All posts by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

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About Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

President, CEO & Editor of https://gavinsgadgets.com Reviews & News of Technology

iPhone Rumours

Apple, Jan 2013, Tech News

I have been reading the tech news over the last few days, at it appears the new iPhone rumours are all over the place. Rumours of 2 screen sizes, colours and more.

Looking back at Apple’s track record the only certainty is a new iPhone that will look identical to the iPhone 5, except it will have a better camera and processor, and likely iOS 7. The option for new colours is possible, but apart from that I think that is all we will see. I would love a sub 5 inch iPhone, but I’m not sure Apple is in love so much with this idea.

What do you believe might be announced?

Google’s Q4 results

Android, Jan 2013, Tech News

In Q4 2012, Google earned $14.4 billion in revenue, up by 36% from last year, of which $5.99 billion of that revenue came from the U.S. while the rest was made in international markets.

$1.51 billion in revenues came from Motorola Mobility which accounted for 11 percent of Google’s total revenue for the quarter. $2.89 billion was achieved in net income, but that is only slightly better than the $2.71 billion they pulled in during Q4 of 2011.

Some staggering numbers, lets see how Apple’s number stand up tomorrow.

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Apple Q4 2012 takes the lead in the US

Android, Apple, Jan 2013, Tech News

According to data released by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech on Tuesday, iOS accounted for 51.2 percent of all U.S. smartphone OS sales for the 12-week period ending on Dec. 23, 2012, up over 7 percent from 44.9 percent in 2011.

Apple’s increased performance appears to be at the cost of Android as Google’s mobile OS marketshare declined from 44.8 percent in quarter four 2011 to 44.2 percent over the same period in 2012. Also seeing a contraction in marketshare was beleaguered BlackBerry maker RIM, which suffered a drop from 6.1 percent of smartphone sales in the last quarter of 2011 to 1.1 percent during the same period in 2012.

“In particular, 36% of iOS sales were derived from other smartphone users over the last year,” said Kantar Worldpanel ComTech analyst Mary-Ann Parlato. “While this figure remains stable over time, the proportion of Android users moving towards the Apple brand increases. 19% of iOS sales over the last year were derived from Android users, compared to 9% in 2011.”

So if this set of results is correct, it appears the iPhone 5 was more popular than envisaged. In a few days time we will find out for sure.

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Sony Xperia Tablet Z

Android, Jan 2013, Tech News

Sony Mobile has announced the Android 4.1-powered Xperia Tablet Z.The Tablet Z comes equipped with a 10.1-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) display complete with the Mobile Bravia Engine 2, 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of on device storage, a microSD card slot, NFC, and an 8.1 MP Exmor R camera, a Qualcomm quad-core APQ8064 processor clocked at 1.5 GHz, with LTE .As rumored, the Tablet Z is also extremely thin (6.9 mm) as well as water and dust proof like it’s slightly smaller cousin the Xperia Z.

Finally we have a tablet to challenge the iPad on style and looks.

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Facebook – is it declining

Jan 2013, Tech News

The latest stats show that in the UK 600,000 people left Facebook in December 2012. Now figures for the US show that in the same period 1.4m people left the site.

The question is has Facebook reached either saturation point in the UK and US or is it starting to lose its popularity. Social media sites do have a phase of being the most popular and “in” place to be and then they can lose that status just as quick.

Personally, I believe it is starting to lose some popularity but due to the vast numbers of current users it will take forever for Facebook to fade if at all.

Samsung Galaxy 8 Tablet photo and specs

Android, Jan 2013, Tech News

Galaxy Note 8 specs :

8.0”1280×800 TFT (Super Clear LCD)
1.6 Quad-Core CPU
2GB RAM
16/32GB storage with microSD up to 32GB
5 Megapixel Rear camera, 1.3 megapixel Front Facing camera
3G : HSPA+21.1Mbps, HSUPA 5.76Mbps (850/900/1900/2100)
BT 4.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, A-GPS
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
Battery4600 mAh battery
211.3×136.3×7.95mm @ 330 gram

Looking at photo, it’s got a slim bezel like the iPad Mini. This could be a popular device for Samsung, but android does need sort out dedicated tablet apps still.

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The Future of Handheld Consoles

Jan 2013, Tech News

In the market today the Nintendo DS, 3DS and Sony PSP Vita are examples of handheld consoles that are suffering from smartphone gaming.

Can these portable devices survive the onslaught of newer and faster smartphones?

In reality I doubt they will, which is a shame as nothing on a smartphone comes close to gaming on a PSP Vita. Analogue controls are just unbeatable for advanced gaming and the like.

What do you think is the future ? Personally I think the future of these companies is in offering their famous games as software in iOS, android, windows and blackberry platforms. That way we can all enjoy Super Mario and Resident Evil again, but on our smartphones.

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Musical Fidelity M1 SDAC with apt-x

Jan 2013, Tech News

Musical Fidelity has released details of its new M1 SDAC. This new amp builds on the success of the award-winning M1 DAC and uses parts from the M6 DAC, the M1 SDAC is a DAC, preamp, headphone amp and aptX Bluetooth receiver in one.

Set to retail at £799, the M1 SDAC has a selection of inputs: two digital coaxial inputs, one digital optical input, one AES/EBU balanced input, an asynchronous USB input and two RCA analogue inputs.

The digital coaxial, balanced and USB inputs all accept music files up to 24/192, while all the digital inputs are internally upsampled to 24/192.

There’s a coaxial and an optical output, too, plus an analogue-to-digital converter within the DAC section, allowing a digital output for any input.

Also on board are the aptX Bluetooth and headphone amplifier modules. The Bluetooth receiver is Musical Fidelity’s V 2.1 aptX receiver, which accepts up to 24bit/48kHz files.

Based on Musical Fidelity’s previous audio hardware, this hopefully should be a gem, and having Bluetooth apt-x is excellent.

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How to Add Apps into the Newstand Folder

Apple, Jan 2013, Tech News

This is a really neat trick , and doesn’t require any jailbreak. This YouTube video shows you how.

So to recap, these are the quick and easy steps.

Step 1: Place the Newsstand folder anywhere on the second page of the Home screen.

Step 2: Place the apps that you would like to move into the Newsstand folder on the third page of the Home screen.

Step 3: Swipe to the third page of the Home screen containing the apps that you would like to move.

Step 4: Press the Home button once, and then immediately tap and hold on the app that you wish to move.

Step 5: Continue holding on the screen until the Home screen moves to the first page due to your press of the Home button.

Step 6: Release your hold on the screen and immediately swipe back to the second page containing the Newsstand folder

Step 7: If the trick worked correctly, then you should see wiggle mode enabled.

Step 8: Tap on the Newsstand folder to open it, and then press the Home button once to close it.

Step 9: You should see the app that you tapped and held on in Step 4 move into the Newsstand folder.

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