I was in Tesco at the weekend, browsing in their tech department as you do, and noticed two people studying the pricing label of the iPad Mini.
They just didn’t understand what WiFi and Cellular meant. As I was standing nearby, I asked if they would like me to explain which I did, and then answered a few other questions. They then called the shop assistant and bought one.
Sometimes, techies often forget that it is not always obvious to non tech minded people.
Another change in the UK Google Play store is the new Nexus 7 Tablet, available in 16 or 32gb for £199 or £239 respectively. At the moment there is free shipping.
The new Nexus 7 has a sharp 7 inch 323ppi screen. It is thinner and lighter than last years. Nexus 7 features dual stereo speakers and surround sound powered by Fraunhofer.Nexus 7 is made by ASUS and packs a serious punch. With a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Pro processor and 2GB of RAM, everything runs faster, and high-performance rendering ensures 3D graphics are smooth and dynamic.
Expect a review shortly.
Just a very quick post to let you all know that the Google Nexus 4 Smartphone has been reduced globally across all of Google Play.
In the UK, the 8gb version is now £159 and the 16gb is £199. Even though Google is due to release soon the next version, both prices represent a very good deal for such a phone.
Nokia is rumoured to be releasing a range of new handsets, that are quad core 1080p screens.
First up is a six-inch phablet with a 1080p display. Code name is Bandit but likely to be called Lumia 1520. This will be launched end of September and feature a 20mp camera to combat Sony’s new Z1 (Homami) which will also have a 20mp camera.
So apart from Bandit, Nokia is reportedly developing hardware bearing the names Lanai, Orion, Pegasus, Rivendell, Shorty, and Siruis.
Your guess is as good as mine as to what these other phones will feature.
Once again Sony have released a teaser photo, showing the 20.7mp G sensor of its upcoming flagship, code named Honami.
In addition Sony have posted a 30 second video teaser on YouTube
If you scroll back to yesterday, you will have read about the flexibility of the home screen live tiles on Windows Phone with my Nokia Lumia 925.
But how do you access all your applications.
Well from the home screen you swipe right to left to bring up the app list as shown above. Now if you are like me and have installed many apps, scrolling down to TuneIn Radio would be a lot of scrolling. But if you tap any letter prefix you get this view.
Now tap on the letter required to accelerate you down to that part of the scroll list. Non coloured tiles indicate you have no apps using that letter of the alphabet.
BlackBerry says it has received an order for 2,000 new keyboard smartphones from Hispanic broadcaster Univision Communications.
The Waterloo, Ont.,-based company says the order for the BlackBerry Q10 devices will upgrade all of the BlackBerry phones used by employees at Univision.
Univision is one of the largest broadcast networks in the United States, owning more than 60 local broadcast TV stations and nearly 70 radio stations that broadcast primarily in Spanish.
Just under 2 weeks on 10th September 2013, Apple will announce details on its new iPhones.
The iPhone 5C looks like to be a mid priced polycarbonate iPhone which will be available in a number of different colours. It is likely that the 5C will be the 5, but just in polycarbonate shell.
The iPhone 5S will be the upgrade to the 5. This will be available in 3 colours. White, Black and Champagne Gold. The storage will also be available in 128gb.
The new A7 processor inside the 5S is running at about 31% faster than the iPhone 5′s A6 chip. The iPhone 5′s A6 chip is dual-core, and the iPhone 5S will also remain dual-core. There is a possibility that it will handle 64bit. The fingerprint sensor built into the home button is a possibility, linked into some new payments system. The camera will have dual flash, upgraded optics but still only be 8mp.
Photo via ASCII.JP
Photos via Sonny Dickson
So here I am one week later and really enjoying using the Lumia 925. And part of me now is thinking how could I move to using Windows Phone permanently over android or iOS.
In my house I have every operating system in use, including iOS, android, windows phone, Firefox, BlackBerry and Symbian. Symbian, BlackBerry and Firefox don’t cut it. Firefox shows a lot of promise, and future updates will be interesting to watch.
If anybody tells me that android is better than iOS or the other way around or windows phone is not as good, they are not being truthful. It is clear to me in my opinion , that the 3 main systems are just different. Except, windows phone is clearly very different. IOS and android are becoming so similar in some ways , there is nothing new about them. But there is a but.
Windows Phone does have more apps and games, the ones that matter. It does have services and Nokia makes some great hardware. In fact some apps are really good. But there are some apps that haven’t been released on the platform at the same level as on android or iOS. Apple still has the best made apps, android is close but has better sharing options. iOS 7 may help bridge the services and sharing situation.
So, what phone should be the next one. If I choose the Nokia Lumia 1020 I will have the best camera on a smartphone, Nokia music and a phone running WP8 that has some deficiencies in the apps I use and need daily. As a games device it doesn’t work with my games controllers. For a lot of people the apps won’t be a problem. Plus it does bring many extras like downloadable maps.
If I choose the next wave of android phones, they should have improved cameras, with all the apps, services and sharing along with a variety of shapes and sizes. My game controllers should work too.
And then there is the next iPhone. Will the software provide enough new extras to compensate for the slight improvement on the iPhone 5. At present no other company can provide a phone at its size, that is as powerful. With the iPhone the apps really are wonderfully designed.
On the tablet front, if you want variety of apps and games, just buy an iPad. Android on a large tablet screen lacks apps.
So then I had a thought. Why don’t I get a large Phablet. 5.6 to 6.5 inch screen? And then an iPod Touch so I can play my 700 iOS games and use some of my exclusive apps. But really a Phablet or larger is too big to carry around comfortably. So I’m back to square one with my thought process.
What would you do?
I am currently using the Nokia Lumia 925, and the only screen customisation is on the home screen. You can tweak the theme colour from white or black background.
After that you can decide what live tile to pin to the home screen and the size from a small square, large square or a rectangular shape that takes up the whole width.
In fact it is possible to spend a good few hours messing around with the look, colour and size options.
The beauty of the Windows Phone home screen is you only need a quick glance to see what’s happening or active or what notifications you have received via social networks, apps or messages. It is a very simple and clear way of viewing activities. I started with the phone app, email, sms, tweets, app.net, WhatsApp, calendar, marketplace, settings, news feeds, blog, Nokia Here Navigation and Maps, Internet Explorer, Nokia PRO and Smart Cam apps, weather, photos, weather, sport, news, podcasts and more. Most of these tiles update constantly providing at a glance information.
It certainly makes the home screen more engaging, than say static icons on the iPhone.
