Category Archives: Tech News

Cyanogen, Qualcomm and Alcatel OneTouch Hero 2+

Android, Tech News, ,

alcatel-hero2plus-cyanogen

Cyanogen are making new strides in the corporate wide having agreed a new partnership with Qualcomm

Now Cyanogen have announced a device along with Alcatel OneTouch. The Hero 2+ specifications are –

– Display 6-inch Full HD (1080 x 1920) TFT 16M color display + built in stylus
– Processor MT6592 2.0 GHz octa-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor
– Camera 13MP main camera + 5MP front camera for the perfect selfie
– Video Capture Full HD 1080p 30 frame per second video capture so you never miss any of life’s moments
– Memory/Storage 2GB RAM / 16GB of storage (Expandable to 32GB via MicroSD)
– Operating System Cyanogen OS 11 on Android KitKat 4.4.4
– Dimensions 160.5mm x 81.6mm x 7.9mm

Source – androidcentral.com

Google confirms to foray as a MVNO – its called Nova – details

Android, Tech News

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google revealed at Mobile World Congress that Google plans to bridge the gap between mobile networks and Wi-Fi, likely using its own Fiber network. The aim is to create a seamless hand-off between LTE and Wi-Fi, even during calls. As a result, the places to get access to Nova will be those that already have access to Google Fiber.

However, at this stage Sundar remained fairly tight lipped regarding its other intentions.

Introducing the new Microsoft Lumia 640 and 640 XL – plus new flagship phone details

Tech News, Windows,

Marketing_2_640XL_Home_SSIM_4G_low_res-490x320

At Mobile World Congress 2015, Microsoft unveiled new devices, services and partner offerings to help every person and organisation on the planet achieve more.

The company announced:
– The Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL, affordable smartphones running Windows 8.1 with signature Microsoft experiences built-in. The 5” Lumia 640 and 5.7” Lumia 640 XL deliver powerful hardware and a year’s free Office 365 personal subscription, and will be upgradeable to the Windows 10 service when it becomes available later this year. Lumia 640 pricing is estimated at 139EUR for 3G and 159EUR for LTE; Lumia 640 XL pricing is estimated at 189EUR for 3G and 219EUR for LTE (actual market pricing may vary).

– The Microsoft Universal Foldable Keyboard, an ultra-thin and lightweight accessory that works with iPads, iPhones, Android devices and Windows tablets.

– The AT&T Mobile Office Suite, a cloud-based, mobile collaboration solution for small-to-medium sized business customers, exclusively from AT&T and Microsoft in the US.

The key bonus is the free Office 365 Subscription with 1 TB of data. For some people this will be a good deal.

With regards to a new flagship phone this will come later in the year along with the new Windows 10 release.

Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung S6 Edge – details

Amazon, Tech News

s6

Samsung held their Unpacked Event yesterday at MWC and it was one of their best presented live streams for some time.

The Galaxy S6 specs which are near identical to the S6 Edge are –

– Dimensions – 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm
– Weight – 138 g
– Glass – Corning Gorilla Glass 4 back and front
-SIM Nano-SIM
– Fingerprint sensor (PayPal certified)
– Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified)
-DISPLAY – Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors,5.1 inches (70.7% screen-to-body ratio)
– Resolution 1440 x 2560 pixels 577 ppi pixel density
– Android OS, v5.0.2 (Lollipop)
-Chipset Exynos 7420,CPU Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57,GPU Mali-T760
– MEMORY Card slot No
– Internal 32/64/128 GB, 3 GB RAM
– CAMERA Primary 16 MP, 3456 x 4608 pixels, optical image stabilization, autofocus, LED flash
– Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, Auto HDR, panorama
– Video 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps, HDR, dual-video rec.
– Secondary 5 MP, 1080p@30fps, dual video call, Auto HDR
– WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
– Bluetooth v4.1, A2DP, LE, apt-X
– GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
– NFC Yes
– Infrared port Yes
– Radio No
– USB microUSB v2.0 (MHL 3 TV-out), USB Host
– FEATURES Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, gesture, heart rate
– Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
– Browser HTML5
– Wireless charging (Qi/PMA/WPC) – market dependent
– ANT+ support
– S-Voice natural language commands and dictation
– Smart stay, Smart pause, Smart scroll
– Air gestures
– OneDrive (115 GB cloud storage)
– Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
– MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264 player
– MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+/FLAC player
– Photo/video editor
– Document editor
– BATTERY Non-removable Li-Ion 2550 mAh battery
– Colours – White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz, Green
– S6 Edge features larger battery and extra Edge Panel options (People, Information, Clock)

