All posts by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

About Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

President, CEO & Editor of https://gavinsgadgets.com Reviews & News of Technology View all posts by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond →

So what did Tim Cook reveal at All Things Digital

May 29, 2013Apple, Tech NewsAll Things Digital, Tim CookGavin Fabiani-Laymond

A few hours ago, Tim Cook was a guest speak at All Things Digital. So what did Tim reveal?

1) Tim Cook said there are plans to allow deeper access to iOS, but such changes will only be allowed if they don’t impact the customer’s experience.

2) Apple will open up more APIs in the future, but not to the degree that we put the customer at risk of having a bad experience.

3) He re-iterated that Apple continues to be a market leader, sold 85 million iPhones and 42 million iPads last quarter, and has seen drops in stock prices before.

4) There is a Grand Vision for Apple TV. Sold 13m Apple TV since release. 6m alone were in 2012.

5) Asked about the iWatch, Tim said what. And no. He didn’t like Google Glass but wearable tech is being looked at. He didn’t think Google Glass was for the masses.

6) Apple products are used more than android products.

7) Last year Apple acquired a company every 60-75 days.Not looking to acquire a social network.When

8) When asked about Samsung, he said he still doesn’t like the copying company and won’t negotiate with them. But the may shift back manufacturing to them.

Samsung Announces Press Event 20th June 2013 – new devices

May 29, 2013Android, Tech NewsSamsung Event 20th June 2013Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Samsung has announced a new press event at Earls Court for its Galaxy range and Ativ Windows Phone. Samsung teased with a line that other phones will look very small.

Maybe this is the new Samsung S4 Active, Mega or perhaps Samsung S4 Zoom. Whose knows might even be some new tablets. A long shot would be the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. But if they could announce the Note 3, this could potentially really hurt other competitors who are prying for market share.

First Early Impressions of the Sony Xperia Z Tablet

May 29, 2013Android, Tech NewsSony Xperia ZGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Yesterday, I got invited to an event to see the new Sony Z Tablet. It is available in black and white. Before seeing the tablet in the flesh, I had firmly in my mind that black was the best colour. Having seen the white version, which is a white back and sides only, I am not so sure. In fact I cannot decide which colour I prefer.

There are two things that strike you straight away with the Z tablet, its weight and profile. It is crazy thin at 6.9mm thin and weighs around 495g which is very light. And it feels light in the hand. It comes in two sizes thankfully from launch, 16 or 32gb wifi or a 3g 16gb version. The tablet also allows expansion via the micro sd slot. It comes with android 4.1.2 (why not 4.2 at launch), CMOS Exmor R 8.1mp rear camera, 2.2mp front camera, infra red blaster, NFC, Bluetooth 4 and so much more. Pricing is £399 for 16gb wifi, £449 for 32gb wifi and £499 for 16gb LTE/Wifi model.

Using the tablet, you can now browse tablet apps and games from the tablet section in the Google Play store. Sadly, it still is not a patch on the iPad apps and games, but now there is a dedicated section, this should accelerate. Sony had added their own skin and software, from the Infra Red remote software (its learning as well), TV Sideview, Playstation Mobile and more graphics.

The other selling point of this tablet is it is water resistant and dustproof. So now you can tweet in the bath or shower!

My walkaway thoughts are £399 for the starting model. In reality you would go for the 32gb at £449. It is water resistant and dustproof, fitted with a decent camera and audio, thin profile and light but is it worth this price versus the competition?

What do you think?

BT to launch its own LTE service

May 29, 2013Tech NewsBTGavin Fabiani-Laymond

BT is set to venture back into consumer mobile space by offering customers access to its own-branded 4G network. BT Group CEO Ian Livingston went on record and confirmed the company has already invited tenders from other UK operators to form a 4G partnership which should launch within the next 12 months.

Lets hope existing BT customers get a super cheap deal then!

Will Google Glass be dead on arrival?

May 28, 2013Android, Tech NewsGoogle GlassGavin Fabiani-Laymond

There is no denying that Google Glass is innovative. But is it too ahead of its time?

Across America, it is looking likely that cafes, cinemas, parks and retail stores will ban them. Lap dance venues have even gone further and said they would kick the person out of their club.

The infringement of privacy is the biggest challenge Google is going to face with Google Glass, apart from its current high price.

What is your views on the issue of privacy with Google Glass?

iOS 7 rumours

May 28, 2013Apple, Tech NewsiOS 7Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

There are plenty of wild rumours floating around regarding the next version of iOS.

One rumour is that iOS 7 will integrate Flickr and Vimeo. If this happens, Flickr will become even more prime time. With Flickr’s 1 TB of free storage and deep integration into the iOS this will make it a sure winner. I’m not so sure about Vimeo, but I do believe Flickr is likely.

Play Games Services – list of games

May 28, 2013Android, Tech NewsPlayGavin Fabiani-Laymond

At Google I/O Play Game services was introduced. A number of games have been updated to take advantage of this Game Center alternative. These include –

