Category Archives: Reviews

Sony QX10 and QX100 are getting some serious love from Sony

Android, Apple, Reviews, Tech News, ,

I’ve already reviewed both of the above devices. Click <a href="http://Sony QX10/QX100 lens review “>here to recap.

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In January 2014, both the QX10 and QX100 lens cameras will receive firmware upgrades that bump their maximum light sensitivity settings to ISO 3,200 and 12,800 respectively making dark scenes even better. They will also support widescreen 1080p video recording, and the QX100 is getting a shutter priority mode (finally) for action shots and long exposures.

Sony’s mobile shooting app, PlayMemories Mobile, just got updated to Version 4.0 for Android and iOS will introduce a quick photo browser that should make it much easier to review recent shots. For iOS users Sony claims that the app should connect to WiFi cameras twice as quickly as before.

Motorola Moto G – review part 2

Android, Apple, Reviews, Tech News

Today I will look at the camera samples from the Moto G.

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The camera samples are ok. Not brilliant and neither terrible. The colouring and pixel accuracy is just average. The shot on the moors was taken as the fog came down. The light was fading but the iPhone 5S took a much better shot which was so much better. See sample below.

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The camera app is a simple affair. If you swipe from left edge across to the right this pulls out the settings wheel. Here you have settings for HDR including auto HDR, flash, control focus and exposure spot setting, slo mo video, panoramic (sweep mode) geo tagging, aspect ratio (16:9 or 4:3) and shutter sound on or off. Swiping from the opposite edge reveals the photo library. Swiping up or down activates digital zoom. As you continue to swipe up or down you can increase digital zoom to 4x. The built in photos app has basic editing (crop, rotate) and a choice of 9 filters and frames. If you use Google’s Gallery app instead you get far more editing options (crop, straighten , rotate, mirror, auto colour, exposure, and tons more options.

If you agree to auto upload your camera photos and videos to Google+ you also get the options of auto enhance and auto awesome. This is where Google’s software tries to automatically improve your photos and then notifies you once done. The auto awesome creates a gif of a sequence of photos.

If there was one weakness on the Moto G it is the camera. It is not as strong as more expensive contenders. But if you are sharing to social media and the like you won’t really notice the difference. Photographers best look the other way!

In a few days I will report back with more findings. But one of the Moto G’s strength is battery life. I just can’t get over how good it is.

Motorola Moto G – Review part 1

Android, Reviews, Tech News

Yesterday, I provided my first impressions. Today, I will start offering my further thoughts on this £99 marvel. To recap on my first views click here.

The official specs are –

-Operating system – Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean) with guaranteed upgrade
-Processor -Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU
-Capacity, 8 GB standard, 16 GB version available
-Two years 50 GB storage free on Google Drive
-Dimensions and weight,Height 129.9 mm, Width 65.9 mm, Depth 6.0-11.6 mm (curve)
-Weight 143 grams
-Display 4.5 inches diagonal (11.3 cm) 1280 x 720 HD, 329 ppi
-Connectivity Micro USB
-3.5 mm headset jack
-Battery Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion, 2070 mAh
-Mixed usage up to 24 hours
-Rear camera 5 MP at 4:3 and 3.8 MP at 16:9 (user-configurable)
-LED flash 4X digital zoom
-Slow motion video,Burst mode,Auto HDR,Panorama,Tap to Focus
-Front camera 1.3 MP
-Video capture and playback 720p HD video (front and rear),Capture 30 fps (MPEG4, H.264)
-Playback 30 fps (MPEG4, H.263, H.264, VP8)
-Audio playback AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MP3, PCM, FLAC, MIDI, QCELP, EVRC, OGG/Vorbis
-Networks Global GSM Model: GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+ up to 21 Mbps (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz)
US GSM Model:
GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+ up to 21 Mbps (850, 1700 (AWS), 1900 MHz)
CDMA Model: CDMA/EVDO Rev A (850, 1900 MHz)
-Both GSM models require a micro SIM card.
-Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
-Bluetooth® Technology
-Version 4.0
-Location services GPS, GLONASS
-In the box Moto G in black, USB cable,Quick start guide

The box for the Moto G is very spartan. Just the phone, a quick start leaflet and a usb micro cable.

So is the Moto G really a good deal. Well it sort of is, but if you compare it to the Samsung S4, Lumia 1020 or iPhone 5S it looks every greater value, or is it? Let’s try and compare the Moto G if it had a higher specification comparable to the iPhone or Samsung S4.

