Category Archives: Tech News

Here comes the Apple iWatch

Apple, Tech News

If you had any doubt that Apple was looking at launching its own smartphone watch, then lose those doubts. Apple is slowly but surely registering the word “iWatch” around the globe. First it went to Russia and now Japan with other countries following suit.

With the iPhone 5S due out in September, this isn’t expected to change the world. Phones have plateaued in terms of specifications. Most are thin, have good cameras and are fast. So potentially a watch from Apple could be the next big thing. Don’t forget even the tablet market is maturing, so another area is needed by Apple to generate new sales. Of course there is still the tv space and game consoles. But the watch is an easier sell.

So would you rush out and buy one? Personally I wouldn’t but that is because I rarely wear a watch.

Three UK launches new price plan for pay as you go customers – set to cause havoc

Tech News

Three UK already offers great mobile price plans. I use one of their SIM only deals that provides all you can eat data with a crazy amount of talk time and texts all for £15 a month. To combat the expensive 4g price plans Three UK is launching shortly a new option.

For those that like to pay as you go, Three UK is launching an offer, charging 3p a minute for calls, 2p for texts and 1p for 1MB of web. There are no bundles and no time limits on how quickly the credit has to be used up either. However, if you work out the maths, it is not necessary a good plan for everyone as for £10 you could get 100 mins of calls, 200 texts and 500 MB of data. However, if you were are very light user, you could benefit from only having very small bills.

This price plan would never work for me but would it work for you?

Update – Three UK have starting reducing a few other plans. Keep your eyes peeled on their website for more info.

The hidden secrets of iOS 7

Apple, Tech News

Often with most phones we only touch on the surface of what it can do. Take the iPhone it is simp,y the disabled persons phone of choice. Apple has baked in so many accessibility functions that blind people can use the phone just fine.

Personally, I find this aspect of the iPhone superb. There are even specific apps for the blind. Just imagine being blind but using the iPhone camera to slowly view the area around you. As you move the camera, it speaks the colours in precise detail.

But now with iOS 7 it gets even better. Disabled people can now operate the iPhone with head movements. The option can be found in the Switch Control area of the Accessibility menu, which is designed for users who need assistance with physical and motor movements.

Taking another aspect of the new iOS 7, there is support for gaming controllers from Logitech and Moga. Now because the support will be baked into an API, more games will be able to work quickly and easily with a controller. I currently use the ps3 dual shock controller and Moga Pro to play games and the difference is night and day in terms of enjoyment and control. This is using android devices but due to fragmentation on android there isn’t one device/solution. Apple is providing this solution. And whilst you think you won’t use a controller with the iPhone, just wait until you do as I doubt you will ever be able not to use one going forward. This feature of iOS 7 will destroy the Ninetendo DS and possibly the Sony PS Vita.

Twitter $10 billion IPO approaches

Android, Apple, Tech News, Windows

Twitter over the last year or so has started to reign in its business and prevent third party twitter apps from being developed. And there was good reason for this. It needed control of its business and the potential revenue to follow.

So with the IPO set at $10 billion that’s a substantial number and assuming the IPO succeeds monetary returns are going to be expected.

So what could this do to twitter ? You could see an increase in advertising, selling and maybe a small charge to use service. Perhaps, different tiers that offer different levels of services and access.

So how would you feel about see more advertising between your tweets or even paying for the service?

Google vs Apple – the battle is just starting

Android, Tech News

There have been many court cases involving manufacturers using Google’s android operating system vs Apple. The highest profile case is that with Samsung. Well it looks like the battlefield is about to really engage with new product releases.

The Wall Street Journal has issued a report that detailed several new hardware products that Google has in the pipeline in order to match rumoured upcoming hardware offerings from Apple, from TV’s,  game consoles , low cost devices for emerging markets,  new phones from their owned Motorola company and wearable tech. Also expect android to appear in your kitchen appliances.

So as they say, it’s game on.

Sony’s Flagship Honami smartphone is due to be launched on 4th July – details

Android, Tech News

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Images released by Just Another Mobile Blog are meant to be of Sony’s upcoming flagship. The latest rumours back up my previous post detailing the full mind blowing specifications.

These include a 5-inch full HD display, a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and a non-removable battery 3,000 mAh, a 20-megapixel rear camera with a Cybershot CMOS sensor and Carl Zeiss lens, textured backplate and aluminium frame. The audio will feature Sony’s S Master amp.

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And this is due to be launched on 4th July.  I’m really looking forward to this phone. Decent camera and audio, decent memory too.

Did you buy a Samsung Galaxy S4? A new model is released that addresses the hardware faults of the first – read on

Android, Tech News

That’s right, in Samsung’s home market it has just released a new S4. Of course to get around you not feeling ripped off, Samsung are calling it the S4 Advanced. Yeah right!

So this new model has a Snapdragon 800 chip that can handle more LTE networks and runs at a  faster speed, hence reducing lag. If I recall, Samsung was meant to have had its own chip that did all this in the original S4 but Samsung had problems with it. So now to address the lag they will be using a faster chip. Nothing else on the hardware front is new apart from the internal memory.

If you recall, the S4 was released in the UK and most parts of the world as a 16gb phone, that only had 8-9gb free memory. What followed was anger from users and more. Everyone agreed the S4 should have been 32gb internal memory as a minimum. Well guess what? This version is being released with 32gb.

I’m not sure how I would feel if I had bought the original S4,  but I wouldn’t have been too happy.

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HTC One and the Google Edition Camera software

Android, Tech News

If you own the HTC One or Samsung S4, Google has released via their US store only both these phones but in pure Google android. This means no sense or touchwiz. What this also means is that hackers extract various parts so you can install them on your normal devices. And that’s what I did. I installed the new live wallpaper sunbeam. This looks rather good. But what was of real interest was the Google Play editions camera app and gallery app. Would the camera app take better photos than the HTC app. The answer is no it doesn’t. Below are 4 photos taken around 7pm. In both shots the HTC camera app does a much better job. For the record I am running the new 4.2.2 update on my HTC One.

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The above was taken with the HTC camera app and below with the Google app.

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Same again. First HTC and then Google app.

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So do you agree the HTC Camera app does a better job?

Photos taken of Tavistock High Street, Devon.

Create a 60 second video highlight on the HTC One

Android, Tech News,

The HTC One has a marvellous feature whereby it automatically creates a 30s video highlight of an event. But what if you want a 60 second video.

Go to the event in the gallery app. Long press on the event, select split and select half of the items. Give the event the same name but just add 2 after the second one. Now you will have 2 events of the same event both of which will get it’s own video highlight.

If you want to combine an event, long press the new event and select merge.

It’s as simple as that.