Long overdue but hopefully if the wintry weather continues I will be indoors writing some reviews.
Fingers crossed, there will be a different something reviewed every weekday next week.
Category Archives: Tech News
Three UK – the reasons for ditching the One Plan and unlimited tethering
Recently I’ve had a rocky experience with Three UK. It took them one month to fix my local mast and judging by other mast repairs it seems that length is of time happens regularly. If only Three had been upfront in the beginning with the time frame and not kept promising 24 hours later it would be fixed. Still, the one month free line rental and free signal booster helped compensate. The signal booster is brilliant.
During this downtime, I ended up speaking to several people at head office in the UK. They told me that everybody over the next 18 months would be contacted to change their plan to one of the newer ones. No exceptions.
We then discussed tethering abuses where people would download crazy amounts of data and not think it was out of order. We are talking tethering around 300gb plus per month. You can see why Three is having to restrict tethering to just 4gb.
However, I was also told that there was another type of customer who tethered a lot of data and these were ones who would really suffer with all the changes. These were customers where at their home address there was no fixed line broadband, or any other broadband other than that provided by the 3 mobile Internet tethering to the entire family household. Usage was high again from 100gb and upwards but by removing this facility would be causing a real hardship. Often these locations were remote too.
Personally I use upto 5gb data a month and might tether up to 500mb on some months. Has Three’s new terms affected you?
Google Maps got a decent update – details
If you haven’t installed or updated Google Maps, now is the time to do so.
It has just been updated with the following –
– Filter searches for restaurants by cuisine type — Google Maps users can finally drill down restaurant searches by cuisine
– View current weather information for cities around the world
– Drop a pin for your starting and destination points in directions and navigation
– Add transit directions to your calendar
– in the Android version of Google Maps, share directions with any contact.
Source – Google
Is the Tech Press delusional – The Xiaomi Mi Note is NOT an iPhone contender
Xiaomi launched the new smartphone yesterday, the Mi Note and immediately claimed it was the best phone available as of today. Xiaomi compared the Mi Note to the iPhone 6 Plus and selected a few supposed features where it exceeded Apple’s iPhone. Then the world’s press started making comments like Xiaomi launches the Mi Note, its iPhone killer.
I respect all mobile platforms and even though my current phone of choice is the Samsung Note 4, the Xiaomi Mi Note is so not anything like the iPhone 6 Plus at all. In fact the Mi Note looks more like the Samsung Note 4. But that is as far as it goes.
So let’s not beat around the bush. The Mi Note is no iPhone killer simply because it does not run iOS 8. It does not have the same polished iOS apps. It does not have the same killer camera that the iPhone does and the list goes on and on e.g. Touch ID, Apple Pay, lightning connector and so much more. And it does not have the Apple eco system.
In fact the Mi Note is no Note 4 killer in any shape or form either. The list is huge as to why as well.
What Xiaomi have produced is last years hardware, in a svelte body and at a low price. But this feat is also being carried out by many other android manufacturers.
I am not going to say anymore on this until I have had a chance to test this phone. But please no more iPhone killer comments.
Official Samsung Hard Protective Cover Case – review
Cases. I have a history with buying cases that goes back years and is still part of my DNA. I can quickly spot a naff case, poor quality, poor usage and more. I had zero expectations for this case from Samsung but it is a pleasant surprise.
The case is a made from injected moulded thermoplastic construction which provides protection against shocks and drops. The case is easy to apply and remove, but also extremely protective. The case offers protection against impacts, so your phone is protected whether it’s in a bag or pocket, or if you happen to accidentally drop it.
The outside of the case has a special high polymer coating that gives the case a clean look, while also helping to resist dust and grease. This is prevents no unhygenic build-up of grime around the openings.
The case features a tough shock-absorbing silicone bumper, the Samsung Protective Case shields your Note 4 from damage and scratches, keeping your phone looking as good as new. The smooth textured finish also improves grip, making for a more enjoyable in hand experience, as well as reducing the risk of accidental drops.
It also has a small lip on the front edge.
So that’s the tech speak above. It is a slim fit, quality plastic product that feel good in the hand, looks good and I really like it. Will it win over another case coming from Noreve? Find out next week 🙂
Updated – here’s some better photos taken in natural daylight
The case is available at Amazon – Samsung Protective Hard Cover at Amazon
Is there no shot the Samsung Note 4 can fail at ? – updated
Taken yesterday before the snow.
If you knew how high this shot is and how far away the seagull was flying you would be even more surprised. Nuts I tell you, nuts good the camera on the Note 4.
Below is the orginal without the crop.