The new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge look gorgeous and in particular the Edge. The new colours are superb too. Personally the Gold and Green colours look great. Some might be surprised by the lack of micro SD card support and a removable battery, but the new S6 has Samsung’s new fast access memory available in 32/64 or 128gb options. With its new 14nm 64 bit Exynos Chip this is meant to be 30% more frugal on the battery. Wireless charging is now implemented as standard and includes all major wireless standards. The cameras both have a f/1.9 for better low light photography. The software has been overhauled to be easier to understand and less apps have been installed by Samsung. 40% less. The fingerprint scanner now is like Apple’s Touch ID and will work with Samsung Pay when it launches later in the year. I really like the double tap to launch the camera which works in 0.7 seconds!

My overall verdict is these new phones are spec monsters but not at the loss of beautiful design. I am looking at my Note 4 and wondering how long it will last now but I do like my stylus. What about you? Tempted? The is one aspect that might impact sales of the S6 Edge and that is its price. The 128gb S6 Edge is likely to be around £799.

HTC One M9 – Everything Revealed including Specs

Android, Tech News,

m9

HTC announced the new One M9 which features new coloured sidewalls providing a more distinctive design.

The Duo Camera setup from the One M8 has gone and now you get a single 20MP rear camera. HTC’s UltraPixel 4mp lense is now on the front for low light performance for those all important selfies.

The screen is a 1080p 5-inch, full HD display with front facing Boomsound speakers now with Dolby Audio 5.1 technology.

HTC’s includes its latest user interface Sense 7. It’s focussed on customisation, and there’s a new Themes Editor application to help you apply that personal touch to your device.

32GB of internal storage is standard and support for 128gb micro sd cards and 100GB of free Dropbox for two years.

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 810 processor powers the phone with 3GB of RAM, battery is 2800mAh.

The HTC One M9 will be in three colour combinations, gold on silver, gun metal on grey and gold on gold, with a global release date of March 31.

So HTC have focused on the design language and pushed the specs up from the One M8. The M9 appears to be very much a social type camera with all its Sense 7 UI integration.

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Source – HTC.com/ZDnet.com (image)

HTC Grip – Full details

Android, Apple, Tech News, Wearables,

image

HTC announced their new fitness wearable in partnership with Under Armour.

The full specifications are –

– Small Size – 51.9 x 68.2 x 22.5 mm
, Inner circumference: 145.54mm
– Medium size – 60.98 x 74.57 x 22.5 mm, 
Inner circumference: 169.76mm
– Large size – 68.92 x 85.24 x 22.5 mm, 
Inner circumference: 199.51mm
– Display 1.8-inch inch 32 x 160 PMOLED mono flexible display with capacitive touch
– Platform – RTOS
– Processor – STM32L151QDH6
– Memory – 16MB Flash, 8MB SRAM
– Battery – 100 mAh rechargeable battery
– 2.5 days battery life or 5 hours w/GPS activated
– Sensors – Sensor Hub (STM32F411), G-sensor, Gyro, Compass, GPS, Light sensor
– Connectivity – BLE (Bluetooth 3.0 and 4.0),
USB charging cable
– Other Vibration notifications, IP57 Dust & Water Resistant, Shock Resistant (compliant with MIL-STD-810G 516.6 Procedure I, IV)

Huawei Talkband B2 and Huawei Watch – details

Android, Tech News, Wearables

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Huawei announced the Huawei Watch an Android Wear watch with a 286 ppi 1.4-inch AMOLED touchscreen that will be sold in gold, silver, and black.

It comes with a heart rate monitor, 4GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, a 6-axis motion sensor, and a a Qualcomm 1.2GHz processor to power it all. It will pair to any Android phone using Bluetooth LE. Huawei will sell the watch in over 20 countries.

image

Huawei Talkband B2 is a dust and water resistant metal body and 0.73-inch PMOLED touchscreen display. It has a gyro and accelerometer packed inside and as well as counting your steps it’ll also track your sleep and inform you of calories burned.

The B2 has the ability to pop it out of its strap and stick it in your ear as a Bluetooth headset. Hence the name.

The Huawei Ascend P8 will get announced next month and is meant to be a flagship killer.

Sandisk 128gb Micro SD Card and Honor Holly – Special Low Prices Today Only

Amazon, Tech News,

Just spotted that Amazon UK has the following deals which offer great value.

