I'd say you wouldn't see much benefit to upgrading to the N4

wait for the 2013 model

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yeah I am waiting for the Xphone, or whatever.

Does the mat do anything besides charging?

I would really like a dock that does more

Like what?

Speakers?

yeah

speakers

external display

storage

I...don't know. Probably not.

keyboard

Then it would have to be a huge machine.

nah. it could just interface with whatever I have nearby

I am considering buying a second-hand PS3 controller + Game Klip (€ 30ish together) to play games on my phone.

NFC turns on "dock mode" where it enables BT and links to nearby speakers and a keyboard, if any are paired.

I am also considering that

Does only NFC do that?

No. NFC would just be a nice way to trigger all of that, since it's wireless

the phone could know the dock and do the right thing

I read a review that said a PS3 controller was possibly the best controller available for Android phones.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Hmm but don't some docks automatically do that?

The official GN dock does, I believe.

It's just too expensive.

Used to be cheaper.

The official GN dock, as far as I know, uses those three little dots on the side of the phone

they are electrical contacts

theverge.com/2013/2/20/4001278/…

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yes. Pogo pins.

@KitFox It's not very nice for you to say things like that. People who are expecting cake will be hurt.

I would really like a mat, but I think a dock is still too inconvenient. You actually have to sort of insert it.

The wealth of actually for once irrelevant starred messages? They meant something to somebody.

> Alone, the GameKlip isn’t an awe-inspiring device, but what it allows you to do certainly comes close. The materials blend in with the controller so well that the GameKlip effectively disappears, leaving you to focus solely on your smartphone and arguably one of the best controllers on the market.

I think I need this.

Don't I?

It is said to work very well with the GN, but less so with the N4.

yeah I just read that

well, I am not afraid of rooting the phone if I need to, but I think I will try to borrow a PS3 controller first.

rather than buy one

google glasses and 'virtual' gloves. That's what you need.

and a pony.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 But the article says you will have to use bluetooth with a N4, and that bluetooth makes it a lot less responsive?

@Mitch Free ponies for all!

> However, some devices (like the Nexus 4) don’t support USB accessories, and the only alternative is to connect to the controller via Bluetooth with an app that requires a rooted device. When we tested this method, we found that using Bluetooth significantly reduced the responsiveness of the controls.

Why doesn't the Nexus 4 support USB accessories??

I use my PS3 controller wirelessly with Bluetooth on my Nexus 7 and GS3 :)

works fantastic

@Cerberus Bluetooth is horrible for gaming.

@Robusto Yeah, apparently.

@Pheonixblade9 Hmm no lag?

I can't use a bluetooth mouse for that reason. It's OK for a while, but then you get into severe latency issues.

How bad would you say the latency is?

Severe.

If you're playing a twitch game, any latency is potentially lethal.

I suppose it is.

If you can't move the mouse for a half a second at a time, you are essentially dead meat.

So it's not like 20 ms?

Half a second!?

faints

So how do normal wireless mice work?

So many people use them?

Do they really have a 500-ms latency??

They're fine for Word docs if you're not fussy.

@Cerberus Not all the time. But if you're in a tense situation, a string of 100-500 ms lags can be very frustrating.

500 ms is totally unacceptable.

100 ms...I don't know, I think I would hate that.

@Cerberus This is the first I've heard of it

And I.

Any time you don't feel that cursor respond INSTANTLY to your mouse moves, your gaming experience is quite degraded.

Doesn't the PS3 use BT for games?

@Robusto Yes.

I use wired mice on my work and gaming computer right now. I used to have a wireless mouse, but I nearly threw it at Skyrim when I realized it was the cause of my inability to use some of the weapons properly.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I...don't know? Not ehm infra red or something?

@aediaλ This.

@aediaλ Ohhh I see!

I have a wireless mouse that I use when I'm sitting on the couch.

Elsewhere I see no reason to.

Perhaps with a laptop.

My husband has a wireless mouse and keyboard, but they are much more expensive than the one that I had. Oh, I take that back. He now has a wired keyboard, but he still uses the wireless mouse. I don't like it much, but whatevs, his gaming setup, his choice.

But then you are already making so many concessions when you're using a laptop, one more doesn't matter...

@aediaλ It also has latency problems?

I use wired mouse and keyboard for gaming. Razer Naga and Razer BlackWidow, respectively.

@Cerberus I feel like it does if I use his computer, but I think he's adapted. It's nowhere near as bad as mine was.

Ah OK.

Perhaps BT 4 v. BT 2?

Most wireless mice/keyboards don't use bluetooth

It's also able to be closer to the receiver. I was sitting on the couch using the tv as a monitor when I was first playing Skyrim, so kinda far away; when I changed to the wired mouse I think I had some long cord thing and it would fall off the edge of the table sometimes and yank on the cord and that was annoying, but it was still better.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Hmm what do they use?

@Cerberus something proprietary

Oh.

What kind of signal?

they all ship with little dongles that are pre-paired to the devices in question

Now I actually have room for my computer to be set up at a desk that isn't next to everything else I own like my tv and my bed (well, the tv broke before I moved, but I have a monitor, woo!)

it's a radio signal, in the 2.4GHz band usually

OK.

@aediaλ Great!

Heh.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yeah, those suck as well, because they can interfere with your Wi-Fi or other wireless devices in the home.

@Robusto well, or I was going to say, your other wireless devices could interfere, causing jamming which you perceive as latency.

Perception is reality.

well, yes. But the point being that it isn't a defect in the device per se, but rather a defect in your environment's radio background.

reception is perality

When your life is on the line in Skyrim or Far Cry 3, you'd better hope survival doesn't depend on the vagaries of a wireless connection!

@MattЭллен Deception is puerility.

