Just a random shot taken with the LG G4. With storm clouds incoming, sunshine and the view out towards the Atlantic Ocean. Another great shot from the G4.
All posts by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond
Samsung Note 5 – launch day in 22 days and counting
Are you ready for the next Samsung Galaxy Note 5. To be launched by Samsung on 13th August 2015.
Will it have a micro sd card slot or will it take the form of integrated memory like the Galaxy S6. The web is divided at present. I personally believe it will follow the path of the S6, but time will tell.
So are you looking forward to this phone?
Which camera took that shot? Actually its a phone – the LG G4
The above photo was taken by the LG G4. The lighting was difficult, tons of glare, so HDR mode was selected. A bird photo bombed the shot at high speed, yet is captured in the scene. The top of Exeter Cathedral is visible on the right, with Dartmoor in the distance. Not the prettiest shot, but impressive for what got captured!
Really love the shot below. The Army were flying helicopters over Dartmoor.
And zooming in on the LG G4, so much detail is possible.
Whilst you have seen mostly my dogs in photos, I do have a cat. Sadly, one cat died recently. But here is Sassy.
From the other day, just look at the detail on this macro shot.
These photos make the LG G4 such a good phone if you like taking quality photos.
Apple reports record Third Quarter Results – Yet share Price drops 8% – details and viewpoint
Press release from Apple – http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/07/21Apple-Reports-Record-Third-Quarter-Results.html
CUPERTINO, California — July 21, 2015 — Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 third quarter ended June 27, 2015. The Company posted quarterly revenue of $49.6 billion and quarterly net profit of $10.7 billion, or $1.85 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $37.4 billion and net profit of $7.7 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 39.7 percent compared to 39.4 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 64 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
The growth was fueled by record third quarter sales of iPhone® and Mac®, all-time record revenue from services and the successful launch of Apple Watch™.
“We had an amazing quarter, with iPhone revenue up 59 percent over last year, strong sales of Mac, all-time record revenue from services, driven by the App Store, and a great start for Apple Watch,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The excitement for Apple Music has been incredible, and we’re looking forward to releasing iOS 9, OS X El Capitan and watchOS 2 to customers in the fall.”
“In the third quarter our year-over-year growth rate accelerated from the first half of fiscal 2015, with revenue up 33 percent and earnings per share up 45 percent,” said Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO. “We generated very strong operating cash flow of $15 billion, and we returned over $13 billion to shareholders through our capital return program.”
Apple is providing the following guidance for its fiscal 2015 fourth quarter:
-revenue between $49 billion and $51 billion
-gross margin between 38.5 percent and 39.5 percent
-operating expenses between $5.85 billion and $5.95 billion
-other income/(expense) of $400 million
-tax rate of 26.3 percent
Viewpoint – Apple’s results derive mainly from iPhone sales and China. Apple missed Wall Street estimates by posting earnings of $1.85 per share, and as a consequence market share price is currently down 8%. China alone represented nearly 27% of the revenue in Q3. Apple said they would have 40 stores in China by mid 2016. iPad sales continued to drop. Mac sales have increased slightly, by 9% year on year. Maybe the iPad is at the end of its huge growth period now. Maybe a brand new version will spur growth. Tim Cook refused to reveal any Apple Watch figures which seems bizarre. Apple want to keep the numbers private so competitors are not aware of the sales figures. Not sure I buy that answer. However, I do agree with Tim Cook that the Apple Watch could be a big Xmas filler. However, it does account for 100% growth in the Other Category ($1bn) and offsets the decline in iPod sales and accessories. With a figure of $1bn I imagine Apple have sold between 1.8m to 2m watches. Personally, the future is bright for Apple. With Apple Pay, Apple Music and all the connected products, it is still a bonanza day and future for the company.
Editorial – Is the flagship phone dead in the water?
This year I have been fortunate enough to have reviewed a large number of phones. As the year has moved on each phone does ultimately become another rectangle with minor differences over the last phone reviewed. Rarely does a new phone come along that is a “game changer”.
Cheap budget phones are starting to offer 2gb ram and 1080p screens as standard. At this point if a £150 phone does all you need why bother with a £660+ flagship from Apple or Samsung?
Ok, flagships are moving to QHD screens, but even that price point is lowering to £400 or even less in some cases. Camera? This is an area where flagship phones generally do excel. But if you are sharing your photos only on social media, any camera will suffice.
For a flagship to really survive, it has to offer stunning build quality and desirability backed up with faultless software and after sales support.
So what do you think? Are these changes affecting how you will decide when or what to buy next?
What’s your view on the move to e-sims?
Apple and Samsung are pushing to go down the route of not having sim cards in their phones, instead to use e-sims that are managed by software.
From a hardware point of view, this means one less item to insert into your phone, potentially damaging it by accident, or inadvertently losing the nano sim as its so small.
But by removing the sim card and replacing it with the e-sim, will this remove the freedom of using any phone on any plan or any network?
What are your views on this?
Twitter removes background images -details
Over the weekend I was chatting with @SupersafTV about twitter. He had noticed the whilst using the web to view twitter, background images had been removed.
This feature definitely now has been removed for everyone, leaving just a faint blue background. Do you miss you background or did you never realise you could have had one?
Samsung unveils the Galaxy S2 Tablet – Ultra thin – Full details
“Samsung Electronics announced the global launch of the Galaxy Tab S2, the most immersive Samsung tablet to-date. Samsung’s newest Galaxy tablet continuously delivers a stunning Super AMOLED display perfectly optimized for reading and viewing any type of digital content. The Galaxy Tab S2 is stylishly designed with the thinnest and lightest metal frame of its size on the market and packs powerful performance features to offer enhanced usability, empowering users with new and improved choices in productivity and multitasking. At just 5.6mm thin and only 389g (9.7 -inch) and 265g (8.0 -inch) weight.
The tablet also presents deeper contrast and more precise detail to provide a best-in-class reading experience with the Super AMOLED display delivering 94% of natural tones to show true-to-life colors (Adobe RGB color standard). The tablet comes fully equipped and preloaded with Microsoft Office Solutions** for ultimate productivity on the road, such as creating and editing documents, while conveniently storing up to 100GB of files on the cloud via OneDrive for two years for free.
For enhanced manageability, the Galaxy Tab S2 is built with a touch-enabled Fingerprint Scanner for hassle-free authentication. In addition, the Galaxy Tab S2 offers Multitasking, allowing users to view and run two apps simultaneously. Also with Pop-Up Window, users can easily navigate between multiple apps at once. The Galaxy Tab S2 also provides an improved storage structure that makes locating files simpler than ever.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 will come in a variety of connectivity, storage and size options: 9.7-inch and 8.0-inch versions with Wi-Fi, or Wi-Fi and LTE, available in 32 or 64GB with MicroSD up to 128GB. It will be available in global markets, starting from August, 2015.”
Another tablet from Samsung, sure looks good, but the price will be the key decider which is unknown at present.
Phones Show Chat Podcast number 300 – Hangout Video
Yesterday evening around 6pm, Steve Litchfield, Ted Salmon, myself along with 8 others completed a live hangout for the 300th Phones Show Chat podcast. David Rich did a great job controlling the affair. The audio only for the podcast will be available shortly, but if you missed the one hour live hangout, you can view the video recording below.
I will update this post with the link to the audio only version when available. Update – http://stevelitchfield.com/sshow/chat.html
LG G4 – Camera shots of Yesterday
While I was waiting for my Indian to be cooked, I checked out the scenery, and took the following photos with the LG G4. The only editing is the framing.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 