Just a quick comparison of the camera between the fun HTC Re and the iPhone 6S Plus.
The shots are taken minutes apart.
With the HTC Re you have no viewfinder. It’s video, slow motion, time lapse and stills all without a viewfinder. You can also live broadcast to YouTube. My full review will cover more.
The shot below is from the HTC Re.
This is 12mp at 16:9. It can shoot 16mp at 4:3.
And now the iPhone 6S Plus.
Which do you prefer? Note there was some mist/fog.
This is my plate of roast turkey with lots of trimmings from last night.
The latest version of iOS features Reachability. For those unfamiliar with Reachability, it is a feature on the latest version of iOS which allows you to lower the screen down by 50% simply by double tapping (not pushing) the home button. This makes one handed use a breeze for reaching the far corners etc.
So what does Roast Turkey dinner and iOS Reachability have in common? Is it –
a) A method of magically moving the roast turkey into your mouth
or
b) Something else.
Well its obviously something else. The connection is that I was enjoying a festive Christmas meal when another colleague was showing his new iPhone 6S. I showed him my iPhone 6S Plus and double tapped the home button to lower the screen so I could reach an app. My colleague turns round and says “Ah, so you have that annoying bug too where the screen keeps lowering. Apple really need to fix it.” I pointed out it was actually a feature. Confused my colleague asked “how is that a feature”. So I demonstrated what you could do without stretching your fingers etc..
The surprise on my colleagues face was fantastic.
It does make you wonder how many other features on smartphones that most people don’t have a clue exists and or how to use them!
Word is coming out that Samsung will have the exclusive rights to the new Snapdragon 820 processor until at least the 1st April 2016. This will mean it will be able to get its Samsung Galaxy S7 flagship manufactured way ahead of other companies.
But why is this even possible? Well the Snapdragon 820 is manufactured by Samsung in its own facilities using 14nm FinFET nodes. Samsung was also the first OEM to test the Snapdragon 820 extensively in its labs, in order to ensure that the overheating issues plaguing the initial Snapdragon 810 batches will not make a comeback in the sequel.
So with Samsung controlling the manufacture it doesn’t surprise me if this exclusivity deal remains in place of the early part of 2016.
Source Pocketnow
EE had a great idea. Offer its customers a free lipstick size battery power pack to all its customers so they could recharge their phones.
However, this has all gone terribly wrong for EE.
Updated 16 December 2015
We’re recalling all EE Power Bars. This is just a precaution, but we want to make sure all our customers are safe. If you have a Power Bar, you should stop using it straight away and hand it in to one of our stores.
We are taking this action because we are aware of a very small number of further incidents where Power Bars have overheated in circumstances that could cause a fire safety risk. Keeping our customers safe is extremely important to us, and that’s why we’re taking this voluntary and precautionary action.
We’ve identified a very small number of incidents where Power Bars have overheated.
What should I do? We’re asking everybody to stop using Power Bars and unplug them from their phones or tablets, and the mains. You should return the Power Bar to an EE store as soon as you can.
How do I get my £20 voucher?
When you return your Power Bar to an EE Store you will be given a £20 voucher if you are an eligible EE customer. One of the team there will give you instructions about how to claim your voucher. You’ll be able to redeem your voucher at accessories.ee.co.uk.
Where is my nearest store?
At the moment we are fully focused on the recall and we will make further announcements soon.
So this free gift now will cost EE a bomb. First of all there are all the notification costs in making sure all customers are contacted. There is then the PR costs of ensuring EE brand name does not get impacted. There is the actual financial cost of receiving and processing the faulty power bars. Next there is the cost of offering customers £20 vouchers. And with around a million customers impacted this is no laughing matter. And finally there is the product liability claims from customers that suffered injury and damage to their property.
I’ve been waiting a while to review this phone after using at IFA Germany. Anyway to wet your appetite is a little video from Asus.
There is a game in the Apple App Store called My Horse. It has lots of positive reviews. So my wife decided to try this game.
It is a freemium game which are generally unpleasant games to play due to greedy developers. However, this game seems even more spurious due to the fact it requires the following –
1) Watch a video to earn some gems. Gems are needed to progress otherwise nothing much happens. The video option is a rarity and not so onerous.
2) Earn gems by downloading and playing a different game, but you need to sign in to your Facebook account. So is My Horse really a game to sell other games?
3) Earn gems by buying stuff outside of the game. Does Apple realise this?
4) Earn gems by taking a survey and revealing information about yourself. Warning signs on this one.
But it gets worse. The app expands in file size every time you play it. At last count it was 14gb. 14gb !!!
Anyway, my wife realised her iPad was full after getting low warning memory messages. After I checked what was using all the storage I was stunned by how big this game has become and how much it grows each time you play it. Add insult to injury the £10 in app purchases that had just been bought couldn’t now be used as the iPad was full.
So I emailed Apple, who refunded the £10 without any fuss and rather quickly too.
