Category Archives: Android

HTC One – Review Part 6

April 3, 2013Android, Tech NewsHTC OneGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Further to my earlier HTC One review posts I will cover off the settings available on the HTC One. Just to recap, I’ve now have one home screen Blinkfeed, the camera is proving excellent with fun results using Zoe mode as well as all the pre and post editing of stills and video, the sound output via the speakers is loud and clear, the sound output via the headphones is exceptionally high quality and loud and the enjoyment factor has just increased. And this phone looks damn good.

The settings can be accessed via the notification centre or from the settings app. In the notification centre there is top right a settings icon. There are no toggles for settings. The design of the settings is a lovely white background. See below.

It is a very simple process to adjust the different settings. This I found is due to the fact you are not overwhelmed by options as you would be in a Samsung Galaxy device. The settings app works in portrait or landscape which is a neat touch. Under media output is more. This has further options for usage , VPN, mobile network sharing and NFC. The battery life on the One is strong enough to leave wifi and GPS enabled. I would do the same with Bluetooth if I used it. The One offers many options to personalise your phone. Tap the personalise setting menu and there are further options available. You can change the default lock screens from no lock screen (genius idea), wallpaper, productivity, photo album and music. See below.

The HTC One has three home screens enabled but you can add or delete them except for Blinkfeed. You can however make any home screen your default. Trust me that its worth just having Blinkfeed and nothing else. You will need to make sure you have setup Blinkfeed correctly and if you have it will serve you well. I have also been using no lock screen mode. It is so much faster . Why do we need a lock screen ? If you like widgets and apps on your home screen you can add them to your hearts content.

From the personalise screen you can change your tones. The next option is accounts and sync. I love the way you can integrate contacts from other services into your people app. You can sync twitter, Facebook, Flickr , Dropbox, google, HTC , LinkedIn, news, stocks, tips & help (very useful app), Watch, weather and more. You can also control what get synced and displayed. Location manages location services and gps. Accessibility is for people with slight disabilities to help make the device easier to use. Backup and Reset. This enables you to backup to either Google or HTC . This backs up your settings, accounts, passwords, bookmarks, and apps daily over wifi. If you select HTC the backup is stored on Dropbox. You get 23gb free storage for 2 years with Dropbox too. Display, gestures and buttons . Here you can select to auto rotate screen on or off, keep the screen awake or select auto sleep, change font size, brightness or auto brightness , notification flash settings, turn on 3 finger gestures for sharing and other stuff and calibrate the G Sensor. You have the manage app options, storage menu plus the ability to clear storage space, select options for the language and keyboard including slide input and alter the date and time. There are developer options and software update on or off too.

Tomorrow I will cover off some miscellaneous items and summarise my key thoughts about the HTC One.

HTC One vs iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 vs S4 vs Note 2 vs Nokia Lumia 620

April 2, 2013Android, Apple, Reviews, Tech News, WindowsHTC One, iPhone 5, Nokia Lumia 620, Note 2, S3, S4Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Now if you are expecting a blow by blow specification review, go read any other review out there that states the obvious. Apart from the Samsung Galaxy S4 I have owned personally all the above phones. I currently use the HTC One as my main driver, with the Nokia Lumia 620 as my backup now. So what am I going to write about. Well my personal view and strengths of each phone from a real user experience. Having a phone with a heap loads of features and specifications are useless if they provide no real benefits or simply never get used.

Hopefully from my comparisons of each you can decide which phone is for you. This is more of a birds eye view looking down. So lets start with my current phone.

HTC One – key benefits is its design and looks. You will feel proud to have this in your possession. Whatever it cost you, you will always feel it was worth it. It makes other phones including the iPhone 5 look inferior. The lengths HTC have gone to make setting this up simple and transferring your stuff from any phone or even an iPhone is commendable. Also the manual is one of the best written and easiest to understand. The camera will always capture that moment first time. And the sound quality is superb, probably the best I have heard on any phone through the speakers or headphones. It also comes with a modest software suite that means you will actually find time to use most things provided. It’s focus is on its solid build, media, photo, sound and vision. As it has a slight curve on the back, it is fairly comfortable to hold. The screen is the best in class at present too. Truly fabulous screen. I think somebody at HTC thought what features does a phone really need to provide the best benefits to its customers. And that’s why the user experience is so satisfying. It is the first android phone I have used that doesn’t need tweaking, doesn’t need changing the launcher away from Sense and just works out of the box.