5 Tiles (Free) (achievements)
A2Z (Free) ( achievements)
Avabel Online (Free) (90 achievements)
Ball Maze (Free/$1.29) ( achievements)
Beach Buggy Blitz (Free) (48 achievements)
Chip Chain (Free) (43 achievements)
Circulo (Free) (12 achievements)
Cosmic Defense (Free/$0.99) ( achievements)
Eternity Warriors 2 (Free) (29 achievements)
Eufloria (Free/$4.99) (achievements)
Eyelord (Free) ( achievements)
Farm Invasion USA (Free/$5.20) (20 achievements)
GRave Defense HD (Free/$2.99) ( achievements)
Gunslugs (Free/$1.49) ( achievements)
Hungry Slimes (Free/$1.29) ( achievements)
Ice World Labirynth (Free) (achievements)
Kingdom Rush ($1.99) (achievements)
Mega Run (Free) (achievements)
Memory Temple (Free) (achievements)
Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour ($6.99) (49 achievements)
No Gravity ($3.50) ( achievements)
Numbers Plus Game (Free) (achievements)
Osmos ($2.99) (?achievements)
PBA Bowling Challenge (Free) ( achievements)
Plague Inc. (Free) (54 achievements)
Plasma Sky ($1.99) ( achievements)
Riptide GP ($1.99) ( achievements)
Rocket Island (Free) (24 achievements)
Save the Puppies (Free) (36 achievements)
Shine Runner ($0.99) ( achievements)
Stick Stunt Biker 2 (Free) (achievements)
Super Stickman Golf 2 (Free) (60 achievements)
Townsmen (Free) (61 achievements)
Triple Town (Free) (26 achievements)
War Of Wizards (Free) ( achievements)
Wind-up Knight (Free) ( achievements)
World of Goo ($4.99 $0.99) (22 achievements)
Unblock 2 Escape (Free) ( achievements)
Zookeeper Battle (Free) (achievements)

Oppo Find 5 smartphone finally comes to Europe – €399 delivered

May 27, 2013Android, Tech NewsOppo Find 5Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

The Oppo Find 5 will be available to buy from its new European Store in a few hours. But who is Oppo?

OPPO Electronics Corp., Ltd is an electronics manufacturer based in Dongguan, Guangdong, China. Its major product lines include MP3 players, Portable Media players, LCD-TV, eBook, DVD/Blu-ray Disc players and mobile phones. Founded in 2004, the company has registered the Oppo brand name in many parts of the World, with a company mission to become one of the worldwide leading brand in consumer electronics. It’s older phone the Finder once held the title for the thinnest phone in the world at 6.65mm. More info on both its phones can be found from its main website here..

The Oppo Find 5 specs include –

– 5 inch 1080p at an excellent 441ppi using OGS screen technology
– 3.25mm bezel
– 13mp rear camera 1/3 06 CMOS f2.2 with HDR supported via hardware, 4 layer glass with blue filters
– Burst mode takes 100 photos, 5 per second.
– 120fps video
– quad core S4 Qualcomm chip at 1.5hz. 320 Adreno 320 GPU .
– Dirac HD sound for high quality audio
– smart tags, NFC, DNLA
– 165g but apparently long battery life
– 16 or 32g. No micro SD slot as far as I can tell
– Networks 850, 900, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100 no LTE
– GPS
– Gyroscope
– Digital compass
– Light Sensor
– IR Proximity Sensor
– Magnetic Sensor
– Gravity Sensor

Now you might be asking isn’t this a risk to buy as a Chinese company. Well it is slightly. It is a bit of an unknown. However, via Oppo’s forums firmware updates occur every 2 weeks based on your feedback.

Update : the battery is a massive 2500maH.

Update 2 : Oppo released Tips and Tricks which has some clever stuff.

The Perfect Smartphone

May 27, 2013Tech NewsGavin Fabiani-Laymond

There are so many great phones being released at the moment, all with great features but none with everything I want or with something missing. Lets look at what’s available.

HTC One
Currently I have the HTC One as my main driver. It is absolutely amazing but has a weakness or two. Landscape shots don’t have enough detail. But with photos of people and my pets I have achieved the best photos ever. However, I do take a lot of landscapes. Also it doesn’t have a memory card slot. So while I stream my music from Google, if I was away from the Internet I would be scuppered. Having all my music on my memory card would cure this problem. And then there is the battery. In 2 years it won’t be as good. A replaceable battery would be ideal. If I had all of this, I wouldn’t need to ever change the HTC One. That would make a perfect phone. Well nearly.

Samsung S4
This potentially should have been a killer device. It has all that I want, looks good, has an excellent camera and comes with the kitchen sink. And then there is the big but. Only 9gb free of memory for apps and games, and app caches. That’s not enough for me. But it gets worse. There is an issue with crackling with the headphone jack with music. This affects the i9505 model, not so much the i9500 version.

Nokia Lumia 920
The 920 is a decent phone and if you like Windows Phone 8 it’s fine. It is soon to be replaced by a slightly lighter and thinner version, with an upgraded camera and screen. The 925. But as an operating system it still lacks the variety of apps. So is not on my radar. But I might change my mind when I receive it 🙂

iPhone 5
Be there and done it. A very capable pocketable one handed device. Just suffers from screen size being too small for me now and an aesthetically tired looking iOS 6. Otherwise nearly there but not quite.

There are other contenders like the Samsung Note 2, but that is too large to be used a daily driver. So what would make the perfect phone for me.

A HTC One with a flexible non breakable screen, 64gb internal memory, 64gb micro SD card, an 13mp ultra pixel lens and a replaceable battery. Or a 5 inch iPhone with iOS 7 perhaps. I just wonder how long the wait will be 🙂

So what would be your perfect phone?

Google joins Apple and shares 3D maps

May 27, 2013Android, Apple, Tech NewsMapsGavin Fabiani-Laymond

When Apple released its own Maps app, which was using its own data, the world took centre stage and panned it for major obscurities. Warped roads, bent buildings and more.

Well, Google is now going 3D with its maps, and if you try it out you will also find similar obscurities that plagued Apple.

Maybe the two companies are sharing data. Unlikely. But it does show that despite Google’s strength in Maps, it still can face issues.

Gavin's Gadgets & Photography

Tech Reviews & Photography