There are several issues here. Is it time for Apple to lay down some rules on what is acceptable and not acceptable with regards to offering in app purchases. And will Apple really want to curb in app purchases when they get a 30% cut of the in app purchase revenue!
It’s Samsung’s turn for a bit of news today.
Android Authority and a number of other websites revealed details of the new Samsung Galaxy A9. This seems like a reasonable phone. The pricing will be fundamental and worth noting is that it will launch with android 5.1.1 and not 6.0.
The rest of the specs are –
– 6.0-inch Super AMOLED display with 1920 x 1080 resolution
– 1.8GHz Snapdragon 620 processor
– 3GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage
– microSD expansion
– Samsung Pay
– 4,000mAh battery with Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 technology
– 13MP rear camera with OIS and an f/1.9 aperture, 8MP front camera
– Front fingerprint sensor
The Wall Street Journal confirmed that the new Samsung flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S7 will have force touch. This will use the same tech as Apple’s iPhone 6S. It is also the same tech found already on the Huawei Mate S 128gb and a few other Chinese phones. In addition the new flagship will re-introduce the micro SD card and switch to USB Type C. The camera will feature the new 20mp Sony sensor currently found in the current Sony Xperia Z5 range.
Last week Apple released iOS 9.2. I posted details of all the 40 plus changes HERE.
Like all firmware updates, bug fixes are often included and iOS 9.2 included many of those. What is never declared is the critical nature of some of these bug fixes or how many users got impacted by the issues.
One area that effected a very significant amount of people was Apple’s iCloud, including myself. The range of iCloud issues was extensive, but let’s just say it wasn’t fun for me and many others.
However, the good news is iOS 9.2 fixes the iCloud problems so make sure you update when you can if you haven’t already. BUT. You may still get some issues so what you need to do on your iOS devices is sign out of iCloud, sign into your Apple ID on your device under the iTunes and App Store, view your account, accept any new agreement notices (if any) then make sure you sign out of the iTunes and App Store. What you are actually doing is refreshing your iCloud status with Apple’s servers. Now sign back in to everything again and you should be ok.
If you have been receiving popup screens to enter your Apple ID password daily, the above sequence should fix that as well.
It has not taken long but now the official BBC iPlayer app for the new Apple TV is available for UK viewers.
Let’s hope all the other channels follow the BBC along with Amazon too and then it will be a full house.
Following all the firmware updates to iOS 9.2, tvOS and for the Apple Watch, you can now control the new Apple TV via your Apple Watch. Works really well too. To control your Apple TV you use the remote app on the watch.
I don’t dislike any mobile operating system and have 3 on the go everyday. However, since September my main sim has been in an iPhone 6S Plus. One of the touted features of iOS 9 is 3D Touch.
Initially I was unsure how useful this feature would be and whether developers would embrace this new technology. Over the last 3 months developers have been very active with 3D Touch to the point now that once again iOS has the edge over apps and their overall content, style and effectiveness. 12 months ago I would have said android was fairly level pegging with iOS except in the gaming department. But now Apple has taken the lead again with apps. One other area iOS apps have the edge is in niche areas.
When it comes to apps, I now firmly believe Apple has the edge with apps not just apps on the iPhone, but also the Apple Watch, iPad and Apple TV. Of course, if you can manage in a world without apps, then the app advantage is irrelevant.
Back to 3D Touch and they way it transforms the iPhone experience. Below are a selection of apps that use 3D Touch –
App Store, Starbucks, Wallet, Apple Store, Shopsavvy, Amazon Shopping, Contacts, Reminders, Numbers, Safari, Tweetbot, Google Drive, Dropbox, Pcalc, Pages, Keynote, Calendar, Voice Memos, Game Centre, Clock, Find Friends, Wunderground, MyFitnessPal, Maps, Flightradar, VSCO Cam, Snapseed, Flickr, Camera+, iMovie, Photos, Google Search, Apple News, Chrome, iTunes Store, Amazon Music, iBooks, Apple Music, Notes, Camera, Phone, Mail, Messages, FaceTime, Twitter, FaceBook Messenger, WhatsApp, FaceBook, Instagram, Linkedin, Skype and Badlands.
The above list comes to 52 apps and 1 game that are active on my device. All the above apps have 3D Touch shortcut menu items from the app icon on the home screen. After opening the app 3D Touch is available dependant on the app. I’ll be honest in that it took at least a month before I started using 3D Touch. But now it is as common as anything and really speeds up the process of most tasks.
I have noticed Force Touch is available and coming to other phones on android, but the number of apps developed will be significantly behind iOS for quite a while.
3D Touch is just one area where developers have improved their iOS apps. The Touch ID and Apple Pay are two other areas where iOS score above their equivalent rivals on alternative platforms.
So for the foreseeable future iOS and 3D Touch have become a new way of interacting with a phone and its still really early days. I do look forward to future developments across all operating systems too.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 