iPhone 5 – a compact phone but its aluminium is susceptible to being scratched. It’s angular edges also make it not that comfortable to hold but with a case that becomes not so much a problem. It is also the lightest of all the phones, and feels if I’m honest too light. It runs iOS which looks tired, as it appears not to have changed from a visual point of view that much since 2007, is actually in fact, very capable. iOS advantage is on the gaming apps. I don’t think the advantage is there anymore on the apps as android has caught up, and in several cases exceeds iOS. This is mainly due to the fact android has better sharing and multitasking. However, despite the iPhone 5 feeling tired, it is anything but that. It is a very competent phone, great call clarity, a camera so basic yet still very good even despite the competition. And if you don’t have a clue about phones you can’t go wrong with the iPhone 5. If you have other Apple products, then the iPhone 5 comes into its own sharing photos and apps between devices. However, I do feel the new HTC One steals the crown away as it is just as easy to use, and looks and feels like the new iPhone should have. However a new iPhone can’t be too far away, so maybe it might steal the thunder back. Another point to remember is if you have a problem with your phone, you can visit your local Apple store and walk out 10 mins later with the problem normally resolved. No other company offers such a brilliant after sales service.

Samsung S3 and S4 – I’m going to lump these two together as they are similar and based on each other. What you get is a slim powerhouse of Samsung software and hardware with more features than your kitchen sink. And that’s the downside as well as the upside. If you want to show off features like pop up video player, multiview screens or any of the gestures, the crazy amount of software, S Voice (Apple Siri clone ) and so much more, than this phone is for you. The camera and audio are good too, with loads of options. But remember in reality you won’t use a fraction of the stuff let alone remember how to use it all. I’ve seen many friends with an S3 and only using it to make phone calls and take photos or videos. Sacrilege I know but that’s reality. It’s also made of plastic, so unlike the iPhone and HTC One it looks cheap. However, that does mean you get removable batteries and memory card expansion. The memory card can only be used for photos, music and documents and not storing apps. Personally with the move towards more stylish phones I think Samsung should have upped their game and not used plastic. Some might say that with the functions of the S4 including software like S Health it really is a game changer. I doubt it. And remember it is bad enough company’s knowing a lot about you, but with S Health you are potentially providing information about your fitness and more. Too much data provided in my opinion.

Samsung Note 2 – it’s too big for most people due to its massive size. The HTC One is a better compromise in screen size and overall phone size. However its monster size does lend for ease of viewing anything. Multiview is a good feature too. As its big, so is the battery that will give you 2 days use with relative ease. It also features the kitchen sink like the S3 and a decent camera again. But Samsung realise the phone is a bit complicated so they feature another launcher option called easy mode. Goes back to my original comment that most people won’t use half the features. The features are mainly there to help sell the phone. However despite it size it’s a popular device. It also has a stylus just to slow you down even more. Well it does look cool. So if you want big, 2 days battery life and something that does everything the Note 2 is ideal.

Nokia Lumia 620 – this was my main phone for a week until I got the HTC One. However, I really loved this phone. It’s runs windows phone 8 so works on the concept the home screen is live tiles of your life, updating accordingly. And you know it really works well. Nokia provide a good suite of software from turn by turn Satnav , maps, music streaming and more and all free that make the 620 a bargain. It costs nearly 4 times less than any of the above phones. However windows phone 8 lacks apps and games, especially games, so it no good if you need a specific app that’s not available on the windows platform. But if that is not an issue, its the best option vs cost than all the others. It also features removable and changeable coloured backs, and a water proof back is available soon. The screen and battery life are good too, plus it comes with a reasonable camera. It’s the only phone I wouldn’t fit with a screen protector or use a case with. It’s feels the best in the hand over all the above phones, and the sort of phone you could mistreat more than the others and not feel worried.

Being totally biased if I had to chose one phone it would be the HTC One. Stunning looks and screen. Great software and hardware too. And it’s the first phone I feel I could keep longer than normal.

HTC One – Review Part 5

April 2, 2013Android, Reviews, Tech NewsHTC OneGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Welcome to my fifth part of the HTC One review. It has been an interesting 5 days with the phone and an experience that keeps on improving. As mentioned before I’ve started to embrace the phone the way HTC envisioned. Blinkfeed is my only home screen. It provides information on everything I need.

