen isn’t close to edge-to-edge, bezel all the way around
        • No flat tire though
      • Two buttons, home, and back
    • Software
      • Default screen is time + “widget spots” where you can add whatever widgets are available
        • My choices were heart rate, date, steps and sunrise/set
      • Fitness apps by Samsung are built in
        • The cal/sleep/movement counters are available
        • Exercise tracking
        • “Stress monitoring” -- just breathe
        • Heart rate sensor is actually nice
      • A weather app, but not my DarkSky data
      • Google calendar integration, but needed who knows what Samsung permission
      • Shows notifications as they come in
      • Messages app (via Samsung); you can use a bad build in keyboard, send an emoji or voice dictate
        • Some can be interacted with
        • For example, Telegram has no Tizen app, but you can use the “reply” function on the notification instead; but no initiation
      • The true lack of apps makes this not so useful; if I can’t use Slack or Telegram on the device, it’s not enough
        • Android or bust; but Wear is a bust too
        • If you want a real watch with real apps and integrations, get an Apple Watch

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so78.]]>     00:21:53 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #77: AirPods Pro Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so77/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so77/ Mon, 18 Nov 2019 00:41:55 GMT Brian overviews the AirPods Pro! Overview
    00:00 | Intro
    00:18 | Features
    06:38 | Earbuds Comparison List
    15:27 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so77.

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    ]]>     00:16:48 Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #76: Anker Soundcore Motion+ Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so76/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so76/ Sun, 03 Nov 2019 23:03:01 GMT Ryan reviews the Anker Soundcore Motion+ Bluetooth Speaker, and describes his criteria for using and purchasing a modern speaker against the alternatives.
  • Why not use an Alexa or CC Audio or Home?
    • They’re bad products; not universal
    • Audible, Ryan's primary audiobook provider, does not function over these proprietary systems (except Alexa)
  • Ryan's review on Amazon
  • Criteria for bluetooth speaker (2019)
    • Bluetooth 5 - longer range, lower power usage, better quality
    • Integrated battery + USB Type C charging
      • Bonus: AC always on support
    • Decent volume; outside usage

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so76.]]>     00:12:42 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #75: Apple Watch Series 5 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so75/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so75/ Mon, 14 Oct 2019 01:42:26 GMT Brian Mitchell gives a quick 12 minute review of the new Apple Watch Series 5. Overview
    00:00 | Intro
    01:08 | New Features
    05:40 | New Cases
    07:50 | Thoughts
    10:36 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so75.

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    ]]>     00:12:25 Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #74: Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so74/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so74/ Sat, 28 Sep 2019 15:41:15 GMT Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ review: it's a great big phone, it looks better than any previous model, the headphone jack does not matter and so much more!
  • Preordering 
    • BestBuy changed their preordering process this year; this was a bummer because I prefer to buy local (economy, returns, etc)
    • Bought through Samsung’s website this year
    • Arrived 2 days ahead of general availability date via preorder so that’s something
    • Pricing
      • That’s right, there are two models this time; I can’t tell you much about the little one; I wish that one was just as good as the big one
      • $999 for regular sized Note 10
      • $1099 for large sized Note 10+
      • Also: black on launch this time; no more of that blue on launch-only restrictions
    • Display
      • Size
        • 6.8 inches
        • 19:9 ratio; which is just ever-so-slightly better than 18.5:9
      • Gorilla Glass 6; at some point this is not remarkable anymore is it?
      • Special features
        • All of the features from the S10 line are here; fingerprint sensor, ambient display, you name it
      • There’s a new placement for the front camera though; instead of the S10+ 's strange double cutout in the corner, there is a single camera cutout just pixels from the top of the phone
      • There’s no speaker cutout in the top glass, the speaker is literally in the top of the phone and not on the display side
    • Physicals
      • Look and feel, build quality
        • Footprint
          • It’s huge! Who could have guessed
          • 162.3 x 77.2 x 7.9 mm (6.39 x 3.04 x 0.31 in)
        • Weight
          • 196g 
          • It’s slightly heavier than the S10+ but feels lighter than the Note 9
        • Comparing the Note 10+ with the Note 9; the Note 9 looks ancient, the chin, forehead, the chunky look and feel - even the curved edges were massive
        • The S10+ fares much better, Note 10 is really an extension
      • Battery
        • 4300 mAH
        • Effectively the same as the S10+ for my usage patterns
      • Charging
        • The new 45w charger might be more note... get it... worthy than the phone’s charging capabilities, but it can charge fast when you need it to
      • Ports
        • No more headphone jack; I haven’t missed this whatsoever
        • TypeC otherwise with Dex Support
      • Speakers
        • They’re fine, but I’ve seen criticism of them since the top speaker is not in the previous position
      • Buttons
        • What an amazing change!
        • The bixby button is gone, well, it’s the bixby button but your first job upon set up is to change its function to the regular wake/sleep power button
        • There’s no more power button on the right side
        • Many people took weeks to adjust, while I was very ok
      • Keyboard (if applicable)
        • There’s no keyboard...
      • Pen
        • But the pen is back!
        • Really, the S10+ could have a further variant S10 Pro that has a pen
        • The pen has all of the same gimmicks as last time
        • I like taking photos with the pen as a remote, it’s not like this couldn’t be done with an add-on accessory on any phone, but it’s great built in
        • “Air Actions” are new and useless since most apps will never support them
          • I would have liked Samsung to figure out how to make “scrolling” a default universal “air action”; if I am on Twitter in a lengthy list, air scrolling would be great - but no
        • The new notes app allows handwriting to be kept as handwriting but internally converted to text for search capabilities, making notes searchable is huge for usability in the long term
    • Camera
      • How is it
        • It’s the same as the S10+ but after almost a year with a wide lens, I can’t imagine having a phone without the option; I take so many shots with it
        • 2x mode is kind of mediocre in my opinion; if the camera had regular, 4x and it’s current 1/2x mode, I think it would be a wonderful mix
        • 2 12mp sensors, the wide is 16mp
        • Time of Flight sensor for something
      • Special modes
        • Night Mode is available
        • Due to how Samsung updates their unlocked phones, those get updates last; I was never able to use Night Mode on the S10+
        • I never use Night Mode; why are you taking pictures in the dark?
        • Better slowmo options
        • 4k60 recording
        • S10+ had an issue where taking photos during a video would cause framedrops in video, this doesn’t exhibit the same issue
        • Pro mode lets you tweak whatever you want
      • Notable features
        • QR code scanning is now an automatic thing the camera will do
    • Specs
      • CPU
        • Snapdragon 855
      • RAM
        • 12GB because this is the Note 10+
      • Storage
        • 256gb + I added a 64GB SD card
    • Software
      • OS
        • TouchWiz is still gone, the Samsung EXperience is gone, now it’s the One UI and I enjoy it
        • I skip the default One UI launcher and use Action Launcher and I have it customized the way I like it (which is really not at all the way Chris Lacy likes it at all - get your Google Pixel nonsense out of here)
        • Running Android 9.0 probably until March (by the time the S11 comes around)
      • Updates
        • Carriers suck
        • Samsung should figure something out for this; but I get the complexity of such a thing
      • Performance
        • It’s as fast as any phone has been and should be
        • Some people like turning the animation speed up
    • Final thoughts
      • Note 10+ is great
        • It’s big, fast, has cameras, has a good interface
      • S10+ is cheaper now, almost as good
      • S11 coming in just a few months

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so74.]]>     00:57:02 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #73: Android 10 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so73/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so73/ Tue, 17 Sep 2019 15:24:30 GMT Android 10 is here, and brings with it dark mode, gesture navigation, and tweaks to many many things! Ian has been using it for a little over a week, and he's ready to tell you all about the changes. Episode Index
    00:00 | Intro
    01:54 | Dark Mode
    06:49 | Gesture Navigation
    13:55 | Share Menu
    17:32 | Notifications
    Android 10 playback notification with scrub bar.
    Android 10 playback notification with scrub bar.
    26:18 | Focus Mode
    27:56 | App Permissions
    30:16 | Privacy
    33:41 | Emoji
    34:58 | Miscellaneous
    39:35 | Under the Hood
    54:27 | Coming later this fall
    55:36 | Outro

    Further Reading

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so73.]]>     00:57:30 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #72: Sony MDR-v6 Post-Mortem https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so72/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so72/ Sat, 31 Aug 2019 09:41:13 GMT Ryan reviews the Sony MDR-v6 headphones, lasting in some form or another since 1985, a studio classic - find out Ryan's recommendations with these Sony headphones for studio use! Intro
    Other headphone reviews:

    Notes

    • Studio monitors; classics
    • Price: ~$70-80
    • Sound quality
    • Durability
    • Fit, comfort
    • Portability

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so72.]]>     00:15:09 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #71: ATH-M50x Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so71/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so71/ Sun, 18 Aug 2019 11:14:56 GMT Ian and Ryan have both been using the same studio headphones for monitoring and editing, and they are ready to tell you all about them! Episode Index
    00:00 | Intro

    Other headphone reviews:

    03:43 | Price
    04:06 | Sound Quality
    07:31 | Durability
    09:48 | Fit and Comfort
    11:51 | Portability
    12:57 | Analog vs USB
    16:22 | Compare to ATH-M40x
    19:48 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so71.]]>     00:22:06 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #70: Corsair Vengeance 1500 Post-Mortem https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so70/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so70/ Mon, 05 Aug 2019 09:48:28 GMT Ian used a USB gaming headset for many years. What lessons can we learn from it when buying headphones in the future? Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro

    Other headphone reviews:

    00:22 | Price
    01:07 | Sound Quality
    06:09 | Fit & Comfort
    08:27 | Portability
    09:07 | USB vs Analog
    11:32 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so70.]]>     00:13:08 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #69: Pixel 3a Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so69/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so69/ Sat, 06 Jul 2019 00:01:48 GMT Chris Rampersad, Ryan's mom, joins Second Opinion to review the Google Pixel 3a. A nice phone for those not looking for a true flagship device. Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro
    01:32 | Pricing
    02:11 | Display
    • Size
    • Special features
    02:54 | Physicals
    • Look and feel, build quality
      • Footprint
      • Weight
    03:22 | Battery
    04:20 | Charging ports
    05:12 | Speakers
    06:18 | Buttons
    07:10 | Fingerprint sensor
    07:55 | Camera
    09:09 | Specs
    10:06 | Software
    • User interface
    • Issues
    11:54 | Cellular Radio Issue
    15:54 | Final thoughts
    18:00 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so69.]]>     00:19:11 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #68: Google Pixel USB-C Earbuds Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so68/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so68/ Tue, 25 Jun 2019 10:24:17 GMT Since Google has been making phones without headphone jacks, it is important for them to sell headphones that can be used with those phones. Are the wired USB-C variety worth using? Find out in our review! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro

    Other headphone reviews:

    01:59 | Price
    03:08 | Durability/Losability
    05:33 | Fit
    07:33 | Sound Quality
    10:15 | Miscellaneous
    12:09 | Final Thoughts
    15:03 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so68.]]>     00:16:53 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #67: Aftershokz Trekz Titanium Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so67/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so67/ Mon, 10 Jun 2019 11:27:23 GMT Bone conduction headphones are marketed towards cyclists, so you can be assured that you can hear traffic around you while listening to podcasts or music. Ian tested out the Trekz Titaniums in several different scenarios, and is ready to give his recommendations! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro

    Other headphone reviews:

    02:13 | Price
    02:46 | Durability, Losability
    05:14 | Fit
    07:16 | Sound Quality
    13:06 | Battery Life
    13:34 | Connectivity
    14:02 | Miscellaneous
    17:52 | Final Thoughts
    18:45 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so67.]]>     00:20:36 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #66: JLab Fit Sport Earbuds Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so66/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so66/ Sat, 25 May 2019 04:00:03 GMT After losing his Soundbuds while traveling, Ian had to buy a pair of earbuds he wasn't familiar with. Will the JLab Fit Sports satisfy him? Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro

    Other headphone reviews:

