Category Archives: Tech News

I keep tweaking my Samsung Note 4 home screen as shown above. I am still using Nova Launcher (Beta) with Tersus icons, HD Widgets, Pocket Casts and Galaxy Universal Remote widgets.

And now from my Lumia 830. A totally different look for live tiles.

Interestingly, I do find that I can see more of what is happening in my world with the live tiles than my current setup on my Note 4. But different devices produce different effects.

Episode 34 – Fight Club – Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast is now live – Please RT

April 3, 2015Tech NewsGavin Fabiani-Laymond

As you know, I co-host a monthly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast.

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

Episode 34, “Fight Club” is now live for your listening pleasure.

If you have enjoyed the podcast, please leave a 5 star review in iTunes. It helps others find our podcast. Go now and leave a review !

If you have any comments, questions or feedback, please drop a line at feedback@gdtpodcast.com or in the comments below.

And finally, our thanks to Audible as today’s podcast is supported by Audible- get a FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/GavDave . Over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. No obligation.

It’s a free trial so give it a go if you haven’t already.

If you are buying anything on Amazon, please use the link below. This will help support Gavin’s Gadgets with some of the running costs and using the link won’t cost you anymore. Thanks in advance.

GavGadgets@Amazon

HTC One M9 – 50+ Tips & Tricks

April 3, 2015Android, Tech NewsHTC One M9 - 50+ Tips & TricksGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Techsmartt put together a video covering 50+ Tips & Tricks for the HTC One M9. Some are obvious but there are a few that might not be for the new HTC One M9.

Updated – Honor 6+ is coming to the UK – Available to Pre Order NOW – Full Details

April 3, 2015Android, Tech NewsHonor 6, Pre OrderGavin Fabiani-Laymond

The Honor 6+ was unveiled at Mobile World Congress last month, and following its design and camera optics, I knew this would be my next phone.

The Honor 6+ is the world’s first smartphone that comes with two 8 megapixel rear cameras, combining to make a 13-megapixel image, as well as a single 8 mega pixel front-facing camera. The Honor 6+ will allow photo lovers to bravely rethink technological innovation with the chance to shoot, store and share their brave moments making their memories even bigger and better.

The new mobile device is packed with tons of smartphone technology, featuring:

– Unique bionic parallel 8MP rear camera providing wide aperture F0.95-F16 which can capture some of the most powerful photos – give your eyes a new visual experience and re-discover the beauty of life
– Equipped with super 8+1 cores Kirin925 chipset and 3GB RAM+ 32GB of internal memory
– 3600mAh powered battery with patented power saving technology which lasts through two days of moderate usage
– Dual SIM Dual Active with dual data usage switchable
– State-of-the-art 5.5-inch negative LCD screen, offering 1500:1 super high contrast and industry high of 85% color saturation
– Fiberglass based cover, the most important material used in military helmets. The Honor 6+ has a high screen-to-body ratio, designed for easy and more comfortable one-handed use
– Camera focus time of 0.1 seconds.

If you want to understand what makes the dual rear cameras so special check out this video.

If you want this on contract, only Three UK will be selling monthly plans.

You can now buy this phone directly from Amazon UK – Honor 6 Plus Pre Order at Amazon UK

HTC Desire 820 review

April 3, 2015Android, Reviews, Tech NewsHTC Desire 820 reviewGavin Fabiani-Laymond

Welcome to my review of the HTC Desire 820.

The first thing that grabbed my attention was the look and feel of the phone. I really love the finish with the orange accents. The phone is available in a range of colours, which in my opinion gives it some personality. It also drew attraction from a number of people who wanted to know more about the phone, just based on its initial looks. Even the micro usb port has a little orange love.