Blinkfeed has options to incorporate Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, twitter, your calendar, Zoe share, kid mode, best deals, and TV guide. The categories for fetching news include trending topics, business, design, entertainment, environment, gaming, lifestyle, music, politics, sports, Tecnhology and science, travel, and world. That’s a lot of stuff. But what’s good is it will show your latest calendar entry, a TV programme coming up that you want to watch, your social media updates and any other topic you have selected. Part of the Blinkfeed includes the clock, weather, date, the ability to search, respond, and select the category or social service only to be displayed. See screen shots below.

A feature I haven’t touched upon is the infra red sensor built into the power button. Combined with the TV app, you can set it up to control your TV and other devices. You also on first opening chose a few selections of preferred TV and then each time you open it, the app shows either your favourite programmes, recommended and what’s up now and next , next week and what programme you have scheduled. The time sensitive information can be added to Blinkfeed. Once setup the screens will look li

You also get basic controls in the notification menu and if app is active and the phone turns off, lifting the phone up turns the phone back on automatica

All once again very impressive and cross integrated into the features and functions of the HTC One.

Tomorrow I will have a look at the setting options and gesture support.

HTC One – Review Part 4

April 1, 2013Android, Reviews, Tech NewsHTC OneGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Following my previous parts of the HTC One review here I am again with my next instalment.

So what’s changed. I only now have the Blinkfeed as my home screen. All my applications are in neat folders. I have spent time getting to understand the camera and now I am producing great photos and videos from the photos. The editing is a breeze and fun to use. The sound quality is awesome. Battery life from 6am to 12pm and its at 15%. It has been used all day.

The HTC One has a FM radio. And it’s very good. It does everything you would expect, including displaying the station names. If you look at the screen shot below, there is a yellow icon top right. This is Soundhound and pressing this allows Soundhound to identity your song. Neat.

The HTC music player comes with the ability to start visualisations once the music has started and even obtain the lyrics and highlight them as the song is being song. Album art can be fetched automatically and the media player can access media servers. See screen shots.

The visualisations constantly change too. Certainly looks cool to view. HTC also include a world clock, which has alarms, timers, and stopwatch. See below. Again a functional app that does what you would expect.

The HTC One also comes with a full copy of Polaris Office. The default note app can be setup to sync with Evernote and the Task app to sync with Google. There is also a PDF reader. So from a business perspective HTC have covered all angles.

Today has been an even more enjoyable day, simply because I started to perfect the usage of the phone even more. The way I would describe the One, is the technology hides itself to allow you to feel the benefits with as little fuss as possible. HTC Sense 5 is the first default launcher that I wouldn’t not change. It’s fantastic.

Tomorrow I will look at the settings and some other apps too.

AT&T grab the HTC One 64gb as an exclusive

April 1, 2013Android, UncategorizedGavin Fabiani-Laymond

AT&T have grabbed the HTC One 64gb as an exclusive over the standard 32gb model. I’ve got to say if I was going to upgrade my current phone it would be from the 32gb One to the 64gb version, not that I have come close to using up the memory, just that I would want the best version of the HTC One.

Facebook invites the world to its android announcement

April 1, 2013Android, Tech NewsGavin Fabiani-Laymond

On the 4th April 2013, Facebook is holding an event to announce to the world information about its new home on android.

Is it new software, maybe another Facebook phone like the HTC ChaCha. Who knows. Just tune in on the 4th at 10am Pacific Time to find out.

HTC One – part 3

March 31, 2013Android, Tech NewsHTC One, ReviewGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Over the last few days I have posted a number of articles detailing my time with the HTC One. To read the previous parts click here.

Today, after spending more time with the phone I am beginning to grasp some of its uniqueness. Sometimes specs don’t reveal the real truth, since its the real life user experience that counts, and whether the specs or features actually add any proper benefit to the user.

So yesterday I mentioned how taking photos was a breeze and some of the pre camera effects possible. I haven’t touched on the video side, but needless to say it has some great qualities including slow motion and image stabilisation software as seen in the Nokia Lumia 920. So after taking a photo you can edit, share, print, send and so much more. When you open the gallery you are faced with a screen as below.

Within this first screen you have options to see Facebook, Flickr, Dropbox and Picasa photos displayed. I only have Flickr set up for the time being. If you touch the “my photos” you jump into another screen. This can show albums, events or locations. If you click into events, you can then select an event, as shown below.