    01:59 | Price
    02:30 | Durability and Losability
    04:22 | Fit
    07:21 | Sound Quality
    08:28 | Battery Life
    09:48 | Connectivity
    10:52 | Cord
    11:43 | Miscellaneous
    14:47 | Final Thoughts
    15:50 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so66. ]]>     00:17:51 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #65: Anker SoundBuds Slim Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so65/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so65/ Sun, 12 May 2019 09:09:50 GMT Living without a headphone jack, Ian is now on a quest to find the cheapest Bluetooth earbuds that are worth using. Brandon pointed him towards Anker's SoundBuds Slim, let's find out if they measure up! Episode summary
    00:00 | Intro

    Other headphone reviews:

    01:50 | Price
    03:57 | Durability and Losability
    08:23 | Fit
    13:49 | Sound Quality
    18:41 | Battery Life
    23:09 | Connectivity
    28:13 | Cord
    30:51 | Miscellaneous
    35:12 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so65.]]>     00:38:21 Ian R Buck, Brandon Johnson     Second Opinion #64: Panasonic ErgoFit Earbuds Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so64/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so64/ Sat, 27 Apr 2019 13:27:47 GMT With the ErgoFit earbuds, Panasonic was clearly aiming to win the race to the bottom - did they succeed in making the cheapest earbuds that are still worth using? Ian has had a lot of time to develop his thoughts on them! Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro

    Other headphone reviews:

    00:39 | Niche
    02:36 | Price
    03:08 | Durability
    04:20 | Fit in the Ear
    05:34 | Sound Quality
    08:45 | The Cord
    12:08 | Final Thoughts
    12:34 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so64.]]>     00:14:29 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #63: Samsung Galaxy Buds Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so63/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so63/ Sat, 13 Apr 2019 04:00:52 GMT Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy Buds (Galaxy S10+ pre-order gift) - surprisingly they fit and stay in his ears! Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro

    Other headphone reviews:

    00:20 | General
    • Galaxy Buds are Samsung’s response to the AirPods from Apple
    • I received my set of Buds from Samsung as a gift for pre-ordering the S10+ prior to launch
    01:15 | Purchase & kind
    • Regular price is $129
    • My set are white, but there’s supposed to be a black option, which I can’t find?
    01:54 | Case
    • The case is pill shaped, pretty small
    • The case charges with USB Type-C
    • The case also charges with wireless charging; which is good
      • Works great with a wireless charger pad
      • Works ok with the built-in S10+ charging - enough to get the buds up enough to listen during a commute
    • The case has a green/red charging light on the outside; not sure what the thresholds are for battery remaining
    • The case has a green/red connection light on the inside
    • Open the case to pair with a suitable phone; the S10+ picks up instantly, plain bluetooth might be slower
    04:48 | Buds
    • It’s some kind of miracle; these stay in my ears
    • Earbuds haven’t ever stayed in my ears, this is amazing
    • There are “actions” you can do on the “touchpads”;
      • Tap to play/pause
      • Double tap play next or answer/end call
      • Triple tap to play previous
      • Long press talk to Bixby or Google
    08:18 | Audio quality
    • Just ok; probably better for “talking” than music
    • Kind of quiet in real life situations (on a train, in a crowd)
    • Since they’re in ear, they’re actually more isolating than the bone conduction
    • Definitely not as nice as Sony noise cancelling over-ear headphones
    10:26 | Special features
    • With the Galaxy Wearable app (ugh, this name)
      • You can see the charge levels
      • You can tinker with an equalizer which didn’t seem to do much for me
    • You can tinker with the “notifications” settings - basically, a white list of audible notifications from your phone to forward to the buds - I let calendar, slack and telegram through - I will ignore you useless emails
    • By default, it provides some active noise cancelling features
    • You can turn on Ambient sound, and I guess that lets some frequencies in
    • You can turn on “Voice focus” and that lets talking in
    • It sounds weird
    • Finally, “Find my earbuds” lets you remotely find your bud if you drop it
      • It plays a loud tone, so don’t have them in when you do it
    13:36 | Conclusion

    Would I buy these if I needed earbuds? Surprisingly, now that I find they actually stay in my ears, maybe! I would have saved my $130 possibly towards modern Sony noise cancelling headphones, but these have a place in your audio collection if you need buds for the train, bus or dog walk - these aren’t for “working” environments.

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so63.]]>     00:16:08 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #62: Limetown Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so62/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so62/ Mon, 01 Apr 2019 14:23:07 GMT Limetown is a mystery/thriller audiodrama with themes of the social implications of technology. Meg Griffin and Tim Lowe join Ian R Buck to review the podcast, the tie-in novel, and talk about the upcoming video series. Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro
    00:35 | Spoiler-free
    16:28 | Spoilers
    36:44 | Outro

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so62. ]]>     00:40:42 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #61: Samsung Galaxy S10+ Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so61/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so61/ Mon, 18 Mar 2019 04:00:16 GMT Ryan reviews the Samsung Galaxy S10+ - the fourth phone in his Galaxy experience - from the new display, the punch out camera, to the oddities with the fingerprint sensor, battery certainty, signal reliability, and so much more! Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro
    01:54 | Pricing
    • Pricing
      • 3 variants
        • S10e - $750
        • S10 - $899
        • S10+ - $999
      • Colors
        • Black, white, flamingo, and ???
      • Base models come with 8gb ram and 128gb storage
      • Vs Note 9; the pricing is even further out of control; it’s the inevitable ASP price creep syndrome now
      • My pricing:
        • Pre-order via BestBuy
        • Turned in my purchased-last-february S9+ for $550 credit
        • Paid a hefty... not really; $508
    06:38 | Display, Fingerprint Sensor, Cameras, Storage
    • Display
      • Size 6.4’’ display
      • Special features
        • Integrated fingerprint sensor; more on this later
        • Up to 1200 nits of brightness
    • Physicals
      • Look and feel, build quality
        • When I first held it, it was adorably light; I was used to holding this glass brick in the Note 9 so this was a difference
        • The side metal is aluminium this time - not sure what it was before, but previously the metal band around feld “stronger”
        • The Note 9 was very Square; very hard edges - this is much more rounded on the top/bottom left/right sides
      • Ports
        • Usual ports; type c + headphone jack
      • Speakers
        • Same speaker configuration; stereo in top front and side bottom
        • The top speaker is tucked between the glass and the top bezel; it’s okay
      • Buttons
        • Bixby button is still here but with partial remap maybe not totally useless
        • The power button is said to be too high up on the S10+ model
      • Fingerprint sensor; under the screen
        • I registered 4 unique fingers; previously on the Note 9 I had only the index-fingers registered, I’d never use my Thumb
        • I could unlock the phone smoothly while it was coming out of pocket without looking; with this new scanner since it’s in the screen, I can have to guess more which means accuracy is down
        • You can unlock from AOD but you have no visual indicator where the sensor is; it’s not in an obvious place, where the android home button is
          • On the AOD, they need to put some kind of reference point down there; allegedly scared of burn in though; even it’s not the finger print visual, even an empty circle, anything
    • Camera
      • 3 cameras on the back
        • 2x, 1x and “1/2x”
        • The
      • 2 cameras on the front
      • How is it
      • Special modes
      • Notable features
    • Specs
      • CPU
        • Snapdragon 855
      • RAM
        • 8gb
      • Storage
        • 128gb base model + I added a 128gb SD card; what is storage and why do I need it?
    21:28 | Android
    • Wow, Android, what happened to you? Now running with Pie and One UI, the “Samsung Experience” that made from the S8 line to now so successful software wise is gone; replaced with this strange interface
    • List items are often smushed cards or elongated pills
    • Everything is so bright, AMOLED chuckles in the distance
    • The utilities that Samsung Experience is well known for is for the most part still here
    26:10 | New Launcher, Software
    • Updated side-by-side app switcher; always defaults to the previous app which is useful but also annoying since I was trained by previous versions to swipe anyway
    • Raise to wake
      • Possibly the most annoying new feature, every time I touch the phone, no matter if I’m just repositioning it to still see the time on the AOD better; it thinks I want to play and it wakes up
    • Double tap to wake; not used yet but we’ll see
    • AOD
      • Still present, still configurable
      • Icons hangout in color now; this might be done to help keep the AOD pixels from burning out just their “white” pixels, but it makes things harder to see
    • All of the sounds changed again! Oh no, I was so used to the regular and common and consistent Samsung Experience sounds!
    • Other notable features; obviously none from the Note 9 more than the Pen
    • Everyone is freaking out how poorly the Face Unlock feature secures the phone; the Iris scanner is gone and while I didn’t use it previously, I do like Face Unlock, for those times my hands are in gloves or any number of convenient times; I turn this off when I travel - it’s not secure, of course
    33:38 | Battery
    • 4100 mah
    • Charging
      • Usual charging modes; cable and wireless
      • Plus a useless gimmick feature, “reverse charging” that every reviewer has tentpoled; that stops here
    36:17 | Signal Strength
    39:09 | Conclusions
    40:25 | Ending

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so61.]]>     00:43:07 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #60: Sony WH-1000XM3 Headphones Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so60/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so60/ Sat, 02 Mar 2019 04:00:27 GMT Brian reviews his new Sony WH-1000XM3 Headphones! Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro
    00:18 | The Name
    00:40 | Main Features
    09:00 | Lesser Features
    14:37 | Outro

    Other headphone reviews

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    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so60. ]]>     00:15:30 Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #59: OnePlus 6T Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so59/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so59/ Sun, 10 Feb 2019 04:00:51 GMT First-time guest Kharme Mahamed joins Ian R Buck to review the latest flagship killer that has all the Android enthusiasts abuzz! Episode Summary
    00:00 | Intro
    01:19 | Prices
    02:10 | Display
    09:38 | Look & Feel
    14:31 | Buttons
    16:37 | Speakers
    17:28 | Battery
    23:35 | Ports
    27:04 | Misc Physicals
    29:05 | Cameras
    33:36 | Specs
    38:00 | Software
    48:38 | Final Thoughts
    54:12 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so59.]]>     00:56:35 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #58: iPad Pro (2018) Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so58/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so58/ Sun, 27 Jan 2019 04:00:01 GMT Aron discusses his new iPad Pro (2018) with Brian. Links

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so58.]]>     00:43:36 Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #57: Kindle Paperwhite Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so57/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so57/ Sun, 13 Jan 2019 13:37:25 GMT Brandon takes the Second Opinion wheel for a discussion about the latest Kindle Paperwhite, asking: are eReaders consumer tech after all? Links

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    Attributions

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so57.]]>     00:23:00 Brandon Johnson     Second Opinion #56: Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so56/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so56/ Mon, 31 Dec 2018 16:20:28 GMT Ian is joined by Quentin and Gwen to review the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. Is Google's latest flagship phone worth the price hike? Episode Summary
    00:00:00 | Intro
    00:00:33 | Project Fi Update
    00:02:48 | Pricing
    00:06:51 | Display
    00:14:19 | Specs
    Physicals
    00:17:48 | Look and Feel
    00:23:52 | Battery
    00:26:18 | Ports
    00:30:21 | Speakers
    00:32:40 | Buttons
    00:38:37 | Misc
    00:41:16 | Camera
    00:51:59 | Software
    01:05:03 | Final thoughts
    01:09:52 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so56. ]]>     01:12:45 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #55: Google Home Hub Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so55/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so55/ Mon, 10 Dec 2018 04:00:27 GMT Google's first smart home device with a screen; but this isn't the first Google Assistant device with a screen! What has Google done to differentiate this device from the crowd? Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    01:37 | Price

    02:48 | Screen

    07:52 | Audio

    09:43 | Other Hardware

    • Correction: Ryan states that the Google Home Mini is powered over USB-C; it is actually powered over micro USB-B.

    11:44 | Software

    21:34 | The box

    22:50 | Final Thoughts

    27:53 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so55. ]]>     00:29:39 Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #54: Password Managers Roundup https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so54/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so54/ Wed, 28 Nov 2018 04:01:57 GMT In our first-ever roundup, we're bringing you six reviews in one! We tested LastPass, Dashlane, 1Password, Keeper, Bitwarden, and KeePass to figure out which is the best password manager. Episode Summary
    00:00:00 | Intro
    00:03:40 | Features
    00:15:12 | Browser Built-In Password Storage
    00:20:32 | LastPass
    00:34:56 | Dashlane
    00:43:47 | 1Password
    00:59:00 | Keeper
    01:05:43 | Bitwarden
    01:15:40 | KeePass
    01:21:55 | Final Thoughts
    01:23:49 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

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    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so54. ]]> 01:26:24 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad, Brian Mitchell, Brandon Johnson Second Opinion #53: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so53/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so53/ Sun, 11 Nov 2018 05:00:46 GMT Our first book review ever!! Ian is joined by Mary Austad to review Hank Green's debut novel An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, which is an exploration of fame and the social internet wrapped in a sci-fi mystery. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    01:39 | Spoiler-Free

    Ian meeting Hank Green in-person.