£99 gets you the 8gb version. Another 8gb costs £129. So a 32gb Moto G in theory would cost £229. Still at £229 that still is a good deal and half the price of an iPhone. But the iPhone has a much better camera, processor, motion processor, audio quality, includes some cool headphones and a mains adapter. The iPhone has significant improvement on build quality. That’s worth at another £130 approximately. So now the total is £359. Still sounds like a bargain? The Samsung S4 can be bought for £399 and the 32gb iPhone 5C for £549.

The difference now in the price of the S4 or iPhone is down to the extra layers and user experience Samsung and Apple provide. Apple is a fashionable brand and you do pay for the label. But Apple does offer the best user experience, the best retail experience and the best customer care during and after purchase. And that costs something. Samsung also provides it’s touchwiz and an array of “smart” functions.

So really, the Moto G is cheaply priced with a good spec sheet. It just depends what you want in a phone and what features or functions are important. Bear in mind with the Moto G you get an additional 50gb of cloud storage on Google Drive. Plus you can change the back for a colourful option. See link to Motorola site for more info. Click here.

I have been testing the camera out taking loads of photos. I will post samples of these tomorrow along with my critique.

I said yesterday I would report back on battery. Well the Moto G came off the charger at 7am yesterday after being charged overnight. By 6pm it was down to 83%. That’s incredible.

Anyway, more tomorrow.

Motorola Moto G – first impressions

Android, Reviews, Tech News,

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The Motorola Moto G has arrived yesterday. Actually, I was asked to get some vegetables on my way home, and to my shock horror Tesco were selling the Moto G in both memory sizes, 8gb and 16gb, and both were in stock. So a few carrots and leeks ended up being a bit more expensive.

Tesco sell the Moto G for £99 but it is sim locked to their Tesco Mobile network. £2.04 on eBay and ten minutes later and the sim lock was removed. Then 5 minutes to reflash the firmware with the Moto G default firmware and now I had an unlocked and de-Tesco’d phone. All for £101.04.

The system firmware needs 3gb. So with the 8gb I only had 5gb left. That was enough for about 30 apps, most of which were games. The phone feels comfortable in the hand and isn’t too big. The volume rocker rattles as does the power button. It’s fine just not premium engineering. Everything else about the phone seems ok. In fact the overall build quality is quite reasonable.

If you have this phone especially with the 8gb version you will have to stream everything and use the cloud services that Google and or others provide.

The screen is great. Battery life is unknown at present. Most of my apps installed ok. So surely there must be a catch. Well 5gb user available memory isn’t much. But you can manage. Sound via the headphones is astonishing. I was expecting it to be crap or poor but it wasn’t. It was well above average. This is achieved using the Equaliser settings. I will report back on the loudspeaker once I have had more time with it.

The Moto G includes an FM Radio, Moto Assist, Moto Care and tips, and all the Google services.

So would I sell my iPhone 5S for the Moto G ? Find out over the course of this week?

Moga Ace Power iOS Game Controller – Review update plus list of games

Apple, Reviews, Tech News

I’ve had the Moga Ace Power game controller for the iPhone or iPod for several weeks and in that time I’ve got to appreciate its capabilities even more. I have a special folder on my iPhone called “Moga” which stores all my iOS games that work well with this controller.

So far I have the following 24 games installed that work a treat with the Moga –

Asterix
Aztec Antics
Bastion
Bike Baron
Dead Trigger 2
Death Worm
Galaxy on Fire 2 HD
Ice Rage
Lego Lord of the Rings
Lili
Limbo
Minigore 2
Muffin Knight
Neon Shadow
No Gravity
Oceanhorn
PAC-Man
Riptide GP2
Shantae Risky’s Revenge
Silverfish
Space Wars SE
Stormraiders
T.E.C. 3001
Strike Wings
Trouserheart

Whilst the size of the device with the iPhone placed in the middle is quite large overall, it does provide a very firm solid fit. The batteries seem to last for hours and hours. In fact the iPhone needs charging first, which can be done from the Moga itself.

Using the Moga Ace Power controller really adds to the engagement in the game and the overall enjoyment. It really is a pleasure to use and I thoroughly enjoy using it.

And in case anybody was thinking 24 games is a lot of games to have installed, I actually have another 109 games installed on my iPhone 5S.

Update – Angry Birds Go is compatible with the Moga Ace Power Controller.

Nokia Lumia 820 – review conclusion

Reviews, Tech News, Windows,

Instead of revealing everything about the Lumia 820 now, I am going to reveal all my actual untamed thoughts on this phone on Sunday night, within Episode 4 of a podcast I co-host every two weeks with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast.

To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.

