Category Archives: Android

Archos announces details of some of its new phones and tablets before IFA

Archos has just announced several new tablets and a new phone. First up is the largest of the lineup, the 101xs2 tablet with a quad-core processor, aluminum body and a 2048×1536 IPS display. It also features a magnetic attaching keyboard for when you need to get some work done. Joining it in the “Platinum” lineup is the 97b Platinum HD, which is slightly smaller but still features a high-resolution screen and solid construction. Photo below. Looks good.

The next three tablets both hit completely different but necessary markets for Archos. The first are the 101 ChildPad and 80 ChildPad, which are kid-focused tablets with a simple UI, Google Play filtered for children’s content and parental controls. The next is a gaming-focused GamePad 2, which will be a follow-up to the original gaming tablet, details to be announced at IFA.

Archos also has two new 3G-enabled devices,  the 50 Oxygen phone and 80 Xenon tablet. The 50 Oxygen is Archos’ latest phone with a 1080×1920 IPS display, quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 16GB of storage, a 13MP rear- and 5MP front-facing camera. The 80 Xenon is just one of three in the “Xenon” range of tablets, with HD screens, dual- or quad-core processors and running Android 4.2 just like the 50 Oxygen.

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Nothing unusual with these specs, apart from the aluminium clad with magnetic keyboard. I quite like that.

Less than 7 days to go for the next huge wave of new phone announcements

Get ready for the start of silly season. Within the next 7 days, the amount of new smartphone announcements is going to explode. Expect every manufacturer to reveal their lineup for the last quarter of the year, and then on 10th September, Apple will reveal all its new iPhones. Later on in September, Nokia and Google will reveal their hands too with new phones. And don’t forget Amazon. New Kindle tablets, but will they launch their first smartphone this year!

What I will try to do is consolidate the new phones releases into concise readable chunks, with my view on each new phone. Who knows, I might even review a few of them too.

The New Nexus 7 Tablet is available to buy now in the UK Store

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.

Decisions, decisions, decisions – which phone and operating system to choose from ?

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?

Google bans apps or games that have notification bar adverts, forced home shortcuts and more

Finally. Google has updated it’s Play Store developer policies and now forbids notification bar ads,  forced home shortcuts or bookmarks for advertising purposes.

Other aspects allow Google to block apps with misleading information,  fake reviews,  excessive  and useless tags,  deceptive developer behaviour or dodgy website names.

This is a huge change and badly needed.

The Samsung Galaxy Golden – another new phone from Samsung

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The Samsung Galaxy Golden sports a 3.7-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, powered by a dual-core 1.7 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and includes software such as the S Health fitness app and a business card scanning app. The phone comes in a champagne finish.

Currently available in Samsung’s home territory, but one does wonder is there any form factor left that Samsung doesn’t manufacture.

Don’t forget about Amazon, new high end Kindle’s coming soon

We are all waiting for Apple to release new iPad models, Google just announced the new Nexus 7 but don’t forget about the new Amazon Kindle’s.

An Amazon mystery device (codename: Apollo) running Android 4.2.2 has shown up on GFX Bench. It has a 2560 x 1600 pixel display, Adreno 330 GPU, and a 2.3GHz CPU, Snapdragon 800 processor, 8MP main camera, a front shooter, 2GB RAM, optional cellular connectivity, and 16/32/64 GB internal storage.

Plus it will feature tight software integration with all its media and shopping services.