    23:40 | Spoilers

    43:38 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so53.]]>     00:48:11 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #52: macOS 10.14 Mojave Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so52/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so52/ Sun, 28 Oct 2018 09:02:16 GMT Our first time reviewing a desktop operating system! There's a new version of macOS out, and Ian and Brian are here to tell you all about it! Episode Index

    00:00 |Intro

    02:15 | Dark Mode

    07:32 | Stacks on Desktop

    09:35 | Editing in Quick Look

    10:58 | Screenshots

    14:40 | Finder

    16:26 | Continuity Camera

    18:17 | Ports of iOS Apps

    25:53 | Safari

    26:40 | Permissions

    27:12 | 32-bit Programs

    28:43 | App Store

    31:20 | Group Facetime

    33:52 | Final Thoughts

    34:29 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so52. ]]>     0:37:14 Ian R Buck, Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #51: iPhone XS, XS Max Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so51/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so51/ Sun, 14 Oct 2018 10:45:40 GMT This year we get to review two different sized iPhones at once! Apple is now all-in on removing the home button from their phones, so let's find out how that paradigm is holding up. Episode Index

    00:00 | Intro

    01:33 | Pricing

    04:33 | Display

    09:29 | Camera

    Picture of Ian using studio effects that looks very bad.

    15:02 | Specs

    19:29 | Physicals

    25:13 | Battery

    29:02 | Ports

    30:02 | Speakers

    33:35 | Buttons

    34:28 | Software

    41:23 | Final Thoughts

    45:01 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

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    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so51. ]]>     00:48:17 Ian R Buck, Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #50: Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so50/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so50/ Sat, 29 Sep 2018 05:00:58 GMT Ryan steals the show to review his second phone of the year, and his conclusions are a little unexpected. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    00:36 | Pricing/Models

    03:31 | Display

    06:06 | Look and feel

    10:16 | CPU/RAM/Storage

    12:44 | Battery

    17:16 | Ports

    17:54 | Buttons

    20:38 | Camera

    25:06 | S Pen

    29:00 | Software

    33:31 | Fingerprint Sensor

    35:11 | DeX

    40:41 | Final thoughts

    42:17 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so50.]]>     00:44:36 Ryan Rampersad, Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #49: iOS 12 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so49/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so49/ Mon, 17 Sep 2018 10:00:35 GMT Brandon and Brian give an overview and discuss iOS 12. Brandon's recording got a little corrupted, but he is still understandable so we thank you for bearing with us on this one. Overview Available September 17, 2018. Runs on the iPhone 5s and iPad Air and newer ✨

    00:00 | Intro

    00:50 | Performance

    • Up to 70% faster swipe to Camera
    • Up to 50% faster keyboard display
    • Up to 2x faster app launch under heavy workload
    • Up to 2x faster Share sheet display under load
    • Smoother animations

    06:00 | Group FaceTime (coming later this fall)

    • 32 people
    • Realtime effects and everything!
    • Video with iPhone, iPad, and Mac
    • Audio only with Apple Watch and HomePod
    • Focus view on whoever is speaking
    • Animoji
    • Filters
    • Text Effects
    • Shapes
    • End-to-end encryption

    07:12 | Messages

    12:26 | Camera

    • Improved Portrait Lighting
    • Portrait Segmentation API
    • Improved QR code reader
    • Smart HDR (iPhone Xs)
    • Dynamic bokeh, after you take the photo (iPhone Xs)

    14:06 | ARKit 2

    • Measure app
    • QuickLook and USDZ objects everywhere!
    • Improvements to vertical surface detection
    • 3D object recognition
    • Face tracking
    • Scene reflection
    • Persistence(!!!) of detected planes
    • Unity did a really good job writing out what all the underlying changes in ARKit 2 made possible: multiplayer experiences, etc. What’s new in Unity ARKit Plugin for ARKit 2 – Unity Blog

    19:24 | Screen Time

    • Activity reports
    • Compare across devices
    • Kid monitoring
    • App limits
    • Downtime (like bedtime), when apps and notifications are blocks
    • Brandon hasn’t really used this? Tried setting some boundaries for Instagram/Tweetbot, but I never seem to exceed them, so I guess they weren’t aggressive enough?

    22:51 | Notifications

    • Grouped notifications
    • Inline managing of notifications
    • Critical alerts
    • In earlier beta builds, (though sometimes even now) Brandon can’t seem to get to Notification Center? Could be me being dumb.

    24:35 | Do Not Disturb

    • Slightly easier to activate or deactivate
    • Does a generally better job of hiding notifications from you (lock screen, notification center)
    • Oh hey, maybe my problem is that DNDB is always activated???

    25:31 | Photos

    • Photo Sharing
      • Sharing suggestions
      • Having the photos icon underneath “apps” makes Brandon very sad
    • Photo Search
      • Places
      • Event
      • Multiple keyword
    • For you tab
    • Redesigned Albums tab

    30:04 | Siri

    • Siri Shortcuts
      • The new Workflow
      • App from the App Store (supports iOS 11 too???)
      • Super duper power user stuff
    • Motorsports
    • Translation
    • Celebrity facts
    • Food knowledge
    • Photos Memories search
    • Passwords
    • Find My iPhone
    • Flashlight

    34:36 | Privacy

    • Stricter Safari rules
    • Safari prevents Share buttons and comment widgets on web pages from tracking you without your permission
    • Security code AutoFill from SMS one-time passcodes
      • It works until it doesn’t. Most of the apps I’ve used this with works, but You Need a Budget is a standout that seems to break.
    • To use an iCloud Keychain-saved-password, you need to do a pin/TouchID/FaceID
    • Password Manager API (Hello 1Password!)
    • Safari also prevents advertisers from collecting your device’s unique characteristics, so they can’t identify your device or retarget ads to you across the web.

    37:50 | App Updates

    • Redesigned Apple Books
    • Redesigned Stocks app, now on iPad too
    • Voice Memos on iPad
    • New navigation in Apple News
    • Third-party navigation apps in CarPlay
    • Contactless student ID cards in Wallet
    • More detailed battery information
    • Safari Favicons on iPad

    40:33 | Final Thoughts

    41:55 | Outro

    41:05 | Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so49.]]>     00:42:23 Brian Mitchell, Brandon Johnson     Second Opinion #48: Samsung Chromebook Plus V2 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so48/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so48/ Mon, 03 Sep 2018 05:00:13 GMT Last year, Samsung released the first Chromebooks that could run Android apps. Will their 2018 follow up make as much of an impact? Episode Summary

    00:00:00 | Intro

    00:02:28 | Pricing

    00:03:15 | Screen

    00:11:26 | Build Quality

    00:15:13 | Keyboard, Trackpad

    00:20:35 | Importing Settings

    00:23:28 | Tech Specs

    00:25:42 | Battery Life

    00:26:53 | Ports

    00:35:10 | Speakers

    00:40:31 | Cameras

    00:44:21 | Software

    00:51:42 | Final Thoughts

    00:57:44 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so48. ]]>     01:01:17 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #47: Android 9 Pie Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so47/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so47/ Sat, 18 Aug 2018 05:00:50 GMT Google surprises everybody by releasing Android 9 in early August! There are quite a few interface changes in this one, so tune in to find out where all the hidden gems are. Episode Summary

    00:00:00 | Intro

    00:05:01 | Drastic UI Changes

    00:07:29 | Overview Page

    00:20:35 | Notifications

    00:39:38 | Scrubbing Through Text

    00:41:30 | Quick Settings

    00:46:44 | Physical Button Menus

    01:00:52 | Lockscreen

    01:06:24 | Do Not Disturb

    01:15:33 | System UI Tuner

    New Features

    01:17:54 | Adaptive Battery

    01:23:19 | Adaptive Screen Brightness

    01:25:36 | Renaming Devices

    01:27:29 | Digital Wellness Beta

    01:35:50 | Missing Features

    • App slices
    • Rotate screen toggle

    01:43:48 | Final Thoughts

    01:46:04 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so47. ]]>     01:49:30 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #46: Bubble by Maximum Fun Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so46/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so46/ Mon, 06 Aug 2018 05:00:21 GMT It's not often that we get a serialized audio comedy sci-fi drama! Join Ian R Buck, Amanda Johnson, and Frank Karamaroudis as they gush about Bubble, the first scripted show from Maximum Fun. Episode Summary

    00:00:00 | Intro

    00:01:08 | Spoiler-Free

    00:44:07 | Spoilers

    01:08:41 | Outro

    Links

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    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so46. ]]>     01:15:00 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #45: MacBook Pro 13" With Touchbar Late 2016 Post-Mortem https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so45/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so45/ Mon, 23 Jul 2018 05:00:23 GMT Apple took a huge step in 2016 when they introduced MacBook Pros with butterfly switch keyboards and only USB-C ports. Ian is joined by Lilly Beyer to figure out if it was a step in the right direction. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    05:03 | Display

    08:21 | Build Quality

    13:13 | Tech Specs

    17:26 | Battery Life

    20:11 | Ports

    26:03 | Charging

    28:52 | Keyboard and Trackpad

    43:04 | Weight

    44:12 | Speakers

    45:39 | Software

    49:47 | Final Thoughts

    52:26 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so45. ]]>     00:54:39 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #44: Westworld Season 2 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so44/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so44/ Thu, 28 Jun 2018 05:00:29 GMT After a long wait, we finally got a follow-up to HBO's Westworld! Does the second season hold up, does it answer the many questions we were left with, do they have more classic rock songs redone as orchestral pieces?? Ian and Brian have all those answers and more for you! Episode Summary

    00:00:00 | Intro

    00:00:34 | Housekeeping

    00:02:35 | Spoiler-Free

    00:18:26 | Spoilers

    00:53:23 | Final Thoughts

    01:00:33 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so44. ]]>     01:02:33 Ian R Buck, Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #43: Solo: A Star Wars Story Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so43/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so43/ Sun, 10 Jun 2018 05:00:25 GMT Despite its status as an Anthology movie, Solo had a lot to live up to as the backstory for one of Star Wars' most popular characters. Join Ian, Mike, Dan, and Quentin for a spoiler-free overview, followed by a spoiler-filled deep dive. Episode Summary

    00:00:00 | Intro

    00:01:48 | Spoiler-Free

    00:29:36 | Spoilers

    01:11:01 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so43. ]]>     01:13:27 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #42: Run An Empire Preview https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so42/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so42/ Sun, 27 May 2018 16:02:19 GMT Motivating yourself to get out there and go for a run can be tough, and many apps have been created to help with that. Some tell a story, some prompt you to hit a daily goal, and some like the upcoming Run An Empire pit you against other players. After a month of trying out the beta, Ian R Buck is ready to share his impressions. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    00:22 | Concept

    01:46 | Update 2018-06-26

    Drastic changes were made to the economy balance, multiplayer now exists, and an anti-cheating system has been put in place.

