Category Archives: Tech News

How have your phone habits changed?

If I look back at my years in gadgets and tech, I had a crazy variety of tech and gadgets.

The tech of 10 years ago was buggy, but at the same time great to tweak and try to get it to do things it wasn’t meant to.

I used to think nothing of flashing a custom firmware on my HTC HD2 or future android devices. Sometimes several times a week. All in the pursuit of the latest and greatest performance. I even jail broke my iPhone 5 to get the bespoke custom tweaks on but reverted back after it crashed more often.

Move forward to 2013. Google is releasing android 4.4 and Apple has released iOS 7. Both are mature operating systems. And both offer a superb user experience. Which is good since now I just want my phone to work. I don’t except that if I spend £500 on a phone, even if it’s free on a contract, that it is acceptable to have a buggy phone that has many faults. I don’t want to start spending hours replacing software included by the manufacturers. I just want and now expect it too work. I also expect timely updates to fix any small issues. And I expect good after sales support.

So have you found your phone habits changing ? If so, how have they changed?

Apple are great Marketeers and the iPhone 5C is a perfect example

Apple make great products. But they make great products seem even better through great advertising and marketing.

The iPhone 5C is in my honest opinion is pure genius at highlighting this point. If Apple had simply kept the 5 unchanged and released the 5S, the difference between the 2 lines would be hardly recognisable. It would also not create a reason to move up the line to the 5S.

But my having last years phone, manufactured in coloured plastic bodies with a few tweaks to the battery and LTE bands, Apple managed to manufacture the iPhone 5 as the iPhone 5C for less money, but still charge a premium price. In the same light, this created a definite wedge between the design of the 5S. And then the 5S had a new colour and slightly different finish on all 3 finishes to further differentiate. For some reason and somehow, Apple made the 5S in Gold seem special.

But going back to the 5C, people are now buying last years model, in far greater numbers than they would have been if it had just been a 5 with £100 off the selling price.

The 5C will also sell well over Xmas and throughout the year. It is not meant to outsell the 5S, but in the course of time it might get close or even surpass it. Stories about low sales of the 5C are just hype without fact. It is last years phone so initial sales will always be stacked towards the Apple fans buying the latest.

I also know of many Apple fans who prefer the curved feel of the 5C over the 5S. Specs are so good now, colour might just be more important.

My final thought is that Apple have managed to take a 1 year old phone, give it a new colourful body, in a cheaper to manufacture finish and therefore sell for less without impacting profit margins, and sell it more of them than all the others companies except for Apple’s iPhone 5S. Genius if you ask me!

Nike new Nike+ FuelBand SE – details

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Nike has announced an update to their FuelBand, the Nike+ FuelBand SE, with enhanced connectivity, durability and Bluetooth 4.0. The black band has the options for a few accent colors that wrap around the inside of the band, which Nike calls Volt, Pink Foil, and Total Crimson.

The FuelBand SE uses new software in the device as well as Nike’s updated apps to refine the user experience. Available to pre order for $149.

And sorry, it is not available on android or Windows Phone. It is firmly an iOS Apple exclusive.

Samsung’s offers 5 year hiatus against patent claims

Samsung some 20 months after the European Commission launched an investigation into its patent licensing practices, says it will not seek an injunction against any company, including Apple, wishing to license its patents for a period of five years. The company says it will also agree to a negotiation period of up to 12 months, after which it will rely on a court or arbitrator to draw up an agreement.

So is Samsung feeling the heat or showing good practise ?

Google Nexus 5 Official Specifications

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Google is due to announce the Nexus 5. Below is a reminder of the specifications. So with android 4.4 and the below specs, are you going to buy one?

Google Nexus 5 (LG D821) Official Technical Specifications:

Display: 4.95-inch IPS LCD HD, 1920 X 1080 px
Processor: 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800
Ram: 2GB RAM
Camera: 8MP Rear with OIS (optical image stabalizer), 1.3MP Front
Storage: 16 and 32GB internal
Battery: 2,300mAh
Network: UMTS/GSM/CDMA/LTE (Micro SIM card slot)
Sensors: Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass, Pressure, Proximity, Ambient Light
Connectivity: HDMI via Slimport, NFC, Wireless charging, Bluetooth 4.0
Dimensions: 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1 mm ? (Same as Nexus 4, which is not likely)
Weight: 139.5 g
Other: Notification light
Operating System: Android 4.4 KitKat

New iPhones now cost more in France

Apple has quietly bumped up its iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c prices in France less than four weeks after they first went on sale. Customers will now have to pay $10 more for the 16GB devices, and $12 more for the 32GB and 64GB devices.

Here’s how the prices have changed for each device:

iPhone 5c (16GB) — €599 → €609
iPhone 5c (32GB) — €699 → €711
iPhone 5s (16GB) — €699 → €709
iPhone 5s (32GB) — €799 → €811
iPhone 5s (64GB) — €899 → €911

Be warned. If your country has a weak exchange or currency you could see the same. So if you were thinking of getting one maybe time to act now.