Category Archives: Tech News

Nokia Lumia 929 revealed

Tech News, Windows

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WPCentral have revealed the above photo of the new Nokia Lumia 929, which will be an exclusive to Verizon. The hardware looks great and the specs below are more than adequate. Microsoft just needs to improve the platform and then it’s game on.

– Qualcomm Quad-core Snapdragon 800 at 2.2 GHz
– 5 inch AMOLED display, 1080 x 1920
– 2 GB of RAM; 32 GB of internal storage (no micro SD)
– 20 MP PureView rear camera with oversampling (16 MP + 5 MP photos); Front facing camera
– Dual LED flash
– NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE
– Qi wireless charging
– FM Radio
– At least three HAAC microphones
– Data Sense, NFL Mobile, Verizon Tones, VZ Navigator, My Verizon Mobile, Nokia StoryTeller, Nokia Screen Beamer
– Available colors: glossy white or matte black

Amazon Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 wins the display badge

Android, Tech News

In a display shootout, DisplayMate’s Raymond Soneira found the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 to outperform Apple’s Retina-toting iPad Air in a number of lab tests, crowning Amazon’s device as the best performing tablet he has ever tested. Even better than the iPad Air.

Amazon is proving to really be a bigger threat to Apple and Google as it already has a decent Eco system, from media to anything that you might like to buy online.

And this threat will only increase.

HTC One android 4.4 release schedule

Android, Tech News

HTC has released some information regarding their plans to provide an upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat for the HTC One throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa. According the HTC’s press release:

“Across EMEA, HTC will work with local carriers to begin the roll-out of Android 4.4 with Sense 5.5 for the HTC One from the end of January. The Google Play edition will start to receive the update earlier, starting from the end of November. Details regarding the HTC One Max and HTC One Mini will follow.”

Good to see one of my fav handsets get updated in a relatively short space of time

Nike+Move app for iOS goes live

Apple, Tech News

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Nike have launched their special movement tracking app for free for the iPhone 5S only which uses the M7 motion coprocessor. And it looks like a really polished app too.

Details from Nike’s press release.

Nike+ Move is the simplest way to capture your every move, and motivate you to move more!

“Exclusively for use with iPhone 5S, Nike+ Move uses the M7 coprocessor to convert your movement into NikeFuel, the first-ever single, universal unit for measuring all kinds of activities. No matter your age, weight or gender, the same activity earns you the same amount of NikeFuel.

Nike+ Move offers insight into when you move, how you move and where you move – and lets you challenge your friends to see who moves more.

-Win the day by beating your NikeFuel average and watch your goal ring change from Red to Green.
-See when you are most active throughout the day and how you’re doing compared to yesterday.
-Move more often and win as many hours as you can throughout the day.
-See how you moved through the day with a breakdown of running, walking, and other movement.
-See where you’re moving and where you move the most each day.
-Check out how you compare against your Game Center friends or other Nike+ Move users near you.”

John Chen takes the reigns at BlackBerry as sale talks halt

RIM, Tech News

John Chen tells Reuters that he expects to continue phone development, arguing that there are “enough ingredients” for long-term success. Executives at the company can’t rest so easily, however, as the new CEO intends a shake-up of BlackBerry’s management that will include some outsiders.

BlackBerry will now raise $1bn investment in to its business. Can BlackBerry resurrect itself like Apple once did? As much as I would love to see them succeed, I just don’t see how this can be done with competition being as strong as it is. And the stock market aren’t happy too. Blackberry shares have fallen by 17%.

Paid Video Chats from Google becomes a reality

Android, Apple, Tech News

Helpouts, Google’s combination of Google+ Hangouts, Google Wallet, and its identity tools is now live. A ‘Helpout’ is a Hangout-like video chat, but instead of speaking with a friend, you are connected to a purported expert in whatever it is that you need help with. The tagline that Google has come up with for Helpouts is “real help from real people in real time.”

So would you pay for one of these video chats?

The First Podcast is live – have a listen if you haven’t already

Tech News

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Dave from UKMobileTech and myself have teamed up to create a new tech podcast.

It’s our first podcast, so please be kind.

So if you haven’t listened already go and listen. Click here Gav & Dave’s Tech Podcast

You can contact me on twitter @gavinfabiani and Dave @davidmarkrich .

If you wish to subscribe to our podcast, copy and paste this URL into your favourite podcast app http://GGUKMT.podbean.com/feed/

Thanks for all your positive feedback so far, it is greatly appreciated.

Update – it’s now live in iTunes. Click here for iTunes.

A bra that tweets every time it’s unclasped – full details

Tech News

A Greek marketing group has created the first “Tweeting Bra” as part of a campaign from Nestle Fitness for October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The social networking bra utilizes a special mechanism hidden under the hook of the bra. When it is unhooked, a signal is sent to a cell phone which in turn notifies a server that generates a tweet.

For more info click here.

Something a bit different for today’s news.

Apple Plymouth – which product was selling the most

Apple, Tech News

It was Sunday afternoon, and I happened to be in the Apple store in Plymouth.

On display were all the new iPhone 5S and 5C, the new iPad Air and all the other shiny Apple hardware and accessories. But to my surprise the iPhone 5S had hardly anybody browsing around them. In fact even the iPads weren’t gathering much attention. But the iPhone 5C tables were packed and this seemed the one item that was selling quicker than any of the others at that time of day.

The 5C was always meant to have a slow burn start, eventually surpassing the 5S in sales numbers. I’m unsure about the actual sales volumes in the long run, but it does show many people just like the different colours and aren’t too worried about the overall specs.