    06:34 | Announcement

    07:57 | Implemented So Far

    11:28 | Not Implemented Yet

    14:52 | Changes I Want

    20:17 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

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    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so42. ]]>     00:21:15 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #41: MacBook Air 2017 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so41/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so41/ Sat, 12 May 2018 05:00:50 GMT Apple made a very unexpected decision in 2017 to come out with a new version of the MacBook Air, which is very different from the rest of the laptops they are currently selling. Join Ian R Buck and Ryan Rampersad to find out what Apple has done to make this classic device relevant in 2017. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    02:07 | Pricing/Models

    02:30 | Display

    05:45 | Build Quality

    08:50 | Tech Specs

    11:38 | Battery

    13:31 | Ports

    18:37 | Keyboard

    22:41 | Weight

    24:04 | Camera

    25:07 | Software

    29:39 | Final Thoughts, Current State of Laptops

    37:56 | Outro

    Connect With The Nexus

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so41.]]>     00:39:55 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #40: Samsung Galaxy S9+ Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so40/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so40/ Mon, 30 Apr 2018 05:00:32 GMT Ryan Rampersad is back at it again with a new phone! He liked the S8+ so much that he upgraded to the S9+, but was it a significant upgrade? Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    01:29 | Samsung’s Recent History

    03:39 | Pricing and Models

    05:25 | Display

    10:50 | Specs

    16:16 | Battery

    20:24 | Ports

    22:08 | Buttons

    26:05 | Weight

    26:48 | Camera

    36:52 | Software

    45:29 | Final Thoughts

    52:57 | Outro

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so40. ]]>     00:54:20 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #39: Fire TV Stick Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so39/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so39/ Sat, 03 Mar 2018 05:00:33 GMT Amazon takes a very different approach from Google's for their streaming stick: it has a remote, it is heavily focused on mainstream video providers, and it's actually a stick! Ryan Rampersad joins Ian R Buck to tell us all about it. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    02:32 | Price

    03:34 | Physical Build

    07:24 | User Interface

    10:06 | The Remote

    The Fire TV Stick remote.

    20:14 | Performance

    20:48 | Screensaver

    22:11 | Compare to Chromecast

    29:06 | Outro

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so39. ]]>     00:30:23 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #38: Chromecast 2nd Generation Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so38/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so38/ Sun, 18 Feb 2018 05:00:30 GMT The Chromecast was our first glimpse into a world of watching TV without a remote. Ian R Buck and Ryan Rampersad both use it heavily, but have different views on a few critical aspects of it. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    05:14 | Video Platform Fragmentation

    10:39 | CEC

    15:10 | Volume Control

    17:08 | Backdrop

    20:47 | Playback Notification

    24:58 | Connectivity

    27:11 | Price

    29:42 | Cons

    34:04 | Compare to Chromecast 1st Generation

    36:06 | Compare to Android TV

    43:19 | Outro

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so38. ]]>     00:44:38 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #37: Chromecast Audio Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so37/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so37/ Sun, 04 Feb 2018 05:00:41 GMT The Chromecast Audio is a unicorn: really cheap, useful on a daily basis, and integrates so seamlessly into your life that you forget it's there. Come hear Ian R Buck tell Ryan Rampersad why this is his smart speaker of choice! Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    06:08 | How Useful It Is

    08:14 | Clever Visual Design

    09:11 | Micro USB

    10:50 | Setup

    12:01 | Compare to Bluetooth

    18:56 | Cross-Platform Compatibility

    23:25 | New Features

    26:30 | Compare to Sonos

    29:22 | Lack of Authentication

    35:00 | Final Thoughts

    37:13 | Outro

    Attributions

    Copyright

    Second Opinion is released under a Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International license. Feel free to use any or all of it as long as you link back to http://thenexus.tv/so37. ]]>     00:38:28 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #36: Google Home Mini Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so36/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so36/ Sun, 21 Jan 2018 05:00:56 GMT Smart speakers are here to stay, and Google's second iteration is smaller and cheaper. Ian and Ryan talk about how the ecosystem has changed since last year, as well as comparing the capabilities of the Mini to the Original. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    03:43 | Hardware Comparison to Original

    12:38 | New Capabilities

    30:39 | False Positives

    32:29 | Getting the Service You Want

    37:05 | Final Thoughts

    39:56 | Outro

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:41:22 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #35: Concussion Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so35/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so35/ Mon, 08 Jan 2018 12:10:36 GMT Just a quick placeholder explaining why we don't have a proper review up this weekend. Links

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:09:28 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #34: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so34/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so34/ Sat, 23 Dec 2017 15:59:02 GMT Time for our annual Star Wars review! Ian R Buck and first-time guest Mike Sandberg sit down to talk about The Last Jedi, a very unusual Star Wars film in many ways. Episode Summary

    00:00:00 | Intro

    00:01:26 | Our Past Star Wars Experiences

    00:07:15 | Spoiler-Free

    00:36:31 | Spoilers

    01:07:22 | Outro

    Attributions

    ]]>     01:08:55 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #33: iPhone X Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so33/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so33/ Tue, 12 Dec 2017 20:27:01 GMT First-time guest Aron Braggans joins Ian R Buck to review the iPhone X, Apple's biggest step forward since changing the body size with the iPhone 6. Episode Summary

    00:00:00 | Intro

    00:02:10 | Pricing

    • $1,000 64gb *(my option)
    • $1,150 256

    00:03:22 | Display

    • 5.8” Screen OLED
    • Edge to Edge Display
    • OLED blue shift there but a non issue IMO
    • TrueTone
    • HDR
    • True Tone

    00:09:47 | FaceID

    00:22:06 | Gestures

    00:32:21 | Charging, Battery

    • Lightning - Fast charge usb-c to lighting
    • Qi wireless charging - waiting on apple Qi charger
    • All day battery life

    00:52:31 | Buttons

    01:00:10 | Camera

    • Dual Rear Facing 12MP Wide-angle Telephoto
    • Front Facing 7MP True Depth

    01:05:40 | Animoji

    01:11:24 | Final thoughts

    01:19:29 | Outro

    Attributions

    ]]>     01:20:51 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #32: iOS 11 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so32/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so32/ Sun, 26 Nov 2017 08:42:29 GMT Brian Mitchell has been using iOS 11 since it was in beta, so Ian brings him on to discuss the latest changes to Apple's mobile operating system. Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    02:09 | Device Availability

    • iPhone 5S and newer
    • iPod Touch 6th gen
    • iPad Air, Air 2
    • iPad (2017)
    • iPad Mini 2 and newer
    • iPad Pro

    03:03 | 64-bit only

    • 32-bit apps will not run

    06:14 | New visual style

    • Titles in navigation controllers
    • Notification Center
    • Cellular signal indicator
    • App open/close animations
    • “Frosted glass” shows up in fewer places
    • New app icons for many system apps
    • Buttons, UI elements feel more… solid?
      • Buttons in App Store have bold blue text, light grey

    13:29 | Dock, App Switcher on iPads

    • Dock
      • Floating
      • Can hold more apps
      • Recently used
    • Crazy multitasking features
      • Reworked split view, slide over

    16:48 | Control center

    • One page (back from 2-3 in iOS 10)
    • More than just buttons/toggles/sliders
    • Now customizable

    19:42 | File explorer

    • Not really full file explorer (we’re getting there though)

    22:52 | HEIF/HEVC

    25:29 | Drag and drop API

    27:25 | Emoji 5.0 in iOS 11.1

    28:00 | ARKit

    28:52 | CoreML

    29:44 | Camera app can now read QR codes

    30:59 | Use iCloud Keychain in other apps through a Safari View Controller

    33:48 | Screen Recording and ReplayKit

    34:50 | Do Not Disturb while driving

    • Speed
    • Connected to Bluetooth car audio

    36:58 | Emergency SOS

    38:43 | Wi-Fi Sharing

    40:16 | Screenshots

    41:41 | Keyboard

    • iPad key flicks
    • AutoFill for apps
    • Emoji suggestions
    • Change the language of diction without changing the keyboard first
    • One handed keyboard mode on iPhone

    46:47 | Siri

    • New voice
    • Siri Suggestions in Safari
    • Better QuickType suggestions
    • Type to Siri (command line on iOS ????)
    • SiriKit for todos and notes

    48:46 | Podcasts app redesign

    • Card style design (just like the music app)
    • Seasons
    • Special episode types: trailers and bonus

    51:26 | Maps

    • Lane guidance and speed limit indication
    • Indoor mapping (selected airports and malls)
    • Still no cycling routing 😡

    53:10 | Music

    • New Chill Mix generated playlist
    • You can follow friends on Apple Music
      • See what they’re listening to
      • Listen to their public playlists
    • Connect your profile to facebook or Instagram (they’re still not the same?)

    55:04 | App Store

    • Separate games and apps categories
    • Featured stories
    • Today tab
    • New purchase dialog (looks like Apple Pay)
    • Can view iPad and Mac product pages on an iPhone

    57:12 | Outro

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:59:40 Ian R Buck, Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #31: Pixel 2 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so31/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so31/ Sun, 12 Nov 2017 07:57:20 GMT Ian R Buck is joined by his tech twin, Betsy Dadabo to talk about the phone they both just bought, the Pixel 2! Is this a phone that will stand the test of time? Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    01:07 | Pricing

    • Start at $650
    • Add storage for $100
    • Get XL for $200 more

    02:44 | Specs

    • Snapdragon 835
    • 4GB RAM
      • Apps stay in RAM forever, it’s great!
    • 64GB or 128GB storage
    • 2700 mAh (3520 mAh on XL)
    • USB 3.1 Type-C

    04:08 | Camera

    12:46 | Battery Life, Charging

    • I haven’t used my external battery since I got this phone
    • Typically end the day with ~20% charge
    • USB-PD
    • No wireless charging

    16:42 | Display

    • 5” 1080p AMOLED (6” 1440p P-OLED on XL)
    • Always-on display
      • No problems with it doing stuff in my pocket

    19:48 | Body

    • Gorgeous, really good feeling phone; I feel bad about putting a case on it
      • Glass is now “upper fifth” instead of “upper third”
      • Love the material they covered the metal body in
    • Colors
      • Pixel 2
        • Just Black
        • Clearly White
        • Kinda Blue (bright blue power button!)
      • Pixel 2 XL
        • Just Black
        • Black & White (red power button!)
    • Antenna bands slightly visible from the front; a little distracting when you notice them from the corner of your eye
    • Dimensions feel very familiar coming from the Nexus 5X
    • People hating on the bezels

    28:41 | Buttons

    • Power, volume buttons on the right
    • Fingerprint sensor on the back
      • Really picky when your finger is damp
      • Swipe for notifications feature has been improved: orientation rotates to match the screen
      • Before I put a case on it, I activated the notifications by accident a lot
    • Active Edge
      • Very effective at getting me to use the Google Assistant more

    34:29 | Sound

    • Great speakers!
    • No headphone jack. It’s a real bummer when your adapter breaks in mere weeks.

    39:48 | Radios

    • Haven’t noticed any problems, similar reception to Nexus 5X
    • eSIM
      • Convenient for setup
      • How will I quickly switch my service to another phone if I want to?

    42:20 | Software

    46:18 | Freebie

    • Google Home Mini

    47:23 | Update: USB-C Implementation

    53:35 | Final Thoughts

    55:05 | Outro

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:56:27 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #30: Android 8.0 Oreo Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so30/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so30/ Sun, 05 Nov 2017 15:17:54 GMT This year Ian R Buck finds himself all alone for the review of the latest version of Android. Highlights include a reorganized notifications tray, a fully redesigned emoji set, system-wide password manager, and picture-in-picture mode! Episode Summary

    00:00 | Intro

    02:22 | Notifications

    • Organized by categories: Major Ongoing, People to People, General, BTW
      • Major Ongoing typically have bold background colors. Looks especially great with media players that implement it.
      • BTW notifications are tiny, at the bottom, and don’t create icons in the status bar
    • HATE the “an app is running in the background” notification
      How to Hide the "App is Running in the Background" Persistent Notification on Android Oreo
      • Good idea, but annoying implementation. I always have Pebble running.
      • Exempt: keyboards, live wallpapers, notification listeners, accessibility apps, and anything the OEM puts on.
    • Snooze notifications is a great concept! Works just like snoozing messages in Inbox: that individual notification goes away for a certain period of time, then comes back.
    • Notification channels: apps can specify different categories for notifications, and if they do the user can set different priority levels for each
    • Notification dots on home screen icons

    10:58 | Quick settings

    • Visual cues about which icons are toggles and which expand menus
      • It takes way more taps to start Do Not Disturb for 30 minutes
    • Don’t like the white notification tray/quick settings
      • On Pixel 2, setting a dark wallpaper changes quick settings to dark theme

    14:19 | Unusual rollout to Nexus 5X

    16:00 | Settings app rearranged

    • Many categories merged
    • I have personally been having a hard time finding things, but the search bar saves me
    • Some options show up in multiple places, making it more likely that you will find it if you are looking around for it
    • Official method for users to add ringtones