First lets take a look at the official specs –

– Size 157.7 x 78.74 x 7.74 mm
– CPU Speed Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 615, Octa-core 64-bit
– Network 2G/ 2.5G – GSM/GPRS/EDGE:850/900/1800/1900 MHz ,3G/3.5G – WCDMA: 850/900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps , 4G – LTE: Bands 3,7,8, 20
– Sensors Accelerometer, Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor
– Camera -Main Camera:13MP, BSI sensor, f/2.2, 28mm lens, 1080p video recording, Front Camera:8MP, BSI sensor, 1080p video recording
– HTC Eye™ Experience with Split Capture*, Face Fusion, Live Makeup, Auto Selfie*, Photo Booth
– AC Adaptor Voltage range/frequency:100 ~ 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz DC output: 5 V and 1 A
– Weight 155 g
– Platform Android™ with HTC Sense™ HTC BlinkFeed™
– Memory Total storage:16GB, available capacity varies RAM:2GB
– Expansion card slot supports microSD™ memory card for up to 128GB additional storage (card not included)
– Connectivity Bluetooth® 4.0 with aptX™ enabled Wi-Fi®:IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz)
– DLNA® for wirelessly streaming media from the phone to a compatible TV or computer
– HTC Connect™
– micro-USB 2.0 (5-pin) port
– Audio supported formats: Playback:.aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .flac, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9) Recording:.aac
– Video supported formats:Playback:.3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .mkv, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9), .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3) Recording:.mp4
– Display – 5.5 inch, HD720
– SIM Card Type nano SIM
– Location Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS Digital Compass
– Sound HTC BoomSound™ Dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers
– Sense Voice
– Battery Capacity:2600 mAh
– Embedded rechargeable Li-polymer battery
– Talk time: Up to 17.8 hours for 3G Standby time ,Up to 455 hours for 3G

The first thing to note about the HTC Desire 820 is that it has a Snapdragon 64 bit processor which will allow for some future proofing. The plastic body did seem to attract my finger prints, but nothing that could not be removed with a quick wipe. The 5.5-inch screen is only 720p but the panel used is excellent. The display had good colour reproduction and viewing angles. Text looked fine on the screen too. The Desire 820 has HTC’s trademark Boomsound Front facing loudspeakers and these really do offer an upgraded audio experience. Not quite at the standard of the One M8/M9 but not far behind either.

Qualcomm’s 64-bit octa-core SoC is focused at mid-range market smartphones. The Snapdragon 615 has four 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 cores and four 1.0 GHz Cortex-A53 cores along with an Adreno 405 GPU. With the RAM at 2GB this phone flies in use. The phone comes with 16gb internal storage of which 8gb is available to the user. The Desire 820 does accepts microSD cards of up to 128GB capacity. The phone comes with android 4.4.4, HTC Sense 6 and HTC Blinkfeed. Lollipop is scheduled for the Desire 820 too.

The Desire 820’s front camera is a massive 8 megapixels with the rear being 13mp shooter with LED flash. HTC’s camera app is truly fairly comprehensive. There are a host of shooting modes available apart from your regular suspects like Manual, Auto, Photo Booth, Split Capture and Panorama. Manual controls offers fine control over a wide number of parameters from ISO, EV, AWB, Filters, Shooting modes from night, macro, HDR, aperture from 0.3 to 1/8000 and lots more. For the creative ones, the camera app is ideal. Once you have taken your photos the editing software allows for many options including draw, rotate, crop, flip, straighten, frames, filters, effects (face adjustments galore) . The Desire 820 is a real social camera especially being able to create video highlights/Zoe’s.

Below are a sample of the camera shots taken with the Desire 820 so you can make your own opinion on the quality of the Desire 820 camera. In my view, in good light the photos were ok and in difficult lighting it seemed to struggle. For the full range of shots head over to my Flickr album set – https://flic.kr/s/aHsk6fBpFk

The phone can connect to other devices over Bluetooth v4.0 and has support for apt-X which add to the audio experience. USB Audio is not supported. Other connectivity options include Wi-Fi a/b/g/n and Wi-Fi Direct. The battery is 2600mAh battery which provided enough juice just to make it through one of my days. That was without using the Power saving or Extreme Power saving modes.

