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.
Sky News Google Play account has been hacked and compromised by the Syrian Electronic Army. Hackers placed their logo in the Google Play account.
Sky News has now advised that all it’s android apps were hacked and replaced. They advise to uninstall immediately and wait further instructions.
Repeat uninstall all Sky android apps now.
UK retailer Expansys are selling the new Huawei Ascend Mate for a crazy low price of £335.
For this you get a 1080p, 6.1 inch screened monster phone. It’s technical specs are –
Screen to body ratio of 73 percent
Platform: Android 4.1
CPU: 1.5 GHz quad-core Hi-Silicon K3V2 + Intel XMM6260
Memory: RAM: 2GB
Display: 6.1-inch HD IPS+ 1280 x 720 LCD touchscreen with Corning® Gorilla® glass
Camera: 8.0-megapixel AF rear-facing camera with HDR, 1.0-megapixel HD front-facing camera
Connectivity: Bluetooth® 4.0 / Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n / 3.5 mm stereo audio jack / Micro-USB / DLNA
GPS: yes
Network: GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz / HSPA/WCDMA: 850/2100 MHz
Sensors: Gyro sensor, accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensor
Battery: 4050mAh battery
Weight: 198 grams
Dimensions: 163.5 mm x 85.7 mm x 9.9 mm
For the price it does make you wonder why it is necessary to spend £550 on a Samsung S4.
3 weeks ago the Samsung S4 launched with prices from the largest retailers asking £629 sim free. These included Amazon and Carphonewarehouse.
At the same time, and clearly not a coincidence the networks began offering the S4 on 2 year contract deals that made it financially more viable to select a 2 year contract instead of buying it sim free.
The sim free price did cause outrage and apparently it was Samsung who set this price, and clearly in collusion with the networks.
Why do I think this ? Well not even a month later the sim free price has dropped by £130 to £499. Both Carphonewarehouse and Amazon are selling it at this price now. Let me repeat that, the price has dropped by £130!!!!
In my opinion this behaviour is scandalous and ripping off the consumer.
A good example of treating customers fairly is Apple. Buy an iPhone on first day of release and its price doesn’t drop in price until the new iPhone appears.
Amazon still doesn’t have a smartphone yet but it is going for global domination with its app store and tablets.
Amazon announced that it will sell the two higher-end versions of the device, the Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9″, in 170 countries and their app store will now be available in 200 countries.
Up to now, the Android-based Appstore, which works on their Kindle tablets and other Android devices, has only been live in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China and Japan, with Brazil next in line. It makes sense that Amazon will have opened it up at the same time as it’s ramping up its Fire tablet distribution.
This is really a massive strike as Amazon will have the entertainment, online store, apps, tablets all on offer in 200 countries, ready for when they launch their first smartphone.
Apple, Samsung, HTC and others better watch out!
Gaming on your android phone is about to reach new heights for people in the UK. The Moga Pro controller has been available in the US for about two months, but Moga tweeted that its available for pre order from Amazon, Tesco Direct Game and Carphonewarehouse for £39.99. Moga also do a cheaper version for £29.99 but its best to get the Pro.
So what’s all the fuss about. It works really well. On several forums the feedback has been excellent. Well check out the spec below –
Clickable dual analog sticks, shoulder buttons and triggers, D-pad, and four action buttons offer the control you need for the games you want
Wireless Bluetooth connection that works with Android tablets and phones.
The MOGA Arm™ secures phones up to 3.2 in./82mm, the largest phones in the market
Full-sized, rubberized grips minimize wrist fatigue during mobile gaming sessions
Internal, rechargeable batteries with a USB recharging cable
Folding tablet stand
Huge game library with more titles coming all the time
Works with Bluetooth-enabled Android 2.3+ smartphones and tablets
Check out some of the games and more information from Moga.
And here is a link to games it works with. This list is growing all the time. Games.
If you are like me, you liked Blinkfeed on your HTC One using its built in launcher, Sense 5. However, despite Sense 5 being very polished, more customisation and speed can be obtained using a third party launcher like Apex or Nova. The problem is Blinkfeed is part of Sense, so doesn’t appear with any third party solution. However, there is a solution to create a shortcut that looks like an app on the home screen.
Below is a screen shot of my home screen using Nova Launcher Prime. Two thirds down on the right hand side is an icon HTC, labelled Blinkfeed. Pressing this brings up Blinkfeed.
To get to this point, first press and hold on a blank area of the screen to bring up the below menu.
Press shortcuts, and then you will get to the screen below. Select Activites.
Then scroll down till you get to HTC Sense and select this.
The icon will now appear on the home screen. Press and hold it and rename it Blinkfeed. Now press the icon and its brings up Blinkfeed and any other home screens you had with Sense. Remove these other home screens, setup Blinkfeed and once finished, press the capacitive home button.
Job done.
Across the globe, China and Japan have a variant of the HTC One that has dual sim and a micro SD slot.
But why?
HTC’s Jeff Gordon, the company’s Senior Global Online Communications Manager went on record to say that the Chinese version of the One is designed specifically for the smaller Chinese radio bands, which means additional space inside the device is available for the microSD slot. That space isn’t available to us in the global version.
Do you believe that?
HTC struggled at release to deliver hardly any HTC One smartphones when it launched back in April. It struggled with inventory and other production issues.
However, despite the above problems and fierce competition from Samsung, it looks like it is on track to have sold 5 million phones by the end of May.
On top of that HTC has doubled production to keep up with demand which it is still struggling to meet.
With Samsung shipping 10 million S4’s, who will be left to buy the next iPhone?
Despite Samsung being in the press and BBC Watchdog over its low percentage of free memory on the 16gb S4 and the absence in the UK and most of the world of the larger memory models, Samsung just made a big announcement about the S4.
Samsung decided colours were more important than memory and therefore has announced four new colors for the device for release this summer. In addition to Blue Arctic and Red Aurora (pictured below), Samsung also has plans for a Purple Mirage and a Brown Autumn variant. The S4 will also be available in 45 more markets by the end of the year, making a total of 155 countries.
Samsung has probably decided to cover its back in case of the rumoured iPhone 5S comes out in various colours. It would be handy if they released it in 32gb in the UK.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 