A few days ago the Sandisk 128gb Micro SD Card was reduced to £54.99, but now if you select frustration free packaging it is the same price. Link to get special price – SanDisk Ultra 128 GB microSDXC UHS-I Class 10 Memory Card with Adapter £54.99

I recently reviewed the Honor Holly, a dual sim 16gb android phone. At the moment you can get it from Amazon UK for £76.99 which is 35% off normal price. To get this special deal click here Honor Holly UK SIM-Free Smartphone Black for £74.99

MWC Announcements, Updates Today & Live Stream Links

Tech News

It is going to be a frenzied day of new devices being announced at MWC. Samsung, HTC, Huawei and many others. Therefore, keep a close eye on new post updates throughout today and next week.

Huawei Live Stream – 12:30 hours UK Time – http://consumer.huawei.com/mwc/

HTC Live Stream – 15:00 hours UK Time – http://www.htc.com/uk/go/launch/

Samsung Live Stream – 17:30 hours UK Time – http://www.samsung.com/uk/unpacked/

On the 2nd March 2015 –

Microsoft Live Stream – 06:30 hours UK Time – http://news.microsoft.com/event/mobile-world-congress/

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 – review

Android, Reviews, Tech News, ,

image

Welcome to my review of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablet. This review will focus on how I use this tablet versus the default setup from Samsung. Also this is not a loan device from Samsung PR, this is my preferred tablet of choice. The key specs of this tablet are –

– Android OS 4.4.2 (KitKat) – Lollipop is due in summer 2015
– 10.5in Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 2560 x 1600 pixels, 288 ppi
– Exynos Octa-core processor
– microSD, up to 128 GB
– 16/32 GB internal storage
– 3 GB RAM
– 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, dual-band, DLNA
– Bluetooth 4.0 LE with A2DP
– Infra Red Blaster
– Fingerprint scanner
– microUSB v2.0 (MHL 2.1)
– stereo speakers
– 3.5mm jack
– 8 Mp, 3264 x 2448 pixels, 1080p@30fps
– 2.1 Mp front camera
– Non-removable Li-Po 7900 mAh battery
– 247 x 177 x 6.6 mm
– 465 g

The Tab S is a high specification device with a number of USP’s. It is fast and powerful with a fabulous screen. All day battery life of around 10 plus hours. Storage is expandable with a micro sd card for music, photos and documents. The rear camera has a flash unit. It has a fingerprint scanner for a securer mode and an infra red blaster.

Touchwiz comes as the default launcher and that also has a magazine UI layout too. It all looks fancy but it slows down the speed of the tablet, so now I use Apex Launcher as you can probably see from the photo above. My setup with Apex Launcher includes Google Now widget, infra red button widgets, and my favourite apps on the single home screen. I have also replaced the Samsung keyboard with Swiftkey which works really well with this tablet.

The Tab S is protected by the Samsung cover that also has a typing position and movie viewing too. What is unusual about the cover is that it has 2 studs that push into the back of the tablet, and then when pushed in, click and lock. It is not the easiest of cases to connect, but at least it won’t detach now.

The tablet is typical Samsung, with all the bells and whistles included. But what I like is the micro sd card slot for storing all my photos and music, the infra red blaster than I use everyday and the good stereo speakers that also have a decent volume. The audio quality via the headphone socket is excellent. USB Audio is supported too. The 8mp camera comes with the all singing Samsung camera app. Flash is included too. Options include metering modes, touch to capture, ISO from 100 to 800, Night mode, face detection, Full HD Video recording (1080p), Video Stabilisation, effects, timer and location tagging. Shooting modes include Auto, Beauty Face, Shot & More, Panorama, HDR, Dual Camera, Sports, and there are other modes you can download. Camera quality is ok but in anything but good light, noise is present in photos captured.

As I have a Samsung Note 4, I use the Samsung Side Sync mode/app. This enables full control of my Note 4 from the Tab S. Pretty cool stuff. I use Wi-Fi Direct a lot between my Note 4 and Samsung Tab S, mainly to transfer photos taken on my Note 4, that are then edited on the Tab S.

The Tab S screen is really fantastic and makes all viewing really pleasurable. The Tab S also has Ultra Power Saving mode, 4 different screen display modes (adaptive, amoled cinema, amoled photo and basic), a reading mode, Toolbox shortcuts, motion controls for mute/pause and palm swipe to capture, blocking mode, private mode, finger scanner, users and profiles (you and setup more than one person to use the Tab S with their own profile), lock screen shortcuts and screen cards.

When it comes to multitasking, the Tab S also possesses multi window, allowing 2 apps to be on the screen at the same time.

I have had the Tab S about 3 months now and really enjoy using it. It is a powerful tablet that gets loads of use by myself and I cannot see myself changing it anytime soon.