The HTC Desire 820 is available for around £270 an offers a reasonable experience.

HTC Desire 820 at Amazon – Offer

Nokia Lumia 830 vs Samsung Note 4 – camera samples part 2

April 2, 2015Android, Reviews, Tech News, WindowsNokia Lumia 830 vs Samsung Note 4 camera samples part 2Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Welcome back to Part 2 of my camera comparison between the Nokia Lumia 830 and Samsung Note 4. Yesterday, I looked at macro shots. Today it is simple shots taken whilst out and about. I have included all the shots taken to give you an idea of consistency too, plus some observations. None of these photos have been edited. This post may take a while longer to show all the photos as I uploaded full resolution in to this post. I have not scaled down any photos either. The task was for each phone to take the best possible shot. First group of shots are from the Nokia Lumia 830.

The photos were taken at Bradley, which is a National Trust site.

The Lumia 830 is using its Rich Capture Mode to take these. I prefer a strong effect, but you can re-edit the effect, see end of article.

Personally, I preferred all the shots from the 830, not that the Note 4 took poor shots. Some observations. After taken a number of Rich Capture shots on the 830, it brings up a message “saving photos”. This can take around 5 seconds and seems like an eternity. The Note 4 just keeps taking and saving at a phenomenal rate and clearly benefits from the bigger processing power.

The pano shot was my first attempt in this mode. I screwed it up as people emerged and I tried to rush it. The right side was not aligned properly. You live and learn. To take a pano shot on the 830 you move across and follow the line to the shaded circle. With the Note 4 you just pan across and voila. Again larger processor in the Note 4 has its advantages.

And now the same shots but from the Note 4, again using HDR mode.

The shot below is non HDR on the Note 4.

The beauty of the Lumia 830 is its Rich Capture Mode. You can fire up the Nokia Camera app, and scroll to a particular rich capture shot and change the HDR effect. There are 4 options as shown.

The customise options is brilliant as you can add just the required amount necessary.

And to give you an idea of non HDR, this is what it looks like as shown below.

I also wanted to see how good the 830 burst mode could perform. The daylight was poor but these are a few seagulls that flew over me.

And finally, just for a bit of fun, these are all taken on the Lumia 830 and edited on the phone to create the effect of my liking. These photos only had a light filter applied and then framed. Again, all on the Lumia 830 and using Camera360 Sight app.

Nexus 9 Tablet review

April 1, 2015Android, Reviews, Tech NewsNexus 9 Tablet reviewGavin Fabiani-Laymond

A few weeks ago, I received the Nexus 9 tablet and I provided a few first impressions. Today, I am going to expand upon those and detail my findings.

First lets take a look at the key specifications –

– Size – 228.25 x 153.68 x 7.95 mm
– CPU Speed – 64-bit NVIDIA Tegra K1 Dual Denver @ 2.3GHz
-Network 2G/2.5G – GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz 3G – WCDMA: 850/900/AWS/1900/2100 MHz with HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps 4G – LTE: (I had the wifi model only) Bands 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,20
– Sensors – Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor, Gyro sensor, Magnetometer
– Camera – Main Camera: 8MP, auto-focus, BSI sensor, f/2.4, 1080p video recording
– Front camera: 1.6MP, BSI sensor, f/2.4, 720p video recording
– Weight 436 g
– Platform Android Android™ 5.0 Lollipop
– Memory – Total storage: 16GB, available capacity varies RAM: 2GB (9gb free on my model)
– Connectivity 3.5 mm stereo audio jack
– NFC , Bluetooth® 4.1,Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 ac, 2×2 MIMO,micro-USB 2.0 port
– Battery – Capacity: 6700 mAh Embedded rechargeable Li-polymer battery
– Video playback: Up to 9.5 hours
– Internet usage: Up to 9.5 hours for WiFi/8.5 hours for LTE
– Standby time: Up to 30 days for Wi-Fi & LTE
– Display 8.9 inch IPS LCD, 4:3 aspect ratio, QXGA (1536 x2048) Gorilla Glass 3
– Double tap to wake
– SIM Card Type, nano SIM
– GPS Internal GPS antenna + GLONASS
– Sound Dual front-facing speakers with HTC BoomSound™ Dual Microphones
– AC Adaptor Voltage range/frequency: 100 ~ 240 V AC, 50/60 Hz ,DC output: 5 V and 1.5A