You will notice the top box has a play icon. What this does it jump to the next screen shot and allows you to show off the photos of your days shooting with a musical showcase presentation. You can change the effects and more. This is a really simple idea and works really well. Plus the boom box speakers on the front with beats sound incredible. It’s not a gimmick at all. And here is a YouTube video with 8 photos put together in seconds by the HTC One – click here.

You can also use the Zoe mode or continuous shooting mode to combine multiple photos into one. Really cool again.

Of course with each photo you can edit them in the photo editor which is excellent. It has options for effects, frames, retouch and transform. Each of these options reveal tons of other options including auto enhance, colour filters galore, several frames, skin smoothing, face slimming, eye enhancer, crop, rotate, flip and straighten and much more.

If you have a DNLA TV you can of course send the photos to the TV, or use HTC Media Hub as another way of doing the same thing.

Some of features. Long press the power button brings up shortcuts for power off, aeroplane mode, kids mode and restart. Yes there is a kids zone mode which is a safe environment for your kids to use your phone.

So what else have I being doing with my One. Well I’ve been using Blinkfeed a lot more. It really is a great piece of software. I’ve changed my default home screen slightly. See below.

One thing I noticed that using the HTC One camera and changing between the different options on screen feel fast and logical. Well thought out menus and quick changing. My Samsung Note 2 and S3 were never as fast with the menu settings and felt congested too. The other thing with the One is forgetting all its specs, what you will get is a perfect photo pretty much first time every time no matter what the lighting conditions. Impressive.

One last thing, the sound quality whether though the front speakers or via your headphones is stunning. I keep listening to more and more of my music with a variety of headphones and keep getting omg moments.

HTC One – Camera Pre Filter Effects

March 31, 2013Android, Reviews, Tech NewsHTC OneGavin Fabiani-Laymond

I have been experimenting with the HTC One camera and tried the filters or effects you can switch on before you take a photo. Of course the editing options after you take a photo are numerous including removing people out of your photo who appeared .

Rather than describe each effect in detail just look at the same item with different effects applied. Some really interesting differences.

The above distorts the tea cake.

The above creates a darker edge. Ideal for focusing central subject.

The above is rather unusual.

The last one looks a bit creepy but all in all some amazing results.

First Impressions of the HTC One

March 30, 2013Android, Tech NewsHTC One, ReviewGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Yesterday morning was meant to be a quick visit to the local shops in Plymouth and back again.

However, the 3 store was launching the HTC One, so I popped in to have a look and play. Then they offered me a deal I couldn’t refuse. Being honest, my Lumia 620 was so good, I wasn’t really looking to buy anything anyway. And I was focused on the S4 which I cannot see buying anytime soon ever.

So here are my very early impressions. The phone itself is the most beautiful of anything made, even better than the iPhone 5. The screen is stunning, and seeing is believing. In the box, is a super cool mains adapter, usb lead, sim tray ejector tool and trendy looking headphones red and black headphones and some different size buds for them. Attention to detail is huge. You also get some leaflets, from safety to starting up.

So I charged the phone first. Then I turned on. A few menus appear, wifi setup and then you are asked would you like to set your phone up on your PC/Mac. I said yes. It provides you with a web address to enter in your browser, and then a code. You are then left with the setup now taking place on your web browser. From the browser you created your accounts eg dropbox, email accounts, installed a selection of recommended apps, chose your ringtones, alarm tones and notification tones, bookmarks and a few more things. You then confirm, and go back to your phone to accept and voila. With the tones you could actually play them first before selecting your chosen noise.

HTC also provide a free download of HTC Sync Manager. With this installed, I was able to read my last iPhone 5 backup data, and I could extract whatever I wanted from messages, bookmarks, pim data, photos and more. I then used the software to copy some music and photos (from iPhoto) across.

Next up I went into Google Play and started to install about 100 apps. However, I have not being able to install some due to compatibility issues. These so far include Doodle Jump, Zite, NFS Most Wanted, Nationwide and Amazon Appstore. Otherwise everything installed fine. Apparently this is due to the 1080p screen resolution which is brand new and some apps haven’t been configured to work more than 720p.

I have taken a few photos indoors and the quality in the low light is astounding. Very impressive stuff. I have also used the supplied headphones and my Bose AE2i, switched on Beats Audio and got blasted away. Great quality. The loudspeakers on the front are very good, clear and loud.

What I now have to do, is tidy up all the apps, explore all the HTC Settings and apps, and understand how it all flows.

