Category Archives: Tech News

Apple to launch its iWatch next month – apparently makes the Moto 360 seem ugly

Apple, Tech News

According to journalist John Gruber –

“It looks like Motorola’s designers tried to draw as much attention as they could to the 360’s stupid flat-tire display shape. The only way this could get funnier would be if it doesn’t even ship until after Apple announces their wrist wearable thing next month.”

IF there is any truth in this statement by John Gruber, then it could be another situation where Apple launches a new product and whilst not first to market, is the first to get it right!

LG G Watch – corrosion conclusion – review – the unanswered questions

Android, Reviews, Tech News, Wearables, ,

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5 days ago I posted an article explaining that Google support had given me a time sensitive deal which would only be valid for 24 hours to accept a replacement LG G Watch.

I challenged this with a simple request. Would the replacement be of a different design? and or would there be any reason to expect corrosion with a replacement. I really liked the G Watch. But all I wanted was some form of conclusion and confirmation by Google.

So how did this get resolved by Google. A RMA for a refund has been processed. No explanation has been provided. So it could be that the specialist support team knew nothing, knew everything but could not confirm either way or knew the watch would corrode again after the OTA update to fix the charging pins being active whilst off the cradle.

What is odd about the LG G Watch OTA update which is suppose to stop the charging pins being active when not on the cradle, is the Samsung Gear Live watch is about to receive the exact same firmware update OTA and yet it does not have the same issues.

Whatever the reason or reasons for the corrosion, these will remain unanswered for now.

Update – official internal document from LG. Shame Google support knew nothing about this –

image

LG G3 – 15 Part Review Summary

Android, Reviews, Tech News, ,

To help find all the posts relating to the LG G3 review, I have collated them below –

Part 1 – Review Part 1 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/lg-g3-review-part-1/

Part 2 – Camera Samples – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/lg-g3-sample-photos/

Part 3 – LG G3 Premium Hard Case – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/lg-g3-premium-hard-case-in-tan-review/

Part 4 – Review Part 2 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/lg-g3-review-part-2/

Part 5 – LG G3 Firmware update – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/22/lg-g3-first-firmware-update-now-coming-ota-full-change-log/

Part 6 – Review Part 3 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/lg-g3-review-part-3/

Part 7 – Review Part 4 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/lg-g3-review-part-4/

Part 8 – Game for the LG G3 QuickCircle case – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/lg-announces-a-game-for-the-lg-g3-quickcircle-case/

Part 9 – Review Part 5 – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/lg-g3-review-part-5/

Part 10 – More Photo Samples – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/some-more-photos-from-the-lg-g3/

Part 11 – Action Shots – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/27/lg-g3-high-speed-camera-action-shots/

Part 12 – LG G3 vs Sony DSLR macro shootout – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/lg-g3-vs-sony-dslr-macro-shoutout-which-photo-came-from-which-device/

Part 13 – LG G3 Health – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/08/04/lg-g3-review-lg-health/

Part 14 – LG QuickCircle case – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/08/06/lg-quickcircle-cover-case-for-the-lg-g3-review/

Part 15 – LG WCD-100 – Qi Wireless Charger review – https://gavinsgadgets.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/lg-wcd-100-review-lgs-g3-qi-wireless-charger/

And more posts to follow over the course of the following weeks.

Be careful – Google Play Music device limits changed

Android, Apple, Tech News

If you use Google Play Music you can have up to 10 devices authorised. But the bad news is that in a 12 month period you can only de authorise 4 devices.

And a word of warning – Every time you perform a factory reset or flash a firmware that counts as another device being authorised so you can see it is easy to be requiring to de authorise more than 4 devices in a year.

Samsung has lost its market share in China and India

Android, Tech News

Its not good news for Samsung as it is feeling the pressure from other companies. Samsung is still making the lion share of profits but they are declining.

According to Canalys, Xiaomi shipped 15 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2014, up from 4.4 million sales during Q2 2013. Samsung, meanwhile, sold 13.2 million smartphones in the country, down from 15.5 million a year ago.

Xiaomi now controls 14 percent of the Chinese smartphone market share, while Samsung, Lenovo and Yulong, the manufacturer of the Coolpad handsets, enjoy a 12 percent market share.

In Indian, Micromax has topped Samsung in a similar story to Xiaomi.

Just shows how fast technology changes and peoples perception of a brand.

Source – BLoomberg

Sony is holding a Press Conference on 3rd September – details

Android, Tech News, ,

IMG_1167.JPG

With IFA Berlin 2014 occurring in September a number of manufacturers are likely to hold press conferences prior to the official conference opening of IFA. Apart from Samsung, Sony is also holding a press conference on the 3rd September and judging by the invite it looks certain we will see new smartphones, tablets and the new Sony QX30 Hub lens.

LG G3 – Stylus Edition

Android, Tech News

lg-g3-stylus-2014-08-05-01
LG is on a roll. The LG G3 is proving its most popular handset for a while and rightly so. LG have released in the USA, the LG G3 Beat which is a budget version of the G3. But there is another handset in the pipeline to take on the Samsung Note 3 Neo called the LG G3 Stylus.

LG did comment it was going to release 60 new phones this year and clearly it is wasting no time.

Source – engadget.com via Jah

Top 5 Changes Apple made in iOS 8 Beta 5 and OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 5

Apple, Tech News, ,

Apple updated both its beta programs to release 5.

iOS 8 Beta 5 top 6 changes apart from bug fixes are –

1) Health app – the Health app now collects Spirometry data. The app has gained several new icons, the ability to export Health data, and a “Show When Logged” option to display Medical ID on the lock screen. There are also privacy settings for Health in the Settings app.

2) Photos – Photos now displays a “Last Updated” notification to let users know when images were last synced to iCloud. There’s also an iCloud Photo Settings option to store full resolution photos solely in iCloud while keeping device-optimised versions available on the iPhone to save storage space.

3) SMS Relay – iOS 8 users are getting a popup that asks them to use their phone numbers for SMS Relay on their MacBooks, one of the new Continuity features between OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 and a really cool feature too.

4) WiFi calling – when this is occurring it says the name of the network plus the text Wifi Calling eg Three WiFi Calling

5) There is now an option on the keyboard to turn on predictive text

6) Wallpaper Settings – The Brightness toggle has been removed from the Wallpaper section to the Display & Brightness section of the Settings app that was added in a previous iOS 8 beta.

OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 5 top 5 changes are apart from bug fixes –

1) The redesigned calculator app is more translucent

2) Yosemite’s screen brightness and volume indicators are shown in a more iOS-like HUD interface

3) There’s an option to show the full URL of the page you’re visiting in the address bar, which is hidden in Safari by default

4) Launchpad’s dock icon now shows a little progress bar for downloading apps

5) The System Preferences toolbar got slimmed down in size a fraction