The Nexus 9 comes in a few different versions, some with WiFi only and others with cellular connectivity. I have the WiFi only model with 16gb of storage. This had around 9gb storage free but after various app updates this dropped to just under 9gb. After installing a number of apps, I now have 5gb free. I can see myself running low on storage if I am not too careful. It is a shame that no micro SD card slot is included, but then this is a pure Google experience and the Cloud is clearly Google’s preferred way of managing media. As this is a pure Google experience it runs Android Lollipop out of the box.

In case you did not realise the Nexus 9 is made by HTC. It is a 8.9 inch Android Tablet with a 64-bit NVIDIA Tegra K1 2.3GHz, 2GB RAM and weighs 426g. I personally thought the weight was on the high side considering it is only an 8.9 inch device. HTC’s trademark “Boomsound” front facing speakers are included..

Android Lollipop on the Nexus 9 was actually an enjoyable affair. Menus seemed more logical and the initial setup was a breeze. All of Google’s apps were included so just by signing in to my Google account I had all my documents, music and photos instantly on tap. I also liked the double tap to turn on feature.

The Nexus 9 is powered by a Nvidia Tegra K1 64 bit processor. On paper this is one powerful processor and when pushed especially with certain games it really can deliver. Heat build up is present on a regular basis, but nothing to be alarmed at. One of my favourite games, T.E.C. 3001 which is specifically designed for the Tegra K1 worked a charm. However, a few other games I had bought when I had had my Nvidia Shield tablet had trouble running on the Nexus 9. I imagine these games might need an update to support lollipop. My Moga Pro Power Bluetooth Game Controller worked well with the Nexus 9.

Battery was an interesting subject. The Nexus 9 is promoted as having 9.5 hours internet/video playback and this is in line with my results. However, play a high adrenaline game that requires all the processing power and that figure will halve. The display was just reasonable but not the best I have seen from Apple with the iPad Air 2 or Samsung Galaxy Tab S range. However, the 4:3 aspect ratio was a welcome change and made the whole user experience really excellent. This is one of the first android tablets I have used with a 4:3 aspect ratio, and I really hope other manufacturers follow suit.

Smoothness. Following on from my initial findings the Nexus 9 is fast and furious, mostly. The Google Keyboard is super quick to use, but for some reason the tablet occasionally stumbled and redraws occurred when returning back to the home screen. Maybe 2gb ram is not enough for a totally perfect setup.

Camera. The Nexus 9 has a 8mp rear camera and a 1.9mp front facing camera. Both these cameras take ok photos in good light, but in lower light noise levels increase considerably. The camera app is of course the stock Google Camera app, and consequently is a simple to use. Camera modes include photo sphere, panorama, lens blur, the rear camera can record video up to 1080p, the front records video at a max of 720p.

A highlight of the Nexus 9 is its front facing Boomsound loudspeakers. The extra quality makes movies, YouTube and everything else a pleasure and being positioned on the front is so logical too. Audio output via the headphone jack was good too and the Nexus 9 supported USB Audio.

All in all, the Nexus 9 is a lovely tablet to use. It has some flaws but overall the 4:3 aspect ratio, powerful chipset, lollipop and front facing Boomsound speakers make it an enjoyable experience.

