Category Archives: RIM

20 Smartphone Camera Shootout / 20 Phones Reviewed / 50 Accessories Reviewed incl Wearables – The MASTER POST – Pls RT

Gavin’s Gadgets is just over 18 months old. And therefore I thought it would be appropriate to highlight all the content written within my blog. In fact there is over 2,500 posts.

1) First up over 20 smartphones have been reviewed, from all the current flagships of 2014, 2013 and budget offerings. Also some oddball phones like the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom. Link below –

https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/review-links/

2) Next up is the Accessories / Wearables reviews. This covers smart watches, Gear Fit, camera smartphone accessories, app enabled accessories, headphones, cases, power and so much more. Probably around 50 reviews or so. Link below –

https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/reviews-accessories/

3) We all like the cameras on our phones. But even it you’re not fussed have a look at this 20 phone camera shootout. It includes all the flagships from 2014 across 3 different operating systems. Link below –

https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/12/wow-20-smartphone-camera-shootout-iphone-5s-lg-g3-htc-one-m8-samsung-s5-k-zoom-note-3-sony-nokia-nexus-huawei/

I have one favour to ask you all. As you will have noticed there is no advertising so I take the full burden of the costs involved in running and producing the content and receive no income in return.

So please could you help me by recommending my blog to your friends. And if you want to throw a bucket of ice water over your head when you have done so, that is entirely optional.

A few of you have sent a small donation which was incredible and appreciated. If you wish to make a donation to my paypal, please use gavinfabl at gmail dot com. Just think of all the coffee I need at 3am whilst writing the next day’s posts 🙂

And finally, have a great day whatever you are planning and keep smiling.

Today’s Top 12 IFA 2014 & Apple News, Announcements and Rumours

Here we go again. It’s been a busy few days and is likely to explode soon.

1) Sony are teasing with the below video. But look carefully there are lots of clues. 3 new devices. Z3 Compact tablet, Z3 and Z3 Compact phones.

2) Dyson, yes Dyson has a big launch on 4th September. This new product has taken 16 years to develop, 200 engineers and a £28m investment. Maybe a robotic Hoover controlled via your smartphone? Below is the video teaser from Dyson.

3) iPhone news – via Wired.com – the next iPhone will have a payments solution that will incorporate NFC technology.

4) Nokia are about to launch HERE Maps for Samsung Gear smart watches. The official announcement will be later today.

5) Huawei Ascend Mate 7 – leaked photo below.
mate
This is a 6 inch phone, with thin bezels and a 13mp camera. Source Weibo via GSM Arena.

6) The Samsung Galaxy Alpha is available for pre order now in the UK ahead of the smartphone’s expected launch of September 10th. The Carphone Warehouse joins EE, Phones 4u and Clove by kicking off the ability to pre-order the new smartphone. Clove link http://www.clove.co.uk/samsung-galaxy-alpha

7) Apple goes official with the 9th. If you look closely at the invite below there are several clues hidden away. The event will take place at 10:00 AM Pacific Time at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of De Anza College in Cupertino. Expect the new iPhone 6 and wearables from Apple to be announced. However, the latest rumour suggests there is no 5.5 inch iPhone.

IMG_2376.JPG

8) Continuing the Apple Event, it has been noted that a large 3 storey building is being built at the Flint Center. Should be a lot of new hardware inside!

9) LG’s new round smartwatch will cost 299 euros.

10) Food for Thought. Samsung Gear S smart watch has identical specs to an iPhone 4S except the storage. The Gear S only has 4gb storage, whereas the 4S has 8gb. Just shows you what a feat of engineering Samsung has achieved, unless of course Apple show the world what really can be done.

11) Apple updates iOS 8 terms and conditions. Disallows developers to sell health kit data.

12) Google releases info on Project Wing.
wing
Google has built and tested autonomous aerial vehicles, which it believes could be used for goods deliveries.The project is being developed at Google X, the company’s clandestine tech research arm, which is also responsible for its self-driving car.Project Wing has been running for two years, but was a secret until now.Google said that its long-term goal was to develop drones that could be used for disaster relief by delivering aid to isolated areas. More info at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-28964260

Top 25 Latest Rumours, News and Announcements for Wednesday 27th August 2014

Below are details of rumours and announcements since yesterday.

1) HTC teases a 64 bit, 8 core phone for China. And then HTC announced the LTE-equipped Desire 510 for a worldwide launch. The 510 is a 4.7-inch device with a fresh plastic design in either white or navy blue.
The Desire 510 pulls design notes from both the Desire 816 and 610, but has much lower-end specs with a 4.7-inch display of 480 x 854 (FWVGA), Snapdragon 410 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage (SDcard expandable) and a simple 5MP camera, Android 4.4 and Sense 6.
HTC_Desire_510_PerRight_White

2) Samsung opens registration for its Developer Conference 11-13 November at the Moscone West Centre in San Francisco. And it costs $499.

3) California law is now changed – every cellphone sold in California will now have to include a remote disabling option that lets you render a stolen device unusable. More importantly, this antitheft security measure will have to come enabled by default.

4) Moto Luge leaked by TKTechnews. Looks like a rebranded Moto R from a few years ago.
luge

5) Windows Phones dealt a blow by Huawei. Wall Street Journal reported that Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business group, that although his company would be interested in building handsets based on another OS, it just makes no sense to do so right now because it’s found that consumers don’t want to buy Windows Phones.