    17:46 | Emoji

    • Completely redesigned emoji set
      • It’s... okay. I liked the flatness of the old set, but I like the shape consistency of the new one.
      • 69 new ones, hurr hurr
    • EmojiCompat allows apps to display emoji from newer versions of Android
      • Google Play Services is the font provider

    22:52 | Home screen/launcher

    • Adaptive icons require developers to submit a foreground image and a background, and the launcher chooses what shape cutout to make the background
      • Don’t like that more of my icons are dinner plates
      • Fortunately Action Launcher lets me manually change them
    • Apps can now surface their widgets from within the app, so the user doesn’t have to dig through the All Widgets list to find them

    27:31 | Quick text selection

    • Detects when you are selecting something like an address, phone number, email, URL, etc and selects the whole thing at once
    • Alongside cut/copy/paste it can surface an appropriate app to open that in

    29:44 | Password manager, autofill

    • Synchronizes the info you saved on Chrome and makes it available in Android
    • Also makes this framework available to third party password managers

    31:54 | Security

    • Apps can only request location once every 30 minutes in background
    • There is now a proper way for apps to create floating UI (like FB Messenger bubbles) that doesn’t abuse System Alert Window
    • Google Play Protect now shows up all over the place (especially in Settings and Play Store) to assure the user Google is doing antivirus work
    • Sideloading permission is now grated on a per-source basis
      • Unfortunately, Chrome is listed as one source
    • Verified Boot will not boot an OS that has been downgraded
    • Apps are more limited on how they can identify the device. Google’s recommended method now is Advertising ID
    • Kernel access is much more limited
    • WebView is sandboxed
    • Asks for device password when enabling developer options

    39:46 | Miscellaneous

    • Finally!
      • Picture-in-picture
      • Night mode
      • Support for 97% of printers in the world without plugins
    • Easter Egg is a creepy octopus you can drag around
    • Bluetooth 5 support
    • Rescue Party
      • If Android detects that your build of Android is failing, it will go through a series of steps to try to recover, clearing various caches and restarting. The final step is booting into recovery and prompting the user to factory reset.
    • Android Go
      • Version of Android built for the developing world: low-memory phones in areas with low data caps

    46:54 | Updates

    • Streaming updates: phones using the A/B partition update system will now write updates directly to their unused partition, instead of storing it on the user partition first. Should get rid of “you need to free up storage” problems.
    • Project Treble
      • Should remove the need for SOC vendors to test and reimplement each new version of Android, making it more likely for 3rd-party devices to get timely updates. Currently this is the main reason phones only have two years of updates: Qualcomm only releases drivers for their SOC for two years.
      • Obstacles still in the way: OEM skinning and cellular carrier approval.
      • This should make it much easier to replace OEM customizations with third-party ROMs because AOSP builds will work with all Treble devices.
      • Not sure if apps that want to ensure they are running on an “approved” version of Android (like Netflix or Android Pay) will work on third-party ROMs
      • All devices that ship with Android 8 use Treble. Upgrading devices it’s optional (original Pixel is the only known one so far)

    Links

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:59:57 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #29: iPhone 8 Plus Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so29/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so29/ Sat, 14 Oct 2017 05:00:26 GMT Ian is joined by Evan Haldeman, who recently upgraded from an iPhone 7 Plus to an iPhone 8 Plus. Come hear about all the notable new features, as well as the things that stayed the same! Episode Index

    01:01 | Physical Dimensions

    • Glass back
    • Color options-Gold, silver, space gray
    • Not quite the same dimensions as the iPhone 7, the case is a little wonky

    02:45 | Pricing

    Starting at $800 depending on finish and storage.

    04:05 | Specs

    • A11 Bionic
    • 3GB RAM
    • 64/256GB storage

    04:43 | Camera

    • Single front facing camera and dual back camera.
    • Video shoots at 60 fps in up to 4k.
    • Photos have auto HDR and the portrait mode has new lighting effects.
    Picture of Ian using the new lighting effects that looks very bad.

    07:15 | Battery Life

    08:56 | Charging

    • Lightning
      • Fast charging available, but not with the brick in the box
    • Qi wireless charging

    12:26 | Screen

    • 5.5’’ screen
    • Still has those gigantic bezels
    • Still an LCD

    18:32 | Color Options

    • Silver
    • Space Grey
    • Gold

    21:01 | Speakers

    Uses speakers on both top and bottom of the phone. This year only half the speaker grille on the bottom is used.

    23:04 | Radios

    Slightly worse reception than the iPhone 7 Plus.

    24:18 | Software

    27:34 | Final Thoughts

    iPhone 8 occupies a strange place in the price lineup.

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:34:30 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #28: Apple Watch Series 3 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so28/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so28/ Sat, 30 Sep 2017 05:00:14 GMT In our timeliest review yet, Brian Mitchell joins Ian R Buck to review the brand-new Apple Watch Series 3 with LTE! Spoiler alert: it's pretty darn good! Overview

    Features

    • CPU
    • LTE
    • W2 Chip
    • Barometric Altimeter

    Performance

    • Wowza!

    Battery Life

    • Damn son!

    Physical Appearance

    • 😍

    Screenshots

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:42:01 Ian R Buck, Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #27: Nintendo Switch Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so27/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so27/ Sat, 16 Sep 2017 03:00:50 GMT Ian is joined by Geoff Schumacher, who has had his Switch for about five months. There's a lot to unpack here, from specs to controllers to the games themselves. So settle in and enjoy! Hardware

    00:01:05 | Switch Specs

    00:01:59 | Storage & File Management

    • Storage space
      • Only 32 GB of storage space.
      • From what I remember, when asked about this, Reggie Fils-Aime (CEO of Nintendo of America) noted that they wanted to keep the price <= $300, and having that 32GB of storage space was needed for that.
      • Can handle microSD card slots of up to 2TB though, and that’s where the software needed to run the game will live.
    • How game software and safe files are stored:
      • Game cartridge (doesn’t matter if you have microSD card or not)
        • Software to run game is on cartridge.
        • Save files are on the Switch.
      • Digital copy of game & no microSD card
        • Software to run game is on Switch
        • Save files are on Switch
      • Digital copy of game & microSD card
        • Software to run game is on microSD card (as long as there’s room)
        • Save files are on Switch
    • CANNOT BACK UP OR TRANSFER GAME SAVE FILES
      • Seriously, what the fuck?
      • Nintendo Technicians can supposedly transfer from one switch to another.
      • Micro SD card is formatted for just your switch
      • As a gamer: frustrating
      • As a Nintendo fan: disappointing
      • If you could back up/transfer your save files, I’d probably buy games like Yooka Laylee and Sonic Mania on the Switch.

    00:15:01 | Battery Life

    • According to Nintendo, ~2.5-6 hours.
      • Thanks for the vague answer guys!
    • So intensive games, like BotW, would be much closer to the 2.5.
    • BotW is ‘supposed’ to get about 3.5
    • I cannot remember how much BotW playing time I got from single charge of the switch.
    • From what I remember, it took ~2 hours to go from empty to full on the dock while not playing on it.  Nintendo claims ~3 though.  It was a while ago that I tried this though.
    • Comparing to that of the DS:

    00:19:03 | Kickstand

    • Flimsy as all hell.
    • Feel like I’m going to break it everytime I use it.
    • Should have had the entire back plate as one large kickstand.
    • Not many people are saying this, but I have heard a couple of reviews praising Nintendo for the kickstand’s placement over the microSD slot.
      • Bro, chill.  They literally could have placed it ANYWHERE.
      • Anywhere not over the microSD slot would have been dumb.

    00:21:06 | Bluetooth

    • Can’t connect a wireless headset to it.
      • But it has bluetooth.  Seriously, look at the specs.  It has bluetooth because the JoyCons wirelessly connect to the switch via Bluetooth.
    • There are third-party controllers that connect via bluetooth

    00:23:55 | Speakers/Microphone

    • Speakers get very loud, despite being on the back.
    • Is there a microphone?

    00:26:02 | HD Rumble

    • HD Rumble is Geoff’s most underrated feature about the Switch.
      • 1-2 Switch demoes it really well
      • Geoff thinks it can be a great ‘little thing’ that could improve many games, so he hopes more developers will utilize it nicely.

    00:29:48 | Resolution

    • 720p when not docked.
    • 1080p when docked.
    • Plenty of people weren’t super happy about resolution at announcement.  In my personal, biased opinion, people seriously need to chill when it comes to screen resolution in gaming.
      • Makes me think of Yahtzee’s review of The Order 1886, when he complains about pointless, but very detailed room.

    00:31:23 | Networking

    • Up to 8 switches can connect wirelessly
      • Nintendo’s bringing back the LAN party!

    Styles of Play

    00:36:03 | Controller Configurations

    • JoyCon Controllers
      • JoyCon Grip
        • Putting the two in the JoyCon grip works just fine.  It is different though.
        • The buttons are smaller, and the layout is different from your “standard” controller.
        • Someone with large hands might not have a fun time with this.
      • “Double fisting” (one JoyCon in each hand)
        • I personally like to use one in each hand, as opposed to using the JoyCon grip or the pro controller.
        • I honestly don’t know if anybody else does this.
        • It honestly does create some quirks while playing games like BotW.
          • I have personally chosen to adjust to this, and it works.
        • For games like BotW, I think it’s actually recommended by Nintendo that you use the grip if not in handheld mode.
          • I think if you take them off in game, a little prompt comes up.
        • It works, but even if you have ‘average’ size hands, you’ll need to adjust how you hold them.
          • Instead of having pointer finger over bumper and middle finger over trigger, use just point finger for both bumper and trigger.
        • Someone with large hands probably won’t have a fun time with this.
      • Using each JoyCon individually as a controller:
        • A little awkward at first, since ‘off centered’/’asymmetrical’, but they work.

    00:50:41 | Cost of Peripherals

    • Joycons expensive if you want to buy more.
      • $80 for a pair.
      • $50 for a single JoyCon.
    • Pro Controller
      • Overpriced at $70
      • It your standard, regular, “normal” controller.
    • Do Wii U pro controllers work on it? No, according to Nintendo Support Forums. Wii U Pro Controller on Switch | Nintendo Support Forums

    00:55:44 | Resolved Issues

    JoyCon Connectivity

    • At launch, there were some connectivity issues with left JoyCon.
      • That was fixed in a patch in the first two weeks after release.

    Frame Rate in BotW

    • At launch, there were some frame rate issues with BotW in situations with a lot going on on the screen.
      • Also fixed in a patch in the first two weeks after release.

    00:57:17 | Nintendo’s Online Services

    Online Service

    • Nintendo Switch Online – Nintendo Switch™ Official site – Online gaming, multiplayer, voice chat
    • Nintendo’s first attempt at this kind of stuff.
      • Still not a lot known about Nintendo is going to implement this.
    • Supposedly will feature “free game of the month”.
      • Only available for that particular month.  What to keep it?  Then you have to buy it.
      • By comparison, Xbox Live Gold subscription outright gives you the game for free.
    • At moment, only online multiplayer games are Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms, and Splatoon 2.
      • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a port from WiiU, and they just left the online aspects of that game as was.
      • Arms doesn’t use mobile app, but has different/interesting implementation for lobby and setting up matches.
    • How do you add friends?
    • Do you have a public profile?

    Mobile App

    • Splatoon 2 is the first and only game that uses this
    • I don’t do the online multiplayer bit, but people don’t seem to like it.

    01:05:41 | Game Selection

    01:12:30 | Speculation Corner

    VR on the Switch?

    Implication for the DS

    • Is this the beginning of the end of the DS?
      • [Puts on tin foil hat] Dead man walking!  Illuminati confirmed!

