Sony recently slashed a third of the price of its amazing PS Vita in Japan.
The result has been a four fold increase in sales. Clearly the price was a sticking point.
It’s a shame the PS Vita doesn’t sell as much since as a gaming experience it is second to none. Plus you can download via its online store ps one classic games many of which are better than today’s iPhone game offerings and without the stupid in app purchasing.
As somebody who likes changing phones frequently I have recently looked at the 2nd hand values of the iPhone 5.
Unlike older models in previous years, it seems the actual resale value of the iPhone 5 has dropped. In fact I noticed the Samsung S3 or Note 2 were only £35-£45 lower than the iPhone 5 16gb. Even more startling is the loss in value if you have the 32gb or 64gb iPhone 5. The 64gb only commands an extra £10-£40 if you are lucky. That a loss in value of 44% in 3 months. That would never happen in previous years.
One thing is for sure, there is no way I will ever buy a 64gb size Apple device again. I am looking at what I actually need on my phone and hopefully going forwards will manage with 16gb. At least with the Samsung Galaxy S3 or Note 2 if you buy the 16gb but need more memory you can buy a 64gb memory card for £50 and re use it in your next phone. That’s value and sensible.
Food for thought don’t you think!
LG has announced that it now has sold 10 million LTE handsets. This has taken 2 years which started with the release of the LG Revolution.
Something tells me it probably will take a lot less longer to sell another 10m LTE phones due to the rapidly growing LTE popularity.
Google has released an update to its Chrome browser for iOS devices. Chrome has 2 big features: the ability to quickly recall browsing history by tapping and holding the back button, and the option to share webpages natively with the Messages app.
However, if you have a jailbreak device it will crash constantly. The fix is to delete and reinstall. Then when you first open the app, tick very quickly the box to send data and accept and continue. At present there is no workaround to prevent data being sent to Google with a jail broken phone.
The papers are all hot with a new iPhone that is going to be made of a new substance called plastic that nobody has heard of. It’s going to cost half the price and be sold to emerging markets.
If there is such a new handset it will simply be the old 3GS in plastic running iOS 6.1 with an upgraded internal electronics. More likely the iPhone 4 will be redesigned in cheaper plastic and sold at a lower price, and the iPhone 5 will become the 5S with a better camera and processor.
Apple never does anything dramatic.
HTC has admitted the following –
Most people don’t differentiate between apps and widgets.
Widgets aren’t widely used – weather, clock and music are the most used and after that, fewer than 10% of customers use any other widgets.
Most of you don’t modify your home screens much. In fact, after the first month of use, approximately 80% of you don’t change your home screens any more.
So. do you fall into that category. Are widgets needed?
I personally think some widgets offer usefulness like calendar and the rest are just cosmetic. Still sometimes it’s nice to play around with the look. Do you agree?
If you have an android or apple device, you might have installed an app or game that is supported by ads. These can be intrusive and over the top but there are easy ways to curb them.
On android App Store or the jail break App Store you can get apps that help remove the ads. But there is a simple method. Turn data off, or if you can’t do that, put your phone in airplane mode. No Internet and the ads can’t be fetched. You might get empty boxes when you use the apps but at least there is no ads.
In a rather slick move Tweetbot is fighting back over people who pirate their great software by adding tweets into their timeline as shown below telling the world exactly what they are doing.
Clever idea IMO.
Expansys is offering 0% interest free instalments on the latest smartphones. You need a 20% deposit then balance of 10 months.
Sounds a reasonable deal.
I visited the Sound & Vision show on Friday. There were several hundred brands being exhibited, many out of my price range but nonetheless some really interesting gear.
The show covered audio and visual gear, and was spread over the Marriott Bristol from the Ground Floor, Terrace, Bedrooms Levels 1-10.
As you first walked in I was struck by several exhibitors selling vinyl and seeing turntables being sold like the one being displaged
There was also plenty of black boxes all with fancy price tags, all of which was meant to be excellent value for your money. Black box shown below of a Unitilite all in one player.
What was really handy at the show was the show app. It meant you could find what you wanted, learn about what each exhibitors was showing and a lot more.
For today I just leave you with a photo of these PerfectSound headphones. Yours for $700. And in case you’re wondering they were not the most expensive. On display were the Audeze LC2 at £4,000. They sounded wonderful but what a hole they would leave in your bank balance.
Tomorrow I will add the second part, where we start to up the price and look of the gear. And on Friday there will be a photo of a setup costing over £250,000. That’s right more than most people’s houses.
Gavin's Gadgets & Photography 