Category Archives: Tech News

Motorola Moto X – audio and other quirks

So if you scroll back to the 3 posts from the weekend you will have got some idea of the camera. Whilst it’s not the best out there, it is still surprisingly punching above its price tag. I took many shots of my dogs and cats and the majority were in focus despite being indoors or in overcast conditions. The scenic and macro shots also were not too bad. Sometimes, the colours were off key, but if you were really fussy just use a photo editor.

I was looking at my home screen and this critter creature appeared and started moving around the screen. I did not know what to think. This is what it looks like .

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Very small, but don’t forget it’s running across and all over the screen. This is part of the “spotlight” app. It’s the craziest thing I’ve seen ever on any phone. I will discuss this more on Sunday episode of “Gav & Dave’s Podcast”.

So what about the audio. Loudspeaker. It’s good. But not HTC One M8 Boomsound. You have some EQ options which don’t do too much other than reduce the treble.

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Listening via headphones is a different experience all together. In fact, I’m typing this whilst using the Moto X to listen to my music via headphones. The Moto X can power most headphones with a lot of guts and clarity. A decent sound in my book. Again there are a number of EQ options and they do make a difference. But even with the EQ off I loved the sound via my neutral fussy Sony MDR-1R headphones. My Sennheisers loved the Moto X too as did any other can. So it’s a thumbs up in this department from me.

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Battery life. Excellent. In 4 days I’ve only charged it twice. In fact at the moment I’m using it in to the third day and the battery is at 34%.

I was asked on Saturday would I choose this over the Moto G. I would. But is it worth the extra cash over the Moto G cost. That depends on what is more important to you. Do you want a better camera and audio experience a nicer feel in the hand?

Anyway, if you have any more questions, please let me know, and I will cover these off in the next episode of “Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast ” along with my final conclusion.

Once again a big thanks to Clove Technology who are a super cool company to buy your smartphones and accessories from.

Part 2 – Moto X – Camera Samples vs Samsung S5

Ok. 3 more everyday type photos to compare. First photo is the S5 in each followed by the Moto X.

Breakfast.

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I think the S5 wins by a huge margin. The plate was white!

Overcast outdoors. S5 first again.

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This one is much closer. My view is S5 wins but do you agree ?

Outdoors again with trees and buildings. S5 first once again.

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Close again but the S5 wins. Look at the sky. Difference worth noting is the Moto X has Auto HDR where as the S5 has to be turned on manually.

So do you agree?

For all your smartphone and wearable needs please check out Clove Technology. My thanks to Clove for loaning the phone too.

Reminder – Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast is alive – Please RT

As you know, I co-host a weekly podcast with David from UKMobileTech called Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast. It is a light hearted tech podcast broadcast bi-weekly. To subscribe click here for iTunes or copy and paste this link into your favourite podcast app.

Episode 14 is now live for your listening pleasure. So if you haven’t had a listen please do.

Moto X – Quick Impressions

Firstly,  thanks to Clove Technology for sending the Moto X for reviewing.

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It’s quite a good sized phone which feels wonderful in the hand.  It is has always on Google Now voice activation even when the screen is off.

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The basic specifications of the Moto X are –

Processor – Motorola X8 Mobile Computing System which includes a software optimised Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (1.7GHz Dual-Core Krait CPU, quad-core Adreno 320 GPU), a natural language processor and a contextual computing processor

Memory – 2 GB RAM, 16 GB standard. 2 years 50 GB storage free on Google Drive. Offer must be redeemed within 30 days of activation.

-Bluetooth® technology – 4.0 LE + EDR

-Wi-Fi – 802.11a/g/b/n/ac (dual band capable), mobile hotspot

-Cellular – 2G/2.5G GSM/GPRS/EDGE bands 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE -UMTS/HSPA + up to 42 Mbps – 4G LTE
3G UMTS bands 850/900/1800/1900/2100 , 4G LTE bands 800/1800/2600MHz (B20/B3/B7)

-Display – 4.7″ AMOLED (RGB) / HD 720p

– Android™ 4.4, KitKat®

– Size (H x W x D) Width 65.3mm; Height 129.4mm
– Weight – 130G

– Battery – 2200 mAh. Mixed usage up to 24 hours

– Camera -Front Camera 2MP 1080p HD video, Rear Camera 10MP CLEAR PIXEL (RGBC) – Quick Capture – LED flash – 1080p HD video (30 fps) – 4X digital zoom – Slow motion video – Burst mode – Auto HDR – Panorama – Control focus/exposure

So what does all the above specs mean. So far a rather smooth, really easy to hold in one hand phone, that due to the always on voice activation means less actual picking up the phone to carry out actions. Other touches included with the Moto X are Motorola Connect that links the phone to Chrome so that you can see who has texted or called you and reply via the Chrome web browser. Motorola Assist is rather neat and sets actions up when you for example sleeping or driving. So when asleep the phone does not disturb you. On the off chance you had a previous Motorola if offers a wireless migration service of all your data. Similar to the Nokia Lumia Glance screen, the Moto X provides this information too.