    Attributions

    ]]>     01:23:28 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #26: Nexus Player Post-Mortem https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so26/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so26/ Sat, 02 Sep 2017 10:19:35 GMT The Nexus Player is no longer being made or sold, but it provides some valuable insights into how the Android TV ecosystem is doing and what to look for in a set-top box. Join Ian and Ryan to hear about their experiences with it. Pros
    • Google Cast built in
    • Hockey puck look isn't bad - nice and low-profile
    • Remote
      • Good for old people who can't understand casting
      • Bluetooth doesn't need line-of-sight
    • Can install apps/games from Google Play or APKs
    • When you start casting, it can command your TV to turn on and switch input to Nexus Player
    • Photo slideshow it shows as a screensaver is quite pleasant

    Cons

    • Not well supported in the Googleverse anymore
      • Google Home cannot cast Netflix to it, even though it can do that to Chromecast
    • Setup involves typing in passwords with an on-screen keyboard controlled by the remote
    • Voice recognition in the remote isn't great
    • Not all streaming platforms are supported (read: Amazon Video)

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:24:58 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #25: Google Wifi Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so25/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so25/ Sat, 19 Aug 2017 07:00:35 GMT The Google Wifi does things a little different than most routers. Ian sits down with Ryan to talk about which things it does well, and which things it falls flat on. Pros
    • Good range. Not amazing, but that's what mesh networks are for
    • Powered via USB type-C
    • Two Ethernet ports: one for connecting to the modem, and one for a device/switch
    • Setup was very user-friendly
      • Install app on phone, scan barcode on bottom and follow the on-screen prompts
    • Looks great
      • Similar aesthetic to Google Home
      • Single slot of light on the front indicates the internet's status
      • Goes great on our TV stand, which is black minimalist modern
    • Guest network
      • Can give access to particular devices on the guest network (eg Google Cast devices)
    • App
      • Can access it from wherever you are, internet connection willing
      • Device list
        • View each device's recent usage
        • Rename devices
        • Set a priority device
      • Network check
        • Speed test
        • Signal strength
    • Can add multiple Google accounts as administrators
    • Lots of advanced settings I didn't dig into
    • Finally, a router with comprehensive update notes!
    • Family wifi: label certain devices as kids’ devices, set automatic/manual pause times

    Cons

    • Built for a mobile-first world
      • Companion app is the only way to control router
      • App only available for Android and iOS
    • Setup requires an internet connection
    • According to listener Su, the Neato Botvac cannot connect to Google WiFi

    Other Episodes Mentioned

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:26:55 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #24: Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so24/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so24/ Sat, 05 Aug 2017 04:00:07 GMT Surprising no one, Ryan Rampersad has bought another phone! He comes on the show to tell Ian R Buck all about the Galaxy S8 Plus and whether the infinity display really is amazing or just a gimmick. Episode Index 1:32 | Price
    6:51 | Specs
    11:18 | Camera
    13:19 | Battery, Charging
    16:06 | Display
    19:36 | Body
    23:56 | Buttons
    25:50 | Radios
    26:39 | Vibrator
    27:19 | Software

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:41:26 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #23: Tales from the Borderlands Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so23/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so23/ Sat, 22 Jul 2017 12:44:39 GMT After spending five weeks livestreaming Tales from the Borderlands, Ian R Buck and Stella Cannon sit down to talk about the favorite (and least favorite) parts of the game. This review is spoiler-free until 18:10

    Links

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:41:21 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #22: Google Trips Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so22/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so22/ Sat, 08 Jul 2017 08:00:07 GMT Ian and his mom Amy enjoy traveling together, but usually Amy relies on travel books to find attractions. On a recent trip to Chicago, Ian planned everything out using the Google Trips app; can it completely replace an expert travel guide? Overview
    • Google Trips - Travel Planner - Android Apps on Google Play
    • Google Trips – Travel planner on the App Store
    • App for trip planning
    • Integrates into the rest of the Googleverse
      • Location info sourced from Google Maps, Wikipedia
      • Reviews from Google Maps
      • Tickets, reservations, bookings that are emailed to your Gmail automatically appear
      • Anything you star in Google Trips appears in Google Maps
    • Sections in the app
      • Reservations
        • Either appear automatically, or you can add them manually
        • Can send details of reservations to others via email
      • Things to do
        • Does well at surfacing attractions you might not be able to find just by searching around on Google Maps
        • Listed by category - top spots, nearby, on a budget, etc
        • Each attraction has
          • Pictures
          • Average Google Maps rating
          • Paragraph summary (my “tour guide factoids”)
          • Map
          • Business hours
          • Phone number
          • Top reviews
      • Saved places
        • List of attractions you've starred
        • Appear in Google Maps
      • Day plans
        • User-created strings of attractions
        • Heavily depends on how popular a destination the area is
        • You can create your own
        • App can magically make one for you, with some preferences like morning/afternoon/full day or favoring saved places
      • Food & Drink
        • Overview is a custom summary of the area in question
        • Top Spots shows the highest-rated restaurants from Google Maps
      • Getting around
        • Gives info on public transit, taxi/riding services, drivability, and walking/biking
      • Need to know
        • Emergency numbers, hospital information
        • Popular shopping areas
        • Money - currency and tipping practices
        • Internet access
      • Works best if planning a visit to a larger metro area
        • In smaller areas, all “custom written” stuff is missing, only has Google Maps locations
      • Does not do well at telling you the prices of attractions

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:33:45 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #21: Monument Valley 2 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so21/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so21/ Sat, 24 Jun 2017 05:00:37 GMT The original Monument Valley is one of our favorite mobile games, so we were very excited when a sequel was announced at WWDC! Brian Mitchell has played it, and he gives us his thoughts on how it compares to its predecessor. Overview

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:28:20 Brian Mitchell, Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #20: Nvidia SHIELD Tablet Post-Mortem https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so20/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so20/ Sat, 10 Jun 2017 11:39:01 GMT Ian has had the Nvidia SHIELD tablet for over 2 years now, and he's learned a few lessons along the way that can be applied to other purchasing decisions. Join us as Ryan helps Ian get to the bottom of everything. Overview

    1:14 | Quick Facts

    • Released July 2014 for $300
      • A few months before Lollipop and Material Design, so the box has a different look than I have ever used it with
    • 8” 1920x1200 screen
    • Nvidia Tegra K1
    • 2GB RAM
    • 16GB/32GB in LTE model
    • Micro SD card slot
    • Stylus
    • Refreshed model "Shield K1" released November 2015 without stylus for $200

    4:41 | My reasons for buying it

    • I allowed myself one major purchase per semester in college
    • I was very intrigued by the Nvidia-specific features
      • Shadowplay
      • Game streaming from a PC (and PC games being ported over)
      • Game streaming from Nvidia servers (I was never going to pay monthly for it though)
      • Streaming to Twitch
      • Wireless controller
      • Mini HDMI
    • I knew a small tablet would fit into my life, as I had enjoyed the Nexus 7 (both models)
    • Stock Android meant it was likely to get timely updates, and I would be familiar
    • I have a large library of Android games from Humble Bundles, but not enough storage on my phone for most of them

    14:20 | Hardware

    • SHIELD Tablet and Nintendo Switch size comparison
    • Great design for an 8” tablet from 2014
    • Front-facing speakers double as grips when holding it in landscape
    • Wedge shape tapers the device from front to back (think Microsoft Surface) making it easier to hold in portrait
    • Soft plastic back with “SHIELD” written on it is very 2014 Nexus
    • Stylus
      • I don’t draw, so I can’t speak to how good it is for that; it does have a chisel tip, and brush strokes widen when you use the wider part
      • I only recently discovered it has a handwriting-recognition keyboard. I wasn’t wowed enough to keep using it or the Google Handwriting Recognition.
      • Screen can differentiate the stylus from skin, so you can have it ignore finger/palm
      • I use the stylus mostly for Hearthstone. It’s nice to be able to see what I’m dragging around on the board.
    • 16GB is a joke. Using an SD card is a hassle
    • Nexus 9 - Wikipedia
    • Pixel C - Wikipedia

    25:04 | Software

    • Just the right balance of stock Android with nifty features added on
      • Many special features are based on specific hardware, like the stylus or optimizations for the Tegra chip.
      • Some customization options that Android normally hides are totally visible in the system settings.
    • Android updates
      • Usually ~4 months after they are released
      • This is critical, since the versions of Android that made tablets properly useful (multitasking, improved standby battery life, treating SD cards as internal storage) didn't come out until after the tablet was released
      • They even occasionally do security updates every few months, about a month after it comes out
      • Has been supported through more major versions of Android than the Nexus 5

    32:40 | Performance

    • Battery
      • Better than my phone, but pretty meh for a tablet
      • Improved greatly with Android 6 Marshmallow
      • Still not as great as an iPad in standby
      • Don't stream or record gameplay if you care about battery life
      • Tablet was recalled in July 2015 far a battery issue that could cause fires. Before it was cool.
    • Responsiveness
      • This has been roller coaster
      • Most problems are with "context switching” aka switching apps, loading new info
      • Problem seems to arise from having storage encrypted
        • Figured this out when I installed Cyanogen and it ran smoothly until I encrypted it
        • Unfortunately, formatting the SD card as internal storage causes the same problem

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:58:26 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #19: Agents of SHIELD Season 4 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so19/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so19/ Sat, 27 May 2017 13:43:33 GMT Ian joins Tyler Zabel and William Miller in a special crossover episode! Tyler and William cover Marvel news weekly on their show The RAFT, so they definitely know what they're talking about when it comes to Agents of SHIELD. Index
    • 2:36 | Marvel News
    • 13:45 | Spoiler-free
    • 24:13 | Spoilers

    Links

    Attributions

    ]]>     01:01:50 Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #18: Mr. Robot Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so18/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so18/ Sat, 08 Apr 2017 05:00:12 GMT Ryan, Brian, and Ian hack together a review of Mr. Robot, an edgy show about computer programmers trying to take down an Evil Corporation. Episode Index
    • 1:57 | Spoiler-free
    • 21:35 | Spoilers!

    Overview

    • The show is very much a modern Fight Club, and it knows it.
      • Right off the bat, they present the goal of fsociety as erasing all the world’s debt.
      • Elliot addresses the audience directly as the narrator. Mr Robot grounds this in the show’s world by presenting the audience as Elliot’s imaginary friend.
      • Late in the season they use a piano cover of Where Is My Mind? which is the song that appears at the end of Fight Club.
      • Modern not just because of the tech in the show, but also in the fact that it is a TV show with short seasons.
    • Huge focus on cinematography. Almost every shot has framing that is just slightly off from where you would expect.
    • [Buck] There was a period in the middle of the season where I felt it was just being edgy for edginess’ sake, and nothing interesting was happening. But then the plot picked back up in the last few episodes.
    • They got the hacking terms right (Using AES-256, WPA2 being unhackable, 2FA being important, rainbow tables/easy password hacks based off of pet names, etc.)
    • Will it age well? Pop culture references, security practices?
    • Are the people following Elliot real or in his head?

    Main Lesson From Each Episode

    1. Use randomly generated passwords, kids!
    2. Walk your dog regularly, or it will poop on your bed.
    3. Dinner at your boss’ place will be awkward as heck.
    4. Don't do drugs!
    5. Social engineering is the most powerful hacking.
    6. Don’t pick up thumb drives from the parking lot and plug them into your work computer (or any computer).
    7. Be careful when seducing people not to get carried away.
    8. Time is money.
    9. Stealing from pricks is okay!
    10. If you need to hide your fingerprints, just throw a big party at your place!

    Buck's Favorite Lines

    Ollie: “I just feel like it's been really awkward between us.” Elliot: “I'm okay with it being awkward between us.” Tyrell: “Join me for lunch?” Eliot: “Sure. I eat lunch.”

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:36:46 Brian Mitchell, Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #17: Westworld Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so17/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so17/ Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:16:09 GMT Brandon Johnson and Brian Mitchell sit down to gush about Westworld, their new favorite show. They talk about the creative talent behind it, the moral implications of the show's premise, and reminisce about the phenomenal soundtrack. 00:01:43 | Spoiler-free
    • Blend of science-fiction and western
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Free-for all world
      • What will people do when there are basically no consequences?
    • Based loosely on the movie from 1973
    • Lisa Joy - IMDb
    • Jonathan Nolan - IMDb
    • Revamped by Jonathan Nolan (of Christopher Nolan fame) and Lisa Joy
    • Story editor: Charles Yu (of Sorry Please Thank You and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe fame)

    00:11:32 | Spoilers!

    View page source for show notes from the spoiler section.