But initial impressions are fantastic. I’ve added some screen shots of my setup so far. I had seen a few dummy cases of the HTC One but when I actually viewed a working version in silver I was blown away by how beautiful the phone is to look at. And the screen. The iPhone 5 retina screen is excellent but this screen on the One is a different league. The HTC One is a different league to any other smartphone available. It’s a quality made smartphone, looks it and feels it. The attention to detail is fanatical. Even the mains adapter comes in 2 sections which rotate to clip together. It hard to visualise but HTC wanted even that to feel amazing as the 2 sections are very cool too. Even the included headphone has accents of red on the ear buds, talk button and headphone jack. I never normally even bother to open the included headphones but I was intrigued with the red and black styling to see whether they were crap or not. In fact they are well above par and I would use them as my in ear headphones permanently. Personally, my preference is over the ear cans. I have tried a pair of Bose AE2i and Sony MDR-1. Both sound excellent and the One headphone amp is powerful enough to drive these both easily. Talking about the sound, its always best IMO to leave the beats audio option on. Then there is the slick setup procedure. All this makes you realise you have bought a quality product. And HTC Sense is professional and functional. I still need to play around with options on the home screens and more about that and day 2 will appear tomorrow.

PS. In case you are wondering, the Nokia Lumia 620 is still going to be used. It is a fab phone.

Part two is now live on my blog. Click here for next part.

Nokia Lumia 620 – another day

March 29, 2013Android, Tech NewsNokia Lumia 620Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

I had decided yesterday would be my final part of the review for the Nokia Lumia 620, but I thought I would update you on some developments.

Firstly, I have taken the plunge and sold my iPhone 5. That’s right the 620 is now my only and daily driver. Apart from what I have written, I am discovering a few new things and wanted to mention a couple more features.

Apps and games. The Windows Phone store definitely has weaknesses in both areas but especially games. Luckily, Nokia have plugged the gap with some of their own offerings. However it is not all doom and gloom. To recap some of the apps I now have installed are –

Amazing Weather – superb weather app, with live tile and live tile options, lockscreen weather too – paid app with 72 hour free trial

Amazon Kindle, Amazon Mobile, BT Wifi, Cinemagraph, eBay, Fhotoroom, Flickr, gMaps, Groupon, Hello, Here Transit, Linkedin, Lomogram, MetOffice, MeTweets (great twitter app) Natwest, Nextgen Reader (paid Google Reader appp plus other RSS stuff, very good too), Paypal, Shrink Storage, Sky News, Skydrive, Skype, Sophie Lens for Nokia, Speedtest.net, Stopwatch, Three Hub, Tunein Radio, TV Guide, TV Catchup, Twitter, Viber, Weather Channel, WhatsApp, WordPress, YouTube and Zite.

Games include Fruit Ninja, Wordament, Lexiqo and Brain Cube Reloadeded.

And don’t forget Nokia include some great sat nav, mapping and transit software, Nokia Music, City Lens and much more. As the 620 is a Windows Phone you also get MS Office and One Note, Skype, and Skydrive. So as long as the above is enough to quence your thirst, the 620 is a great phone. Don’t forget you can change the colour of the back or get a water resistant back too.

Now back to some of the other features I have seen while using this as my daily driver. As I have been using the 620, and repeating some actions more often than others, little tip menus appear showing me how to carry out the same action but in 1 step instead of say 3. For example, I used to open the phone app, select a contact from calling history, tap name, tap dial mobile. The tip menu told me all I had to do was tap on the left edge of the person’s name, and this would dial number straight away. In email, tapping on left edge brought up on left side check boxes. Tick the boxes to delete emails quickly.

In other words the 620 is trying to help me work even faster. It even got me to my Chinese takeaway quicker last night. Nokia’s included Satnav software, which if you recall allows you to download maps of an entire country, is psychic. I open up the app, go to select destination, and I type “CANTO”. 2nd entry on the suggestive addresses is the Cantonese Chinese Takeaway in Tavistock. I love this app. So off I go and get my dinner. It was delicious in case you’re wondering.

Themes. Within the settings is themes which allow you to select from a grid of colours and whether you want a dark or light background. Not only does it change the colour of the live tiles but the theme of every app. Some apps do have options to override this, but it gives a new style as often as you want. Now all I need are some colourful back covers to match the tiles.

All in all I am really enjoying the experience and it is making me wonder what I really need in a phone. It is becoming so enjoyable, I can’t see the need to change it.

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