Click Here for Offers on the Nexus 9 at Amazon

Nokia Lumia 830 vs Samsung Note 4 – camera

April 1, 2015Android, Reviews, Tech News, WindowsNokia Lumia 830 vs Samsung Note 4 cameraGavin Fabiani-Laymond

We all know Nokia have a great reputation for their camera prowess. And the Samsung Note 4 is also known to be a superb smartphone shooter.

I have been using the Lumia 830 in several conditions and in low light it has surpassed my Note 4. But what about macro. Below is an illustration.

First is the Lumia 830 crop and next the Note 4. The Note 4 had the benefit of a starting point of 16mp vs the 8mp on the 830.

So which do you prefer?

Oppo PM-2 Headphones – Review – Be Prepared to Be Blown Away with Incredible Sound

March 31, 2015Reviews, Tech NewsOppo PM-2 Headphone reviewGavin Fabiani-Laymond

I recently review the Oppo HA-2 Headphone AMP/DAC which simply outclassed many rivals whilst looking fabulous. So I decided to give the Oppo PM-2 Headphones a go. The PM-2’s are unique as they use Oppo’s Planar Magnetic Technology. I have never bought headphones using planar magnetic technology due to the power requirements. However, Oppo have you covered here as the PM-2’s have high sensitivity.

Many planar magnetic headphones have a sensitivity far below 100 dB and require very powerful amplifiers to drive. The OPPO PM-2 has a sensitivity of 102 dB, which allows it to pair well with both mobile devices and scale upwards when used with high end headphone amplifiers.

The OPPO PM-2 utilises a planar magnetic driver that sets it apart from the majority of headphones on the market. Sound is generated by a very thin and light diaphragm whose entire surface area is evenly driven. The diaphragm is driven in a symmetric pull-push manner, and the magnetic system and conductor patterns have been optimised for maximum sensitivity and consistency. This allows the diaphragm to generate very stable and linear piston-like vibrations, ensuring phase coherence and high resolution performance with minimal distortion.

When looking at phase coherence that is when sound enters our ear, the PM-2’s have a planar wave front with all spectrum components in phase. A typical dynamic headphone driver disrupts this coherence with its phase irregularity, resulting in less than perfect signal peak reconstructions. OPPO’s planar magnetic driver has much better phase coherency since all parts of the diaphragm are vibrating in concert without break up and delayed resonance.

In addition, OPPO’s planar magnetic driver has a flat conductor pattern that does not have any inductive components. This eliminates inductance related intermodulation distortion, which is especially common in dynamic drivers with high impedance and a high number of voice coil turns.

Another reason why I haven’t used planar magnetic headphones before is that they normally have large balance deviations between the left and right channels, and obviously accurate stereo reproduction is contingent on having a very close match between the left and right channels. During the OPPO PM-2’s manufacturing process, drivers are closely matched to ensure optimum stereo imaging and soundstage.

Also, OPPO’s planar magnetic driver diaphragm has 7 layers of thin materials that provide excellent performance, reliability, and longevity. The construction of the diaphragm ensures that it is very stable under thermal stress and vibration. The diaphragm utilises a spiralling pattern of flat aluminium conductors on either side of the driver. The double-sided design allows twice as many conductors to be placed within the magnetic field, which leads to higher sensitivity, better damping, and even drive force.

The full specifications are –

– Acoustic Principle – Open back Ear Coupling Circumaural
– Nominal Impedance 32 Ohm
– Sensitivity 102 dB in 1 mW
– Clamping Pressure 5 N
– Cables 3 m detachable OFC cable (6.35 mm) and 1 m detachable OFC cable (3.5 mm)
– Cable Connectors Output: 2.5 mm mono mini jacks
– Input: 6.35 mm stereo jack, 3.5 mm stereo jack
– Weight 385 g (without cable)
– Included Accessories Carrying Case and 6.35 mm and 3.5 mm cables, User Manual
– Driver Specifications Driver Type Planar Magnetic, Driver Size (Oval) 85 x 69 mm, Magnet System Symmetric push-pull neodymium
– Frequency Response In Free-Field 10 – 50,000 Hz
– Long-Term Max Input Power 500 mW according to IEC 60268-7
– Pulse Max Input Power 2 W

The first thing that strikes you in the packaging. The PM-2’s are beautifully packaged. You also get a protective carry case. 2 sets of cables are included one for home listening and the other for home audio equipment.