    Attributions

    ]]>     01:06:22 Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #16: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so16/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so16/ Thu, 09 Feb 2017 19:58:20 GMT Time for another Star Wars movie review! You know what that means: Ian Buck is never going to stop talking. Ian Decker and Tanushri Buck manage to get in a few words here and there. 00:01:40 | Spoiler-free Plot summary (opening crawl of A New Hope)
    It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.
    • Differences from other Star Wars movies
      • Movie title
      • No opening crawl
      • Soundtrack very different
      • Lower-third every time we switch planets
    • They went to a lot of effort to keep it consistent with A New Hope
      • Computers very physical
      • Great hearing classic sound effects like X-wing lasers!
      • Costuming
    • Great acting, story, dialogue
    • Very snarky, esp K-2SO
    • Really cool cast!
    • On the other hand, almost none of them had flaws. Or substance. Couldn't even remember their names.
    • Visual effects great, maybe a little overdone with smoke and lens flare
    • TIE airplanes, AT-ACT - funny seeing new tech in this movie when ep 7 had none
    • Scene with Death Star shadow great at conveying scale

    00:25:45 | Spoilers! View page source for show notes

    Attributions

    ]]>     01:07:15 Ian R Buck, Ian Decker     Second Opinion #15: AirPods Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so15/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so15/ Sun, 15 Jan 2017 09:46:25 GMT Brandon and Brian discuss Apple's new AirPods, and compare them to their other Bluetooth earbuds. Other headphone reviews:

    Links

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:35:21 Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell     Second Opinion #14: Google Home First Impressions https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so14/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so14/ Fri, 16 Dec 2016 19:48:10 GMT Despite the fact that not all services are available on it yet, Ian R Buck and Ryan Rampersad wanted to give you an idea of whether or not the Google Home would make a good holiday gift. Overview

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:28:33 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #13: Project Fi Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so13/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so13/ Fri, 25 Nov 2016 19:26:27 GMT After using Project Fi in several situations, including working at camp and living in St Paul, Buck and Decker are ready to analyze the service. We talk about the coverage, price, special features, and more! UPDATE 2018-12-26 Google made some major changes to Project Fi in 2018!
    • Way back in January: Bill Protection puts a cap on how much money you can spend on data.
      Bill Protection on Project Fi: data when you need it, and savings when you don’t
    • VPN is now always on, not just on unsecured public wifi
      Project Fi’s enhanced network brings faster, more secure connections
      • Successfully gets around the school block list!
      • Sometimes causes apps to be confused about the nature of the connection; I’ve had Pocket Casts and YouTube refuse to download content because they think I’m not on wifi.
    • Project Fi has been renamed Google Fi; you can think of this as their “coming out of beta” moment, Fi is now ready for prime time
    • Addressing Fi’s biggest drawback: more phone options! You can now activate a Fi account with any unlocked Android or iOS phone (Android 7 and up, iOS 11 and up, and support LTE bands 2 and 4.) If it isn’t one of the few that is “designed for Fi,” you’ll be limited to T-Mobile’s network, and you won’t get the VPN.
      Bringing Google Fi to more people on Android and iOS

    Overview

        • Project Fi
        • Cellular service through Google.
        • Inherits some of Google Voice’s coolest features:
          • Access calls, SMS, and voicemails from all your devices via Hangouts.
          • Wifi calling.
          • Voicemail transcription.
          • Cheap international calls.
          • Any money you put in your Google Voice wallet goes into paying for Fi.
        • Adds some new features:
          • Uses T-Mobile, Sprint, US Cellular, or wifi, whichever is the best option at the time.
          • “Multi-network operator.”
          • Wifi assistant has a huge database of open, high-quality hotspots that it will connect to automatically. It also encrypts all your traffic, so it can't be monitored. Very nice for accessing Facebook at school.
          • Tethering isn't limited, just counts as data used.
        • Pricing:
          • $20/Mo for unlimited talk and text.
          • Family plan lets you add more accounts for $15/Mo.
          • $10/GB of data.
            • It's actually measured on a per-megabyte basis.
            • When you sign up for your plan, you choose how much data you expect to use, and that much money gets added to your first bill. At the end of the month, any data you went over/under your expected amount gets added/subtracted on the next bill.
        • Coverage:
          • Much better than just T-Mobile, especially when you get out into rural areas or leave Minnesota.
          • Verizon has the leg up on places where coverage sucks for just about everyone. Other than that, I’ve never really noticed me losing service with either of those two providers.
        • International
          • In 135 countries.
          • Data is still $10/GB.
          • SMS is still unlimited.
          • Calls are 20¢/minute.
        • Phones
          • Nexus 6, 5X, 6P, Pixel Phones.
          • You can get a data-only SIM card for your secondary devices.
          • Easily the weakest thing about Fi is that they limit your phone options severely.
          • At the moment the situation is okay, as they cover every price point from $200 to $900. But since they are not continuing the Nexus line, what phones will they have next year? Just expensive Pixel phones?

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:40:51 Ian R Buck, Ian Decker     Second Opinion #12: Fog of World Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so12/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so12/ Mon, 14 Nov 2016 17:13:47 GMT Brian Mitchell tells Ian R Buck about Fog of World, a game that reveals more of the world's surface as you travel in real life. Overview

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:31:34 Brian Mitchell, Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #11: iPhone 7 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so11/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so11/ Mon, 17 Oct 2016 08:32:02 GMT Brandon Johnson and Brian Mitchell tell Ryan Rampersad about their experiences with the new iPhone 7. Overview

    Attributions

    ]]>     00:49:29 Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #10: iOS 10 Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so10/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so10/ Tue, 11 Oct 2016 14:17:27 GMT Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell, and Stella Cannon discuss the new changes in iOS 10, while Ian R Buck pipes in every once in a while. Overview

    Attributions

    ]]>     01:14:03 Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell, Ian R Buck     Second Opinion #9: Allo & Duo Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so9/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so9/ Fri, 07 Oct 2016 19:29:36 GMT Ian R Buck and Ryan Rampersad hold nothing back as they criticize almost everything about Allo and Duo. You shouldn't install the apps, but you should find out why from us. Things in Common
    • Available on Android and iOS.
    • Uses your phone number, your phone contacts to populate its contacts list.
      • Can only have one device associated with your number at a time.
      • Problem: I have far more people’s email addresses than phone numbers.
    • Not available on tablets.

    Allo

  • Instant messaging app.
  • Integrates the new Google Assistant.
    • Finally admitting that most people don’t want to talk to their phone to get stuff done most of the time.
    • Seems to work alright. I discovered that it can send you the day’s weather forecast every morning. My little sister played games with it for a while.
    • This is pretty much Allo’s only unique feature, so when the Assistant becomes available in more areas of the phone/in Google Home, Allo will lose a lot of its appeal.
  • Does not tell you if a contact has Allo yet. If they do not, it sends the message as an SMS with a link to install Allo.
  • When you switch devices, you lose all your messages from the old device.

    • Duo

  • One-to-one video calling.
  • How is the video and audio quality?
  • Interface is simple, clean, to the point.
  • Knock knock.

    • Attributions

    ]]>     00:30:40 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad     Second Opinion #8: Android 7.0 Nougat Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so8/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so8/ Sat, 01 Oct 2016 13:06:07 GMT Ian R Buck, Ian Decker, and Ryan Rampersad talk about the latest version of Android, Nougat! Changes/new stuff
    • Notifications
      • Biggest change you will notice.
      • No longer cards with space between them. Now they are full width of the screen, and have a tiny border between them.
      • If you have multiple notifications from one app, they will be grouped together in an expandable notification. Then each of them can be expanded as well to reveal the actions you can perform on them.
        • I find it hard to distinguish between notifications, especially when I have a bunch of Gmail notifications waiting for me.
        • To indicate that you can expand notifications, they have a little downward-facing chevron. This also means that dragging down is not the only way to expand; you can tap on the chevron as well. I wish there was a setting to get rid of the chevron, because I accidentally tap on it a lot when trying to open a notification.
      • For messaging apps, you can now reply to almost any of them directly from the notification.
      • If you have System UI Tuner enabled, you can get really granular control over how each app’s notifications behave. All the way from notifications disabled to always peeking.
    • Quick settings
      • Customizable! Paginated!
      • The first five settings become toggles that show up at the top of the notifications for quick access.
      • Way easier to know what behavior it will have now - if it is in quick settings, it will open the setting. If it is at the top of the notifications, it will toggle the setting.
      • Other apps can provide buttons that are available in Quick Settings.
    • Recents list
      • Double tap recents button to Alt+Tab!
      • When recents list pops up, the second-most-recent app takes up most of the space, which makes sense.
      • Recents list automatically gets rid of apps you haven’t opened in a long time. I don’t miss them.
      • Google search bar is gone. I didn’t even notice.
    • Multi-window
      • Great to finally have it!
      • Really hope the Shield tablet gets this soon, it would be really useful.
      • There’s a ways to go on the app developer side, many apps don’t support it very well.
    • Picture-in-picture (Android TV)
      • Still haven’t encountered any apps that support it.
    • Proper built-in file explorer
      • Works through downloads app.
      • If you want to get outside of downloads folder, you have to go through Settings -> Storage -> Explore.
    • Customize display size
      • Large screens can show more information, or if you have trouble seeing you can make text bigger.
    • Emoji changes
      • Support for skin tones.
      • Less abstract faces.
        • Unfortunate, now they’re not gender neutral.
      • Faces all face the camera.
    • Updates
      • Devices that ship with Nougat: two system partitions, one gets updated while the other is running.
      • All devices: “optimizing app 25 of 116” is gone now.
    • Battery
      • Mobile Doze restricts background stuff when you haven’t had the screen on for a while, regardless of how much the device has been moving.
        • I have noticed delayed notifications. I’ll suddenly get four new favorite tweets a few seconds after I turn on the screen.
        • Pocket Casts got killed a couple of times when it was paused by Zombies, Run! for a couple of minutes.
      • Security
        • File based encryption allows the device to boot to the lock screen before it has to ask for a passcode.
        • If you update to 7, it is off by default. Converting to it requires you to wipe the phone. It is labeled as an alpha.
      • Daydream
        • Coming soon?

      Attributions

      ]]> 00:51:06 Ian R Buck, Ian Decker, Ryan Rampersad Second Opinion #7: Pebble Time + Pebble Time Round Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so7/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so7/ Wed, 29 Jun 2016 22:34:11 GMT Ian R Buck and Betsy Dadabo review the Pebble Time and Pebble Time Round, and discuss the next generation of time. UPDATE

      As of December 7th, 2016 Pebble has been acquired by Fitbit. Fitbit is not continuing the Pebble brand with new products, and will not be bringing new features to existing models. Basically, you should not buy a Pebble. But it is still useful to discuss what Pebble was doing right and what they could have improved on, so the review stands as it was in June. See the following link for more information about the Pebble acquisition:

      Overview

      Attributions

      ]]>       00:46:58 Ian R Buck       Second Opinion #6: Gboard and Google Keyboard Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so6/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so6/ Mon, 30 May 2016 10:51:36 GMT Double Feature: Our thoughts and experiences with Gboard for iOS and Google Keyboard for Android. Overview

      Attributions

      ]]>       00:36:57 Brandon Johnson, Brian Mitchell, Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad       Second Opinion #5: Fenix for Android Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so5/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so5/ Sun, 07 Feb 2016 19:37:37 GMT Ryan Rampersad and Ian R Buck review Fenix for Android, contrasting Twitter's first party Android app to a great third party Android app. Links

      Overview

      Pros of Twitter (first party Android app):

      • It’s free
      • Supports features Twitter hasn’t released to third party apps
        • Polls
        • Moments
        • While you were away
      • Notifies when multiple people you follow tweet about the same thing/like the same tweet
      • Shows photo tags. But who tags others on Twitter?
      • Notifies when a favorite user retweets something
      • Pushbullet opens notifications as twitter.com

      Pros of Fenix:

      • Dark theme
      • Displays Instagram photos (and probably a few other things that Twitter doesn’t)
      • Doesn’t have ads (aka “Promoted Tweets”)
      • Has multiple feeds
        • Timeline
        • Favorite users
          • Especially useful because their tweets don't get lost if the notification is lost
        • Activity
        • Messages
        • Mentions
        • Likes
      • Shows what client other posts came from
      • Option of circular or square profile pictures

      Attributions

      ]]>       00:50:34 Ryan Rampersad, Ian R Buck       Second Opinion #4: Nexus 5X Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so4/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so4/ Sun, 24 Jan 2016 19:50:58 GMT Ryan Rampersad grills Ian R Buck about his experiences with his Nexus 5X. class-action lawsuit against LG. This suit claims that the Nexus 5X suffers from a hardware issue in which the CPU soldering cracks under normal use, causing the device to get stuck in a permanent boot loop. Ian R Buck and Ian Decker both had this problem with their phones, and had to get them replaced. In Buck's case, even the replacement device succumbed to the issue after only two months. You should not buy a Nexus 5X, but we are leaving our original review here for you to listen to because the other aspects of the device still merit discussion.