I won't dispute that wired is definitely more reliable.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 How can my environment's radio background have a defect? All these devices are supposed to work together. I shouldn't have to think about this shit.

@Robusto That doesn't mean it isn't defective

It is only defective because it can be defective. Wired mouse and keyboard eliminate all that defectivity. They can fail as well, but far less often and much more obviously.

like you said: the latency isn't constant. It's occasional. random. sometimes not that bad. sometimes really bad.

@Robusto yes. there are more failure modes for wireless. It could also be that your batteries need recharging.

No. It happens with fresh batteries as well.

@Mitch I don't understand why people seem to think I'm "nice."

@Robusto Yes. But it sometimes happens because of low batteries.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 One more point of failure. My wired mouse requires no batteries.

@KitFox We're just so GlaD to see you.

@Robusto Exactly

I go into extreme nerd rage when I see cursor lag. It used to happen all the time with those mechanical "rolling ball" mice, whose rollers would get gummed up on a regular basis. Then came laser mice, and everything was wonderful until they started making them wireless.

$ nice kitfox

Don't give her money. It only encourages her.

I agree about balls v. lasers.

Lasers are better than balls.

I love my Microsoft laser mouse, oddly enough.

yes. lasers over balls

I prefer wired, too

but I have a wireless mouse at the moment

Men. Always so inconsistent.

well, I thought it was a good idea at the time. but it turns out I hate it when the batteries get low.

Hmm does that happen a lot?

more than I was expecting, but I don't really know

it's a "logitech anywhere MX"

Hmm-hmm.

Or mmm-hmm, even.

ļoki patīkami

yay! keyboards for everyone

For everyone? Really?

This video is hilarious: top 5 most overpriced tech products.

well, everyone who has one

OMG this video of the "diamond" HDMI cable @ € 1000 that guy mentioned is just perfect.

amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B006ZZYK78/…

video?

Surely the hdmi cable should have been at no.1? it's the worst value for money of them all!

Yeah I agree.

The Beats thingie is probably no worse than many other headphones.

said he, trying to hide Beats Audio installed on his own phone

lol

apparently my sennheiser 300 cxii are 45 GBP

Hmm.

And they may very well be better than those Beats headphones.

I can't remember what I paid for them, they're 3 years old

I don't remember it being a lot

but they are noticeably better than regular old in-ear head phones, and more comfortable

I formed that opinion when I got free earbud head phones with my old sony ericson phone (that only fit in the sony ericson). So I know I'm not biased by paying so much for them.

probably

uz redēšanos

@MετάEd Ironically, the nice command makes things run more slowly, because you are being nice to everybody else by letting them always have their turn before you.

So you just slowed her. Wonder if she made her saving throw?

@tchrist Maybe she'll disbelieve the nice.

@Cerberus Yay! and cake? Please say cake. Also, leave out @KitFox, because she's not nice.

@MattЭллен Great! I hate earbuds btw.

@Cerberus what do you prefer? full ear-covering earphones? or cochlear implants?

@Mitch Okay: CAKE

@Cerberus day = made.

@Mitch I don't know what "full" is, but cheap €-5 headphones that mostly cover your ears are what I use.

@Mitch How eloquent you are!

That's what I mean. What's wrong with ear buds? do they hurt your ears? The big ones make the side of my head sweaty. and you can put ear buds in your pocket. check and mate.

They hurt my ears; and they hurt and annoy me when I accidentally pull the cord; and they even fall out when I do same!

@Cerberus evocative even

Indeed.

I can put my headphones in my jacket's inner pocket.

@Cerberus yes, it's annoying when you drop your smart phone when it is connected to your head with buds. but it does save the smart phone from getting acracked surface.

They do feel a bit bulky that way, I must admit.

@Cerberus you have a very large jacket then.

from which you could make a tent if you happen to be caught too far from home.

@Mitch Not really, if your buds pop out. My headphones can't pop out: they will always hold the phone if the cord isn't too long and if it doesn't disconnect the plug.

build a small fire underneath.

@Cerberus that happens too...along with part of your inner ear.

@Mitch Naaah I use very small, light-weight, neck headphones. And you can also buy foldable ones!

@Mitch Yes, that is the main reason why I bought that jacket.

@Mitch Huh?

Ear buds will rip out your inner ear while crashing into the ground along with your phone.

@Cerberus yes. and it's difficult to put back in because it's all squishy.

I guess.

So get headphones, and you have a clean neck-cut to reattach your head to.

@Cerberus Well, lasers never helped me ejaculate. That I'm aware of, anyway.

@Cerberus hm... I think rather than having to reattach your head one should rather avoid ear things at all and be aware of your surroundings and listen out for the car that might run you over.

@Robusto Then turn up the power dials.

@Robusto 'help' doesn't seem quite the word for it.

Oh, that's how it works. TIL.

@Mitch But where is the tension, the excitement in that?

yeah..'power dials'

And don't forget the batteries.

In case you put them back into your ("wife's") lady shave.

@Cerberus Do you mean the excitement in the last few milliseconds of realizing that a car is crashing your spine because you didn't hear it, or the excitement of scaring the bejesus out of a car driver by jumping in front of then out of the way of the car because you could hear them?

Can't we have both?

actually no. the law of non-contradiction...you can't have your spine crushed and jump out of the way at the same time

unless...

when you jump out of the way of the car, your landing spot is in front of another highspeed car.

having. cake. eaten. too.

Yay!

Except you are the cake.

But that shouldn't spoil the fun.

@Cerberus yuck.

Well.

I'm sure you are not yuck.

Show us a picture!

We haven't had the privilege of seeing you yet!

@Cerberus In any situation in which you can't identify the patsy ... you're the patsy.

Haha.

Alas.