The PM-2’s are built solidly and the pads are extremely comfortable. I have found I can wear these for hours and hours and still have no discomfort.

Burning in period. I was advised that planar magnetic headphones need 200 plus hours of burning in. So the easiest way is just to leave this plugged in for 2 weeks playing music non stop. For the first time, I really witnessed a massive before and after in the sound quality. So after 250 hours this is my view of the listening experience with a range of music.

Genres used – Jazz, Blues, Pop, Rock, Female Vocal. FLAC recordings via Tidal and 320mp3 bitrate songs otherwise. Below are a selection of the songs I have listened to for this review. I auditioned the headphones using two methods. Firstly, using my Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as the source and its own headphone jack/amp with an app called Poweramp. The other method was using an app called USB Audio Player Pro, USB out into the Oppo HA-2 Headphone/DAC, the HA-2 being used for its DAC only and then line out into the Cayin C5 power amp to deliver as much oomph as possible for the PM-2’s. Naturally using a separate DAC/Headphone amp improves the audio performance, but the quality via the Samsung Note 4’s own headphone jack was rather impressive too.

Sally Barker – To Love Somebody/Dear Darlin – The PM-2 deliver the vocals, guitar and all the detail on the song with such exquisite precision. Sally Barker’s voice sounded so so emotional, no words can really describe the sensation.

Adele – Rumour Has It/ Lovesong – beautiful vocals, fast rhythmic drums, instruments and the a great beat – all so well captured and played. Lovesong has a guitar piece at the beginning of the song. The PM-2’s presentation is off the charts, I could just put this song on repeat and listening to it for hours. And then the bass track arrives, again reproduced perfectly by the PM-2’s

Paloma Faith – Can’t Rely on You – punchy, musical and a superb presentation. Paloma Faith’s voice stands out with her lovely vocal tones.

Yolanda B Cool & D Cup – We No Speak Americano – I choose this song for those that like a bit of dance music. The pace provided recreated by the PM-2’s is really toe tapping stuff, deep bass, and they pick up all the nuances within the track. I really enjoyed what the PM-2’s did with this song.

The Louis Lester Band – Downtown Uptempo/ Sweet Mary Jane – from Dancing on the Edge. My recommendation is listen to the whole album. Close your eyes and let the music melt away before you. All the instruments, vocals and just about everything on this is so impeccable and musical. Jazz/Blues genres explode to life on the PM-2’s. I don’t know if you have ever heard an artist perform, and the hairs lift on your arms. Well, this is exactly what the PM-2’s did with this album. So so good.

Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody – good separation, stunning vocals, and its Queen. So thumbs up again! What makes this track sound so special is the lifelike vocals by the PM-2’s.

Bastille – Weapon/ the Driver – the electronic sounds and fast beat really well delivered. Great vocals feeling life like vocals again. The timbre of the vocal tones is stunning. Also, the PM-2’s scale rapidly as the music explodes.

Nicola Benedetti – The Lark Ascending – natural lifelike sound again. The violin is so real in your ears. I didn’t want the song to end. Beautiful. It was as if Nicola Benedetti was playing next to me. The level of detail extracted was huge with the ability to hear all sorts of extra nuances.

So in summary the Oppo PM-2 Headphones are breathtaking. The musical experience is off the charts like nothing I have ever heard before. A HUGE recommendation from me!!

Oppo PM-2 Headphones Offers at Amazon UK

Gavin's Gadgets & Photography

Tech Reviews & Photography