      Links

      Hardware

      • Size
        • Just a tad larger than perfect
        • Still feels well-balanced
        • Way lighter than Nexus 5
      • Buttons
        • Placement is suboptimal, but not terrible
        • I miss the ceramic buttons of the Nexus 5
      • Fingerprint sensor
        • Really fast!
        • No false positives, relatively few false negatives
        • Placement is good; when holding a phone this size, you don’t want to have to hold your thumb on the chin of the phone
        • I trained it to recognize three fingers: both indexes, and right middle finger
        • I am conflicted about the fact that unlocking with the fingerprint sensor skips the lock screen. I have to decide whether or not I want to see and/or interact with my notifications BEFORE I take the phone out of my pocket. So I still have some of the Smart Lock features on so I don’t have to worry about the pattern when I open a notification instead of using the fingerprint sensor.
      • I like the matte plastic
        • Doesn’t slip out of the hands
        • Doesn’t feel cheap
      • Camera
        • Camera bulge actually was incorporated into the design of the phone
        • Flash is really good
        • Camera app takes a moment to open
      • Headphone jack is on the bottom! Halleluiah!
      • USB Type C
        • The future is now
        • Having a reversible connector is REALLY nice
        • You want to get a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cord so you can use the vast majority of charging bricks
      • Speakers
        • Front-facing
          • Only the bottom one is a proper speaker
          • Great for watching things
          • Less great for hearing notifications when it is in the pocket
      • Notification light
        • Very clever placement in the middle of the bottom speaker grille
      • Screen
        • Perfect size
        • I am glad that they did not go up from 1080p
        • Not AMOLED is a bummer
      • Battery life
        • Good!
        • Lasts most weekdays with over 15% left at the end.
        • Playing Zombies, Run! on the way home from work has changed that. Often charge it during my nap.
        • Rapid charging goes up about 1% per minute.

      Software

      • Always has the latest version of Android
      • Ambient display
        • Black-and-white view of the time and notifications
        • Doesn’t have the best sense for when I want to see the time vs. when it is just being jiggled
        • Activates when a notification comes in, à la iOS
      • Always listening for “Okay Google”
        • The setting sometimes gets turned off for no reason
        • Has trouble (I think when Doze is throttling the phone)

      Performance

      • No significant difference from the Nexus 5
      • Has trouble with the same types of situations
        • Doing several things at once
        • Link Bubble in use
        • Keyboard stutters
      • 32GB storage is still fine, but doesn’t let me go crazy installing everything.

      Nexus Protect

      • Haven’t broken my phone yet, so I don’t know how smooth the system is
      • Has given me the confidence to forget about getting a screen protector

      Attributions

      ]]>       01:00:10 Ryan Rampersad, Ian R Buck       Second Opinion #3: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so3/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so3/ Sun, 20 Dec 2015 13:40:09 GMT Ian R Buck and Savannah Haslow discuss <i>Star Wars: The Force Awakens</i> in two parts, a brief introduction without spoilers, and a scathing review afterwards with spoilers. Overview

      Non-spoilers

      General thoughts

      • It was very derivative; followed the formula of A New Hope far too much. Feels like the series is stagnating, when I want it to be moving forward.
        • Starts on a desert planet
        • Utility droid we have to protect
        • Escape in the Millennium Falcon
        • Rebellion hiding out on a lush planet with an old temple
        • Big bad Empire building a superweapon
        • X-Wings vs TIE fighters (where did the rest of the ships go?)
        • Yoda figure
        • The Hero’s Journey
        • Subvert the Damsel in Distress trope
        • Wilhelm scream
      • Avoided the complex galactic politics of the prequels so much that we have no idea about any details regarding the First Order, Republic, or Resistance. Everything was reduced to the simple “light side vs dark side”.
      • The special effects were really good of course
        • Lasers felt more kinetic
        • Really cool shot of some TIE fighters with the sun behind them
        • Camera moves around too much in the space battles
        • Too many particle effects
      • Story was slow
        • The entire movie could have been coalesced into about half an hour
        • Things that happened: character intros, slight exposition, explosions
      • Forced romantic subplot
        • Verbally brought attention to the hand-holding
        • More subtle stuff (Fin looking at that butt)
      • Lazy plot devices
      • When they did the action stuff, it was good
        • Good use of sweeping continuous shots
        • Wasn’t over-the-top
        • Didn’t drag on too long, which has been a problem in past Star Wars movies
      • Soundtrack was okay
        • Didn’t push boundaries; previously, John Williams would add a new memorable piece in each movie. Most memorable was the Resistance theme.
        • Used musical themes from the original series to good effect (specifically, Imperial March and Luke’s Theme)

      Specific things

      • BB-8: not just an R2 clone
        • Has a very different personality
        • Has different tricks up his sleeve, both for mobility and tools
      • Liked the subtle variants on stormtroopers. Not as explicit as “scout troopers” or “snow troopers” but they carry slightly different sets of gear.
        • Would have been better if they showed different designations working on their specialities
      • A few signs of technological advancement
        • New Imperial Shuttle
      • Loved the way that the people living on Jakku mostly settled around the wrecks of old military vehicles
      • Wasn’t able to spot a 1138 reference. It’s gotta be in there though.
      • [Buck] I still think the crossguard design for the lightsaber is stupid
        • The only reason that design would be any good is to block other lightsabers? but there are no other Jedi??
        • The only reason for it is because ever since Darth Maul, every dark side lightsaber has to have a gimmick.
      • Fin sounded like he was just John Boyega hanging out.
      • Rey’s athleticism & creative terrain use should have come out more
      • Where were the aliens? Where was the culture?

      Spoilers

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      ]]>       01:32:10 Ian R Buck       Second Opinion #2: Titansgrave Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so2/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so2/ Wed, 09 Dec 2015 10:09:54 GMT Ian R Buck and Ian Decker discuss <i>Titansgrave: the Ashes of Valkana</i>. Links

      Overview

      Titansgrave: the Ashes of Valkana is a video series featuring a group of minor celebrities playing through an RPG campaign.
      • Setting
        • Love the combination of science fiction and fantasy!
        • [Buck] Of course I was inclined to root for the technological solutions.
        • A world with ancient evils that haven’t been seen in millennia is a fun trope. Makes me think of A Song of Ice and Fire.
        • [Decker] I agree with Buck on the melding of Fantasy and Sci-fi themes- it was cool to see! I appreciate that there was still a love of good beer! I do wonder how more of the political systems worked though- although Wil created a vast world and introduced many characters, he didn’t really develop things like the society that they were in as much as I would’ve liked.
      • Story
        • [Decker] I wish that more things had been explained- there were things, like Lemley’s amulet and why her family was despised, that were never answered. I also felt that it was a bit short, but I’m also used to novel-esque stories.
        • Time for a sequel!
      • Characters
        • Most of the characters had quite a bit of depth. This was intentional, of course, because Wil had each of the players come up with major and minor goals for their characters.
        • Most of the characters were well-specced for combat, except for S’Lethkk
        • [Decker] I think that it helps for the PCs to have good actors behind them as well- that makes for some fun characters. I wish that Wil had kept up the whole character keeping secrets from others thing later into the story as well- it would’ve made for some interesting interactions.
      • Players
        • Looks like a fun group to play with!
        • Wil Wheaton
          • Did a great job coming up with the whole setting
          • Went to the effort of incorporating the player characters’ backstories into the missions they were going through in the campaign
          • [Buck]Seemed a little heavy-handed in guiding the players through the campaign
          • [Decker] I agree a bit, although I also think that he did a pretty good job of improvising and working with what the characters wanted to do along the way (5 gold and a party). The story was definitely a bit railroaded, although he did include a few choices for the characters to make, which is always nice.
        • Laura Bailey
          • She was great! She got really invested in her character, Lemley.
          • [Buck] I’m always impressed with people who have to play a character with low intelligence, because they have to reign in their own ideas.
        • Hank Green
          • He had a really well developed backstory
          • [Buck] He is too snarky for his own good. Wil had to punish him in the game a few times.
          • [Decker] No such thing as too snarky... that may have just been part of Ankia.
      • Format of show
        • 40 minute episodes felt pretty good.
        • [Buck] Maybe 30-35 minutes would have been ideal.
        • [Decker] I would’ve gone the other way to 1hr episodes. I thought that it felt like the story was getting clipped short in a lot of cases.
        • The intro was really long, and we started skipping it
      • Production quality
        • Love the bottom third they have when someone rolls dice! Especially since they change the numbers when somebody makes a mistake with their math.
        • I enjoyed the art style- big brush strokes leaves some “smeared” details, but that fits well with the noir and dirty feel of a lot of the setting.
      • RPG system
        • Looks really fun!
        • Using three dice pushes most rolls towards the middle of the pack. Bell curve, you know.
        • The stunt points counter this by making even regular rolls a bit more exciting
        • Combat seems mostly balanced- sets up both PCs and NPCs for success
        • Spellcasting seemed almost underpowered- many of the spells had not as much damage as the other weapons, both melee and ranged
        • Armor damage reduction for all characters was really nice!

      Attributions

      Free Music Archive: Beat Doctor - Organic (electric edit) ]]>       00:36:03 Ian R Buck, Ian Decker       Second Opinion #1: Android 6.0 Marshmallow Review https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so1/ https://thenexus.tv/episodes/so1/ Sun, 22 Nov 2015 18:44:24 GMT Ian R Buck and Ryan Rampersad share their experiences with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Links

      Overview

      • Keeps the UI of 5.0, and adds a bunch of new features. This is great, because material design is beautiful.
      • Now on Tap
        • Removal of swipe up to Now/listening
        • Doesn’t seem useful most of the time; it’s a neat shortcut, but more of a peripheral feature
        • I wish they had left the swipe up gesture, so you could choose at any time if you wanted to do Now on Tap or go straight to your Now Cards
      • App permissions
        • Many Google apps are asking for permission first, which is great
        • It will take a long time to get many major apps (Facebook, Instagram, et al) to participate
        • I have been experimenting with revoking permissions to various apps, including apps that have not been updated to fit the new permissions system. I am not sure if I have broken anything yet.
      • Do not Disturb
        • Total silence
        • Much better placement in the quick settings area
      • Volume control
        • Still no visual toggle for volume in quick settings
      • System UI Tuner
        • Tune your quick settings
        • Remove some of the clutter in the status bar
        • “Demo mode” is hilarious. 6:00!
        • Great start, needs more
      • SD card: adaptable
        • Sure, if any Nexus phone had SD support
        • This feature will be a godsend to people with 16GB devices with expandable storage
      • Text selection
        • Better, needs finer controls anyway, possibly included in a coincidental tablet update
        • Everyone says Google “fixed” it because they use words now instead of icons.
        • I do not like that “Select All” has been hidden in the overflow menu. When I select text, most times I want to select all, then copy it.
      • Battery
        • Doze
          • I will have more to say about this once the SHIELD tablet updates to 6.0; that device spends most of the day sitting on my bedside table.
        • App Standby
          • But wakelocks are still rampant in first party and third party apps
      • Lock screen: voice search replaced the phone
        • Best change ever, sort of
        • If you use that, there are some voice commands that will tell you “Actually, I can’t do that while the device is locked. To keep going, unlock your device.” even if SmartLock has the device unlocked.
      • Memory section in settings
        • Great
          • Now show what part of Android Account Manager and Google Play services is screwing me over
        • Shows average memory usage over the last 3, 6, 12, or 24 hours.
      • Bolder clock on lock screen

      Attributions

      Free Music Archive: Beat Doctor - Organic (electric edit) ]]>       00:39:37 Ian R Buck, Ryan Rampersad