Xiaomi new flagship for 2015 announced – Mi Note – specs and video
Xiaomi has just announced its new flagship phone the Mi Note. It sure looks similar to the Note 4 and style of the iPhone.
Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3 on both sides, 2.5D curved glass on the front and 3D curved glass at the back, has a thickness of 6.95mm and features a 13 MP camera with OIS.
The Mi Note has a 5.7-inch 1080p display, 3.0mm bezel, Gorilla Glass 3 back and front, 2.5D curved glass on front, 3D curved glass on the rear, only 6.95mm thick, 13mp OIS rear camera using a Sony IMX214 cmos sensor. 4mp front with 2 micron pixels for great selfies. Processor is snapdragon 801 with 3gb ram. Runs MIUI 6.
The screen has adaptive contract and a blue light reducing mode.
There will also be a “pro” version of the Note with a more powerful octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor and 4gb ram and a screen resolution of 2048×1536.
Storage options are 16 and 64gb.
The regular model is powered by a 3,000mA. In terms of features it seems Xiaomi has copied Apple’s reachability for reducing the screen to the bottom half.
And below is a video from Xiaomi.
Source – Xiaomi
Two dead in LG TV factory – tragic news
Via the BBC News – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30777830
The two men were carrying out routine maintenance when they were suffocated by a nitrogen leak in the room in which they worked.
In a statement LG said that four other workers were affected by the leak but their injuries were not life-threatening.
LG expressed regret over the incident and said it had begun an investigation.
In its statement, LG said the nitrogen leak occurred at a factory known as “P8” that is in Paju city north of Seoul, that makes LCD screens for large TV sets. The factory is believed to have the world’s largest production line, making display panels for LCD and OLED TVs.
Nitrogen is used to wash the display panels during manufacturing.
LG said the accident was a “”terrible tragedy” and added that it was “working to uncover the exact sequence of events” that led to the deaths.
Update via Reuters –
(Reuters) – South Korea’s labour ministry has ordered LG Display Co Ltd to halt operations of an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel production line following a nitrogen gas leak.
The ministry, in a statement posted on its website on Tuesday, said the production ban will last as authorities investigate a nitrogen gas leak on Monday that killed two workers.
This is sad news and unfortunate.
Samsung’s first phone powered by Tizen – why? and details
Samsung has launched its first smartphone running the company’s own Tizen operating system, in a move away from Google’s Android. Tizen OS is designed to run apps written in HTML 5, and operate across a wide range of devices including smartphones, tablets, Smart TVs, wearables, domestic appliances, netbooks and in-car entertainment systems.
The 4-inch Samsung Z1 is now available to buy in India for 5,700 rupees (£60) The Z1 is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and features 4GB internal memory, expandable up to 64GB with a microSD card.
A free entertainment package named Joy Box will provide customers with music, film and TV access, alongside streaming of more than 2m English and Bollywood songs for free for three months.
Alarm bells are ringing. Eco system and apps. How will Samsung bridge this gap? Microsoft is still struggling so what does Samsung have that others don’t? This seems like a brave move and maybe the end game is envisaged totally differently by Samsung. Or it a cheaper way of manufacturing budget phones in places like India?
Source – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/samsung/11345463/Samsungs-Tizen-takes-on-Android.html
Google Play Music – Limitations of Devices and Types of Devices – my dilemma
Just in case you are the person that likes to swap and change their devices often, and use Google’s Play Music service and app, then it is worth noting the following. This applies to any hardware platform.
Google offer a maximum number of devices that can be authorised in a 12 month period of 10. 5 of which are allocated to mobile phones and the other 5 for tablets, laptops, MacBooks and other things. In a 12 month period you can de-authorise a maximum of 4 devices only. Exceed these limits and you could find your new phone or tablet won’t be able to work with Play Music.
One last point, you can only have one device at a time active.
So it should come as no surprise that as a person who reviews products and changes phones often that I became a victim of these limits. Based on other people’s experiences asking Google to help resolve this was not going to be easy. In fact, Google had no obligation to resolve the situation whatsoever.
So I telephoned Google and was referred to one of their specialist music team members. It was a great phone call. We discussed our tablets (we both had Samsung Tab S’s) and had a jovial discussion about several smartphones and we joked about a few tablets (this part was really funny). I then explained my position and why it had arisen, gave him my website URL, explained I had reviewed 18 android phones in the last 18 months, and also had a habit of changing my phones a lot, and would probably continue to do so throughout 2015. Cut a long story short, he agreed that it should not be an issue to reset my devices and start from scratch. He then said if I needed to call back again for the same reason, they would be happy to help. 30 mins later my device list was reset to zero.
So moral of the story. the Google customer service experience was as good as any Apple support call.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 