Since the Galaxy S2 launched earlier this year no other phone has come near to its capabilities – and that includes, I think, the iPhone 4S. As far as I’m concerned the S2 still reigns supreme.

So, I’ve been excited by the launch of the Galaxy Nexus – the newest release from Samsung, sporting Android 4 as its main highlight.

Other than Android 4, it’s other big thing is the screen – 4.3″ inches at 720×1280. Although the screen physically is bigger the whole device is apparently on a par with the S2 as the screen is taller rather than wider and this extra width takes the place of the buttons at the bottom.

However, ignoring the OS and screen resolution for a moment, when you start comparing the rest of the phone specifications it suddenly starts to look a little more disappointing…

• The Nexus has a Super Amoled screen. The S2 has a Super Amoled Plus screen. There is a difference, and it’s important.
• They both sport a 1.2Ghz Dual Core processor.
• The S2 weighs 116 g, whereas the Nexus is 135 g.
• There is no removable storage option on the Nexus, compared to the Micro SD on the S2.
• The Nexus lacks USB On-the-Go and Wi-Fi Direct.
• The rear camera on the Nexus is 5MP and the front 1.3MP. On the S2 you get an 8MP rear and 2MP front camera. However, the Nexus does give you a twin LED flash rather than the single on the S2.
• The headphone socket is on the bottom. Really? Because when I have a set of headphones plugged in and my phone in my pocket, I really want to have it upside down. No news yet as to where they’ve sited the USB socket.
• It’s a personal preference but the Nexus has more rounded corners, looking like one of its cheaper cousins, and I don’t like it.

One thing I’m not sure about, comparison wise, are the GPUs in the 2 phones which are very different. However, forum discussions would suggest that the S2 might edge it.

One thing that I can find on the Nexus which is better than the S2 is the battery, which is 1750 mAh, compared to 1650 mAh. Extras, the Nexus has a built in barometer. Really.

So, a higher resolution screen, a bigger capacity battery and ability to know if it’s about to rain in the next few hours. But you get a poorer set of cameras, more weight and a load of features missing. Or have I missed something?

I’m happy to announce the release of version 2.1 of my WordPress plugin Artiss YouTube Embed.

There are a number of new features, some of them cleaning up changes made recently to work around some issues that users were having. For example, you can now turn on and off options to use HTTPS instead of HTTP. I’ve also taken the opportunity to improve the error reporting as well.

Away from that, new features include more specific options for thumbnails – you now have 5 thumbnail types to choose from – and, most importantly, support for the latest API changes.

Recently, you may have noticed that the default YouTube player has changed from a light grey to a much darker scheme. At the same time YouTube updated their player API to allow users to switch between light and dark themes. They also took the opportunity to add a feature where you can change the colour of the progress bar from red to white. Both of these are now supported by my plugin, so if you want the old light colour back you can do.

However, whilst testing this I can across what looked like a bug with YouTube’s API. I couldn’t get the light theme to work with the white progress bar – the progress bar would always appear in red. I double checked my own code to ensure it wasn’t my issue but I don’t believe it is.

YouTube’s own blog entry suggest that this entry is valid…

I opened this up in their forum where another user of the API confirmed my find. However, over 24 hours later, I have yet to receive a response from YouTube.

I’m therefore releasing the plugin as-is but with mention of this issue in the instructions.

Update (19/8/11 @ 19:36): Google have provided an update on the bug…

This is a bug, and it is scheduled to be fixed next Wednesday
evening.

Cheers,
-Jeff Posnick, YouTube API Team

Launched only in 2008, Groupon has become big, quickly. The idea of it is that they have a deal each day and, if enough people sign up for it, the deal is given. It works much like the ill-fated “dot com” startup LetsBuyIt.com.

Starting in the US, it spread quickly to other countries. Google offered $5.3 billion for it last year but were turned down. Instead, Google are launching their own equivalent, “Google Offers”, as is Facebook. Indeed, there are 500 similar sites already offering a similar offer. However, what Groupon has that the others don’t is the number of customers and the number of companies queueing up to use them.

So, using Groupon is simple – sign up, specify your nearest city and they’ll email you each day with their current offer (or, alternatively, visit their website – there’s no requirement to receive emails from them). If you decide to accept it, and enough other people do, you have your deal. Most of these offers are usually around dining out and health & beauty products and services, but you’ll usually save over 50% if not a lot more.

When you have signed up, and assuming you like their service, if you recommend a product to a  friend (and they buy the product) you’ll receive £6 credit to your account!

At the very least, it’s worth a try – you really do have nothing to lose!