I was greeted this morning with the first software update for the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom. It’s installing now, so let’s hope my Bluetooth music streaming is fixed and the camera is tweaked in auto mode. I will report back tomorrow. Update. Camera firmware has been updated.
Also, the Samsung Apps app is now Galaxy Apps. New icon and interface.
Clove Technology. are offering the new Nokia Lumia at an incredible SIM free price of £435 inclusive of VAT.
In addition you also get the following-
From the 17th until the 31st July 2014 any Nokia Lumia 930 purchased will include*:
1 x DC-50 wireless charger plate(2400mAh battery & wireless charger in one)
1 x MD-12 wireless speaker
1 x £20 voucher for free apps from the Windows store
Altogether, this promotional offer is worth around £130 RRP.
So long as you can live with Windows 8.1 then this is a great phone.
BEIJING (Reuters) – A Beijing court has ruled against Apple Inc (AAPL.O) by upholding the validity of a patent held by a Chinese company, clearing the way for the Chinese company to continue its own case against Apple for infringing intellectual property rights.
Apple had taken Shanghai-based Zhizhen Internet Technology and China’s State Intellectual Property Office to court to seek a ruling that Zhizhen’s patent rights to a speech recognition technology were invalid.
But the Beijing First Intermediate Court on Tuesday decided in Zhizhen’s favor, the People’s Daily state newspaper reported on Wednesday.
After the verdict, Apple said it intended to take the case to the Beijing Higher People’s Court, according to the People’s Daily.
“Unfortunately, we were not aware of Zhizhen’s patent before we introduced Siri (speech recognition technology) and we do not believe we are using this patent,” said a Beijing-based Apple spokeswoman in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“While a separate court considers this question, we remain open to reasonable discussions with Zhizhen,” the spokeswoman said.
Zhizhen declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.
Zhizhen sued the U.S. firm in 2012 for intellectual property rights infringement, saying Apple’s Siri used on devices including the iPhone violated Zhizhen’s own voice system patents.
Source – http://www.Reuters.com
This Sunday, Dave Rich from UKMobileTech and I, record the next episode of “Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast” , available on all decent podcast apps and iTunes or directly at http://www.gdtpodcast.com.
Tune in for the latest on the above 3 devices, has one or more been sent to the archives. Or is it heaven in earth?
Plus all the latest tech news from Android, Blackberry, Apple and Windows.
So day 2 with the LG G Watch. Battery performance was marginally better, ending at 56%.
I made a few errors with the notifications, dismissing them in the process meaning I couldn’t reply to some messages. There were some other oddities occurring which confused me, so I am going to read over the manual again just to make sure I am not doing something wrong.
At the moment if I get a text message I can only view not reply to it. Yet hangouts allows replying. I hope LG fix this ASAP. I mean LG phone and a LG watch how difficult can that be!
The G Watch is recording my steps. But this data is not syncing with anything, not even the LG Health app on the G3.
On the app front, Google has released an update to its Google Camera app that adds a remote trigger functionality via the watch.
I also had some errors with Google voice meaning I sent incorrect messages to a few people. The jury is out still on this device. More tomorrow.
Via the Telegraph – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10950196/Mobiles-could-be-barred-from-flights-if-not-charged.html
“Mobile phones and laptops will be banned from planes heading for the US if they are not charged up, amid heightened fears of an imminent terrorist attack.
Travellers will have to turn on their gadgets at the security gate to prove they are real, after the American government warned electronic devices could be used to conceal bombs.
The move comes as airport security in the UK, America and other countries is ramped up amid concerns that al-Qaeda extremists based in Yemen plan to use British and other Western jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq as suicide bombers.
Laptops, tablet computers and other electronic devices will also be banned from planes if they cannot be turned on.
US officials have singled out smartphones including iPhones made by Apple Inc and Galaxy phones made by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd for extra security checks on US-bound direct flights from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”
Safer not to fly!
Surely a camera centric device is going to obliterate the LG G3 with its 10 x optical zoom and xenon flash. And in certain conditions it will as you cannot beat optical zoom or xenon flash.
But have a look below at the camera samples, and decide which one is which and post your comments below. The first 2 are from the K Zoom and the last 2 from the G3. These are full resolution versions, so click to open up.
With these particular camera shots I prefer the ones from the G3.
It been a busy day again, and I’ve not really get a chance to tweak the G Watch. All I did do was actually use it. Replying via Google Voice in a number of apps worked really well including text messaging, hangouts and twitter.
The notifications were excellent but that is no surprise as its using Google Now. But battery life is one day. From 100% to 30%. Only good news is it’s a very quick recharge. But still just one day is poor. So I charged it to 100% before I went to bed, and this morning it was down to 87%. Part of the issue is that I have the LG G Watch display to always on, but it was disconnected overnight.
However, I like the G Watch a lot. As I said yesterday, it is comfortable to wear and I like the appearance. At the weekend, I will have some more time to explore it properly. There are even custom roms for it now!
Having spent just over a month with the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom, it has made me wonder if we really need flagships. Why you may ask? Well the K Zoom is a camera centric smartphone but with only 8gb storage (4.6gb free to user) and a mediocre processor versus a flagship phone which will have the latest snapdragon 801 processor or higher. A flagship will also have bells and whistles features and more storage.
But with the android operating system being designed to work with low cost hardware, you can buy phones like the Moto E for under £99 and still get a reasonable experience. The K Zoom is a mid range device and like its cheaper alternatives still performs fairly well. In fact, in many ways it outperforms it’s more expensive flagships.
The other issue with flagship phones is the huge depreciation. If you spend less you don’t lose as much.
So really, if you want the latest and greatest, the extra £200 plus premium , really is a premium charge.
Sometimes though we buy new devices without any consideration for the above – we just want the best.
The LG G3 arrived yesterday. Going from the Samsung Galaxy K Zoom’s 720p screen to the G3’s Quad HD’s is light being punched in the face, such is the huge difference in the screen panels. The G3 is all about the screen. It is stunning.
The design of the G3 also means it is comfy to hold, and I am finding one handed use possible even though its 5.5 inch screen does make it a big device.
The other big difference over the K Zoom is storage (memory). The K Zoom came with 8gb (4.6gb user accessible) storage. My G3 is the 32gb/3gb ram model. It came with over 24gb user accessible. I left it downloading ALL my apps and ALL my games overnight. Well, nearly all. Some of my apps eg netatmo and the Amazon shopping app are not yet compatible for the high res screen resolution. This applied to a few games as well.
There is a lot to like about the G3 and an awful lot to take it as it has many many options. Simple it is not. Smart it is. More tomorrow.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 