So if you would like to have anything answered on the podcast this Sunday, please leave a note in the comments. This should be an interesting podcast as Dave and I are near the end of our Windows Phone 7 Day Challenge. This is where we ditched our sims out of our iPhones and into a Window Phone. I chose the Lumia 820 and Dave the Lumia 925. Thanks to @Nokia_Connects for use of the hardware.

Nokia Lumia 820 – review thoughts part 3

Reviews, Tech News, Windows

Yesterday I was asked to comment on the camera and sound quality. So that is exactly what I am going to do.

But before I do that I have had some problems with software. I installed Nokia Creative Studio and Nokia Glam Me from the Microsoft marketplace store. Glam Me froze every time forcing me to turn phone off and on. Creative Studio after saving an edit froze completely and the only way I could get the phone back to life was by pulling battery out. I’m not sure why this is happening at the moment.

So back to the sound quality questions asked yesterday. The loudspeaker sound emits from the bottom edge on right side of the micro USB connector via a small cutout. The output sound at full volume is very loud. It doesn’t have the bass depth of the HTC One but it is totally way better than expected and many other phones. There is slight distortion at the highest volume 30/30. Sound through wired headphones is also above average. It is not in the class of a Samsung S4 or iPhone 5S,but then these phones costs well over £200+ more.

The camera. The 8mp camera does a good job in bright lighting conditions. In dull light, it also works rather well. Below are two shots taken indoors in low light, and a close up crop of a mug. Then I used Nokia Creative Studio, colour pop for a bit of fun.

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Remember, this is only a 8mp Carl Zeiss camera on a mid priced phone! For the money it shoots above average shots in most conditions. What I do miss is the shooting mode options as found on a number of Samsung smartphones and cameras. Apart from that, it is a surprisingly good camera. Actually, it is not surprising as the cheaper Lumia 620 also managed to take some good shots with just a 5mp sensor.

Anyway, more tomorrow, but here’s in one last shot taken indoors of my pet dog, Fury.
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And a few two more. One is a crop of the onion.

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Nokia Lumia 820 – review thoughts part 2

Reviews, Tech News, Windows,

Another day has now passed with the Nokia Lumia 820.

There is a lot to like from a hardware and software point of view. Nokia include some great additions and I’m really enjoying Nokia MixRadio. I really like the fact the Nokia Here Maps is not only included free of charge, but that I can download the whole map of the UK, therefore not using my mobile data tariff whilst out and about. And just to be clear, downloading your country map is free too. The Family Room sharing is a nice feature, along with the People app. The People app integrated all my social networks and contacts, and provides a live title that kept updating with new social activity.

The app and game catalogue keeps improving and I’m not really struggling through lack of apps and or alternative options. It is clear, that if you use a Windows Phone, you have to really use the Microsoft Eco system to get the most from the experience. This now applies if using an android phone or iPhone, where you are best served with Google and Apple options respectively.

The only real issue I’m suffering from is the poor implementation of notifications on the Windows Phone operating system. This is not a fault of Nokia, it is squarely levelled at Microsoft. However, I believe the first quarter of 2014 will bring a new notification centre and in turn rectify the key area of weakness/failure.

I’m still surprised by the above average camera, especially in a phone that is so affordable in the line up of Nokia Lumia’s.

I’ve had no real issues with the 820 apart from poor notifications. Battery is lasting a whole day from 7am to midnight with about 25% left.

I’m going to explore the Microsoft marketplace and see what interesting apps and games I can find and will report back soon.

Logitech UE 6000 headphones – final review

Apple, Reviews, Tech News,

To recap on the early part of the review click here.

I have been able to use these headphones a lot longer and despite their many strengths, the constant background hiss that appears when the noise cancellation is active, is starting to frustrate me. This means I can’t enjoy my music.

Classical songs are a complete disaster. Jazz is just as poor. The only genres that don’t get impacted are dance and heavy bass tracks. So if you like this type of music then these headphones will be fine for you.

However, in conclusion, I have decided to return these headphones and cannot offer my recommendation unless you like bass led tracks which hides the noise cancellation hiss. Of course, you can use these without noise cancellation being active, but then that defeats the whole purpose of these headphones.

The 7 Day Windows Phone Challenge

Reviews, Windows, , , ,

Myself and Dave Rich of UKMobileTech have both moved our sims into Window Phones and intend to use them exclusively for the next 7 days. Dave is using a Nokia Lumia 925 and myself a Nokia Lumia 820.

We both have used Windows Mobile phones in the past, but now its time to see how the new software updates improve the experience.

To recap on my reviews of the Nokia Lumia 620, 925, 1020 and now 820, click above into the Reviews page for all the links.

To find out how we got on, tune in next Sunday to part 4 of “Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast”. To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.

Thanks to @Nokia_Connects for the loan of the phones.