6) Ralph Lauren is making a move in to the wearable devices market this week, as a number of ball boys and one player at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships are outfitted with new, iOS-connected nylon shirts that track health and fitness data.

7) Rumoured Phosphorus coprocessor for the iPhone 6 will be able to track information from various wearables and other built-in sensors that provide heart rate, cholesterol, blood sugar and calorie levels

8) iPhone 6S rumour – It will feature the new A9 chip that will be a 16 nanometer chipset

9) Huawei stops backing Tizen. Says it has no future.

10) Sony announces the M2 Aqua. The worlds most waterproof and dustproof phone. IP65, IP68. Other specs include a 4.8-inch qHD display (540 x 960 pixels), a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor, an Adreno 305 GPU, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel Exmor RS rear-facing camera, 8GB of expandable storage, 4G LTE, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 2,330 mAh non-removable battery.12_Xperia_M2_Aqua-578-80

11) Google releases Slides for iOS to complete its Office editing apps for iOS.

12) Motorola to releases updated SKIP as a keychain fob.

13) Sony releases the DSC-KW1. A camera that looks like perfume bottle.
sony
KW1 comes with a 3.3-inch OLED display to go with a 19.2 MP camera. The camera is equipped with a 21mm f2.0 lens that can be rotated 180 degrees.

16) Google on track for releasing Android One next month. Android One is supposed to be capable of offering the most recent, powerful software experience to low-end specced phones. Specs go, expect 5 MP camera, 1700 mAh battery, 1 GB RAM, and a Snapdragon 400-ish processor. The price these devices will be sold at will span from $115 to $165.

17) Moto G2 specs revealed – screen 5 inch 720p, thinner bezels, 8mp camera, micro sd, front speakers, snapdragon 400, 1gb ram, changeable back covers – bargain phone
Moto-G2-teaser-580-90

18) Via Appleinsider – Apple has a new patent granted by the USPTO that describes various control mechanisms that could be used with flexible displays, to replace components such as physical buttons with more durable and resilient alternatives, and to create alternate means for detecting sound output, providing haptic feedback and even performing other tricks like making it easier to open a MacBook lid.

19) Huawei to launch the Ascend Mate 7 at IFA 2014 – a 6 inch phablet, with fingerprint recognition and car integration. Other specs include 8 GB internal memory with microSD card slot, 2 GB RAM, 13 MP camera at the front and a 5 MP rear shooter along with Android 4.4.2 KitKat. Huawei is also said to be launching a sapphire display version of the Ascend P7 at the IFA

20) Bloomberg reports – Apple to release massive 12.9 inch iPad in early 2015. Now would you buy this huge tablet? Certainly seems like Apple is not going to let Samsung take control of this larger tablet size too.

21) Amazon Fire Phone likely to only have sold 35,000 units. Source Engadget.

22) Archos launches ahead of IFA 2014 connected weather station, light bulbs and beanies. The weather station will monitor temp inside and outside, include plant sensors. The Weather station will track temperature, humidity, air quality, atmospheric pressure, and noise levels. The Archos Weather Station system is expected to be available in September for $149. Sounds similar to the Netatmo Weather station. The Archos Music Light is a combination LED bulb and Bluetooth speaker that screws into an standard Edison socket for both illumination and tunes for $49. Only the music can be controlled.

23) Archos has announced some budget phones.The 5-inch 50b Platinum smartphone available next month for £119. The smaller 45c Platinum will launch around the same time for £99, and the 101 Oxygen will be following up in October for £199. The Platinum will run Android KitKat, have a quad-core processor, dual SIM support, and an 8 megapixel primary camera. The 101 Oxygen will have a 1080p display, 1.5 GB of RAM, and run on a quad-core A17 ARM processor. More info at Archos http://www.archos.com/gb/products/smartphones/index.html?#idplatinum
archos_50bplatinum

September Gadget and Smartphone Madness Begins Today

There are going to be an outrageous amount of leaks, rumours and then a wave of new hardware being announced. Rather than clog up the news with individual posts over the next few weeks I am going to try an experiment and create a single concise post summarising all the tech snippets.

This single post will go live everyday at 6.30am UK time.

Obviously, if there is any new hardware worthy of an individual post then this be created.

In addition, there will be lots of new hardware device reviews in the months of September and October. So stay tuned.

Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast is now live – Please RT

As you know, I co-host a weekly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast bi-weekly. To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.

Episode 22 is now live for your listening pleasure.

Why I will be changing my LG G3 for the BlackBerry Passport

passport_white_xray

The BlackBerry Passport is due out next month. It is unique with its square shape and screen, special keyboard and more. BlackBerry have emphasised just how good the screen is for documents.

But now they are promoting it is perfect for viewing X-Rays of your lungs. So now I have found a feature my LG G3 does not include, and this in turn has provided the sole reason for changing the LG G3 for the BlackBerry Passport. I know deep down this is a feature you all have dreamed of, so maybe we can all club together and make a bulk purchase!

Source – http://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/08/passport-xray/

Another blow for BlackBerry

Ford has announced that it is moving from Blackerry to the iPhone. Even worse for BlackBerry this process will be complete by the end of 2014.

3,300 Ford workers will be given iPhones by the end of 2014 with 6,000 more employees to receive iPhones over the next two years.

To be honest this is not a surprise, as many other companies have started offering the iPhone too.

Source – http://www.bloomberg.com