But another funky feature is twist and shake from standby to turn the camera on. You feel a little vibration as you do this, and voila the camera is ready to capture that first shot.

So what else? It is a pure Google android experience otherwise, running the latest version of android too. No bloatware, no lag and so far a really super quick experience. And for once a phone that is not oversized and is very comfortable to hold and use.

And the voice activation is excellent. So first up you train the phone to recognise you saying “Ok Google Now” three times. Thereafter, you can control it as you wish, using the normal Google Voice commands. My wife also tried to see if she could trick the system, but clearly as her voice was different it would not respond when she said “Ok Google Now”.

I tried the camera out quickly, but despite its claim of a super 10mp camera it takes as far as I can tell just average shots in low light. Tomorrow if it isn’t raining I will try some more shots to see how the turn out.

Clove Technology currently have the Moto X price at £225.00 plus VAT and for that price it does seem like a good deal.

More updates soon as I get to spend more time with this phone.

Hudl versus Kindle Fire – Let the Battle commence

Tesco has announced that it is releasing later on this year an update to its popular Hudl tablet. Tesco also announced it was bringing out its own smartphone with specs to rival the Samsung S5 but for around £250.

In similar news Amazon will be doing exactly the same.

So what we are seeing is round one of a battle for the mobile shopper between 2 giants. Clearly, Amazon have a head start as they already have had Fire tablets in production for several years. But then Tesco has actual physical shops.

Amazon and Tesco are both investing in their media services – Amazon Prime and Tesco Blinkbox. So will their be a winner and loser. Time will tell but competition should hopefully create more choice for the consumer.

Concerns over the new Samsung K Zoom camera

I was re reading the specifications of the upcoming Samsung K Zoom versus the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom and despite the K Zoom increasing the camera to 20.7mp versus 16mp on the S4 Zoom, I noticed more information on the camera.

The K Zoom pixel size is smaller than the S4 Zoom at 1.12 microns. That is the same size as the pixels in the S5 smartphone.

I really hope low light shots don’t become a disaster. Anyway, this video by Samsung does make it very compelling.

LG G Flex – More Impressions

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The LG G Flex comes with two homescreens types. The one above is the standard affair that everyone would be used to. With this option you can add widgets and folders and more. The folder colour can be changed, as can the whole theme. Additional themes as mentioned are available from LG Smart World. I installed a few and like the results. But what if you are novice. LG include an Easy Mode.
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I thought the Easy mode was one of the best I have seen with everything on one page.

LG include a number of custom apps from a Calculator, Alarm Clock, Memo (sync to Google Drive), Calendar. Displays lots of info. Quick Theatre – shortcuts to photos, video, YouTube, video.
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The loudspeaker was of a reasonable volume and clear. The audio quality via the headphones was good too. Other software included Quick remote, FM radio, music, life square, task manager, update centre , lg backup, gallery, file manager, Polaris viewer , notebook, box, tasks, email, contacts, weather and a few more smaller apps.

I will cover off the camera tomorrow.

So the whole experience of this phone has been rather pleasurable. When it cost over £800 was it worth it. Absolutely not. At £379 it represents a very good phablet.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and Wireless Charging – the cold hard facts

For me it’s an experience not worth the effort. And this is all due to Samsung cutting corners. So read on.

First up you need the official Samsung wireless back cover that replaces the one that comes with the phone. This includes the Qi technology and waterproofing seals. As a warning do not use the wireless cards that slide inside the non wireless Samsung back cover as you will not have an ip67 phone. And this has been tested. Just head over to YouTube and watch a S5 get ruined for life.

So I thought it would make sense to get a Samsung Wireless charging pad. The first one was faulty. The second one was fine but stopped charging at 100% which is the correct behaviour. Due to some wake locks that meant at 6am my battery level was at 85%. In any event, the S5 standby time is not as good as the competition.

So I thought I would try the Zens QI wireless charging pad. This stops charging at 100% and starts automatically at 95%. By accident I ordered the eu plug version, so that got returned for the UK plug version. This has arrived except it doesn’t work as advertised.

Basically it doesn’t turn off at 100% so the battery is being overworked and it seems to warm for my liking.

So, I think I’m going to resort back to opening that flap on the bottom and using a normal micro USB lead to charge the S5.

However, I thought I would ask Zens if they knew about any issues with the S5. They replied –

“Dear Gavin,

Thank you for your email and interest in ZENS. Sorry for the late reply. The new S5 was a good choice.

We designed our wireless charger with sustainability in mind. Most of our own products, but also for example the Nokia 820/920/1020 will shut down after the phones are fully charged.
The ZENS Single charger was there before the S5. We had no influence on the design of the S5, so you are correct that the LED will stay on after your S5 has been charged.
However like with a normal adapter it won’t harm your device. The designers of the S5 did not integrate software to stop charging after your S5 is 100% charged.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if we can be of further help.

Your sincerely

Team ZENS

http://www.makezens.com”

So there we have it. Samsung omitted the necessary extra circuitry and software and this explains why there new pad just stops charging instead of turning off and then coming back on again.

What should have been a great charging method is ruined.